Playing Catch-up - Days 8-12

Ok, so here is the latest... kind of.

Day 8 - To conclude that cliffhanger ending... I went to meet with the woman who had invited me to her friend's place and told her that I wasn't going to go. She didn't mind and luckily she was meeting someone else at the same time, so I didn't just leave her hanging. I ended up hanging out with Rachel and Bec at an Irish pub watching the Spain v Italy match. There were so many people that we weren't even able to buy a beer (awesome money saving). It was a great game. I was pretty much rooting for Spain, but I tried to keep it on the DL for the most part, since those Italians can get pretty rowdy. The match went into overtime and ultimately into PKs, so as the tension mounted I began to show my colors a bit more. I kept getting dirty looks that said, "why are you here, and not in Barcelona where you belong?" It was pretty funny. Sadly enough for the Italians, Spain won! We made it back to the dirty hostel and slept really well.

Day 9 - The next day was all about the awesomeness of travelling solo. I had intended to start my voyage through Tuscany, but had been hearing so much about beaches, so when I got the station I saw that there was a train to Rimini. I ended up sleeping the entire way because it was just so hot. Rimini is where all the Italian tourists go on holiday. It was pretty cool to be surrounded by Italian rather than English.
Once I found a place to stay - which was pretty easy - I took a nap, the heat really takes it out of me. I have come to enjoy my siesta time. Once I woke up and started to function I hung out for a bit around the area. That evening I did the really creepy solo traveller thing and pretty much invited myself to hang out with a group of students from the UK. They were a crack up. I love the accents! We went to get dinner - pizza - and I found out that I actually kind of like anchovies on pizza. Yep, that's right, anchovies. We set off to see the ocean in the evening with a few beers and it was heaps of fun. The sunset was so beautiful. I love the ocean... the Adriatic Sea to be more specific. We hung out for a bit longer and then headed back to the hostel. The hostel in Rimini was really cute... retro wall paper and all.

Day 10 - I woke up and finally met the girls in my dorm. They were really sweet and friendly. I went to the beach and it was so beautiful. I was sort of taking a vacation from vacation. I didn't see any of the sights and didn't carry my Lonely Planet around like I usually do. It was AWESOME. That afternoon I hoofed it to the grocery store and picked up some supplies for dinner - salad and sandwich. Only one word describes this part of my day - hot.
That night was a good example of the downsides of traveling alone. There weren't too many people at the hostel and so I went to their sister hostel which was equally dull. I was pretty lonely, but it is in these times that I find silly ways to amuse myself. Meanwhile I was develloping an incresingly strange sunburn. Strange in that it was only on one arm and patchy. I am really bad at sunscrean applliaction. Oh well, I am working on it.

Day 11 - Well, I finally made it out of Rimini and back on schedule. That morning I headed once again to a train station and got the train to Florence. On the platform during my layover I braved a conversation with a stranger, Kara. Turns out we were both heading to Florence, so I followed her to her hostel and we hung out for the next few days. The hostel in Florence was pretty much a sauna. It was a converted convent, so it was really neat-looking, but man was the room hot.
I have already been to Florence, but wasn't all that impressed, but I decided to give it a second try and I am really happy that I did. A lot of my time there seemed kind of like deja vu, but it was really cool. I liked how small it was, most things were in walking distance. Of course, Florence is supposedly where gelato was invented, so we had to get some and it was pretty good. I am not really sure how much bad gelato exists, though. I realized recently that the only thing I can do in Italian is order ice cream. It would be nice if that was a joke, but in all seriousness, that is all I know how to do.
So after wandering around a bit that evening (and rubbing the snout of a statue of a boar), Kara and I went back to the hostel and I watched the match between Germany and Turkey. It was pretty frustrating, the screen kept going black and I actually missed one of the goals! Ultimately Germany won, which was cool. I am not quite sure how I would have felt if Turkey was the European cup holder... only because the idea of the european continent is pretty obscure.


