hey world!! long time no see. getting really behind on my blogging because i spend the majority of my time conjugating verbs/power walking/faithfully searching for under 10 euro meals. sorry fans. at this rate probably won't even have sponsors for this blog til I'm, like, back from my mission :/
that's ok tho cause you win some you lose some AMIRIGHT.

okay so i learned very many a lot of things this week including but not limited to:
-the latin quarter has ZERO burritos (but they do have gluten free crepes) and is apparently named after a dead language and not for the land of salsa. which was probably good for us considering the fact that we have bought mexican food so many times in the past little bit that our waiter literally said SEE U NEXT TIME as we walked out the door. don't worry dad, still immersing myself really well cause we did order our fajitas in french. which for sure cancels out the fact that in addition to the little mexican cafe, yesterday was my third time at chipotle in paris. no comment.

-also a fun fact: i got to see the cafe where rousseau would work and write and philosophize???? as in rousseau who was basically an honorary founding father for the united states of america?! please someone take a moment to appreciate this with me. sam frazier where u at. (#polibye @madelinemcewan)

-yep so that was a big moment for me. moving along to walk FOUR!!!! cause I actually did super love this one. but picture this: me. micah. anneka. and three homies from BYU who we get to show around paris for a couple days. we are on top of the eiffel tower, literally the most magic location in all of ever, and connor is NO WHERE to be found! we're not overly concerned, because connor has this thing for playing hacky sack on all the major monuments in europe so occasionally he goes off to fulfill his dreams, but then twenty something minutes go by and we're all getting a little anxious until we find that not only has connor been with us on top of the eiffel tower the entire time, but he had literally been in the bathroom for the entire twenty minutes. just chillin. missing the view from the most iconic monument in the world.

-other highlights from walk four include but are not limited to the musée rodin which I adored because lo and behold The Thinker is in the gardens there which I was entirely unaware of and it was magnificent. 

-also very nearly got stuck in a full blown strike/manifestation with tear gas and everything. love the french. love immersing myself. 

-ps Napoleon's tomb was crazy. very big. very chilly. 

-d'accord le prochain c'était walk 18, so Galerie Lafayette and Opéra Garnier. also super good times. much window shopping. much singing "Think of Me" by micah cause PHANTOM OF THE OPERA WAS FILMED HERE PEOPLE! also very fun fact: the whole scene with underground rivers and whatnot? yeah that's real. I stood on top of it. madness.

-moving on to walk 16 cause to be honest they're all starting to blur together a little bit. once again, we're guiding the BYU finance guys through the city and pretending to be fluent in french and we kind of for sure look like an EFY group let loose on the streets of paris. sacré-cœur was pretty crazy, lots of stairs - but it's leg day always in this city so no surprise there - and full blown horror-movie organ blasting from the basilique. enchanting building, of course, and the view was unreal, but not my favorite church we've visited. place du tertre was cool as well, dozens and dozens of artists crammed elbow to elbow just painting away, but also probably the most touristy area i've been in here. 

okay do not fear the next blog post will be far more detailed and far more entertaining but even though it took my like a solid ten days i now have official documentation of walks 4, 10, 18, and 16 GO TEAM. go usa, go france, go reagan.

peace and blessings, à bientôt.