Christine; an actual high school student who studied in France last summer.
My first impression of Paris was quite extraordinary. Our English tour guide was very well spoken. He explained in great detail all the significant neighbourhoods and important sites of Paris. It was only our second day in The City of Lights but I am already in love with Paris and all the beautiful people. Yesterday, was a very long day. We experienced and saw many things, such as: the best ice cream shop, Notre Dame, the oldest building, and the Eiffel Tower! Paris is absolutely amazing and so many fun things to see and do. There is a down side to Paris which we experienced yesterday also. Our entire class was on our way to the Eiffel tower when all went wrong! Everything I initially loved about Paris: the crowds, the fast pace and the Parisians themselves, became scary yesterday when 2 of us got away from our class. We began our excursion as a class underground at the old rustic metro station across from the Metro Station. We all boarded the Metro and squeezed in very tightly with other tourists and Parisians. Utter confusion took over when we were ordered to disembark the metro only a few stops away from the Eiffel tower due to construction. Not knowing what our next plan of action was we all waited for precise directions. After waiting for what seemed like forever and being so tired from the time change and lack of sleep my girlfriend named Abby and I decided to go and get a Parisian espresso! I needed something to keep my now very heavy eyelids open and I had promised my brother I would have a rich, dark espresso in Paris for him. I was telling Abby about my promise and got caught up in the moment of drinking my first espresso in Paris no less, when…We turned our backs for 5 minutes, all the students were gone and Abby and I were alone. We both stuck together, examined maps and somehow, being two suburban girls, managed to find the Eiffel Tower. Not being able to find our class anywhere we re-embarked yet again on to the Metro. My French came in handy and local Parisians were happy to help us find our way back to l’Université de Paris. I was so glad to see everyone!