Madventures

I’ve spent all of my money on crepes and pastries. Somebody please stop me. 

This trip was EVERY bit of chaotic. Maybe it’s because four young college girls were the ones that planned it only a week before departure, but that’s besides the point. 

If you know me, I love spontaneous adventures. I love living life like a real-life escape room. Not truly knowing what I am getting myself into, but having somewhat of an idea, figuring life out one thing at a time and observing the things around me for inspiration. 

It also doesn’t help that flights are dangerously cheap while living on this side of the world. I have a tendency to book trips when I am bored and have a habit of clicking the “checkout” button before my brain even processes if it is a smart idea or not. That is how I ended up in Budapest that next week. I wasn’t really sure what Budapest had to offer yet, but the flights were cheap and the name of the city sounded cool. I never know where I will end up next. What’s the fun in having life figured out anyways?

The only thoughts I put into my trips are the things that I truly have to know. I see if the city is safe or not, if there is a cheap public transportation system, and if I have a place to stay (sometimes). Besides that, it’s a free game. However, one useful thing we forgot to even think about while planning this trip was the language barrier. How did we forget that French citizens spoke French (Blonde Moment)?

As a result, we were scrambling around and trying to navigate through the metro system with every bit of French spoken to us (very humbling by the way). We eventually thought we were getting the hang of things until the metro we were on stopped and a voice came through the intercom. At this time, the doors opened and many frustrated people stormed off. Still not having a clue of what the person announced over the intercom, we were the only people on the metro now. Looking at each other in confusion, we still carried on like we were supposed to be there until we realized that we were not moving after twenty minutes of waiting. We finally got off to look for other ways to navigate. We ran into some people who attempted to help us, however, they would say something and we would respond back with three blank faces.

 In fact, I would do anything to go back and watch the surveillance cameras in the metro station to see our clueless faces. The “the lights are on, but nobody’s home” type-faces, following with the sound of crickets until the person eventually gave up on us and walked away (sorry locals). However, this is what made it so much fun. Being in such a foreign country is a feeling like no other. You have absolutely no idea what you’re doing or how you ended up in the moment, but you just roll with what you have – even if it’s a crepe in one hand and $10 in your bank account. 

If you haven’t noticed a common pattern, we were always at a crepe stand. We were actually obsessed in the most unhealthy way. Once again, we made our way back to another crepe stand while stalling to see the eiffel tower twinkle for the first time. We waited all day for this moment. Matter of fact, we have been waiting our whole life for this moment. Losing track of time, we realized we had one minute to spare before the Eiffel Tower lit up and dazzled. 

Surrounded by other tourists, people selling souvenirs on the streets, and people trying to scam us, we were stuck in the middle of chaos quickly throwing money on the stand for our crepe. We started sprinting as fast as we could with crepes in our hands and chocolate dripping down our faces like toddlers. 

Suddenly, time stopped. 

The top of the hour hit and we were jolted back in amazement, coming to a quick stop. This experience is truly indescribable. The lights twinkled so gracefully. How does something so cliche make you feel this type of feeling? How does blinking lights on a tower that was built solely for France to flex on other countries make people this emotional? Tears slowly rolled down our faces, or at least my face. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Being beside your new best friends and experiencing this moment was a dream. My whole life, this one moment remained high on my bucket list. This was the moment where I made my seventh grade pinterest board become a reality. 

This was the exact moment where I realized I made it. I made my dream come true.

People spend their whole life dreaming about going to Paris. I dream that everyone gets to experience these types of moments. 

The following day was just as chaotic as the first day. Our weekend trip to Paris was coming to an end. We started our morning off doing the basic touristy activities, such as visiting the Louvre and what not. 

To be honest, I know nothing about art, but I knew the Mona Lisa was in there, so that calls for an adventure. That fascinated me for literally two minutes. It was small and overhyped, but whatever. 

Leaving the Louvre, we bought some macaroons, and explored the other side of the city. 

Next, the weirdest thing happened. My friend, Zayne, called out to a person walking on the street. The rest of our friends just looked at each other in confusion. The man that Zayne called out on the street happened to be Bill McAdams Jr., who also happens to be a stunt double and stand- in for Chris Evans, and Michael Douglas’ dialogue coach in Ant-Man. She worked with him on a movie set back in Cincinnati. 

We did not know whether to be surprised at the fact we ran into him in Paris or not shocked at all because Zayne has the wildest connections and the weirdest encounters. That girl is a walking magnet of weird experiences. She was once on the same plane as Ian Somerhalder, the main character on Vampire Diaries, and casually talked to him like it was an everyday conversation. Long story short, Zayne is our social butterfly that manifests the weirdest situations and it truly is a small world, afterall. 

……..

Starting to wrap up the night, we headed to the Eiffel Tower again. This time, we were on the other side of it, watching from a bench from afar. We not only noticed the beautiful tower in front of us, but we also noticed a beautiful man resting on his bike, with dreamy flowy hair. This man came straight out of a book. He truly was a real-life prince charming. At this moment, we schemed up a new rule for traveling in a group huddle. The new rule was that we had to meet at least one new friend each place we went to. He was the perfect one. After debating back and forth whether to go talk to him or not, we decided that we would regret it later in life. In fact, I once read in a travel memoir written by Kristen Newman, 

“…my mom asked me which I’d rather have a vacation with no friends, or one scary moment.” 

This was our one scary moment. We worked up the courage to ask him about all the best local restaurants. We did everything our parents taught us not to do in life- talk to strangers. He turned out to be a friendly local who attended University nearby. He was our age with many common interests. He walked us to a restaurant a few blocks away and even ate dinner with us. He taught us how to speak some French. He also taught us about his culture and ended up not being a killer after all (Brownie Points).

Ending our night, our friends made our way to the Eiffel Tower one last time. We spent our time sitting in a different view so that we were able to get every angle of the tower. This one was the most magical one. This was the reason why Paris is known to be romantic. Violins started to play, couples were slow dancing, and the time paused around us. We made it. The chaos was worth it. We never wanted to say goodbye to this place. 

Mom, I made it.