We started out a bit later today, and we first went to scope out where my school and host apartment are. Conveniently enough, my host apartment is in between the Arc de Triomphe and the Tour Eiffel, so we went straight on over to the Arc, where we took "triumphant" pictures.
Next, we went over to the Sacré-Coeur to, well, see it and to meet up with a mission buddy of the two girls in the previous picture. It was in a sketchier part of town, so beware to not go alone. It was beautiful, though!
At one of the tourist shops, the cashier asked whether I like the United States or Paris better. Now, remember, this is French we were speaking, and remember that Spanish is much more of a forte than French. Let's just say that my response at first was "Bon, je suis plus habillée [aux Etats-Unis]"--"I am more dressed [in the US]" rather than "Je suis plus habituée [aux Etats-Unis]," "I am more accustomed [to the US]." The guy was confused enough at first that he gave me enough time to think it through and realize my mistake and correct it!
What you don't see in the picture below is that, like every other tourist spot in Paris, there were men hawking souvenirs, and here there were some trying to sell bracelets--and to sell them, they would tie it to you and weave it before your eyes. But to first get it on you, they'd grab you and not let go. Yeah, I don't show it in this pic, but one had just grabbed me and wouldn't let go even though I'd tried a couple times to pull away. The thing was that I hesitated and wasn't firm enough, but thankfully my friends were there to tell him off.
I would like to further draw your attention to the orange book in my hand. Why did I have La Celestina with me? Well, my friends were supposed to read some books for their study abroad, and so I didn't want to end up just sitting there while they read. Well, the weather was so crazy, and we didn't actually stay to read at the Eiffel Tower gardens, so I basically just ended up carrying it in hand as we traipsed all over Paris. I realized in the metro that I've carried that book all over Paris and Versailles in case I wanted to read it while waiting for my friends, and I'd like to think of it as a symbol of my love for Spanish as a language and culture: I carry it with my, close to me, just in case, everywhere I go, no matter how surrounded by other languages I find myself to be!
Before getting on the metro again, we decided to get lunch. At the place we stopped at, the man helping me kept going to English, but I was determined to do my best with French! He eventually saw that orange book that I had, grabbed it out of my hands (so much for personal space--twice in two hours!), asked why I had it because he assumed it was boring, and when he found out I speak Spanish, he asked if I am Spanish!!! That made my day.
Food in hand, we finally moved on to the Tour Eiffel! On the way, we saw a man playing the keyboard on a metro platform, a man who did a puppet performance on the metro, and a man playing the accordion. (I've also seen people with a cello, a violin, or a guitar down there, too!) See the puppet show made me think of a short video I once saw in a French class, but this time I was the one experiencing it in person! Not that the show was really great, but it's part of the metro, right?
Well, so like I said a bit earlier on, the weather was being crazy (shout-out to my friends who thought Utah's weather was bipolar!), but that wasn't the craziest thing--there were guys there getting a protest ready, with Libyans on one side and people from another (Arabic-speaking) country on the other! No worries, though; we're safe. :)
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