to reassure you, i made it back across the atlantic and over the US safely. i'm currently sitting in my living room in san ramon, watching newport harbor with mom and kate (btw, they're totally NOT on the ucsb campus) and enjoying the all day fire.
i love california and home and christmas. this is so right where i'm supposed to be.
25 December, 2007
23 December, 2007
wait, does the shuttle think it's picking me up from the airport?!
what if my alarms don't wake me up? what if i forget my computer? what if i don't have my passport? what if i can't find the gate? what if this stupid cold gets me before i even reach the plane?
i can't sleep. it's 4:53 am in paris, which makes it about 8 pm in california. oooo that means i'll be in california in 24 hours! oh, crap, that seems like a REALLY long time. there is so much flying/aiport time between me and the wonderful california soil.
i'm so freaking anxious right now. i want time to pass faster. i tried to pass it by sleeping but i'm way too nervous about sleeping too much..and now i have this cold in my nose and in my throat. SUCKFEST.
ah, i'll watch some newport harbor to pass the time.
i can't sleep. it's 4:53 am in paris, which makes it about 8 pm in california. oooo that means i'll be in california in 24 hours! oh, crap, that seems like a REALLY long time. there is so much flying/aiport time between me and the wonderful california soil.
i'm so freaking anxious right now. i want time to pass faster. i tried to pass it by sleeping but i'm way too nervous about sleeping too much..and now i have this cold in my nose and in my throat. SUCKFEST.
ah, i'll watch some newport harbor to pass the time.
22 December, 2007
this is just like nature intended
tonight mal, maddy, chris, jv, jessie, jay and i went out to this fondue place in montmartre. they serve wine in--get this--baby bottles. seriously. so you're sucking alcohol out of something that is designed to be like a woman's nipple. hahahah. it's a really small place (on rue des trois freres, if you know paris) and it looks kind of dumpy from the outside...but don't all the best places? the sangria place we've gone to a couple times in the latin quarter looks like shit from the outside, but man do they have good sangria (le 10 bar!)
oh, i'm off topic. back to the fondue place. so it's small, and there are only two long tables. if you come in and only part of your party is there, they won't seat you. the guy got kind of mad at us when we tried to come in with 5 out of 7 of us. oops. once we finally got seated, mal, maddy and i had to climb over the tables (seriously) to get into our seats on the bench on the wall.
this is the kind of place with no menu. you get two choices: meat or cheese fondue, and white or red wine (white, for sure. red would have put me to sleep). they bring out a plate of tiny foods and a bowl of bread chunks, all perfect sized for dipping. then they light the fondue lamp on fire and set down a bowl of cheese on top the flame thingy (it's complicated to explain and not really important to the story...just picture a fonude bowl and whatever it looks like in your head is fine).
by the end of the dinner, you're stuffed with cheese and more drunk than you expect...who the heck knows how much wine is in a baby bottle, anyway?
oh, i'm off topic. back to the fondue place. so it's small, and there are only two long tables. if you come in and only part of your party is there, they won't seat you. the guy got kind of mad at us when we tried to come in with 5 out of 7 of us. oops. once we finally got seated, mal, maddy and i had to climb over the tables (seriously) to get into our seats on the bench on the wall.
this is the kind of place with no menu. you get two choices: meat or cheese fondue, and white or red wine (white, for sure. red would have put me to sleep). they bring out a plate of tiny foods and a bowl of bread chunks, all perfect sized for dipping. then they light the fondue lamp on fire and set down a bowl of cheese on top the flame thingy (it's complicated to explain and not really important to the story...just picture a fonude bowl and whatever it looks like in your head is fine).
by the end of the dinner, you're stuffed with cheese and more drunk than you expect...who the heck knows how much wine is in a baby bottle, anyway?
21 December, 2007
finals are done, craigslist here i come!
i finished my econ final about 6 hours ago. i wandered around the city for a while, picked up some last minute souvenirs (and at the same time stressed over how to get it all home) and came home around 315. i gave the jeansons my thank you gift (choclate=always a winner) and now they're out the door. it's just me now. there are a million things i could do with my time: read my new book, watch newport harbor, watch a movie, take a nap, pack.
but all i REALLY want to do on my first day of christmas break is craigslist!* i've been browsing for 3 minutes and i already found a gem: a spinal decompression chair. the description says this: "Rotates to suspend you upside down from hips, naturally seperating compressed spine." WTF kind of chair is this?
someone in IV is giving away a gold couch...the name is deceiving, because the couch isn't gold at all. it's barf mustard yellow from the 70s.
see..ugly. now that craigslist has blessed us with an apartment (and maybe two...shady conquest), i figure maybe the craigslist gods will shine down on us again in the form of a couch...preferably one without germs, but i'm not picky.
*i love the verbification of nouns, like photoshop...though i think adobe gets mad at you when you say "that looks photoshopped."
(and i'm TERRIBLY sorry i put that asterisk and then didn't explain it. i HATE HATE HATE when people do that. it leaves me searching all around like "ohmigod, where is it? where is the asterisk? IS THIS A FLOATING ASTERISK!?")
but all i REALLY want to do on my first day of christmas break is craigslist!* i've been browsing for 3 minutes and i already found a gem: a spinal decompression chair. the description says this: "Rotates to suspend you upside down from hips, naturally seperating compressed spine." WTF kind of chair is this?
someone in IV is giving away a gold couch...the name is deceiving, because the couch isn't gold at all. it's barf mustard yellow from the 70s.
see..ugly. now that craigslist has blessed us with an apartment (and maybe two...shady conquest), i figure maybe the craigslist gods will shine down on us again in the form of a couch...preferably one without germs, but i'm not picky.
*i love the verbification of nouns, like photoshop...though i think adobe gets mad at you when you say "that looks photoshopped."
(and i'm TERRIBLY sorry i put that asterisk and then didn't explain it. i HATE HATE HATE when people do that. it leaves me searching all around like "ohmigod, where is it? where is the asterisk? IS THIS A FLOATING ASTERISK!?")
20 December, 2007
no more skyscrapers in paris. they're ugly.
i went up montparnasse by myself today (well, not really completely by myself...ira glass was with me on my ipod and in my ears). i heard it was a gorgeous view up there, and the sun was shining, and i only have a couple days left, so i was like hell, why not.
i'm not sure what they're going for with the montparnasse 360 tour thingy, but they didn't hit it (unless "it" is bizarre and weird...then they got it spot on). i walk up to the building and look for a line of people waiting to get in. even though it's thursday afternoon at 1:30 pm, i figure there's still gotta be a big demand for montparnasse. i mean, come on, it's the only skyscraper in paris. so anyway, i get there and i don't see a line, but i see some signs that point to "tour montparnasse 360" so i'm like cool, i think i found it.
i walk to the doors and there's a guy standing outside smoking, just kind of looking at me. i'm used to people giving me funny looks now, so i didn't really think much of it. i tried to open the door, but i couldn't. well, dammit, what should i do? the smoking guy was like "no, you have to pull it hard." so i did, blushed, mumbled, "merci" and headed inside.
i still saw no line (HELLO? nobody wants montparnasse right now?!), so i kind of poked around the lobby area for a while. i looked at what was probably a ticket booth with a girl sitting inside, but she didn't even glance at me, so i figured i must have been in the wrong place. but then i looked around the corner and saw nothing promising, so that girl must be the one i get my ticket from. i walked up and i go, "j'achete mon billet ici?" i figured out that this was the wrong thing to say because she responds to me, "sorry?" oh, whatever, screw the french language attempts. i bought my ticket and made my way to the elevators.
it's weird in montparnasse because it's only a tourist attraction on the 56th floor. the other 55 are just regular floors with offices and workers. so i was wandering around with fanny and my camera, making my way around the important businesswomen on their way to whatever was more important.
anyway, i get in the elevator with three other people, one of which may or may not have been a worker. the elevator goes up really fast (that's like montparnasse's "thing," next to being really freakin tall). i pop out and nobody greets me, nothing says where to go...you just enter this café/gift shop area.
the good thing was that there were some more people up there (not a lot...some)...the odd thing was that they were all old. you know, like 80 years old. i guess that's what you do when you're old and retired in paris...hang out at the top of montparnasse. there was NOBODY in the indoor viewing room, and only 4 people on the very top terrace outside.
i couldn't decide if they were trying to do the old paris/historical thing or if they were trying to do a new fangled concept (they=whatever untalented souls designed tour montparnasse 360). there are old pictures of paris and maps through the times showing how paris has changed, so there's the history part. but then, on the elevator to the top and the steps to the terrace, there are these neon blue and green lights, like you're in some back to the future dealy. OH and on the steps there are two randomly really nice flat screen tvs that show pictures of things totally unrelated to paris...boats on some bay, a waterfall, other nature things.
i don't get it. maybe it was because i went up on a thursday afternoon by myself, or maybe it's because there was poor visibility, but i just wasn't a fan of montparnasse. i'd go up the eiffel tower over that anyday.
i'm not sure what they're going for with the montparnasse 360 tour thingy, but they didn't hit it (unless "it" is bizarre and weird...then they got it spot on). i walk up to the building and look for a line of people waiting to get in. even though it's thursday afternoon at 1:30 pm, i figure there's still gotta be a big demand for montparnasse. i mean, come on, it's the only skyscraper in paris. so anyway, i get there and i don't see a line, but i see some signs that point to "tour montparnasse 360" so i'm like cool, i think i found it.
i walk to the doors and there's a guy standing outside smoking, just kind of looking at me. i'm used to people giving me funny looks now, so i didn't really think much of it. i tried to open the door, but i couldn't. well, dammit, what should i do? the smoking guy was like "no, you have to pull it hard." so i did, blushed, mumbled, "merci" and headed inside.
i still saw no line (HELLO? nobody wants montparnasse right now?!), so i kind of poked around the lobby area for a while. i looked at what was probably a ticket booth with a girl sitting inside, but she didn't even glance at me, so i figured i must have been in the wrong place. but then i looked around the corner and saw nothing promising, so that girl must be the one i get my ticket from. i walked up and i go, "j'achete mon billet ici?" i figured out that this was the wrong thing to say because she responds to me, "sorry?" oh, whatever, screw the french language attempts. i bought my ticket and made my way to the elevators.
it's weird in montparnasse because it's only a tourist attraction on the 56th floor. the other 55 are just regular floors with offices and workers. so i was wandering around with fanny and my camera, making my way around the important businesswomen on their way to whatever was more important.
anyway, i get in the elevator with three other people, one of which may or may not have been a worker. the elevator goes up really fast (that's like montparnasse's "thing," next to being really freakin tall). i pop out and nobody greets me, nothing says where to go...you just enter this café/gift shop area.
the good thing was that there were some more people up there (not a lot...some)...the odd thing was that they were all old. you know, like 80 years old. i guess that's what you do when you're old and retired in paris...hang out at the top of montparnasse. there was NOBODY in the indoor viewing room, and only 4 people on the very top terrace outside. i couldn't decide if they were trying to do the old paris/historical thing or if they were trying to do a new fangled concept (they=whatever untalented souls designed tour montparnasse 360). there are old pictures of paris and maps through the times showing how paris has changed, so there's the history part. but then, on the elevator to the top and the steps to the terrace, there are these neon blue and green lights, like you're in some back to the future dealy. OH and on the steps there are two randomly really nice flat screen tvs that show pictures of things totally unrelated to paris...boats on some bay, a waterfall, other nature things.
i don't get it. maybe it was because i went up on a thursday afternoon by myself, or maybe it's because there was poor visibility, but i just wasn't a fan of montparnasse. i'd go up the eiffel tower over that anyday.
i am a queen! now where is my crown?
i don't think i've ever told you guys how much i love queen...or if i did, i totally forget. if i forgot, then you probably forgot, too.
queen is the gay club we go to on wednesdays for ladies night. no, not every wednesday...i'm not that fun or cool or whatever you are if you go out all the time. i think i've been like 4 times. anyway, wednesdays are free for girls, but plenty of boys still show up...actually, quite a few straight ones, too. but lots and lots and lots of super gay guys in there too. last night, there was an ultra gay guy dancing/flinging his body about on a platform, his shirt unbuttoned to show his sexy tats. one of the tattoos outline his left boob (scuse me, pec) and the others followed those V lines that not-so-discreetly pointed to you know what. of course.
the club makes for great people watching. there was this other guy there last night who looked like he was on a date with a girl. i guess date because it was just the two of them, and he was looking REALLY awkward..you know, typical date stuff. it was extra awk because this guy was the biggest nerd i've seen in paris. he was visibly uncomfortable in his extra tall body, his face was speckled with acne, and he just had the face of a geek...you know what i'm saying. he's like those guys from "beauty and the geek." anyway, the girls and i didn't think that he had a CHANCE with the girl he was with...i mean, he was doing the point-your-fingers dance, where you do this white man jig with no beat and point your fingers in the air.
well, about 2 hours later, we see him on the steps, MAKING OUT WITH THE GIRL. we did this excited hop (totally unbeknownst to him) and felt victorious...even though we didn't do a dang thing.
oh, so back to queen. at 130 am, they open up the bar for the girls. "OPEN BAR POUR LES FILLES!" the announcement in the club yells. all the girls at the bar are given a plastic cup (or, rather, we all fight for them and snarl our teeth at bitches who cut in) and two clearly gay bartenders bust open bottles of champagne. but this is no formal affair. to get your cup filled, you have to yell as LOUD as you can, shoving your arms in the air, screaming like you've never wanted anything more in your life. there are about 100 girls crowding around a bar that must be the size of the serving thing at freebirds, all pushing up against each other and covered in champagne, because the bartenders think it's SO funny to pour champagne all over everyone. the whole open bar is animalistic and kind of gross if i think about it, so i just don't. it's gotta be one of my favorite parts of queen, so i'd rather not hear all your criticism ("nicki, you're more mature than that!" no, i'm not).
after that, things really start to heat up. around 2 am, the strippers come out. male strippers (duh). usually they're wearing some sort of nice suit and they do their strippy dance for about 10 minutes. but last night...no, last night was special. when we saw the platforms cleared out, mal, maddy and i made our way to the front (it's gross, but again, just don't think about it. it's more fun to get in to it and laugh your ass off). the stripper walks up on the platform decked out in--get this--a SANTA costume. NO FREAKING WAY. and...it gets better...mariah carey comes on the speakers. "i don't want a lot for christmas...there is just one thing i need..." hahahahaa. so now when i hear that song, i think of that cute little girl from "love actually" and male strippers. awk.
around 230 we decided to head home, but our plans were foiled when we couldn't find a taxi for an hour. in the middle of december. on a wednesday. at 230 am. on the champs elysees. WHERE WERE ALL THE TAXIS?!
oh, gosh, i forgot to tell you the best part of my night. it has nothing to do with dancing or clubs or gay at all. i had dinner with the jeansons and the girl from upstairs. throughout dinner, paul was all whispering to christophe and isabelle, then looking at me. what's this kid got up his sleeve? well, after dinner, paul and christophe go to the kitchen, and come out singing happy birthday (in english) and holding a homemade chocolate cake! i'm gonna miss this family.
oh, wait, one more thing. i found out christophe is one of 8 siblings. 8! can you believe that?!
queen is the gay club we go to on wednesdays for ladies night. no, not every wednesday...i'm not that fun or cool or whatever you are if you go out all the time. i think i've been like 4 times. anyway, wednesdays are free for girls, but plenty of boys still show up...actually, quite a few straight ones, too. but lots and lots and lots of super gay guys in there too. last night, there was an ultra gay guy dancing/flinging his body about on a platform, his shirt unbuttoned to show his sexy tats. one of the tattoos outline his left boob (scuse me, pec) and the others followed those V lines that not-so-discreetly pointed to you know what. of course.
the club makes for great people watching. there was this other guy there last night who looked like he was on a date with a girl. i guess date because it was just the two of them, and he was looking REALLY awkward..you know, typical date stuff. it was extra awk because this guy was the biggest nerd i've seen in paris. he was visibly uncomfortable in his extra tall body, his face was speckled with acne, and he just had the face of a geek...you know what i'm saying. he's like those guys from "beauty and the geek." anyway, the girls and i didn't think that he had a CHANCE with the girl he was with...i mean, he was doing the point-your-fingers dance, where you do this white man jig with no beat and point your fingers in the air.
well, about 2 hours later, we see him on the steps, MAKING OUT WITH THE GIRL. we did this excited hop (totally unbeknownst to him) and felt victorious...even though we didn't do a dang thing.
oh, so back to queen. at 130 am, they open up the bar for the girls. "OPEN BAR POUR LES FILLES!" the announcement in the club yells. all the girls at the bar are given a plastic cup (or, rather, we all fight for them and snarl our teeth at bitches who cut in) and two clearly gay bartenders bust open bottles of champagne. but this is no formal affair. to get your cup filled, you have to yell as LOUD as you can, shoving your arms in the air, screaming like you've never wanted anything more in your life. there are about 100 girls crowding around a bar that must be the size of the serving thing at freebirds, all pushing up against each other and covered in champagne, because the bartenders think it's SO funny to pour champagne all over everyone. the whole open bar is animalistic and kind of gross if i think about it, so i just don't. it's gotta be one of my favorite parts of queen, so i'd rather not hear all your criticism ("nicki, you're more mature than that!" no, i'm not).
after that, things really start to heat up. around 2 am, the strippers come out. male strippers (duh). usually they're wearing some sort of nice suit and they do their strippy dance for about 10 minutes. but last night...no, last night was special. when we saw the platforms cleared out, mal, maddy and i made our way to the front (it's gross, but again, just don't think about it. it's more fun to get in to it and laugh your ass off). the stripper walks up on the platform decked out in--get this--a SANTA costume. NO FREAKING WAY. and...it gets better...mariah carey comes on the speakers. "i don't want a lot for christmas...there is just one thing i need..." hahahahaa. so now when i hear that song, i think of that cute little girl from "love actually" and male strippers. awk.
around 230 we decided to head home, but our plans were foiled when we couldn't find a taxi for an hour. in the middle of december. on a wednesday. at 230 am. on the champs elysees. WHERE WERE ALL THE TAXIS?!
oh, gosh, i forgot to tell you the best part of my night. it has nothing to do with dancing or clubs or gay at all. i had dinner with the jeansons and the girl from upstairs. throughout dinner, paul was all whispering to christophe and isabelle, then looking at me. what's this kid got up his sleeve? well, after dinner, paul and christophe go to the kitchen, and come out singing happy birthday (in english) and holding a homemade chocolate cake! i'm gonna miss this family.
oh, wait, one more thing. i found out christophe is one of 8 siblings. 8! can you believe that?!
