Ummm so pretend that the date on this is a couple of weeks ago, because that's when I wrote most of it! The 24th of May, to be exact.
I'm sitting in the train station in Prague, beer in hand and free wifi, killing some time before my flight this evening. I love this place! I met Matt (my brother) this weekend in Vienna and we spent about a day and a half there and the same here in Prague. I've pretty much spent the past two long weekends now surrounded with beer and sausages, and I have absolutely no complaints! I'm starting to think I should have come a little farther east to study. :)
Last weekend was definitely a highlight of my semester. I don't know what it is about Germany, maybe just the ancestry factor, but I am absolutely obsessed. I keep telling everyone back home that I'm moving there after graduation, and the thing is, I'm not so sure I'm joking. I feel like (other than the language barrier, which I'm determined to take down) I really identify with Germany and could call it home more easily than any other place I've been besides maybe Paris (if I had my own apartment this semester, that is).
But anyway. I can't put my finger on any particular thing that made me adore Germany, but I guess it's just the combination of everything! I started out in Berlin and only had one full day there, but I feel like I saw a lot during that short time. I took another free walking tour (these things are amazing!) and saw most of the main monuments and tourist attractions and learned about some of the history of the city, which is just fascinating. Berlin, to me, isn't about the buildings (most of what I saw was pretty modern), but about the story behind the city, especially during the war. I took a peek at the Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, the holocaust memorial, the Reichstag (parliament building), saw remnants of the wall of course, and a few other memorials and parks and churches. It was a lot to pack in, but the tour covered most of that and then I wandered off by myself some and still had time to relax and drink a few German beers and try the BEST SAUSAGE EVER. Whoever had the brilliant idea to mix curry and ketchup and wurst and bread is my hero. I could eat Berlin's currywurst every day for a month and not get tired of it. Yum.
Then I headed back across the street between my hostel and the train station (i'm getting good at this hostel-picking thing :)) and took a train to Köln, aka Cologne, to see my friend Jork! He was an exchange student in Kansas the same year I hosted Ale (my Italian sister) so I met him through AFS even though we lived in different towns/went to different schools. I stayed in Cologne for about a day and 2 halves I think, and it was wonderful! One of the first things we did was go to a chocolate museum (ummm what more do I need to love a place?), and we also went to the former headquarters of the Cologne Gestapo (it was a great museum...had the prison cells mostly as they were several decades ago), hung out at the river a lot, in both Cologne and Leverkusen (where Jork lives), and tried lots of kölsch (Cologne beer...if i remember what I read online correctly, they have more breweries there than in any other city in the world)...YUM. I met some of Jork's friends and we hung out in bars (went to an Irish pub where they had karaoke my last night there...yessss) and just in general, had a fantastic time. :)
Last week, I spent most of my time doing homework for next week so that I will be able to pack up some things to send home with my brother and spend more time with my friends who are leaving next weekend. We have a little group of 6 that hangs out together and half of us are leaving. It will be sad to see them go and so weird not to have them there anymore (especially my roommate!).
I met Matt in the CDG airport and we flew to Vienna to start our adventures together. We walked all over that city, preferring to just wander and see things instead of planning out attractions and museums to hit up. We did, however, make time for some sachser torte and a lot of coffee before we bussed ourselves to Prague. I enjoyed Vienna a lot, but I'm not going to lie, most of the reason I wanted to go there is because Vienna is my favorite Billy Joel song. That's a good reason, right?
Prague--everyone describes it as an enchanting city, and for good reason! Highlights of the trip were seeing the castle and bridge at night (so pretty!), watching the Czech Republic beat Russia to win the world ice hockey championship (on a giant screen set up in Old Town Square), discovering my beers of choice are porters and yet again, walking around a gorgeous city.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Easter Vacation is not actually over Easter
Nineteen days of traveling. Nine or so cities, five countries, two continents. A whirlwind of trains, planes and buses, of maps and schedules and directions. The vacation of a lifetime.
After Morocco, I got just a few hours of sleep before another long day of traveling, this time in route to Spain. I had no trouble figuring out the Orly airport, although it was busier than I have ever seen one because everyone was trying to make new travel plans after their previous ones were foiled by the volcano eruption. I made it to Seville and with the help of a Spanish girl I befriended on the airport bus, made it into the city and to the bus station (a lot harder than you would think! We were really struggling) and off to Granada. That bus ride also went without hitches and the bus I needed to take to get to Tiffany Foster (another TU student)'s apartment was there waiting for me when I exited the station. I jumped on the bus, feeling as confident as ever in my navigational abilities and the ease with which I performed all that city hopping...only to realize I didn't ever put Tiffany's number in my phone book. Greeeeat.
I spent about an hour or so trying to call another friend in Granada, trying to steal internet from somewhere, ANYWHERE (of course Granada's the one place in Europe without a McDonalds every other block), wandering around in search of wifi signs...and then I finally gave up on all of that and entered a hostel begging the man who worked there to let me use his internet. He did, thank goodness, wouldn't let me pay or anything, and we had a nice little chat about the henna on my hands (his parents were from Maroc) and some American TV show about an anthropologist. I got in contact with Tiffany finally and she met me back at the bus station. Other than that little ordeal, my time in Spain was wonderful!
It felt fantastic to be speaking Spanish again, and I realized after I left that I have never been as competent in another language in a foreign country as I was in Spain. I knew the same amount, if not more, in Chile, but their accent is next to impossible to understand. And as for France, well...maybe if I had people to practice with I would be better, but I mostly live my life there in English with a few French scenarios thrown in the mix. C'est la vie. Spain did remind me of what I am capable of, however, and inspired me not to dismiss an entire language based on my experiences with one person. Because really, that's ridiculous. I still don't want to have legitimate conversations with her, because that would surely end in a trip to the bar downstairs to work off some frustration, but I do have a French novel that I bought soon after I arrived and haven't yet started to read. I would like to reach a greater level of French, but that is proving difficult when I don't ever want to speak it! Something to add to my list of things to work on I guess.
Anyway, in Granada I stayed with Tiffany for a couple of nights, and it was nice to be able to relax a little after being constantly on the move in Morocco. We went out for tapas at night, which is the bomb in Granada! You buy a drink and you get free food. Why does this not happen anywhere else? It's legitimate food too, not just a handful of stale peanuts. I met up with Kelsey, a Costa Rica friend that I miss dearly, one of the nights and it was great to see her again, even for just a little bit! We're already planning a reunion when we're back in the States, since we won't be saving up our money for study abroad anymore. Just for real life. No big deal. I wandered around a lot in Granada, which was perfect with all its little alleyways that apparently serve as streets as well, although I'm not sure how vehicles manage to fit through. It was a really adorable town and I loved the few days I spent there. I visited the Alhambra, which I'm glad I saw right after Morocco because there were a lot of similarities, and some beautiful gardens and the cemetery. Looking back, I really saw and did a lot, although it didn't feel like I was rushing around at all. That is my kind of vacation!