Day 12 - So the next morning we got up early, Kara earlier than me, but whatever. We had both planned on going to the Uffizi Gallery and luckily for me, she let me cut in line with her. The museum was extraordinary. There were paintings by pretty much every renaissance artist I have ever heard of... not that that means much. In Florence museums are pretty expensive, so I only went to that one. I am happy to have made that choice.
After the Uffizi, we headed to the duomo and we snuck in with a group to avoid the line. Ah, travelling adventures. It was so awe inspiring. The whole church is made of green and white marble and it is enormous. After that, we went to "leather town" or more commonly known as San Lorenzo. It was all so soft and so pretty. Being there made me realize how much I really want to be a professor, just so I can justify buying a cute leather briefcase.
We walked back and admired Florence's bridges and beauty and of course got some more gelato. I was finally able to resist hazelnut and got cheesecake and cookie... not your standard gelato flavors. Back at the hostel, where we were escaping the heat, we both pondered our future travel plans.
After cooling off a bit, we headed up to the Piazza Michaelangelo where we had heard it would be possible to hear some chanting monks. And as you all know, where the monks chant, I must go. Not all of us made it to the top, but I did and it was absolutely breathtaking (the adjectives are just flying out today). The church itself was beautiful and the view over the city from the top of the hill was great and free, so I skipped the climb up the duomo.
After that, Kara and I decided to check out a pizza place that her friend had recommended. It was so great. The pizza maker was right next to the table and he was really funny. He kept looking over at us and giving big smiles and waves. I have found that Italian peopole are generally very hospitible. The experience was awesome. A few days ago I had ordered a pizza and accidentally got anchovies - and loved it! Yeah, that's right, I like anchovies, what are you going to do about it?
We went back to the hostel and I had a beer and watched the Spain v Russia game, that Spain won 3-1. You guys are totally watching the cup vicariously through me... unless maybe you already know who won ;)
That night after the game I went out with a few people from the hostel and had a really nice time. I love meeting travellers from all over the world - everyone had such a different perspective. That night, the hostel was like a sauna at night. It was ridiculous.

OK, so that was days 8 through 12. I will be working on the last few days here pretty quickly, probably by tomorrow evening (at least that is my goal since the internet is pretty cheap here).

A is for air conditioning

Hey guys,
I am not going to write a full-on blog right now because the internet point I am using has no chair... and I am pretty lazy. I just wanted to let all my fans know that I am alive and well and heading to Rome. Since my last post, I have been to: Rimini, a lovely Italian beach full of Italian tourism; Florence, which lived up to the hype and more; and finally Lucca, probably my favorite destination thus far. I really hope I punctuated that correctly, those commas can be such a hassle.
Today I am headed to Rome and will be there for a few days. I am hoping there will be relatively inexpensive internet there, so we can fully catch up. I think I am going to split the last few days into two blogs, that way it will not be so overwhelming, what do you think? (she asks the voices in her head). Umm, OK, I think the morning heat may be getting to me, so more to come in the somewhat near future.
As always, I hope everyone is doing well.

no parla italiano - Days 4-7

Alright, so to conclude the last one... France was beaten by Italy and is out of the Cup. Tear, kind of... I mean, I love France, but it would be so awesome to see Italy in the final just because I am here. Also, I left my notebook at the hostel, so I am not sure how well I am going to be able to recount these last few days, so here is an overview.

Day 4 - I got up and went to the station to take a train to fair Verona as planned. I was supposed to have a quick stop in Milano and then continue on, but I have started to notice a trend in the Italian train system... everything is late. I missed my connection and ended up waiting in line for about an hour at the station only to be told to take a train that was to leave in about 30 seconds. I, um, missed it and decided to do a little b-sing. I waited for the next train to Verona and got on. I told the ticket lady that the man at the station told me to take this train (which he hadn't) and she bought it. It was a nicer train than I was supposed to take... high speed and it even had power outlets at each seat. Pretty cool.
I got to Verona and made my way to the hostel. I met a group of older French travellers and they actually bought my bus ticket for me. They were really nice and pretty funny. Once I got to the bus stop I got a bit lost and really had to, er, use the facilities, so I aksed a woman for directions and then asked to use her bathroom and she let me. Italians are AWESOME. So once I was on the right street, I followed the signs and came upon a beautiful building with a huge garden and thought, "wow, this can't be it," but it was and the inside was breathtaking. The walls were covered in frescos, it was clean, even the bathroom had a fresco on the ceiling. The grounds were magnificent and the people were great. Verona is an amazing place.
That first night, I met some Swedish girls, Linn and Annika and we went into town. Pretty much everything is in waliking distance in Verona, so we walked to the market and got some dinner supplies and ate dinner in one of the main piazzas, piazza Brà. After thatwe went and sat down at a bar in piazza Erbe to watch the match, Sweden v. Russia. Sadly, Russia won and we made our way back to the hostel. We hung out for a bit and then went to bed.

