Earth Tourism, Tuesday 5th period

[unusual_sith]

"Welcome back, everybody," Lana said, nodding to them. "Today we're going to another continent on Earth. There is a country called France, and its main city is Paris. There's too much to ever see an entire city in our limited time, of course, so we'll be visiting one of its notable tourist sites, the Eiffel Tower. It was built about one hundred thirty-five years ago by a man named Gustave Eiffel, hence the name. It's apparently a very good way to see the city, so long as you're not afraid of heights. If you are, feel free to stay on the first two floors; there are food and shops on each floor."

She'd be going to the top, of course.

"The primary language there is French. My research indicates that a good percentage of the locals can speak our language, but that many of them refuse to, so I'd advise you not to wander too far."

She handed out their tickets and led them through the portal.

Comments

Class activity

[unusual_sith]

Visit the Eiffel tower! Eat, shop, and sightsee!

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Ha! Like Arden was going to be found anywhere on this tower but at the very highest point she was allowed to get to, looking over the city with bright, excited eyes, possibly hanging a little too far over the side for people's comfort.

But look.

Re: Class activity

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie was right next to her. "Hey? You speak and or understand French?" she asked. "Do you want to?"

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Barely any, even less, and suuuure...?" Arden said. "Are you translating because you're Canadian?"

That was Canada's thing, right? French and English?

Re: Class activity

[wildgalegirl]

"Charms, my friend, charms," Charlie said with a grin. "And with those you too can understand and sound as if you're speaking French!"

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Your magic follows absolutely no rhyme or reason I can figure out," Arden said, shaking her head. "But, sure? I guess you can try?"

Re: Class activity

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie carefully sketched one charm behind Arden's right ear and another at the corner of her mouth down to her neck. "There you go," Charlie said. "Give it a shot. What do you hear?"

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Just you?" Arden said, brow furrowing. "Uhh...you, and that guy over there, muttering about American touris--ohhhh."

Re: Class activity

[wildgalegirl]

Charlie grinned. "Excellent. Now tell him that they annoy you too. See what he says."

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"Charlie!" Arden gasped. "I can't do that!"

Okay but actually was it a little wrong that she wanted to?

Re: Class activity

[wildgalegirl]

"Sure you can," Charlie said. "Americans abroad can be terribly annoying."

She smiled at Arden. "Luckily I'm Canadian."

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I don't think I can pull off being anything but," Arden said, playing up her Southern drawl. "Considering."

Re: Class activity

[moreofaponchoguy]

She certainly wasn't out of Cal's comfort zone, as he also leaned as far forward as he could and glanced down. "This is amazing. I didn't know you all could build things this tall!"

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden looked over and laughed at him. "Oh, is that some space prejudices I hear?" she teased. "We've built even taller! And look!" She tugged on his sleeve sigh and pointed. "That's the Arc de Triomphe! And that's the Seine River! And that's the Louvre! And that's--all the things I can name in Paris!"

She was not a geography buff, okay?

Re: Class activity

[moreofaponchoguy]

That's more than he knew, so she was already ahead of him!

"Those all look like really fun things. Does the school ever do trips to places like this so we can see all the things?" he asked.

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"I think so," she said. "That's what the trip to New Zealand was like! I mean, we couldn't see all the things, but there were tours and exciting things to do everyday and usually most nights, too! That's how I got to be close to folks - I was Graham's roommate and there was a group chat and so whenever somebody was doing fun, they'd text the whole group and folks who were interested would show up and we'd do it together."

She sighed, pretending to be aggrieved, though her smile kept peeking out from around the edges. "So if you ever hear Charlie giving me shit about the world's snuggliest kiwi, it's from that trip."

Such a better mood than last week. Inexplicable, of course.

Re: Class activity

[moreofaponchoguy]

Yeah, Cal was in much higher spirits this week too, so strange. "So, it sounds like I have to keep signing up for classes so I can get in on one of these trips," he said. "That was always the most appealing thing about being a Jedi, being able to travel to even the outer reaches of the galaxy to support the people in different worlds." That future didn't happen, of course, but his love for travel hadn't faded.

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

"One trip each fall and spring semester," Arden said. "This past spring, we went to some kind of space resort, but it got wrecked so we ended up at a space theme park instead. It was very weird, and goddess only knows where we'll end up next."

Re: Class activity

[moreofaponchoguy]

"Awww, a space theme park would have been so fun. I'll just have to look forward to the future." Something else Arden mentioned clicked to him. "Wait, you were Graham's roommate? They let guys and girls room together?"

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

You only said that because you hadn't been to the Astrotorium, Cal. You didn't know about Ashiok's Perfectly Safe Ride For Children and Babies.

"Let?" Arden laughed. "They assigned us the room together. I'd met him once before at a speed dating event thing at Caritas? And I knew him from classes? But we weren't really friends. Not until that trip anyway."

Re: Class activity

[moreofaponchoguy]

Oh, well, that was good to know, for absolutely no reason at all.

"You make friends so easily, it's an admirable quality," he said. "It sounds like you all had fun though. We need more views like this in Fandom. Or, places like this where we can look around without me feeling like I'm going to get in trouble for climbing up."

Re: Class activity

[noonedecidesmyfate]

"It's beautiful up here, isn't it?" Belle asked.

She felt kind of at home in France. So weird.

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Who could say why?

"It's gorgeous," Arden agreed. "This is the kind of view that birds get all the time. You can just see everything spread out like a picnic in front of you, you know?"

Re: Class activity

[noonedecidesmyfate]

Truly a mystery for the ages.

"I hadn't thought of it like that. Either way, that it was like a bird's view or like a picnic. But those both do describe it well. Did you have views like this at home?"

Re: Class activity

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden shook her head. "Nothing so high in the Triangle," she said, "and nothing so lovely either. They're cities and research parks, so there are beautiful bits? But mostly urban sprawl."