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[22 Jun 2008|10:41pm] |
I have officially left Lyon. My parents came on June 15th, I packed all of my things into a billion suitcases, we got into our car, and drove away on the 17th. I was so sad but I am so excited to see home too. Unfortunately (and also fortunately), that won't be happening for another couple of weeks. We are travelling around France until July 5th when I actually climb onto a plane and head back to the mother country.
For now, I will not be discussing that trip though. What I AM doing is catching up on my blogging that I have been so horribly procrastinating. I still have yet to post about 3 of my major trips, one small one, and all the little stuff in between so first...Morocco.
There are sooooo many pictures and soooo much to talk about that I decided instead of writing a really long post then showing pictures, I'll just describe my trip using the pictures at the same time. The first thing I do have to say, though, is that this was, by far, the most amazing trip I went on all year and one of the most amazing trips I've been on in my lifetime. I've been to Africa before (Egypt) but it really didn't even compare to the geography and culture of Morocco. The people were scary yet amazing. The terrain was so beautiful and incredibly diverse. The history and culture was so bizarre yet incredible. And the three girls I was with made the trip unbeatable. I've never had such an amazing time.
Ok enough gushing, on to the pictures.
( Begin the embarassingly large amount of pictures. )
Wow....longest post EVERRRRRRRRR. Ok next is Rome, then Dordogne roadtrip, then various events in Lyon. Geez. I'm the worst procrastinator ever.
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(6) disguises | dress up)
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[02 Jun 2008|11:15pm] |
We are trying to sell an apartment with a mouse in the pantry. We named him Jacob.
Today I got offered weed by a guy smoking in the laundromat that wasn't even washing laundry.
I go to Amsterdam again in 2 days and I couldn't be more excited.
I leave in two weeks!!!! So, so, so sad yet excited.
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(3) disguises | dress up)
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[28 Apr 2008|12:33pm] |
It's getting fairly close to my homecoming. Only two more months. I start my summer classes only 2 days after I get home. I'm really excited about coming home but also really nervous. I'm going to miss Lyon and all of my friends here SO much. I'm so afraid that I'm going to get back to Charlotte and no one's really going to know or care that I'm there and I'll just be a loner in my parents house. I'm also really afraid that I'm going to get back into my same habits and mindset that I had when I was living in Charlotte. I don't want that. I want to be much more focused on school and work. I want to avoid all the drama that used to be such a big part of my life. I want to really enjoy my year back in Charlotte and really feel SAD when I leave again.
Everyone I've talked to has said that coming home from abroad is MUCH more difficult to deal with than going abroad originally. I just hope that knowing this can help me prepare.
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(12) disguises | dress up)
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[07 Mar 2008|01:00pm] |
My sister comes to Lyon.....bearing gifts!!!!
Entry about Morocco VERY soon.
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(9) disguises | dress up)
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[20 Feb 2008|12:44pm] |
Last night I was sitting outside of a pub with my friends in Vieux Lyon and we were waiting for all the irishmen and scottsmen to leave so we could get a seat inside. They were all there for the soccer match that took place in Lyon last night. All of a sudden, we hear what sounds like 40 or so men yelling at the top of their lungs from down the road. Everyone outside just goes dead silent and looks in the direction that it's coming from. We were down a little road off of the main road so we couldn't see anything. Suddenly we hear this HUGE bang and then see 40 or 50 people running at full speed down the main street past us. Out of nowhere, we see these other men with batons (who were apparently plain-clothed cops) and they just start taking out the legs of random people in the crowd. This one man gets knocked down and as he's falling, rams his head into a parked car. Another woman gets trampled down. The crowd passed and immediately about 5 or 6 police cars pull up. So at this point, there were 3 or 4 people on the ground, 15 or 20 cops surrounding them or chasing the rest of the crowd, a woman laying on the sidewalk that no one had noticed yet, and about 5 drunken pub customers making their way down to watch. The man that ran into the car wasn't getting up and the woman had a bloody head. The ambulances were called, people were arrested, and pubs were closed.
It was insane. And all this over a semi-final game.
There's another game tonight but rest-assured, there will be cops SWARMING that area and most bars, restaurants, and pubs will be closed.
