This past Friday our group met up to talk about what we will be doing when we get to Paris and how we will be getting to Tours. I'll be flying over with 3 (possibly 4) other women in my group, which will be nice so we can all travel into town together. Because we'll be in France for uner 3 months, we don't need to get student Visas, so we will technically be traveling as tourists. Once in Paris, we'll be staying in a hostel called the MIJE. It is catered to students, and is right in the heart of the Marais. We will have 2 meals a day while staying there. Apparently the "cafeteria" is pretty good. Our rooms won't be ready until 3, so we'll drop our baggage off and head out on the town since it will only be 8 or so when we get into town. While in Paris, we can pretty much do whatever we would like. The group doesn't have many set plans. I'm getting together with the girls on my flight so we can discuss what we would like to do that first day. I'd love to hit a couple of the museums that first day in hopes that they will be a little less busy on a Friday than on a Saturday. Of course I also want to see Notre Dame and Montmartre (where there is apparently a very cool cemetary). Otherwise I think I'll be happy just being in France. On Friday, once we've all checked in and gotten settled, the program is paying for dinner, so we'll all be going out in a big group that first night to a local creperie.
On Sunday, we'll leave Paris via TGV at Gare Montparnasse. We'll meet at the MIJE in time to bus over to the station as a group. We're also booked as a group on the train, so we will all be together. It will take about 55 minutes to get to Tours, and apparently once we're there, the train will be stopped for about 3 minutes, so we get to hustle off. Our families will meet us at the station and take us home, and then the real fun begins!
I can't believe that the semester is almost over and that in exactly a month, I'll be in Paris!