19 December, 2007
oh, heavens
i'm nearing the end of my trip. you knew that because i've been mentioning it for the last like month. i don't mean to get all sentimental and gushy, but i'm a girl, so i can't realy help it. when i look back later, though, i don't wanna barf when i read my blog, so i'm gonna try to keep this upbeat. none of that "oh my gosh, i'm gonna miss paris so much and nothing will ever be the same again and my life is totally different" crap. it's SO cliché, and i find myself being a walking cliché way too much lately.
i have this big problem when i buy things (oh, wait, back up. it's not big in the way that poverty or political corruption are..more like a kind of minor issue in my life). i see it, think about it for a long time, then finally decide to buy it. then 63% of the time, i regret it. "ugh, nicki, you didn't really NEED that shirt. you already have plenty of shirts. you're not made of money."
i'm sort of doing that right now, except really trying to remind myself that i need to buy things now because it's a heck of a lot less expensive to get it now than fly back in a couple months to get it then (thanks for the perspective, mom).
on that note, i bought this book today that i've been thinking about for a couple weeks..i wish someone were waiting for me somewhere by anna gavalda. okay, yeah, it's chick lit. cry about it. it'll make for GREAT flight reading.
i have this big problem when i buy things (oh, wait, back up. it's not big in the way that poverty or political corruption are..more like a kind of minor issue in my life). i see it, think about it for a long time, then finally decide to buy it. then 63% of the time, i regret it. "ugh, nicki, you didn't really NEED that shirt. you already have plenty of shirts. you're not made of money."
i'm sort of doing that right now, except really trying to remind myself that i need to buy things now because it's a heck of a lot less expensive to get it now than fly back in a couple months to get it then (thanks for the perspective, mom).
on that note, i bought this book today that i've been thinking about for a couple weeks..i wish someone were waiting for me somewhere by anna gavalda. okay, yeah, it's chick lit. cry about it. it'll make for GREAT flight reading.
17 December, 2007
you have to flick your ash, nat.
because nat and elisa are here, i get to play tour guide/tourist again. it's making me nostalgic for paris already. please excuse me when i do that annoying "i was there!" thing. i know i'll be doing it too much. you can slap me, but just understand and forgive me :-)
oh, man, we had a fun filled (but ABSOLUTELY FREEZING/almost snowing) day. i'll make a list of things that we did so when nat and elisa ask later, i can reel it off.
1. montmartre (sacré-coeur, artist's square, crappy crepes/expensive water, cutsey shops, amelie café, a naughty habit :-X)
2. pigalle/red light district (moulin rouge)
3. arc de triomphe
4. eiffel tower (chinese food, stairs, trocadero gardens, sparkling tower, frozen appendages)
5. champagne/bread/cheese/nutella/pretzels at my house
6. printemps (prettier pink lights)/galleries lafayette (better window displays for the french families to visit)
7. champs elysees (lighted trees, disney store)
*phew* and i've got a final in the morning! lol. oddly enough, i don't feel bad that i spent my whole day with two of my best friends in a phenomenal city. i feel like i'm already looking back at my life and i'm really happy that i chose paris exploration over studying for a class i don't care about.
see you in 6 days, california :-)
oh, man, we had a fun filled (but ABSOLUTELY FREEZING/almost snowing) day. i'll make a list of things that we did so when nat and elisa ask later, i can reel it off.
1. montmartre (sacré-coeur, artist's square, crappy crepes/expensive water, cutsey shops, amelie café, a naughty habit :-X)
2. pigalle/red light district (moulin rouge)
3. arc de triomphe
4. eiffel tower (chinese food, stairs, trocadero gardens, sparkling tower, frozen appendages)
5. champagne/bread/cheese/nutella/pretzels at my house
6. printemps (prettier pink lights)/galleries lafayette (better window displays for the french families to visit)
7. champs elysees (lighted trees, disney store)
*phew* and i've got a final in the morning! lol. oddly enough, i don't feel bad that i spent my whole day with two of my best friends in a phenomenal city. i feel like i'm already looking back at my life and i'm really happy that i chose paris exploration over studying for a class i don't care about.
see you in 6 days, california :-)
things are so wonderfully the same
nat and elisa are here! we went to dinner and just hung out tonight. it was so ordinary and easy to laugh and talk with them. i love that some things don't change :-D
16 December, 2007
wait a second...
...i have to leave in a week? but i was just starting to get used to it! what they said was true: just as i'm getting ready to get outta paris, i'm finally getting in the groove of things. it's not that i've been confused/uncomfortable/awkward/whatever for the last 3.5 months or anything. it's just that...well, i've finally found my fit in the jeanson's house, i've got the map of the city imprinted in my head, and i know how the routines of the people go. if i were to stay next semester, it'd be a thousand times easier and i'm sure i'd be able to really delve into the culture more because i wouldn't be so worried about how to do things. spring semester would be quite different from the fall.
but this doesn't in the LEAST mean i'm not ready to get back to california :-)
but this doesn't in the LEAST mean i'm not ready to get back to california :-)
oh, man...
...i dropped a half full bottle of wine in the metro tonight. suckfest.
oh, i never told you the story about getting to the barcelona airport. our flight left at 3:20 pm, so we figured we should get to the airport around 2 pm. to get there, we had to leave the hostel around 1230 or 1245. we ended up leaving the hostel at 1215, so we had plenty of time. mal and i were even getting excited about the great airport shopping we'd get to do (seriously, we love it). we made our way to the train station and asked the ladies at the questions booth which one was the train to the airport. she looks at us confused (because we asked in english), so we repeated, then she responded in perfectly clear english, "platform 9."
rockin, platform 9. we make it there and see that the train is coming in 2 minutes. even better. we hop on and because there are no seats, we have to sit in the front part for luggage and bikes. i made lots of jokes about the boxcar children because i'm witty. the conductor comes down and asks maddy for the tickets (in spanish). she's like uhhh do you speak english? no, he says. luckily, there's this other guy sitting by us who knows some english, so he helps us translate. we were told by the ladies at the ticket booth that we didn't need to buy tickets for the train, maddy said (and the guy translated).
you're not going to the airport on this train, the conductor/the translator said.
we just laughed, because really, what can you do? the translator guy told us we'd be able to switch at the next station about 30 minutes away, and the airport would be about 10 minutes from there. we left early and had plenty of time to get to the airport, so we weren't freaking out. actually, we quite enjoyed the ride because it took us past the sunny mediterranean so we got to see some spanish countryside.
we get off at the next stop--villanova--to change cars. we figure out which one takes us to the airport (and double check this time) and hop on. some nice old spanish ladies with a cute puppy tell us where to get off. once we got off, we looked for airplanes and find none. oh, no, those old bitches totally screwed us! no, false...we actually just had to change trains there. we asked more security guards if we were getting on the right train because now it's 2:20 and we should probably be checking in. the train to the airport will come at 2:39 and will take maybe 6 minutes, says a security guard in broken english.
at this point, the delay isn't fun anymore. none of us are laughing and we're getting tense. we started figuring that we wouldnt be able to check our bags, so we start thinking about ways to save our liquids or something.
2:39 on the dot, the train comes. on the ride over, ben lee's "catch my disease" comes on and it oddly calms me. like...there's no point in freaking out. i'm either going to the plane or i'm not, whether i'm stressed or not.
the train arrived at the airport and we sprinted to the check in counter for last minute check in. after a little tiff about paying for baggage, the woman let us put our bags on the plane free of charge (as she should). we found our gate, saw that the plane was delayed (of course) and actually calmed down.
*sigh* flying can be so difficult sometimes. only one trip left--to the US!
oh, i never told you the story about getting to the barcelona airport. our flight left at 3:20 pm, so we figured we should get to the airport around 2 pm. to get there, we had to leave the hostel around 1230 or 1245. we ended up leaving the hostel at 1215, so we had plenty of time. mal and i were even getting excited about the great airport shopping we'd get to do (seriously, we love it). we made our way to the train station and asked the ladies at the questions booth which one was the train to the airport. she looks at us confused (because we asked in english), so we repeated, then she responded in perfectly clear english, "platform 9."
rockin, platform 9. we make it there and see that the train is coming in 2 minutes. even better. we hop on and because there are no seats, we have to sit in the front part for luggage and bikes. i made lots of jokes about the boxcar children because i'm witty. the conductor comes down and asks maddy for the tickets (in spanish). she's like uhhh do you speak english? no, he says. luckily, there's this other guy sitting by us who knows some english, so he helps us translate. we were told by the ladies at the ticket booth that we didn't need to buy tickets for the train, maddy said (and the guy translated).
you're not going to the airport on this train, the conductor/the translator said.
we just laughed, because really, what can you do? the translator guy told us we'd be able to switch at the next station about 30 minutes away, and the airport would be about 10 minutes from there. we left early and had plenty of time to get to the airport, so we weren't freaking out. actually, we quite enjoyed the ride because it took us past the sunny mediterranean so we got to see some spanish countryside.
we get off at the next stop--villanova--to change cars. we figure out which one takes us to the airport (and double check this time) and hop on. some nice old spanish ladies with a cute puppy tell us where to get off. once we got off, we looked for airplanes and find none. oh, no, those old bitches totally screwed us! no, false...we actually just had to change trains there. we asked more security guards if we were getting on the right train because now it's 2:20 and we should probably be checking in. the train to the airport will come at 2:39 and will take maybe 6 minutes, says a security guard in broken english.
at this point, the delay isn't fun anymore. none of us are laughing and we're getting tense. we started figuring that we wouldnt be able to check our bags, so we start thinking about ways to save our liquids or something.
2:39 on the dot, the train comes. on the ride over, ben lee's "catch my disease" comes on and it oddly calms me. like...there's no point in freaking out. i'm either going to the plane or i'm not, whether i'm stressed or not.
the train arrived at the airport and we sprinted to the check in counter for last minute check in. after a little tiff about paying for baggage, the woman let us put our bags on the plane free of charge (as she should). we found our gate, saw that the plane was delayed (of course) and actually calmed down.
*sigh* flying can be so difficult sometimes. only one trip left--to the US!
15 December, 2007
barthelona, te quiero!
the reviews are in: barcelona was my favorite city. i don't know if it's that i've finally gotten used to traveling and can get the most out of it now, or because i'm getting sentimental at the end of my trip, or if it's because i'm spanish at heart, but i loved barcelona. it was the first place i really didn't want to leave. (it's not like i was DYING to get out of the other places...just never quite as disappointed to get back on the plane).
barcelona was europe's version of california...everyone was a bit more laid back, the sun was shining on a bright blue backdrop, the beach ran right up to the city, and i was comfortable walking around in a light jacket. okay, to be fair, it was more like so cal. i know that chico and eureka and weed aren't anything like what i described.
maybe barcelona charmed me so because it was like getting a little drop of home, which i just miss oh so much. 1 week and 1 day!
ah, but back to barcelona. we stayed in a small hostel with an adorable hostel keeper. me, mal, maddy and chris stayed in a four person room, which is WAY better than the 8 person in rome and 32 person in amsterdam (though, oddly, the 32 person was not quite as awk...). jasmin stayed in the party hostel down the street. we ended up going out with people from her hostel on wednesday night (aka my birthday!). we went to a bar with 500 different shots for only 180 euro each, and oh boy did we take advantage. everyone in the party hostel somehow knew it was my birthday, so the hostel keeper bought me a shot, then all my friends bought me shots, and i didn't have to buy myself a drink the whole night :-D
when my birthday shot came, there was a sparkler stuck in it. the bartender lit the sparkler, and everyone started singing...yeah, even strangers. i love that stuff. anyway, the birthday song came to an end, but the sparkler didnt. uh oh. what do i do? i tried to blow it out, but couldn't. everyone was looking at me sort of expectantly, and some people were even shouting, "come on, take it!" well, i CAN'T because there's fire on it. i couldn't blow it out. i looked over at my friends at one point with a look that was like, "uhm, hello, what do i do?" finally the catastrophe came to an end and the sparkler went out. shot number one down with ease ;-)
the other shots we took were: harry potter, boy scout (complete with marshmellow to roast!), acid, noel and princess (which was really just scotch, which is the opposite of a princess drink). one guy we went out with was from canada...he was wearing a sport jacket and a button down shirt with about 5 buttons undone. and he had brown hair with frosted tips (and was thus dubbed "frosty.") seven years ago, i thought my perfect man would have blue eyes and frosted tips...but today, that's just sort of ridiculous. anyway, frosty had this crazy theory that if he waited to enter the job market for like, oh, 4 or 5 years, he'd be able to get a job no problem cuz that's when the baby boomers were retired. so he's not doing anything till then, really. he told both me AND mal this exact same story. this is his line. frosty has no moves.
this other guy we met was from colorado. he was 19 and traveling around europe, "taking a break from school." you need a break already?
the hostel owner-mauro-had some of the best stories (most of which are too explicit to repeat). he also hooked up with one of the girls staying in the hostel. ahhh the life of the hostel keeper.
i love meeting new crazies in hostels. i poke fun, but really, they're all good people.
before we went to barcelona, everyone was like OMG YOU HAVE TO GET TAPAS!!! so we wandered around the city, starving and tired, looking for a good place to eat tapas. we finally settled on this little place near barcelona's arc de triopmf (aka the standard european monument) and we thought that because it looked pretty traditionally spanish, it must be good. we were confused about the tapas, so we asked the waiter for tapas in a mixture of awful spanish on our part and struggling english on his part. he gestured to the bar area, where the tapas were displayed. okay...i guess we pick tapas from under the glass. me, jasmin, maddy and mal each picked one. they served, and we ate.
i don't get tapas. they were just snacks, and they weren't that good. i would describe them, but it doesn't matter, becauset tapas can be ANYTHING. that's why i dont get why everyone was like, "OMG EAT TAPAS." it's just food, guys. that like saying to someone, "hey, when you go to california, eat stuff. yeah, anything. just eat stuff." tapas are totally not special. they're just snacks. don't give a fancy name to something that is just a stupid snack.
anyway, after the tapas incident, we were determined to get some good spanish food. luckily we ran into a friend of a friend in a park (like i say after every trip...small world) and she pointed us toward a place with cheap paella. mmmmm that's delicious. not in a unique way...paella is just rice and veggies and meat. but it was warm and the flavoring was good and it complimented our sangria quite well ;-)
oh, gosh, i have a funny story about getting to the airport and screwing up traveling, but that will wait until tomorrow. i'm just too tired for now.
8 days to home.
barcelona was europe's version of california...everyone was a bit more laid back, the sun was shining on a bright blue backdrop, the beach ran right up to the city, and i was comfortable walking around in a light jacket. okay, to be fair, it was more like so cal. i know that chico and eureka and weed aren't anything like what i described.
maybe barcelona charmed me so because it was like getting a little drop of home, which i just miss oh so much. 1 week and 1 day!
ah, but back to barcelona. we stayed in a small hostel with an adorable hostel keeper. me, mal, maddy and chris stayed in a four person room, which is WAY better than the 8 person in rome and 32 person in amsterdam (though, oddly, the 32 person was not quite as awk...). jasmin stayed in the party hostel down the street. we ended up going out with people from her hostel on wednesday night (aka my birthday!). we went to a bar with 500 different shots for only 180 euro each, and oh boy did we take advantage. everyone in the party hostel somehow knew it was my birthday, so the hostel keeper bought me a shot, then all my friends bought me shots, and i didn't have to buy myself a drink the whole night :-D
when my birthday shot came, there was a sparkler stuck in it. the bartender lit the sparkler, and everyone started singing...yeah, even strangers. i love that stuff. anyway, the birthday song came to an end, but the sparkler didnt. uh oh. what do i do? i tried to blow it out, but couldn't. everyone was looking at me sort of expectantly, and some people were even shouting, "come on, take it!" well, i CAN'T because there's fire on it. i couldn't blow it out. i looked over at my friends at one point with a look that was like, "uhm, hello, what do i do?" finally the catastrophe came to an end and the sparkler went out. shot number one down with ease ;-)
the other shots we took were: harry potter, boy scout (complete with marshmellow to roast!), acid, noel and princess (which was really just scotch, which is the opposite of a princess drink). one guy we went out with was from canada...he was wearing a sport jacket and a button down shirt with about 5 buttons undone. and he had brown hair with frosted tips (and was thus dubbed "frosty.") seven years ago, i thought my perfect man would have blue eyes and frosted tips...but today, that's just sort of ridiculous. anyway, frosty had this crazy theory that if he waited to enter the job market for like, oh, 4 or 5 years, he'd be able to get a job no problem cuz that's when the baby boomers were retired. so he's not doing anything till then, really. he told both me AND mal this exact same story. this is his line. frosty has no moves.
this other guy we met was from colorado. he was 19 and traveling around europe, "taking a break from school." you need a break already?
the hostel owner-mauro-had some of the best stories (most of which are too explicit to repeat). he also hooked up with one of the girls staying in the hostel. ahhh the life of the hostel keeper.
i love meeting new crazies in hostels. i poke fun, but really, they're all good people.
before we went to barcelona, everyone was like OMG YOU HAVE TO GET TAPAS!!! so we wandered around the city, starving and tired, looking for a good place to eat tapas. we finally settled on this little place near barcelona's arc de triopmf (aka the standard european monument) and we thought that because it looked pretty traditionally spanish, it must be good. we were confused about the tapas, so we asked the waiter for tapas in a mixture of awful spanish on our part and struggling english on his part. he gestured to the bar area, where the tapas were displayed. okay...i guess we pick tapas from under the glass. me, jasmin, maddy and mal each picked one. they served, and we ate.
i don't get tapas. they were just snacks, and they weren't that good. i would describe them, but it doesn't matter, becauset tapas can be ANYTHING. that's why i dont get why everyone was like, "OMG EAT TAPAS." it's just food, guys. that like saying to someone, "hey, when you go to california, eat stuff. yeah, anything. just eat stuff." tapas are totally not special. they're just snacks. don't give a fancy name to something that is just a stupid snack.
anyway, after the tapas incident, we were determined to get some good spanish food. luckily we ran into a friend of a friend in a park (like i say after every trip...small world) and she pointed us toward a place with cheap paella. mmmmm that's delicious. not in a unique way...paella is just rice and veggies and meat. but it was warm and the flavoring was good and it complimented our sangria quite well ;-)
oh, gosh, i have a funny story about getting to the airport and screwing up traveling, but that will wait until tomorrow. i'm just too tired for now.