Then I hopped a plane (first time on RyanAir) with Tiffany to go to Barcelona, where we stayed in my favorite hostel I've ever been in. It was quite the hike to get to it, especially the first night, hauling luggage up giant hills and stairs and taking what I'm pretty sure is the single most difficult trajectory to get to the place. Oh well, had to work off some of those patatas bravas somehow, right? In Barcelona, we hit up some of Gaudi's big stuff (Sagrada Familia, Parque Güell...) and I really, really like him. His style is so different, but I am a big fan. I don't like a whole lot of modern art, but Gaudi is sure an exception. We went to a bar on Saturday night called Chupitos, which had been recommended to us, and it was a blast...literally! They have 2 euro shots and I think about half of them are set on fire before you take them. We started off with the Harry Potter, which they set to flame and then they threw something or other on the fire to make it spark like a misbehaving wand. Loved it. We also went on a cava tour, which is the Spanish version of champagne, outside of the city with Kerry McAuliffe and Christy Sobolik, a couple of other TU students studying in Sevilla, and their roommates. It was a lot of fun! Other than that, we did what I do best in any city, and that's eat. I figured with all the hills I was climbing, a few more bites couldn't hurt...
On Monday morning I made my way to the airport yet again (the Barcelona airport is so nice!) and took a flight to Rome to meet up with my friend Amanda, who is studying with me in Paris. We took in the sights there--Colosseum, Roman Forum, gelato, Trevi Fountain (love!), Spanish Steps, gelato, pasta, pizza and more gelato... Needless to say, we ate well there too. Our hostel there was also a really good one, and I met a ton of people over free pasta and wine in the common room our last night. It was cool to be around Italian, because even though I couldn't say much at all, I could understand most of what was going on around me, and Amanda and I even had a waitress who didn't know a word of English but we got by just fine when she asked us questions. It was fun. I think if I moved to Italy I could pick up Italian pretty easily without formal instruction. I am considering buying a book in Italian and going through with a dictionary just for kicks. I should prooobably whip my French into better shape first though, huh?
After Rome came Geneva, Switzerland, which was a fantastic break in our gogogo mindset. We sat by the lake and read the day away, walked by the UN...just relaxed and took in the city. Geneva is a quiet, peaceful city, which was a big change after the bustle of Rome, but I really enjoyed it. I think Geneva would be a really nice place to live. It's really expensive though (where we were anyway), which is a thumbs down! The hostel we stayed at there was really weird, with a lot of families and businessmen. It's also the only hostel in town. Strange. Not at all the atmosphere I've come to expect in hostels, but I had a friend, so it was fine!
And then my seventh and final flight on to Nice, France. A shuttle from the hostel came and picked us up at the airport since public transportation wasn't running. Hooray for Labor Day! This was a party hostel for sure, so not great for the sleeping, but they had good, cheap food and drinks, so that was a plus! We wanted to hit the beach, but unfortunately it was cloudy and chilly, so we took a train to Juan les Pins and laid out on the sand for maybe an hour and then got back on and went to Cannes to wander a bit. Nice was relaxing too, and it was nice to be back in France where we know how things work and where the tram actually tells you what stop you're at. I definitely missed that on this trip!
And then along came another train and activation of my Eurail pass, heading back to Paris! It will be wonderful to be in a bed for more than two or three nights, and reeeally good to air out my suitcase (in hostels you can't exactly leave them open, and two weeks of traveling plus lots of sweat in southern Europe does not do good things for your clothing) but I am dreading the coming week! I have tests galore and a presentation to get ready for. It really would have been nice if they had spread it out a little bit, but at least I don't have to worry about travel plans for the coming weekend and can just concentrate on my schoolwork when I first get back. I have no grades for any of these classes yet, so it could be really interesting!
One of these days, I will write an entry that is not seven pages long. Oops.
After Morocco, I got just a few hours of sleep before another long day of traveling, this time in route to Spain. I had no trouble figuring out the Orly airport, although it was busier than I have ever seen one because everyone was trying to make new travel plans after their previous ones were foiled by the volcano eruption. I made it to Seville and with the help of a Spanish girl I befriended on the airport bus, made it into the city and to the bus station (a lot harder than you would think! We were really struggling) and off to Granada. That bus ride also went without hitches and the bus I needed to take to get to Tiffany Foster (another TU student)'s apartment was there waiting for me when I exited the station. I jumped on the bus, feeling as confident as ever in my navigational abilities and the ease with which I performed all that city hopping...only to realize I didn't ever put Tiffany's number in my phone book. Greeeeat.
I spent about an hour or so trying to call another friend in Granada, trying to steal internet from somewhere, ANYWHERE (of course Granada's the one place in Europe without a McDonalds every other block), wandering around in search of wifi signs...and then I finally gave up on all of that and entered a hostel begging the man who worked there to let me use his internet. He did, thank goodness, wouldn't let me pay or anything, and we had a nice little chat about the henna on my hands (his parents were from Maroc) and some American TV show about an anthropologist. I got in contact with Tiffany finally and she met me back at the bus station. Other than that little ordeal, my time in Spain was wonderful!
It felt fantastic to be speaking Spanish again, and I realized after I left that I have never been as competent in another language in a foreign country as I was in Spain. I knew the same amount, if not more, in Chile, but their accent is next to impossible to understand. And as for France, well...maybe if I had people to practice with I would be better, but I mostly live my life there in English with a few French scenarios thrown in the mix. C'est la vie. Spain did remind me of what I am capable of, however, and inspired me not to dismiss an entire language based on my experiences with one person. Because really, that's ridiculous. I still don't want to have legitimate conversations with her, because that would surely end in a trip to the bar downstairs to work off some frustration, but I do have a French novel that I bought soon after I arrived and haven't yet started to read. I would like to reach a greater level of French, but that is proving difficult when I don't ever want to speak it! Something to add to my list of things to work on I guess.
Anyway, in Granada I stayed with Tiffany for a couple of nights, and it was nice to be able to relax a little after being constantly on the move in Morocco. We went out for tapas at night, which is the bomb in Granada! You buy a drink and you get free food. Why does this not happen anywhere else? It's legitimate food too, not just a handful of stale peanuts. I met up with Kelsey, a Costa Rica friend that I miss dearly, one of the nights and it was great to see her again, even for just a little bit! We're already planning a reunion when we're back in the States, since we won't be saving up our money for study abroad anymore. Just for real life. No big deal. I wandered around a lot in Granada, which was perfect with all its little alleyways that apparently serve as streets as well, although I'm not sure how vehicles manage to fit through. It was a really adorable town and I loved the few days I spent there. I visited the Alhambra, which I'm glad I saw right after Morocco because there were a lot of similarities, and some beautiful gardens and the cemetery. Looking back, I really saw and did a lot, although it didn't feel like I was rushing around at all. That is my kind of vacation!
Then I hopped a plane (first time on RyanAir) with Tiffany to go to Barcelona, where we stayed in my favorite hostel I've ever been in. It was quite the hike to get to it, especially the first night, hauling luggage up giant hills and stairs and taking what I'm pretty sure is the single most difficult trajectory to get to the place. Oh well, had to work off some of those patatas bravas somehow, right? In Barcelona, we hit up some of Gaudi's big stuff (Sagrada Familia, Parque Güell...) and I really, really like him. His style is so different, but I am a big fan. I don't like a whole lot of modern art, but Gaudi is sure an exception. We went to a bar on Saturday night called Chupitos, which had been recommended to us, and it was a blast...literally! They have 2 euro shots and I think about half of them are set on fire before you take them. We started off with the Harry Potter, which they set to flame and then they threw something or other on the fire to make it spark like a misbehaving wand. Loved it. We also went on a cava tour, which is the Spanish version of champagne, outside of the city with Kerry McAuliffe and Christy Sobolik, a couple of other TU students studying in Sevilla, and their roommates. It was a lot of fun! Other than that, we did what I do best in any city, and that's eat. I figured with all the hills I was climbing, a few more bites couldn't hurt...