After all that last night, I hung out with some friends and we all went back to this guy's apartment who ended up being the owner of a really popular pub in Lyon where several of my friends work. He had this HUGE TV, about 1,000 DVDs, an iPod touch that wasn't even open yet (he says "Man...look what I got the other day. I don't even know what to do with it. Whatever." and throws the box down), shelves full of $200 whiskey, and an amazing kitchen where, at 4am, he cooks us mozzerella sticks and french fries in his deep frier, potato chips in the oven, meatballs, and the most amazing garlic bread I've ever had. This guy rules.
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(8) disguises | dress up)
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[05 Feb 2008|03:49pm] |
Happy Mardi Gras!!!!! All day long there have been parades down the street next to my apartment. All these little kids were dressed up in costumes. It was so cute.
French toast for dinner then off to Ayers Rock. Heck yeah!
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( dress up)
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[15 Jan 2008|08:51pm] |
I have so much to update about!!! I still haven't talked about my Christmas and New Years.
My holidays were full of setbacks, dishing out loads of money, illnesses, yet a ton of fun.
Venice:
On the 23rd, we headed to Paris to catch our plane from there to Venice. We went early so we could hang around Paris a little but our bags were so heavy so we ended up walking around for a few hours and then going to the bus stop and waiting there for another few hours. We had all seen Paris before so none of us were too gutted about that idea. We caught the bus to get to the Paris Beauvais airport which is an airport about an hour and a half outside of the city that was bought by ryanair specifically used for their own flights. REALLY REALLY tiny airport. We get our boarding passes, go into the terminal and sit there waiting. After we notice that our flight was supposed to leave 10 minutes ago, we start wondering what's going on. All of a sudden, they announce over the intercom that the flight was cancelled and that we need to go to the information desk to get a refund or another flight. An entire plane-full of people rushed to the desk and find out that there's not another flight straight to Venice till the 27th of December!!! That's the day that we were supposed to leave! This is when the pandomonium begins.
Being a group of American, New Zealand, and Australian students living in France, we were willing to stand in line and patiently wait for our turn. There were obviously many Italians trying to get back home and we had forgotten and yet, were quickly reminded that Italians will do anything in their power to get ahead of you in line. We were continuously being shoved forward when there wasn't even anywhere to go!!! We were actually next about 5 seperate times yet here comes another woman barging her way through. I swear...that was the point when I decided I would be able to live happily with myself if I murdered at least one of those people to set an example of what NOT to do in line.
After about an hour in line, we finally got to the woman and she told us there is a flight to Pisa the next day and we could get a train from there. Ok, whatever. Let's do it. We're not spending Christmas in Lyon. Since the airport was not open 24 hours, we then had to go find a hotel. Long story short, we found a cheap one, got dinner, and went to the airport the next morning. Got to Pisa, went to buy train tickets, and spent 40 euro each for a one way ticket to Venice. Finally...FINALLY got to Venice. It was Christmas Eve night. The hotel wouldn't remove the charge for the previous night even though our flight had been cancelled so I said whatever thinking I would deal with it when I checked out. We were starving but nothing was open so we went to a grocery store and got some sandwich material.
Next morning, Christmas day. I woke up feeling like it was just another day. Sad. :( Matthew gave me one of his presents. It was my stocking that he had secretly had my mom send to him months before. I was so surprised and so happy. It was a piece of home that I really missed. I had only ever mentioned my stocking once to him and he remembered. It meant so much to me. I also opened the gifts my mom had sent me which were great. It all definitely put me in a better mood.
We got a bus into Venice (because our hotel was actually on the mainland of Venice) and enjoyed the city without any tourists. We went to a symphony in a beautiful church and then got some Chinese food, haha. I had been feeling sick that whole day so after dinner, I was very ready to go back. We waited for the bus for about an hour and then found out that the buses didn't run so late on Christmas day. A fact that the inept woman at the hotel failed to mention to us. We paid for a taxi, got home, and I was sick the entire night. The next day, I was so sick that I just had to stay at the hotel the entire day. It was miserable. I told my mom and she said I should quickly go to the pharmacy and get some antibiotics. Those definitely helped and the next day I was feeling much better.
