its my last night here and im not even sure how that is possible. wasnt it just yesterday i was packing my suitcases to come to france? and now i had to do it all over again. except this time rather than being excited beyond believe/nervous/terrified/whatever else i said i was at this time nine and a half months ago, i am sad to leave france and all of the people and places i have grown to love so much. ok i am also kind of excited to see all my family and friends again, but a certain sadness continues to linger. at least when i was leaving the states i knew exactly when i would be returning, but i dont have that same assurance for my next stay in france.
this year was amazing. probably more than i could have ever asked for. and i realize that there are two people that have made this year incredible that i dont think i have mentioned in many of my blogs this year, so this one will be all about them. who might you ask? you guessed it. my host parents. veronique et francois. how i got so lucky, i have no idea.
so here's a little bit about them/some highlights from this year:
(in no particular order of when things actually occurred because this is just the order i brainstormed them in over the past week or two)
So cute.
Repeated after dinner conversation :
François : Laisse Minou, je vais ranger.
(véronique continues to clean up after dinner).
François. Laisse Minou, laisse.
(véronique finishes the cleaning up).
Can’t tell you HOW many times i heard this conversation :)
when i told Francois i liked cider after returning from ireland/scotland, he promptly went into the cave to see if we had any so we could have some with lunch. Sadly we didnt.
after not seeing her for 2 weeks, my host mom was so excited to see me (and i was excited to see her). She even made soup for dinner even though it was warm out (it's a cold weather thing apparently) because she knows i like it and she does too.
Véronique asked if i was tanned/burned from Ireland. I laughed a little and my host dad walked in and was like nope! that was from today. She didn’t look like that yesterday ☺ (i had seen Francois the day I returned, but not Véronique).
My host dad calls me the yogurt queen because i always choose it over cheese at night (i'm pretty sure he thinks i don't really like cheese. which is only half true. i just tend to eat a lot with friends when we each lunch by the quai).
Véronique keeps me updated on Louis even when i don't get to see him. she even told me she'd send me updated pictures after i leave.
Véronique has Healing powers. From actually being sick to simply coming home with a sunburn.
Francois gets excited if a guy friend comes over. Suddenly wants to know if hes husband matériel.
When Véronique hosts dinner parties she always has different color schemes and little doodads to decorate the table with.
Francois cooking pallela. super goooooddd.
Véronique presenting me to her friends. "Elle est ma petite americaine". and she usually has a big smile on her face.
Francois making faces behind Véronique's back. Véronique occasionally doing the same.
Véronique keeping me updated on scandals and anything else interesting.
Francois always forgetting an item when he is sent to the supermarché.
Véronique saying i am gonna be hard to beat next year (in reference to them hosting another girl in the fall).
Francois and his love of all things cowboy (note cowboy should be said with the french accent)
Gifts. Whether for thanksgiving (which i had not realized was a gift giving holiday but truly appreciated the appropriately colored scarf), or christmas, or my birthday.
Véronique notices details, Francois does not always quite as quickly. I'd lived here a while and my host dad turns to me at dinner and says.. your ears are pierced! another night: you are wearing makeup! both times my host mom and i look at each other and laugh because we couldn't believe he hadn't realized before.
Véronique being so touched when i referred to her as my « mère d’accueil » or « maman d’accueil » aka my host mom. originally it hadn't occurred to me to call her anything else. but i think she really was more motherly to me than other student's host parents anyways, and i was happy she liked the phrase so much.
so i had a dream while i was in Ireland that i was back in the states hanging out with friends. but i was really upset because i realized i had never said goodbye to my host parents. even after i woke up, i realized how unsettling that would be if it were true. And i hated having that dream with a month left in my stay.
now. it is the very end.
i returned my key and gave them a book with photos of california. in the front cover i wrote a little note, and then left post-its throughout pointing out the pictures that refer to places that actually mean something to me.
then we had escargot and lasagna for dinner. so i may have never gotten the chance to eat grenouille, but i did get escargot three times this year!
after dinner i printed my plane tickets (yes, that was one of the last things i did) and then my host mom and i fought my bags to get them to close and not be too overweight, and then it was time to say goodbye since i wont be seeing her in the morning probably. it all seems so unreal. i'm still not sure it has entirely hit me that i leave tomorrow.. minus the fact that i have officially said goodbye to everybody except my host dad who will be driving me to the airport in the morning.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Monday, June 6, 2011
its the little things in life
lyon is a city i will miss like crazy when i leave. one that i will always cherish and be able to think of as home.. even if i did only live here for nine months.
there are so many things i will remember about this place when i head back to the states, so many good memories.
so here is a list, though i am sure it could be even longer. sometimes its the little things that are the most important. and no, these aren't in any particular order.
francais and franglais.
boulangeries and patisseries.. and the fact that they are everywhere. how i am going to survive without consuming as many baguettes/flutes and pastries as i have this year, i do not know.
metros/trams/buses - tcl. seriously.
knowing places by public transportation stops rather than street names.
the ability to walk everywhere.
everybody always looking so put together.
my host parents.
the fact that even though i live a little far, i still have a bus two minutes away. a tram two minutes away. a metro twelve minutes away. a grocery store two minutes away. a post office two minutes away. a bank (ok at least the appropriate atm) two minutes away.
marchés.
fifty cent hot chocolates on campus.
parc de la tête d'or. parc de la tête d'or. parc de la tête d'or! and the animals there.
velo'vs.
prices as marked.
salsa dancing.
always having to figure out how to flush a toilet (seriously, every toilet is different!).
drinking cheap wine on the hotel de ville steps and on the quai.
having the cheap wine be called côte du rhône. especially when drinking along the rhône.
vieux lyon.
fête des lumières.
the juxtaposition of old apartment buildings on top of modern stores.
the ironwork on all the window sills.
