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Bordizzeaux

So last Wednesday in my art class, this other girl and I got in trouble for something we didn't do on the worst-organized field trip ever. The previous week, we went to the Musée D'Orsay, and we were instructed not to go around as a huge group with our teacher because she wasn't authorized to give her own little tours. Also, we were supposed to meet up as a group at 5 so she knew we had all stayed for the full class time. Back in the classroom, everyone was taking their sweet time leaving, so Courtney and I left for the museum. We did our assignment and saw the group sporadically throughout the museum, including our teacher. We finished our work and then walked around a little bit more, and then we just sat in the middle of the museum until 5. At 5, we got up and headed towards the front of the museum to find our teacher and the rest of the class. We saw a few students and then we saw our teacher leaving, so we figured it would be OK to leave. Apparently, the rest of the class who followed the teacher around in a huge group (like she said not to do) all went to the Gerome exhibition, which we didn't know because no one ever told us. Maybe if she had told us she wanted us to see that part of the museum while we were in a big group back in the classroom, we would have known to go there. Also, we saw her a few times in the museum, and she never said anything there either. She accused us of leaving early before class was over. We explained what happened (in shocked and broken French) and she said she believed us, but who knows. It was just so ridiculous.

Friday morning, I left for Bordeaux to meet up with Amber. The train ride was uneventful besides all the screaming children. Also, the entire country was covered in snow so I was kind of freaking out. Bordeaux is in the south so I assumed it would be warmer. It wasn't. When I finally met up with Amber, we found our hotel, and she promptly took a nap. After she got up, we took a walk and then went to dinner at a pizza place and shared half a bottle of wine. Yes, I did actually drink wine in Bordeaux, who's proud of me? I had 2.5 very small glasses throughout the course of the meal, and by the end I was kind of no longer sober haha. It was pretty entertaining. After dinner, we just headed back to the hotel and I showered, read, and passed out. The next day, we got up and headed into town. There's not a ton to do there besides walk around and just see everything. The buildings are all so beautiful, especially the ones on the water. I loved all the bridges, too. We went to St. Andre's cathedral, which was beautiful. Outside they were having some type of fair or fundraiser or something and there were these HUGE black dogs that could have been bears. They were really cute. We walked around a lot, going into random stores here and there. There is a giant purple alligator sculpture in a random garden, which was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. We also went to a cemetery on one side of town. It was huge and pretty old, kind of like Père Lachaise here. After that, I was really hungry and dying of dehydration, so we went to a boulangerie for lunch and got Amorino gelato afterward. Then we found the best antique market ever. We spend at least an hour roaming all the stalls. And I learned all about Amber's obsession with old sea-foam green things, especially chairs. I searched in vain for a specific present. There was so much cool stuff, though. I wish I could have fit any of it in my suitcase. I don't know if I would decorate my house with any of the original stuff I found, but maybe if I re-purposed or altered some of the stuff it would be perfect. But again, I had to take the return journey into account. That night we had planned to go get fondue, but we didn't make a reservation and they were full. We wandered around for what seemed like forever and didn't find a single restaurant. Then, we stumbled onto the main street apparently and were too overwhelmed with all the choices. We ended up at a crepe/galette restaurant which was pretty good. Then we bought two mini bottles of wine on the way home, and they may have been the cutest things I had ever seen. It was a very calm and low-key trip, which was nice. The next morning, we got up and checked out and headed back to town with all our luggage which was fun. Again, we had very little luck finding a place for breakfast, and eventually just gave up and got food from a chain bakery. We wanted to sit somewhere, so we risked sitting at the tables at the restaurant next door, which was closed so you'd think no one would care, but of course they did. It's not like we were homeless vagrants or making a mess or anything, but whatever. We saw another church, and then headed over to the train station. The ride back was just as uneventful as the way there besides the fact that I paid for the most expensive bottle of water ever and the girl sitting next to me had a cat in a little carrying case and she kept feeding it little bits of her sandwich.... I slept a little bit and read more of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which I'm almost done with now, and if you haven't read it you definitely should.