On Monday morning I made my way to the airport yet again (the Barcelona airport is so nice!) and took a flight to Rome to meet up with my friend Amanda, who is studying with me in Paris. We took in the sights there--Colosseum, Roman Forum, gelato, Trevi Fountain (love!), Spanish Steps, gelato, pasta, pizza and more gelato... Needless to say, we ate well there too. Our hostel there was also a really good one, and I met a ton of people over free pasta and wine in the common room our last night. It was cool to be around Italian, because even though I couldn't say much at all, I could understand most of what was going on around me, and Amanda and I even had a waitress who didn't know a word of English but we got by just fine when she asked us questions. It was fun. I think if I moved to Italy I could pick up Italian pretty easily without formal instruction. I am considering buying a book in Italian and going through with a dictionary just for kicks. I should prooobably whip my French into better shape first though, huh?
After Rome came Geneva, Switzerland, which was a fantastic break in our gogogo mindset. We sat by the lake and read the day away, walked by the UN...just relaxed and took in the city. Geneva is a quiet, peaceful city, which was a big change after the bustle of Rome, but I really enjoyed it. I think Geneva would be a really nice place to live. It's really expensive though (where we were anyway), which is a thumbs down! The hostel we stayed at there was really weird, with a lot of families and businessmen. It's also the only hostel in town. Strange. Not at all the atmosphere I've come to expect in hostels, but I had a friend, so it was fine!
And then my seventh and final flight on to Nice, France. A shuttle from the hostel came and picked us up at the airport since public transportation wasn't running. Hooray for Labor Day! This was a party hostel for sure, so not great for the sleeping, but they had good, cheap food and drinks, so that was a plus! We wanted to hit the beach, but unfortunately it was cloudy and chilly, so we took a train to Juan les Pins and laid out on the sand for maybe an hour and then got back on and went to Cannes to wander a bit. Nice was relaxing too, and it was nice to be back in France where we know how things work and where the tram actually tells you what stop you're at. I definitely missed that on this trip!
And then along came another train and activation of my Eurail pass, heading back to Paris! It will be wonderful to be in a bed for more than two or three nights, and reeeally good to air out my suitcase (in hostels you can't exactly leave them open, and two weeks of traveling plus lots of sweat in southern Europe does not do good things for your clothing) but I am dreading the coming week! I have tests galore and a presentation to get ready for. It really would have been nice if they had spread it out a little bit, but at least I don't have to worry about travel plans for the coming weekend and can just concentrate on my schoolwork when I first get back. I have no grades for any of these classes yet, so it could be really interesting!
One of these days, I will write an entry that is not seven pages long. Oops.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Marockin'
When people ask me what my favorite thing about my study abroad experience is so far, I now have an answer. Morocco.
I just got back from six of the most incredible days of my life. I think it would be hard, as a foreign woman, to live in Morocco, but it was positively captivating as a visit. When we first got to the airport in Casablanca, everyone was wearing white, which was a huge shocker after seeing Paris's standard black everywhere for two months. We felt really out of place, were warned not to trust ANYONE besides Gabriel and Anna Maria (our resident directors), and stuck out like sore thumbs. I don't know about everyone else, but I was feeling a lot of nervousness along with my wide-eyed excitement that I had made it to Africa!
We are really lucky that we made it there, and even more so that we made it back. Our flight to Casablanca was one of the last ones out of the Charles de Gaulle airport last Thursday and the one back on Tuesday night was one of the first arrivals, since planes couldn't fly through the ash in the air caused by Iceland's volcano eruption. I'm really hoping that there will be no chain reaction, because I have flights out the wazoo these next two weeks! In fact, I'm in the airport on my way to Granada via Sevilla maintenant.
In Casablanca, we made our way to the bus and toured the city a little bit before heading to the mosque there. The mosque was the first of many things that I became obsessed with throughout the course of our stay. It is HUGE, one of the biggest mosques in the world, and it's pretty from the outside, but spectacular on the inside. I am in love with all of the detail put into Moroccan architecture. There were mosaics and carvings and a ceiling that was open to the sky but closed while we were there because it was just before noon and time for prayer. We took off our shoes when we entered and walked around this incredibly open building, listening to our tour guide, but mostly marveling at the beauty of the building and snapping as many photos as possible.
The mosque is the only big thing we did in Casablanca, so after lunch we reboarded the bus and made our way to Fes. During our bus ride, I was surprised to see that Morocco has red dirt! I almost felt like I was back in Oklahoma.
The second day of our trip, we stayed in Fes (unusual for us to stay in one place the entire day!) and went to the medina. It's the biggest area where people live but cars can't go...or something like that. It was so cool! It's a good thing we had a guide though, because that thing was huge and with twists and turns and definitely no street signs, I had absolutely no idea where we were.
The guides gave us each a flower they use to make rose water as a welcome, and supposedly they're also good luck to find a husband and serve as an aphrodisiac. They were sure big on those in the medina. It was more than a little awkward. As we meandered through the alleyways (for lack of a better word), guys were reaching out and shouting at us in English, French, Arabic...whatever language they knew and/or thought we might recognize. That part I could have done without, but I did get used to catcalls in Latin America and it's really not all that different I suppose.
In the medina, we visited a carpet place, which had gorgeous things but a bit out of my price range, being a poor college student spending all of my money on the trip itself! We also hit up a spice shop with traditional remedies, perfumes and cosmetics as well as cooking spices, a tannery and a clothing and scarf place, where we dressed up and took pictures. I bought a few things, but I can't say what because they may or may not serve as gifts...;) And after we found our way out of the medina, we went to a ceramics place and got to see the stages of pottery and mosaics there and visited the shop attached as well.
Day three was spent almost entirely on the bus, driving from Fes to Arfoud. I've never been so glad that I can't sleep on the bus, because I saw some great views! I didn't get any pictures though, because I knew I wouldn't have electricity in the desert and didn't want my camera battery to die. It turns out that I could have taken some, because I was too afraid of the sand killing my camera to use it very much, but oh well! I can just take those pics from other people.
Once we got to Arfoud, we hopped on 4X4s and took what I'm pretty sure was the bumpiest path possible to get to the desert, AKA SAND DUNES. Real Sahara sand dunes. I'm still having trouble believing that this trip actually happened.
In the Sahara, we slept on the sand. We were in tents, but we had sand blowing on our faces all night. I'm glad I somehow managed to sleep with my face under the blanket because that would have been interesting otherwise. Our toilets were glorified port-a-potties and there were showers, but it was pointless to try to get clean since you would just be covered in sand again ten minutes later. I got into the habit of wiping off my plate as best I could before eating so that there wasn't much grit, and I didn't see a mirror in 2 1/2 days, but I was completely ecstatic!
We woke up at 5 a.m. the first morning in the desert to see the sun rise, and after trekking over what seemed like endless dunes for about an hour, the orange horizon finally yielded to a burning ball of yellow and took away a bit of the chill that comes with desert nights. Wow.
We had a while to wait until breakfast, so we either wandered or tried to sleep again. I ended up sitting in the sand with some friends since I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. After breakfast, several of us bought turbans (duh, I was one of them) and the camels arrived! We were doubled up for the ride and the saddle that my friend Amanda and I had was tilted forward, so that was a really interesting hour or so. I was all up on her, and the precious boys leading us kept telling both of us to scoot back, but it didn't help much, as we just slid again the next time we headed downhill, if not before then. I got a little sore, but it was way fun.