Day 5 - So in Verona, there is quite a bit to do, for such a small town. We (the Swedes and I) bought a pass to all the major sights and spent the day being typical tourists. We went to the Arena, which is breathtaking. It is an enormous structure that seat about 30,000 and right in the heart of town. After that we checked out Juliet's balcony. I was a bit frustrated that the sight made it seem that Romeo & Juliet was real. I would have preferred to hear more about the history of the story. Anyhow, the next thing on our list was tha chiesa San Fermo, a really neat curch that was actually two. It was a romanesque style church with a gothic structure built over it. I have officially chosen my favorite style of architecture; romanesque. After that we ate lunch and got some gelato. It is sooooo good. I had hazelnut and sweet cream. We then climbed the torre dei Lamberti. It was so picturesque from above, exactly what Italy should be. The little streets and great architecture. After the tower, we set out to another church, Basilica San Zemo. We walked to the other side of town an saw this roman church that was equally awesome. It was in a part of town that was less travelled, so it was cool to see the locals out in the afternoon. We then trecked back towards the hostel, which was conveniently close to the teatro romano, the roman theater. There was a jazz band practicing while we were there and it was really cool. We wanted to get back to the hostel in time to eat their dinner, so we left with the intention of exploring the theater and adjacent religious structures the next day.
We went back to the hostel and had a nice pasta dinner with a salad and a cut of beef. We then watched some more football... I don't remeber which match was that night and met some more really awesome people. Verona was a great time for me. I was starting to get a bit lonely, so it was nice to meet some more people to hang out with. The atmosphere there was so great. We ended up staying downstairs until we had to go upstairs. It is really nice to hear about other people travelling alone and how it all works out. So, that was bed time.

Day 6 - Friday, I think, was a very relaxing day. Linn and Annika and I started out at the teatro romano. We spent a few hours lazily wondering about the place. Apparently, houses and other buildings had been built on top of the theater and was only just found again in the 17th century. Pretty cool, huh? After that, we ended up just kind of walking around and hanging out. We got lunch at a little deli and I had the most amazing pastry thing with mozarella and tomato in it. mmm, cheese. We continued to meander about the streets and fell upon monument after monument. We eventually went to the train station and I got a ticket for Bologna and then we went to the grocery store. We got a bottle of wine and headed back to the hostel to eat. Apparently Annika and Linn had a bit of a disagreement, so dinner was just Annika and me.
This made me realize how great travelling alone is. I get to do what I want when I want and how I want, which is rarely the case in life. I am very lucky to have this opportunity and only think that one month is not enough time. Many people I am meeting are doing around the worl trips over periods of up to a year. I was not really that into travel before, but after hearing about so many places, I am already thinking about when I can travel more, alone or with someone.
Anyhow, Annika and I went into town to get some gelato... I know, I know, twice in one day, but it is so hot here. We walked around once more and said goodbye to this place and its amazingly positive atmosphere. One last time we went to the hostel to watch the match... a crazy one between Croatia and Turkey. All the way to PKs. It is so much fun to watch soccer. I am so happy to have met so many friendly people.

