You don't say how much time you have available to you. Why don't you do both? Spend a week in each place. Don't worry about language in Paris, you can get by if you don't know a single word of French, but I think you would enjoy learning a few words like, bonjour, Merci, au revoir, etc.
Check the price of the air tickets to Paris and London and take the one that is the least expensive. Then take the tunnel between Paris and London. Both cities can be done on a budget.
Dear Unsuccessful White Slaver,
what is Magenta supposed to mean? In Italian it's the name of a town* and a colour (a kind of red).
*This could be a good test for your students. An important battle during the Italian second independence war was fought there. They say that so much blood was shed that the name Magenta started to be associated to the colour of blood.
Edited by: an Unsuccessful White Slave
Im not that clueless, but thanks guys.
And as far as my reference to Taken, i was semi being facetious. I dont base all foreign countries off of movies i watch. I was just curious if traveling outside the US, for the first time and alone for the first couple of days, could be overwhelming.
What's the wheather like around the end of Dec? Obviously, it'll be a lot colder than what im used to in CA, but are there certain items that'll make a huge difference when trying to keep warm?
Def start in London, it's a great place particuarly this time of year as the nights draw on. Obv from a language pov you'll fine it much easier to start (though it's Lester Sq not Lie-cess-terrr etc.) Central London can be quite cheap to eat in if you avoid the fancy places - check out China Town, Brick Lane and the like.
Plenty of hostels though not sure of the prices.
Tube network is excellent if a little crowded though everything in central london is walkable and sometimes its worth 'just getting lost' and find your way round. Central London is totally safe to walk around so do come.
London be a great place to start and then head across to Paris on the eurostar - might be worth looking up inter rail: http://www.interrailnet.com/
Just seen this your last post - weather end of December, it'll be cold c -2 to 3 degrees so a good jacket and decent walking shoes, gloves, hat & scarf and you'll be fine. rarely snows in London (when it does we grind to a halt!!) Daylight at that time of year is about 8 hours (our clocks go back one hour at the end of october) so it gets dark by about 4pm.
Don't think you'll be overwhelmed due to your speaking (bad!) english!!!