Yesterday, in my current events class, one kid gave his presentation and it was about prostitution. He opened with "What is the world's oldest profession?" And of course, everyone answered. Except one guy. He seemed really confused and after a lengthy explanation (I think he just didn't understand the French), he exclaimed in alarm, "C'est un metier?!" (It's a profession?!) It was hilarious. After class, I went to help French girl, Anne-Sophie, with her English. We've been working on the same presentation for a few weeks now, and I think at this point I could present it. She chose Deep Purple, which I thought was an interesting choice. Really random. She was still having trouble with some of the pronunciation, but we worked on it for a while and I hope it went OK today! After that, I met up with another girl in my program and we got dinner and crepes which was delicious. It wasn't even that cold last night, it was awesome. I think it's coldest in the middle of the day for some reason. Anyway, it was fun. Today, Paris can't seem to decide if it wants to rain or snow. I'm sure if I tried to walk outside I would slip and die. The precipitation seems to have stopped for now, but it's been on and off all morning. When it first started snowing I ran out to the balcony in Uggs, my big jacket, and shorts to take some pictures. One of the neighbors saw me and probably thinks I'm crazy. I don't blame her after I saw myself in the mirror haha. It's supposed to snow more tomorrow, so we'll see what happens! I think that's all for now.

Strasbourg and other stories.

Last Thursday I went to the Musée Marmottan and l'Orangerie with my friend Roanne. The Marmottan has a huge Monet exhibit, and it was wonderful. They had so many of his paintings of the water lilies and his gardens. It was so amazing to see them in person because I totally recognized where in the garden some of the paintings were painted! They also had Impression: Sunrise, which was amazing to see. Monet also used to do caricatures apparently, and they had a bunch of those on display which was pretty funny. After that, we went to l'Orangerie, which has Monet's HUGE water lilies. Like they take up entire walls. I can't imagine painting something that big. I would fill maybe one square foot and then be like, ok what am I supposed to put in the rest of the space? Even though they're all of the same subject, they're all so amazingly unique. It was a Monet-filled day. After the museums, we went to this movie theater to watch HP7, but we had the time wrong so we didn't end up seeing it. However, the theater was in a cute little outdoor shopping area that was all decorated for Christmas, and I don't know what it was, but it smelled great, too haha. After that, we went back to Roanne's foyer to hang out until Thanksgiving dinner. I definitely tripped going up the Metro stairs, too. It didn't hurt, but I fell on my hands, and I was kind of freaking out about germs the rest of the way back to the foyer. A foyer is like a dorm, but anyone between 18-25 can live there for two years before they have to find other housing. It was a very interesting mix of people. Dinner was pretty good, but it was chicken instead of turkey and there was no mushroom stuffing made by my mom, which I had been thinking about all day. It was pretty fun still, though. During dinner, the beginner students had to put on a skit about the pilgrims and indians. It was really short, and definitely was nowhere near topping THIS. Love Spring Sing. After dinner, they had an "American Night" party. They had a huge cardboard cutout of Obama, signs shaped like arrows with cities and miles on them (pointing towards cities in the US obv), and a poster with the Pledge written on it. A lot of the French kids were like, "You had to stand and say this every day? What about the 'under God' part?! That caused controversy, right?" It was a decent party, but I wasn't drinking because we were leaving early the next morning for Strasbourg. I ended up talking to this French guy for awhile so I could practice conversation haha. Turns out, he's coming to Irvine next August for school. I had to leave at 11 according to foyer rules, so I headed home around then to pack for Strasbourg!