It was our last day but our plane didn't leave till really late so we spent the entire day in the city. It was definitely the best day of the trip. Well first, when I checked out of the hotel, I asked the new lady if we could get a refund for the day that we weren't here because of our cancelled flight. She said that if I had asked when we first got there, we wouldn't have been charged for that night. Uhhh....I DID!!! She said sorry but she can't give me a refund. Awesome. Anyway, in the city we took a gondola ride, ate pizza, went to the doge's palace, fed birds, and just walked around and enjoyed the sites. As much as I did like walking around Venice when it was devoid of tourists, I definitely do love the excitement of a crowded city. We got to the airport that night and then flew home to Paris. Jean and I were heading to Scotland the next day and Matthew was heading to the south of France to visit his old host family for New Years so we stayed at the cheap hotel again that night and then went our own ways the next morning.
Before I head into my next installment, I'll post pictures of Paris and Venice. ( Here )
Edinburgh:
Well first I went to Glasgow. Jean and I were spending a night there before Edinburgh. As soon as I got there, I knew I would love Scotland. Right outside the airport, there were rolling, grassy hills with cute little houses spotted all over the fields. We didn't know which bus to get into town and we asked this woman at the bus stop. Instead of just telling us, she rode with us all the way to where we needed to get off. This is just one example of how incredibly nice and helpful the Scots are. We got to the hostel and then got some dinner. The rest of the night, we played cards with people we met at the hostel. Some of the girls we met who were from Australia were actually going to Edinburgh for the Hogmanay festival so we got there numbers to meet up once we were all there.
The next day we got a bus to Edinburgh. The city is SO beautiful and since the festival was starting that day (the 29th), there were all these carnival rides and markets and tons of people milling around. We were supposed to be couchsurfing in Edinburgh. Couchsurfing.com is a site where you can network with people and ask people if they could host you at their homes while you're travelling. It's a great system for cheap travelling and meeting great people. The person we had asked to host us was actually goin to be out of town but his roommate would be there to let us in and give us keys and everything. We tried calling her all day and her phone was off because it kept going to her voicemail. We called the guy and he said he didn't know what was going on because she had been in France visiting her family but she should've been home by now. He said we could stay with his mom that night instead. By the time we got this situated, it was getting dark and we were waiting for the torchlight procession to begin so we headed to a pub to pass the time. We ended up meeting a really cool American couple and talked to them for a couple hours. Then we took our massive candles that we had bought and got in line for the procession. There were about 12,000 people holding lit candles, vikings, and bagpipe players walking from one side of the city to the other. It ended on top of a hill with old roman ruins and there was a viking ship being burned and a bunch of vikings standing around it with torches. They set off some fireworks and then that was it. We were lucky to be in the front of the line because by the time that was over, only about half of the line of people had made it to the hill. The amount of people was HUGE!
After the procession, Jean, the couple, and I found another pub. We were drinking a few beers, talking to some Scottish people, and all of a sudden the huge group of vikings walked in. We started talking to them and found out that they were from the Shetland islands which has a huge history with Norway. Each of the guys made every single article of viking clothing they were wearing including the sheepskin boots, helmets, shields, swords, and axes. We talked to them for a few hours and then the pub was closing (for a lesbian party, haha. Odd.) and the vikings invited us to head with them to another pub. After a while, they all decided to go back to their hotel room and invited us so we ended up partying with vikings till about 6am. We got a few hours sleep and then headed out on the town. That was our first place of lodging in Edinburgh.
The next day, we just walked around and saw some sites. We still didn't have a place to put all our luggage (it had been sitting in a bus station locker since the day before) so we tried calling the girl again. Still wasn't answering. Our friends that we had met in Glasgow gave us a call to tell us they were in Edinburgh now so we met up with them at their hostel. It was a really awesome place and it was one of the only hostels in the city that still had beds available and it didn't cost 100 pounds so we started to reserve some beds for the next couple of nights when we get a call from the girl. FINALLY. She had gotten her information mixed up and thought that we were arriving the next day so she had stayed on vacation an extra day. Anyway, we head to her apartment which is a 25 minute bus ride from the center of the city and because of the festival, the buses were running every 45 minutes so it took us quite a while to get out there. We get to the apartment, get the keys, drop our luggage off, and head back into the city to hang out with everyone again. It was a relaxed night watching movies and playing cards with them. The apartment that we ended up staying at was actually really crappy. There was no heat, the whole place smelled like a wet dog, it was really messy, and there wasn't even any hot water to take a shower. I mean, honestly, I can't really complain because it was a free place to stay but I do feel bad for the girl that lives there because to me, it would just be miserable living without heat in the middle of a scottish winter. So second place of lodging in Edinburgh.
