Not just your average field trip, my friends.

^^^ the view from where we ate lunch.

^^^ my second time in Paris. Just as beautiful.

^^^ The crew! Antoine, Camille, Solen, Justine, Louise, and Perriene :)







I officially survived my first French field trip, though I'd be lying if I said it took a lot of effort. The trip was for Physics, which I wasn't too thrilled about, seeing as I have officially chosen the Liturature path in life, and I don't like to be forced to use the scientific portion of my brain. I don't even think that part of my brain fuctions, to be completely honest with you. We went to the Palais de la Decouvert, a science museum in the center of Paris. I wasn't dreading it, but I definitely didn't know how I was going to survive 7 hours in a science museum. It turns out I not only survived it, it was one of the best days I've had in France so far.

We left the school on a Bieber Bus (I don't know what they're called here, but that's what we call them in the states...) at 8:00 am. The bus ride went by fast, and so did my iPod battery. I spent the entire bus ride listening to an angry white man yell about how he wants to kill his wife. (I'm going through a hardcore Eminem phase right now) We arrived in Paris around 12. I had never driven in the circle around L'arc du Triomphe, but I had heard from Madame Lewars that it is very dangerous, and should not be attempted by inexperienced drivers. Fortunately, the bus driver happened to be very experienced, and we made it to Champs Elysees unscathed.

  Although I was slightly fearing for my life, the view of L'arc du Triomphe from the chaotic, blurred circle of cars was gorgeous.

I'd say we were "dropped off" by the bus driver, but we were more like "thrown off" the bus by the bus driver. I knew something was wrong when I saw his eyes bulging out of his head and his arms flailing uncontrolably. He seemed to have calmed down though once he was sucking down his cancer stick and we were all off the bus and on our merry way. I think the 4 hours of teenage babble really got to him...it got to me too...

At this point, the proffesor said "get lost." Okay, maybe those weren't his words exactly, but they might as well have been. He said, "You can go wherever you want to eat lunch, but be at the museum by 13:00." So basically, we were free to roam Paris for an hour until our time slot at the museum opened up. Good deal. Better than all the field trips to Nolde Forest, I've been on. The crew and I found a nice spot next to the Seine River, overlooking the Eiffel tower. (As shown in the above picture) It was pretty much as good as it gets.

Me and Camille :)

^^^ Like all buildings in Paris, the architecture of the museum was amazing.

Once inside the museum, it was like going through airport security on September 12, 2001. Our bags were searched, and put inside a locked cage, and rolled away before we could even utter a word of objection. Strange, but I wouldn't want to be blown up, so the extreme precaution was quite alright with me.

After our bags were put in the bulletproof room, we were each handed a packet of papers the size of a 8 year old's Christmas list, and told that we'd find the answers to all the questions in the different exhibits. Ok. We're in a French museum. All the exhibits are in French. I guess Brooke isn't finding the answers. It's a good thing I have generous friends who don't mind lending their work to the poor American girl, desprite the teacher's strict "NE TRICHE PAS!" warnings. (no cheating)

After walking around the museum for which seemed like 9 hours, (it was only 45 minutes) we were all hearded into a tiny room to watch the "Electromagnetique Spectaculaire." Some guy with an intense amount of energy showed us different experiments all having to do with electricity. It was actually really interesting. I got to sit for an hour and watch different 16 year old voluteers get the s**t shocked out of them. It was hilarious, These two girls, one of them being my friend Marie, were put in a cage filled with static, and all their hair stood up. No one could stop laughing, and they had no idea what was going on...

After this demonstration, there was another one which I'm not even going to elaborate much on, because it was probably one of the most boring things I've ever sat through. Some lady stood and talked about the Periodic Table of Elements for an hour. It was terrible. Her boots were REALLY cute though.

After "The Boring Lady," we were free to roam some more around the museum, and there were lots of little hands- on things that kept us entertained until it was time to go. There was this little room that you went in, and it measured your body heat and showed in on a screen to the people outside the room. It showed the different temperatures in those rainbow colors. (you know, hot areas are red, orange, and yellow, and cold are blue and green) I went in, and everyone outside the room starts laughing, and I didn't know why. Then I hear Remmy yelling, "BROOKE, BROOKE! Your nose is blue!" I went out and looked, and sure enough, my nose was totally blue. My chest: red. My shoulders: red. My head: red. My nose: BLUE. It was hilarious. Everyone was saying it must be an American thing. I say it must have been due to the fact that the museum felt like a freezer.

^^^ I'm on the left, obviously.

^^^ there were also these really huge lenses, and I'm sure they had an educational purpose, but we didn't read it. We were content just making funny faces into them.

We got on the bus around 5:45. (17:45 France time) To be honest, I was worried about the bus ride to and from Paris. I didn't know what to expect. However, I was pleasantly relieved to find that the bus is just like it is in America: it's the best part of the whole trip. I don't know what I expected. Prim and proper kids discussing what they liked and disliked about the museum...I don't know. I came to find that once we got on the bus, no one even remembered we had just spent them last 7 hours in a museum. Finding who had the best food and begging them to give you some was everyone's main priority. The bus rides were loud, immature, and crazy. Just the way I'm used to, and just the way they're supposed to be.

Overall, it was a great day. Good friends always make any field trip fun, and although I would have liked if my friends from home were there, I had a GREAT time, and I can't wait for the next one. (it's another trip to Paris in October :)