7:30pm - Kayla and I had to pack and figure out our flights/ transportation to the airport, so we headed out to get our final nice dinner of Barcelona so that we could come back to the apartment somewhat early and have a couple hours of sleep.
7:45pm - We found a cute restaurant we'd been eyeing for awhile and sat on the terrace. We ordered guacamole, cheese, and a beer each and decided that was all the drinking we would do tonight.. But for some reason there was a lot of buzz in the air. Everyone just seemed to be in a great mood, so we spent some time making jokes with our waiter and the people eating nearby.
8:45pm - We realized we got a little caught up in the atmosphere and lost track of the time. It had gotten kind of late and we needed to ask for the check! But just at that moment, our waiter came to our table with two shots for us... so we had to take them or it would be rude! We laughed for a little while, said "no mas" jokingly, then all of a sudden our waiter brought two more shots (compliments of him and the bartender who thought we were cute). I'm terrible with shots but I took them, even though I made a funny face!
9:30pm - Kayla got up to go to the bathroom and a man at another table stopped her and said that, because I made him laugh with the funny face I had made, he wanted to pay for our dinner! So of course, we joined him at his table and I ordered a beer and Kayla ordered a wine. However, the bartender made us both espresso martinis (which were delicious) and we chatted with the man who paid for our dinner for quite awhile. Apparently he's an important doctor who was giving a presentation on his research in Barcelona, but his family left earlier that day and he was missing them. So, hearing our English and making him laugh had made his day! We bonded over Egypt, exchanged email, and made a good friend!
12:30am - FINALLY GOT BACK TO THE APARTMENT
2:30am - After drunkenly packing our belongings, we started walking to the Catalunya square, where we caught the N16 night bus to take us to the airport... where we were totally clueless but ended up following crowds to the passport station, security, and ultimately our gates: mine to France and Kayla's to Italy.
8:00am - My flight arrived in Paris Beauvais after being delayed from heavy fog. Paris Beauvais is an hour outside of Paris, so I rushed off the Ryanair plane and caught the shuttle to take me to the city center, where I then hopped on a bus that I didn't know how to take, and got off at a stop I wasn't sure was correct.
11:30am - I finally (after getting lost multiple times) found my friend Laure's workplace! She was so kind to let me take her keys and show me how to get to her apartment so I could drop off my suitcase.
12:30pm - Showered and not well rested, I bought a metro pass and added data to my phone and headed out to explore Paris. I LOVE exploring/ traveling on my own, because nobody can point you out as a tourist. Being alone made me look like a local... like a "parisienne". I was asked multiple times directions to places and I just said "desole" and continued on my way! It's a really cool feeling actually.
I did get a little lonely though, because there was nobody to share my cool experience of meandering around Paris. So, I called my parents through FaceTime and had the greatest time just showing them La Seine, the Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysees, and the typical streets I was seeing! Technology these days just made everything better :)
6:00pm - Laure was finished with work, so we grabbed some cheese, saucisson, bread, and fruit from the closest grocery store, and started cutting them up for some tapas for the night. A little bit later, her boyfriend and two of their friends came over with rose wine and we listed to music, ate dinner, and enjoyed each other's company.
8:30pm - All of us took three different metros and ended up at Hotel Invalides, where we met up with another five or six of Laure's friends and we sat on the river and drank fantastic French wine. Apparently, I was taking part in a typical Paris night.
This weekend was great (except losing my iPhone in Paris) and I really enjoyed learning how to live like a local Parisienne and even getting mistaken for one! Tourist sites are super cool, but in twenty years I'm not going to remember how I felt when I saw the Eiffel Tower... I'm going to remember how I felt sitting by the river, under the stars, practicing my French with a very close group of friends.
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