Le Rhône et La Saône.
calling the man at one épicerie our "friend" because he'll open our bottle and sometimes give us plastic cups. we are very classy people :)
pretending i don't speak english/french to wierd people who come up to me.
speaking french.
bises.
patrick's scavenger hunt.
multiple course meals.
not getting carded everywhere/the drinking age being 18. then not needing a dd because no cars need to be involved to get home.
pinching myself wondering how this is my life.
never feeling lost because you can never go more than five minutes without finding a map.
eating too much nutella with kirstin.
the view from fourvière.
student prices.
showing people around.
my big bed.
monster munches.
jetting off to new places.
picnic lunches on the quai.
ditching boys during waka waka to dance with chloe.
salad and bread at almost every meal.
LU véritable petit beurre cookies.
barbarousse. mi barrio. dv1. even ayers rock.
experiencing my first real winter.. not that i need to experience it ever again.
christine and all of my eap peeps.
trying new food.
meeting new people.
snowball fights instead of going to class.
walking along the quai.
there are so many things i will remember about this place when i head back to the states, so many good memories.
so here is a list, though i am sure it could be even longer. sometimes its the little things that are the most important. and no, these aren't in any particular order.
francais and franglais.
boulangeries and patisseries.. and the fact that they are everywhere. how i am going to survive without consuming as many baguettes/flutes and pastries as i have this year, i do not know.
metros/trams/buses - tcl. seriously.
knowing places by public transportation stops rather than street names.
the ability to walk everywhere.
everybody always looking so put together.
my host parents.
the fact that even though i live a little far, i still have a bus two minutes away. a tram two minutes away. a metro twelve minutes away. a grocery store two minutes away. a post office two minutes away. a bank (ok at least the appropriate atm) two minutes away.
marchés.
fifty cent hot chocolates on campus.
parc de la tête d'or. parc de la tête d'or. parc de la tête d'or! and the animals there.
velo'vs.
prices as marked.
salsa dancing.
always having to figure out how to flush a toilet (seriously, every toilet is different!).
drinking cheap wine on the hotel de ville steps and on the quai.
having the cheap wine be called côte du rhône. especially when drinking along the rhône.
vieux lyon.
fête des lumières.
the juxtaposition of old apartment buildings on top of modern stores.
the ironwork on all the window sills.
Le Rhône et La Saône.
calling the man at one épicerie our "friend" because he'll open our bottle and sometimes give us plastic cups. we are very classy people :)
pretending i don't speak english/french to wierd people who come up to me.
speaking french.
bises.
patrick's scavenger hunt.
multiple course meals.
not getting carded everywhere/the drinking age being 18. then not needing a dd because no cars need to be involved to get home.
pinching myself wondering how this is my life.
never feeling lost because you can never go more than five minutes without finding a map.
eating too much nutella with kirstin.
the view from fourvière.
student prices.
showing people around.
my big bed.
monster munches.
jetting off to new places.
picnic lunches on the quai.
ditching boys during waka waka to dance with chloe.
salad and bread at almost every meal.
LU véritable petit beurre cookies.
barbarousse. mi barrio. dv1. even ayers rock.
experiencing my first real winter.. not that i need to experience it ever again.
christine and all of my eap peeps.
trying new food.
meeting new people.
snowball fights instead of going to class.
walking along the quai.
Friday, June 3, 2011
a few thoughts
so you walk into your eap office with this big dream of studying abroad. you see there are dozens of pamphlets for different countries and different programs. semester. year. summer. whatever works best for you, there is probably some program that will make you happy. they advertise meeting amazing new people, seeing amazing places, getting college credit, and having the time of your life. they can help you make a decision about what program makes the most sense for you. immersion or language and culture? they tell you where to find all the papers for the application. they make sure you know all the deadlines so you dont miss out. and theyll answer any questions you might have.
but they leave something out. where is the "WARNING: YOU JUST MIGHT LOVE YOUR TIME ABROAD AND WILL HAVE A HARD TIME GIVING IT UP"?
nobody tells you about how much you will dread packing. how much you will hope that there is some way to freeze time.
but maybe its for the best that they dont tell you this, because what if people made the decision not to go abroad at all because they dont want to deal with how hard it is when the year comes to an end?! well that would just be really unfortunate. plus, i guess they are supposed to keep all the pamphlets pretty upbeat ;)
i've had some thoughts though. learned a few things even.
for one. take pictures. lots of pictures. but also make sure you really see what is behind the lens while you can. because whatever photo you might capture, it will probably never be the same/as amazing as what you will see in real life.
i probably taken a thousands pictures this year, some of which capture more than others. but mostly i am glad to have them so i can look back on them later and remember what was going on when the picture was taken in the first place. try and put myself back in the place where it was originally taken. i didnt really buy souvenirs this year, because those wouldnt really mean anything to me, but pictures? those mean something.
dont take anything for granted. not everyone will have the chance to see all the amazing places you will. sometimes i cant believe how lucky i am to have been able to go as many cool places i have been, or to meet the people i have met.. even if for just a short time.
above all, enjoy yourself and dont have any regrets. if you dont have the time to see something you wanted, think of all the other sites you did get a chance to visit and all the other things you got to do. plus, theres always next time :)
i've discovered this year that i like views. in a bunch of cities i have been to, i have done my best to get to the highest (or close) point so that i could see the entire city.
paris from montmartre:
passau (or maybe technically in austria?) i could see three countries from up here!):
grenoble from the bastille:
milan from the duomo:
lake como (from the funiculaire to the top of the hill):
barcelona (from the side of parc guelle):
todra gorge (from the top of our hotel):
bordeaux (from the top of the saint-michel tower):
edinburgh (from calton hill):
glasgow (from university of glasgow):
dublin (from the top floor of the guinness wearhouse):
cork:
nice (from parc du chateau):
monaco (from the jardin exotique):
cannes (from near musée de la castre):
and of course, the one i will never tire of even after having seen it a large number of times, and will miss like nobody's business. lyon, from fourviere:
see? im obsessed. and though there was a funiculaire or something option for a few of these, most involved a whole lot of stairs. and i cant even begin to describe how much i wish these pictures actually captured what was in front of me. oh well. at least ive got the memories :)
and just remember, every day is an adventure. treat it as such. :)
but they leave something out. where is the "WARNING: YOU JUST MIGHT LOVE YOUR TIME ABROAD AND WILL HAVE A HARD TIME GIVING IT UP"?