8 days to home.
11 December, 2007
want a beer?
i'm about to turn 21 and guess what i'm doing...BLOGGING! and nothing could help ring in the new year of ME better.
ah, this is bizarre. when i wrote that first line, i was 20*. these sentences are my first ones written as a person who can drink alcohol legally in the united states and iceland. can't you tell the difference? i can.
anyway, i've gotta leave the house in 5 hours to get on the metro to catch a plane to barcelona. i need to get some rest. yeah, even 21-yr-olds need sleep.
*i looked back at it when i turned 21 1 minute later, and decided it needed editing. 21-yr-old me is a better writer.
ah, this is bizarre. when i wrote that first line, i was 20*. these sentences are my first ones written as a person who can drink alcohol legally in the united states and iceland. can't you tell the difference? i can.
anyway, i've gotta leave the house in 5 hours to get on the metro to catch a plane to barcelona. i need to get some rest. yeah, even 21-yr-olds need sleep.
*i looked back at it when i turned 21 1 minute later, and decided it needed editing. 21-yr-old me is a better writer.
what? it's my birthday?
i've been doing this weird thing the last couple years. i sort of forget about my birthday. i mean, it's not like i totally forget...it's just like it's no big deal. yeah, there's my birthday, a couple weeks away. whatev.
and then it gets up real close to the actual day and i start to get more excited. it's not even like i want to DO anything big on my birthday. it's just like..ooo, here's a special day where everyone's nicer to me and i get lots of wall posts. nothing making me happier than some good wall postings.
this is the big birthday...the big 2-1. it's the age that everyone wants to be. and now i'm there. I'M SO OLD.
and then it gets up real close to the actual day and i start to get more excited. it's not even like i want to DO anything big on my birthday. it's just like..ooo, here's a special day where everyone's nicer to me and i get lots of wall posts. nothing making me happier than some good wall postings.
this is the big birthday...the big 2-1. it's the age that everyone wants to be. and now i'm there. I'M SO OLD.
10 December, 2007
so, what was your favorite part of the trip?
hell, i don't know. you're asking me to take every experience i had in the last 3.5 incredibly packed, phenomenal months, rank them instantly, and spit out my response. i can't do that very well. that's why i don't answer these sort of questions well.
"uhhh...uhmm...i dunno, the eiffel tower?"
see, that's a totally lame answer 1) because you were expecting something more in depth and 2) because that's not even true! *sigh* i think i'm gonna make a list of my favorite things in this blog and then, when people ask me what my favorite part of the trip was, i'll retort, "defranceavecamour.blogspot.com...read it."
lol. how excited are you to have me home?! btw, i'm not saying don't ask me...please, please do ask me about my trip. just don't expect beautifully insightful answers :-P
<2 weeks
"uhhh...uhmm...i dunno, the eiffel tower?"
see, that's a totally lame answer 1) because you were expecting something more in depth and 2) because that's not even true! *sigh* i think i'm gonna make a list of my favorite things in this blog and then, when people ask me what my favorite part of the trip was, i'll retort, "defranceavecamour.blogspot.com...read it."
lol. how excited are you to have me home?! btw, i'm not saying don't ask me...please, please do ask me about my trip. just don't expect beautifully insightful answers :-P
<2 weeks
09 December, 2007
faire le dessin!
paul and i have been playing on the computer a lot lately. well, really, he plays and tells me what to do. whatever. we both have a grand ol' time. mr and mme jeanson usually just leave us alone, unless paul's gotta go take a bath or work on his homework or eat.
tonight while paul and i were doing some sort of christmas game, mme jeanson pops her head in and just sort of laughs at us (this little boy's sitting on my lap and we're both SO FOCUSED on getting every bulb lit on the virtual christmas tree, so we must look pretty funny). i smile back and she goes, "you're like the perfect big sister." i laughed and made some joke (because i don't take compliments well), and she chuckled and went back to her work.
it was probably a bit sarcastic, but it was the best compliment i've gotten in a while (and someone told me i looked like miss america today, too!). yeah, i'm gonna miss this little family when i leave. i mean, look at the kid...he's a frickin baller.
tonight while paul and i were doing some sort of christmas game, mme jeanson pops her head in and just sort of laughs at us (this little boy's sitting on my lap and we're both SO FOCUSED on getting every bulb lit on the virtual christmas tree, so we must look pretty funny). i smile back and she goes, "you're like the perfect big sister." i laughed and made some joke (because i don't take compliments well), and she chuckled and went back to her work.
it was probably a bit sarcastic, but it was the best compliment i've gotten in a while (and someone told me i looked like miss america today, too!). yeah, i'm gonna miss this little family when i leave. i mean, look at the kid...he's a frickin baller.
go away, rain
i'd be fine with the rain if i were in san ramon or sb right now. when it rains at home, i take that as i sign that i should stay inside all day and not feel guilty because only crazies go out in the rain.
but here, i have so much wandering left to do and so many christmas wonders to see. i try going out in the rain, but then my boots get soaked with water and my pants get drenched and sometimes, when i'm really lucky, all the water from the roof falls on my head. (that last thing seriously happened to me today...i shrieked then laughed hysterically, because seriously, when does that happen in real life?)
so i spent most of the day inside with my roommate facebook. once i did go outside to the christmas market at la defense (HUGE and wonderful), i got wet. the only good part about rain is that it makes changing into my pajamas better (and you thought that wasn't possible).
at the christmas market, this nice guy gave me one of his handmade metal ornament dealies for free. to be honest, i have no idea what i'll do with this, but it was the nicest thing that happened to me all day, so i'm thankful for it.
imagine this row of booths and times it by like 10. gigantor. i should have expected that...it's la defense. everything's bigger there.
but here, i have so much wandering left to do and so many christmas wonders to see. i try going out in the rain, but then my boots get soaked with water and my pants get drenched and sometimes, when i'm really lucky, all the water from the roof falls on my head. (that last thing seriously happened to me today...i shrieked then laughed hysterically, because seriously, when does that happen in real life?)
so i spent most of the day inside with my roommate facebook. once i did go outside to the christmas market at la defense (HUGE and wonderful), i got wet. the only good part about rain is that it makes changing into my pajamas better (and you thought that wasn't possible).
at the christmas market, this nice guy gave me one of his handmade metal ornament dealies for free. to be honest, i have no idea what i'll do with this, but it was the nicest thing that happened to me all day, so i'm thankful for it.
imagine this row of booths and times it by like 10. gigantor. i should have expected that...it's la defense. everything's bigger there.
08 December, 2007
a bookstore, a piano bar and cheap sangria
you know, this city isn't THAT expensive if you look hard enough...or maybe i've just been here too long and am now convinced that a 6 euro cocktail isn't "that bad."
last night began at shakespeare and company. if you know me (and i think you do, loyal readers), then you know i was excited about this. there's this book called "i wish someone were waiting for me somewhere" by anna gavalda that i've picked up the last 2 times i've been in there. it's a great little read, but the only thing stopping me from actually buying the book like a regular person is that it cost 13.50 euro. and it's a small book. so no, i'm not gonna pay like $20 for a book. i'll just go in the shop and steal some reading.
afterward we went to a wine bar that turned out to be a piano bar for happy hour cocktails. the guy sang some french songs and then some english songs and attempted that louis armstrong thing...you know, that thing where it sounds like he's kinda got a loogi he's trying to get out? that's the second french performer i've heard attempt that. what's with people? ah, louis armstrong voice or not, the guy was great and mal, maddy, chris and i agreed that we were new fans of piano bars.
in search of a dry place (where the heck did all the rain come from?!) with cheap drinks, we headed to le 10 bar, where there were rumored pitchers of cheap sangria. it was true! about 13 euro for a 4-person pitcher, which gave us all 2 glasses of sangria. we busted out our paris souvenir cards and played a few rounds of BS. THAT GAME IS CRAZY. i hate when people have four of a card, because then there's NO WAY that anybody else can lie. i at least want the option of lying if i feel like it, because that's the freaking point of the game, people.
aw, crap, i'm getting all worked up and saying "people" like mom does when she's trying to get us off the couch in san clemente (clapclap "come on, people!"). i think that means it's time to end the post.
last night began at shakespeare and company. if you know me (and i think you do, loyal readers), then you know i was excited about this. there's this book called "i wish someone were waiting for me somewhere" by anna gavalda that i've picked up the last 2 times i've been in there. it's a great little read, but the only thing stopping me from actually buying the book like a regular person is that it cost 13.50 euro. and it's a small book. so no, i'm not gonna pay like $20 for a book. i'll just go in the shop and steal some reading.
afterward we went to a wine bar that turned out to be a piano bar for happy hour cocktails. the guy sang some french songs and then some english songs and attempted that louis armstrong thing...you know, that thing where it sounds like he's kinda got a loogi he's trying to get out? that's the second french performer i've heard attempt that. what's with people? ah, louis armstrong voice or not, the guy was great and mal, maddy, chris and i agreed that we were new fans of piano bars.
in search of a dry place (where the heck did all the rain come from?!) with cheap drinks, we headed to le 10 bar, where there were rumored pitchers of cheap sangria. it was true! about 13 euro for a 4-person pitcher, which gave us all 2 glasses of sangria. we busted out our paris souvenir cards and played a few rounds of BS. THAT GAME IS CRAZY. i hate when people have four of a card, because then there's NO WAY that anybody else can lie. i at least want the option of lying if i feel like it, because that's the freaking point of the game, people.
aw, crap, i'm getting all worked up and saying "people" like mom does when she's trying to get us off the couch in san clemente (clapclap "come on, people!"). i think that means it's time to end the post.
07 December, 2007
craigslist findings
have you guys ever browsed craigslist? probably. i'm like the last one to get on the ball here. anyway, i was turned on to it while house hunting, and now i'm checking for couches. i'm finding so much more.
under "household items," i found a Miniature Schnauzer Purebred (M) Docked/Cropped/Lic/Advantage/Shots for $400.
you can also buy some stained glass for christmas. the seller even promises that "it's the gift that keeps on giving all year long." ah, my precious stained glass, just always giving.
know what's weird? personal ads. i click on one of this guy who doesn't even necessarily want a girlfriend, but just someone to talk to. i scroll down and he's got two pictures of his face and one of his body..just his body. and he's not even that in shape. why would you put that up if you don't have a chest to brag about? i'd be nervous to answer to a personal ad on craigslist cuz i'd be afraid of being at the butt end of a joke.
guy: "dude, what if you put a personal ad up on craigslist? who would respond?"
guy's friend: "haha, dude, i bet you'd get really weird girls."
guy: "we should do it! hahaha"
and then they make up some profile, which i'd respond to on a particularly adventurous day, only to be laughed at. see what i mean?
EDIT!
did you know you can barter on craigslist? it's just like being on the oregon trail, except for the internet.
one woman is offering some breast implants. yeah, seriously, she's giving away BOOBS. they're not used or anything...i think. ew, that'd be gross if she got them removed and was like, "actually, could i hold on to those? i think i've got a use for them..."
i can also get two dental chairs for FREE! i dont even have a good use for those. oh, wait, they specify in the ad that they're for "anyone who could apply to good use." man, no dental chairs for me.
in the "for sale" section, there's a link for baby+kids. i went there to look for a baby to adopt. i was disappointed.
under "household items," i found a Miniature Schnauzer Purebred (M) Docked/Cropped/Lic/Advantage/Shots for $400.
you can also buy some stained glass for christmas. the seller even promises that "it's the gift that keeps on giving all year long." ah, my precious stained glass, just always giving.
know what's weird? personal ads. i click on one of this guy who doesn't even necessarily want a girlfriend, but just someone to talk to. i scroll down and he's got two pictures of his face and one of his body..just his body. and he's not even that in shape. why would you put that up if you don't have a chest to brag about? i'd be nervous to answer to a personal ad on craigslist cuz i'd be afraid of being at the butt end of a joke.
guy: "dude, what if you put a personal ad up on craigslist? who would respond?"
guy's friend: "haha, dude, i bet you'd get really weird girls."
guy: "we should do it! hahaha"
and then they make up some profile, which i'd respond to on a particularly adventurous day, only to be laughed at. see what i mean?
EDIT!
did you know you can barter on craigslist? it's just like being on the oregon trail, except for the internet.
one woman is offering some breast implants. yeah, seriously, she's giving away BOOBS. they're not used or anything...i think. ew, that'd be gross if she got them removed and was like, "actually, could i hold on to those? i think i've got a use for them..."
i can also get two dental chairs for FREE! i dont even have a good use for those. oh, wait, they specify in the ad that they're for "anyone who could apply to good use." man, no dental chairs for me.
in the "for sale" section, there's a link for baby+kids. i went there to look for a baby to adopt. i was disappointed.
06 December, 2007
isla vista dreamin'
(more procrastination posting, as promised)
i've been watching videos of IV for the past (get this) HOUR. yeah, there are enough videos of the place for me to do that.
those videos put me in the best mood. i know i'm lucky to be traveling all over europe and i'm seeing some of the most beautiful cities in the world, but i still haven't found a place quite like my little iv. when i watched the videos, i couldn't wipe this huge, dumb smile off my face. here, go watch one.
can't wait to see your lovely face, isla vista (even if it is blemished by beer cans)
i've been watching videos of IV for the past (get this) HOUR. yeah, there are enough videos of the place for me to do that.
those videos put me in the best mood. i know i'm lucky to be traveling all over europe and i'm seeing some of the most beautiful cities in the world, but i still haven't found a place quite like my little iv. when i watched the videos, i couldn't wipe this huge, dumb smile off my face. here, go watch one.
can't wait to see your lovely face, isla vista (even if it is blemished by beer cans)
does it make you happy?
for my comm class, i'm researching global media and happiness. i haven't really figured out what link i want to make yet (are advertisers manipulating our happiness to make us buy stuff? is google helping me find a good self help group to make me happier? is globalization in general making us happier?), but i'll get there. the deadline is coming up next tuesday, so of course i'm procrastinating. oh, technically it's not due until dec 14th, but i'll be in barcelona from nicki day (dec 12) to dec 14th, and i dont want to worry about a silly comm paper.
what's difficult about researching this specific topic is that when i do it, i really want to be happy. know what makes me more happy than looking up articles in online databases? like, everything. oh, sure, i'll run across an interesting article and get sucked in, but it takes me a while to get there.
getting good research done is like taking a shower. before the shower, i do lots of things to put it off...go on facebook, go for a run, read a chapter in my book, eat something, do yoga, call mom and dad...you know, everything. once i finally run out of things to do, i sigh and turn on the shower. ugh, dammit, shower time is here. once i'm in the shower, it's kind of a hassle to wash my hair and scrub under my armpits. then there's getting out! oh, the ordeal of getting out is almost more trouble than it's worth because i'm all wet and i have to wrap my hair in a turban and pick out an outfit and put on makeup and do my hair and OH LORDY so many things.
but once i'm clean...ahhhhhhh that's a great feeling. sometimes i'll just flop down on my bed, happy to bask in my cleanliness. what a feeling of accomplishment.
with research, it's irritating to log on to the ucsb site, figure out a good database, pick out the best words, read all those abstracts, download the full text PDFs, take notes, etc etc. but once i look at all my scribblings in my blog (yeah, i make research blogs, too...told you, i love the things), i get kind of excited at all the stuff i've managed to dig up, especially because i have this tendency to choose topics that don't have a lot of history/research to look at.
anyway, i'm glad i made that long and complicated connection between showering and researching, as i'm sure you are, too. i've got lots more reading/writing/researching to do, which also means i've got plenty of procrastinating to do, so you can expect more updates soon.
what's difficult about researching this specific topic is that when i do it, i really want to be happy. know what makes me more happy than looking up articles in online databases? like, everything. oh, sure, i'll run across an interesting article and get sucked in, but it takes me a while to get there.
getting good research done is like taking a shower. before the shower, i do lots of things to put it off...go on facebook, go for a run, read a chapter in my book, eat something, do yoga, call mom and dad...you know, everything. once i finally run out of things to do, i sigh and turn on the shower. ugh, dammit, shower time is here. once i'm in the shower, it's kind of a hassle to wash my hair and scrub under my armpits. then there's getting out! oh, the ordeal of getting out is almost more trouble than it's worth because i'm all wet and i have to wrap my hair in a turban and pick out an outfit and put on makeup and do my hair and OH LORDY so many things.
but once i'm clean...ahhhhhhh that's a great feeling. sometimes i'll just flop down on my bed, happy to bask in my cleanliness. what a feeling of accomplishment.
with research, it's irritating to log on to the ucsb site, figure out a good database, pick out the best words, read all those abstracts, download the full text PDFs, take notes, etc etc. but once i look at all my scribblings in my blog (yeah, i make research blogs, too...told you, i love the things), i get kind of excited at all the stuff i've managed to dig up, especially because i have this tendency to choose topics that don't have a lot of history/research to look at.
anyway, i'm glad i made that long and complicated connection between showering and researching, as i'm sure you are, too. i've got lots more reading/writing/researching to do, which also means i've got plenty of procrastinating to do, so you can expect more updates soon.
procrastination!
if i could make a pie chart for how i spent my hours during the day, i wouldn't do it. it would show me that i spend at least 60% of my day split between the metro and facebook. that is disgusting.
but i did manage to read a chapter in my econ book today (hurray for money supply and required reserves ratio) and start to get some thoughts on paper for my comm project. i'm looking at globalized media and happiness, and it's actually pretty interesting. but you know what's more interesting? your pictures on facebook. and playing scrabulous. and responding to messages with alarming speed.
see you in 17 days, california.
but i did manage to read a chapter in my econ book today (hurray for money supply and required reserves ratio) and start to get some thoughts on paper for my comm project. i'm looking at globalized media and happiness, and it's actually pretty interesting. but you know what's more interesting? your pictures on facebook. and playing scrabulous. and responding to messages with alarming speed.
see you in 17 days, california.
