wait a sec, i don't think you posted enough pictures.

[nooooooo, don't make me leeeeeeeave.]

remember that one day that was the best day of my life?

i was wrong. very wrong.

let's start at the very beginning [a very goood place to starrt. when you read you begin with "a-b-c". okay, done with my sound of music timez.], duh.

last thursday, we had french 457 in the morning, which was actually very interesting. we watched a movie about this french man who fell in love with the twin towers in new york and had a dream of tight-roping across the two [before they fell. rest in peace.]. i was just very inspired with the fact that he said he couldn't imagine life without walking across the two, and how he literally laid down on the rope and watched the clouds. yeah, crazy crap right there. love that he's got a passion and he's following it though.

anyways, after class, daryl was talking about this really yummy boulangerie/patisserie [bread and pastries] down the road that he'd show us. so a few of us tagged along, which was a really good idea because it got us out of our close-minded rut. you see, it's very easy to get into routine here. especially because things aren't so familiar so you want to just stick to the goodness you've already found. and humans are creatures of habit. and we're just silly. 

but like i was saying, daryl walked us over just about a block in the opposite direction that we normally look around and there were some really cool looking shops along the way [remember how i was saying that you can go a few minutes away and be in a completely different feeling place? that's why i love it here.], which, of course, got me excited. i love me some fashion.

the boulangerie was called huré. and man, was it making love to my camera. see for yourselves.

[okay, i'll do it.]

[see that swirly thing in the left-hand corner? remember that for later......]

 [see that sablé amande? yeah, remember that too. don't have no shame.]

[little tartlets, i would like you to get in my belly right now.]

[you as well, varieties of bread.]

i only got a plain croissant, because i wasn't really hungry[whaaa? say it ain't so]. and because i have been craving one for a couple weeks [my darn host mom gives me sandwich bread in the morning.....like in america....wtf madame, this is france!]. but by george, i'll be back to conquer that place in one sitting. just you wait henry higgins....

after that, daryl started walking again and we didn't know if we were allowed to walk away or if we should follow him [he is our teacher/study abroad director] so we followed him. 

through a courtyard.

and a church.

and by some more cool shops.

 [one of my paris favorites.]

[from an amazing collection that's going to be featured in paris fashion week. shveet.]

 then he turned around and said bye to us, so we awkwardly walked away, and luckily there was this really cool modern artsy shop that we escaped to. seriously, it had the most innovative and unique things in there. everything was so clever and witty. and expensive :[ it was still really fun to look at though. i always love me some eye candy [or just candy...]

 [cutie moustache mugs. yes, i am making a fish face. on purpose. my face isn't naturally formed like that.]

[i laughed out loud on this one. it totally reminds me of something my roommate tracy would have.]

after that, we decided to hit up the one and only, galeries lafayette.

now, if you don't know what that is already [i don't blame you], then shame on you [apparently i do blame you]. think gigantic gorgeous art museum-looking building meets three costco's full of the nicest designer clothes/makeup/accessories ever. yeah. i have never felt so happy and so sad at the same time. literally, my heart hurt. i walked around the entire time with my mouth open and my camera snapping. at one moment, i saw this employee watching me taking pictures and i asked if it was okay that i was taking pictures and she hesitated and said "why do you take?" and i smiled and said"....because i love?". really though, it was heaven for me. and that's an understatement. i didn't want to leave. i 'm pretty sure i could be happy for the rest of my life living in that place and just walking around every day, taking pictures and trying things on and just dying with happiness.

[the absolutely exquisite ceiling. seriously, the place itself is gorgeous. i think i'd go there, even without the amazing clothes perk.]

[a few of the many.]

 [i would like that shoe. i would not like that price. not at all.]

 [stella mccartney. love that architechtural crap.]

 [dsquared2. maria, you know i thought about you when i saw this!]

[oh, i love plaid. i love it too much.]

i was taking so many pictures and videos, i'm sure i looked like a straight-up tourist. especially with my mouth open and my wanting eyes. but i didn't care, i wasn't going to miss out on capturing the mems. as me and sam say in our best valley girl voices, "total tourist, don't even give a...".

we left by default, and by that, i mean we were starving. so we decided to grab a sandwich and go sit and eat in the tuileries gardens. and by that, i mean i got a foccacia bread tomato and ham pizza and ate it on the way to the garden. typical michelle. never following the rules. always coloring outside the lines. always walking the wrong way. i'm done.

[not bad. it would've been better if it was warmed up. but cold pizza is never something i argue with. not that i actually argue with food.....]

and oh happy day, what do you know, there was a laduree on the way. yes baby, another macaron place. and of course we had to go! the line was really long inside, but definitely worth the wait. i decided on caramel, coconut, and chocolate [shocker]. i am seriously on the biggest caramel, coconut, and chocolate kick lately. i cannot get enough. really though, it's unhealthy. as in i'm eating it right now. totally kidding.......................

[mmmmm, so freakin' good. it was a tie between caramel and coconut because the caramel tasted JUST like caramel. and coconut....had pieces of coconut in it. seriously, these pieces are genius'. they get the job done, and they do it well apparently because it's 2 euros a pop.]

i would definitely say that laduree was better than pierre herme, or at least the location of laduree i went to was better than the pierre herme location that i went to. there were way more flavors that i loved, plus they were nicer to me. and they had cuter outfits. 