nobody tells you about how much you will dread packing. how much you will hope that there is some way to freeze time.
but maybe its for the best that they dont tell you this, because what if people made the decision not to go abroad at all because they dont want to deal with how hard it is when the year comes to an end?! well that would just be really unfortunate. plus, i guess they are supposed to keep all the pamphlets pretty upbeat ;)
i've had some thoughts though. learned a few things even.
for one. take pictures. lots of pictures. but also make sure you really see what is behind the lens while you can. because whatever photo you might capture, it will probably never be the same/as amazing as what you will see in real life.
i probably taken a thousands pictures this year, some of which capture more than others. but mostly i am glad to have them so i can look back on them later and remember what was going on when the picture was taken in the first place. try and put myself back in the place where it was originally taken. i didnt really buy souvenirs this year, because those wouldnt really mean anything to me, but pictures? those mean something.
dont take anything for granted. not everyone will have the chance to see all the amazing places you will. sometimes i cant believe how lucky i am to have been able to go as many cool places i have been, or to meet the people i have met.. even if for just a short time.
above all, enjoy yourself and dont have any regrets. if you dont have the time to see something you wanted, think of all the other sites you did get a chance to visit and all the other things you got to do. plus, theres always next time :)
i've discovered this year that i like views. in a bunch of cities i have been to, i have done my best to get to the highest (or close) point so that i could see the entire city.
paris from montmartre:
see? im obsessed. and though there was a funiculaire or something option for a few of these, most involved a whole lot of stairs. and i cant even begin to describe how much i wish these pictures actually captured what was in front of me. oh well. at least ive got the memories :)
and just remember, every day is an adventure. treat it as such. :)
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
june.
hey there june,
i've been dreading your arrival since august, but i guess i need to come to terms with the fact that you are finally here.
i realize now that i have two options when it comes to thinking about stepping on that plane in ten days:
i can either be dragged kicking and screaming (ok, not literally) because i dont want to leave lyon/france,
or
i can come to accept that it is simply the end of one adventure and the beginning of the next. and how excited i am (really!) to see the family and friends it seems like i haven't seen in a lifetime.
im thinking the second option is probably the better one to go along with.
also one more thing june, i have a favor to ask of you. could you please make the rain and cold stop sooner rather than later? at first i didn't mind because after the heat it actually came as kind of a relief. but with allergies attacking me one hot day, and then it being cold the next, im afraid i might start getting sick! and with not much time left.. i'd rather spend it being healthy.
all the best,
ariane
it's wierd for me to start realizing that i may actually be beginning to reach that point where i am ready to come home. honestly, i never thought it would happen. maybe its just because im not doing much with myself on this rainy day, or maybe its just because my return is inevitable. but as much as i am putting off packing (though i mean seriously, its still too early to start packing.. i figure i dont need more than a week), i am also getting ready to start. though how i am going to fit all of my stuff in the bags i arrived with, i have no idea. i hope it isnt too difficult!
ok. that last paragraph i wrote this morning. as of this evening feelings have changed a bit. this morning i think it was the boredom and sweatpants that were getting me ready to go home. but this evening chloe came over, and after not having seen her for a week we took some time to catch up. and once again i realized how i am not really ready to leave yet. a couple tears might have even appeared. next week is going to be rough. i can already tell. so much to do, so little time.
honestly though, i cant even really begin to describe how i feel. torn between wanting to freeze time and stay here forever and actually being excited to get back to real life.
if anybody's got a solution to this big problem of feeling all mixed up inside, im all ears. but its hard, because i've come to realize that its only my eap peers who are going through exactly the same thing really know how i feel.. not that they really know what it is theyre feeling either.
i've been dreading your arrival since august, but i guess i need to come to terms with the fact that you are finally here.
i realize now that i have two options when it comes to thinking about stepping on that plane in ten days:
i can either be dragged kicking and screaming (ok, not literally) because i dont want to leave lyon/france,
or
i can come to accept that it is simply the end of one adventure and the beginning of the next. and how excited i am (really!) to see the family and friends it seems like i haven't seen in a lifetime.
im thinking the second option is probably the better one to go along with.
also one more thing june, i have a favor to ask of you. could you please make the rain and cold stop sooner rather than later? at first i didn't mind because after the heat it actually came as kind of a relief. but with allergies attacking me one hot day, and then it being cold the next, im afraid i might start getting sick! and with not much time left.. i'd rather spend it being healthy.
all the best,
ariane
it's wierd for me to start realizing that i may actually be beginning to reach that point where i am ready to come home. honestly, i never thought it would happen. maybe its just because im not doing much with myself on this rainy day, or maybe its just because my return is inevitable. but as much as i am putting off packing (though i mean seriously, its still too early to start packing.. i figure i dont need more than a week), i am also getting ready to start. though how i am going to fit all of my stuff in the bags i arrived with, i have no idea. i hope it isnt too difficult!
ok. that last paragraph i wrote this morning. as of this evening feelings have changed a bit. this morning i think it was the boredom and sweatpants that were getting me ready to go home. but this evening chloe came over, and after not having seen her for a week we took some time to catch up. and once again i realized how i am not really ready to leave yet. a couple tears might have even appeared. next week is going to be rough. i can already tell. so much to do, so little time.
honestly though, i cant even really begin to describe how i feel. torn between wanting to freeze time and stay here forever and actually being excited to get back to real life.
if anybody's got a solution to this big problem of feeling all mixed up inside, im all ears. but its hard, because i've come to realize that its only my eap peers who are going through exactly the same thing really know how i feel.. not that they really know what it is theyre feeling either.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
the beginning of the end
the past few days have been a mix of exciting moments and sad moments.
