Welcome to Paris

I woke up happy. I rolled over my friend's fluffy blankets and looked up to the small window that was letting in pale gold sunlight. We went downstairs to have breakfast and I felt comically out of place. Staying at Lollye's house as well was a Taiwanese girl she met in Korea. The three of us made pleasant small talk while we ate toast and had coffee and tea. I looked out the window to the small garden. Even from inside, I could hear the rustling leaves and smell the sweet green grass. France seemed very peaceful.

While I dragged myself out of a tired haze to get ready upstairs, a sort of party had congregated in the living room. Several of Lollye's friends and her brother were talking and laughing, and were introduced to me in quick succession. I said hello in broken French and then joined our Taiwanese guest in the kitchen. On the short walk to the train station I got to know the group of French girls a little better. They all took my suitcases and laughed and talked like nothing was difficult in the world. I felt very taken care of. We played games on the train and I looked out the window with glossy eyes. The countryside that was dark the previous night was now full of lush trees and flowers, quaint buildings, cobblestone streets, and delicate street lamps.

My first impression of Paris was of the subway. It was crowded and cave-like. People ran in all different directions, and if you stepped out of line it was like being swept away by a strong current. My friends had taken my suitcases and promised to meet me at my apartment while I checked in at the school. Once I had ascended to the street level, it was a whole different world. On both sides of me were grand buildings, surrounded by velvet lawns and spread apart by a highway studded with lights. A golden dome stabbed at the blue sky to my left, and my friend pointed at it and advised that I go there some time. I turned around, once, and saw the Eiffel Tower rising from a concrete haze. She told me I would see it every day (later I would prove that she is not wrong) and took me down another road to find my school building.

Inside I spoke to people with ease. In the arched-ceiling hallways and rooms with French doors I stood and waited, and talked to strangers like they were old friends. After a certain point of traveling, every face seems familiar and warm. After a little hold-up at registration, I was off to my apartment! We took a shuttle across the city, and I had a little tour of all the best restaurants and famous shops while I looked out my little window. I saw the famous Arc de Triomphe and had the distinct impression that I was surrounded by a vast sea of important things.