04 December, 2007
sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me
i don't know if it's because the french are stereotypically rude or it's just big city folk in general, but lots people here aren't nice to me. they aren't cruel or abusive or anything...they just don't reach out to help strangers or do random acts of kindness. i've never had more people think i'm a complete tard.
they're usually right. i don't know how to express myself well in this language, so i usually come out looking like a moron. i also didn't know how to handle myself in a big city at first, so i stumbled on a lot of things (literally and figuratively).
having so many people look at me funny and --to put it nicely-- be short with me, i've become hardened to this kind of rudeness. when someone isn't nice to me at the cash register, i brush it off. if someone doesn't smile back, it's no big deal. when i was calling to apartments in iv earlier, some of the people sort of treated me like i didn't know what i was talking about. instead of getting all worked up about it, i found myself unaffected by their non-niceness.
this is a change in myself that i'm glad to see :-)
they're usually right. i don't know how to express myself well in this language, so i usually come out looking like a moron. i also didn't know how to handle myself in a big city at first, so i stumbled on a lot of things (literally and figuratively).
having so many people look at me funny and --to put it nicely-- be short with me, i've become hardened to this kind of rudeness. when someone isn't nice to me at the cash register, i brush it off. if someone doesn't smile back, it's no big deal. when i was calling to apartments in iv earlier, some of the people sort of treated me like i didn't know what i was talking about. instead of getting all worked up about it, i found myself unaffected by their non-niceness.
this is a change in myself that i'm glad to see :-)
class in 47 minutes
it's unbelievable how much i DONT want to go. ah, well. 3rd to last poli sci/econ/comm today :-D
03 December, 2007
4 days without updates?!
blasphemy! my apologies, readers. i was gone in amsterdam this weekend, which might explain the lack of updates. i'd tell you lots of stories about amsterdam, but there is no way they will be able to tell you how the city really is.
we got on the train early friday morning (6:55 am!). train>plane. though i do love airports and hanging out in the terminals (this is not sarcastic), you still have to go through all that crappy check in/security stuff with planes. on a train, you just walk on and it leaves. i could've arrived at 6:50 and been on the train with 5 minutes to spare.
after the 4 hour train ride, we checked in at the hostel and found anne frank's house. this experience is definitely one that i couldn't write about. i don't own it enough to do that, if that makes any sense.
later in the day we visited the sex museum. my conclusion? everyone everywhere in every time period has loved sex.
red light district friday night. it's bizarre having a mostly naked hooker staring at you, eying you, trying to get you to come in for a romp. what's weird is a lot of the girls were fat and ugly (and covered in enough make up to conceal the latter). hats off to the girls for dealing with the creepy groups of men staring at their boobs.
biking around the city saturday. i thought for sure i was going to die in one of those intersections. they're not the nice square ones like we have in san ramon/sb...they're more like everybody's coming in from a different angel with little regard for what color the light is and who's crossing right now. but we got to do a loop around vondelpark at dusk, and that made my trip.
van gogh saturday afternoon. i didn't know much/anything about van gogh before i went in, so i was a bit apprehensive. but then i read those little info bits by the paintings, and learned a crap ton about him. now van gogh gets a gold star in my book.
the souvenirs in holland are the best. (fyi, i just looked up the holland/netherlands thing. north and south holland are two provinces in the netherlands, but we english speaking folk tend to get confused and call the whole country holland. silly us) i love those little shoes, and the windmills! i'd love to get back there and see the windmills when the tulips are in bloom.
oh, yeah, we went to some coffeeshops. :-P
we got on the train early friday morning (6:55 am!). train>plane. though i do love airports and hanging out in the terminals (this is not sarcastic), you still have to go through all that crappy check in/security stuff with planes. on a train, you just walk on and it leaves. i could've arrived at 6:50 and been on the train with 5 minutes to spare.
after the 4 hour train ride, we checked in at the hostel and found anne frank's house. this experience is definitely one that i couldn't write about. i don't own it enough to do that, if that makes any sense.
later in the day we visited the sex museum. my conclusion? everyone everywhere in every time period has loved sex.
red light district friday night. it's bizarre having a mostly naked hooker staring at you, eying you, trying to get you to come in for a romp. what's weird is a lot of the girls were fat and ugly (and covered in enough make up to conceal the latter). hats off to the girls for dealing with the creepy groups of men staring at their boobs.
biking around the city saturday. i thought for sure i was going to die in one of those intersections. they're not the nice square ones like we have in san ramon/sb...they're more like everybody's coming in from a different angel with little regard for what color the light is and who's crossing right now. but we got to do a loop around vondelpark at dusk, and that made my trip.
van gogh saturday afternoon. i didn't know much/anything about van gogh before i went in, so i was a bit apprehensive. but then i read those little info bits by the paintings, and learned a crap ton about him. now van gogh gets a gold star in my book.
the souvenirs in holland are the best. (fyi, i just looked up the holland/netherlands thing. north and south holland are two provinces in the netherlands, but we english speaking folk tend to get confused and call the whole country holland. silly us) i love those little shoes, and the windmills! i'd love to get back there and see the windmills when the tulips are in bloom.
oh, yeah, we went to some coffeeshops. :-P
29 November, 2007
nicki is blogging.
i walk around all day thinking of my actions in terms of my facebook status.
"nicki is getting on the metro."
"nicki is sitting in econ."
"nicki is bored." (this one happens a lot)
"nicki is wandering through a cemetery."
i also think about what i'm gonna write in my blog, too. i get all these great ideas and witty/insightful single lines. of course, i never remember any of them once i sit at my computer and get to writing. i'm gonna miss this blog when i get home.
what? keep up the blogging in sb? blasphemy!
i'm off to amsterdam this weekend. expect stories/photos on monday.
p.s. if we're not fbook friends, you're missing out on the fun part of the story: my pictures.
"nicki is getting on the metro."
"nicki is sitting in econ."
"nicki is bored." (this one happens a lot)
"nicki is wandering through a cemetery."
i also think about what i'm gonna write in my blog, too. i get all these great ideas and witty/insightful single lines. of course, i never remember any of them once i sit at my computer and get to writing. i'm gonna miss this blog when i get home.
what? keep up the blogging in sb? blasphemy!
i'm off to amsterdam this weekend. expect stories/photos on monday.
p.s. if we're not fbook friends, you're missing out on the fun part of the story: my pictures.
i can see my breath all day long
when i wake up and stick my head out of my window, i can see my breath. when i walk between buildings at 2 pm, i can almost make smoke rings with my breath. when i walk home from the metro station at 9pm, my breath makes little clouds in front of my face. IT'S SO COLD HERE.
when i woke up this morning i decided that i'd go exploring after french, so i stuffed my fanny pack (i'm 35% less happy when i have a purse slung around my shoulder) and left my books at home. whatever, not like i needed them...it was just a TA day.
after french, i went to shakespeare and company near notre dame. that is hands down my favorite bookstore in the world. i intended on just dashing in and out, but as usual, i got caught up in reading the back covers of the books.
oh, wait. before that, i tried to sell a book back to this other book store, gilbert jeune. i'm not gonna link you cuz it's nothing special. they have 3 or 4 stores, all within a block of each other. i walk into two bookstores before i'm finally directed to the place where they buy back the books. it was this weird place that reminded me more of a post office than anything. when i got to the front of the line, i had to give the guy my driver's license and address...i dont know why. then he told me i'd get only 8 stupid euros back, so i was like thanks but no thanks. i 'll take this bad boy to shakespeare and co.
so anyway, after much wandering and reading, i left shakespeare and co, intending to make it to pere lachaise (sp?) cemetery before dark...damn 5pm sunset. but then i saw a big christmas tree in front of notre dame, so i went to see that instead.
there were a million thousand pigeons out there. they were landing all over this homeless guy, which was gross. i was taking pictures when this guy taps me on the shoulder and starts speaking to me in french. i had my headphones on, but i wasn't that weirded out that he approached me...apparently, in paris, when you have your headphones on, that is actually an invitation for others to ask you for directions. here it's not an "iso-pod," but a "social-pod." haha, i'm funny.
anyway, this creepy french man did NOT want directions. he instead wanted to be creepy and take a picture with me and the birds. i figured i'd make more of a scene and a hassle if i said no, so i meekly was like "d'accord..." he put his arm around me (awk) and smiled for the camera. as soon as he let go, i was outta there. bleh *shakes off* luckily there were a million thousand tourists around, so i never really felt in danger. just shaken up. to be on the safe side, i sought refuge inside notre dame. this doubled as a defrosting time for me, because i was freaking cold.
when i decided to leave, it was getting dark and because the cemetery is far away, i didnt quite have enough time to make it there. i saw jardin des plantes on the metro map and went there. but, because it was nearing 5 pm in november, everything was closing and most of the flowers were dead. but i do love me a good park, so i'm not complaining.
once i was good and frozen, i made my way back to school to research (barf). i left at 830, when the gates to the building were closed. i couldn't figure'em out and the passersby on the street must have had a good laugh watching me try to open a huge metal gate...lol. turns out there was a door just two feet next to the gate. go figure.
when i woke up this morning i decided that i'd go exploring after french, so i stuffed my fanny pack (i'm 35% less happy when i have a purse slung around my shoulder) and left my books at home. whatever, not like i needed them...it was just a TA day.
after french, i went to shakespeare and company near notre dame. that is hands down my favorite bookstore in the world. i intended on just dashing in and out, but as usual, i got caught up in reading the back covers of the books.
oh, wait. before that, i tried to sell a book back to this other book store, gilbert jeune. i'm not gonna link you cuz it's nothing special. they have 3 or 4 stores, all within a block of each other. i walk into two bookstores before i'm finally directed to the place where they buy back the books. it was this weird place that reminded me more of a post office than anything. when i got to the front of the line, i had to give the guy my driver's license and address...i dont know why. then he told me i'd get only 8 stupid euros back, so i was like thanks but no thanks. i 'll take this bad boy to shakespeare and co.
so anyway, after much wandering and reading, i left shakespeare and co, intending to make it to pere lachaise (sp?) cemetery before dark...damn 5pm sunset. but then i saw a big christmas tree in front of notre dame, so i went to see that instead.
there were a million thousand pigeons out there. they were landing all over this homeless guy, which was gross. i was taking pictures when this guy taps me on the shoulder and starts speaking to me in french. i had my headphones on, but i wasn't that weirded out that he approached me...apparently, in paris, when you have your headphones on, that is actually an invitation for others to ask you for directions. here it's not an "iso-pod," but a "social-pod." haha, i'm funny.
anyway, this creepy french man did NOT want directions. he instead wanted to be creepy and take a picture with me and the birds. i figured i'd make more of a scene and a hassle if i said no, so i meekly was like "d'accord..." he put his arm around me (awk) and smiled for the camera. as soon as he let go, i was outta there. bleh *shakes off* luckily there were a million thousand tourists around, so i never really felt in danger. just shaken up. to be on the safe side, i sought refuge inside notre dame. this doubled as a defrosting time for me, because i was freaking cold.
when i decided to leave, it was getting dark and because the cemetery is far away, i didnt quite have enough time to make it there. i saw jardin des plantes on the metro map and went there. but, because it was nearing 5 pm in november, everything was closing and most of the flowers were dead. but i do love me a good park, so i'm not complaining.
once i was good and frozen, i made my way back to school to research (barf). i left at 830, when the gates to the building were closed. i couldn't figure'em out and the passersby on the street must have had a good laugh watching me try to open a huge metal gate...lol. turns out there was a door just two feet next to the gate. go figure.
27 November, 2007
parce que je peux!
today was my long tuesday, class from 9-3. i usually make it through by focusing on what i'll do after class. sometimes i decide to walk home, sometimes i think about a movie/tv show i wanna watch, sometimes i go real crazy and go shopping. well, today, i decided to go on a run. i haven't been on a run in a while.
i came up with this plan in poli sci, so probably around 10 am. as the day went on, i got more and more excited. "yeah! running! this is gonna be great!"
when i got out of comm at 3, i got this brilliant idea. what if i run up the steps of the eiffel tower? YEAH! instant good idea. why do it? because i mother effing can. i'm young, i'm living in paris, and it's cheap. so i got home, i plugged my ipod in (damn lost charge) and got pumped up. seriously, i did. i put on rilo kiley and got real excited about running. and going up the eiffel tower. and being in good enough shape to do this.
i got to trocadero at 4:15 and dashed to the eiffel tower. i paid my 3 euro 10 and climbed up the steps, huffing and puffing after like 5 steps. i must have been quite a spectacle, because almost every group that passed me on their way down sort of giggled at me. maybe it was my outfit...long sleeved black shirt, gray shorts, brown leggings, bright pink past-my-ankle socks that say "love" on them (thanks mom!) and my tennis shoes. i tried to be fashionable when i first got here, but i've given up. i'm just not stylish.
anyway, i made it up to the second floor in time to watch the sun go down (behind some clouds...semi-disappointing). i took my time just staring at the city, amazed at how many things i've done already (and at how many things i HAVEN'T done...crap, there's a lot to do here). i decided to stay to watch the first twinkling of the night, at 6 pm. it was only like 5:20, but i had a new "this american life" podcast to listen to, so i popped that on and waited.
it was freaking freezing up there. my outfit was clearly not chosen for its warmness capabilities.
once 6 pm rolled around, i switched my ipod to my "here comes santa claus!" playlist and listened to that little girl sing "all i want for christmas is you" (which, btw, is a mariah carey original). the lights started sparkling, and everything was just perfect. but then i got really cold, so it was time to get the heck off this freaking cold structure and back to a heated house. when i was running down the steps, i was all by myself, so i started dancing and singing. and the eiffel tower was still sparkling. and it was a stupendous moment in my life.
i came up with this plan in poli sci, so probably around 10 am. as the day went on, i got more and more excited. "yeah! running! this is gonna be great!"
when i got out of comm at 3, i got this brilliant idea. what if i run up the steps of the eiffel tower? YEAH! instant good idea. why do it? because i mother effing can. i'm young, i'm living in paris, and it's cheap. so i got home, i plugged my ipod in (damn lost charge) and got pumped up. seriously, i did. i put on rilo kiley and got real excited about running. and going up the eiffel tower. and being in good enough shape to do this.
i got to trocadero at 4:15 and dashed to the eiffel tower. i paid my 3 euro 10 and climbed up the steps, huffing and puffing after like 5 steps. i must have been quite a spectacle, because almost every group that passed me on their way down sort of giggled at me. maybe it was my outfit...long sleeved black shirt, gray shorts, brown leggings, bright pink past-my-ankle socks that say "love" on them (thanks mom!) and my tennis shoes. i tried to be fashionable when i first got here, but i've given up. i'm just not stylish.
anyway, i made it up to the second floor in time to watch the sun go down (behind some clouds...semi-disappointing). i took my time just staring at the city, amazed at how many things i've done already (and at how many things i HAVEN'T done...crap, there's a lot to do here). i decided to stay to watch the first twinkling of the night, at 6 pm. it was only like 5:20, but i had a new "this american life" podcast to listen to, so i popped that on and waited.
it was freaking freezing up there. my outfit was clearly not chosen for its warmness capabilities.
once 6 pm rolled around, i switched my ipod to my "here comes santa claus!" playlist and listened to that little girl sing "all i want for christmas is you" (which, btw, is a mariah carey original). the lights started sparkling, and everything was just perfect. but then i got really cold, so it was time to get the heck off this freaking cold structure and back to a heated house. when i was running down the steps, i was all by myself, so i started dancing and singing. and the eiffel tower was still sparkling. and it was a stupendous moment in my life.
proud to be an american
yeah, sometimes we all have a good laugh about how "dumb" americans are (you mean you DON'T know the 27 member states of the EU? you don't know a country that begins with "u"?), and we are home to guy who we love to hate, but god if i'm not proud to call the states my home.
watch this video. then tell me how much you love america.
watch this video. then tell me how much you love america.
breaking more blog promises
i know i told you i'd fill you in on my weekend here, but i'm too tired to do that now. i spent the last 2 or 3 hours talking to my best friends in the world, and i was too caught up in catching up to make it over to the blog. so you'll have to excuse me.
i was in a sad, homesick mood earlier...i get like this whenever i have work to do (yeah, even when i'm in sb). i just wanna go home and be with friends and family. but then i started talking to elisa and amber, and things got better. then kate and i talked on skype and we laughed (of course i laughed...it was after 10 pm, aka laughing time). then nat got online, and once she finally got on aim (more of a hassle than you know!), the four of us got to talking. we were all so excited to talk that we stepped all over each other's words and interrupted stories and the like.
i love those girls. i'm the luckiest person in the world.
(aw, shit, france HAS made me all gushy!)
i was in a sad, homesick mood earlier...i get like this whenever i have work to do (yeah, even when i'm in sb). i just wanna go home and be with friends and family. but then i started talking to elisa and amber, and things got better. then kate and i talked on skype and we laughed (of course i laughed...it was after 10 pm, aka laughing time). then nat got online, and once she finally got on aim (more of a hassle than you know!), the four of us got to talking. we were all so excited to talk that we stepped all over each other's words and interrupted stories and the like.
i love those girls. i'm the luckiest person in the world.
(aw, shit, france HAS made me all gushy!)
26 November, 2007
redneck yacht club
one of my favorite things to do is walk around chic paris listening to country music. the clash of cultures is just....oh, there's nothing better.
today i wore a bright blue tank top with leggings, boots and a jacket, my hair in braids. i must have screamed california, because everyone spoke to me in english today. ah, such is life. i like to spread my smiley, california nature all over the world :-)
oh, and i also owe you a full blog about my weekend, but i've been putting it off cuz i SHOULD be studying for my french test/econ quiz/writing my comm paper. but maybe later tonight i'll give myself a break (ha, like those 3 hours of shopping weren't a break)
today i wore a bright blue tank top with leggings, boots and a jacket, my hair in braids. i must have screamed california, because everyone spoke to me in english today. ah, such is life. i like to spread my smiley, california nature all over the world :-)
oh, and i also owe you a full blog about my weekend, but i've been putting it off cuz i SHOULD be studying for my french test/econ quiz/writing my comm paper. but maybe later tonight i'll give myself a break (ha, like those 3 hours of shopping weren't a break)
25 November, 2007
happy 20th maddy!
okay, so it wasn't "techincally" her birthday, but we went out for maddy's bday tonight. some sort of asian food in the latin quarter, then a bar after. we wandered for a while before we finally settled on a place. me, jv, chris and maddy drank and attempted playing drinking games, but without cards or red cups, we were kind of SOL. i can't freaking wait to play drinking games when i get back home to IV.
after a couple drinks at the first bar, we wandered down to an irish pub (where people are more lively and speak our language). we went downstairs and started chatting with the bartenders/other guys at the bar. maddy had "birthday princess" pin stuck in her hair, which attracted attention. at 11:55, we ordered our shots so we'd be prepared for our midnight drinking. right at midnight, a guy sitting at the bar goes, "it's midnight!" the dj stops the music and yells, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" the music starts playing again, and the four of us started shouting the "happy birthday" song...then everyone in the bar started singing along. once the song ended, we took our shots and started dancing.
to sum it up: our night was phenomenal. on the way home on the metros, maddy told everyone it was her birthday. in typical parisian fashion, most ignored her. lol.
after a couple drinks at the first bar, we wandered down to an irish pub (where people are more lively and speak our language). we went downstairs and started chatting with the bartenders/other guys at the bar. maddy had "birthday princess" pin stuck in her hair, which attracted attention. at 11:55, we ordered our shots so we'd be prepared for our midnight drinking. right at midnight, a guy sitting at the bar goes, "it's midnight!" the dj stops the music and yells, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" the music starts playing again, and the four of us started shouting the "happy birthday" song...then everyone in the bar started singing along. once the song ended, we took our shots and started dancing.
to sum it up: our night was phenomenal. on the way home on the metros, maddy told everyone it was her birthday. in typical parisian fashion, most ignored her. lol.