the sad parts? closing my bank account, ending my caf, and watching friends start to pack/having to start saying goodbye. its like looking two weeks into the future, and i dont like it. its wierd not knowing when i am going to see these people again who i have become so close to. the end is creeping up on me and i really dont appreciate it. today my host mom even asked me if i had started packing.. i responded uhh no. i dont want to leave haha. but more than that i just hate packing.
the exciting parts though? wandering around the city. watching louis learning to walk/spending time with my host parents. going on a scavenger hunt.
chloe and i had come up with this genius idea that patrick should make us a scavenger hunt. i have to say it was pretty fun. oh and milena and her brother joined us. it started with telling us to go get a kirstin flute.. which of course i was the only one to understand and meant that we were to go to the boulangerie by where kirstin used to live. from there we were told to listen to the ipod he had handed to us. specifically a selection by boris. who is boris? he is patrick using a ridiculous russian accent to send us around the city for no reason at all while he finishes placing other clues. but it was hilarious. i wish you could listen to it, because if you dont hear it, you just dont understand. we ended the day with ice cream. which i have eaten a lot of by the way. and by the time i headed home it was almost nine o'clock. seriously this whole being light out till almost ten thing is really throwing me off.
i also got ice cream at a really good cafe in place carnot with juan and patrick because my host mom told me it has the best ice cream in lyon. we were then gonna see two museums, but it was so nice out we just kept sitting at our table for a couple hours until it was too late to get into the museum once we showed up! we did pass a medieval marché along the way though. that was pretty cool.
then later in the evening lindsay and i went out to get a drink. who knew that every bar could be filled at 9pm on a saturday! guess barcalona vs. man u is a pretty big deal haha. no drinks for us then since werent really digging the super crowded bar idea.
today was la fete des meres (aka mothers day) and so i spent the whole day at home hanging out with my host family. delicious lunch. french all afternoon. louis to entertain during the time he wasnt taking his nap. id say it was a pretty good afternoon. until when everyone left and were saying au revoir et bon retour. and i was like whatttt.
also. it just hit me that i can now officially say i leave next week. yes, i may still have the better part of two full weeks left here. but today is sunday and i leave on a saturday. which means that when people ask when i leave, i can say la semaine prochaine.
the sad parts? closing my bank account, ending my caf, and watching friends start to pack/having to start saying goodbye. its like looking two weeks into the future, and i dont like it. its wierd not knowing when i am going to see these people again who i have become so close to. the end is creeping up on me and i really dont appreciate it. today my host mom even asked me if i had started packing.. i responded uhh no. i dont want to leave haha. but more than that i just hate packing.
the exciting parts though? wandering around the city. watching louis learning to walk/spending time with my host parents. going on a scavenger hunt.
chloe and i had come up with this genius idea that patrick should make us a scavenger hunt. i have to say it was pretty fun. oh and milena and her brother joined us. it started with telling us to go get a kirstin flute.. which of course i was the only one to understand and meant that we were to go to the boulangerie by where kirstin used to live. from there we were told to listen to the ipod he had handed to us. specifically a selection by boris. who is boris? he is patrick using a ridiculous russian accent to send us around the city for no reason at all while he finishes placing other clues. but it was hilarious. i wish you could listen to it, because if you dont hear it, you just dont understand. we ended the day with ice cream. which i have eaten a lot of by the way. and by the time i headed home it was almost nine o'clock. seriously this whole being light out till almost ten thing is really throwing me off.
i also got ice cream at a really good cafe in place carnot with juan and patrick because my host mom told me it has the best ice cream in lyon. we were then gonna see two museums, but it was so nice out we just kept sitting at our table for a couple hours until it was too late to get into the museum once we showed up! we did pass a medieval marché along the way though. that was pretty cool.
then later in the evening lindsay and i went out to get a drink. who knew that every bar could be filled at 9pm on a saturday! guess barcalona vs. man u is a pretty big deal haha. no drinks for us then since werent really digging the super crowded bar idea.
today was la fete des meres (aka mothers day) and so i spent the whole day at home hanging out with my host family. delicious lunch. french all afternoon. louis to entertain during the time he wasnt taking his nap. id say it was a pretty good afternoon. until when everyone left and were saying au revoir et bon retour. and i was like whatttt.
also. it just hit me that i can now officially say i leave next week. yes, i may still have the better part of two full weeks left here. but today is sunday and i leave on a saturday. which means that when people ask when i leave, i can say la semaine prochaine.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
get lost, eat ice cream
nine months. two continents. eight countries. twenty-nine cities (or let's just say, places).
FRANCE
Lyon. Paris. Beaujolais. Grenoble. Annecy. Dijon. Beaune. Toulouse. Bordeaux. Nice. Cannes. Monaco.
GERMANY
Passau.
SWITZERLAND
Geneva. Basal. Lucerne.
ITALY
Rome. Milan. Lake Como.
SPAIN
Barcelona. Madrid.
MOROCCO
Marrakech. Casablanca. Todra Gorge. Sahara Desert.
IRELAND
Dublin. Cork.