On New Year's Eve, we visited the Edinburgh castle which was really interesting, went to buy some beer and wine, and went back to our friends' hostel to hang out and at 10pm we headed to the street party. The entire main street of the city was closed off and there were a limited amount of tickets being sold for the street party so it wasn't too crowded at all. It was really nice. We found the perfect spot to stand which was right in front of the castle. We could hear the bands that were playing, we could see the huge television screen, and we would be able to see the fireworks being set off from the castle. We were standing there for about 30 minutes when someone said that they really had to pee. That made someone else realize they had to pee. Eventually, about 8 out of the 10 people in our group decided that we should all go together and pee so no one would get lost. It was about 10:55 and they were going to be closing the gates and not letting anyone else in at 11 so I knew this was going to turn out bad. Long story short, everyone peed, we tried to get back in, couldn't, ran to another gate, denied, another, denied, and finally, the last one we tried, they let us in. All in all, that took about 45 minutes to do. It was 11:45, we lost our great spot, and even lost three members of our group, including Jean who had the keys to the apartment. We ended up finding a fairly good spot, counted down, enjoyed midnight, met a few people, had some great conversations, sang Auld Lang Syne, and had a great deal of fun. After a while, I realized I had no way of getting a hold of Jean and I wouldn't be able to get into the apartment without him so my friends snuck me into their hostel and I slept in one of the empty beds for free. Third place of lodging in Edinburgh.
The next day, I went to the underground vaults of the city and the Edinburgh dungeon. The vaults were really interesting. In the late 1700s, they basically cut off the top half of hundreds of houses to build another building on top of it and used the old houses as the supports for the building, so there's practically an entire small city underneath a section of Edinburgh. Unfortunatley, you couldn't take pictures because it was underneath a government building and it was illegal to take any.
Jean left that day and I slept at the hostel again. The next day, I headed to Glasgow. My friend who was going to take me around the highlands had to cancel at the last minute so I couchsurfed with another person in Glasgow. He was super nice and really interesting. He was from Finland and was studying a billion things in school. He had lived in California for a year and Glasgow for 3 years. He knew Finnish, Swedish, and English all perfectly. We went out for drinks and dinner the first night and then the next day, hung out, ate PAPA JOHN'S!!! (I missed that pizza so incredibly much), and watched a few movies. By this time, I was sick with a horrible cold so I just took it easy in Glasgow. Nothing touristy. I left the next day at 4am to fly from Glasgow to Paris Beauvais, bus from Beauvais to Paris bus station, metro from bus station to train station, and train from Paris to Lyon. Luckily, after my entire holiday, the trip home went without a hitch.
Here are the Edinburgh ( pictures. )
I had never been so happy to be back in Lyon. I really reall did enjoy my holidays but I was just completely exhausted by the end and ready to relax at home. I missed Matthew so much too. We hardly talked at all while he was in the south because he didn't have credit on his phone nor internet access and my phone was completely dead because I had left my charger at home so I was having horrible withdrawal. Since he's leaving on the 17th, we've pretty much been spending every second of our days with each other. He helped me move into my new apartment and I haven't helped him pack for home (I refuse to). Eight months without him...I'm absolutely going to go insane.
Well...speaking of moving into a new apartment...it's awesome! I'll take pictures and post them in my next blog.
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(3) disguises | dress up)
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[08 Jan 2008|05:01pm] |
I haven't made an update here in a while. I've done quite a lot in the past month. The first weekend of December was La fête des lumières (the festival of lights) in Lyon. All over the city, different light projects were put displayed. I've never seen the streets of Lyon that crowded. So many people came from all over to see the sites. Dom, Emma, Claire, Jean, Matthew and I went out the last night it was on. Here are the ( pictures )
Then a few weeks later, I went skiing in the Alps. SO scary. I'm a horrible skier to begin with so I was hating the heights. But I still loved it. How could you hate the experience?
( Pictures )
Oh, and random picture of the statue in Place des Terraux during the winter.
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(1) disguises | dress up)
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[06 Dec 2007|01:55am] |
Due to a lot of school business and incredibly unreliable internet, I have been home from Prague for a week without any sort of blog about it. *gasp* I'll try and remember everything because it was quite a fun trip.
