What were you grateful for this week? Being able to see my family!

What was the most difficult or challenging part of this week?Figuring out the public transportation in Paris. It’s a huge city with a kind of confusing system for getting around (especially for a novice public transportation user who knows absolutely no French). 

Tell us about a “wow” moment you had this week.I made them pancakes for breakfast one morning! 

Tell us about your week! It’s been a good week! Most of the week was pretty average; I played with [my host family’s daughter] (she stayed home from school one day with a fever, so I spent a lot of time with her that day!), went to my Italian class, and just did whatever. 

I spent a lot of time getting ready to meet my family in Paris for the weekend. I was extremely nervous about taking the bus to Turin, then taking the metro to the bus station, then taking a train to Paris all by myself. It surprisingly all went super smoothly. My only complaint was that I had to sit around and wait a lot because I gave myself too much extra time just in case I ran into any problems! 

The train ride was good. The view was absolutely beautiful! I really liked seeing the Alps. The train ride was only six hours, and for four of those hours I didn’t have anyone in the seat next to me. I’d say that’s the best way to ride a train! 

When I got to Paris I had to wait a looooong time to meet up with my family. Their flight was delayed, then they couldn’t figure out a good way to get from the airport to the train station. There was some security problem at the train station (at least I think that’s what was going on… everything was said in French) so nobody could get in or out, and trains wouldn’t leave or arrive. It was all very stressful. 

I eventually did get to my parents and sisters! It was soooo good to see them! We spent the whole weekend in Paris. We went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, went to Norte Dame, and went to Disneyland Paris. We tried crepes that were delicious. There was a cute outdoor market right outside our airbnb. It was all beautiful and a ton of fun. 

The only bad parts were the atrocious weather (rain, wind, hail, and freezing temperatures), the confusing public transportation, and not knowing any of the language. I’d say Paris is definitely worth visiting, but it’s better to live in Italy ????