SCOTLAND
Edinburgh. Glasgow.
and would you believe there are still more places i just didn't have the time to make it to that i had hoped i would see? i guess i'll have to come back!
but i did learn a few things along the way to make traveling as unstressful as possible.. not that i didn't make mistakes along the way! but i figured i might impart some of my newfound wisdom here. after nine months, i think i've pretty much figured it out... not that i do it right every time of course.
i remember the first trip being so stressful. how to buy tickets? how to get a student discount? where to sleep? what to pack? how long does it take to get to the train station? how can i go broke in my first month? do i plan what i want to see before i get there? or just figure it out as i go?
well here's what i have figured out:
as far as packing goes. i made a list at the very beginning of everything would be wanting to bring with me on trips.. and then i just added to it or left things off since of course every trip is different.. but at least then i always knew what i had thought i needed in the past. considering i have a habit of packing at the very last minute possible, it was really nice to just have to check things off a list and then feel pretty comfortable that i had everything i would need.
it sucks to be cold all the time though and it sucks to be too hot. check the weather before you travel. and if people tell you its going to be freezing somewhere and they would definitely know.. believe them.
dress in layers.. then you can basically be prepared for anything.
and if you dont pack the right stuff. make the best of it and try not to think about it too much.
also, pack light. especially if you know you are going to be walking around a lot before you get to dump your stuff. its really not fun lugging a super heavy backpack around and feeling like you have to stop every ten minutes to rest your poor overworked back. plus, if theres any chance you want to get souvenirs, its probably better if your bag isnt already almost impossible to close.. not that that can be helped sometimes.
and wear shoes you can walk in comfortably. nothing ruins a perfectly lovely day like being stuck in shoes for hours that kill your feet.
buy your tickets as far in advance as possible.. because especially if your flying on cheap airlines, the prices will probably go up. and it may be a pain, but compare all of your options.. flying might be cheaper than a train, or the other way around. and dont forget do factor in buses and navettes getting you to and from airports. and how long airport security and waiting time can take.
print your tickets a couple days in advance. that way if you have trouble finding a printer, you still have some time to figure it out. seriously. it can be stressful if its the day before you are leaving and you realize you still dont have the tickets you need in your hand.
then if its a train ticket, dont forget to compost your billet. you can get fined for that.. though if youre lucky and have no money on you and dont speak the language, you can maybe get out of paying most of it :)
always give yourself extra time to get to your buses/trains/planes/whatever. its amazing the number of times i cut it closer than i meant to. i missed a train twice.. and once that had expensive consequences. once i made it with less than a minute to spare.. other times i have given myself plenty of time to get places, and then still manage to be running late. and pay attention to make sure you get off at the right stop.. yknow.. minor details.
where to sleep? couchsurf if you can! its free and you get to meet some really cool people :) otherwise, just try to find the cheapest hostel/hotel. who cares what it looks like.. how much time were you really planning on spending there anyways?
what to eat? always try some of the local food. but theres no reason to go out for every meal, because that will get super expensive super fast. just go to a grocery store and by sandwich stuff or whatever for most lunches and something simple for breakfast. and cook your own food if you are at a place where you can. and i mean, of course, go out at least once in every place. food is an important part of the traveling experience :)
try to find a map as soon as you get to a new city so that when you need to figure out where you are/where you are trying to go you can. but wander aimlessly as well. its amazing some of the cool stuff you can stumble upon when you aren't on a mission to find something specific. see some tourist attractions, but look into seeing some stuff that isnt specifically tourist oriented too. watch out for tourist traps.. they will find you and try to take your money.
make sure you get some sleep. and make sure you make time to eat. you will be a much nicer person to be around.
if things dont go as planned, accept it as just being part of the fun.
space out your trips a bit if you can.. you don't want to get burnt out. you'd be surprised, it can start to happen even if you still have a million places you want to see. traveling all the time can wear you out.
alright. i think that's all i've got for now.
so go get lost and be sure to eat some ice cream! :)
FRANCE
Lyon. Paris. Beaujolais. Grenoble. Annecy. Dijon. Beaune. Toulouse. Bordeaux. Nice. Cannes. Monaco.
GERMANY
Passau.
SWITZERLAND
Geneva. Basal. Lucerne.
ITALY
Rome. Milan. Lake Como.
SPAIN
Barcelona. Madrid.
MOROCCO
Marrakech. Casablanca. Todra Gorge. Sahara Desert.
IRELAND
Dublin. Cork.
SCOTLAND
Edinburgh. Glasgow.
and would you believe there are still more places i just didn't have the time to make it to that i had hoped i would see? i guess i'll have to come back!
but i did learn a few things along the way to make traveling as unstressful as possible.. not that i didn't make mistakes along the way! but i figured i might impart some of my newfound wisdom here. after nine months, i think i've pretty much figured it out... not that i do it right every time of course.
i remember the first trip being so stressful. how to buy tickets? how to get a student discount? where to sleep? what to pack? how long does it take to get to the train station? how can i go broke in my first month? do i plan what i want to see before i get there? or just figure it out as i go?
well here's what i have figured out:
as far as packing goes. i made a list at the very beginning of everything would be wanting to bring with me on trips.. and then i just added to it or left things off since of course every trip is different.. but at least then i always knew what i had thought i needed in the past. considering i have a habit of packing at the very last minute possible, it was really nice to just have to check things off a list and then feel pretty comfortable that i had everything i would need.
it sucks to be cold all the time though and it sucks to be too hot. check the weather before you travel. and if people tell you its going to be freezing somewhere and they would definitely know.. believe them.
dress in layers.. then you can basically be prepared for anything.
and if you dont pack the right stuff. make the best of it and try not to think about it too much.
also, pack light. especially if you know you are going to be walking around a lot before you get to dump your stuff. its really not fun lugging a super heavy backpack around and feeling like you have to stop every ten minutes to rest your poor overworked back. plus, if theres any chance you want to get souvenirs, its probably better if your bag isnt already almost impossible to close.. not that that can be helped sometimes.
and wear shoes you can walk in comfortably. nothing ruins a perfectly lovely day like being stuck in shoes for hours that kill your feet.
buy your tickets as far in advance as possible.. because especially if your flying on cheap airlines, the prices will probably go up. and it may be a pain, but compare all of your options.. flying might be cheaper than a train, or the other way around. and dont forget do factor in buses and navettes getting you to and from airports. and how long airport security and waiting time can take.
print your tickets a couple days in advance. that way if you have trouble finding a printer, you still have some time to figure it out. seriously. it can be stressful if its the day before you are leaving and you realize you still dont have the tickets you need in your hand.