Day 7 - So , I sadly said my goodbyes to Linn and Annika as we swapped names for Facebook. I headed to the station with, Eliana and Talia, two Australian girls who had stayed at the hostel. We ended up taking the same train, where I had an extremely interesting conversation with Talia about everything; life, travel, school, politics, religion. On arriving in Bologna we decided to quickly grab some lunch... as Bologna is the culinary capitol of Italy, before theur next train. It was a tight squeeze, but they made it. The specialty here is Bolognese style sauce... meat and tomoto sauce, so that is what we ate. We ended up bargaining with a restaurant and got 3 bowls for 5euro each, instead of 12. Go us!
I then got a bus ticket and made my way to the hostel, which is a bit outside of town. I met some guys from Sweden (the Swedes are everywhere!!!) and we waited for the bus and found the hostel together. They were pretty silly. So I got to the hostel around 4 and was too hot to go back into town. I decided to stay in for a bit and wait for it to cool off. Around 7 I started into town, but didn't have a bus ticket. I decided to walk - about 6k - and it took a bit of time.
When I got into town all I wanted to do was have a beer and watch the game, but I didn't see any places with TVs. Craziness. I finally just went into a bar and asked and the barman directed me to a backroom where only 2 guys were watching the game. It was a bit strange, but at least the game was on. At half time, I met a woman from Scotland, Liz, and she invited me to watch the game at an Irish pub where she was meeting her friends. Liz has been living in Italy for over 10 years, so it was cool to hang out with a semi-local. Her friends were a cornacopia of languages, English, Spanish, and Italian. Ok, well a small cornocopia. It was fun trying to communicate and I had a very nice time. I was invited to watch the "big game" (Italy v. Spain) tonight at an American's house, but I am not sure if I am going to go. The people were a bit older than me and while they were cool, I met some people at the hostel that are going to watch the game too. Anyway, a few of the poepl there helped me to get to the bus stop that I needed and I took the last bus back to the hostel. It was pretty funny, for about the last 10 minutes I was the only person on the bus. Luckily I recognized where I was and made it back to the hostel. I slept so well! It was great.

Day 8 - This brings us to today. This morning I went to breakfast, only to see Bec, an Australian girl who I had met in Verona and Rachel. We waited for the bus into town together and spent the day together. We started with an amazing lunch. I had tortelloni with Ragù. Oh, to die for. It was so good. I love the food here. I have been trying to "self-cater," as lonely planet puts it, but every now and then it is worth it to eat out. Especially when it comes to ice cream.
We took a look at the main piazza, which I saw last night. There is so much marble here and it is so beautiful. I am getting really bad at coming up with new adjectives, so if you have any suggestions... We then climbed up the 400 plus steps to the top of one of the towers and got a great view of the city. Towers are so cool. We sat up there for a while and ended meeting some Californians who are studying in Siena.
We then walked around for a bit and stopped in a pastry shop. For 30 cents each we got to try a little bit of the bolgnese specialties and they were very tasty. One had figs and the other was almond based. Mmm. So that brings me to now. I am going to decide what to do this evening for the game.

I hope I didn't forget too much, but if I did I will put it in the next, um, volume ;). I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to hearing from you!
Again, I did not edit... so I apologize for the typos and lack of eloquence. Yeah, I consider myself to be an eloquent writer/person.

Italian Adventure: Days 1-3

So, I realized what I forgot to say in mylast blog. I wanted to let you know that contrary to the title of the blog I am going to use it from Italy. It is just easier that way. OK, so here goes!

Day 1 -
Very early in te morning (ok, not that early for most people, but early for me) I took the metro to the train station in Paris and caught my train the Nice, Frace. As the train got closer and closer to the south of France it got warmer and warmer and you can't imagine my excitement when I looked out the window and saw the ocean for the first time in a while. It was so blue and the towns that I was going though were absolutely beautiful. I got to Nice in the afternoon and saw the Russian Church near the train station. It was everything I ever learned about eastern european architecture, the faces in the paintings, the greek cross structure. It was beautiful. I then hauled my backpack around town for a while trying to find ythe busses to my hostel. It took about an hour and a half, which was lucky, because I was going to arrive before they opened anyway. At the second bus stop I met a woman who asked if I was going to the youth hostel. See, the difference between Paris and the rest of France is this, the level helpulness. In Paris, people would most likely just stare at me and think "zat crazy amerrrican." It was amazing to be leped by someone like that. I got to the hosel and checkied in... a few hours later I went to sleep. I was exhausted. I think I slept for like 9 hours without waking up once. It was great.

