Okay, well....since my last post....or rather, what I was going to say in what was supposed to have been my next post was that I love the Charité. Because it's an amazing research facility that is wonderful and let me come in and watch some of the work, to get an idea of what it's like to work in a lab. Well...let me put it this way - I think that I could definitely work in a lab. I have some photographic evidence of how awesome it is.
It's brain cells!!!! Neurons and astrocytes and all sorts of fantastic things that can be found in that thing that's allowing you to read this!!!! Isn't it fabulously pretty? You know what makes it (if it's even possible, that is) prettier??? I DID THAT. It was a histology staining, and I was the one that prepared that particular sample. And a whole tray full of them too!! I had such a great time there.
Umm...I don't know really what happened between then and now...this is where you can all throw [virtual] rocks at me because if I had been a loyal and regular and really good blogger, then I would have posted before this and have remembered more and this post would be more than just two major events....
So I'm going to skip about three weeks into the future from that and go straight to......PARISREISE!!!
Yep. Every year, my district (of awesomeness) makes a trip to Paris. The City of Lights, The City of Love. As we found out, it also happens to be the City of Dirty, Sketchy Alleys Behind Your Hotel. But that's just an interesting smidgeon of information that really doesn't figure into the story all that much. CRAZY weekend. We left Thursday afternoon/evening around five. And when I say we, I mean 90 exchange students crammed onto two coach buses. If you've been reading closely, you'll be wondering, "90? I thought 1940 only had 60 or so? Is exchange impairing your math skills, Sarah?" To which I will reply that I never had any math skills. But yes, you're right. 1940 is only about sixty. But ParisReise is so freaking awesome that there were roughly 30 other kids from other districts (including one girl on exchange in ITALY) who came along with us.
We rolled into Paris around...gosh, I don't even remember....somewhere between 8 and 9 I'm going to say, on Friday morning. One bus went for food (not mine, of course...) while the other sat in the hotel and waited for rooms that were very reluctant to poof into existence. Eventually everything got sorted out and we all went for a walk - to the Metro station. Yes, 90 exchange students, clumped into many different circles, speaking many different languages (really, it was mostly just English, Spanish and Portuguese (there were about twenty Brazilians in the group)) standing around like bums (not really) in the Paris underground. This happened more times than I care to count.
Off to the Louvre we went.
Why yes, that is the Mona Lisa.
That, however, is my favorite thing in the entire museum. Although that's probably not a very okay thing to say because I don't think I saw everything in the museum - it's kinda freaking GINORMOUS. But....it probably would still be my favorite thing in the museum if I saw everything. It's La Victoire de Samothrace. It's...amazing. Here's a closer picture of it. That I didn't take.
It reminds me of a poem by Emily Brönte.
Hope, whose whisper would have given
Balm to all my frenzied pain,
Stretched her wings, and soared to heaven,
Went, and ne'er returned again!
Balm to all my frenzied pain,
Stretched her wings, and soared to heaven,
Went, and ne'er returned again!
But in a totally opposite sort of way. I would love to say that I wrote a poetic response to that stanza with the statue in mind, but I didn't....but now I probably will tonight. There's something about standing there....I remember I was on the other side of the museum and I looked through the hall (as with so many big awesome museums, there are places where you can stand and see straight through to the other side) and saw it...I kind of stopped dead and had to go there to see it closer. I dragged the person I was with at that point along with me....there's a majestic strength that just...makes you want to lead the rebellion of a good cause or...something. It's a sort of Joan-of-Arc-y thing, I think...
Anyway...that was the biggest part of Friday. We did some other stuff too. Saturday was Versailles - I was superinsanelycrazilyfreakishly excited about Versailles. It was...not as superawesomeinsanelywonderful as I was thinking it was going to be. But we still had fun. :)
[Fake] Planking fun. :)
Me, sitting on a wall in the gardens of Versailles. Probably the best part of that part of the trip. Beautiful day, great memory.
Now, I know what you're all waiting for....I give you.......
THE EIFFEL TOWER!!! (Or, as my exhaustion-addled mouth/brain combination was wont to call it, the Tower of Paris...) This photo was taken....Saturday night. It was....beautiful. Now, in reality, the lights are yellow and the background is not black. I took some artistic liberties and had some fun with my iPhoto editor options. :) I like the way it turned out.
Umm...so...those last two pictures? Yeah...I took those from INSIDE THE EIFFEL TOWER. Because one of my wonderful Finnish friends and I decided to burn some calories and save some money - by climbing the Eiffel Tower's 700 open-to-the-public steps. It was....there aren't words. I really can't think of appropriate words to describe the feeling. I mean....I was high. Off the surface of the earth, and on life. It was....insane. One of the best feelings in the world. Seriously, if you go to Paris, do not take the elevator. Even though you don't get to go all the way to the top...the feeling you get from seeing the view that you CLIMBED to is...priceless.
This is my favorite view from the Tower. The photo of the tower at night? I took it from that open spot above the smaller pillars. Quite a view. We were all a little loopy on the view.
This is the video I took of the organ at Notre Dame. The video is a little worthless, but I wanted the audio....it's not very good quality, but...gosh...it was beautiful.
The first photo is the entire group in front of the Louvre (duh) and the second one is just a small group of us who ended up in the same place at the end of one of our free times in the vicinity of the Eiffel Tower.
So...that's my big monster huge long post...I hope it's enough to make up for my recent inadequacies. Please, let it be. I love you all. <3
Oh. And I'm moving host families in less than a month. I'm excited, but a little sad because I love my current host family. <3
No comments:
Post a Comment