then if its a train ticket, dont forget to compost your billet. you can get fined for that.. though if youre lucky and have no money on you and dont speak the language, you can maybe get out of paying most of it :)
always give yourself extra time to get to your buses/trains/planes/whatever. its amazing the number of times i cut it closer than i meant to. i missed a train twice.. and once that had expensive consequences. once i made it with less than a minute to spare.. other times i have given myself plenty of time to get places, and then still manage to be running late. and pay attention to make sure you get off at the right stop.. yknow.. minor details.
where to sleep? couchsurf if you can! its free and you get to meet some really cool people :) otherwise, just try to find the cheapest hostel/hotel. who cares what it looks like.. how much time were you really planning on spending there anyways?
what to eat? always try some of the local food. but theres no reason to go out for every meal, because that will get super expensive super fast. just go to a grocery store and by sandwich stuff or whatever for most lunches and something simple for breakfast. and cook your own food if you are at a place where you can. and i mean, of course, go out at least once in every place. food is an important part of the traveling experience :)
try to find a map as soon as you get to a new city so that when you need to figure out where you are/where you are trying to go you can. but wander aimlessly as well. its amazing some of the cool stuff you can stumble upon when you aren't on a mission to find something specific. see some tourist attractions, but look into seeing some stuff that isnt specifically tourist oriented too. watch out for tourist traps.. they will find you and try to take your money.
make sure you get some sleep. and make sure you make time to eat. you will be a much nicer person to be around.
if things dont go as planned, accept it as just being part of the fun.
space out your trips a bit if you can.. you don't want to get burnt out. you'd be surprised, it can start to happen even if you still have a million places you want to see. traveling all the time can wear you out.
alright. i think that's all i've got for now.
so go get lost and be sure to eat some ice cream! :)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
9 months.
its officially been 9 months that i've been abroad. and that is the last time i will be able to count an even number of months. how 9 months passed so quickly, i dont think i will ever understand where the time went. it seems like just yesterday i was freaking out because i would soon be heading to france.. and now im down to my last couple weeks. i tell myself not to think about how little time i have left.. and yet it always seems to creep into my thoughts. sure i'm excited to go back and see everybody, but its hard not knowing when exactly i will come back. i'm not ready to give up this life yet.
tonight i ate dinner at my host sisters house because my host parents are staying there to take care of louis while she and her husband visit new york. he is so big now! and basically walking! man he was so little when i got here, only five months old. its been fun to see him grow up.
then my host mom and i discussed what to do about my banking situation as far as whether or not it is even worth me getting a new carte bancaire with so little time left.. we decided its not and that well go to the bank tomorrow morning and work on closing my account, and then ill just pay her my last months rent in cash.. oh yea. and she told me i didnt have to pay anything for june! a gift from them to me. i love my host parents. they are awesome. she even showed me how to get to lac miribel since it is starting to get hot. hopefully ill make it there next week. by the way, i think i might die of heat stroke when i get home if it was only in the mid to low 80s today and i was already thinking its getting way too hot. pretty sure i'll be in trouble when i have to face 100 degree sacramento.
around 21h30, i finally headed home. the apartment is super close to the rhone, and i saw the sun setting, so i decided to go take a picture.
it was then i realized that though it would be so easy to walk two minutes and get on the c3 to take me home and then another two minutes walk when i got off, i just couldn't bring myself to do that. sure i live far, but it was a super nice night out and i decided to walk.. i figured i should probably do that at some point before i left. jeez i live far though.. took me almost an hour to get home! thats what happens when you live in the suburbs.
plus i just love walking around this city.
lyon <3
tonight i ate dinner at my host sisters house because my host parents are staying there to take care of louis while she and her husband visit new york. he is so big now! and basically walking! man he was so little when i got here, only five months old. its been fun to see him grow up.
then my host mom and i discussed what to do about my banking situation as far as whether or not it is even worth me getting a new carte bancaire with so little time left.. we decided its not and that well go to the bank tomorrow morning and work on closing my account, and then ill just pay her my last months rent in cash.. oh yea. and she told me i didnt have to pay anything for june! a gift from them to me. i love my host parents. they are awesome. she even showed me how to get to lac miribel since it is starting to get hot. hopefully ill make it there next week. by the way, i think i might die of heat stroke when i get home if it was only in the mid to low 80s today and i was already thinking its getting way too hot. pretty sure i'll be in trouble when i have to face 100 degree sacramento.
around 21h30, i finally headed home. the apartment is super close to the rhone, and i saw the sun setting, so i decided to go take a picture.
lyon <3
the south
zoe and i decided to see both monaco and cannes in the same day.. which meant we only got a couple hours in each, but at least we got to see both! :)
monaco:
after a short train ride from nice, we arrived at our first destination. from just outside the gare we could already see the water.. though it was pretty far down. we knew we wanted to see the changing of the guard at the palais princier at 11h55, so we had a little over an hour to see whatever we wanted and get ourselves over there.
with our spare time we decide to check out the outside of the famous casino.. we wanted to go inside, but it just didnt seem worth it to have to pay to not do anything but walk in.
as we passed the marina on our left on the way to the palais, we noticed there was not a single dingy looking boat. man this town was rich.
we made our way up a bunch of steps to the palais and found a beautiful view as we waited a bit before getting in position to watch the changing of the guard.
and then the main event. it was kind of hard to see because of so many people, and not quite as exciting as i had anticipated, but im still glad i went and had a good time. but how they werent dying of heat stroke in their uniforms, i will never understand.
i wanted to see one more thing before we left. so i took a look at the map and decided that a jardin exotique sounded interesting. we had no idea what it was so figured, hey, why not go investigate?
turns out, the particular jardin exotique was home to a million different kinds of cacti. ok, thats probably an exaggeration.. but there were a lot.
my favorites being one that looked wierd.
and one that i decided was a grandpa cactus because it was so wrinkly.
and of course there was a cool view since it was super high up.
and then we made our way back to the train station where we had the bad luck of missing a train by mere minutes and getting stuck waiting another hour to get to cannes. it was only once we were on the train that i had realized we'd missed seeing cathédrale de monaco and prince rainier and princess grace's graves.. but you can only do so much when you only give yourselves a few hours in a city!
