Last night in Paris

Good afternoon!

 

It's our last day in Paris! I'm going to miss waking up next to the Eiffel Tower every morning and having a great view on the balcony!  The past 10 days have gone by very fast in England and Paris.  Everyday has been an exciting and new adventure with many miles of walking and hopping on and off of the off the Tube and Metro.  For the last day, Angela, Jamie, Ramesh and I went to the Centre de Pompedue.  I learned about the museum in high school when I was taking French so I thought it would be exciting and I wanted to go visit all of the paintings and sculptures.  One of my favorite parts of the trip was climbing the Eiffel Tower.  We did it at 10pm on Tuesday and it was amazing seeing the whole city and all of the buildings and lights!  One of my favorite parts of England was going to Westminster Abby.  I loved the architecture of the inside and the beautiful stained glass windows. 

This trip has been a once of a lifetime experience and I hope that I will come back very soon and travel more in Europe.

 

Au revoir!

Pamela Sitkiewicz

Class of 2014

Paris

My best day on the trip had to be the second night in Paris. I most definitely enjoyed London, but since our hotel here in Paris is almost directly in front of the Eiffel Tower I enjoyed the view. The first night here in Paris, a group of my friends and I just went out to eat and walk past the Eiffel Tower. Once we saw how many people sit on the grass area in front of the tower we planned to do the same. We walked around the hotel in search of something to eat and we found a nice french/italian place that gave a a meal of panini and fries for a fairly good price. Once we picked up our food we sat on our towel and ate right in front of the Eiffel Tower. We had a great time just sitting there and eating while many others did the same. Aside from having so many men offer us wine, we had an amazing time. Just sitting there chatting, eating, and enjoying the view. It was an experience to remember for very long. I was so glad I decided to go out even though I was so tired from the morning activities. Even though I had seen the Tower light up the night before, I still enjoyed it as if it had been my first time. It is such a great thing to watch!


Jessica Guerrero, Class of 2014

Lloyds of London

Reflecting on the past two weeks, my favorite part of the trip had to be the visit to Lloyds of London. The structure of the building was absolutely amazing. All of the pipes and elevators were located outside of the building and the modern façade truly stood out against the older building.  After going inside the building, we were able to ride the elevator which was technically outside. The glass walls gave an amazing view of the city and we were able to see for miles. Next, we went into the trading room where we saw hundreds of people working. It was really a cool site and there was so much energy in the room. We learned all about the history of Lloyds and even got to see the insurance claim for when the Titanic sunk.  After our tour we all walked around the financial district together, blending in quite nicely as we were wearing our business formal. This day was truly one to remember and absolutely one of the highlights of my trip. 

Meghan Crowley, Class of 2014

Lloyd's of London

It is very difficult to name one single event as my favorite from this trip because everything we did in both London and Paris was extremely exciting and interesting. However, one event that stood out to me was when we visited Lloyd's of London, the famous insurance market place. This building was enormous and very modern and even had a glass elevator which allowed us to see incredible views of the city of London. The building also had a central cluster of crossing elevators that started on the main business floor and continued up to many other floors. Not only was the construction of this market place cool to see, but the information we learned about their functions and tasks was also very interesting. Lloyd's of London is known for insuring unusual and strange things including body parts, miniature sculptures, and basically anything you want. Our tour guide showed us a book where they keep track of all their "losses" and which they write in everyday with a traditional quill. In this book The Titanic was recorded as a loss after "the unsinkable ship" tragically hit an ice burg. This was really exciting to see because the Titanic is such a well known story. After hearing everyone's reaction to the tour when it was over, I think it is safe to say that everyone really enjoyed this part of the trip and will not forgot visiting the extremely successful office.
-Kady Deane

Bus Tours

My favorite part of the trip were the bus tours of the two cities. They gave us an overview of some of the most important historical places and events. They were also very helpful in planning what places to visit during our stay. I feel that the bus tours taught me a lot about London and Paris. I would definitely recommend them in the future.

- Elise Daniell

straight to the top

I would have to say that the best part of my Sophomore International Experience was climbing the Eiffel Tower in Paris. At a first glance, the massive iron structure appears intimidating, but once you are up close to the tower, there is a feeling that reels you in and forces you to want to get to the top. It cost 9 Euros to climb 674 steps to the second level of the tower, & then take the lift to the third level. The walk was invigorating. The view was incredible. Arriving at the final platform was an accomplishment that seemed very much anticipated by all of the people at the top. France is an absolutely wonderful place, with so much culture and history surrounding you everywhere you go, but for me, it would be hard to imagine Paris if the Eiffel had actually been torn down...it is truly, so much more than an icon. Looking down over the city of Paris from the Eiffel Tower really makes you think about how much of the world there is left to experience.

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Angela Rosario Potter 2014

Walk to Remeber

My favorite part of the trip was being able to have our own time at night and throughout some days.  My personal favorite was our first night in Paris.  The group went to Notre Dame and then after my girlfriend and I went back and walked all the way back to our hotel which was quite a few miles.  It was really nice to see the beautiful city and to be able to stop where we wanted for as long as we wanted.  I enjoyed stopping and see Notre Dame a lot along with the walk down the river seeing the Museum D'Orsay which really is an amazing sight.  Topping off the entire journey as getting back by the hotel and seeing the Eiffel tower light up and sparkle.  it was indeed a perfect day in the amazing city of Paris.
class of 2014 Seth Weimer