Day Ten:
Tuesday, May 14th

After class today, I headed with some friends to Sacre Coeur. This cathedral is a little less well-known than Notre Dame, but in my opinion, it is way better! Unfortunately, I couldn't get any pictures of the inside (No tourists are supposed to be there...I had to play the part of a devoted Catholic). But take my word for it, it's amazing! This is officially my new favorite cathedral in France. What's more, it's at a high point in Paris so the view is amazing. Check it out:

Here's the outside of Sacre Coeur:

After that, we visited the Moulin Rouge because I love that movie and I just wanted to see it! Walking past all the strip clubs was a little awkward but it was all worth it when we finally arrived and snapped this lovely picture:

I honestly don't know what to say here. But I feel awesome on so many levels.

As we were walking around, we also stumbled upon Le Petit Musee du Chocolat. This was the best accident to ever happen to me. I was running around the store in awe. My friends had to drag me away but honestly...there was a pirate ship made out of chocolate in there!

I can't get over it! Even Captain Jack Sparrow would have to tip his hat to that.

In other news, my host mama told me that I speak very good French today. And I just kind of smiled and said, "Merci." But inside, I was feeling a little more like this:

I'm the best.

Day Eleven:

Wednesday, May 15th

Today, I got up early to make it to the giant La Motte Picquet Market. They do it every Wednesday and Sunday morning and its simply the best street market in Paris! I saw so many cool things...I ended up buying a cute scarf for 1 euro and a beautiful rose necklace. Here's a quick shot I got of the market:

Then, I went to class and gave a presentation in French in front of everyone. I was super scared for it but it went alright. Afterwards, we all went to Les Invalides aka the burial site of Napoleon. This place was really cool, but it still strikes me odd that such a huge tomb was given to such a small man.

I know he was a big deal and all, but he's not fooling anyone with his "big coffin = tall dead guy inside" act. Sorry bro.

My friends and I went to see the Great Gatsby afterwards--or as they call it in France: Gatsby le Magnifique. I absolutely loved this movie! Then again, I love the book, the 1920's, and Leonardo DiCaprio, so it was a recipe for success as far as I was concerned. I also was surprised by how much I enjoyed the soundtrack. I wasn't sure about it at first, but it was surprisingly perfect! The weird thing about French cinema is that nobody talks...not before, during, or after the movie. It was a little eerie. I also saw it with French subtitles, which I thought would be annoying, but it was actually fun to see how the French would word certain lines. It was a great night!

Day Twelve:

Thursday, May 16th

Today, I was up at the crack of dawn to get to the train station. For two days, my class and I are taking a trip to Loire Valley, a beautiful area just an hour away from Paris by TGV. Those high speed trains are fabulous by the way. I wish America would adopt more travel methods like this. Then again, I might have only liked it because it made me feel like I was on my way to Hogwarts.

Whahoooo!

Anyway, the Loire Valley is famous for it's many castles. There are tons of them and they are incredible! Our first stop was Villandy. This chateau is mainly famous for its gardens and its easy to see why. They were so beautiful!!!

Honestly, there were even two beautiful swans floating in the lake:

This brought up wonderful childhood memories of The Swan Princess...

I was lost in these happy thoughts until one of the swans tried to bite me and my friends. That kind of ruined the magic for me.

Speaking of magic, we also found our way into a large maze of plants in the castle gardens, which can be seen here in this picture with my friend Rachel:

This inevitably brought up the uncomfortable feeling that I was stuck in the Triwizard Tournament with Edward Cullen, heading towards a duel in a graveyard with Lord Voldemort.

Two Harry Potter references in one post?!? It's like Christmas!

After we found our way out of the maze, we were on to the next castle. One was called Usse, and it was the inspiration behind the Sleeping Beauty's castle in Disneyland. Check it out:

We also stopped by to see the outside of a beautiful castle called Azay le Rideau:

Then we piled in the bus to a place called Blois. Our tour guide there was a bit of a jerk. He refused to speak French to us because we weren't "advanced" enough to understand his big words. His condescending attitude did not win over any of us. Luckily, the castle made up for his suckiness:

There was also this wannabe dragon who came out of a window to attack us while we were eating lunch. I almost fell out of my chair I was giggling so much, despite all the glares I was getting from the French people around me. I couldn't help it though...look at that thing....