next up:
cannes:
we happened to visit cannes the second to last day of the annual cannes films festival. seeing as it has been going on for about sixty-four years now i believe, its a pretty big deal, which meant, there were about a million extra people crowding the streets (again, probably exaggerating), but it was super crowded.
upon arriving, of course we immediately beelined toward the beach. some fair was going on, and we also realized it would not really be possible to get very close to the sand since there were so many private beach properties and restaurants. oh well.
we wandered up and down taking it all in. at one point we even saw a big crowd of people honing in on a car. i guess we got to see some famous french celebrity? i dont know who she was though.
eventually of course we also had to get ice cream.. in part because it was super hot out. in part for tradition. so we took a break and sat down. sure is fun people watching. there was a guy with this group who was dressed up like a condom.. the back of which said futur marié or something. bachelor party i guess!
as we continued walking and started investigating the main shopping street.. not to shop of course. i saw a bnp atm and decided to see if money from velo'vs was back in my account.. oh yea, and to get some cash out since i didnt have any. bad idea. the stupid machine ate my card! and of course the actual bnp was already closed. so i called and the guy basically told me he could turn off my card, but thats it for me right now. awesome. i guess im out of a card for a few days.. always hoped id have to get a brand new card just a couple weeks before id be closing my account for good. fail. i decided to do others a favor though and put up my own 'hors service' sign. i hope people actually paid attention to it!
soon after we found the red carpet and decided to stay and watch. it was funny, there were lots of people holding signs hoping for an invitation in! i wonder if that ever works. we were able to watch everyone walk up the red carpet.. on the screen behind us. this was our actual view:
that woman with the short blonde hair with her back to me is a pretty big deal. they kept focusing in on her on the big screen. but see? i got to see a famous person in person! ... even if i was kinda far away, and at a really bad angle.
we stayed there until everyone had gone into the theater, and then made our way to vieux cannes to investigate dinner possibilities as well as wander through the old city. i really do love the old parts of every city. they are so cute.
before actually picking a place to eat though, we found our way to the musée de la castre.. ok actually im not exactly sure what the museum was, but the whole point was to find the view of baie de cannes.. anyone surprised at this point that i was looking for the view? didnt think so.
finally we got some food. i felt like the waiter wasn't as attentive to us as other customers once he realized we werent french.. but maybe i was just tired. he never did bring us a bread basket though even though every other table had one.. hm. i dunno.
and finally, we were on our way back to the gare to return to our hostel in nice for the night before our early train ride back to lyon the following morning.
what a good weekend. sun. sea. views.
i just can't believe that the next time i leave lyon i will be stepping on a plane to head stateside. its mind boggling.
monaco:
after a short train ride from nice, we arrived at our first destination. from just outside the gare we could already see the water.. though it was pretty far down. we knew we wanted to see the changing of the guard at the palais princier at 11h55, so we had a little over an hour to see whatever we wanted and get ourselves over there.
with our spare time we decide to check out the outside of the famous casino.. we wanted to go inside, but it just didnt seem worth it to have to pay to not do anything but walk in.
turns out, the particular jardin exotique was home to a million different kinds of cacti. ok, thats probably an exaggeration.. but there were a lot.
next up:
cannes:
we happened to visit cannes the second to last day of the annual cannes films festival. seeing as it has been going on for about sixty-four years now i believe, its a pretty big deal, which meant, there were about a million extra people crowding the streets (again, probably exaggerating), but it was super crowded.
upon arriving, of course we immediately beelined toward the beach. some fair was going on, and we also realized it would not really be possible to get very close to the sand since there were so many private beach properties and restaurants. oh well.
eventually of course we also had to get ice cream.. in part because it was super hot out. in part for tradition. so we took a break and sat down. sure is fun people watching. there was a guy with this group who was dressed up like a condom.. the back of which said futur marié or something. bachelor party i guess!
we stayed there until everyone had gone into the theater, and then made our way to vieux cannes to investigate dinner possibilities as well as wander through the old city. i really do love the old parts of every city. they are so cute.
and finally, we were on our way back to the gare to return to our hostel in nice for the night before our early train ride back to lyon the following morning.
what a good weekend. sun. sea. views.
i just can't believe that the next time i leave lyon i will be stepping on a plane to head stateside. its mind boggling.
Monday, May 23, 2011
the french riviera
my final trip of my year abroad. did i really just say that? i can't believe it.
pour mon voyage final je suis allée à nice, monaco, et cannes. la sud de la france!
alors, nice:
my host parents had made it clear to me that i would need to venture through the south of france before i make my final departure. so i made a point to make sure that happened.
to my future children, a couple words to consider:
"oh, let's get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of france. let's get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance" - ingrid michaelson's 'you and i'. this song was sort of the theme of our trip.
we started with a five-hour train ride, zoe, chloe and i. after sleeping for much of it since train rides arent always particularly exciting, we realized how beautiful it was outside for the last hour or so. la plage. ohhhh the beach. and seeing the water. so blue and clear! i couldn't wait to actually touch it.
we finally arrived in nice and bid adieu to chloe since she was going to get on another short train ride to spend the weekend with her uncle.
a few short minutes later we arrived at our hostel where we dropped off our bags before starting our real explorations.
we wandered around vieux nice for awhile checking out the marchés and lots of cute restaurants in big squares and small passage ways (though we wouldn't be eating out till the second night). i really like how windey a enclosed vieux nice is. i wish we had more areas in cities like this in the states.
we even found a church and decided to check it out since it seemed like the thing to do. we didn't feel like going out of our way to find churches after seeing so many this year, but if we had one in front of us, why not take a peak inside?
we took a break to try some socca, something chloe had told us is a specialty in nice. basically its like a hardy crepe. i looked it up and found out socca are actually chick-pea crepes. they werent super exciting, but they were really good. plus it was a good snack to hold us over until dinner.