We took the camels into a little village nearby and looked at another carpet place and just walked around a little, before climbing back on Daisy Duke's back (yeah, we named him.) and going back to the tents. Getting on a camel's back is easy. No stirrups necessary, since they're low enough to the ground. Buuut the camel standing is sure an experience. They bring up their back legs so you're thrown forward to the point that you're sure you'll fall off, and then stand up the rest of the way. We didn't fall off, but one girl slid right over her camel's butt on the first hill we came to. It was great.
Later that day, we had some people come to the tent, which was a good idea since we were all a little saddlesore. The first people gave us henna tats, which are decorating my hands as I type! I feel so cool. Then some of us followed some little boys to a giant sand dune to go sandboarding. Getting up that last mountain of sand was next to impossible. We were all struggling since it was ridiculously steep at the top and felt like you were doing a stairmaster--moving your legs up and up and up but not getting anywhere at all since the sand moves down faster than you move up. The little boys dragged us up the very last bit like it was no problem at all. We later saw the rest of our group taking a longer but much easier route up, but oh well--we had a cooler experience! Only a couple of people actually sandboarded down the hill, but several rode it like a sled. I would have done that, but I didn't want to climb up the hill again, especially after watching other people try! It was worth going though, just for the view from the top of the dune. And it was really fun watching everyone eat it when they got to the bottom of the hill...or a little before the bottom for some people! When they finally got back up the hill, several had mouths full of sand. Yum!
We had a little party that night during dinner, with live musicians and dancing. None of us really knew how to dance to Moroccan music, and we never quite figured out what the actual Moroccans were doing, but it was really fun. I mean, how many people can say they danced under the Saharan stars? My guess is around 30!
The last two days, we didn't do too much. Nothing as exciting as the 4 that preceded them anyway! We spent most of the days on the bus gazing at the fantastic landscape and made a stop to feed bread to some monkeys and ate dinner with the ISA kids in Meknes for the semester.
We made it back to Paris with only an hour of delay, I got three hours of sleep and headed to the airport again and now I'm in Granada! I'll wait and give you the Spain update once I leave Barcelona. Chao chao!
I just got back from six of the most incredible days of my life. I think it would be hard, as a foreign woman, to live in Morocco, but it was positively captivating as a visit. When we first got to the airport in Casablanca, everyone was wearing white, which was a huge shocker after seeing Paris's standard black everywhere for two months. We felt really out of place, were warned not to trust ANYONE besides Gabriel and Anna Maria (our resident directors), and stuck out like sore thumbs. I don't know about everyone else, but I was feeling a lot of nervousness along with my wide-eyed excitement that I had made it to Africa!
We are really lucky that we made it there, and even more so that we made it back. Our flight to Casablanca was one of the last ones out of the Charles de Gaulle airport last Thursday and the one back on Tuesday night was one of the first arrivals, since planes couldn't fly through the ash in the air caused by Iceland's volcano eruption. I'm really hoping that there will be no chain reaction, because I have flights out the wazoo these next two weeks! In fact, I'm in the airport on my way to Granada via Sevilla maintenant.
In Casablanca, we made our way to the bus and toured the city a little bit before heading to the mosque there. The mosque was the first of many things that I became obsessed with throughout the course of our stay. It is HUGE, one of the biggest mosques in the world, and it's pretty from the outside, but spectacular on the inside. I am in love with all of the detail put into Moroccan architecture. There were mosaics and carvings and a ceiling that was open to the sky but closed while we were there because it was just before noon and time for prayer. We took off our shoes when we entered and walked around this incredibly open building, listening to our tour guide, but mostly marveling at the beauty of the building and snapping as many photos as possible.
The mosque is the only big thing we did in Casablanca, so after lunch we reboarded the bus and made our way to Fes. During our bus ride, I was surprised to see that Morocco has red dirt! I almost felt like I was back in Oklahoma.
The second day of our trip, we stayed in Fes (unusual for us to stay in one place the entire day!) and went to the medina. It's the biggest area where people live but cars can't go...or something like that. It was so cool! It's a good thing we had a guide though, because that thing was huge and with twists and turns and definitely no street signs, I had absolutely no idea where we were.
The guides gave us each a flower they use to make rose water as a welcome, and supposedly they're also good luck to find a husband and serve as an aphrodisiac. They were sure big on those in the medina. It was more than a little awkward. As we meandered through the alleyways (for lack of a better word), guys were reaching out and shouting at us in English, French, Arabic...whatever language they knew and/or thought we might recognize. That part I could have done without, but I did get used to catcalls in Latin America and it's really not all that different I suppose.
In the medina, we visited a carpet place, which had gorgeous things but a bit out of my price range, being a poor college student spending all of my money on the trip itself! We also hit up a spice shop with traditional remedies, perfumes and cosmetics as well as cooking spices, a tannery and a clothing and scarf place, where we dressed up and took pictures. I bought a few things, but I can't say what because they may or may not serve as gifts...;) And after we found our way out of the medina, we went to a ceramics place and got to see the stages of pottery and mosaics there and visited the shop attached as well.
Day three was spent almost entirely on the bus, driving from Fes to Arfoud. I've never been so glad that I can't sleep on the bus, because I saw some great views! I didn't get any pictures though, because I knew I wouldn't have electricity in the desert and didn't want my camera battery to die. It turns out that I could have taken some, because I was too afraid of the sand killing my camera to use it very much, but oh well! I can just take those pics from other people.
Once we got to Arfoud, we hopped on 4X4s and took what I'm pretty sure was the bumpiest path possible to get to the desert, AKA SAND DUNES. Real Sahara sand dunes. I'm still having trouble believing that this trip actually happened.
In the Sahara, we slept on the sand. We were in tents, but we had sand blowing on our faces all night. I'm glad I somehow managed to sleep with my face under the blanket because that would have been interesting otherwise. Our toilets were glorified port-a-potties and there were showers, but it was pointless to try to get clean since you would just be covered in sand again ten minutes later. I got into the habit of wiping off my plate as best I could before eating so that there wasn't much grit, and I didn't see a mirror in 2 1/2 days, but I was completely ecstatic!
We woke up at 5 a.m. the first morning in the desert to see the sun rise, and after trekking over what seemed like endless dunes for about an hour, the orange horizon finally yielded to a burning ball of yellow and took away a bit of the chill that comes with desert nights. Wow.
We had a while to wait until breakfast, so we either wandered or tried to sleep again. I ended up sitting in the sand with some friends since I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep. After breakfast, several of us bought turbans (duh, I was one of them) and the camels arrived! We were doubled up for the ride and the saddle that my friend Amanda and I had was tilted forward, so that was a really interesting hour or so. I was all up on her, and the precious boys leading us kept telling both of us to scoot back, but it didn't help much, as we just slid again the next time we headed downhill, if not before then. I got a little sore, but it was way fun.
We took the camels into a little village nearby and looked at another carpet place and just walked around a little, before climbing back on Daisy Duke's back (yeah, we named him.) and going back to the tents. Getting on a camel's back is easy. No stirrups necessary, since they're low enough to the ground. Buuut the camel standing is sure an experience. They bring up their back legs so you're thrown forward to the point that you're sure you'll fall off, and then stand up the rest of the way. We didn't fall off, but one girl slid right over her camel's butt on the first hill we came to. It was great.
