Friday 21/1/11

Cheerio London, Bonjour Paris!

 Today we got up extra early to eat our last full English breakfast at the Presidents Hotel in London England.  After breakfast the class met up in the lobby of the hotel with all our luggage and bags and we waited for our private motorcoach (which was a bus) to come and pick us up.  Once the bus got there, we got on and were off to Kings Cross, St. Pancras Station where we waited to board the Eurostar.  The Eurostar is a really fast train that gets you from London to Paris or vise versa in about 2 hours (3 because of the time difference) It did not seem like two hours though.  It seemed much less I think because I was writing in my journal the whole time and listening to music which always makes time go by faster.  After we arrived in Paris around 1:50 pm we walked down the platform and across a couple streets to get to another motorcoach which took us to our hotel.  Let me tell you- the suitcase I used is not acceptable for long walks.  The wheels on the bottom of the luggage are more of a hinder than helpful.  (especially on cobblestone) Oh well, it was an experience to say the least.  After about a 20 minute ride from where we got picked we got to our hotel.  Its called the All Seasons Hotel.  Its very modern compared to the Presidents Hotel we stayed at in London. 

 It is right near a subway which is convenient. This place has WiFi and is also very convenient!  Amanda and I don't have to share a 1-foot internet cable anymore! So once we got to our hotel, we went up to our rooms and settled in. 

Yes, your seeing it right, our room has three beds! Its weird but pretty cool.  Its our junk bed now.  We put stuff on it because its not used.  My bed is right by the window so I have a great view of...the parking lot.  After we settled in a little bit Lisa, Danielle and I went to lunch at a little boulangerie on the corner about a block or two from our hotel.  This is the first place I could show off my four years of French class.  It was my first test.  I said Bonjour! And somehow the owner knew we were American! It was weird he said "Bonjour" back and then said "what would you like?"  I ordered in French. (tried my best at least) I said, Je voudrais quiche lorainne s'il vous plait." He told me okay, and got it for me. Quiche is just egg in a really good crust kind of thing, mixed with ham and cheese.  It was a breakfast food for lunch! I like it a lot.  Danielle got the same thing as me and Lisa got a hot dog which came with two hot dogs in one bun.  It looked good.  Then it came time to pay with our euros and then we said "Au Revoir" and left. After our late lunch, we went to the nearest clothes store and looked around.  Then we went to another store- this time sporting goods and looked around there.  We went to waste time so we could see a french film at the cinema at 6:00 pm.  We saw the movie, le fils a Jo.

Of what I got out of it  (because it was all in French) it was about a father who wanted his son to play rugby but the kid didn't want to.  Then the kid changed his mind because he knew it meant a lot to his dad if he played. So that was the gist of that movie.  It was very cool to see a movie in a different language because even if you don't know all the words, you can still understand the story by the actors portraying the words of it.  So after the movie, we came back to our hotel and got ready to sleep.  The movie was about 3 hours long so between that and the day, we will get to sleep very easily. 

Until tomorrow, Au Revoir! 

Question of the Day:  How does it feel to be in a foreign country when you can't understand the language? I have to say, this is one thing I regret about going on this trip.  I took 3 years of French in high school and was very eager to use it in France.  But when I got there, I realized I didn't know as much as I thought I did.  I feel if I took a French class at Hartwick before going, I would have been able to experience the language better than just asking "Parlez-vous anglais?" all the time.  I did get to use some of the things I remembered "Je voudrais..." or "Ou est les toilettes?" But if I go back to France for some reason, I'm definitely going to take a French class first.   

What were your impressions of the Eurostar? 
The Eurostar was a very impressive train.  It's really cool to think that you could go under the water in it.  And it goes so fast! It's crazy! We got to Paris from London in 2 hours! (3 with the one hour time difference) The seats were quite comfortable and I would definitely go on it again next time I need to get to Paris from London or vise versa.