finally we headed toward the water. we spent awhile simply sitting on a beach enjoying our surroundings: the beautiful blue sea in front of us, bikers and rollerbladers passing by, and the realization that we were finally in nice!
as the sun started to set we wished it was actually over the water, but figured you can only hope for so much.
finally we were hungry enough to go off in search of some dinner. to save money we decided to just get sandwiches the first night so we grabbed some and then made our way back to the beach, this time actually sitting on the rocks to eat them.
we managed to almost finish our food before a tunesian guy came up to us and tried talking to us. only problem was his french was terrible, i dont think he spoke english, and we couldnt really understand what he was trying to say. something about his family being in tunesia and wanting to watch the sunset like we were his sisters? i dunno. i felt a little bad for the poor guy since we just couldnt understand him at all. it was actually kind of perfect timing though because i was able to say we had been planning on leaving as soon as we finished eating, and after one more bite, we stood up and made our exit.
we wandered along the promenade des anglais admiring hotels we would never be able to afford in our lives with views straight out to the sea. we even found a creepy face... not really sure what that was about.
on our way back to our hostel i made us take the long way (aka turning randomly for no reason if a street seemed to look even a little bit more interesting). but along the way, we found this spray painting dude and managed to show up with perfect timing to watch from start to finish. look how cool it is!
and that was day one. successful i would say.
for our one full day in nice, we went to say hi to the sea on the way up to parc du chateau. what a beautiful day!
basically the parc du chateau is where a castle used to be? there were at least ruins of an old church.
the rest is a park. theres a playground. grass to sit on. a snackbar area. its actually really nice. and we hung out up there for an hour or two. the part i liked best though was the views.
if you explored enough you could essentially get a 360 view of the entire city. looove it.
oh and the fact that it was hot out! after the last trip where i had been cold for the majority of the time even with a scarf and jacket, it felt nice to finally be in shorts and a tank top and getting some sun! i was even good and wore sunscreen.
we ate our lunch in the grass and enjoyed the cool breeze that came through.
with a text from chloe we headed back to the train station to meet her since she would be rejoining us for the afternoon. what would we be doing? going to the beach of course! even getting a little swimming in :) ok.. mostly standing in the water.. but still. swimsuits were on, and we got in the water. it was so clear. and blue. and a tiny bit cold, but mostly just refreshing!
[pictures to come]
we got to lay on the rocks and enjoy the sun. a real vacation. giving up touring for a few hours to do nothing but relax? not something i've done on many of my trips. and i didn't even get burnt to a crisp! so proud of myself haha.
after our time by the water, we wandered through vieux nice to find a place chloe knew that had good socca, farcies, and cébette for a snack.
and then it was time to return chloe to the train station before heading back to the hostel for a bit to shower and whatever else before dinner.
for dinner, zoe and i found a restaurant that had a cheap menu and served typical nicoise food.. although every place claimed to serve typical nicoise food. anyways.
i ordered the salade nicoise, steak frite, and a tarte citron.
the salad:
it was good, but not my favorite. i also learned i really dont like anchovies. ew. the waiter saw that i had left mine on my plate and joked about it. i told him that at least i had tried it! he told me not hard enough. haha. the waiters at this place were amusing.
after dinner we walked along the promenade des anglais in the opposite direction as the night before, this time towards the harbor. we got closer to the pirate ship (ok probably not a pirate ship, but thats what we decided to call it), that we had seen from up on the hill earlier in the day.
to wrap up our night we stopped to watch some breakdancers that happened to be dancing in a square that was on our way back to the hostel. i mean, who wouldn't stop to watch the rest of the show if they realized they saw some guys dancing to 'single ladies' by beyonce? thought so.
pour mon voyage final je suis allée à nice, monaco, et cannes. la sud de la france!
alors, nice:
my host parents had made it clear to me that i would need to venture through the south of france before i make my final departure. so i made a point to make sure that happened.
to my future children, a couple words to consider:
"oh, let's get rich and buy our parents homes in the south of france. let's get rich and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance" - ingrid michaelson's 'you and i'. this song was sort of the theme of our trip.
we started with a five-hour train ride, zoe, chloe and i. after sleeping for much of it since train rides arent always particularly exciting, we realized how beautiful it was outside for the last hour or so. la plage. ohhhh the beach. and seeing the water. so blue and clear! i couldn't wait to actually touch it.
we finally arrived in nice and bid adieu to chloe since she was going to get on another short train ride to spend the weekend with her uncle.
a few short minutes later we arrived at our hostel where we dropped off our bags before starting our real explorations.
we wandered around vieux nice for awhile checking out the marchés and lots of cute restaurants in big squares and small passage ways (though we wouldn't be eating out till the second night). i really like how windey a enclosed vieux nice is. i wish we had more areas in cities like this in the states.
we wandered along the promenade des anglais admiring hotels we would never be able to afford in our lives with views straight out to the sea. we even found a creepy face... not really sure what that was about.
for our one full day in nice, we went to say hi to the sea on the way up to parc du chateau. what a beautiful day!
we ate our lunch in the grass and enjoyed the cool breeze that came through.
[pictures to come]
we got to lay on the rocks and enjoy the sun. a real vacation. giving up touring for a few hours to do nothing but relax? not something i've done on many of my trips. and i didn't even get burnt to a crisp! so proud of myself haha.
after our time by the water, we wandered through vieux nice to find a place chloe knew that had good socca, farcies, and cébette for a snack.
for dinner, zoe and i found a restaurant that had a cheap menu and served typical nicoise food.. although every place claimed to serve typical nicoise food. anyways.
i ordered the salade nicoise, steak frite, and a tarte citron.
the salad:
after dinner we walked along the promenade des anglais in the opposite direction as the night before, this time towards the harbor. we got closer to the pirate ship (ok probably not a pirate ship, but thats what we decided to call it), that we had seen from up on the hill earlier in the day.
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