First leg: To France and Edinburgh

So I started out at Seatac of course.  My sister dropped me off-it was hard saying goodbye.  I went to security...there I met my friend Muriel Veronica who went to Lake Stevens! That was cool to see a friendly face right from the start. We sat together at the terminal and just talked about who we know and who we don't.  I felt bad for her cause she was leaving her boyfriend-I guess they met at home in Washington and have been dating for several years now. They both take turns going back and forth to each other between Germany and the U.S.  I thought it was really special:)
After then we got to board the plane...it was alright nothing unusual but there were a lot of babies-the one behind me sure liked playing with my hair lol.  It was strange hearing all the flight attendants say everything in French! They would say it in French and then repeat in English.  There were quite a few Indian people on the plane and they all ate this special curry meal.  Lol so I was kinda surrounded by non-deodorant wearing, curry eating people.  It wasn't the most pleasant smelling but they kept to themselves and were fairly quiet.  Their kids were not however!
The flight was long but Air France is cool cause they have free beer and wine and you can watch movies on this little screen on the back of the seat in front of you.  They had this big catalog of new American movies and cds and games and stuff that could keep you occupied.  It was really cool too we could track our flight and see our flight path as we went.  When we took off you could even see an actual video of the ground beneath us!  The meal was ok it was this beef dish and it was like ground beef mixed with mash potatoes and gravy and mushrooms. Interesting but good.
After we landed we got on a shuttle on the airfield and they bussed us to the terminal.

It took me about a half hour to buy some wifi and get in touch with Des (my sister) and let her know I got there ok.  My flight left at 2PM and I landed in France at 8:30AM.  France is nine hours ahead of the U.S. so it was a long day. I had a 12 hour layover so I decided to take the train into downtown Paris and visit the Louvre! It took me about an hour and a half to find a place to check my carryon bags in and buy a train ticket.  Lol French people can be really nice or really grumpy and I met both! When I was sitting in the airport this dude came and sat next to my bags while I was sitting against the nearest wall.  It was weird cause he beelined straight for my bags so I got up and moved them down next to me.  Like two min later he got up and moved away so it kinda creeped me out. I could tell he was staring at me and I wasn't sure if he was a thief or not but he gave me a bad vibe so I moved my stuff and kept on to my own thing.

So after I bought my train ticket I had to find the right metro-they have a big station under the airport and it's way different because they have different platforms and once you get to the actual stations in downtown Paris you have to navigate underground tunnels and its like a big maze! They have different levels to each station and its super complicated. But there are signs and I met some really nice people that helped me navigate. This really nice lady even gave me the map she had and helped me make sure I got on the right train! After I got to the Louvre I got the hang of it.  In order to get there I had to take two trains.  I took the RER B line from Charles De Gaulle Airport to the Chatelet de Halles Station and then I boarded the trained that stopped at Palaise Musee de Louvre.  After I got off there I just walked up the stairs and there it was! The square is absolutely breathtaking at first! It was sunny and I couldn't help but stare:)

After that I walked across the square and entered the inner courtyard of the Louvre palace...the pyramids are in the middle and you actually go into one to get into the Museum.

Then you go down an escalator and into the big foyer of the museum.  You can buy a ticket at any of the ticket stations and its cool you can buy this handset thing that gives you a tour of the museum's wings and the artworks.  The museum itself has three wings: the Richelieu, the Sully, and the Denon.  Each one specializes in different eras and types of art.  I went into the Denon first because it houses the more popular works like the Mona Lisa and many of the pieces of art that I learned in humanities in high school!  It was super cool...omg though it was HUGE.  Some of the most famous works of art in the museum are the Venus of Milo, the Nike of Samothrake, the Dying Slave by Michelangelo and of course Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

My favorite has to be the Nike of Samothrace (its spelled different in its original language).  Originally built as a 12th century fortress, it was converted into a royal palace in the 14th century.  King Louis the XIV decided to move to Versailles and it ceased to be the royal dwelling. You can totally tell it was a palace though by the architecture and the rooms.  My lord some of the halls so magnificent.  The whole place is really so breathtaking.  There is this big room that they use to display the monarchy's rare jeweled collection.

The ceilings are easily thirty feet high at least and the room is longer than a football field, and the entire thing is hand-carved!! Here is a video of it!

There are huge paintings of all the famous leaders set into the walls and the carvings weave around them. There are no words to even describe how amazing it it! I took a picture and it is the room with the table and the smaller pieces of art. It was absolutely fabulous.  Everywhere you go throughout the palace you look up and there are enormous frescoes on the ceilings.  To get an idea just google Louvre ceiling frescoes and look at the images.  AMAZING.

