July 22nd, 2009:
Jenny and I woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. We stopped in at a cafe as per usual, grabbed some coffee, and walking down the Rue de Rivoli for awhile until class started. Class was blah and one can tell that the teachers are really starting to get over it as well.
We went shopping all over the neighborhood after class. We walked by La Concord and le Grande train station, all the while knowing we had to meet up with the group at 1:45 at le Louvre. I'm typically excellent with maps and directions, but by the time I realized how far away we were, I realized we only had 20 minutes to get there. I had been specifically warned to be on time because we could only enter as a group.
Time was ticking by faster and faster and I couldn't foresee the girls I was with - Julia, Jenny, and Manon - racing as fast as they could to get to the Louvre.
I saw on the map that we had a little less than a mile to go and only 6 minutes to get there. I stopped in my tracks and took my bag off of my shoulder.
"Here, hold this," I said, and handed my bag to Jenny. I then stripped off my shirt and told the girls that I would run ahead to get the tickets and secure us a spot.
And run I did. I had run a lot during my time thus far on the trip, and today was probably the fastest I had run yet. I was not about to be late to this! By the time I arrived at the Louvre, I was a hot, sweaty, shirtless mess.
I couldn't find anyone from our party, so I kept running around all the stupid glass pyramids outside the museum trying to find them. When I finally saw the group arrive a little before 2, I ran right over to them and was glad to see them.
Andrew just took one look at me and was like, "Why are you all sweaty and have no shirt?"
I told him why, to which he said, "No, we didn't have to be here at 1:45, we had to be here at 2."
I just looked at him and said, "No Andrew, you are wrong. Both teachers said in class that we had to be there at 1:45. I ran and didn't realize you guys would be late."
"But we weren't late Koelen," Andrew demanded in a his whiny ass voice. "Pierre said after class for us all to meet here at 2."
God why did he have to fucking argue with me?
"Well I didn't hear him say that Andrew, and when the teachers tell the entire group to be someplace at a certain time and then it gets changed, they need to make sure everyone is informed so shit like this doesn't happen again."
Andrew butted in, "But we were informed…"
So I interrupted him back, "Jesus Andrew just quit fucking arguing with me, ok? Jesus Christ you are so annoying."
And I walked off. I almost slapped him then and there. We are all getting a little annoyed with Andrew and we are all beginning to hate his and Felix's little comments. They make shitty comments as if they know everything, when really they don't know anything.
After waiting for nearly an hour to get into the Louvre, we were inside, but we were on a mission. Jenny, the girls, and I had not finished our shopping for the day. Jenny had been to the Louvre and I had been to so many museums at this point that I was truly getting over it. We had a plan: we were gonna haul ass to the Mona Lisa,
spy the Venus with no wings,
and glance at some Van Gogh. And that's exactly what we did. 45 minutes later, we were out of that museum and headed towards the Marais for some vintage shopping. I ended up liking the architecture of the Louvre more than the actual art in it!
Apparently others in our group had a different means of coping with all the tourists in the Louvre. Jacob -or Jew-cob as he has affectionately been called by the guys- and Mikey basically stole a wheelchair, threw Jacob's crazy ass in the seat, and Mikey pushed Jacob in said chair throughout the entire museum.
They used Jacob's disabled status to get everywhere in the museum: including all the elevators, back of house, and front of line access to every famous piece in the museum.
Their con completely worked and I applaud them for it!
That night, several of us went out dancing at the gay bars again. Mikey got so wasted he was screaming derogatory things at innocent French people on the street, and we finally got him home. But not before getting lost first. We stopped and asked this couple where to go and they literally took us 8 blocks out of their way to get us to where we needed to go. Whomever said that the French or Parisians have no manners and are rude…obviously hasn't studied abroad in London. The French couldn't have been nicer. Apparently, some of the rest of the group had gone Absinthe tasting, had brought the delicious liquor back to the hotel, and were having a pool party with it. We ended up in the pool till well passed 4 in the morning and had a great time that night.
