The Unstoppable Zuri

Pretty in Paris

I really wanted to take a nap on the plane, but it was hard. There were so many people talking, some little kid was crying, and the flight itself was really bumpy because there were some storms in the middle of the Atlantic. Besides, it was the middle of the day for us. Even pregnant, I had trouble napping in the middle of the day.

I passed the time by finishing the movie I started, watching the sequel, and enjoying my in-flight meal of a burger and fries. I brought some of my chemistry homework with me, so Emmi and I were working on that for a bit as well.

We arrived at Charles De Gaulle airport when it was still dark out. It was eight at night for us, but three in the morning in Paris. I knew right then that this time difference was going to be a killer.

We got off the plane, then went through passport control and customs. Our teachers made sure we went through the green, "nothing to declare" door so we'd have a quick trip out of the airport.

When we got downstairs to baggage claim, everyone just looked exhausted. We'd been up since early this morning and had done about ten hours of flying in one day. We grabbed our bags and boarded a shuttle waiting outside the airport. Thirty minutes later, we arrived at the Holiday Inn.

There was no line at the counter since it was so early in the morning, so we each got our room keys pretty quickly. Emmi, Lucy, and I were staying on a different floor from everyone else because I needed an accessible room.

I was worried about how our room would be since we were staying at a cheaper, chain hotel, but everything was actually clean and nice. I took one bed while Emmi and Lucy had a very intense rock/paper/scissors match to decide who got the second one, and who was stuck with the couch.

I took a shower and the three of us basically passed out after that. We set our alarms so we'd be able to meet up with everyone in the lobby on time. By the time our alarms went off, it was about two in the afternoon, Paris time. We got dressed in some cute outfits, and I emailed my dad really quickly while everyone else was getting ready.

We were dressed to the nines and my scooter was fully charged, so we were ready to go. We all had our euros ready to go from when we got here, so we were ready to take on the city. We had dejeuner at a restaurant in the hotel. I had a complete, very authentic French lunch, which was technically my breakfast, of a personal pizza and a salad.

Once we were done with lunch, we split off into two groups. One was going to the mall, and one was going on a sightseeing boat tour. With my pregnancy queasiness and Lucy's incredible seasickness, it was the mall for us. Most of the other girls on the trip chose the mall.

We used the hotel shuttle and traveled all the way to the Les Halles mall. It was the biggest mall in Paris, and probably about ten times the size of the biggest mall we had at home. I was still hungry and wanted to get more food, but my friends insisted that we go to Sephora first, even though we had a Sephora back home.

Once we were finally done getting makeup at Sephora, we moved onto the next store in the mall. There were French shops mixed in with shops we already knew, like Gap and H&M. Then, on our way towards the smell of something delicious, I stopped at a baby boutique.

"This is literally the cutest store I've ever seen," I said, going up to a table full of onesies.

I looked at the price of one, and they were super expensive. I'd lose all my spending money on just a handful of these things.

"Girl, you gotta get this one," Lucy said, holding up an outfit.

It was an adorable pink onesie with a tutu and a drawing of the Eiffel Tower on it that said "love". It was the cutest onesie I'd ever seen. I went over to Lucy and looked at the price. It was thirty euros.

"I-I can't. Everything in here is just so much," I said in a hushed tone, hoping the girl looking at her phone behind the counter wouldn't notice me.

"What? For real, you gotta at least buy one thing. Look at how cute this is!"

"I agree. Just go for it. Especially since you didn't buy anything at Sephora," Emmi said.

"Okay. Just one," I said, taking the onesie.

I went up to the counter and paid with my euros. I completely forgot that the price on the tag was the price I was actually paying, since the tax was already included in stuff you bought in Europe.

When we were out of the store, I had my friends take a picture of me with the onesie so I could email it to my dad later. We looked out over this huge mall and tried to figure out where to go next, after we got food of course. It felt like the possibilities were endless.