That One Time Alaina went to Paris: The One With the Spider (Featuring My Favorite Roommate, Anna)

Ugh, I feel like I'm gonna die.

Why is that, you may ask??? No, it's not because I went without eating again on Monday. I was very well-fed throughout the day! I'll tell you why I feel like I got hit by a Mack truck later; for now, on to the blog!

So to preface this, as my family (and basically anyone who's ever spent an hour with me) knows, I am hardcore OBSESSED with Phantom of the Opera. I love the musical, the book, and anything related to those two (and while it wasn't the reason I came to Paris, it was definitely a perk that the opera house where the story takes place is in the city.) Anyway, on Monday we get off the RER and come out of an underground station and turn around and see THIS:

The Paris Opera House was RIGHT THERE! And it was HUGE!!!!

It really is so gorgeous. Expect a serious picture spam of this place, because (and this is the best part) I will come out of this train stop every day to walk the rest of the way to class, meaning I'll get to pass this beautiful building EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

(Cue excessive amounts of squealing from Alaina.)

Anyways, it rained for the first time during this whole trip on Monday. Well, actually it was less like rain and more like a constant mist that blew parallel to the ground and got underneath our umbrellas. It made me look a little bedraggled--but, hey, at least it gave me an excuse to use my lovely new umbrella! :D

My first class of the day was French, which went from 9-12. It was totally immersive--talking in French, writing in French, reading in French, listening in French. It made my brain work suuuuper hard, harder than I'm used to, but I feel like I'm learning, so that's good!

Here's some of the squad from this study abroad outside our little school. Aren't we adorable?

After class we were all starrrrving, so we went to get some lunch. We took the Metro to Montparnasse so that after we were done eating we could go on a Paris walk. I had my first real meal since Saturday! Chicken with a little forest of greens on top:

And then because we were still feeling a little peckish, we stopped to get dessert! I got a pistachio eclair.

This thing. Oh my goodness. It was lifechanging.

You know how you feel when you just taste something that is completely different from anything you're used to, and you're like, I didn't even know food could taste this way, this is SO GOOD? Well yeah, that's what happened for me. The inside filling stuff was kind of minty, but in a sweet way? It's impossible to explain. Suffice it to say that it was awesome.

On our way to do the Paris walk for the day (which went through the Jardin du Luxembourg, but more on that later), we passed this cute little shop full of beautiful decorative papers and had to stop in. Check out this awesome paper penguin!

Part of the walk included visiting a couple of statues (and taking some #squad pictures with them, obviously.) A replica of the prototype for the Statue of Liberty (feat. Anna being amazing):

And a memorial for this guy falsely accused of committing treason (feat. excellent accidental symmetry):

(Thanks for the pictures, Anisa! You're a doll.)

Okay, so like I mentioned earlier, it rained a lot on Monday, but since Paris is Paris, that only managed to make everything breathtakingly more beautiful. Like, seriously. Check out the Jardin du Luxembourg!

Totally awesome, right? I didn't even mind that there was no sunshine, which is highly unusual for me. Also, the Jardin du Luxembourg is just about the best possible place for Instagrammable umbrella pics:

*whispers* I don't even have an Instagram . . .

(Thanks, Anna, for the picture! You da best.)

(Also thank you Quincy for taking pictures on my other phone. You da other best.)

Kay, it's late, so I'll do my best to wrap this up fast. We went to the Institute building for our Art History class, which seems like it'll be really interesting. So that's nice! Then we had FHE (where they fed us quiche and pancakes, so again, not starving). Quincy, Anisa, Anna and I got back to our suburb at about 9:30, then did homework in the basement for a little while. I took a shower and then got in bed.

. . . .

What, did you think that was the end? I still haven't told you why I felt like I was gonna die, silly! Here's what happened: the event that will go down with me and Anna as The Single Scariest Thing to Happen in This Study Abroad (So Far).

About half an hour after I'd gone to bed, just as I was starting to fall asleep, I heard several really sharp knocks on my door. This was unusual, and it frankly freaked me out. I called out, "Yes?" And heard Anna frantically tell me to come into her room.

So I get up all bleary eyed and open the door and go into her room. And there, on the wall, is the single biggest spider I have ever been confronted with.

Maybe I'm a wimp, because it was really only as big as my palm, and my hands aren't that big. But man, it freaked me out. My freaking out was nowhere near as bad as Anna's, though.

Anna, I know you will be reading this, so I will keep from getting too in-depth. Suffice it to say, though, that Anna is a true arachnophobe, and would not have touched that spider with a thousand-foot pole (even if the pole was on fire at the spider's end). Of course that meant that I had to kill it. And while I'm not really that squeamish about killing spiders, this sucker was biiiig. And I was nervous because I wasn't sure if it would die from the bug spray we had or just freak out, and I knew Anna would scream if it got away, so there were all these nerves going on as I went at it with the bug spray.

So this happened.

Thanks, Anna, for squealing so loud while filming I laughed in the middle of trying to kill a giant freaking spider, so that it got away and we had to spend the next twenty minutes trying to find it in your drawers. My aim is awful, I know. Next time we're hiring an exterminator, deal?

Yeah, what ensued was equal parts hilarious in retrospect (to me, but probably not to Anna) and downright terrifying. I saw the spider climb over her clothes on the dresser, but I couldn't tell if it went into the drawers (because they don't close all the way) or back down the side, so I had to pull out each individual drawer and hit the clothes inside to make sure the spider wasn't in them. And even if you don't mind spiders, it is Not Fun to reach your hand into a place where one might be.

We eventually found it behind a picture frame, at which point Anna started crying (I know, I said not too many details. But this is my blog. And on my blog we love Anna and think she's real cool even when she cries. So there.) and even though I sprayed it with like half a can of spider spray, it was still moving around like everything was fine and dandy. It ended up in the corner and I had to smush it with the stick end of a broom.

A bit of TP and one long, loud flush later, the spider was relegated to the sewage system and Anna, although still too nervous to sleep in her room, was starting to feel a little bit better about life. I dunno if she slept that night, but she did borrow my hoodie because it helped her feel safer.

So, yeah, I feel like I'm gonna die because I got waaaaay less sleep last night than I bargained for. It's just part of life, and I'm glad that spider's not there anymore for your sake, Anna, but man. I'm exhausted.

In case you were wondering what Anna looks like dressed up in my hoodie to protect herself from evil arachnids, let me enlighten you: