This past weekend Soph, Anna, her friend Caroline, and I all met up in Paris! Many pictures were snapped, many crepes were eaten, and many metros were taken. But, we survived and that's what's most important. Where to begin...

I got into Paris around 8pm on Friday night and somehow figured out how to buy metro tickets, found my way onto the metro, and got off at the right stop...things were going so well! Too well... I then started walking to airbnb Soph and I had rented (Anna and Caroline stayed in a hostel) which I thought was right around the corner. Turns out it was an eternal (aka 10 minute) walk through the Paris ghetto in complete darkness. Needless to say I was doing my casual-sprint-walk trying to play it cool but actually was convinced I was about to be the star of Taken 4 without Liam Neeson to come save me, and I do not have a very special set of skills, so I was terrified.

But, I eventually made it to the Airbnb alive, attacked Soph with happiness and settled in. That night we went out to dinner then met her friend who is studying abroad in Paris for some drinks at a bar that has mostly local clientele so we felt très Parisiennes. However, getting to dinner/drinks was definitely more than half the battle. We ended up walking the longest way possible to the metro station, went even deeper into the ghetto, definitely passed a crack den, got catcalled an unfortunate amount of times, and tried to hold ourselves together while whispering to each other that we were about to die. Then, we had the pleasure of watching an extremely creepy man sit next to a girl on the metro when there were literally 5834 other seats open and then he got off at our stop so basically I was convinced he was following us. But, no worries, with my speed walking/running we lost him.

The way home was also a battle as no one told us the metro closes at 1. So we took our first metro, got off to switch metros at literally 12:59 and then were yelled at in rapid French by some ladies that the station was closed. We then attempted to find a bus, got four completely different sets of directions from four different French people and eventually made our way onto the right bus at 1:35am. Luckily the bus stop where we got off was closer to our airbnb so we made it home quickly and went right to bed.

Sunday morning we were up and at 'em pretty early. I showed Soph the wonder that is a French bakery where she fell in love with French pastries and I wished so badly I could eat them (@ the Lara Bars my mom sent me, thank you for keeping me well fed). We then worked our way across the city to the Eiffel Tower and met Anna, who wasn't even that late, which as we all know is a miracle (still love you, Ans). We took approximately 12068 pictures and selfies, and then chatted over some coffee comme les français and worked our way towards Champs-Elysées and the Arc-de-Triomphe, drooling over stores like Bvlgari, Elie Saab, Louis Vuitton, etc, etc.

i'll spare you the selfies

obsessed

Afterwards, I dragged them to the Grand Palais because I had a feeling there would be Paris Fashion Week stuff going on there (aka I stalked Insta to see where it all was). And I was right! I was in heaven, poor Soph and Anna had to beg to me leave after a solid half an hour of watching people leave the S/S 2016 Mugler show. But, like, I saw Man Repeller(!!! super famous blogger), Eva Chen (!!! head of fashion at Instagram), Taylor Hill (VS model), caught a glimpse of Doutzen and Lily Donaldson (VS Models), and saw Constance Jablonski (model), The Daft Punk twins, and so many impeccably-dressed people. TBH, I've never felt more inadequate in my entire life, but it was so worth it. One day, one day...

Man Repeller

Eva Chen

Taylor Hill

Daft Punk Twins

We then walked towards Le Marais and spent the afternoon there eating the most delicious galettes and crêpes and doing some shopping/ice-cream eating. Later on, we met Caroline and all had some well-deserved Italian food (#wheninparis?) but I had avocado in my salad so it was alllllll worth it.

you have NO idea how hangry I was

After a day filled with 15 miles of walking, we all headed back to the airbnb and got ready for what we were promised would be a ~wild~ night on the town (key word: promised). Soph's friend who we had met the night before had said that his friend's friend's cousin or something like that dropped multiple thousands of dollars for bottle service at a club so needless to say we were definitely into that. But then he told us they didn't want to go and we were going to another club. Bummed? Definitely. But, we held out hope. We all met up around midnight and again worked our way across the city to the club, only to find out they legitimately took us to the most exclusive club in all of Paris. Every girl/model/socialite was wearing Louboutins, Chanel, YSL, and outfits that cost more than all of my clothes put together. Even in my favorite black jumpsuit and embroidered leather jacket I didn't think I could have felt more inadequate. That is, until the bouncer looked me up and down and was just like: "LEAVE" (in French). Definitely not my best moment but, whatever fashion week models, I didn't want to party with you anyways.

Eventually we all left and headed to what we thought was the birthday party club where we'd be ~on the list~ but turns out they changed the venue so once again, we were 150% denied. Now it was 2am, we were on the complete opposite side of the city, and the metro had stopped working. What's a group of 2 guys and 4 girls to do? Well, Anna and Caroline left, and Sophia and I were nice enough (read: wanted to split an Uber) to stay with the guys and accompany them to the Paris equivalent of McDonald's and watch them eat burgers...definitely more our price level but still not ideal. Finally we got in the Uber and began our long trek home. At least we saw more of the city...?

The next morning, I had to catch my train around noon so I said good-bye to Soph and she went off to meet Anna and Caroline at the Louvre. I grabbed some coffee, somehow ended up walking through a beautiful farmer's market in the middle of the street and worked my way to the train station and onto my train and home to Tours for some much needed rest.

In sum: @ Paris, you're beautiful, and we may have had our ups and downs but thanks for supplying me with an awesome hat, a record-breaking Insta, delicious food, major fashion-envy, and an amazing place to spend a weekend with two of my best friends. I'll be back...(in three days!)

thanks for the insta, Paris, I owe ya one

À bientôt,

Joanna