Girl Meets World: My First Day in Paris!

Bonjour everyone!!

First off I just have to say I'm beyond excited to start this blog and to share my adventures with you all!

After 22 hours of travel, I landed in Paris at 8am this morning. Thom, the dad of my host family picked me up and we chatted it up the whole car ride "home." The Ricke's live in a town called Surenes (Sur-en) which is right on the outskirts of Paris. You can actually see the tip of the eiffle tower from my room! Once we arrived here, I was greeted by Sadia, the mother, and their four boys: Nathan (15), Paul (13), Sam (10), and Josh (2 1/2!). I was amazed at how well mannered they all are! All three older boys greeted me with a hug and a double cheek kiss.

Once Thom brought up my two 70 lb bags, we left the house and walked right around the corner to see the town. Surenes is very pretty and all the streets are very narrow with houses very close together. I'm finding out that everything in general is much more compact here. Thom took me to their version of a Farmer's Market that is open a few days a week. It was unlike any market I'd ever seen! There were foods from all over the world. We walked by cheese shops... they literally only sell cheese (who knew there could be so many different types?!). Also by a few different bakery's, wine shops, and mom and pop's. Thom mentioned they go to several different bakeries depending what they are looking to buy. The one we ended up at was their favorite for crossants and boyyyyy was it amazing. We brought back a bunch of different pastries as well as 2 baguettes for us all to eat for breakfast. I had an almond crossant that I literally can die a happy woman thanks to.

After breakfast the jetlag and time difference was starting to kick in so I took a 3 hour nap which felt like 3 minutes. Paul came and knocked on my door to tell me lunch was ready. Sadia's parents came over and we all ate fish, rice, tomatoes with basalmic vinegar, bread, cheese, and wine. Sadia's parents are very nice but don't speak much English so Thom and Sadia constantly filling me in. I feel a little out of place when everyone is speaking French and I can't understand a word but I'm sure I'll get used to it and start to pick up on things. Once lunch was finished, Thom and Sadia made espresso for the adults and we sat and drank that with some chocolates.

As if this day couldn't get any more French, Thom then drove me all around Paris for over an hour. Breathtaking would be an understatement- there are simply no words to describe all that I saw today. It was a profound visual overload and pure enjoyment. Here are some of the magnificent places I saw today... I can't remember almost any of the names but I hope you enjoy :)