Bonjour!! My name is Justine Candelaria and I’m originally from El Paso Texas. I’m a rising sophomore at Rice University studying mechanical engineering. I had never been to Europe before so being able to explore the Netherlands and now Paris has been so special to me. I’m so excited for Paris! Seeing the Eiffel Tower has been a bucket list item for me! Since being here, I was able to speak decent French at the grocery store to the point where the cashier asked me if I was Italian or French. 😆 Noooo haha I just watched a YT video on the train ride over here from Amsterdam. :))
Something I experienced in Amsterdam that I wonder if I will experience in Paris is getting to know other kids our age. While in Amsterdam we had classes with the UvA students. This collaboration allowed us to meet other college students our age and gain different perspectives. We often had conversations about the difference in politics or how our college experiences are drastically different. However, at the end of the day we realized although from a different country we like similar things and enjoy the same activities.
A feeling I hope to feel while in Paris is the “Wow” factor. I can best describe this factor as the way it’s displayed on TV or the stigma around Paris. Paris is known for being the pretty aged city that has the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa. On TV throughout many shows it’s depicted as THE destination to visit for its many monuments and it’s delicious food. In popular movies or TV shows it’s shown that the main characters travel to Paris when they want to explore a new beautiful place. For example in “Heart-stopper” a Netflix show the class takes a field trip to Paris to go explore and get closer to each other. Another example is in Spiderman Far From Home. Spiderman played by Tom Holland, has a field trip with his class in which they go to Europe. In Europe he goes on many adventures with his friends and learns more about who he is and who he wants to be as he decides to tell MJ who is played by Zendaya, that he is Spiderman. Paris is projected as the city where people learn more about themselves and enjoy the beautiful architecture and experience.
Outside of the course I am most excited to explore Paris, specifically the historical monuments and museums. Visiting Paris has been a dream of mine for such a long time and the fact that my parents haven’t been to Europe before made me want to strive to achieve the opportunity to study abroad. I want to be able to FaceTime and show them everything. I’m so excited to see the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa. I’m an artist so being able to see one of the core pieces of art ever created is a big moment for me. I can’t wait to roam around the streets and explore everything I can. I’ll be sure to go to the places in one of the Netflix shows I just finished-heart stopper. I’ll go see everything they did.
I plan to explore Paris by creating a list of the things I want to do and organize it from highest priority to lowest priority. From there I will create a calendar and assign something to each day. I will try to organize these dates by farthest to closest. That way I can explore more of Paris while also getting more familiar with the zone I live in.
A happy memory I want to make in Paris is going to see the Eiffel Tower Sparkle! This monument has been in so many movies, TV shows and books and I truly feel like this is something you cannot die without seeing. A part of me can’t even believe I’m actually here, it feels so surreal. I just want to take in every moment, enjoy the class and see/explore everything I can. UPDATE: As a class we went to go see the Eiffel Tower Sparkle and it was incredible. I gasped and said “WOW” countless times. We all ran around taking as many selfies and photos of each other that we could. It was beautiful and words can’t describe how happy I was to finally see the monument in person. I definitely experienced the “WOW” factor I wanted to experience in Paris, and it’s only day one.
THE BEST VIDEO EVER!! YOU HAVE TO CLICK ON IT!
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Song of the Day: https://youtu.be/7cv7RPSCIMo?si=o3HnJgaKjJ60mM8U