The majority of the trip that I remember were the difficulties getting there and back. Because of the train strikes still going on, we had to wake up early and hope to find our way on a train going to Geneva where our plane was leaving from. We got on one that ended up stopping at this teeny tiny town in the Alps called Bellegarde-sur-Valserine for two hours. It wasn't too bad. We headed to a market and got some lunch. And by lunch I mean whole roasted chickens. Absolutely delicious. We all looked like animals digging into them on the side of the road with only our fingers as tools.
A few hours later, we got to Geneva. We had several hours to spare before the plane left so we walked around the town a little. We went to a church, climbed up to one of its towers and saw a great view of the city, then stopped at a little cafe and drank coffee and played cards till we had to go.
At about 11pm, we FINALLY got to Prague. Our hostel was really cool and since we had 8 people in our group, we had the whole room to ourselves. Since it was so late and we wanted to wake up early the next day for sightseeing, we just went to the hostel's restaurant and lounge area, ate some pizza, drank 1 euro beers, and called it a night.
The next day we walked around the city. Saw most of the main sites of Prague. The town halls, the churches, the castle, the bridges, etc. Sightseeing will be told much better in pictures (which can be seen below). The main reason we went to Prague in the first place was to celebrate Jean's 21st birthday so we picked up some bottles of absinthe and went back to the hostel. We had some major fun with that and with cooking some disgusting pasta with limited tools. (The dish rack ended up becoming the noodle strainer. Needless to say, I did not eat any pasta). At midnight, we headed to Mecca which was a huge club right near our hostel. We all had a lot of fun and ended up all getting home between 4 and 6am. Regardless, we all woke up early for some more sightseeing. Again, pictures tell a better story.
That night, we went to a local Czech restaurant and had some dinner. I decided that I'm not a HUGE fan of Czech food but cow knee is actually pretty delicious.
As much as I enjoyed the sights of Prague, Sunday was by far the best day of the trip. Our plane wasn't leaving until later that night so we decided to take a little trip to Karlstejn castle 30 minutes outside of the city. It was the castle of Charles IV and was where the Empirical jewels and holy roman relics were kept for safekeeping. That's quite a good chunk of history. It was snowing when we first got there and then it stopped enough for the sun to come out (which was the first time we saw the sun in 3 days). The Czech countryside is absolutely gorgeous. We spent a few hours at the castle, went on a tour, got some dinner, and then went back to the hostel. We quickly picked up our luggage and literally ran to the airport bus.
We finally got to the airport and got to the airline counter. That's when Matthew found out that he had accidentally bought his return ticket home for the wrong date. Quite an expensive mistake. He bought his new ticket, we ran to the gate, then realized that our plane was delayed. This was a bit worrisome considering that once we got to Paris, we had about an hour and a half to catch our train. That may seem like enough time but au contraire mes amis. With the trains STILL on strike in Paris, we had to wait for our metro for about 15 minutes. Then we were on that one for about 30 minutes. Then when we got off, we realized we had to get on another metro to get to the station. We waited there for about 20 minutes and then were on the metro for another 20 minutes. Needless to say, we were quite late for our train and unfortunately, it was the last one out for the night.
It all turned out ok though. We ended up getting an amazing dinner at a little restaurant that was closing just as we were walking in. Out of the kindness of their hearts, they prepared 5 chicken dishes. SO good. Then at the train station, they told us about a train that would be in the station all night that we could sleep in. We got to sleep in first class seats AND they gave us free food packs. The guards and random passengers even played cards with us. Whoever said Parisians weren't polite and helpful are full of it. They were more helpful than most Lyonnais.
After 4 hours of sleep in a stationed train, a 6am wake up call, another 2 hour train trip, and TEN-trains-in-24-hours later, we made it back to Lyon. All in all, it was a great trip. My mom said "If you liked Amsterdam, you'll LOVE Prague" and everyone kept telling me how great of a city it is. I did find it enjoyable but I probably won't go back. And Amsterdam still has my heart.
I've been pretty busy all week running errands, trying to figure out classes for next semester and what I'm going to do and where I'm going to go after this year in France. I had to go to a tailor to get one of my dresses fitted for before I go to Venice and met the coolest old man. He was telling us about how he got awards from the mayor claiming him the best tailor in the region (which seems kind of weird to get as an award but according to him, it is very difficult to stay in the job since artisans have to pay 50% tax and it's just a difficult job in the first place). He told us he was Armenian and that his parents escaped the Armenian genocide when he was a child. He also said "Is it ok if I tell you that Bush is a murderer?" when he found out I was American, haha. I told him I completely agree.