Day 2-
So, yesterday morning I woke up and had some breakfast at the hostel. I then packed up my bag and headed to the beach. Ah, the beach. While the pebbly natire of Nice beaches was kind of funny, I was happy to pass that morning ranquilly reading. I had brought my bag along because I wouldn't have time to go back to the hostel to get it. It ended up becoming a pretty comfy beach chair. Around 1 I got hungry, so I headed into the old part of the city. It was very cute and the streets were filled with peope giong through the market. I fuond a restaurant and got some lunch. It is kind of funny to travel alone... eating alone is pretty strange. I think I have already taken to talking to myself (more than usual, I mean).
After that I wanted to make sure that I got to the train station on time and since I had to wait in line to pick up my ticket, I got there around 3:30. The line was pretty quick, so I ended up passing a good part of the dayin the waiting room, with some pretty funny people. It is really funny to hear the French accent from the south. I have to listen extra hard to understand and it just sounds silly to me. No offense to those from the midi region.
So around 4, all the departing trains on the board started to turn to being late. Apparently there was a suicide somewhere, but later I fuond out that it may have been an illegal strike in Italy. Hmm, Europeans ans strikes... Anyway, my 6:05 train didn't leave until closer to 8, but I had nowhere to be fast, so I wasnàt too worried. When I finally did get on the train it wsa like out of a movie. It was a train with compartments, most French trains now are just like airplanes, with aisles and rows. It was cool. In my car there was a Columbian guy, Miguel, an Italin guy, David, and an Italian woman. Luckily the two guysspoke English, so we passed the time, eh, discussing worldly things. Socialists are funny and let's leave it at that. So far, my entry to Italy hasn't been so smooth, but it gets a bit worse.
When I finally got to Genoa, I was waiting at the bus stop at 11 rather than 9 and it was pretty sketchy. Luckily, a few Italian women started talking to me and even rode the bus eith me and waited with me for my connection. My Italian, well I have no Italian, so it is pretty funny talking to people. I have never reallyt beem in this position before, in a new place with a language I don't... by myself. Suffice it to say, I made it to the hostel, got checked in and passed out. It seems like Italy doesn't like me... I woke up in the middle of the night to a thunder storm happeneing outside. The weather has been strange to say the least.

Day 3-
So here we are today. I got up this morning and headed into town. Now I undersand what people mean about the small streets in Europe. The city is packed full of old and new buildings. and the streets wind this way and that. I walked around on a route recommended to me by a woman at the hostel and it was very pretty. I saw some beautiful piazzas and palaces and went to the acquarium. Fish are so neat. Apparently this is the second largest in the world and I believe it. It was really amazing. After this I was pretty tired and hugry, so I went back to the main piazza and ate a pesto and cheese sandwich. Delicious and I don't like pesto. I then sat on the square and wrote a bit in my journal, yes mom I have a journal-ish thing going on.
After that I decided to head up to the top of one of the hills for an amazing vista point. I went back to the hostel and "rested my eyes" for a bit (on accident) and then came down and ate some dinner. I got some cheese and crackers at a market down the street. Now there is a big gme on and I think I will grab a beer and watch! Go Italy... even tough they are in the same group as France. I am not risking it.

Future Plans-
Tomorrow morning I am headed to fair Verona and we will see what happens. I am hoping for some clearer weather. I hope you are all well and I look forward to hearing from you!
ps, sorry for typos... I am on a time scrunch and I hate editing.

A New End and an Old Beginning

Well, today was one of the roughest days yet. I guess, I let the end creep up on me, as always. I spent these last few days trying to forget that I needed to pack up and clean my apartment. My amazing apartment, now relatively empty is no longer mine. I get to sleep here one more night, but who can sleep on a night like tonight. I am leaving in the morning on a high speed train to Nice. While I am really excited to travel, I can’t help but be scared. I am traveling alone for the first time ever, let alone in a country where I don’t speak the language. I am also sad to say goodbye to a city that won my heart over. And to top it all off, I am really looking forward to going home. Talk about life not being black and white.

So, for the third or maybe fourth time, who's keeping track anymore, I am picking up and leaving on an adventure. Terrified and excited; nervous and energized. This time I am off to Italy, via Nice, for about a month. I will start in Genoa and, well see where that takes me. I have an itinerary, but I am not going to bore you with the details that will most likely change. I just hope that I will be motivated enough to write frequent blogs. I am not going to bring my computer, but the internet is everywhere.

As for Paris, the springtime was amazing and since the weather has gotten nicer, the afternoon strolls have been fantastic. Finals came and went, much more smoothly this time around, but still stressful. Rebecca and John came for a visit and I met them in London. It was amazing. We did all the great London stuff, but the most awesome part was a play at the Globe Theatre. Thanks to John’s family for all of their hospitality. Since their departure, not much has been going on around here, except the sad goodbyes and planning of summer plans.

