Week 1 In Paris by: Daniel Alfaro

 

By: Daniel Alfaro

Bonjour from Paris, France. 

After taking off from San Francisco to Paris my flight took an average of 12 hours. It was definitely the longest flight I have taken, during the plane I had a window seat (lucky me) however night time never seemed to appear almost as if I was traveling in time which technically I was. I got to France at 10:25 am which would've been 1:25 am in California. 

When I finally got to Paris I got there in the middle of a heatwave.Once I arrived at my studio I was welcomed and tried French pastries after our street tour. On Monday after the weekend of arriving we had orientation that provided us with lots of helpful tips and tricks to navigating the city of light. Orientation later ended with a cruise ride where I saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time. It felt very unreal seeing an iconic scene that only one would ever dream of. 

This week was very new, especially to adjust, but very enjoyable. The reason why it felt a little rough was because of the heatwave and no AC in Europe. Also keeping in contact with my friends in the family back home was hard at first due to them being asleep while I was awake due to the nine hour ahead time zone. However we have been keeping in contact with pictures and findinding perfect time to call each other. I never realized how much one's environment does to someone until I stepped here in France. Everyone seemed to be living in the moment so much that everyone seemed very happy and healthy. 

A highlight of my week is visiting Versailles with my friends, with one being French and we had the amazing opportunity of his mother giving us a personalized tour since she goes there often. The place was very stunning and I learned so much history behind the place. I learned how it was France's main place of government. I saw so much green and the garden was very refreshing. The place reminded me of my mother’ s paintings. I even saw a squirrel with light brown fur. The nicest squirrel I have ever seen ,with so much green plants and trees. 

I am now transitioning to week 2 and I feel so much adjusted. I learned how to use public transportation here, how to say the basics in French to get around and have only had positive interactions with French people. This city is very stunning and my camera is working overtime to make sure you guys get as much of the perspective of the view my eye catches.