The 4th of July in Paris

Who doesn't love a photo of the Eiffel Tower?! I mean seriously no matter how many times I see it it never looses its magnificence or just plain cool factor. This particular photo wasn't taken on the 4th of July but I found it on my phone and really liked it, minus the tops of peoples heads in the bottom, but fixing it would require cropping and ain't nobody got time for that. Let's include another one for good measure:

Being in France for the 4th of July was the first time I believe I have ever been out of the country for such auspicious of a national holiday, and the lack of american flag embossed jean shorts and ripped I heart America tank tops was startling at first. I survived. I had work as usual at my internship and then had the afternoon free left wondering what on earth to do for the 4th of July in Paris. Oddly enough there are many options for an american in Paris who is looking to get patriotic. There is a party at the embassy (supposedly), a barbecue at the American Church in Paris complete with bluegrass music and corn on the cob, and various social outings for expats across Paris. We (meaning Dee, Tanner, Chloe, and I) went to the house of a friend of Dee (her name is Laura and she is fantastic as is her entire family, shout out to her mom Therese) and her mom put on a 4th of July barbecue for us and some of her friends and neighbors and such. It was so nice to not only feel at home by celebrating a national holiday, but to be doing it in France with a French family that loves Americans was a once in a lifetime experience. It was such a multi-cultural experience as there was also an Italian and several other people from various countries in Europe and even another american. We ended up eating grilled meat  and chips and all sorts of good stuff, and even sang the national anthem (an experience which is on video but will not be seen here due to my atrocious singing ability and overall silliness). The Frenchies also sang their anthem and our sole Italian busted out the Italian anthem, gotta say he did a pretty awesome job for an impromptu solo! Overall an amazing end to my 4th of July spent in Paris!