This night was by far one of the most fun so far.  Even though I had a fever and it essential broke that night, it was still a crazy experience.  Not only was I in my favorite city in the world, but I was there during their Independence Day “Bastille Day.”  It was so fun.  We had only been in France for a few days before we traveled from Reims to France to have our free day, but after our tour in Paris we were off to go experience it for ourselves.  I was appointed the guide to the hostel where we stayed, and made it there fairly easily and checked ourselves into the 3ducks Hostel.  It was my first real experience with a hostel, and it was pretty nice.  There was a courtyard that was placed in the middle of the structure and then surrounding the courtyard was our rooms, mine being a 6 bed dormer.  It was fine for conditions, a sink, a mirror, 6 beds, no sheets, and exposed piping.   Very industrial chic.  But fortunately they did have internet, which had avoided me for the past few nights, and I was now able to see if I had missed anything important on email.  I had.  Dom had emailed me his room number at the Hilton Paris, and I was expecting to hang out with him that night, his last in Paris.  I quickly got ready, and headed out to the Eiffel Tower, which was 300 feet from the Hilton Paris and went searching.
I got his room number on his facebook, and went and knocked on his door, and was greeted by Josh Peters, not Dom, but Dom quickly emerged around the corner relieving my uncomfortable feeling.  We hung out in his room, which overlooked the tower, and then got something to eat before the fireworks.  French steak is not good.  But I fought through the meal and got ready to see the show.  There was a huge show on the Champs de Mars, the lawn in front of the Tower, and we went closer to the tower to avoid that crowd.  From there, we watched it and listened to classical music while observing fireworks explode through the Eiffel Tower.  It was by far the most beautiful thing I have seen.  The fireworks where actually artful, much different from America, that shoots all the fireworks at the same time, and the music fit perfectly.  They even played my favorite opera piece, which was just icing on the cake.  So we walked back to the hotel room after the show, watched the light show from the balcony, and decided to try and make it to a club, which I never made it to, because of my fever.  I traveled through the metro on my own, and made it back to the room right around the same time the rest of the crew came back from their exciting night.  Enjoyed the night, or that remaining, and slept soundly.  We had breakfast included the next day, which was awesome, and toured the sights, Tower, Orsay, Tulleries Gardens, Concorde Plaza, and Champs Elysses.  Tough Day.

This last week has really been a crazy time.  We’ve traveled from Brighton to Reims (Champagne Capital of the World) to Paris, back to Reims, to EuroDisney, to Brussels (to eat waffles) back to Reims, back to Brighton.  During this time, fun was had.  Reims was an awesome town to be stationed in.  It was about the same size as Brighton, a little smaller, but much more pedestrian friendly.  We were staying in the middle of the shopping area, and this made it so easy to get around and see some of the stores and cafes it had to offer.  We were there for Saturday and Sunday, and then made our way to the great city of Paris.  All this time, we had no internet, or no access to FREE internet rather, which caused an issue with blogging.  On the other hand, I had very little issue spending money on other things in Paris and the rest of France, which displayed itself once I got to access my bank accounts, via internet.
The tour of Paris we had was very jumbled and oddly organized, with a three hour lunch sandwiched in the middle of the day…inside, but having been before, and knowing that i would have the following day to actually see the sights we just briefly passed.  I did however manage to lead a tour around the Louvre in just under 2 hours, still managing to see the main sights, including some I’d never seen before like Napoleon’s Apartments.  It appears that I’ve become a sort of reference point on this trip for international travel advice, in which leading tours is just one of my duties.  I don’t mind it at all, in fact, I quite enjoy it, because it enables me to see what I’d like to see, all in the name of assistance (selfish, I know).  But that ended our tour day in Paris, and in my next entry I’ll talk more about the night and day in Paris.  But needless to say, at the end of tuesday the 15th I was back in Reims.  Actually, it was around 3 PM, which was as a result of me forgetting my previously purchased tickets in Brighton when we left.  But all ended well, because Travis and I were horrible exhausted and needed to get back quickly.  I had enough time to go get food from the grocery there, get medicine for my illness (which caused the exhaustion), and sleep.  I was able to actually stay awake for 3 to 4 hours after my return to Reims, but at 7 PM I feel asleep, until morning.  Technically that’s not true, because I was waken up by the bunch coming back from the clubs at 2 AM, that entered the room through our adjoining room.  They were mad because I hadn’t gone out, which I am constantly pestering people to, when I’m healthy.  So after a brief intermission to my short coma I woke up at 10 and was ready for what the world had in store, which happened to be a Champagne House tour at Vraken Pommery.  It was sweet, but less like a wine tasting tour, and more like an art gallery.  It was sweet, but also very odd.  Almost scary.  But that day eventually came to a close at 9 PM where I slept forever again (which can’t really happen, but my exaggerations seem more dramatic) and woke for Brussels.  It was a totally necessary 3 hour bus ride to eat a waffle and see the EU for another 3 hour bus ride.  Totally worth it.  We did manage to find a local brewery though, where we decided 2 Liters of beer a piece would be a good idea.  And it was.  The following day we went to EuroDisney, and I’ll talk about that next entry.