Friday was our friend Ben's birthday party. He made it "Tight and Bright" themed. A TONNNNN of pictures below.
( Bellegarde-sur-Valserine and Geneva pictures )
( Prague )
( Karlstejn Castle )
( The Tight and Bright Party )
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(16) disguises | dress up)
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[21 Nov 2007|07:27pm] |
Just got tickets to go to Edinburgh, Scotland for one of the biggest New Years celebrations in the world. Hogmanay!!!!
http://www.edinburghshogmanay.org/
SOOOOOOOO stoked. Not only have I wanted to go to Scotland for pretty much my entire life but I also get to be at a world-renowned festival. Couldn't be more excited.
yes...thats them actually burning a viking ship
Prague tomorrow!
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(1) disguises | dress up)
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[20 Nov 2007|04:39pm] |
Because of our trip to Prague this weekend, Matthew and I decided to plan Thanksgiving dinner for this past Sunday. After a lot of planning, a lot of stress, and a lot of searching for impossible ingredients (including the mission of finding a turkey), we did it. I started cooking on Saturday because, besides the green beans and the pecan pie, I was cooking everything on my own. If I hadn't have had Matthew helping me, I would've gone crazy.
We had 10 people and only three of them were Americans so I really had to impress them. It was my first time cooking a turkey and even though the oven went out for 30 minutes without us noticing, it actually turned out PERFECT. I was so proud of myself. I even made pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin (because, again, canned pumpkin is an impossible thing to find in France). I almost messed up the stuffing, the pie, and the sweet potato casserole because, for SOME reason unbeknownst to me, I was measuring a cup as 4 oz rather than 8. I don't know what was wrong with me. But somehow the recipes turned out great and everyone now wants to make Thanksgiving part of their home tradition, haha.
We all ate soooo much (except for the two Frenchies because, as they told us "We always have small appetites." They just couldn't handle it.) and after all that work and eating, I passed out at around 10 at night. It was so worth it though. And now I have awesome leftovers! I love Thanksgiving.
One of three things I broke (1. Plate 2. Shot glass 3. Egg)
( more pictures )
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(4) disguises | dress up)
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[16 Nov 2007|03:31pm] |
Ward and his friend Taylor are in town visiting on their way to Germany. I hadn't seen Ward in a couple of years I think. It's been great reminiscing about old times with everyone. Lots of UCB quotes and GI Joe PSA parody quotes being said. We went to the Museum of Contemporary Art the other day. Usually I hate modern art but this museum was awesome. There were a lot of videos and performance art which I much prefer over contemporary paintings or sculptures. This one exhibit was this gigantic room that was dimly lit and completely empty except for one corner where two sculptures stood. We had been asked for our ID before we entered the room and we were wondering why. These sculptures were just random objects. Nothing bad.We start to leave and then we noticed this lady that had come in. She was standing in the corner with the sculptures and just starts stripping right there. She ended up getting ENTIRELY naked. Ward and I were just like "um....yeah....this is awkward" haha. She then got dressed and came over to the group of people that were in the room. She was speaking quietly and in french so I couldn't really understand her but I think she was explaining the point behind the exhibit. I still don't know the point but it was interesting regardless.
Yesterday we went up to Fourviere and then Vieux Lyon. Got dinner. Went out drinking. Fun night. The new Beaujolais was released so the bars and restaurants have been rather fun to go to.
Poor Ward and Taylor are pretty much stuck in Lyon right now though. The train strikes are pretty bad at this point and it looks like they aren't really going to end until Sunday. It impossible to get a train into Germany right now. Bad for them but good for me because I like having them here.
Sunday is our Thanksgiving party. I'm getting super stressed out about it. I've never cooked a turkey before. My mom has given me a lot of tips though so I'm sure it will work out. I definitely have to give major props to my mom though for being able to do this every year. SO much planning is involved. It'll be worth it though. I've been preparing my stomach by eating a ton lately. Pictures will come after Sunday.
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( dress up)
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[11 Nov 2007|10:44am] |
I was having a dream about Michael Jackson (?) and all of a sudden, I was woken up by this:
I love France.
