J'adore Paris, mais Paris Détestes Moi

Ok, so the grammer isn't all there but I can make it by just fine reading signs and making things out in french, reading labels of food, etc. etc. Talking to people? I got nothing. I would just like to announce now how awful our french system is at home. I feel perfectly comfortable arranging sentances in my head, but to get the words out of my mouth is a whole other story. I'm even shy saying, "Combien?" or "Ou est le...." because I know I won't be able to understand the response. Luckily a lot of the tourist places address you in English anyways, so there I'm ok. But the food, oh man. All I could eat today on the walking tour out of Starbucks, McDonalds, and 3 different cafe's was l'ananas and deluxe potatoes (aka mojos) at McD's. I then ordered an iced soy latte, which came hot and I'm hoping soy. I heard them say "soja" a bunch, which is soy in french, so that reassured me. Man, this is gonna be a tough couple of weeks, and my stress level is through the roof. It's funny, I'm either completely relaxed or insanely stressed. Not doing my body any good, and I'm breaking out because the last 3 days were so stressful, it's that bad. Cool!! Anyways, onto a more interesting topic....
There was definitely some sex below my bunk at around 5 am this morning, where I was unbelievably glad to have my iPod and a bed actually built in the wall so I couldn't, um, feel anything. Gross! Ok so onto an even more interesting topic...

Paris!! That was a pic from the Eurostar yesterday, which was an awesome journey because I had no one next to me, and had used my left over pounds to buy a couple of magazines for the road. Very relaxing! Anyways this morning I got up, miscalculated the time (not used to be 9 hours ahead instead of 8) and so missed out on a hour of window shopping the Champs-Élysées. I finally made it out of the hostel, picked up some delicious soy chocolate pudding and a banana for breakfast (the end of easy eating as I knew it) and took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe, where I then briskly walked down the famous shopping street of Champs-Élysées. I ended up going into 2 stores, and buying a cute, cheap top in one. The other stores I just looked through the window, like Louis Vuitton and Gucci and Christian Dior, etc. etc.. These guys have huge base stores here it's amazing!

I then got to the meeting point for the walking tour right in time, quickly walking past the Louvre and the beautiful gardens around it, knowing I'd stop back there on the tour. The free New Paris tour was awesome, as usual; that's the 4th NewEurope tour I've done and have not yet been dissapointed! We saw all the major sights and learned a bunch about each one. Glad I made it in time!

Met some cool people on the tour, but in the end I wandered straight off towards the Eiffel Tower. It was a beautiful day (actually, I got burnt where I didn't put sunscreen on this morning!! Never been so happy) and I wanted to head back to the hostel after all the walking, but I wanted some good pics of the tower, so I walked another half an hour down to it. Tried to mail my postcards home as well, but was so frustrated trying to talk to the French post office lady that when I couldn't find the mailbox outside, I gave up. Jules, another Aussie from my room, has been trying to convince me that it's all part of the adventure of it, but I absolutely hate the language barrier. Actually, this makes me want to run home for 6 months, take French, Dutch, German, Italian, and Spanish, and run back! I'm sure I'll survive like everyone else does when they do this, I just might lose some hair in the process. But getting to the Eiffel Tower was everything I've ever dreamed it would be and more. Got some good pictures and was overall really glad I made the trek.


Took me over an hour to get home via metro, alternate bus route, then metro again, and on my way I found some AWESOME vegan canneloni and miso soup and tomatoes and was very excited to get a full, awsome meal in when I found out there's no kitchen or even microwave I could use at the hostel. Can I get an A.W.E.S.O.M.E. When she said there's the restaurant in the bar I explained that I have a very restricted diet and she was like "Ya... sorry..." I was like GREAT. LOVE LIFE.. So I ate the pasta cold and had the tomatoes and will lug the rest of the canned/packaged food around until I get a microwave! It all doesn't need a fridge so I guess I'm lucky? Whatever. Bitter is a more correct word at the moment. And I've got to get off of here because there's a creepy old French man sitting at the computer next to me humming who is actually driving me mental. InSANE.
Hope everyone's well back home, really missing everyone today!