Later that day, we had some people come to the tent, which was a good idea since we were all a little saddlesore. The first people gave us henna tats, which are decorating my hands as I type! I feel so cool. Then some of us followed some little boys to a giant sand dune to go sandboarding. Getting up that last mountain of sand was next to impossible. We were all struggling since it was ridiculously steep at the top and felt like you were doing a stairmaster--moving your legs up and up and up but not getting anywhere at all since the sand moves down faster than you move up. The little boys dragged us up the very last bit like it was no problem at all. We later saw the rest of our group taking a longer but much easier route up, but oh well--we had a cooler experience! Only a couple of people actually sandboarded down the hill, but several rode it like a sled. I would have done that, but I didn't want to climb up the hill again, especially after watching other people try! It was worth going though, just for the view from the top of the dune. And it was really fun watching everyone eat it when they got to the bottom of the hill...or a little before the bottom for some people! When they finally got back up the hill, several had mouths full of sand. Yum!
We had a little party that night during dinner, with live musicians and dancing. None of us really knew how to dance to Moroccan music, and we never quite figured out what the actual Moroccans were doing, but it was really fun. I mean, how many people can say they danced under the Saharan stars? My guess is around 30!
The last two days, we didn't do too much. Nothing as exciting as the 4 that preceded them anyway! We spent most of the days on the bus gazing at the fantastic landscape and made a stop to feed bread to some monkeys and ate dinner with the ISA kids in Meknes for the semester.
We made it back to Paris with only an hour of delay, I got three hours of sleep and headed to the airport again and now I'm in Granada! I'll wait and give you the Spain update once I leave Barcelona. Chao chao!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
I could live in the Loire Valley.
Budapest rocks. I had such a relaxing weekend, seeing some sights but mostly wandering around the city. I went to the baths and got de-stressed after my crazy weeks before the trip, and walked to the castle district, saw the Danube, met a ton of people in the amazing 10 euro a night hostel (if you go to Budapest, stay in Big Fish!)...it was fantastic! I spent two and a half days there and still had a day when I got back to Paris to do some homework so it worked out really well.
I loved the architecture of the city. I went to St. Stephen's basilica, which was GORGEOUS. I visited the first day I got there and again for mass on Easter and was really struck by how beautiful it is inside. I am so accustomed to France's churches which preeetty much all look the same, so it was nice to have a change. The basilica is home to St. Stephen's mummified hand too, so that was pretty legit. I also adored the Parliament building. I didn't have the chance to go inside, although I hear that's also beautiful, but the outside of the building, viewed from the Buda side of the Danube, is breathtaking. An absolutely striking building.
Unfortunately, I re-stressed on the plane ride back to Paris, knowing I would no longer be able to take showers since my roommate had informed me that our host lady is now monitoring that (more closely) as well. I really want to start a stopwatch before I get in and show her evidence of the time I actually spend in the shower, since she's convinced we're in there for half an hour. Not the case. I actually spend more time cleaning the bathroom than myself each time I take a shower, but whatevs. I've given up on trying to please her!
No more complaining. My horoscope today (I was reading a magazine while waiting for my friend at the caf) said to stop complaining. It's scary when those things know what's up.
Last weekend we went to the Loire Valley with my program and it was super cool! We went to 2 big castles (Chambord and Chenonceau) and Leonardo da Vinci's crib, where some of his inventions were out in the yard and you could play with them. Chouette. Chambord is giant! It has this cool staircase in the middle when you first go in that's a double spiral, DNA-like. Way cool. I could so live there. We took these bike things around the river and such too and that was probably actually my favorite part. I hate bikes, but my friend and I got this weird pedaled golf-cart-like-thing. It was hard work pedaling that sucker around some places, but it was cool to see the castle from afar! Oh, and we had a wine-tasting the first day. Also chouette.
Other than that, I've mostly been going to classes and planning break. I went running a couple of times in the Luxembourg Gardens and discovered I'm the most in shape I've been since high school! Monday was definitely the easiest first run I've ever had and it felt wonnnderful.
I also finally got to go out out last Thursday since I wasn't traveling until Saturday. It was so nice! I went with a classmate to a bar where they had delish caramel vodka shots for two euro fifty...way cheap for here! Then we went around midnight to Mix Club in Montparnasse (walkable yay!), where international students get in for free on Thursday nights. You're supposed to get a flag of your country when you get in, but Lauren and I didn't want to sport the American flag all night, so she got Morocco and I got the EU. Tried to get Chile or Costa Rica, but no dice. People got really confused by mine since it encompasses so many countries and it was entertaining.
Now I'm finishing up packing because I'm officially on spring break! Or Easter vacation as they call it here. Even though Easter was 2 weeks ago. I'm supposed to have class tomorrow, but instead I'm leaving at 5 AM to catch a flight to Morocco! I'm waaay excited for that, and then I'm spending a night back in Paris (by a night I mean a few hours of sleeping and switching bags) and head off to Granada, Barcelona, Rome, Geneva, and Nice! I'm kind of nervous because we're flying all over and airports are so much more difficult, but I'm getting more and more excited by the minute. These are places I've wanted to go for soooo many years and now I finally get to! It's been the same with other places I've gone, but this time it's a whole bunch all at once, so it's a little different. I'm going to try to head to bed super early tonight so I'm not too exhausted tomorrow, so I'll try to update more later if I have internet along the way!
I loved the architecture of the city. I went to St. Stephen's basilica, which was GORGEOUS. I visited the first day I got there and again for mass on Easter and was really struck by how beautiful it is inside. I am so accustomed to France's churches which preeetty much all look the same, so it was nice to have a change. The basilica is home to St. Stephen's mummified hand too, so that was pretty legit. I also adored the Parliament building. I didn't have the chance to go inside, although I hear that's also beautiful, but the outside of the building, viewed from the Buda side of the Danube, is breathtaking. An absolutely striking building.
Unfortunately, I re-stressed on the plane ride back to Paris, knowing I would no longer be able to take showers since my roommate had informed me that our host lady is now monitoring that (more closely) as well. I really want to start a stopwatch before I get in and show her evidence of the time I actually spend in the shower, since she's convinced we're in there for half an hour. Not the case. I actually spend more time cleaning the bathroom than myself each time I take a shower, but whatevs. I've given up on trying to please her!
No more complaining. My horoscope today (I was reading a magazine while waiting for my friend at the caf) said to stop complaining. It's scary when those things know what's up.
Last weekend we went to the Loire Valley with my program and it was super cool! We went to 2 big castles (Chambord and Chenonceau) and Leonardo da Vinci's crib, where some of his inventions were out in the yard and you could play with them. Chouette. Chambord is giant! It has this cool staircase in the middle when you first go in that's a double spiral, DNA-like. Way cool. I could so live there. We took these bike things around the river and such too and that was probably actually my favorite part. I hate bikes, but my friend and I got this weird pedaled golf-cart-like-thing. It was hard work pedaling that sucker around some places, but it was cool to see the castle from afar! Oh, and we had a wine-tasting the first day. Also chouette.
Other than that, I've mostly been going to classes and planning break. I went running a couple of times in the Luxembourg Gardens and discovered I'm the most in shape I've been since high school! Monday was definitely the easiest first run I've ever had and it felt wonnnderful.
I also finally got to go out out last Thursday since I wasn't traveling until Saturday. It was so nice! I went with a classmate to a bar where they had delish caramel vodka shots for two euro fifty...way cheap for here! Then we went around midnight to Mix Club in Montparnasse (walkable yay!), where international students get in for free on Thursday nights. You're supposed to get a flag of your country when you get in, but Lauren and I didn't want to sport the American flag all night, so she got Morocco and I got the EU. Tried to get Chile or Costa Rica, but no dice. People got really confused by mine since it encompasses so many countries and it was entertaining.
