I took AP European History, AP Euro/MEHAP/whatever you call it, in high school. It is without a doubt one of hardest classes that I took during my high school years, if not the hardest. I developed a knack for history in the 10th grade when I was lucky enough to have it first period, when my mind was usually at its sharpest. I continued on to take APUSH, AP United States History, my junior year with one of the best teachers at school, someone who pushed me to broaden my horizons and really develop critical thinking skills. From then on, I enrolled in AP Euro with another one of the best teachers at my school (I say one of because they are equally as amazing and tied for the best in my book). It opened my mind to a new world and again worked on fine-tuning those ever-important critical thinking skills that I would need one day to succeed. To this day, I will still say that APUSH and AP Euro were the classes that prepared me most for college and the real world, which is approaching all too quickly. I open with this little anecdote because today I had the incredible opportunity to visit Chateau Versailles, better known in English as the Palace of Versailles, the center of French political power from 1682-1789. Since the start of the French Revolution, Versailles has become famous as not only a building, but rather a grand estate and symbol of the system of absolute monarchy of the Ancien Regime.
The day started like most others; only this morning we took the metro for a different part of town, meeting our favorite student activities director at an RER (regional commuter train) station before purchasing our tickets for the Versailles suburb. The train took about 25 minutes, and by the time we got there, it seemed the entire state of Rhode Island (figure of population, not size) was there. Despite the blistering hot temperatures (yes, we were all sweating at 11am), it seemed that there were enough people in comparison to a crowded day at a Florida theme park. First stop: Starbucks. We beat the crowd off the train to the first European Starbucks that I have been to since Spain 3 years ago. We sat down for a little bit, letting the crowd head to the estate before walking up ourselves. With re-fueled energy and tickets on our smartphones, my classmates and I padded through the garden while Laurie waited in line to purchase our mini-tram tickets needed to take us to the Marie Antoinette estate.
Not long after, we hopped onto a crowded train to the Marie Antoinette estate, where we saw her modest home in comparison to the grand Versailles palace. We explored other properties in the area before sitting down for a picnic snack on a canal in the estate's park. People rowed on rowboats down the water while others rode bicycles. We sat under trees in the shade, overlooking the estate and all of its glory. After some relaxation we walked to the tram station before getting back on the crowded, hot vehicle headed towards the palace. Even though I had learned about the palace in AP Euro, as well as the families that lived in it, nothing compares to seeing it for the first time. Yes, seeing it from the outside was spectacular. But, I knew the moment I set foot inside that I was in for something pretty incredible. Room after room we saw beautiful artwork, pushed past tourists and their selfie sticks, and learned about the history of the grand estate. Funny to think that the entire time people were living there, there was construction. No one then would have been able to see everything that we saw, or any of the reconstruction really that has occurred in the last 300 or so years. Every bit of what we saw exceeded my expectations, from the palaces to the miles and miles of views of gardens. While I will say it was beautiful to see, it would have been nice had someone constructing the palace thought about using some form of ventilation other than open windows. The mass crowd + blazing summer heat did not create the best of environments. But, that certainly did not take away from its beauty. Just goes to show that even tough climates can bring out the most dedicated of tourists, and nothing bad can happen...unless you forget to bring a water bottle like I did and nearly faint from the elements combined.
To tie it all together, AP Euro helped bring me to college, and college brought me to Western Europe. Goes to show that everything learned in life really does come full circle. Being able to see a monument, or anything really, learned in the history classroom has really changed my perspective on the whole picture. We remember the little things in class, like learning to Irish dance the Friday before spring break or the feeling of finishing the AP Exam, just like we do the little things about these visits: the mass amount of people crowding together to see the incredible hall of mirrors or just the feeling of the sun peeking through the trees while laying on a blanket against the Versailles canal. The visit taught me more about French history than I could have imagined, and it has given me a deeper appreciation of the country I have been so lucky to reside in this last week and a half. No experience in my life may ever compare to this visit, as has no class in college compared to the difficulty of AP Euro.
But for now, it is nearly midnight here on the other side of the Atlantic and I have yet to figure out what I am bringing with me on my weekend trip to Brussels tomorrow...or in 7 hours. Have a great weekend, and I cannot wait to share my experiences in the land of really good chocolate and home of delicious waffles.
Until then, au revoir!
*Let it be known that before this post was published, I figured out how to take pictures off my phone which concurrently created more storage space. Despite all of this, it is 11:53pm and I have not yet touched the suitcase I am bringing to Brussels.
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