After that evening we boarded a train to take us to Paris. You may ask how one would get from England, an island, to Paris across a channel. Well my dear fellows, we went on a little adventure under the blue. The Chunnel is a train that crosses the English Channel by going under it.
On the train I met a lovely woman with 3 cute little English-French boys who liked to cause havoc, but kept me entertained the whole way so I wasn't bitter. ALSO apparently, in first class, Emma Watson was on my train (or so the lady told me). Now I don't know if that is true, but she sounded like the lady knew who she was talking about so I believe her. I went to look for Miss Watson in the food car in the train (where she had been spotted) but alas, I missed her.
Now then, we arrived in Paris and this night the women folk departed to go to a party for a friend of Michelle's. I stayed at the hostel (a shady one at that) but only because I was tired and not feeling too well. I read the Godfather though and it was a good time just to rest from traveling.
The next day we went out and found Notre Dame! You could ask if this was the university, but I would reply with "no not the university you silly people." We saw the Cathedral of Notre Dame! It was a glorious sight. In my humble (awesome) opinion, it was the gem of Paris. I saw no structure to rival it, not even the Eiffel Tower. The workmanship of the building was indescribable so I won't even try. To make a long story short, if you ever have 30 mins in Paris, find another 30 and spend that hour in Notre Dame. You won't be disappointed.
We decided the next day to travel around Paris for a few more days and we saw many more sights and sounds. The second night Michelle's friend took us on a walking tour of the city, and it was impressive (although tiring.) I will say, no offense to my French readers, that the city did have a particular...smell that was a titch foul. A pretty city otherwise though.
The Tower (you know, the Eiffel one) was pretty cool. It is taller than you think it is from pictures. We spend a night looking at that as it was lit up and we had found other Johnnies there to hang out with on the lawn. It was a good evening and relaxing.
From there, the Fellowship split. The females went South to Toulouse, and due to the costs of my staying at a hostel there, I decided to go to Rome early. On the overnight train I met a Russian-American woman who is a jeweler and we talked a little while before sleeping on the train. She was with her family and they spoke no English (except her) which was interesting, but cool to hear Russian for the first time in real life.
In the morning I disembarked from the train station onto the streets of Rome. It took a minute to get my barrings and find my way to my hostel but I, a small town boy who isn't used to big cities, found my heading and walked down the streets of Rome to my housing. I stayed there two days, exploring when I had the chance and found where I would live for the semester. The girls came two days later and I showed them around a little and we had good times till the 30th when we moved into our housing. I will continue there another time.
I would like to apologize for the lack of detail in my posts. Much happens to me over these days and I will be vague to fit everything in. I will be posting at least once a week, but if you want more pictures or details, ask and we can email correspond or talk on Facebook or Skype. (My email is cfwoodruff@csbsju.edu)
Well, that's all for now, will post again soon (hopefully).