Everyone made it to the train barely on time once again. About half of our group had a little mini-compartment which was cool. Definitely like the Hogwarts Express. Which was funny because we pretty much went to Hogsmeade. But before I get to that, on the way there, it started snowing!! We saw so much snow out the window of the train it was crazy. And a few people in the program have never seen snow before, so they didn't even know how to react. It was quite entertaining. And then, one kid in our group was like, "Oh, that's definitely frost." And the rest of us just looked at him because it was definitely snow. A lot of snow. We teased him the rest of the trip. When it was snowing in Strasbourg someone would say, "Man, the air is just so frosty right now!" Didn't get old. When we got off the train, it was lightly snowing :) We walked to our hostel to drop off our bags, and after we did that, it started snowing harder. By the time we had walked back into town it was definitely a steady snow. I always forget that snow is just as wet as rain so it would have been wise to use an umbrella because my clothes and hair got kind of wet. Good thing I bought waterproof stuff for my Uggs. Saved my life. And my toes. We had a tour of the city by this French lady who gives tours in English, French, German, and Italian. Amazing. She said that in school there, you learn a new language every two years. I wish the system was like that in the States. So useful! The tour was interesting, and the city is beautiful. I'm convinced that any city with a canal or river running through it is awesome. We then went inside the huge cathedral (not warmer inside), and learned about its history. There is a huge clock in the back corner that is super complex. It tells you the day, where the planets are in their rotation around the sun, what sign of the zodiac it is, and, of course, the time. It also rings every 15 minutes. It was quite the clock. After that tour, we had a bateau mouche tour (boat tour). It was pretty dark at this point, and over half the group fell asleep I think. I listened in French and I understood most of it, but definitely not all of it. Also, it was exhausting and I totally dozed off a few times. Especially when we were in the lock, which took about 8 minutes to fill. It was kind of cool, though, because they have locks like that in the Panama Canal I think. After the canal tour, it was pretty freezing outside, and I've never seen our group move so fast. We basically sprinted back to the hostel. Dinner was ok, but I think everyone thought it was delicious because we were all so hungry. After dinner we went down to the basement game area and played this game where someone named a movie and the next person had to name a movie that had any of the actors of the previous movie in it. That lasted us a solid hour. I think a few people went out, but I went back up to my room to go to sleep because we had to be up around 7 the next morning for breakfast. Breakfast was horrible. They had croissants, which were delicious but definitely not what I want to be eating for breakfast. Also, the fruit they put out wasn't really ripe. Oh well, I guess you get what you pay for. And breakfast was free. We had a tour of the Kronenbourg brewery, which was all in French and the girl did not seem very into it, so it was kind of boring. We got free beer and cookies after, though. The cookies made it all worth it. I tried the Christmas beer, which actually wasn't bad. From there, we headed back into town on the (very late) tram and got lunch at this place called Le Petit Ours. It was super expensive, but that's where our reservation was. We were only getting reimbursed 15 euro, so I chose one of the cheapest things. It ended up being delicious, though. It was some kind of fish underneath puréed sweet potatoes. I basically licked the plate. After lunch, we had free time to explore the Christmas markets. Aka drink vin chaud and eat a TON of delicious and very bad for you food. Including waffles on a stick. I bought a few Christmas gifts for people and something for myself (which I promptly dropped and kind of broke when I got off the train in Paris...at least it was the one for me, though). We had these chocolate covered marshmallow things which were called Boules de Neige (snowballs), cider, a soft pretzel of course (Strasbourg is very heavily influenced by Germany), and a pizza baguette (aka a piece of bread covered in cheese). Even though it was freezing, it was so much fun. And all the Christmas lights were so beautiful! There was a light snow after the sun set. If the snow had stuck, you would have had a hard time convincing me I wasn't in Hogsmeade. We eventually made our way to the train station to head back to Paris, and I read the entire way back on the train. When I got home I took a super hot shower and passed out. Amazing but exhausting weekend.

The next day (Sunday), I slept in until 11 it was wonderful. I didn't do much that day, but at 4 I had my little session thing with the French girl. This week, we practiced her pronunciation. It was really entertaining. There is no "th" sound in French; they pronounce it as a "z." So, every time she said "the" it came out "ze" and "father" is "fazzer" and on and on. I had to stop her every single time and make her say it right, which she really struggled with. Also, if there was a "th" sound right before an "s" sound, it was like her tongue would get stuck and she would lisp the "s." Must be what I sound like to her when I try and speak French. After that, I went and walked around the Champs Elysées, which is all decorated for Christmas. They have a Christmas market like the one in Strasbourg, but it just wasn't the same. The Champs Elysées was beautiful, but once again it was freezing and my hand got too cold to take pictures. I headed towards where I was meeting people for dinner: a Canadian bar called the Hoser Hut. Just kidding. It's called The Moose. But I wish it was called the former haha. I had a hamburger which was soooo delicious. Haven't had one since I've been here. Figured I should top of the weekend with a final unhealthy meal. I've had salad for many meals this week. The bar was really fun. It was mostly Americans I think, and there was football on TV. They also were playing cricket and the score was 307-1 or something like that. Not really sure how that game works. It was really fun, though, and we were there for awhile. And then, it was snowing when we left! I got home around midnight and still had a little bit of homework to do.

