On the train to Paris/ Day 0 in Paris

I chose the cheapest train to Paris, which also happened to be direct, unlike the others which had 1-3 stops. This was a TGV train, scheduled to take 3 hr 41 min. They announced (mid-tunnel) when we were entering France. As said to me before, the French countryside (so far) is pretty similar to rural Illinois, although a bit more wooded. In contrast, the Swiss side was full of rolling hills. Maybe part of it is that the buildings out here seem newer.

Yeah, if you removed the trees at the horizon, and replaced the wheat (I think it's wheat) with corn, I could be in Illinois. Well, and if you replaced my co-train-travelers with midwestern English speakers.

I made it out of Switzerland with only 4 (ish) CHF leftover. Not a bad deal. I ended up bringing all of my 'leftover' foreign currency with me (I have a little bottle of it I've kept on my dresser at home). This ended up working out well, allowing me to trade some Canadian currency to my friend (who's a postdoc in canada) for some more francs when I was running low.

I got in to Paris around 17hr, and then quite easily navigated the metro to where my friend lives. A french friend's advice on Paris was to start everything by saying "Je suis desole, je ne parle pas Francais" and then proceed with whatever questions/transactions necessary in English. I tried this, and the guy manning the info booth slightly snippily told me he couldn't understand me, and to just use English. Once I found the metro, the navigation was very straightforward, and the trains fast.

I met up with my friend and we went out for Senegalese food, which was super delicious. I was pretty exhausted when we were done eating (we headed out around 9pm), so called it an early night.