Today, I climbed the Eiffel Tower. Tomorrow, my legs will hurt.

One thing I forgot to mention about my room (and dorm in general): it smells funny. Like, it really, really smells funny. Luckily, my aunt gave me a ton of perfume samples – her friend owns a perfume store – and I accidentally brought some with me to Paris. It seems a happy accident that the perfume I brought over… was Paris Hilton’s Heiress. So, yes, my room now smells like it has been doused in Paris Hilton. I’m not entirely sure if that’s a good or a bad thing.

Today, I once again attempted to get a SIM card. Being the silly American I am, I forgot that lots of stores aren’t open on Sundays… including the phone store. My bad. Third time’s the charm, oui?

Quick aside: there are condom machines in the Paris metro station. I think it’s a pretty fantastic idea… though the fact that they also sell female condoms is really damn impressive. Contraceptives, feminine hygiene products, and JELLY BEANS were available for purchase in the Dublin airport’s women’s bathroom. I failed to snap a picture in Dublin, but so, so totally succeeded in Paris:

My afternoon was filled with a LOT of walking. We attempted to roam around the Paris Opéra, but found out that the auditorium was closed on account of rehearsal. Boo. We did, however, take a few cool pictures:

Did you know that the Paris Opéra contains 17 stories of awesome? Seven of the stories are underground, which means that the Phantom of the Opera has some pretty sweet digs.

Afterwards, we dropped by the Fragonard (perfume) Museum. I think my new side-research-obsession will be perfume – I am absolutely fascinated by how oils, essences, etc. are distilled! I didn’t take any pictures inside the museum, but here are a few fun facts I learned on the tour:

• Perfume contains the highest percentage of essence/aromatic compounds. I forget the exact percentage, but I think it’s around 40%

• Eau de Toilette is composed of about 15% aromatic compounds

• Cologne is composed of about 5% aromatic compounds

• Perfumers have some seriously intense – but sweet – jobs. Apparently, there are only 2 places in the world where you can learn the art of the perfumer, and both are extremely selective and extremely difficult to graduate from. As a perfumer, you cannot eat spicy foods or drink alcohol for 20 years, lest you mess up your nose. The upside is that you can’t work for more than 2 hours a day; perhaps if you did, your olfactory senses would be absolutely SHOT.

I attempted to resist their pitch at the end, but upon realizing that I don’t actually own any real perfume, gave in and bought a small bottle of “Belle de Nuit.” The fragrance mostly smells like a flower that only blooms at night; the name of the flower and the place it is found, however, has completely slipped my mind. All I know is that it smells pretty awesome.

Afterwards, we had a nice, long walk along the Seine:

Then we climbed up the Eiffel Tower. I’m impressed that I didn’t fall and kill myself:
There was a cafe in the Eiffel Tower... and it sold Eiffel Tower lollipops!
As we were leaving, the tower started to light up:
My legs feel fine now, but I’m pretty sure that I’ll feel the burn tomorrow morning. After I stopped fencing, my quads have turned to jelly. Yeeesh.

Tomorrow, I finally begin classes! I’m excited, though a wee bit confused. Our schedule is pretty effing confusing; I get the feeling that whoever compiled it is not a native English speaker.

And with that, I’m going to stop wasting time. I’m just reveling in the fact that I actually have time to spare – no job and no extracurrics means that I have more time on my hands than I have ever, ever had before! Then again, I should be putting this extra time towards planning weekend excursions… and, uh, writing my B.A. Whoooops.

xoxo,
D