Now I'm finishing up packing because I'm officially on spring break! Or Easter vacation as they call it here. Even though Easter was 2 weeks ago. I'm supposed to have class tomorrow, but instead I'm leaving at 5 AM to catch a flight to Morocco! I'm waaay excited for that, and then I'm spending a night back in Paris (by a night I mean a few hours of sleeping and switching bags) and head off to Granada, Barcelona, Rome, Geneva, and Nice! I'm kind of nervous because we're flying all over and airports are so much more difficult, but I'm getting more and more excited by the minute. These are places I've wanted to go for soooo many years and now I finally get to! It's been the same with other places I've gone, but this time it's a whole bunch all at once, so it's a little different. I'm going to try to head to bed super early tonight so I'm not too exhausted tomorrow, so I'll try to update more later if I have internet along the way!
Friday, April 2, 2010
It's a Danube Dream
Sooo pretty much Italy was amazing. It was wonderful to see Ale after so many years--and heartbreaking to part once again! I'm really hoping we will be able to get together some other time this semester, but I know she is insanely busy, so I don't know how well that will work. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though!
I'm pretty much obsessed with the entire Bertoli family. It is obvious why Ale turned out the way she did! We spent some time at their house, looking at Mario's art collection (he has some beautiful things!) and talking and eating--sounds like Italy, right? We also went to some lakes and wandered around Brescia and a couple of other super cute towns in the area. Our train ride back was beautiful too! We went through Switzerland and got to see a lot more of the Alps and even stopped to switch trains and grab lunch in Lausanne, so I can say I've been in Switzerland now! Although I'm going to Geneva in a couple of weeks so I will be back.
I feel like I should say more about Italy, but we didn't do a whole lot. It felt so good to just relax a little and spend time with my family, reunited once again (except for Matt). That was my kind of trip--not much sightseeing, but a lot of people time.
I did some sightseeing around Paris with my parents while they were there too. We went up in the Montparnasse tower (side note: French is taking over in my mind. I just typed tour instead of tower!) which was really cool--a 360 view of the city and a great pic op for the Eiffel. They did some tours of their own (that time I mean the English tour :) ), to Normandy and Versailles, while I was in class, but I spent as much time as possible with them, and as an added bonus, away from Mme B! The second Friday they were there, we headed to Reims in Champagne and saw the cathedral where all the kings had their coronations and did a couple of champagne tours--yum! Saturday we had a wine and cheese lunch (double yum!) and I don't remember what all else we did. They left me on Sunday so they could stay closer to the airport to head back to the States on Monday.
I didn't miss them too much before they got here, maybe just because I knew they were coming, but once they left I really did! Especially when other friends were here or when I would pass the street I took to get to their hotel. It was soo nice to have them there and also to have somewhere to go besides my apartment. I'm so stressed all the time because I have to try so hard not to get yelled at so having a refuge was a great feeling!
Oh and I forgot to mention the cake with the host lady incident. She had been weirdly nice for a while (didn't last for too long though) and when she said she wanted to have my parents over for dinner or at least cake, I decided to accept since I thought it would make her happy. We figured dinner would take forever so went for cake, thinking it would be maybe an hour, definitely tolerable. We were wrong. It lasted TWO HOURS and it was basically her talking the whole time, saying the same things over and over again that I had to translate to my parents. We talked about agriculture a little since she knew we lived on a farm (and has surely watched several documentaries about those) and once again about the great problems of our days, such as the fact that there will be no more fish in 10 years. This is not a joke. This is my life in France. So pretty much cake was TORTURE and I was completely exhausted afterwards since I had to translate all of it since she knows no English and my parents no French. Which was awkward as well. Since she started yelling again less than a week later, I really wish that I had declined her invitation in the first place, but you can't blame a girl for trying!
The weekend after my parents left was crazy! I had 5 different friends in and out for 6 full days, and although I didn't get to spend as much time with any of them as I would have liked and I ended up completely exhausted, it was really nice to see all of them! I went to several new (to me) museums with Jon (friend since pretty much forever)...took a picture with "le penseur" aka the thinker at the Rodin museum and pondered some modern art at the Pompidou Center. Had dinner at Hippopotamus with him and Elisa and Kerry and Christy, picked up some palms at Notre Dame--not the same kind as we have back in the US! I looked like I had a tree growing out of my pocket all day. I think the highlight of their visits though was eating Subway sandwiches and polishing off a couple bottles of wine in the garden area right next to the Eiffel with Kelsey and Elisa until the sprinkles got to be too cold. Oh and Jon and Elisa and I climbed up in the Eiffel too. I hadn't done that yet! 670 steps I think--not as bad as I thought it would be, but I definitely could feel it when I trudged up the 3 flights of stairs to my apartment that evening.
And after two weekends at home with Madame Boquet, I was in great need of a break from Paris. Sooo I headed to Budapest, where I'm currently taking in the castles and cafes and relaxing in the hot public baths! It's great to have some cheap but delicious food and big glasses of wine for 1.50 DOLLARS no matter what time of day it is! I was really excited and also more than a little nervous to go somewhere I don't speak ANY of the language (I've figured out hello means hello or goodbye, as does szia) completely by myself. I am really enjoying it a lot though. There's an anonymity that comes with traveling by yourself--no one knows where you're from because they don't hear your English, and you can just blend in and observe the life around you. I've never been one who needs constant attention, so it really is a nice solitude in the midst of a giant city. It's really amazing that I can get around by myself too! I used to think I had about one of the worst senses of direction possible, but I walked all over Pest today with just a map and made it all of the places I wanted to go AND found my way back. :) Last night I went out with some people from the hostel, but all but one left this morning, and he's here until Wednesday so not wanting to see the things I do when I want to see them, so I just set off on my own this morning, had some goulash, saw a castle, went to the baths...a very relaxing day, which is just what the doctor ordered!
I just realized how long this entry is. I'm going to stop writing now. Hopefully starting now I won't be quite as busy and can update more frequently so they won't be as long! I say this two weeks out from spring break though, so I don't actually know if that will be the case. Bisous a tous! Vous me manquez!
(Read: Kisses to all! I miss you!)
K-Dub
I'm pretty much obsessed with the entire Bertoli family. It is obvious why Ale turned out the way she did! We spent some time at their house, looking at Mario's art collection (he has some beautiful things!) and talking and eating--sounds like Italy, right? We also went to some lakes and wandered around Brescia and a couple of other super cute towns in the area. Our train ride back was beautiful too! We went through Switzerland and got to see a lot more of the Alps and even stopped to switch trains and grab lunch in Lausanne, so I can say I've been in Switzerland now! Although I'm going to Geneva in a couple of weeks so I will be back.
I feel like I should say more about Italy, but we didn't do a whole lot. It felt so good to just relax a little and spend time with my family, reunited once again (except for Matt). That was my kind of trip--not much sightseeing, but a lot of people time.