School the next day was uneventful, and Tuesday it was freezing so I stayed inside and finished The Lost Symbol. It was ok. Not my favorite, but the climax was super intense. Other than that, though, it was just decent. Today, in my dumb art class that I really don't like, I got in trouble. Last week, we went to the Musée D'Orsay as a class. But our teacher said we couldn't walk around as a huge group and she'd have to take us around in small groups because she didn't have a little badge authorizing her to give tours. So, I walked around and did my assignment, catching up with the group every now and then. We had to meet up at 5 with everyone so she knew we didn't just peace out early. After I finished, I walked around a little bit with another girl in my class, and then we sat for a little bit waiting for it to be 5. At 5, we went towards the front of the museum, but we didn't see anyone. Then we saw our teacher and she was headed for the door, and I'm pretty sure she left. We saw a few other students leaving, so we left, too. Then, this week, she was like, "And where were you two last week? You weren't with the group and we went and saw the Gerome exposition and you weren't there." I tried to explain that she had said not to go as a big group and that she should have said to meet at the Gerome exposition at a certain time or something if she wanted us to see it. She was pretty mad, but that class is so poorly structured I don't even care. We watched a video today, and when we watch videos she stops them every 30 seconds to explain what they're explaining. It's SO annoying and completely pointless. Either teach or let the video do it for you, don't try and do both. Then we were in little groups and one was speaking English and she had a fit. She yelled at them a bunch of times and then started yelling to the whole class how this one girl especially out of everyone should be practicing because she's the worst in the whole class on her writing assignments. Not something you should be shouting to the whole class, I think. Anyway, that was the extent of the excitement for this week. Not sure what I'm doing tomorrow, but Bordeaux is Friday!!

HARRY POTTER, and other British things...

London was amazing. I could have easily spent another week in that city, and I have a lot to say about it from the 5 days I was there, so brace yourselves :)

First of all, if you are in Paris, never fly to London, take the train. Worst idea ever. The RER took about an hour to get to the airport, and then our plane was super late, and we didn't get into Luton until around 11. And Luton is about an hour outside of London by bus. So we didn't actually get in to the city until after midnight. At which point, the girls with whom I was traveling (but not staying with) decided to take a cab to where they were staying and leave me at the Tube station by myself. At first I was kind of nervous because I've never used the Tube before, let alone been in London. At least they speak English there, so I went up to the window and the lady helped me find where I needed to go. Lucky I got there when I did because it was about to stop running for the night and I was across the city. Also, if we had taken the train I would have been one Tube stop away from Amber's place.... Anyway, it all worked out and she came to pick me up and it was SOOOO great to see her :) Her dorm is really cute and cozy haha. At this point it was way after midnight, so we just went to sleep.

The next morning, I had made plans with the other girls to meet up at the British museum, so Amber and I got up and got traditional English breakfast, which was delicious and probably took a few years off my life. But worth it. Then we headed over to the museum and on the way we got coffee at this place called Camera Café, which is a camera store with a coffee shop in the back, it was kind of awesome. Then, we were waiting at the museum, and the girls called me and said they were gonna be late, so Amber and I just hung out outside for awhile until she had to go pick up her friend Becky from the airport. When they finally got there we went inside and started walking around. It. Was. Awesome. They literally have the history of the world in there. So legit. The mummies were probably the coolest things I've ever seen. And they had a bunch of deformed bones with descriptions of what was wrong with them, so I got to pretend to be Bones again and find the defects :) They also have the Rosetta stone, which is legit. And they also have a ton of random stuff you wouldn't think would be interesting, but I was totally geeking out about, like the history of money and the evolution of clocks. I probably could have spent all day there. About halfway through, the other girls got hungry so they went to get lunch while I saw more of the museum. After that, we walked around for awhile and saw Piccadilly Circus (nothing special), Buckingham Palace and Green Park next to it, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben and Parliament. I know it's cliché, but Big Ben was so beautiful. Everything on the Thames is gorgeous. I love the lights reflecting on the water as the sun is setting. That night, after a very long trek through the city to pick up the tickets, we went to the football match between the French and English national teams. It was soooo much fun. The Tube on the way could have been less crowded and gone a little faster, but it was so legit. The other girls were bored I think, and they left at half-time, so I made friends with the people sitting around me and stayed for the rest of the game. France won and totally dominated the entire game, so I cheered quietly from my seat so no drunk England fans would beat me up. Also, for some inexplicable reason, there were the remains of the logos for the Broncos and Giants (I think) on the field. Not sure what those teams were doing all the way in London where no one cares about American football and when there are plenty of stadiums in the states. Anyone know what that was about? I left with a few minutes left to try and beat the mad rush of over 85,000 people to the Tube, and I was semi-successful. I at least made it past the horses that were preventing people from cramming into the tube station. It's about a 10 minute walk from the station to the stadium, and it was jam-packed with people the entire way. On the platform, they were trying to get people to move all the way down to the end, and the announcer guy was like, "Keep walking towards the end, you'll have more space on the train. Move alllll the way down the platform, free coffee and hot chocolate at the end!" Then, when the train got there, the guy standing next to me looked at me and was like, "Are you ready?" and when the doors opened he kind of scooped me up and helped me onto the train. I thought that was pretty funny. I got back to Amber's pretty late, and at this point I was freezing and starving (hadn't eaten since breakfast since I didn't get lunch with the other girls and then they got food at the stadium when they got drinks while I was in the seats). I showered and ate and met Amber's friend Becky who was great, too. It was just so good to be with people from home.