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( dress up)
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[08 Nov 2007|01:46pm] |
It's such a beautiful day today. I woke up at 8am to go run a million errands. Did the CAF so I can start getting money from the state, went to SMERRA to get more money, finished my carte de sejour stuff so I'm not living here illegally, bought the new Sigur Ros CD and DVD (sooooo good by the way), and had lunch. The weather is great and the trees are looking autumn-y. Finally!! I love love love it here.
But off to Berlin tomorrow!!
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( dress up)
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[02 Nov 2007|07:52pm] |
Just got back from London this morning. Running off of 3 hours of sleep due to my plane leaving at 7am and needing a 3:30am wake up call to have time to get to the airport.
The trip was short but really fun. Such a beautiful city. I got there at 330pm, Tuesday. By the time we left the airport, it was dusk since the sun sets really early so far up north. Got to my friend, Gavin's at around 6. He cooked me dinner and then we took a cab down to Big Ben. Took some pictures of the area then walked to Leicester square. We went to this really awesome pub that was built around a tree apparently. It had a bunch of different rooms you could sit in and it was just really relaxed. It was just a nice place to sit and talk. We had a couple of glasses of wine and caught up with each other. The place closed at 11 which is unheard of to me but he said that's a fairly common thing in London. It was ok though because I was pretty tired. Went back home and went to sleep.
The next day, Halloween, he had to work so I was on my own. I got up early and headed to the London dungeon. I was in the LOOONG line and I heard someone say that it was a 3 hour wait from where we were standing. I was seriously debating leaving and just buying my ticket that day and going the next day for a quicker line. As I was about to go, this girl came up to me and asked me how many I had in my group. One. So she then asked me if I would like to get into the dungeon in 10 minutes and only pay 10 pounds rather than 20. Didn't need to think twice. Apparently, she was in a group of about 7 and they had bought a 15 person group pass to make it cheaper and they just went through the line finding a few more people to make it 15. I was one of the lucky ones that they asked. It was a really fun and scary at times, haha. Pretty good history lessons though. After that, I just walked around for hours. For some reason it took me ages to find a place to eat. I kept finding either really expensive places or really gross places. I decided to head to Liecester square again because I remember seeing good places to eat around there. As soon as I got onto the street from the tube, I saw a burger king. I gave in and had a delicious double whopper. I forgot how good they were. After I ate, I didn't really know what to do and then I remembered I had wanted to get some books while in England since I can't really enjoy novels in french yet. I went to an information booth to ask where a good bookstore was. The guy told me that the biggest bookstore in europe was right down the road. I started heading there and realized the entire road (Charring Cross Road) was FULL of bookstores. New ones, chain ones, and tons of vintage and used bookstores. I went into practically every one. Spent a good hour and half on that road and got tons of books. After that, went back to the house where Gavin was and we headed out. Went to a few pubs and just had another relaxing night.
The next day, we went to Madame Tussaud's wax museum. I remember going there when I went to London with my parents when I was 5 years old and I LOVED it. It wasn't the same this time but it was still great. Obviously a lot bigger than the one in Amsterdam. It had a lot more interactive exhibits and at the end, a little ride to go through the history of London. Very fun. Afterwards, we got a nice english pub meal in Covent Garden. Saw a bunch of street performers there and everything. After our late lunch, we walked around London and went to see the main sites. Hyde park, Buckingham palace, Big Ben again, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey. Then we headed over to the Victoria area to see WICKED!!!! It was such an incredible musical. I had heard a lot about it but it was seriously one of the best musicals I've ever seen. The fact that I got to see it in London made it that much better. I wanted to go out afterwards but I knew I was going to have to wake up super early, plus Gavin had to work this morning so we just went back and went to sleep, haha.
It was a great trip. I wish I had been there a little longer but I did get to see most of the things I wanted to see plus it was just so expensive despite not having to pay for lodging or most of my food/drinks. That definitely helped. I'll definitely go back for another visit before I head back to the states.
Things I learned from London:
- If a statue has a man on a horse and the horse has all four feet on the ground, it means the man died of natural causes; three feet means died from a wound after a battle; two feet means died in battle.
- There are thousands of security cameras all over the entire city.
- The women royal guards wear boring uniforms.
- The underground is one of (if not the) oldest subways in the world.
- Going to a discount ticket booth for shows is the only way to do it.
- Getting tickets early for Madam Tussaud's and the London Dungeon is a smart plan.
And since most people probably don't read this and just look for pictures...( pictures )
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(5) disguises | dress up)
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[30 Oct 2007|01:00am] |
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London tomorrow!!! Iron and Wine on Wednesday!!! Stoked!