I did some sightseeing around Paris with my parents while they were there too. We went up in the Montparnasse tower (side note: French is taking over in my mind. I just typed tour instead of tower!) which was really cool--a 360 view of the city and a great pic op for the Eiffel. They did some tours of their own (that time I mean the English tour :) ), to Normandy and Versailles, while I was in class, but I spent as much time as possible with them, and as an added bonus, away from Mme B! The second Friday they were there, we headed to Reims in Champagne and saw the cathedral where all the kings had their coronations and did a couple of champagne tours--yum! Saturday we had a wine and cheese lunch (double yum!) and I don't remember what all else we did. They left me on Sunday so they could stay closer to the airport to head back to the States on Monday.
I didn't miss them too much before they got here, maybe just because I knew they were coming, but once they left I really did! Especially when other friends were here or when I would pass the street I took to get to their hotel. It was soo nice to have them there and also to have somewhere to go besides my apartment. I'm so stressed all the time because I have to try so hard not to get yelled at so having a refuge was a great feeling!
Oh and I forgot to mention the cake with the host lady incident. She had been weirdly nice for a while (didn't last for too long though) and when she said she wanted to have my parents over for dinner or at least cake, I decided to accept since I thought it would make her happy. We figured dinner would take forever so went for cake, thinking it would be maybe an hour, definitely tolerable. We were wrong. It lasted TWO HOURS and it was basically her talking the whole time, saying the same things over and over again that I had to translate to my parents. We talked about agriculture a little since she knew we lived on a farm (and has surely watched several documentaries about those) and once again about the great problems of our days, such as the fact that there will be no more fish in 10 years. This is not a joke. This is my life in France. So pretty much cake was TORTURE and I was completely exhausted afterwards since I had to translate all of it since she knows no English and my parents no French. Which was awkward as well. Since she started yelling again less than a week later, I really wish that I had declined her invitation in the first place, but you can't blame a girl for trying!
The weekend after my parents left was crazy! I had 5 different friends in and out for 6 full days, and although I didn't get to spend as much time with any of them as I would have liked and I ended up completely exhausted, it was really nice to see all of them! I went to several new (to me) museums with Jon (friend since pretty much forever)...took a picture with "le penseur" aka the thinker at the Rodin museum and pondered some modern art at the Pompidou Center. Had dinner at Hippopotamus with him and Elisa and Kerry and Christy, picked up some palms at Notre Dame--not the same kind as we have back in the US! I looked like I had a tree growing out of my pocket all day. I think the highlight of their visits though was eating Subway sandwiches and polishing off a couple bottles of wine in the garden area right next to the Eiffel with Kelsey and Elisa until the sprinkles got to be too cold. Oh and Jon and Elisa and I climbed up in the Eiffel too. I hadn't done that yet! 670 steps I think--not as bad as I thought it would be, but I definitely could feel it when I trudged up the 3 flights of stairs to my apartment that evening.
And after two weekends at home with Madame Boquet, I was in great need of a break from Paris. Sooo I headed to Budapest, where I'm currently taking in the castles and cafes and relaxing in the hot public baths! It's great to have some cheap but delicious food and big glasses of wine for 1.50 DOLLARS no matter what time of day it is! I was really excited and also more than a little nervous to go somewhere I don't speak ANY of the language (I've figured out hello means hello or goodbye, as does szia) completely by myself. I am really enjoying it a lot though. There's an anonymity that comes with traveling by yourself--no one knows where you're from because they don't hear your English, and you can just blend in and observe the life around you. I've never been one who needs constant attention, so it really is a nice solitude in the midst of a giant city. It's really amazing that I can get around by myself too! I used to think I had about one of the worst senses of direction possible, but I walked all over Pest today with just a map and made it all of the places I wanted to go AND found my way back. :) Last night I went out with some people from the hostel, but all but one left this morning, and he's here until Wednesday so not wanting to see the things I do when I want to see them, so I just set off on my own this morning, had some goulash, saw a castle, went to the baths...a very relaxing day, which is just what the doctor ordered!
I just realized how long this entry is. I'm going to stop writing now. Hopefully starting now I won't be quite as busy and can update more frequently so they won't be as long! I say this two weeks out from spring break though, so I don't actually know if that will be the case. Bisous a tous! Vous me manquez!
(Read: Kisses to all! I miss you!)
K-Dub
Monday, March 15, 2010
Long overdue!
(disclaimer: This is really long. And there's more to come, since I wrote it last Friday!)
Hello hello! Sorry for the lack of update (mom); I’ve been keeping myself busy for sure!
Two weekends ago I headed to Normandy and Mont St. Michel with ISA. We took a double decker bus and went to a museum (so-so) in Caen and then spent some time at Omaha Beach and Pointe du Hoc. It was incredible to see. The American cemetery was really neat too. Every direction you look, there is a pattern, which is why you can’t really take a bad picture of it. I wandered around there for a while, just looking at the dates on the crosses and where the soldiers were from. I found a few from Kansas/Oklahoma, but the saddest part was the large number of crosses with no name on them. I can’t imagine what the families of those unidentified soldiers must have felt like—I’m sure not knowing would be the worst feeling in that kind of situation. It seems like I’ve seen/heard a lot about World War II recently, with the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam the next weekend and the book I brought with me. I just grabbed a book to take on the plane that my mom had bought for me, and I didn’t realize until I started reading it that it was not only set in Paris, it was about the Vel’ d’Hiv (Velodrome d’Hiver—a sort of indoor bicycle track that ended up holding French Jews for a few days during the war) roundup. It was the French police that took the Jews to the Vel’ d’Hiv, on Nazi orders. They were originally supposed to take adults, but they took whole families (I think children of certain ages didn’t have to go though) to the track and then separated the children from their parents there. They were then taken to concentration camps and very few survived. I’ve also heard about the Vel’ d’Hiv a couple of times since then, as there is a movie coming out about it. From the sounds of it though, the French general public don’t know a lot about what happened there. The French tend to close their eyes to things they don’t want to see (par exemple, women pretending they don’t notice their husbands’ affairs), and that was definitely a dark moment in Paris’s history since it was the French police that performed the roundup. Just some food for thought!
Anyway, after the WWII landmarks, we headed back to Caen for the night. We went straight to dinner and then headed to bed! I think we were all exhausted at that point. The next day we woke up early, ate breakfast at the hotel (I had the only milk I’ve had since I’ve been here!) and loaded ourselves back on the bus to go to Mont St. Michel. It was incredibly foggy when we first got there, so we couldn’t see the abbey until we were right in front of it. The wind and rain were strong, so we all ran as best as we could to get inside the village. We took a tour around the abbey, which took over 1000 years to build (WHOA!), and then tried to warm up a little while visiting the souvenir shops and food places in the village below. I would have enjoyed the trip much more if it weren’t so freezing, but it was a very cool place to go. As the bus pulled away, we could see the ‘island’ much better, since the sky had cleared a bit. We then headed to an apple juice/apple cider/calvados (ridiculously strong alcohol made from apples) to get a tour and try the drinks and spreads they had there. After that, our excursion was complete and we made our way back to Paris.
The next Thursday we had another ISA event—a night at the opera! As I’m sure you can imagine, I was extremely excited about this, especially since the ballet we went to see was at the Opera Garnier—the opera house that gave rise to the phantom of the opera. I had been excited to go there for a long time! It was my first ballet too, and I loved it! The music was by Chopin, and the story the same one from which the Moulin Rouge movie drew its inspiration: La Dame aux Camelias. It was a little hard to follow at times, but I got the gist and then looked up a little more information later so I could write about it in my journal for my French language class. Very cool!