We ended the tour of this castle the right way: With me in a throne. It was a little weird how comfortable I felt up there. I think I'm destined to rule over peasants.

After that, we all got in a bus and headed to this little castle built in the Middle Ages called Chemery. And guess what? We freaking slept in it!!! It was so cool...but I have never been so freaked out in my life--Especially when we learned that it was supposedly haunted! I guess a soldier had been burned alive in the chimney or something weird like that. I was terrified! Sure, it looks cute on the outside:

But on the inside, there were creepy paintings and spindles everywhere:

And this is where I slept:

The whole evening, this nice little old lady is showing us around the place...but I didn't trust her for a second. I felt like I was in a Scooby Doo episode and she was my #1 suspect.

I won't lie though. It was pretty much the coolest thing I've ever done.

Day Thirteen:

Friday, May 17th

Well, I survived my night in the haunted castle. And it was actually such a blast! Us girls stayed up late playing truth or dare---partying it up BYU style. This morning, we got up and sped away to see more castles! The first one we saw that morning was the famous Chambord. This one was huge!

Our final castle was Chenonceau. This one was a gorgeous castle and a great one to end on! Here's a few shots of it:

The inside of it was really fun too. We got to see the real kitchens and I really enjoyed that for some reason:

They had a Downton Abbey vibe to them, which I dug. Maybe it just brought back happy memories of Mrs. Patmore yelling at Daisy.

Ah, good times.

We came back on the TGV and somehow, the girls convinced me to go to another "boite du nuit." So, we put on our clubbing outfits and hit up the Duplex. This club is actually really amazing. I've heard it's one of the best ones in Paris, so if you're looking for a party...this one has got Sierra's official stamp of approval on it. Such a fun night!

Day Fourteen:

Saturday, May 18th

Well....I was out until after 4 last night. So, I ended up sleeping in until noon. This is becoming something of a bad routine. But, the Duplex was epic so I regret nothing! I worked on homework today and then prepared myself for: Nuit des Musees...aka The Night of the Museums. Now if an image of Ben Stiller running for his life through the American Museum of Natural History is popping up in your head right now, that's alright. That same image came into mine when I first heard about this. But just in case you didn't get that mental picture...I have provided it for you:

And no, unfortunately Paris' Night at the Museum doesn't involve all of the exhibits coming to life. But it's still pretty cool. Once a year, most of the museum's in the city allow people to enter for free. I was so pumped about this! Apparently, everyone else was as well because when we got to the modern art museum that night, the line was a 3 hour wait. So, we decided to go to the Tokyo Museum in Paris, which was right next door. That turned out to be the most bizarre experience of my life. Here's a little advice: Do not enter that museum unless you are being held at gunpoint. You will come out of that place feeling like all of the happiness has been sucked out of your soul...dementor style. This is an accurate portrayal of me after experiencing that museum:

Sorry everyone...the Harry Potter jokes simply won't stop today.

But, the good news is that I got to see the Thinker at the Rodin museum. Behold!

I also thought this was pretty cool:

"Each one is a total deception."

Probably the best part of the evening for me was cozying up to this sign of Bradley Cooper advertising Haggen Dazs. Those are coincidentally two of my favorite things.

Day Fifteen:

Sunday, May 19th

Today, I headed to church again early in the morning. I love attending the Paris ward. It's very different than Utah and I have so much respect for the faith of the members here.

After church, we headed to a Brocante, which is the French's term for an antiquity fair. The street was lined up and down with tents advertising the coolest things: old jewelry, old tea sets, old postcards, old books....I really just wanted to take it all home with me. Everything was so vintage!

Final Thoughts:

Enjoy the little things.

Sometimes, while I'm running around seeing these huge castles and famous monuments, I forget that there are so many simple things in life that bring us joy. Three of these "little things" have been on my mind today.

1. Family: On Saturday, these two toddlers got stuck on the metro with me, but their mother didn't make it on in time. I got off at their stop with them and waited to make sure they were going to be alright. I loved getting to watch that mom reunite with her little children. In the end, family is one of the greatest strength and happiness we have, even if we sometimes take it for granted.

2. Paris in the rain: It's been raining a lot this weekend. Some people have been complaining...but I love to just sit and listen to it fall.