I guess, as I said before, that I am just really excited at the prospect of being home. I will enjoy my Italian get away, but even though it may be unexpected, I just can’t wait to get home. The other day I was reading this same kind of blog by a friend and he said that for him, time did not go by as quickly as everyone had predicted, but for me, these last few months have felt more like weeks. Is it bad to hope that the rest of my travels will be such a whirlwind?

So, as I get back to preparing to leave, I can’t help but feel that there is something that I am forgetting to say, must be the fatigue. Well, I hope everyone is doing well and I will see some of you very soon!

Le Joli Printemps

04/24/2008

So here is the latest. Merry Christmas, either four months late or eight months early. Since I went to Chamonix and Switzerland for Christmas I have done little travel, but have been really enjoying myself here in Paris. Switzerland was beautiful and the snow in Chamonix was amazing. It was freezing, but the snow really made up for it. It was tough to be away from home for the holidays again, but it is great to celebrate in different ways. It seems that in France the trend is to eat seafood for the holidays, which was great. Although I am not a huge fan of oysters, I really enjoyed the salmon that was prepared. Oysters remind me mostly of being caught in a rip tide and swallowing the salt water. I was wonderfully hosted by some family friends, Ginette and Michel and they were wonderful.

Anyhow, I took the night train home and spent New Year’s Eve in Paris. I had some people over to my house for drinks and then we walked over to Trocadero to see the Eiffel Tower. It was a relatively dramatic trip, as we were pressed for time. The group ended up getting split into two, but by some miracle we re-found each other in time to see the tower light up. I think we were all expecting some kind of a countdown, but all of the sudden the Tower started twinkling, like it does every hour on the hour, and I thought to myself, “wow, Happy New Year.” I got out my inexpensive, (I was very close to writing cheap, but seeing as I am trying to give this blog a bit more class, inexpensive seems more appropriate) bottle of sparkling wine. We all toasted and started to leave as there seemed to be about a million people in the streets. We looked for somewhere to go, but Elaine and I decided to call it an early night and head home.

After the winter holiday, I finished up my first semester, and started a new one. I have decided to take less stressful classes this semester, so I am taking to French as a foreign language courses and a few International Relations classes at my school. I have decided to add a major and most likely a year to my education, so I am now going to double major in French and History. As for February and March, I pretty much just stayed in school because I am cool. (Yep, I went there.)

Finally, in April something happened, the sun came out and the weather started getting nice, at least off and on. Who could forget that April snow shower? My parents also came for a visit. It was really nice having them in town and showing them what I knew of Paris, which is still very little. They seemed to enjoy themselves. We went to Versailles, which I have visited before, but this time I spent more time in the gardens. They were beautifully kept. We went back to the Grand and Petit Trianons and saw Marie Antoinette’s hamlet. It is amazing to think that someone could just think “hey, I would like to know what it is like to be a peasant, well at least pretend to know” and voilà a small town is built in the backyard. It was a really nice day, which made the walking even better. The guide book we were using said most people spend about two hours, but we ended up staying for something like 5 hours. We splurged on the audio guides, which were nice and really interesting to listen to, even if my dad and I ended up getting the abridged version. About half way through the tour we realized that my mom listened to the guide longer than we did in each room, but were unable to figure out how to change the setting to get the longer version. Oh well.

Another cool thing that we saw together was the Invalides, where Napoleon’s tomb is. Being the, eh, fan of Napoleon that I am, this is probably one of the coolest places I have been. I have really discovered my love of history here in Paris, which is a pretty neat place to be while learning history. I am mostly learning about France and European history, so it is neat to be able to see where things happened and even the traces left. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, I forgot my camera, so I have no pictures to post, but if you know my parents, I am sure they would be more than happy to show you the pictures they took. I am sure they are far better photographers than I, so you should consider yourself lucky.

While my parents were here they celebrated their 28^th wedding anniversary, go mom and dad, so we all shared a delicious meal at La Fontaine de Mars, a restaurant someone had recommended to me. It was AMAZING! I am no gastronome, but I quite enjoyed the meal. Restaurants here are so different from those that I have been to in the States. Honestly, I have never been to a restaurant that needed a reservation, so maybe I have a skewed vision, but here you make your reservation and you have the table for the night. A meal is something that takes several hours and there is no rush to finish, which is nice. A few days later my mom celebrated her birthday, so we were destined for another great meal. I have to admit I have eaten better in the last three weeks than I have in a while.