24 November, 2007
pas le garcon.
tonight was my first friday night in paris in 3 weeks. i forgot how lively this city can be. we didnt even really DO anything...just wandered. mal and maddy were hanging out with mal's mom and stuff, so chris and i got together and wandered the bastille/marais area. oh, but first we got a delicious, nutritious meal at mcdo (with a 1 euro student discount! WOOT education!)
we were at bastille and figured we could just walk down to the marais cuz we were there last night and saw a few fun bars. but we're dumb and we walked about a mile in the wrong direction. ah, no loss...we found a metro and made our way back. we mostly just wandered aimlessly, taking pictures and admiring christmas things (the ice skating rink is set up outside hotel de ville!).
our friend gretchen told us to meet her at this bar called 3 w. i hear chris on the phone go, "it's a lesbian bar?" haha. i'll admit, i was a little weirded out, but i'll try anything once, so we headed over there (after gretchen came to find us cuz we're like two lost puppies). we get to the door and the very lesbian woman at the woman looks at the three of us, and goes, "pas le garcon." uh oh. so we tell gretchen to just text us when she leaves and we split.
we ended up meeting up with our other friends from school and pop into this sports bar that's filled with smoke and too many people. amalia had heard of a cool hookah bar on the street, so we went down that way. i don't smoke, but i like hanging out, so i went along. it looked empty and sketchy outside, but we figured that since we had 5 of us, we could make it fun. well, it turns out there were bunches of people in the back, and it was a great place with a fun, dark, indian/natury type atmosphere. alas, chris and i wanted to catch the metro home, so we had to leave like 20 minutes after we got there.
we got on the metro and, lo and behold, who do we see but miss alice bald from the dorms freshman year! it was a crazy coincidence that we chose that train at that hour on that precise car, especially because we had JUST been talking about alice not but a few hours earlier. small freaking world.
now i'm home in a quiet house. crap, how did it get to be 1:40 am? tomorrow will be the first day to sleep in in a long while. wonderful.
we were at bastille and figured we could just walk down to the marais cuz we were there last night and saw a few fun bars. but we're dumb and we walked about a mile in the wrong direction. ah, no loss...we found a metro and made our way back. we mostly just wandered aimlessly, taking pictures and admiring christmas things (the ice skating rink is set up outside hotel de ville!).
our friend gretchen told us to meet her at this bar called 3 w. i hear chris on the phone go, "it's a lesbian bar?" haha. i'll admit, i was a little weirded out, but i'll try anything once, so we headed over there (after gretchen came to find us cuz we're like two lost puppies). we get to the door and the very lesbian woman at the woman looks at the three of us, and goes, "pas le garcon." uh oh. so we tell gretchen to just text us when she leaves and we split.
we ended up meeting up with our other friends from school and pop into this sports bar that's filled with smoke and too many people. amalia had heard of a cool hookah bar on the street, so we went down that way. i don't smoke, but i like hanging out, so i went along. it looked empty and sketchy outside, but we figured that since we had 5 of us, we could make it fun. well, it turns out there were bunches of people in the back, and it was a great place with a fun, dark, indian/natury type atmosphere. alas, chris and i wanted to catch the metro home, so we had to leave like 20 minutes after we got there.
we got on the metro and, lo and behold, who do we see but miss alice bald from the dorms freshman year! it was a crazy coincidence that we chose that train at that hour on that precise car, especially because we had JUST been talking about alice not but a few hours earlier. small freaking world.
now i'm home in a quiet house. crap, how did it get to be 1:40 am? tomorrow will be the first day to sleep in in a long while. wonderful.
22 November, 2007
joyeux...donne-merci?
happy thanksgiving! obviously, today was a regular day here. the french acted normally as if nothing special was going on....HELLO. it's a day of friggin thanks, french people.
just kidding. i'm not THAT self centered.
today was a grand day, though. i've never thought of myself as much of a thanksgiving fan before this year...actually, not even before today. when mme jeanson asked me what i was doing for thanksgiving, i was just kinda like, "eh...i'll go out to dinner with some friends." like it's no big deal.
but when i woke up this morning, it had a strong urge to go outside and play flag football, then watch the thanksgiving day parade (only the good parts...thank you, tivo). i dont even really LIKE the thanksgiving day parade...i really could just look at pictures of the floats online, because that's the only interesting part anyway.
i spose it's the whole family thing that i like (how predictable). i like pretending the millers are my family for the morning, and i actually do enjoy seeing my real family in the evening. sure, we aren't super close, but i've never wished for anything else. i know dad sometimes wishes we had a big family, but if we did, then we would have to hang out with them more often. with our small family, we can see them all in one fell swoop. then we have more time to hang out just hte four of us.
i think i also like hanging out with my extended family so we can talk about how crazy they are :-P family gossip is great.
maddy, mal, chris and i went out to dinner at "breakfast in america" tonight. i had a very traditional meal: soda, chips/salsa/guac, a cheeseburger and a salad, followed by gelato for dessert.
lol okay, so it wasn't your typical turkey/cranberry/stuffing feast. i could have gotten that, but i would have had to pay 30 euro for the full meal, and really, i just don't wanna spend that much on a meal. that's $45. i'm not frickin bill gates here.
okay, i got off on a not thankful tangent. back on track. i really enjoyed the meal, and we all had a great time talking and laughing about how bizarre this is, to have one of the biggest meals of the year without our families. all day i've been missing my family a lot. everybody's facebook statuses say something like, "i'm home!" or "man, (city) is cold!" or "back in the bay!" i wanna be back home. yes, yes, this is still fun over here and i love it. it's not that i want to get home right now..it's just that i'm looking forward to it. a lot.
maddy asked me if i was gonna write a blog about what i'm thankful for. i hadn't really thought about it, but that's actually a grand idea.
--okay, i'll start with the cliché: my family. you guys are phenomenal. parents, i can't believe how understanding and supportive you've been of everything i've ever done. kate, you're cool, too. i'll never get tired of coming home because i always have such a great time.
--cliché number 2: my friends. it's weird to think that, just 2 and a half years ago, i didn't know the greatest friends in the world. now i'm struggling to live without them (well, okay, i have facebook and i talk to them weekly...but it's just not the same).
--ucsb: i never realized what i great school ucsb is until i came to aup. this school is small and has no resources and it blows. ucsb, on the other hand, is stocked with great professors, has amazing resources (that i really should use more...), and just fucking ROCKS. plus, it helped me come over here for four months, so i've gotta be thankful.
--the internet. is that really dorky? but it's because of the internet that i can talk to my parents weekly (for FREE!), that i can keep in touch with my friends easily, that i can find out all the information in the world...you know, amazing things like that.
--the jeanson family. though we don't get along like a family, they're so incredibly sweet to me. and paul is a great kid. though he doesn't know it, he's helped me feel much more comfortable in this country.
--america. FUCK YAH! i love the states. california is my favorite place in the world.
just kidding. i'm not THAT self centered.
today was a grand day, though. i've never thought of myself as much of a thanksgiving fan before this year...actually, not even before today. when mme jeanson asked me what i was doing for thanksgiving, i was just kinda like, "eh...i'll go out to dinner with some friends." like it's no big deal.
but when i woke up this morning, it had a strong urge to go outside and play flag football, then watch the thanksgiving day parade (only the good parts...thank you, tivo). i dont even really LIKE the thanksgiving day parade...i really could just look at pictures of the floats online, because that's the only interesting part anyway.
i spose it's the whole family thing that i like (how predictable). i like pretending the millers are my family for the morning, and i actually do enjoy seeing my real family in the evening. sure, we aren't super close, but i've never wished for anything else. i know dad sometimes wishes we had a big family, but if we did, then we would have to hang out with them more often. with our small family, we can see them all in one fell swoop. then we have more time to hang out just hte four of us.
i think i also like hanging out with my extended family so we can talk about how crazy they are :-P family gossip is great.
maddy, mal, chris and i went out to dinner at "breakfast in america" tonight. i had a very traditional meal: soda, chips/salsa/guac, a cheeseburger and a salad, followed by gelato for dessert.
lol okay, so it wasn't your typical turkey/cranberry/stuffing feast. i could have gotten that, but i would have had to pay 30 euro for the full meal, and really, i just don't wanna spend that much on a meal. that's $45. i'm not frickin bill gates here. okay, i got off on a not thankful tangent. back on track. i really enjoyed the meal, and we all had a great time talking and laughing about how bizarre this is, to have one of the biggest meals of the year without our families. all day i've been missing my family a lot. everybody's facebook statuses say something like, "i'm home!" or "man, (city) is cold!" or "back in the bay!" i wanna be back home. yes, yes, this is still fun over here and i love it. it's not that i want to get home right now..it's just that i'm looking forward to it. a lot.
maddy asked me if i was gonna write a blog about what i'm thankful for. i hadn't really thought about it, but that's actually a grand idea.
--okay, i'll start with the cliché: my family. you guys are phenomenal. parents, i can't believe how understanding and supportive you've been of everything i've ever done. kate, you're cool, too. i'll never get tired of coming home because i always have such a great time.
--cliché number 2: my friends. it's weird to think that, just 2 and a half years ago, i didn't know the greatest friends in the world. now i'm struggling to live without them (well, okay, i have facebook and i talk to them weekly...but it's just not the same).
--ucsb: i never realized what i great school ucsb is until i came to aup. this school is small and has no resources and it blows. ucsb, on the other hand, is stocked with great professors, has amazing resources (that i really should use more...), and just fucking ROCKS. plus, it helped me come over here for four months, so i've gotta be thankful.
--the internet. is that really dorky? but it's because of the internet that i can talk to my parents weekly (for FREE!), that i can keep in touch with my friends easily, that i can find out all the information in the world...you know, amazing things like that.
--the jeanson family. though we don't get along like a family, they're so incredibly sweet to me. and paul is a great kid. though he doesn't know it, he's helped me feel much more comfortable in this country.
--america. FUCK YAH! i love the states. california is my favorite place in the world.
21 November, 2007
it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!
ah, you knew i was gonna title a blog like that sooner or later. anyway, it's beautiful. because the railway workers are still striking, i was forced to 1) wait 45 minutes for a dangerously full metro, 2) try to figure out that crazy bus system or 3) walk home. when i choose option number one and it doesn't work, i get real pissed that i have to walk home. but when i choose option 3 deliberately, it usually turns out to be a wonderful day. since it was sunny and warm(ish...california me would have been freezing), i decided to walk home.
instead of doing taking usual i-need-to-get-home-really-fast route, i decided to take the long, winding way home. not like i had anything to get back to, anyway (when facebook is your roommate, home isn't exactly a hoppin' place to be). i walked up to the champs elysees and wandered down the street with too much money. much to my delight, many of the stores had their christmas stuff up! trees, garlands and lights everywhere. i heard music softly coming out of one store. i was a little disappointed when i found out it wasn't christmas music, but got re-excited when i realized it was ucsb's own jack johnson!
i found a bus (helllll no, i'm not walking all the way home from the arc de triomphe...that's like a million kagillion miles) and rode to trocadero when i realized there was a cemetery there. i pressed that little "stop the bus now, please" button (which makes me feel really powerful) and hopped off. this cemetery (cemeterie passy, if you're curious) was a little bizarre...it was over crowded and not laid out in nice, neat lines like i'm used to in the states. one grave had a dog statue, too. i imagine dad would like something like that on his tombstone.
i started thinking about what i would want for my grave when i die. i decided that i really want a bust made of myself, because i freaking love a good bust and to have one made of my own face would be a dream come true. but i don't want my bust to be one of those regular, regal looking ones where i'm just smiling normally. i want it to be one where i'm laughing or lip biting or making some other funny face...something that will make people kind of laugh (but then feel bad for laughing at a dead person...for shame!).
i walked home from the cemetery (why do i always wanna spell that word "cemetary"?) and wandered down rue de passy, which is another huge shopping street. i can't wait to see more of the city decked out in christmas gear. as far as i'm concerned, i'm getting the best of both worlds here: christmas season in a gorgeous european city and christmas eve/day with the fam...so long as i don't get stuck in o'hare.
instead of doing taking usual i-need-to-get-home-really-fast route, i decided to take the long, winding way home. not like i had anything to get back to, anyway (when facebook is your roommate, home isn't exactly a hoppin' place to be). i walked up to the champs elysees and wandered down the street with too much money. much to my delight, many of the stores had their christmas stuff up! trees, garlands and lights everywhere. i heard music softly coming out of one store. i was a little disappointed when i found out it wasn't christmas music, but got re-excited when i realized it was ucsb's own jack johnson!
i found a bus (helllll no, i'm not walking all the way home from the arc de triomphe...that's like a million kagillion miles) and rode to trocadero when i realized there was a cemetery there. i pressed that little "stop the bus now, please" button (which makes me feel really powerful) and hopped off. this cemetery (cemeterie passy, if you're curious) was a little bizarre...it was over crowded and not laid out in nice, neat lines like i'm used to in the states. one grave had a dog statue, too. i imagine dad would like something like that on his tombstone.
i started thinking about what i would want for my grave when i die. i decided that i really want a bust made of myself, because i freaking love a good bust and to have one made of my own face would be a dream come true. but i don't want my bust to be one of those regular, regal looking ones where i'm just smiling normally. i want it to be one where i'm laughing or lip biting or making some other funny face...something that will make people kind of laugh (but then feel bad for laughing at a dead person...for shame!).
i walked home from the cemetery (why do i always wanna spell that word "cemetary"?) and wandered down rue de passy, which is another huge shopping street. i can't wait to see more of the city decked out in christmas gear. as far as i'm concerned, i'm getting the best of both worlds here: christmas season in a gorgeous european city and christmas eve/day with the fam...so long as i don't get stuck in o'hare.
20 November, 2007
parle en francais!
i just got finished with dinner with mme jeanson, her brother olivier, and his friend from argentina (talk about an international table!). though we all speak english perfectly well, olivier insisted we speak french.
well, crap. i can't have a conversation like that. it's like a constant test for me to speak in french. my shoulders get all tense (in fact, i just now untensed them) and i can't really say anything meaningful. i also have no confidence. i felt like the little kid at the table, especially because when the two jeansons spoke to me, they'd either speak really slowly, retarded french for me or give up and translate in english.
it's heartbreaking for me to not be able to crack a joke, or get my opinion across, or even ask a question. it makes me feel stupid and really bad about myself.
but, even when we slipped into english, i felt like a kid. i'm not grown up yet; i can't have grown up conversations yet, can i? i don't even know what the hell adults talk about, but here i am, hitting 21 in less than a month. is that when i learn how to talk about grown up things? will someone just give me a script?
the dinner wasn't as bad as i make it sound. i actually had a grand time...we talked about the drinking age, shared a couple drinking games, talked about how you NEED to speak english...tons of things. we ate for something like an hour, so you can imagine that we had lots of conversation.
oh, but the drinking thing. they pointed out that it was a very american thing to get SO drunk. i never realized that. i thought that everyone had their big drinking time, no matter where they were in the world. maybe our binge drinking is the result of that "forbidden fruit" thing.
well, crap. i can't have a conversation like that. it's like a constant test for me to speak in french. my shoulders get all tense (in fact, i just now untensed them) and i can't really say anything meaningful. i also have no confidence. i felt like the little kid at the table, especially because when the two jeansons spoke to me, they'd either speak really slowly, retarded french for me or give up and translate in english.
it's heartbreaking for me to not be able to crack a joke, or get my opinion across, or even ask a question. it makes me feel stupid and really bad about myself.
but, even when we slipped into english, i felt like a kid. i'm not grown up yet; i can't have grown up conversations yet, can i? i don't even know what the hell adults talk about, but here i am, hitting 21 in less than a month. is that when i learn how to talk about grown up things? will someone just give me a script?
the dinner wasn't as bad as i make it sound. i actually had a grand time...we talked about the drinking age, shared a couple drinking games, talked about how you NEED to speak english...tons of things. we ate for something like an hour, so you can imagine that we had lots of conversation.
oh, but the drinking thing. they pointed out that it was a very american thing to get SO drunk. i never realized that. i thought that everyone had their big drinking time, no matter where they were in the world. maybe our binge drinking is the result of that "forbidden fruit" thing.
london.
that blog title is inspired by the fabulous london eatery, "eat." that's seriously its name. it has mostly pre-made, packaged food (sandwiches, wraps, salads...you know the drill), which we were very hesitant about at first. turns out, the food there was delicious! i had a turkey/cranberry sandwich there and it was a piece of thanksgiving deliciousness in my mouth. "pret a manger" was pretty similar to eat (actually, i think it was the exact same stuff) but we avoided that one at first because the name of it is in french, and we were having a decidedly unfrench weekend.
the metros have been on strike since last tuesday or wednesday, so we had to wake up early to get to gare du nord to catch our 8 am train. after wandering around for half an hour in the dark and freezing cold, mal, chris and i found a cab and got to gare du nord WAY early. oh, well. we got through security quickly and got TWO stamps on our passport! that's an advantage to riding the eurostar: passport stamps. when we fly between EU countries, we don't have to get stamped :-(
anyway, the train left on time and we settled into the 2.5 hour-long ride. i switched back my clock (1 hour time difference between paris and london) and we all made funny jokes about getting train lag. ha, we're a riot.