After I walked the Denon, I was so exhausted I only walked through the entrance of the Richelieu.  I mean at this point I had been up and walking around and navigating the airport and train stations for at least 10 hours.  I left the Louvre and went back to the train station and headed back to the airport.  I forgot to mention how dirty the areas around the railway tracks.  There is graffiti literally EVERYWHERE. Like in Seattle at home you know how our bridges are nice and clean and kept up for the most part? Paris' are literally covered.  Everywhere you look as far as you can see, its all graffiti.  It's kind of sad too cause there are shanty towns next to the tracks a lot too.  They are made of tin and literally are just boxes with stovepipes.  And the garbage is disgusting.  There are piles of garbage everywhere...just filth.  I got videos of the graffiti but the shanty towns were on the other side and I didn't get any of that. I honestly was too shocked! I don't think its like that everywhere of course but I couldn't say-I only saw the airport, the areas around the train tracks and the area around the Louvre.  Below I posted some videos of the area.

After I got back to airport, I just got my bags and wandered through the airport shops...haha i got this bag of Lays chips that said Bolognaise and I had no idea what kind it was until I opened it.  Tomato! lol it was cool.
After that I just skyped my sister and Lindsie and waited to board my flight.  We got shuttled to our plane and then boarded to Edinburgh.  The plane was a lot smaller and the flight only took about an hour or so.  I slept a little; I was smushed into the window seat next to two larger men so it was interesting but I had my faithful comfy pillow so I was cozy enough.  After we arrived we walked onto the tarmac and into the airport.  I had to run to get through customs and catch a taxi to the Haymarket train station.  Then I had to run and drag all my bags down this huge staircase cause I only had two minutes till my train left!
I got it right in time and met this really nice guy that goes to Dundee too named Dara.  He helped me get through the station in Dundee and get a taxi! It was crazy cause we arrived as the station was closing and just barely caught a taxi!!
After that we had to drive around figure out where to go to pick up my keys-at this point it was about 12:30 at night.  We finally figured it out and I got dropped off. The night janitor met me and I said goodbye to Dara!
After I got my keys the janitor helped me carry my luggage up four flights of stairs and I finally got in and got settled. I was so tired at this point I just wanted to sleep...after the janitor left I tried to turn on the heat but it had been off all through Christmas so it was COLD.  They turn the heat off here at night to conserve energy so that was that.  I found out the next day that there was a little air vent open in my room too letting more heat out.  It was terrible. I had no blankets, no heat, and I had taken a shower to warm up thinking I would bundle up and go to sleep.  Well my hair dryer blew up in the socket and blew the breaker so I had no way to recharge my computer and dry my hair:(  After skyping my family I put on two hats, five sweaters and hoods, three pairs of sweats and mittens and I was still freezing lol.  I tried to sleep but only dozed for a couple hours.  It was dreadful.  But I got up and had a meeting with my advisor at ten the next morning.  My flatmate Benjamin walked with me to get our power breaker flipped back on after that and it was cool I talked to him for a couple hours and he is really nice!  I think they are boyfriend/girlfriend but his girl Stefanie kept me company later the next day. My hair was nappy to the max from sleeping with a hat. Thankfully my room finally heated up...it took about half the day and after my meeting I had gone to the Tesco here.  Tesco is the equivalent of Fred Meyer.  It is Walmart's biggest rival here...Walmart owns a company called Asda.  I got a duvet (its like a giant pillow) and a duvet cover and together they make a super thick WONDERFUL blanket lol. Love it! I got some other stuff like toiletries and a new hair dryer and towels and some groceries.
Anyway my first day was good I tried to get over the jet lag and ended up napping for several hours and not being able to sleep that night.  I stayed up and skyped with a whole bunch of people and read a book I picked up at Tesco.  After that I gave up sleeping and went and scrubbed our whole kitchen. My flatmates are letting me use their dishes so I figured cleaning would help out! It was hard work and I was tired pretty quick cause I hadn't slept enough but I still wasn't sleepy.
After that I went and met this girl named Caitlin.  She is actually from Mukilteo WA but she has lived here for several years now! It was cool I was talking to someone in the bookstore at home about a month or two ago about my trip and this woman actually stopped me and asked me about it and she said hey! My granddaughter is going there! So she gave me Caitlin's info.  Well we met up and she gave me a campus tour and walked me around Dundee! It was really nice and fun! I was so so so tired though by the time I got back I sat down and then laid down wanting to just rest and pretty soon I was asleep and woke up nine hours later lol.  I woke up at one at night here and was like dammit! It was frustrating because I am trying to beat the time difference and I keep getting sleepy when its nighttime at home. That first night just really threw me off!
It was cool though cause I watched this new show that I stream instantly offline and then I fell asleep at about 4am and woke up at 8am and felt refreshed!  This morning I had my final advisor meeting and now I am just gonna clean up my room a little and hopefully walk down the the salvation army shop and try to find a coffee maker lol.  They don't drink drip coffee here WTF.  They mainly drink instant YUCK. So I bought some Starbucks coffee and I'm gonna get a real coffee maker and actually have some real brew.  Speaking of brew their main pop here is called IrnBru and it is gross haha.  It's a ginger drink and it tastes like cough syrup!
After that I'm hoping that my German roommate Martina and I can explore the shops in Overgate and Wellgate Centres.  She is really nice! Also an exchange student here, it is her first time in Dundee.
Anyway, that's my first couple days! I am going to post the majority of my pictures on facebook but I am going to try to post a new pic on here everyday!