Good times in Paris

Okay, so apparently I never sent an update e-mail from Paris so I'm taking the time to write one now so that I can look back at this and remember the trip.

Damla and I decided that if we couldn't go to the Purdue vs. Hawaii game in Hawaii for Thanksgiving in 2006 then we should "one up" it and go to Paris for Thanksgiving 2007!! And what a trip it's been!!

I arrived Monday morning only to realize that the plan Damla and I came up with to meet in the baggage claim was foiled by the fact that since we came on different planes, our baggage claims were in two different areas. After only a minor panic attack, I managed to find her and we set off on our way to Ipek's apartment. Seeing as neither one of us speak French, we wrote down the directions Ipek gave us on a piece of paper, hailed a cab, gave him the paper and said "Please take us here." Then as if we didn't already scream tourist, we called Ipek and gave the phone to the driver. I'm pretty sure we were the topic of conversation at his family dinner that night.

Unfortunately Damla managed to contract Bronchitis for our trip so while she did a lot of resting, Ipek and I did a lot of sightseeing. I saw the Eifle Tower, Notre Dame, The Louvre (which would so much better if they put the picture descriptions in English), The Arc de Tri0mphe, Champs e'Lyse...pretty much any famous landmark in Paris, I saw it.

A little twist to our Parisian adventure is that all the metro people decided to go on strike right before we arrived. So, the metros were still running but not as often which means they were jam packed with people! Not the most desireable or best smelling situation, but we made do.

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Enchiladas. I can't say it was the ideal way to spend Thankgiving but seeing as Mommy let us have an early Thanksgiving the week before complete with all the trimmings, it ended up being quite a good time. The food was good and the company was quite entertaining. Ipek and Damla had made some friends here on Damla's previous visits to the city so they were happy to see old friends and I was happy to finally put names to faces.

On Friday, the some of the strikers stopped striking so Ipek had to go to work and Damla and I took upon exploring the city on our own. We kept stopping to look at maps and then trying to choose streets that we thought would take us in the direction we wanted to go. Several hours and twists and turns later we ended at pretty much the most northern part of the city, gave up and took the metro home. Paris is not a city that you learn in a day, that's for sure!

On the last night we went out we went to a bar called Barrio Latino which if you didn't guess from the name is a Latin club. They played really fun music and we danced the night away. Unfortunately, as the night came to an end we found ourselves in a long taxi line with the potential of not being picked up b/c our ride was going to be such a short one. But after so many hours of dancing, we couldn't bear to walk home in our heels. So we did the next best thing...we sat in a cafe (because cafes in Paris never seem to close) until 5 in the morning when the Metros started back up and took the Metro home. Needless to say we were exhausted but it was the perfect way to end the trip!

Howdy from Louisiana

I've been in Louisiana auditing for the last 2 weeks and I'm hear for this week too. It's been pretty fun. Over the weekend we went to LSUs campus and I had my picture taken in front of the Kappa house (those will be posted on Facebook sometime soon next week). Then I spent some time in the Mall of Louisiana (and didn't buy anything if you can believe it!). I also drove around and gawked at the huge houses in Baton Rouge and wished I could go ahead and retire right now. Yesterday we went to New Orleans for the day. Because it was a work trip, I kept my alcohol consumption to a minimum. I wish I could say the same for this girl that was visiting one of the guys on my team. If I'd been driving, I wouldn't have let her come in the car. But I did buy myself a souvenier (another addition to "the collection" Sauce!) and can now say that I've been there. I also eaten a lot of seafood including raw oysters and crawfish in almost any form.
To keep myself entertained these days, I'm counting down the days to Paris (20!!) and the days till I get to go home and visit my family (12!!). Grandma Emel who is visiting from Turkey is quite anxious to see me and I haven't seen her since last July so it'll be a nice little reunion.
I found out that when I go to Germany for work I have to fly on my own and make it to the hotel by myself. They asked me if I wanted to rent a car. Seeing as I can barely drive in the US where people obey traffic laws (for the most part) I declined. Especially since they said even if they request an automatic (which is twice as expensive as a stick), there is no guarantee I'll get one. I can't imagine anything worse then driving from France (the closest airport to my hotel is actually in France) to Germany alone in a stick shift car. But I'm sure it would make for some good stories!