i should probably mention that this was a communications study trip (both undergrad and grad students), so we were led by a few professors. once we got there, we got our first experience of professor doyle's excellent guiding skills. when i say excellent, i actually mean pretty awful. he's a really awkward guy and clearly not a leader, but he's nice and has good intentions, so i can't hate too much. he led us to the british library, right outside the train station, with all of us still dragging our bags. we were all irritated that we were doing this extra walking, especially since we were scheduled to go to the british library on saturday. but, no matter. we walked down to the celtic hotel, where we were to spend our next 4 days.
no, it wasn't a gorgeous hotel. i'd say it was a mix between a hostel and a hotel, actually. chris, mal, maddy and i shared a teeny room with four single beds and a sink in it (if you saw my house over the summer, it was like that...actually, yeah, pretty much that size minus the toilet/closet part). there was a shared bathroom and shower downstairs. the greatest part, though, was that we got a full english breakfast every morning: eggs, sausage, ham, hash browns, a mushroom and a tomato. when the housekeeper first told us what it entailed, we were kinda like, "omfg. nobody can eat that much food." but how wrong we were! i had the full english every morning and, of course, i finished it (except the mushroom...gross). and the housekeepers were these adorable fat and old women (and one old guy) who were incredibly sweet and helpful.
speaking of food...the english weren't skinny as a stick the same way the french are. in london, i was average sized, versus in paris, where i'm fat (no, i'm not just fishing for compliments...seriously, i'm larger than a big percent of the girls here). it was refreshing.
anyway, back to the london timeline. thursday morning, a few of us broke off from the group and wandered around london with no final destination. it was relaxing not having a go-go-go day, where we could just walk the streets slowly and get acquainted with the city. it was bizarre, but i felt comfortable in london almost instantly. maybe it was just cuz i spoke the language...but no, it was something more than that. the people there were just friendly and helpful, and to top it off it was a sunny, lovely day when we arrived.
at 330 we went to the bbc television centre for a tour. this turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. we watched them work in the newsroom (ooo how my newspapery heart wanted to be back in that) and saw some of the studios they film in. at the end, he called for volunteers to read the news/play on a game show. i volunteered for the game show (duh) and totally pwnd my competitors (would you expect anything less?).
mal, maddy and i went to a cute candy shop off oxford street thursday night (mrs klibber's candy shop or something equally quaint). when we asked the guy how long it had been opened, we were disappointed when he proudly said, "oh, about four weeks!" lol we went to a pub/restaurant he recommended for dinner just down the street. i ordered--what else--fish and chips. mmmmmmmm great choice. we were gonna go to a pub after that but were too tuckered out, so we just bought some bacardi breezers and wine and headed back to the hotel. stupid us, we didn't have a can opener, so we spent 10 minutes trying to weasel off the blasted caps. when maddy finally got one off, we screamed with joy. we were so laughy it was like we were already drunk...lol. good night.
friday was jam packed. we started out with a talk with an editor from the guardian, which i loved because hey, that's what i do, but everyone else found rather dull. then we walked to the london museum, but were bored because i swear it was a museum for CHILDREN. there was an exhibit on the london fires and there was a bucket. "pick up the bucket. how does it feel? how does it smell?" god, i dunno, it smells like a freaking bucket.
globe theater, up next. i enjoyed this much more than i thought i would, because i'm not much of a shakespeare connoisseur. it was fun daydreaming and imagining myself back in shakespeare's day, sitting in the gentlemen's room (of course i have enough money for that...remember? i'm dreaming) and watching "a midsummer night's dream" in my huge dress, corset pulled tight.
oh, right, after that i went to the tate modern! that ruled...on opposite day. modern art is retarded. no, no, no, don't tell me i "don't get it." one painting was a canvas that someone literally THREW paint on. another was a canvas pulled tight with a slash in it. THAT'S NOT ART. i did that like 13 years ago. there was also a video of a naked woman washing herself in the corner. that's porn.
following that great cultural experience was the bbc radio taping of "buy me up tv," a radio sitcom. i'd never seen/heard a radio sitcom before, so i was intrigued. i had a lot of fun--the people were funny and the story line was easy to follow. you know who was there? that one guy from who's line is it anyway...no, not drew carey, not the tall guy, not the bald guy, but the other guy...greg proops. man, he's a riot.
it was late by the time we finished, so we just grabbed a meal (quick, but not cheap..8 pounds>$16. i realized that maybe i CAN afford expensive dishes) and went home.
ah, here we are at saturday. this is getting long, eh? ah, no matter. we headed to the british library around 10 am and had another "great" tour. lol actually, only the organization was awful; the professors were very knowledgeable about all the old texts (mostly religious) that we saw and i quite enjoyed everything they taught us. it made me want to take a religious studies class again.
after that was through, we hopped on a red double decker bus (tourists!) and dashed around the city. buckingham palace was not as grand as i expected it to be, but i bet the inside is wonderful. saturday we mostly just rode the bus around the city and saturday night we wandered oxford street some more.
saturday night=dinner in soho. i got to mingle with some of my coworkers, so that was cool. (that was a joke...like i'm a hooker...get it?) we went into a licensed sex shop (where do you apply for that license?) and giggled at everything. so mature. because english food isn't exactly delectable, we treated ourselves to an italian meal, complete with a bottle of wine and a dessert :-) i'm not thinking about how expensive that was in dollars.
we went to a couple pubs in soho, but wanted to catch the tube home (and didn't wanna spend money to get into a club), so we got back early and stayed up late talking. those sorts of nights are my favorite, anyway.
sunday morning we were supposed to go to the british library, but decided to skip out on that and see hyde park/harrod's instead. hyde park was vast and i wish it wasn't so damn COLD there, because i didn't enjoy it fully. despite the chilly temperatures (it must have been 1 or 2 degrees celcius), bunches of people were still running. they must be effing mad.
before noon, we headed over to harrod's, which is the biggest department store i've ever seen. it was only open from 12-6 on sunday, so people were lined up out the door at 11:50. as soon as the doors opened, we made our way to a café (and then to another, better café) and ordered some tea. ooo and i got some shortbread...scrumptious. now that we had energy, we made it to the christmas floor, which was draped with ornaments of every kind and tons of other christmas decorations. it satisfied my day-after-thanksgiving, crazy-shopping urges (though i didn't buy much).
we had to be back at the hotel by 4 to walk to the train station and catch the chunnel home at 530. fatigued and hungry, we flopped down on the train, set our clocks to paris time, and made more train lag jokes. we got to gare du nord around 9 pm, took a couple packed metros (yes, they're still striking...) and a cab, and i finally made it home around 10 pm. i opened my door to a clean room and a freshly made bed. there is NOTHING better than that. mme jeanson treats me too well :-D
the metros have been on strike since last tuesday or wednesday, so we had to wake up early to get to gare du nord to catch our 8 am train. after wandering around for half an hour in the dark and freezing cold, mal, chris and i found a cab and got to gare du nord WAY early. oh, well. we got through security quickly and got TWO stamps on our passport! that's an advantage to riding the eurostar: passport stamps. when we fly between EU countries, we don't have to get stamped :-(
anyway, the train left on time and we settled into the 2.5 hour-long ride. i switched back my clock (1 hour time difference between paris and london) and we all made funny jokes about getting train lag. ha, we're a riot.
i should probably mention that this was a communications study trip (both undergrad and grad students), so we were led by a few professors. once we got there, we got our first experience of professor doyle's excellent guiding skills. when i say excellent, i actually mean pretty awful. he's a really awkward guy and clearly not a leader, but he's nice and has good intentions, so i can't hate too much. he led us to the british library, right outside the train station, with all of us still dragging our bags. we were all irritated that we were doing this extra walking, especially since we were scheduled to go to the british library on saturday. but, no matter. we walked down to the celtic hotel, where we were to spend our next 4 days.
no, it wasn't a gorgeous hotel. i'd say it was a mix between a hostel and a hotel, actually. chris, mal, maddy and i shared a teeny room with four single beds and a sink in it (if you saw my house over the summer, it was like that...actually, yeah, pretty much that size minus the toilet/closet part). there was a shared bathroom and shower downstairs. the greatest part, though, was that we got a full english breakfast every morning: eggs, sausage, ham, hash browns, a mushroom and a tomato. when the housekeeper first told us what it entailed, we were kinda like, "omfg. nobody can eat that much food." but how wrong we were! i had the full english every morning and, of course, i finished it (except the mushroom...gross). and the housekeepers were these adorable fat and old women (and one old guy) who were incredibly sweet and helpful.
speaking of food...the english weren't skinny as a stick the same way the french are. in london, i was average sized, versus in paris, where i'm fat (no, i'm not just fishing for compliments...seriously, i'm larger than a big percent of the girls here). it was refreshing.
anyway, back to the london timeline. thursday morning, a few of us broke off from the group and wandered around london with no final destination. it was relaxing not having a go-go-go day, where we could just walk the streets slowly and get acquainted with the city. it was bizarre, but i felt comfortable in london almost instantly. maybe it was just cuz i spoke the language...but no, it was something more than that. the people there were just friendly and helpful, and to top it off it was a sunny, lovely day when we arrived.
at 330 we went to the bbc television centre for a tour. this turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. we watched them work in the newsroom (ooo how my newspapery heart wanted to be back in that) and saw some of the studios they film in. at the end, he called for volunteers to read the news/play on a game show. i volunteered for the game show (duh) and totally pwnd my competitors (would you expect anything less?).
mal, maddy and i went to a cute candy shop off oxford street thursday night (mrs klibber's candy shop or something equally quaint). when we asked the guy how long it had been opened, we were disappointed when he proudly said, "oh, about four weeks!" lol we went to a pub/restaurant he recommended for dinner just down the street. i ordered--what else--fish and chips. mmmmmmmm great choice. we were gonna go to a pub after that but were too tuckered out, so we just bought some bacardi breezers and wine and headed back to the hotel. stupid us, we didn't have a can opener, so we spent 10 minutes trying to weasel off the blasted caps. when maddy finally got one off, we screamed with joy. we were so laughy it was like we were already drunk...lol. good night.
friday was jam packed. we started out with a talk with an editor from the guardian, which i loved because hey, that's what i do, but everyone else found rather dull. then we walked to the london museum, but were bored because i swear it was a museum for CHILDREN. there was an exhibit on the london fires and there was a bucket. "pick up the bucket. how does it feel? how does it smell?" god, i dunno, it smells like a freaking bucket.
globe theater, up next. i enjoyed this much more than i thought i would, because i'm not much of a shakespeare connoisseur. it was fun daydreaming and imagining myself back in shakespeare's day, sitting in the gentlemen's room (of course i have enough money for that...remember? i'm dreaming) and watching "a midsummer night's dream" in my huge dress, corset pulled tight.
oh, right, after that i went to the tate modern! that ruled...on opposite day. modern art is retarded. no, no, no, don't tell me i "don't get it." one painting was a canvas that someone literally THREW paint on. another was a canvas pulled tight with a slash in it. THAT'S NOT ART. i did that like 13 years ago. there was also a video of a naked woman washing herself in the corner. that's porn.
following that great cultural experience was the bbc radio taping of "buy me up tv," a radio sitcom. i'd never seen/heard a radio sitcom before, so i was intrigued. i had a lot of fun--the people were funny and the story line was easy to follow. you know who was there? that one guy from who's line is it anyway...no, not drew carey, not the tall guy, not the bald guy, but the other guy...greg proops. man, he's a riot.
it was late by the time we finished, so we just grabbed a meal (quick, but not cheap..8 pounds>$16. i realized that maybe i CAN afford expensive dishes) and went home.
ah, here we are at saturday. this is getting long, eh? ah, no matter. we headed to the british library around 10 am and had another "great" tour. lol actually, only the organization was awful; the professors were very knowledgeable about all the old texts (mostly religious) that we saw and i quite enjoyed everything they taught us. it made me want to take a religious studies class again.
after that was through, we hopped on a red double decker bus (tourists!) and dashed around the city. buckingham palace was not as grand as i expected it to be, but i bet the inside is wonderful. saturday we mostly just rode the bus around the city and saturday night we wandered oxford street some more.
saturday night=dinner in soho. i got to mingle with some of my coworkers, so that was cool. (that was a joke...like i'm a hooker...get it?) we went into a licensed sex shop (where do you apply for that license?) and giggled at everything. so mature. because english food isn't exactly delectable, we treated ourselves to an italian meal, complete with a bottle of wine and a dessert :-) i'm not thinking about how expensive that was in dollars.
we went to a couple pubs in soho, but wanted to catch the tube home (and didn't wanna spend money to get into a club), so we got back early and stayed up late talking. those sorts of nights are my favorite, anyway.
sunday morning we were supposed to go to the british library, but decided to skip out on that and see hyde park/harrod's instead. hyde park was vast and i wish it wasn't so damn COLD there, because i didn't enjoy it fully. despite the chilly temperatures (it must have been 1 or 2 degrees celcius), bunches of people were still running. they must be effing mad.
before noon, we headed over to harrod's, which is the biggest department store i've ever seen. it was only open from 12-6 on sunday, so people were lined up out the door at 11:50. as soon as the doors opened, we made our way to a café (and then to another, better café) and ordered some tea. ooo and i got some shortbread...scrumptious. now that we had energy, we made it to the christmas floor, which was draped with ornaments of every kind and tons of other christmas decorations. it satisfied my day-after-thanksgiving, crazy-shopping urges (though i didn't buy much).
we had to be back at the hotel by 4 to walk to the train station and catch the chunnel home at 530. fatigued and hungry, we flopped down on the train, set our clocks to paris time, and made more train lag jokes. we got to gare du nord around 9 pm, took a couple packed metros (yes, they're still striking...) and a cab, and i finally made it home around 10 pm. i opened my door to a clean room and a freshly made bed. there is NOTHING better than that. mme jeanson treats me too well :-D
18 November, 2007
i bloody miss london
i'm too tired to give you guys the full london updates right now (plus, i dont have my pictures uploaded yet, and i use those as an outline for what i want to write about), but i'll just give you the highlights.
--i forgot how easy it is to be in a country where i speak the native tongue fluently. i haven't been in a place where i know what every sign says in 2.5 months. i felt like being extra chatty with the brits (who were quite friendly and seemed to enjoy my talkativeness). i wonder if i'll be more outgoing/jokey with strangers when i go home, just because i can.
--london was fully dressed in christmas attire! oxford street--the big shopping avenue--was decked out in lights draped over the store windows and across the street, with the phrase, "have an enchanted christmas" written in lights. in that kind of bright environment, it's hard not to. paris needs to catch up with this christmas thing. i've begun by putting christmas music on my ipod (okay, so thanksgiving hasn't come yet...shoot me).
--my fave part of london: a tour we took of the bbc television centre. i think. though i loved the city itself, and all the people who were in it. bah, i can't pick.
here's a side note that's not about london at all: it's cold in my room, i turned the heater on (which i might have done wrong, because i've never used it and there are no directions). now it smells like the heater does when you turn it on for the first time. christmas must be fast approaching.
--i forgot how easy it is to be in a country where i speak the native tongue fluently. i haven't been in a place where i know what every sign says in 2.5 months. i felt like being extra chatty with the brits (who were quite friendly and seemed to enjoy my talkativeness). i wonder if i'll be more outgoing/jokey with strangers when i go home, just because i can.
--london was fully dressed in christmas attire! oxford street--the big shopping avenue--was decked out in lights draped over the store windows and across the street, with the phrase, "have an enchanted christmas" written in lights. in that kind of bright environment, it's hard not to. paris needs to catch up with this christmas thing. i've begun by putting christmas music on my ipod (okay, so thanksgiving hasn't come yet...shoot me).
--my fave part of london: a tour we took of the bbc television centre. i think. though i loved the city itself, and all the people who were in it. bah, i can't pick.
here's a side note that's not about london at all: it's cold in my room, i turned the heater on (which i might have done wrong, because i've never used it and there are no directions). now it smells like the heater does when you turn it on for the first time. christmas must be fast approaching.
14 November, 2007
the housing search continues
or, "100TH POST PARTY!!!!"
already 100 posts? wow. i've only been in france for 75 days...that's more than a blog a day. oh, except i should minus the first few entries because those were from before i left. anyway, grab a drink and enjoy the 100TH POST PARTY!!!!
i wish i had something more exciting to tell you, like that i suddenly fell upon 100,000 euros or that my prince charming climbed up to my window despite the fiery protests of the dragon guarding my castle (okay, that's a little excessive), but i've got nothing. in fact, this post is largely the result of procrastination, and it's pretty much about nothing (maybe you've noticed that already).
i've been looking for more apartments to rent. i love reading people's descriptions of their apartments/themselves.
Everyone who lives here is a student and takes it "fairly seriously" yet they still like to go out on weekends and some weekdays. why did you put "fairly seriously" in quotes? is that like an inside joke in your house because you really don't study at all? also...you go out on some weekdays. that fact, plus the "fairly seriously" thing, makes me think you, sir, aren't all that serious about school at all.
$660 awesome room in sorority house!!! like OMFG!
already 100 posts? wow. i've only been in france for 75 days...that's more than a blog a day. oh, except i should minus the first few entries because those were from before i left. anyway, grab a drink and enjoy the 100TH POST PARTY!!!!
i wish i had something more exciting to tell you, like that i suddenly fell upon 100,000 euros or that my prince charming climbed up to my window despite the fiery protests of the dragon guarding my castle (okay, that's a little excessive), but i've got nothing. in fact, this post is largely the result of procrastination, and it's pretty much about nothing (maybe you've noticed that already).
i've been looking for more apartments to rent. i love reading people's descriptions of their apartments/themselves.
Everyone who lives here is a student and takes it "fairly seriously" yet they still like to go out on weekends and some weekdays. why did you put "fairly seriously" in quotes? is that like an inside joke in your house because you really don't study at all? also...you go out on some weekdays. that fact, plus the "fairly seriously" thing, makes me think you, sir, aren't all that serious about school at all.
$660 awesome room in sorority house!!! like OMFG!
ah, they're striking again.
perhaps it will be more effective this time. why do i say that? because it's freaking COLD and this lack of metro/RER system is making me walk to school. the colder people are, maybe the more likely they are to complain to sarkozy, who will just give these workers their benefits already.
then again, i still don't think sarkozy will budge. good for him.
then again, i still don't think sarkozy will budge. good for him.
oh, just one more thing
on my way home from the airport in paris, i wrote in my notebook some more. warning: i get emotional.