[for some reason, i have the urge to run down this every time i look down it.]

we sat in the gardens for a bit because we were way tired [oogling lafayette's goodies really can take it out of you]. and we enjoy people watching. it's basically part of the culture here in france, which i love, because i love people watching. my favorite is trying to picture what people are talking about in my head. it gets interesting, let's just say. i've got what some people call an imagination. we'll leave it at that for now.

[oh my gosh, garment bags. on the streets.]

me and tiff are both avid fashion lovers, and duh, it's fashion week in paris here, which is basically the social event of the season [i love saying that]. so we were determined to find the tents/runway shows/lagerfeld/a model/anything fashion just to say we were somehow apart of fashion week. so we talked annie and sam into coming with us over to an address i had googled that was supposedly supposed to be one of the locations. basically like bryant park. so we went off in search, and what did we find when we arrived to the location? the louvre. yes. is this some sick joke google?! are you trying to stop my heart?? i believe you are. anyways, tiff talked us into trying it out and looking around inside to see if there were any signs of a runway show going on in that baby. through some heavy detective work [we looked at the map and found the area marked something like "exposition rooms" and tally ho-ed it over there.]

[yes, i am a super dork and took a picture. guys, i was freaking out.]

and look what we found!

and a video of me being super "sneaky" and detective-like. don't worry, it's not like i was blatantly obvious or anything with my camera pointed at the people. like i said, i have no shame.

finally, we got the courage to go up and talk to those guards. actually, more like i forced sam to go up because i already looked way lame with my camera-stalking skills, and i didn't want them to think i was an obsessive freak or anything. and ummm, they said IT WAS. and it actually wasn't a huge secret or anything [note the signs all over the wall saying it was there], but the fact that we were able to find it all on our own, plus it was freaking paris fashion week! made it all so much cooler. i know it may sound pretty lame, but it really made my day.

[obviously. yep, i was embarrassingly excited.]

after we had sherlock holm-ed it for a couple hours, we decided to head over to the saint michel area to try and find some really good indian food again. tiff's mom had suggested this place that we couldn't really remember the name of, but tiff said she could probably remember the name if she saw it. and if not, at least we could just walk around notre dame or something like that. and lucky us, we ran into the lock bridge [figuratively].

background on the lock bridge: so apparently, all the locks on this bridge are from couples that put the date they got married with their names on the lock and click it onto the bridge and throw away the key, symbolizing eternal love. it's pretty adorable. and they supposedly do it all over, but this bridge especially had thousands of locks.

 [this one was way cute. one asked "will you marry me?" and the one attached to it said "with pleasure". too adorable.]

[so that's what his name'll be. okay well if i must, i must. bring it on, raphael.]

we headed over to saint michel and actually found tiff's mom's indian food place pretty easily. it was called safron. and it made me crazily miss maria, rick, and jit because whenever i get indian food, it's always with them. it was really good though, and not bad price-wise either.

 [oh, don't mind me, just gonna complimentary bong it up while i wait for my dinner to come.]

 [i know this looks like something that came out the other end, but it's not. promise promise.]

 [naaaaaaan bread. boom baby.]

 [complimentary bindi's. so cool. i have yet to use mine though. saving them for something good. something reeeaaal good aka maybe halloween? we'll see. it'll be an adventure.]

if you can't tell, i got saag paneer. i believe it was composed of spinach and lentils, and man, it is delicious with the naan bread. i had to choose either naan or the yummy rice because neither came with my plate [what's a girl to do?], and didn't want to be all fat a at the table and get both, so i got naan. and shared half with hailey. i'll pause for your commending standing ovation for my surprising secret abilities to share carbs.

even though i was nice and full after i finished, i wasn't quite satisfied. and of course, amorino's was just down the street. i think i'll always be able to justify sliding in gelato to seal the deal in my stomach. it's just too dang good here to pass up. sérieusement guys, you wouldn't judge if you were here. and do i even have to tell you what flavors i got? i know, i'm so predictable.

[holy crap, this picture just ruined my night.]

as you can see, my day was pretty all over the place with many overwhelming and new experiences. it was a nice wake-up call though to get out and try new areas and places, and to really try hard to break away from doing the same things every day [except don't judge me for amorino. that's one place i just can't shake off. ever.] because that would be such a waste of paris, the city of a million cool shops/restaurants/buildings/sights/hot men/nice clothes/total tangent that needs to stop now.

random pictures that didn't make the cut/too random to introduce but can't be forgotten:

 [just some asian butt-lovin'. no big deal. and no, that is not my hand.]

[wait, this is a dog...and not a cow? seriously, biggest dog i've ever seen in my life. i straight-up turned around and took an obvious picture. good thing his owner was probably sloshed and didn't recognize.]

well, tomorrow morning i've got the tour eiffel to climb up, and we all know how interesting that'll be. just picture me basically crawling up that thing. because that's what's gonna happen five minutes into it. again, no shame.