Arrival in Paris

1-30-09 (Friday)
So our flight left Prague around 7 am this morning and we arrived in Paris around 9am. From the airport our group of 10 students and 2 directors took a crowded 30 minute ride on the “omnibus” followed by some confusion and 3 different metro trains, followed by some more confusion and our arrival at the hostel. (all the while towing our bulky over packed carry-on sized luggage. Needless to say there was a lot of sweating and general disgruntlement , but I’ve learned my packing lesson) After dumping our luggage, we headed out to Pret a’ Porter, which translates to “Ready to wear.” this was a big fashion/accessories exhibition (5 metro trains away) with tons of designers looking for buyers for their new lines for next winter. Everything was amazing to look at, but the fact that we couldn’t actually buy anything took some of the fun out of it. We also saw two fashion shows which had some really cool stuff and some really strange stuff, but altogether they were fun. We just walked around the exhibition afterward. They started giving out free champagne and little mango shots (very tasty) and we quickly realized that it was time to eat.
We left around 7pm, took the metro back to the hostel, then went to a restaurant across the street called “Monte Charge.” Mixed drinks were 2 for 5 Euro so we each tried two of those. After dinner I went for a short walk around town with Rima. We bought some wine at a small convenience store, and we went into a little bakery that gave us free crepes because she understood what they were saying in Arabic. Woo! We then headed back to the hostel where we drank wine and ate crepes with my roomies.

Lauren