So after three terribly uncomfortable days without Internet, and a few that had other activities planned, I am writing you for the first time in my temporary residence.  It’s been a crazy already, and increasingly difficult to sleep, seeing as I’d like to really know the town before I leave.  The plan ride was more difficult than I had expected, because although I really did want to sleep on the flight, I decided that drinking Starbucks would be a good idea.  It was not a good idea.  I was basically wired for the whole flight.  But that came and went, and we landed in Gatwick, meandered through a 30 minute immigration line and grabbed our luggage.  All 22 of us made it through with our luggage.  In fact, our entire trip had luggage, so kudos to the airlines.  Then we hopped on a train to Brighton, which had there been a language barrier I would have been on the wrong train, and arrived quickly.  Our flats aren’t much to look at, but they are comfortable for what we’re doing.  My only complaint is that there is no general “hang-out” area.  All the flats lock behind you, and no one is really comfortable with who’s in each room, so its been a bit awkward for a few days.  We went out as a group that night to dinner and for drinks, and it was a great way for every one to relax and get to know each other.  It was a fun night.
Then the morning came.  We may have had too much the fun the following day of travel, but I and the rest of us managed to make it through an awesome day.  We visited Salisbury, a smaller town, with a massive cathedral, and walked into a orchestral rehearsal that was one of the most amazing things I’d ever seen or heard.  Amazing.  It was a pretty full day of touring with an old British lady named Judy, whose walking pace was much faster than her speaking, and finally got to our Holiday Inn (ahh the comforts of home).
The following morning was Stonehenge.  After a wake up call for 5 am set through my TV, which made the loudest noise prior to rupturing ear drums, I got ready, realized I brought no warm clothes in my day bag, and boarded the bus.  It was really cool to go on the special access tour, really cool.  We were allowed almost free reign over the area, with the exception of climbing on the stones, and I got some pretty memorable photos.  This was all over by 6:45 AM, which is even more impressive if you think about it in EST.  But the tour didn’t stop there.  Nor did Judy.  We at breakfast, checked out, and moved onto Woodhenge, Avebury, and any other stone circle made at least 2000 years ago.  I passed more sheep and sheep droppings than I previously ever had, and trekked through more rain and wind than most would expected on a guided tour.  All together though, it was an amazing experience.  Stonehenge is an internationally recognized landmark, and to be able to walk inside the circle was really interesting.  But the weekend has passed, and now we’re on to class.  It’s a bit more fast paced than I would have thought, but when you take 3 credits in 4 days, things change.  I’ll be writing more this week, and plan on heading to London thursday, so you’ll hear from me shortly

Cheers,
Matt