For a few days, while I was stressed out in school, my parents relaxed with a few days on the coast, seeing Mont St. Michel and the Normandy beaches (at least they were places I have already been to). They then came back to Paris and we had a bit of a slumber party at my house, er, studio. We then took off for a visit to the champagne country, bubbly indeed. It was really cool, but after seeing two Champagne caves, we decided to skip the third and cruise around the countryside and wind our way back to Paris. And yes Aunt Mary-Jo, I would call it a poke-around. We stayed at an airport hotel that night and Dad and I profited from the pool, while Mom played with her new, very cool, PDA. Later we had one last great French meal that night.

The next morning I left them at the airport and as embarrassing as it is, I was sad to see them go. I really enjoyed having them here and I hope they had a great time too. Who am I kidding? You’d have to be crazy to not love spending two weeks with me. Kidding.

Since then, the weather has been unpredictable, but the Météo is predicting the arrival of spring; so, as always I trust them, blindly and ignoring their history of being wrong. I think that this has been my favorite time in Paris yet. It is better than autumn, because that is when cloudy days are the unusual; and while I loved the rains of winter, not wearing a raincoat every day has been nice. Springtime is when we get to look forward to, not expect, beautiful days and I think that makes them even more awesome. The return of episodes of The Office is pretty cool, too. I am now on Spring Break, which is the first vacation time that I have here with nothing planned. This way, I can take more time to appreciate where I am.

So, that’s about it. I mean I even did the awkward bit of small talk about the weather. So now I am looking forward to seeing Rebecca, my sister, and her friends in May as well as to finishing up school and doing some travel over the summer. I hope everyone is well and please don’t be offended if I haven’t been the best correspondent. I would love to hear from you all!

-Kathy

Ps, looks like you made it through another long one! Congrats!!!

Joyeuses Fêtes!

OK, so the holiday season is upon us and well, what ever happened to autumn? (I just had a real break in trying to figure out how to spell autumn…thank goodness for spell check!) Anyway, here is a brief… at least that is what I am saying now… overview of the last few months. In order to figure out where exactly I left off in the last blog I had to read it and suffice it to say things have changed. I am now taking the initiative to enjoy Paris.

I quit my au pair ship and now have a great studio by the Arc de Triomphe. (and if you are a Google Earth fan, check out rue Lauriston). I love where I live. My land lady is pretty awesome and I have a great Canadian neighbor. Come to think of it, maybe she is the reason I love it so much… a Canadian neighbor just like in the States. Geography jokes aside, my place is about 20sq. meters and clean and new and well-equipped. I fell in love with it right away. Here is a little story about that. The first time I went for a visit, I went up to my landlady’s apartment on the 5^th floor by elevator and then through her apartment we went to the service stairs to go up to the studio. I fell in love. The second time was the same. Then, I got the apartment (whoo breath of fresh air) and finally moved. I took my huge bag (for trip one) and realized how long 6 flights of stairs can be. That is right, 6^th floor French (7^th American) without an elevator. Thigh master anyone? Boy, after those three trips I was pretty happy to be at home. I slept like a baby and it was great.

Between quitting my au pair ship and moving I had about a month of good times. First, The MICEFA, being the awesome organizations it is, arranged a trip to Mont St. Michel in Bretagne (the west). We went early on a Saturday morning and spent the afternoon there. Wait a second, I have not told you about the strikes. Well, I guess I am striking against the fluidity of my writing, but I must make my blogs as organized as my thoughts. So the French aren’t so keen on change we all knew it, we all accepted it, some things just don’t change. Oh, but they do. There is this new president of France (no, France is not a monarchy) named Nicolas, say it with me, nee koh ah, Sarkozy, the latest conservative French president. He is trying to cut back certain benefits for transportation workers and it isn’t going so well. What I mean by that is, for a few days they stopped working and well, it became rather difficult to get around. Don’t worry, it was over in the blink of an eye. OK, so that’s out of the way now. Back to France’s up-side. So, Mont St. Michel is this crazy town in the ocean. Yep, I may be making lots of grammatical mistakes, but I mean “in” the ocean. Apparently you can only go when the tide is low. Well, it is a beautiful town that kind of looks like a big seashell on its end from afar. There is a quaint little town and as you continue up the street, you come upon a huge abbey. I am not a very poetic writer, so I am not going to try and explain. For those of you living vicariously through me, try and see it for yourself. It is amazing.