12/11/07 about 8pm on the RER to paris
yes, my trip was wonderful and i should be focusing on that right now, but i can't. i'm anxious from a whole day of traveling. i wasn't antsy until i sat on the plane from ams to cdg and realized i'd left my big coat in cph. of fucking course. and right as the first gusts of winter are sweeping through the city, too. i tried to reason to myself at first that i could do without it. then i realized that i'd be going to london on thursday (read: even colder) so i'll probably need to come up with a solution before then. i think i can find a coat for 40 euro or less at h&m, but that's 30 pounds i'd rather spend on souvenirs. then again, i have kind of wanted another coat...they have some really cute ones. meh.
i spent the plane ride half bothered by my dumb forgetfulness. the other half of me was focused on one of the most striking sunsets i've ever seen. from above the clouds, i could see the sun seep across the sky, both vertically and horizontally. the blood red orange led to a baby blue, which gave way to the deepest black. it happened to the left and the right, as well as overhead. i stared at it for about 15 minutes (meh, it was prob less), in utter awe of the most beautiful thing i'd seen all weekend.
i also just wanted to call mom and have her see it, too. i wanted to make her come look the same way she makes us come look at the sunset in san clemente.
now i'm crying on the RER, all by myself. sometimes how much i miss my family and friends surprises me. it's got incredibly force and it lurches on me so unexpectedly.
i've been so hard at work ignoring how much i miss home because i don't want to let it cloud my time here. i've only got four months, and even 1 day wasted on pining for home is too much.
but, as much as i might deny it, i miss the crap out of my family. i've never wanted to hug them so much.
i don't want to try to reflect on how i've changed and become more emotional on this trip. i just want to sit here in this bizarre mixture of desperate sadness and extreme joy. nobody really explained that i'd have this emotion. then again, i'm sort of glad for that. this emotional state is hard to explain, anyhow. heck, maybe someone DID explain to me that i'd feel this, but i just didn't understand.
now i think i've composed myself. geez, i didn't realize that i needed to cry. writing has always had this odd way of both unleashing my protected emotions and comforting me in a way few (if any) people can.
and to think, i came here initially to bitch about my forgetfulness.
12/11/07 about 8pm on the RER to paris
yes, my trip was wonderful and i should be focusing on that right now, but i can't. i'm anxious from a whole day of traveling. i wasn't antsy until i sat on the plane from ams to cdg and realized i'd left my big coat in cph. of fucking course. and right as the first gusts of winter are sweeping through the city, too. i tried to reason to myself at first that i could do without it. then i realized that i'd be going to london on thursday (read: even colder) so i'll probably need to come up with a solution before then. i think i can find a coat for 40 euro or less at h&m, but that's 30 pounds i'd rather spend on souvenirs. then again, i have kind of wanted another coat...they have some really cute ones. meh.
i spent the plane ride half bothered by my dumb forgetfulness. the other half of me was focused on one of the most striking sunsets i've ever seen. from above the clouds, i could see the sun seep across the sky, both vertically and horizontally. the blood red orange led to a baby blue, which gave way to the deepest black. it happened to the left and the right, as well as overhead. i stared at it for about 15 minutes (meh, it was prob less), in utter awe of the most beautiful thing i'd seen all weekend.
i also just wanted to call mom and have her see it, too. i wanted to make her come look the same way she makes us come look at the sunset in san clemente.
now i'm crying on the RER, all by myself. sometimes how much i miss my family and friends surprises me. it's got incredibly force and it lurches on me so unexpectedly.
i've been so hard at work ignoring how much i miss home because i don't want to let it cloud my time here. i've only got four months, and even 1 day wasted on pining for home is too much.
but, as much as i might deny it, i miss the crap out of my family. i've never wanted to hug them so much.
i don't want to try to reflect on how i've changed and become more emotional on this trip. i just want to sit here in this bizarre mixture of desperate sadness and extreme joy. nobody really explained that i'd have this emotion. then again, i'm sort of glad for that. this emotional state is hard to explain, anyhow. heck, maybe someone DID explain to me that i'd feel this, but i just didn't understand.
now i think i've composed myself. geez, i didn't realize that i needed to cry. writing has always had this odd way of both unleashing my protected emotions and comforting me in a way few (if any) people can.
and to think, i came here initially to bitch about my forgetfulness.
13 November, 2007
i killed one.
that last blog was fun, wasn't it? i think my personality is a bit different on paper than it is virtually. anyway, on to more stories.
i arrived in cph friday night. venz met me at the airport and we headed on denmark's brand new metro to his house. (side note: every time i see another city's metro system, i scoff at it, then show my other worldy friends my impressive paris metro map. ha, take that) we ate a home cooked meal, caught up, and gossiped about sb people. gosh, i've missed that. i missed hanging out with venz in general. he used to be around so much, and i guess i didnt really realize how much i'd grown accustomed to having him be physically there to talk to.
saturday morning we woke up and headed to venz's summer house in a city i can't spell or even remember. we met up with venz's cousin alex and venz's dad's cousin and his wife (holgard and eva...venz, correct me on the spelling of their names). we drove out about 100 km i think and when we finally got there, we started driving down this dirt road, through a forest with sunlight streaming through the top and tiny cottages peeking from behind the trees. it was incredibly quaint and picturesque...in fact, that's how i can describe my whole day at the summer house. eva and holgard brought us into their home (of course it was all wooden inside), gave us warm socks and lit the fire to keep us warm. we went into the little town with shops, filled with people doing their saturday shopping (but, then again, this is still a small town, so "filled" doesn't mean tons).
we headed back, but this time went to venz's house. the place looks like nobody has replaced the stuff in there since the 70s, just added things since then--in a good way. it reminds me of the beach house in san clemente. in the summer house, there were tons of old books/comics and old games. we played a round of scrabble (i pwnd, duh) and hung around the house for a couple hours, but because we had no heat there, we headed back to eva and holgard's place pretty quickly. we made the windiest, coldest trek back toward their house and rejoiced in the heat the fire gave us. at dinner, we chatted easily, and alex, venz, eva and holgard eventually fell into talking about family gossipy stuff. i loved this, but i don't know if it's because i miss it in my family, or because i never REALLY had it (my family is small and not incredibly close...but this doesn't mean i'm complaining). either way, i was so content to be listening to stories by the fire, laughing at holgard's story of killing a poisonous viper (you have to understand, this guy is a quiet, incredibly respectful, wouldn't-kill-a-mouse type guy...and then, we're talking about vipers, and he just unemotionally states, "i killed one. it should have been three.") and just basking in the comfort of a borrowed family.
alex, venz and i headed back to cph around 8 pm, sharing christmas beers and stories about being kids. we went out and got ice cream once we got back (yeah, in the FREEZING cold..but it was delicious and so worth it), wandered around with venz's friends for a little while, then went back to venz's room. venz and i cuddled and fell asleep together. HA jk. he wishes.
sunday was our decidedly tourist day. we borrowed a bike from venz's friend and hit the streets (geez, it was freaking cold). we ate at a bakery and headed to christiania. i was fascinated and kept asking venz questions, which i'm sure he got annoyed with but was patient with me anyway. it seems like a funky place to visit, but i'd never want to live there. i'd always feel dirty.
then we biked over to new haven (er, nyhavyn, or some danish spelling). again, picturesque. the colors on the buildings were vivid and a welcome contrast to the gray parisian buildings i'm used to.
then i saw one of the top ten most awesome things ever: a drawbridge going up. we saw that the guards were gonna clear the bridge to pull it up. "you wanna watch?" venz asked. duh. what used to be a flat street across the water began to tilt up and up, the angle getting larger and larger. we were in awe. it was like two kids seeing a magic show for the first time.
after they put the bridge back, we continued on to less awesome but still great things. we saw the changing of the guards and the opera house, then biked out to the little mermaid. this is one of the things copenhagen is most famous for. hans christian andersen lived there, so this mermaid is a sort of memorial for him. WELL IT WAS DISAPPOINTING. we get there and it's just this mermaid, sitting lamely on a bland rock, staring in the water, not even looking particularly pretty or pensive. she was small, too--maybe half to three quarters of the size of me. venz warned me it would be lame like this, but i guess i just didn't believe him.
anyway, that mermaid really made me want to drink beer, so we went to the carlsburg brewery. jk...i mean, about the mermaid making me want beer. we'd planned to go to carlsburg all along. the danes love their beer and i understand why--it's an effective way to keep warm in these FREEZING months. after we wandered through the factory and saw the HUGEST beer bottle collection in the world (and explained edward forty hands to non-americans...lol that's a silly game we have, isn't it?), we enjoyed a couple beers--including the christmas brew--and headed back to venz's dorm so he could cook dinner for his hall (mmmmm fajitas). we returned the bike to his friend first and once we stepped outside her apartment, we saw it: SNOW!!!!!
it was freaking snowing. i didnt believe it at first. it must just be hail, or weird looking rain, i reasoned. i couldn't be so lucky to have snow on this trip, too. but i opened my mouth and tested it and, by gosh, it was snow. i started squealing and jumping around and generally freaking out. venz was getting into the spirit a bit, too, but he was also all complainy about it ("how much more of this am i gonna have?")...lol. silly venz.
we spent the rest of the night looking outside and saying, "look! it's still snowing." we got warm and dry and spent a long time just talking. i loved hanging out with venz because it made me realize what stupendous friends i've made in sb :-)
monday, we went to the airport fairly early so i could shop around the "largest airport mall in europe" supposedly (or so said the signs inside the shopping area in the cph airport). my flight got off without a hitch, and i was in the air, headed for amsterdam.
i had a three hour layover there, and i was so the opposite of mad about that. i wandered around the christmasy shops for the first hour and a half, then grabbed myself a gingerbread latte and settled into a new book (nicholas sparks' three weeks with my brother). it was three of the most enjoyable, most relaxing hours i've had in a while. really, i don't know why people complain about flying so much. i think it's just wonderful.
i arrived in cph friday night. venz met me at the airport and we headed on denmark's brand new metro to his house. (side note: every time i see another city's metro system, i scoff at it, then show my other worldy friends my impressive paris metro map. ha, take that) we ate a home cooked meal, caught up, and gossiped about sb people. gosh, i've missed that. i missed hanging out with venz in general. he used to be around so much, and i guess i didnt really realize how much i'd grown accustomed to having him be physically there to talk to.
saturday morning we woke up and headed to venz's summer house in a city i can't spell or even remember. we met up with venz's cousin alex and venz's dad's cousin and his wife (holgard and eva...venz, correct me on the spelling of their names). we drove out about 100 km i think and when we finally got there, we started driving down this dirt road, through a forest with sunlight streaming through the top and tiny cottages peeking from behind the trees. it was incredibly quaint and picturesque...in fact, that's how i can describe my whole day at the summer house. eva and holgard brought us into their home (of course it was all wooden inside), gave us warm socks and lit the fire to keep us warm. we went into the little town with shops, filled with people doing their saturday shopping (but, then again, this is still a small town, so "filled" doesn't mean tons).
we headed back, but this time went to venz's house. the place looks like nobody has replaced the stuff in there since the 70s, just added things since then--in a good way. it reminds me of the beach house in san clemente. in the summer house, there were tons of old books/comics and old games. we played a round of scrabble (i pwnd, duh) and hung around the house for a couple hours, but because we had no heat there, we headed back to eva and holgard's place pretty quickly. we made the windiest, coldest trek back toward their house and rejoiced in the heat the fire gave us. at dinner, we chatted easily, and alex, venz, eva and holgard eventually fell into talking about family gossipy stuff. i loved this, but i don't know if it's because i miss it in my family, or because i never REALLY had it (my family is small and not incredibly close...but this doesn't mean i'm complaining). either way, i was so content to be listening to stories by the fire, laughing at holgard's story of killing a poisonous viper (you have to understand, this guy is a quiet, incredibly respectful, wouldn't-kill-a-mouse type guy...and then, we're talking about vipers, and he just unemotionally states, "i killed one. it should have been three.") and just basking in the comfort of a borrowed family.
alex, venz and i headed back to cph around 8 pm, sharing christmas beers and stories about being kids. we went out and got ice cream once we got back (yeah, in the FREEZING cold..but it was delicious and so worth it), wandered around with venz's friends for a little while, then went back to venz's room. venz and i cuddled and fell asleep together. HA jk. he wishes.
sunday was our decidedly tourist day. we borrowed a bike from venz's friend and hit the streets (geez, it was freaking cold). we ate at a bakery and headed to christiania. i was fascinated and kept asking venz questions, which i'm sure he got annoyed with but was patient with me anyway. it seems like a funky place to visit, but i'd never want to live there. i'd always feel dirty.
then we biked over to new haven (er, nyhavyn, or some danish spelling). again, picturesque. the colors on the buildings were vivid and a welcome contrast to the gray parisian buildings i'm used to.
then i saw one of the top ten most awesome things ever: a drawbridge going up. we saw that the guards were gonna clear the bridge to pull it up. "you wanna watch?" venz asked. duh. what used to be a flat street across the water began to tilt up and up, the angle getting larger and larger. we were in awe. it was like two kids seeing a magic show for the first time. after they put the bridge back, we continued on to less awesome but still great things. we saw the changing of the guards and the opera house, then biked out to the little mermaid. this is one of the things copenhagen is most famous for. hans christian andersen lived there, so this mermaid is a sort of memorial for him. WELL IT WAS DISAPPOINTING. we get there and it's just this mermaid, sitting lamely on a bland rock, staring in the water, not even looking particularly pretty or pensive. she was small, too--maybe half to three quarters of the size of me. venz warned me it would be lame like this, but i guess i just didn't believe him.
anyway, that mermaid really made me want to drink beer, so we went to the carlsburg brewery. jk...i mean, about the mermaid making me want beer. we'd planned to go to carlsburg all along. the danes love their beer and i understand why--it's an effective way to keep warm in these FREEZING months. after we wandered through the factory and saw the HUGEST beer bottle collection in the world (and explained edward forty hands to non-americans...lol that's a silly game we have, isn't it?), we enjoyed a couple beers--including the christmas brew--and headed back to venz's dorm so he could cook dinner for his hall (mmmmm fajitas). we returned the bike to his friend first and once we stepped outside her apartment, we saw it: SNOW!!!!!
it was freaking snowing. i didnt believe it at first. it must just be hail, or weird looking rain, i reasoned. i couldn't be so lucky to have snow on this trip, too. but i opened my mouth and tested it and, by gosh, it was snow. i started squealing and jumping around and generally freaking out. venz was getting into the spirit a bit, too, but he was also all complainy about it ("how much more of this am i gonna have?")...lol. silly venz.
we spent the rest of the night looking outside and saying, "look! it's still snowing." we got warm and dry and spent a long time just talking. i loved hanging out with venz because it made me realize what stupendous friends i've made in sb :-)
monday, we went to the airport fairly early so i could shop around the "largest airport mall in europe" supposedly (or so said the signs inside the shopping area in the cph airport). my flight got off without a hitch, and i was in the air, headed for amsterdam.
i had a three hour layover there, and i was so the opposite of mad about that. i wandered around the christmasy shops for the first hour and a half, then grabbed myself a gingerbread latte and settled into a new book (nicholas sparks' three weeks with my brother). it was three of the most enjoyable, most relaxing hours i've had in a while. really, i don't know why people complain about flying so much. i think it's just wonderful.
bloggy blog, i missed you!
i haven't written since nov 8, blogger tells me. don't worry, though, i've been thinking of you the whole time :-) actually, i wrote in my notebook on my trip to copenhagen and on the way home to paris as well. i think i'll type that here first, then fill you in on the weekend stuff.
9/11/07 at the airport in amsterdam
the amsterdam airport is dressed up for christmas! this makes me so giddy and happy. when i walked out of hte plane and saw the christmas lights, i lit up myself and i think i let out a gasp of joy. i had to bite my lip to keep my smile from taking over my whole face.
a few exceptional christmas songs slipped curiously on to my ipod without my knowing. i suspect that mr saint nick himself had something to do with this (or that tricky mal...). either way, i'm SO happy that elvis is singing blue christmas into my ears right now and amsterdam xmas lights are hanging all around.
this airport won't be a bad place spend 3 hours on my way home :-)
p.s. starbucks gingerbread lattes are here! one on the way home will be delightful.
9/11/07 on the plane to copenhagen
"the weather in copenhagen is a little more uhhhh...colder, a little more windier and a little more wetter." LOL. thanks, flight announcer. i like this guy. this trip (although delayed) has already begun quite splendidly.
9/11/07 about halfway through the flight
this flight could not get any better. first i finished my book (mary higgins clark mystery, so it put me on edge and gave me an adrenaline rush). then, the next time i looked up, i saw that friends was on the screen. NO WAY! it was the one where they try to name all 50 states on thanksgiving.
shortly after the beginning part of the episode, dinner came around. a funny flight attendant offered me my choice of sandwiches and another flight attendant asked me what i wanted to drink. i kicked myself for not ordering wine earlier (come on, i'm on vacation! i should gotten my mini bottle of wine. but, i'm still under the impression that i'm too young for that. drinking is sitll illegal to me), so i asked for white wine this time.
so i LOLed at friends, enjoyed my bacon and egg sandwich and got a little tipsy on free wine. this whole trip is worth it if just for the flight.
9/11/07 at the airport in amsterdam
the amsterdam airport is dressed up for christmas! this makes me so giddy and happy. when i walked out of hte plane and saw the christmas lights, i lit up myself and i think i let out a gasp of joy. i had to bite my lip to keep my smile from taking over my whole face.
a few exceptional christmas songs slipped curiously on to my ipod without my knowing. i suspect that mr saint nick himself had something to do with this (or that tricky mal...). either way, i'm SO happy that elvis is singing blue christmas into my ears right now and amsterdam xmas lights are hanging all around.
this airport won't be a bad place spend 3 hours on my way home :-)
p.s. starbucks gingerbread lattes are here! one on the way home will be delightful.
9/11/07 on the plane to copenhagen
"the weather in copenhagen is a little more uhhhh...colder, a little more windier and a little more wetter." LOL. thanks, flight announcer. i like this guy. this trip (although delayed) has already begun quite splendidly.
