Paris hates me

Well I think its sufficient to say that my trip to Paris has been a disastre. That being said, I loved (almost) every minute of it! It was one of the trips that goes in No Way as planned and thus turns into a crazy adventure. It started off normal enough. I got up at 6 am on thursday in Granada and took a cab to the airport. I arrived in Paris around 10 am and took the RER (metro) to Paul's hood. He lives in the fifth arrondissement near the Latin Quarter. Its a nice location and he has a view of Notre Dame from his balcony. So I was walking up the stairs from the metro station and I just looked up at these beautiful buildings and right then my ipod froze and I was just so overwhelmed by how incredible the city really is. I had forgotten since the last time I had visited, but Paris is really an unbelievable place. Every street corner and forgotten alleyway is full of character and actually really breathtaking. It sounds cheesy in words but I'm not even exaggerating. Hopefully I'll be able to come back soon.

Anyway, you're probably thinking at this point, okay where is the distastre? Well, the first day in Paris went smoothly. Paul had class so I wandered around by myself, exploring the area around his house. I saw the Seine and Notre Dame. I got lost but then I was found and I took about a million pictures. (I would post pictures on here, but they are too big and I don't know how to make them smaller, if anyone has any ideas....) Then I had dinner with Tanive and Paul at a Latin American restaurant and it was delicious! I was just stoked to get something that resembled mexican food. I had a veggie burrito. It was a fun dinner except for the part where I played the doorman throughout the meal because I sat right next to the door and whenever people left they didn't close it behind them. Then when closed it my waitress glared at me. Then when I didn't close all the people in the restaurant yelled "fermez la porte!" It was a tough job. 

So the next day I talked to my mom about my lack of medication and she called the embassy who told her that I needed to go to the "Hopital American." The American Hospital was actually located just outside Paris but was accessible by the metro so I sent Paul to school and found my way over there. It was actually a really nice neighborhood and good escape from the busy city. At the hospital I was directed to emergency because I didn't have an appointment. The receptionist there spoke perfect English and was incredibly nice! She took down my info and sent me to the waiting room. In the waiting room the guy sitting across from me asked me about my camera and then we go to talking about traveling and the world. He was visiting his parents who lived in Paris but he lived in Beijing where he taught children English. He said he got his undergrad in the states but his masters in China and also in lived in Switzerland for 6 years. I couldn't tell where he was from originally though because he had some weird accent that might have just developed from living in such different places. Anyway the receptionist had told me that it would hopefully take less than an hour to see a doctor and it would probably cost at least 140 euros. After about 15 minutes in the waiting room the nurse called me in to ask me questions then sent me the doctor. The doctor was really nice and gave me a prescription and had me out the door in 3 minutes. The receptionist then told me it would be 60 euros and that my insurance would probably cover it when I got home. Sweeet. After my success at the hospital I went in search of a pharmacy. The first pharmacy I got to told me they could get my meds the next morning but since I was on such a roll I decided to hold out. The next place I went had my stuff and sent me on my way. Hooray!

After that I decided to head over to the champs-elysee since I was already on the other side of Paris. I saw the arc de triumph and was approached by strange Norweigan man who asked if I was travelling alone. (uh no...i'm with my friend, HE'S around here somewhere..) Then I walked around and did a little shopping. Then I went back to Paul's apartment to find a note on the door from him explaining that he'd already left, but to call him. I soon met up with him by the metro stop and we went out to a bar called Tribal Cafe. It was still happy hour so we had a few pints of beer for pretty cheap. We ended up staying till 2 leaving just in time to catch the last metro home. The next day I felt like I was going to die because of the food poisoning so I stayed in all day and watched sex and the city on youtube and talked to mom on the phone. The next day was my last day in Paris and I was determined to enjoy it since I was officially healthy and medicated. Paul and I hit some big spots and some little ones as well including: the champs elysee (again), pere lachaise cemetery (where Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison and other famous peeps were buried) and this really cute bookstore that sold English books that I want to work at some day. All in all it was a great day. We finished it up with a delicious italian meal and got to bed fairly early so I could catch my 8:35 flight to Rome....not early enough though because I ended up missing the flight. Paris wanted to keep me a little bit longer so it could continue to torture me. Basically I spent the next 9 hours at CDG wasting way to much money on the internet because of the sketchy way they have it set up and eating airport food which is almost as bad as airplane food. Finally at 6:25 I got on my flight to Rome! Peace out paris..