Then, I was invited very graciously to visit Grenoble over the Toussaint holiday. That is right, I barely knew what classes I was going to take and we already had a week of vacation. I took the TGV (high speed train) down to Lyon and then a regular, but still very cool, train into Grenoble. It is a really neat town with a nice atmosphere. The people I stayed with showed me a bit of their city and it quite adorable. One of the coolest parts was the balls that you can take up to the top of one of the mountains and have a look at the city from above. We went up to the bastille, which seemed like some kind of medieval fortification, and it was pretty chilly, but amazingly beautiful. Leaves… they are just so cool the way they can change color like that. Another neat thing was the street lined with pizzerias. I mean lined, at least 15 one next to the other. Cough, mafia? Cough. (Oh, my goodness, I just spelled cough wrong). I definitely recommend this town as a place to see. I really felt like I was in France and that was nice.

Since then, I have moved and oh yeah, there was another strike. I can’t remember how long it lasted, but it seemed like forever. I think 10 days or something like that. Hmm, I just thought of something to add, but I forgot. Oh yeah, another MICEFA trip, this time to Normandy. I really enjoyed the trip. We went to the American cemetery and to Omaha Beach. It was really moving. I want to put the two impressions out there, but if you know how concessives work, then hopefully you be able to tell which one of them was mine. Some people may say that Americans always overdo things and that the monument built for the cemetery is too gaudy and expensive, it is important to also let yourself be awed. The monument and the cemetery itself are extremely well taken care of and utter works of art. OK, so it is quiz time: how did I feel? Yep, (or maybe nope, but probably yep) I thought it was an amazing place well worth the money (most likely because I don’t work and don’t understand the value of taxpayer dollars). It is big, but not intrusive. Somber is what comes to mind. Nothing too extravagant and nothing that was not deserved. So, it was an amazing day and while I have been a proud American for about 4 years now, I am only more honored to be American than ever. I hope somewhere someone reads this out loud in front of a big American flag in the background. So, the bus ride home was cool and we made it to the MICEFA office alright. It must have been kind of late though because I wasn’t able to take the metro home. I forgot it was during the strike, so on a not so warm night I got to walk all the way home. I just realized that this was before I moved, so I must have messed up the chronology there. My bad. I moved just after the end of the strike.

Oh, and while this doesn’t affect me because I am in a private school, a few of the public schools in Paris were also striking. I know that it affected quite a few people, but it seems that after about a month of striking things are settling down a bit… right in time for the winter holidays. A little note about University here, most of the universities don’t finish until the end of January, mine included. So, while you enjoy your holidays, think about those of us studying for finals. Just kidding, it is not a big deal; I certainly won’t be studying on Christmas day (being semi-Catholic I am allowed to say that). So yeah, that is that.

Oh, you want to know what I am up to now? I am actually in Chamonix visiting some family friends. Go ahead, Google earth it, it is in the Alps near the highest summit in Europe, Mont Blanc. I took the very uncool night train (actually it was pretty cool, but not exactly a good night’s sleep) and got here yesterday morning. It is so beautiful everything is covered in snow. And it is a different snow than that of Pennsylvania and California. It is very sticky… I mean it really holds together. Oh and it is very cold. I am not sure in Fahrenheit, but below 32 for sure. Paris isn’t exactly warm either, so it wasn’t too bad of a change, but still, it is cold. I really enjoy visiting with French people, I get to see how they live and the culture. Living in Paris, I live a very American life. I cook the same way I cook in the States, I hear and speak English all the time. I am really enjoying a little vacation in France. I didn’t know this when coming down, but apparently I am going to Switzerland for Christmas to visit my family friend’s family. It should me interesting. OK, so I hope I haven’t forgotten anything. I wish you all a happy holiday and above all, a great New Year! Alright 2008! I am pretty sure that there will not be a blog before then, but maybe. We’ll see.

-Kathy

PS, I will post pictures later.