Paris

Paris, the city of lights...  More like PDA and pee, but other than that it was great.  

Our hotel was safe, but it was interesting staying in the "2 star" hotel.  The shower didn't have a curtain, or anything for the shower head to stay up so we had to hold on to it to shower.

Other than the some negative parts Paris was beautiful.  Kate and I saw all of the major sights and met some new friends from our tour we took.  We went to the Eiffel tower just about everyday and went up it once!  We got to see it light up and went back again to have a picnic and watch its light-up show.  

One funny moment was when we were strolling towards the tower while eating Nutella Crepes (AMAZING!!!), we heard the police sirens coming closer and saw all of the illegal merchants selling little Eiffel Towers running towards us from the cops.  I think it was so funny because they had been harassing us, and everyone else to buy from them.  

There were also a lot of beggars asking people if they spoke English, if they responded yes they would proceed to tell some sob story and ask for money.  We learned to respond in German.  

Paris was much louder and more tourist-y than Vienna is.  The subway system is MUCH harder to navigate in Paris and there is no easy way to get anywhere without at least one connection.  

It was a great city to visit but it seems people build it up and I would not want to live there.  

It was easy to spot people who were American.  We just had to listen for the loud English speakers who were complaining about one thing or another.  (At dinner some man in a group of Americans complained about a plate of food coming out later than the others, thats just something that happens in Europe, since they don't use heat lamps.) Other than just complaining, he was being very loud and rude about it, so much so that I felt bad for the waiter, Kate and I had a wonderful experience there!

All in all it was a great trip, we saw some great sights and I realized, even more, how grateful I am that the professors chose Vienna as our city to study in.  I think I would have a much different experience if we were in a different city.