9/11/07 about halfway through the flight
this flight could not get any better. first i finished my book (mary higgins clark mystery, so it put me on edge and gave me an adrenaline rush). then, the next time i looked up, i saw that friends was on the screen. NO WAY! it was the one where they try to name all 50 states on thanksgiving.
shortly after the beginning part of the episode, dinner came around. a funny flight attendant offered me my choice of sandwiches and another flight attendant asked me what i wanted to drink. i kicked myself for not ordering wine earlier (come on, i'm on vacation! i should gotten my mini bottle of wine. but, i'm still under the impression that i'm too young for that. drinking is sitll illegal to me), so i asked for white wine this time.
so i LOLed at friends, enjoyed my bacon and egg sandwich and got a little tipsy on free wine. this whole trip is worth it if just for the flight.
08 November, 2007
the rome blogs: day five
AH FREAKING FINALLY. the last day (well, last full day. the last day i'll dedicate an entire blog to, anyway).
since we had already seen all of rome (okay, not all of it, but everything we wanted to see), we decided to head out to lake bracciano on sunday. lucky for us, it was a clear, sunny day, so it made for a perfect day to get out and enjoy the countryside. gosh, was it gorgeous. you remember how, last time, i said i dont really get/like art? i think it's because i've been raised to appreciate natural beauty. the arnold family likes to go camping a lot, and we've seen tons of breathtaking sights, pristine lakes and vast forests. man made art is nice, but it pales in comparison to the things mother nature put together.
bracciano is a relatively small town and it was a welcome break from big city life. we went to the grocery store to buy some bread/cheese/snacks to eat by the lake. we started walking down the big hill and BAM that's when we saw it. this was no small lake...it was like half the size of tahoe (well, actually, i just wikipediaed that, and it's only about a third of the size...whatever). the view was phenomenal. we walked about a mile downhill and found a nice spot on a dock on the lake. we took our shoes off (except for mal...that rebel) and ate a long, slow lunch. once we were finished, we just sat there, soaking up the warm sun. because we're all santa barbarians, we've missed our sun. sitting on that dock was therapeutic.
after lunch, we walked back up the hill to a huge castle (if you follow celeb gossip, it's the one tomkat got married in). we had to pay to get in, so we decided to pass on that and get gelato instead (duh). this time i got peach+strawberry+pine nut. EFFING DELICIOUS. the way they make their fruit gelatos in italy makes it seem like you're actually eating that fruit...the apple has the texture/taste of a real apple being chewed in your mouth, and the banana taste like the creamy goodness of a banana. mmmmmmmm.
once we got back to rome, we returned to our fave italian restaurant to finish the trip off right (well, first we walked around for an unnecessary 45 minutes before we made a decision...but that made the food taste that much better). i got a pasta with shrimp and some sort of shellfish with its eyes still in tact. looked gross, tasted (expectedly) grand. we ordered a glass of wine, shared first kiss stories (which can get horribly embarrassing, but is SO much fun), and simply enjoyed the long meal. oh, service in italy blows. every meal we had took about two hours. in the usa, you get in and you get out and you get on your way. none of this dilly dallying and "talking" with your friends at dinner. the waiters want to get you out, too, so they can seat another table and get more money. in italy, they don't really care to get your order in a timely manner, or bring out all your plates at once, or even bring you your check till you ask for it. i enjoyed the forced slow meals on vacation, but i'd imagine that it would get tiresome if i lived there.
because our bellies were only halfway happy, we needed to satisfy them fully with another (final) gelato. back to (where else) frigidarium. do i get old favorites? or keep trying new flavors? AH THE CHOICES!! i went for a mix, but mostly safe flavors: raspberry + cinnamon + crema paradisio (which was really just that vanilla with berry sauce stuff mixed in).
gelato, i miss you so damn much.
we went back to the hostel for one more wonderful sleep. we woke up early the next morning to catch our flight and went through an awfully slow check in/security (seriously, it was so ineffective that an old guy in front of us yelled at the check in girls). i should've expected a slow airport, though...it was italy. they're not known for their quick customer service, as i found out at meals. but anyway, we made it on the plane and were headed back home, to paris (still weird to call it that). it was such a relief to return to a place where i can speak the language (if poorly) and i know how to get around. i felt so empowered when i returned, and like i really owned the city.
but...i miss italy! the italian people were really nice and talkative. i was chatting with one guy and he was like, "so, where are you from?" i tell him california, and he goes, "ohhh, baywatch!" yeah, that's it. oh, and i love the language...italians always sound enthusiastic when they talk. maybe it's because their language is louder and more pronounced, or because they talk with their hands...either way, i found myself really wanting to speak italian just to join in on the fun convos. overall, i loved rome..yes, a little dirtier than paris, but wonderful all the same. i'd go back if only for the gelato :-)
now i'm off to copenhagen to visit venz! why i'm doing that, i dunno...venz totally sucks. lol jk. this means i probably won't write till i get home on monday, so you wont have any paris updates for a while. oh, except this one...the city is slowly turning into christmas. the stores are getting there snowmen and santa claus figurines in stock and stores are starting to carry christmas chocolates and advent calendars. YESSSSS.
since we had already seen all of rome (okay, not all of it, but everything we wanted to see), we decided to head out to lake bracciano on sunday. lucky for us, it was a clear, sunny day, so it made for a perfect day to get out and enjoy the countryside. gosh, was it gorgeous. you remember how, last time, i said i dont really get/like art? i think it's because i've been raised to appreciate natural beauty. the arnold family likes to go camping a lot, and we've seen tons of breathtaking sights, pristine lakes and vast forests. man made art is nice, but it pales in comparison to the things mother nature put together.
bracciano is a relatively small town and it was a welcome break from big city life. we went to the grocery store to buy some bread/cheese/snacks to eat by the lake. we started walking down the big hill and BAM that's when we saw it. this was no small lake...it was like half the size of tahoe (well, actually, i just wikipediaed that, and it's only about a third of the size...whatever). the view was phenomenal. we walked about a mile downhill and found a nice spot on a dock on the lake. we took our shoes off (except for mal...that rebel) and ate a long, slow lunch. once we were finished, we just sat there, soaking up the warm sun. because we're all santa barbarians, we've missed our sun. sitting on that dock was therapeutic.
after lunch, we walked back up the hill to a huge castle (if you follow celeb gossip, it's the one tomkat got married in). we had to pay to get in, so we decided to pass on that and get gelato instead (duh). this time i got peach+strawberry+pine nut. EFFING DELICIOUS. the way they make their fruit gelatos in italy makes it seem like you're actually eating that fruit...the apple has the texture/taste of a real apple being chewed in your mouth, and the banana taste like the creamy goodness of a banana. mmmmmmmm.
once we got back to rome, we returned to our fave italian restaurant to finish the trip off right (well, first we walked around for an unnecessary 45 minutes before we made a decision...but that made the food taste that much better). i got a pasta with shrimp and some sort of shellfish with its eyes still in tact. looked gross, tasted (expectedly) grand. we ordered a glass of wine, shared first kiss stories (which can get horribly embarrassing, but is SO much fun), and simply enjoyed the long meal. oh, service in italy blows. every meal we had took about two hours. in the usa, you get in and you get out and you get on your way. none of this dilly dallying and "talking" with your friends at dinner. the waiters want to get you out, too, so they can seat another table and get more money. in italy, they don't really care to get your order in a timely manner, or bring out all your plates at once, or even bring you your check till you ask for it. i enjoyed the forced slow meals on vacation, but i'd imagine that it would get tiresome if i lived there.
because our bellies were only halfway happy, we needed to satisfy them fully with another (final) gelato. back to (where else) frigidarium. do i get old favorites? or keep trying new flavors? AH THE CHOICES!! i went for a mix, but mostly safe flavors: raspberry + cinnamon + crema paradisio (which was really just that vanilla with berry sauce stuff mixed in).
gelato, i miss you so damn much.we went back to the hostel for one more wonderful sleep. we woke up early the next morning to catch our flight and went through an awfully slow check in/security (seriously, it was so ineffective that an old guy in front of us yelled at the check in girls). i should've expected a slow airport, though...it was italy. they're not known for their quick customer service, as i found out at meals. but anyway, we made it on the plane and were headed back home, to paris (still weird to call it that). it was such a relief to return to a place where i can speak the language (if poorly) and i know how to get around. i felt so empowered when i returned, and like i really owned the city.
but...i miss italy! the italian people were really nice and talkative. i was chatting with one guy and he was like, "so, where are you from?" i tell him california, and he goes, "ohhh, baywatch!" yeah, that's it. oh, and i love the language...italians always sound enthusiastic when they talk. maybe it's because their language is louder and more pronounced, or because they talk with their hands...either way, i found myself really wanting to speak italian just to join in on the fun convos. overall, i loved rome..yes, a little dirtier than paris, but wonderful all the same. i'd go back if only for the gelato :-)
now i'm off to copenhagen to visit venz! why i'm doing that, i dunno...venz totally sucks. lol jk. this means i probably won't write till i get home on monday, so you wont have any paris updates for a while. oh, except this one...the city is slowly turning into christmas. the stores are getting there snowmen and santa claus figurines in stock and stores are starting to carry christmas chocolates and advent calendars. YESSSSS.
the rome blogs: day four
saturday morning we woke up REAL early (i'm talking before 7 am) to get in line at the vatican museum. we weren't effing around...we were gonna get in. so we were in line by probably 7:45 and then we waited. to pass the time, we played dumb games like bubblegum, bubblegum in a dish (which is surprisingly fun) and big booty. we got loud and really into it, and people started staring...awk.
once we finally got in, we did some more waiting to buy tickets, then we finally got in to get ourselves a shot (and then two or three more shots) of culture. okay, i'm gonna be honest and really ignorant here: i don't get a lot of art. that painting looks just like that one i saw 20 minutes ago, and this sculpture is almost literally a replica of the one i saw in that other museum. yeah, yeah, i know i could "learn" or some crap like that, but this art history stuff just isn't the kind of stuff i dig (i prefer dirt...ha...dig..get it?). yes, the paintings are magnificent and many of the sculptures are flawless. i can appreciate that. what i mostly think about when i look at art is how long the artist worked on that...his whole entire life goal was carving that ab so that it looked JUST like a real ab. that takes a sort of dedication that i haven't had since...gosh, never.
anyway, i had a fun time looking at the pretty pictures, but then i was ready to get to the big boy--the sistine chapel. it was awesome, because they had signs for tourists like me, pointing right to the sistine chapel. but here's the thing: IT WAS MILES AWAY. there would be a sign pointing to the chapel with an arrow...and then you had to walk for like another hour. we walked into like three other hallways that SHOULD have been the sistine, but weren't. we kept going, "janettttt are we there yet?" ahhhh and then finally, we turned a corner, and there she was. i could tell not because of the paintings, but because of the throngs of people and yelling guards. apparently, you're not allowed to take pictures in there, but everyone does anyway. in a desperate attempt to stop everyone, the guards shouted, "NO PHOTO! NO PHOTO!" obviously, that didn't work (helloooo i need proof that i was here and thus am cultured), so at one point, one of the guards got on the top of the steps and screams, "BE QUIET! NO PHOTOS PLEASE!!!!!" everyone kind of shut up and put their cameras away...for like a minute. don't worry, i totally got a picture.
i know, i'm a badass.
we met up outside the exit, but lost mike along the way. then we left cuz we were freaking starving (sorry mike!...but in our defense, he had other things he had to go see and do that weren't on our itinerary). for some reason, i was feeling particularly adventurous on saturday, so i went out on a limb and tried (get this) ANCHOVIES on my pasta. a little bizarre, but i actually liked it. it was a salty, pretty strong taste, but not bad. oh, know what sucks in italy? you have to pay for the water. but the food is cheaper than in paris, so i guess it works out.
back to frigidarium for more gelato. still feeling like taking a chance on my food, i got a fig/nut and rum gelato. it was my least favorite combo, but two...interesting...flavors nonetheless. after enjoying frozen heaven we dashed down to the forum, which was one of the things i was most looking forward to in rome. the sun was shining down just right so it gave the whole place this shimmering glow, and made for beautiful pictures
after staring at roman ruins for a good while, we meandered through the forum area a big and went into some museum, which i forget the name of now (maddy? mal? you remember?). tired from a full day, we went back to the hostel for a quality nap.
oh, god, i forgot to tell you guys about our other roommates. one time, when we came home, this one girl was asleep. that wouldn't have been weird, except for the fact that it was only 11:30 pm. we were sick of fumbling through our suitcases with the lights off, so we flicked the switch on. besides, it was four to one, so we could probably take her. she made these pissy, exaggerated sighing noises and dramatically covered her face with her blanket. oh, whatever, you paid for the 8 person room, cheapo. this is what you get. she was pretty cold to us the whole time, always looking slightly pissed when we came in and never asking how our trip was. we found out later that she was french. figures.
but on saturday, two really nice french guys came in to our room, and we had a good time chatting with them. see, not everybody fits the stereotype. i like hostels for meeting people. even if i do have to change in a wet bathroom and i can't read before bed...so what?
okay, back to the story. after some naps on the quality hostel alessandro downtown beds, we went out to dinner by piazza nuovo. we splurged on a bottle of white wine with this dinner :-P (btw, it's still weird to me that i can order drinks. i'm not mature enough for that). i had...uhm..oh, no, i forgot what i ate! NO WAIT i remember. gnocchi...ohhh, how could i forget! that was squishy and weird, but delicieux all the same. it's italian food...it can't be bad. like pizza and ice cream, there are no bad flavors. oh, it's because those are italian things...
nevermind my brain spew. we walked over by st peter's to see the place at night (gorgeous) and then we walked back down to see the trevi, because "they" said it was even more phenomenal at night. well, the elusive and ever-reliable "they" were right again.
we bought our souvenirs and took the metro home...er, to hostel alessandro downtown (really, it was a good hostel. i recommend it). after a great conversation with james (what do you think about california? "cool" what do you think about bush? "toilet paper"), we crawled under the sheets and fell into a deep roman sleep :-)
once we finally got in, we did some more waiting to buy tickets, then we finally got in to get ourselves a shot (and then two or three more shots) of culture. okay, i'm gonna be honest and really ignorant here: i don't get a lot of art. that painting looks just like that one i saw 20 minutes ago, and this sculpture is almost literally a replica of the one i saw in that other museum. yeah, yeah, i know i could "learn" or some crap like that, but this art history stuff just isn't the kind of stuff i dig (i prefer dirt...ha...dig..get it?). yes, the paintings are magnificent and many of the sculptures are flawless. i can appreciate that. what i mostly think about when i look at art is how long the artist worked on that...his whole entire life goal was carving that ab so that it looked JUST like a real ab. that takes a sort of dedication that i haven't had since...gosh, never.
anyway, i had a fun time looking at the pretty pictures, but then i was ready to get to the big boy--the sistine chapel. it was awesome, because they had signs for tourists like me, pointing right to the sistine chapel. but here's the thing: IT WAS MILES AWAY. there would be a sign pointing to the chapel with an arrow...and then you had to walk for like another hour. we walked into like three other hallways that SHOULD have been the sistine, but weren't. we kept going, "janettttt are we there yet?" ahhhh and then finally, we turned a corner, and there she was. i could tell not because of the paintings, but because of the throngs of people and yelling guards. apparently, you're not allowed to take pictures in there, but everyone does anyway. in a desperate attempt to stop everyone, the guards shouted, "NO PHOTO! NO PHOTO!" obviously, that didn't work (helloooo i need proof that i was here and thus am cultured), so at one point, one of the guards got on the top of the steps and screams, "BE QUIET! NO PHOTOS PLEASE!!!!!" everyone kind of shut up and put their cameras away...for like a minute. don't worry, i totally got a picture.
i know, i'm a badass. we met up outside the exit, but lost mike along the way. then we left cuz we were freaking starving (sorry mike!...but in our defense, he had other things he had to go see and do that weren't on our itinerary). for some reason, i was feeling particularly adventurous on saturday, so i went out on a limb and tried (get this) ANCHOVIES on my pasta. a little bizarre, but i actually liked it. it was a salty, pretty strong taste, but not bad. oh, know what sucks in italy? you have to pay for the water. but the food is cheaper than in paris, so i guess it works out.
back to frigidarium for more gelato. still feeling like taking a chance on my food, i got a fig/nut and rum gelato. it was my least favorite combo, but two...interesting...flavors nonetheless. after enjoying frozen heaven we dashed down to the forum, which was one of the things i was most looking forward to in rome. the sun was shining down just right so it gave the whole place this shimmering glow, and made for beautiful pictures
after staring at roman ruins for a good while, we meandered through the forum area a big and went into some museum, which i forget the name of now (maddy? mal? you remember?). tired from a full day, we went back to the hostel for a quality nap.
oh, god, i forgot to tell you guys about our other roommates. one time, when we came home, this one girl was asleep. that wouldn't have been weird, except for the fact that it was only 11:30 pm. we were sick of fumbling through our suitcases with the lights off, so we flicked the switch on. besides, it was four to one, so we could probably take her. she made these pissy, exaggerated sighing noises and dramatically covered her face with her blanket. oh, whatever, you paid for the 8 person room, cheapo. this is what you get. she was pretty cold to us the whole time, always looking slightly pissed when we came in and never asking how our trip was. we found out later that she was french. figures.
but on saturday, two really nice french guys came in to our room, and we had a good time chatting with them. see, not everybody fits the stereotype. i like hostels for meeting people. even if i do have to change in a wet bathroom and i can't read before bed...so what?
okay, back to the story. after some naps on the quality hostel alessandro downtown beds, we went out to dinner by piazza nuovo. we splurged on a bottle of white wine with this dinner :-P (btw, it's still weird to me that i can order drinks. i'm not mature enough for that). i had...uhm..oh, no, i forgot what i ate! NO WAIT i remember. gnocchi...ohhh, how could i forget! that was squishy and weird, but delicieux all the same. it's italian food...it can't be bad. like pizza and ice cream, there are no bad flavors. oh, it's because those are italian things...
nevermind my brain spew. we walked over by st peter's to see the place at night (gorgeous) and then we walked back down to see the trevi, because "they" said it was even more phenomenal at night. well, the elusive and ever-reliable "they" were right again.
we bought our souvenirs and took the metro home...er, to hostel alessandro downtown (really, it was a good hostel. i recommend it). after a great conversation with james (what do you think about california? "cool" what do you think about bush? "toilet paper"), we crawled under the sheets and fell into a deep roman sleep :-)
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