Lost in the Veins of Paris
/
Paris… the city of love, lights, bridges crossing the Seine - a beautiful city. Taking to the streets of Paris is like walking in a dream. There is something around every corner to admire; from small corner cafes to the aromatic bakeries and to the vendors along the Seine River. Paris IS a dream.
It wasn’t until far later in my travels that I found Paris to be the beautiful city that I see today. I would give anything to be in Paris on just about any day of the week now. I adore the French… and France… Everything about it is just magic.
The very first experience that I can remember in this bustling city was not what I have described above. My first real memory of Paris is of being so lost and confused in the tunnels of the metro.
July 5, 2008 - Leaving For France
There were five of us students who were going to leave for France the day after our American Independence Day to travel with our 8th grade French teacher to France. We had a couple of cities in France that we were going to be visiting before making the trip home again. As we were sitting in Denver International Airport waiting to board our first plane, our teacher sat us down and we had a talk about what we were to do if we got separated for any reason during our trip, especially if we got separated on the metro in Paris.
We had all agreed that if we were to get separated from each other on any sort of public transportation we would all meet up at the next stop and continue on together.
In Paris
Fast forward to halfway through our trip and our first day in Paris…
We had just arrived at our hotel and had gotten situated. Our first stop was to be Versailles, the magnificent palace that showcased the height of the French monarchy just prior to the French Revolution. We were all giddy with excitement to be in Paris. it was my first time seeing the city.
We left our hotel and headed straight for the metro. We had made it from one station to the next where we needed to switch trains to get out to Versailles. As we were searching for the correct train, our French teacher stepped into one train to check out the stops, leaving us five students standing on the train platform. It wasn’t the correct train so she turned around to leave.
Then, much to our surprise, the doors of the train started to close. Our teacher tried to brace the doors open so she could get off, but it was no use. Off she went, leaving the five of us students on the platform waiting.
Now before the train completely disappeared, she had signaled something to us from the inside of the train but we weren’t sure exactly what she was saying (Turns out, she was telling us to stay put (she was going to come back and get us)).
With the five of us standing there, we remembered the rule we had set days prior in the states - we were to go to the next stop and get off to meet up with our teacher, we thought. So that is exactly what we did. But when we got off at the next stop, our teacher was nowhere to be found.
On The Loose In Paris
Now, there we were. Five students lost in Paris.
We all had at least some level of French speaking but it was pretty minimal. We all definitely knew food and colors vocabulary well and some very basic phrases but we all knew that wasn’t going to get us very far.
We sat near the train platform on a bench for some time just waiting. All of a sudden, we heard an announcement over the intercom (in English): (Teacher’s Name), children, please come to the information desk. The message repeated three times and we were off to find the information desk. We started asking around in French if anyone knew English.
Eventually, we made our way to a young couple that helped us through the gates into the main area of the metro station. We found the information desk but much to our surprise, they had no idea who we were. So we were back in the same place as we were before… except now we were above ground with no way of getting back to the train platform.
We then found a place to sit yet again and waited.
Getting Found
Now, we had met a man, one of our teacher’s friends, a few days before who lived in Paris. He was the one who eventually found us sitting in the metro station. Our teacher had apparently called him completely distressed with worry.
I guess it was a good thing that he thought to just come to the next station to look for us because our teacher had gotten off at the next stop and had taken the train going the other direction to come back and get us but we were not there.
Once we were all back together as one group again, we proceeded to Versailles to tour the palace.
Questions I Often Get From This Adventure
Why did we not just call our teacher?
There were only two of us who had cell phones at the time and no one had a phone with international service on it. Remember, this was 2008 and things like that were much more expensive than they are today.
We also did not have our teacher’s number (something that would have been good to have looking back on it now because I am sure we could have gotten someone to let us use their phone and it would have made getting back together as a group so much easier.)
Why didn’t your teacher just go to the next stop and find you after you weren’t at the original place she left you at?
You would have to ask her that equation. I am sure that she was just so panicked that something that seems so simple was just not coming to her mind
Why didn’t we try to find more help?
I think we were pretty panicked as well and trying to find someone to help us was just not coming to our minds. We had thought that trying to stay put as much as possible was the best solution, especially since we didn’t have our teacher’s contact information.
It was such a crazy first day in Paris for us but we survived. Versailles was an amazing palace and sight to see so it all worked out well.