The next day brought my first train experience, my first glimpse of Europe outside of France, and my first sight of a friend I hadn’t seen in nearly 4 years! I took the Thalys train to Amsterdam, arriving at the station WAY too early (they tell you to please be there at least 2 minutes before your train leaves), but at least I had plenty of time to figure out what I needed to do (which was basically stand there and wait for them to post the gate). The train made stops in Brussels, Antwerp and Rotterdam before finally carrying me to my destination. The trip was about 3 ½ hours total, so not bad at all! I got there and headed to Bob’s Hostel, 2 or 3 blocks away, where I got checked in and met Elisa, a friend who was with me in Poas, Costa Rica and whom I hadn’t seen since! I also met her roommate in Leeds, England, Liz. They’re both studying there for the semester. We went to the Anne Frank house that Friday afternoon and just wandered around a little. We went to bed early because it was not pleasant weather and we were hoping to get a semi-early start the next day. The room we shared contained 16 full beds, so we were woken up several times during the night, but I slept much better than I expected to. The next day we did some more wandering and then took a free walking tour around the city for 3 ½ hours that afternoon—we were exhausted after that! It was a really neat tour though. Our tour guide was great, really informative and funny. If anyone reading this heads to Amsterdam, I would definitely recommend doing the tour! Afterwards, we went back to the hostel for a little nap and warming up time, and then we went out to eat and checked out the red light district. We didn’t wander around it too much since it was night and we didn’t want to get lost. I had, by far, the best sense of direction in the group, so as you can imagine, I was more than a little worried about not being able to find our way back! I think Amsterdam gets kind of a bad rap for being the city with all the prostitutes and drugs, but it really is a beautiful place! The canals, the incredibly narrow houses, the Dutch people’s humor—I really enjoyed it all! It was really interesting to go somewhere that liberal from a cultural perspective too. The rule of thumb there is that you can pretty much do what you want as long as you’re discreet about it, it isn’t harming anyone else, and it’s good for business. I thought it was really interesting when our tour guide informed us that only about 10% (I think) of Amsterdammers smoke weed, that it’s mostly tourists who propagate that image. I would have loved to have talked to some locals to see how they felt about how the way their city is viewed is produced by the people who visit it (if that even makes sense—I think I’m losing my ability to speak English, if I ever really had it!).
This past week I intended to update my blog but I ended up the busiest I’ve been since I got here. My friend Amanda had some US friends in town, so we all ended up hanging out Monday and Tuesday nights, and then I ended up with a date on Wednesday (we drove around Paris and down to Versailles to see the palace lit up at night—lots of fun!) and then my parents got here on Thursday so I met them right after class got out at 5. Now I’m writing this on the train to Milan (it’s around 10 AM on Friday), where we are going to meet Ale tomorrow! I am ridiculously excited, since I haven’t seen her in almost 5 years! I’ve definitely missed her and still think about her all the time. If you don’t know, she’s the Italian AFS exchange student that my family hosted my sophomore year of high school, and she’s wonderful!
A lot of you have been asking about my host situation (probably because I’ve been complaining about it so much!), so here’s a VERY abbreviated version of the sitch. The lady that we’re staying with is crazy-town. She yells at us all the time and tells us we’re not doing things that we actually are, like cleaning. She makes us turn the shower off while we’re lathering up and only use it to rinse off (which makes sense for conserving water, but it comes back FREEZING so we end up using more water that way, waiting for it to be warm enough to use), she informed my roommate that she was manipulating me into hating her (um, I can think for myself, thank you), and makes us clean half of the apartment once a week. I really don’t mind doing things around the apartment, but it’s just the tone of voice that she uses with us and the fact that she never believes we are actually cleaning the tub after we take a shower (check the sponge lady—it’s wet, which usually means it’s been used!), won’t ever let us explain ANYTHING, etc. She was yelling at us about once a day for a week and a half, so Lauren (my roommate) and I went to talk to ISA about it. They called her to try to help fix the problem, which REALLY pissed her off, so we went back to ISA and decided to move. They had some potential families lined up, but once they started calling, they realized that the only option open to us is switching with two other girls who are having problems. We considered that, but after talking to some other people, it seems those two are having a lot of the same problems we are, but they’re in a worse location and we would have to pack up all of our stuff and haul it on the metro to get there. So for now, we’re staying at Madame Boquet’s, since she’s been weirdly nice the past few days (we really don’t know what to do when she’s like that!) and we’re in a great location right now. There’s the short version of that!
Other than the host lady situation, I absolutely adore everything here! My classes aren’t spectacular, but my schedule is, so I can deal! I love the city and (most of) the people and my trips I’ve taken and the food and all of that. So don’t worry about me getting homesick like in Chile—if I do, it won’t be for a while!
Bisous a tous!
Kristin
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Tourist no more
I am now officially a student in Paris! I had my first two classes today. They were both a little on the slow side, and when each one lasts 3 hours, it made for a very long day. My French language class this morning was super intimidating. We went around the room and introduced ourselves and every single person besides me has been here since at least the beginning of January, and several have been here for a few years. Yikes! I hope I am not too far behind everyone else.
I keep having to look at the pictures I've taken to remember what I've done the past few days. It feels like I've been here so much longer than a week and a couple of days, probably because I've been going nonstop the whole time. It felt amazing to sit all day today! Since I last posted, I've gone to: Musee d'Orsay, Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge (during the day), les Galeries Lafayettes (giant store with a bunch of designer stuff), Notre Dame and the Louvre! I've definitely kept busy, and I haven't even gone to half of the places on my list! Maria Copp (TU student studying in Nantes this semester) was in Paris for the weekend so we went to church together and the Louvre, and stumbled upon some other cool sites too--the St. Ouen flea market and St. Eustache church.
I've started planning some other trips and realized that I won't be back in Paris for the whole weekend until the last weekend in March!
this weekend: Normandy and Mont St. Michel with ISA
5-7: Amsterdam with Elisa
12-14: Milan with the parents
19: Reims champagne tour, also with the parents
And the last weekend I have billions of visitors! Ok, more like 5, but still!
I don't feel so bad about leaving all the time since I have Fridays and Mondays free to do whatever around Paris. I get the best of both worlds, getting to know Paris and exploring Europe too!
Fun fact: I've seen at least 7 accordion players on the metro since I've been here, and several violinists as well. It's not just in the movies!
I keep having to look at the pictures I've taken to remember what I've done the past few days. It feels like I've been here so much longer than a week and a couple of days, probably because I've been going nonstop the whole time. It felt amazing to sit all day today! Since I last posted, I've gone to: Musee d'Orsay, Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge (during the day), les Galeries Lafayettes (giant store with a bunch of designer stuff), Notre Dame and the Louvre! I've definitely kept busy, and I haven't even gone to half of the places on my list! Maria Copp (TU student studying in Nantes this semester) was in Paris for the weekend so we went to church together and the Louvre, and stumbled upon some other cool sites too--the St. Ouen flea market and St. Eustache church.
I've started planning some other trips and realized that I won't be back in Paris for the whole weekend until the last weekend in March!
this weekend: Normandy and Mont St. Michel with ISA
5-7: Amsterdam with Elisa
12-14: Milan with the parents
19: Reims champagne tour, also with the parents
And the last weekend I have billions of visitors! Ok, more like 5, but still!
I don't feel so bad about leaving all the time since I have Fridays and Mondays free to do whatever around Paris. I get the best of both worlds, getting to know Paris and exploring Europe too!
Fun fact: I've seen at least 7 accordion players on the metro since I've been here, and several violinists as well. It's not just in the movies!
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