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(7) disguises | dress up)
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[16 Oct 2007|05:40pm] |
I just got back from Amsterdam yesterday. What an amazing trip. That city is incredible. The weather was PERFECT fall weather. Absolutely beautiful and there is so much stuff to do and so much great food and people and everything. I'm in love.
We got there at about 9am on Thursday morning. Claire and I found our hostel and got settled in. It was a really cool place with a lounge and bar downstairs. There was this platform area with a bunch of pillows and people were just laying there smoking weed, haha. Quite an interesting sight. Besides getting lunch and dinner, we just slept a bunch. We had been running on 4 hours of sleep the whole day so we were exhausted.
Friday, Matthew got in and he, Claire and I went to the Heineken brewery. We went on a tour of the museum (which was similar to how the coke factory is. just interesting, fun things to do) and we got three free beers and a free gift at the end. Then we took a canal cruise around the city. Got some good pictures of that. Then that night was Shapeshifter which is a New Zealand drum and bass band. It was the main reason everyone went to Amsterdam that weekend. There was a group of about 30 of us there so it was pretty fun. On the way home, we got Walk to Wok which is some delicious chinese food for real cheap.
Saturday, we went to the torture museum, Ann Frank House and rode bikes around the city. Stopped at a market, got some good food and bought some old books. Then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe of course. Got some unhealthy american food (I had been craving buffalo wings). Then went to a pub next door to watch the rugby game. France lost :( I met a bunch of Irish guys and they were really disappointed too. They said they would NEVER root for the English, haha. There was this really drunk scottish guy there too and he said I smelled absolutely amazing. He was REALLY drunk.
Sunday,I went to the wax museum and then I just walked around the city for hours by myself. It was so relaxing and I got to see parts I hadn't seen yet. Twice, I accidentally walked through the red light district and didn't realize till I saw half-naked women beckoning in the shop windows. That night, we all went to a coffee shop and hung out for about 4 hours. Had some of the most delicious milkshakes I've ever had.
Got home yesterday. It's weird but now that I've left Lyon to go on a vacation, coming back actually makes Lyon feel like home. Before, it just felt like a really long vacation. I like this feeling.
Things I learned from Amsterdam:
- It really doesn't hit you how bizarre hookers are until you actually see them in shop windows like zoo animals just waiting for men to come in.
- It's even more bizarre to see men walking in to get a hooker at 2:30 in the afternoon.
- Always make sure you have change if you need to go to pee because 90% of the restrooms in Amsterdam cost about 50 cents. It really sucks at a bar when that beer runs straight through you. Those bathroom ladies make a fortune.
- The buildings in Amsterdam would cost more if they took up more land so they built up instead of out. Therefore, every staircase you will find in Amsterdam is like climbing a ladder and most of the time is extremely frightening to walk up and down.
- I will never eat at a Febo.
- Walk to Wok is the best late night food. Ever.
- The man with the most beautiful lips in the world lives in Amsterdam. I saw him on the train.
- You actually can't smoke EVERYWHERE in Amsterdam. But don't worry, there will be signs that tell you that you can't. I love that they are needed.
- Riding dutch bikes are the cutest thing anyone could do. Unless the bike seat is too high and you're trying to climb on in a crowded street and you fall straight into another cyclist. (yes that happened to me.)
- Visiting a sex shop is something everyone should do at least once in their lives.
- Church bells, rivers and canals are what REALLY make a European city.
( TONS of pictures )
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(7) disguises | dress up)
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[07 Oct 2007|12:05pm] |
Oh man. The All Blacks AND the Wallaby's lost yesterday. Sad news for the top two teams in the rugby league. Great news for France though since they are now in the semi-finals for the cup! The whole city was celebrating last night's win. People were driving down the streets and honking their horns continuously, singing from balconies, singing in bars, running through the streets singing, haha. It was a fun night. Not to mention, this guy rules:
Sebastian Chabal. He's the star french rugby player. He's also a beast of a man. Everyone just kept yelling "CHABALLLLLL" all night, haha.
I really wish America was more into rugby. It's such an awesome game.
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(2) disguises | dress up)
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[05 Oct 2007|04:53pm] |
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Our fridge REEEEEKS and we cannot figure out why. And it's not all the smelly cheese. That's good smelly.
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(5) disguises | dress up)
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