THE ADVENTURE THAT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN

Oh gosh. What an adventure already!! Our flight was late so our professor wasn’t waiting for us, she had returned to our hotel. Poor Whitney had missed her one connecting flight from Chicago to Winnipeg so her luggage had been red flagged and left in Chicago…by the time this was all sorted out it was 12:30 pm and we were supposed to be meeting in our hotel lobby at 1. Whitney, April and I ran to catch a train to Terminal 2 in order to hop on another train to take us into Paris. We finally figured out where to go and were off! When we sat down on the RER Bleu line we all breathed a sigh of relief. I'm sure with our big backpacks and suitcases that we were quite a sight! We watched the map of stops carefully so that we wouldn’t miss the one we needed...Finally! We see it! Saint-Michel et le Notre Dame stop!! We hurry off the metro and get out our tickets so that we can leave the station…Now going through some of these turnstile things, you have to be quick….the lady in front of me was not. The gate closed on her suitcase. So I looked at her and said ok…this has got to be fast. I put my ticket in the machine, the doors open, her suitcase is free, I’m hurrying through when all of a sudden I lurch to a halt…my suitcase was now stuck. As the woman’s husband tried to pull the doors apart (but to no avail), I put my foot against the door and gave on big heave. My suitcase came free…I went flying backwards. All everyone (all seven of us…Me, Whitney, April and the four people traveling with the lady) sat there laughing hysterically…we must have looked so stupid! Lol But all that matters is that we had made it through.

We follow the signs that say “Sortie” (Exit) and take some stairs up. Before we know it we are looking dead straight ahead at Notre Dame. What a beautiful place!! As much as I wanted to enjoy this remarkable sighting, I was still just worrying about getting where we needed to be. So we look at the paper with the hotel information on it and read that the hotel we are staying at should be one minute from the closest RER station, so we start walking.

We quickly learn that we are totally and completely lost. So being in a state of what we claimed an small emergency, I began to use my French to ask people on the streets “Oú est la Rue de la Harpe??” I was surprised that the man actually understood me…and even more surprised that I could understand his directions!! He pointed us one direction and I listened to key words…”Gauche, Droite, Après l’autobus”. So we began to walk…and walk…I quickly noticed that we were walking away from the Quartier Latin (The Latin Quarter where I know our hotel was located). So we asked another man if he might know where to go. He understood me and I him! As he began describing the area of the hotel I said “Dans la Quartier Latin?” He looked at me surprised and said “Exactement!” he pointed us back over the bridge and back in the direction that we had just come from. We trekked back across…suitcases and all. Zig-zagging through the little streets of the Latin Quarter was so cool. There were little shops and little cafes everywhere.

We walk down the street and after many wrong turns, we see the hotel! What a beautiful sight! I wanted to run, but my legs wouldn’t go any faster. The three of us walk into the lobby and the lady behind the front desk sighs with relief and starts laughing “You’re professor has been worried sick!” She calls Christa and lets her know that we are alive and, besides Whitney’s luggage, that we have everything we left home with…limbs and all. The lady tells me my room assignment, we squeeze into the tiny elevator to the 3^rd floor and I open the door to my room. And there are Janessa and Tessa!! I collapse in the chair. And just begin to laugh. We all sit and share our adventures from our experiences so far. I freshen up and then I look out my window. I have the best view for observing the hustle and bustle of the street below me and can see the seine and a small café from my window…”Now”, I say with a sigh of relief, “I am in PARIS!!

(Picture one: Whitney and April. Picture two: April, Whitney, Me)