Paris

October 2004
I had only been living in the dorm at AU for about 2 months when a girl on my floor asked if I wanted to go to Paris for Spring Break. The airline tickets were on sale and they were about $300 round trip. As I do with any big decision (and little decision, hehe), I called my mom and talked to her about it and decided, why not? Let's go to Paris!

March 2005
I went with 3 friends, Maria Elena, Laisa, and Andrea. We didn't have that much money so it was not a luxurious trip to the finest shops and restaurants in Paris but we had an amazing time. We made all the usual stops, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, Louvre, Champs-Élysées, Moulin Rouge, etc. I was the only one who went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. I figured I had to, I have no idea what life has in store for me and I didn't know if I would ever be back in Paris.

Our typical meal consisted of a gyro with fries and a drink. Considering the fact that we did not have that much money we started the week off by sharing a sandwich between two of us. Towards the end of the week we had some money left and were hungry so we each started eating our own sandwich. For breakfast we shared a baguette and we ate crepes almost every day.

We partied one night at a club that didn't close until 5am and then we went to a cafe and shared a chocolate croissant, yum! Once the metro opened at 6am we headed back to the apartment we had rented for the week. The apartment was far but it was convenient because we had our own bathroom and kitchen and we could feel comfort in knowing that our stuff was in a safe place.

Every morning I said to Laisa, can you believe we are in Paris? It seemed so unreal to me. Here I was, 19 years old, I had only been away from home about 8 months and I was in Paris. Who does that?!?!?! Apparently I do.