Anna: "If you don't come you're not in the group"

Hunter: "Oh so there's a group?"

Anna: "There's always a group"

-- hour two after our arrival

best friend phase has begun: It's either sink or swim

While on the plane, I thought the first two days were crucial to friendships and group-formation. Clearly, I was so wrong. It's more like the first two hours. By this point, if you don't have a friend, your chances rapidly decline per second. So by hour three it's hellooo alone time.

But luckily i bonded w/ a guy who refused to ride in the middle next to the male driver of the bus (we both were forced to sit up front). He made me do it. One member was in my eastern european class this spring. The other member I knew from A&M, Katherine Anne.

I seriously attempted to take a group photo due to our recent lecture on theft, the shady rabble of tourist areas, and vulnerable Americans. As observed, I clearly mastered it. This was at the base of Montmartre. We are about to climb 50 bazillion steps to the top (3 of the 4 of us are Ags and seriously contemplated holding a yell practice at the top). But then I remembered I never went to yell practice and don't know any yells.

Fanny-Pack Tourist Mob

Literally we had to run to get away from these people. They come out of no where like a storm. This is actually total irony because my friends make fun of me: "Oh my gosh Anna we are so embarrassed you are such a tourist. We are at risk just standing by you with that hazard of a purse you are carrying" (in response to the recent theft lecture). My favorite is when I walk around with my big tourist map-they get so embarrassed. But then all of a sudden it disappeared--I think one of them took it so as to spare humiliation.

This is the bridge crossing over to Notre Dame. It was raining so hard and I was weighed down (nothing unusual) by all of my importants. (importants is a word referring to all of things I think I need to carry with me daily)

So today our prof. definitely insisted on class in the rain. Tyler died laughing as I walked out of the metro in bright white shorts and my terribly touristy umbrella. He's embarrassed of it & says he can't get near it because it smells like gasoline & suffocates him.

Japanese Tourists-SARS masks spotted

So during our 3 hour long Notre Dame lecture in the rain (of which I could here nothing the prof said) Tyler who repetitively tells me he wants to die within the first 30 minutes of every class, notices a band of Japanese tourists wearing what he thinks are SARS masks--so we strategically maneuver the camera to capture the moment. This is after he forces me to watch videos of his parrot he bought off Craig's List.

Shakespeare and Company

This is a totally sweet bookstore that was made famous for its time during the 1920s and 30s where many famous artists like James Joyce would come. But that's not the important part. The important part is as I walked in I thought-Marvin would have a heart attack at all the clutter. Apparently this place is super famous: kind of like when one of my friends goes "so there are beaches at Normandy?" I said "so maybe a few".

This is actually really bad--i keep laughing uncontrollably at people and in times where it is so inappropriate. It is getting worse with time.

Arrived today!!

So I have to be honest: yep, I cried. But as I have recently reflected on it-- it is for shameful and embarrassing reasons. I cried because the building is old, I am hot, my luggage is heavy, & my face burns due to my acne medicine. When I walked into my room, I balled. So basically I've come to a conclusion: When I say I like Europe or traveling, etc what I am really saying is I just like vacations. Basically I didn't understand why I couldn't see the Eiffel Tower outside of my bedroom window-but whatever I'm over it.

Also i made a serious of terrible blunders all before noon today:

1. forgot to call my bank to let them know i'd be abroad

2. forgot to turn on my international cell phone service so i had none

3. forgot to exchange any usd into euros

4. got to europe with 20 cents

5. today was a special french holiday & no banks were open

6. i was so hot i thought i was going to die so i had to buy a fan

7. brought zero towels to a land where no shops were open to buy any (finally found some in northern paris (i live near the ghetto in southern paris) (i also still had no money)

8. beautifully thought it would be a stellar idea to buy a forty pound fan while in northern paris just so i could metro-it all the way home (i am multiple metro stops/multiple multiple yards from home)

9. bought a sandwich where the genius baked a sticker onto my bread

10. did many loud embarrassing american gestures in response to terrible smells

So here's my room-- I actually like this place after the initial shock that it wasn't the westin.

haha it actually has a really cool story--but that's for later.

This is my stellar bedside table: please notice probably the most important thing on the table-my Rick Steves' travel books wahoo.

Too bad the computer screen is too small to see that T. Swift is playyying.

This picture is essential: absolutely. It's all about the fan. It sorta looks vintage & I'm all into it.

This is another window view (of the back of our building)

In sum, I am posting the day after I arrived-for the record i've concluded after today that i will survive. wahoo.

Clearlyyy, I am already frustrated because due to the title of the blog-i feel it necessary to go with my favorite back-up colors: red, white, & blue. But my ♡ says, please make the blog green & pink (Lilly's and my favorite colors!)

Secondly, i leave in two weeks & keep fixating on all the wrong things i think i need. For instance: the purse. It seriously kept me up night after night--all of the possibilities. While at the same time, my important documents have yet to be copied OR prescriptions filled which are mainly -----this all had to be edited for viewers (my mother says what I wrote was "inappropriate"). I am not sure how I feel about it.

My inspiration for this is my best friend Alaina Kendra Nichole Deans III or maybe II, idk.