The next day, we got up and walked over to Fleet Street to see where all the lawyers work (not the sketchy end where Sweeney Todd had his barber shop). We went to the National Portrait Gallery, which has a bunch of portraits of the British Monarchy and a bunch of important people in British history. Clearly I need to take another class in that subject, it seems fascinating. Then there was a room with more contemporary stuff, including this sculpture made of feathers and taxidermied animals which cast a shadow that looked like a woman wearing a hat. Pretty cool. There was also a cast of a head into which the artist had injected his own blood. I would have been OK with not seeing that. Kind of really disturbing. After walking around there for a while, we went to the Crypt at St. Martin in the Fields for lunch. It was really bizarre - they've converted the crypt into a restaurant. After lunch, we went to Trafalgar Square to film our super awk "8 clap around the world" for SAA for Blue and Gold Week back at UCLA. After that, Amber went to class and Becky had to do some work, so I went to the National Gallery, where I spent the next three hours. There was so much to see I couldn't even believe it. I got to see so many amazing works of art I had learned about in high school. It makes such a difference when you can see them in person. I saw van Eyck's Arnolfini Wedding, which is really cool because there is a mirror behind the couple into which he painted his own reflection as if he were standing where the viewer is standing. I also saw Holbein's The Ambassadors, which has a huge distorted skull painted in the foreground. There was an elementary school class sitting there learning about it, so I stopped and listened for a little while. I loved listening to the suggestions the kids had for why the skull was painted there and what it means. I also saw Massys's The Ugly Duchess, and man is she ugly. They have van Gogh's Sunflowers, Monet's Water Lilies, and Seurat's Bathers at Asnières, which I did a project on in high school. There was such an amazing variety of art there. If I wasn't exhausted I could have stayed there for an entire day. Something about walking around museums just makes me so tired. I went to a book store so I could stock up on books in English and ended up walking out with four new books for only 20 pounds. Then I went to a coffee shop nearby to read and pass the time until I had to go meet Amber and Becky for dinner. I ended up talking to a kid sitting next to me for about an hour and a half. Yay random strangers! For dinner, we went to this Korean restaurant, which was delicious. Then we got some chocolate and went back to Amber's to change into PJs and watch Glee haha. Even though it took forever to actually watch Glee because she and Becky had to pack for Paris since they were leaving at 4am the next day. But Glee was great, as usual. The story was just OK but I loved the music! Just after we had fallen asleep, one of my other friends called me. I answered and Amber threatened to kill me because I had woken her up, which she had no recollection of doing the next morning which was kind of funny. But my friends were calling to inform me that the tickets they had bought for Harry Potter were for a theater in Scotland. Not London. Still not really sure how that happened. They said they were able to get tickets for the next day still, but we would have to go a little bit earlier, which was fine with me as long as I got to see the movie. Amber and Becky left so early, I remember waking up, but not really much else even though I was sitting up and talking and stuff. Such a weird feeling.

I got up the next morning to go meet the other girls at their Tube station. They said to meet at McDonald's, so I assumed they were going to eat there, so I got a bagel and tea before meeting up with them. Turns out it was just a meeting place, so I just ended up sitting with them when they got breakfast later. We went to pick up our tickets for the movie at the theater, and they informed us that they had bought more tickets for a theater outside of London. Yes, second fail. It wasn't a problem to get them transferred to this theater, but I just about died. We walked around until the movie started, and then settled into our (assigned) seats in the huge theater. I thought it was weird that they hadn't had a midnight showing or anything, but I was just glad to be seeing it. When the lights dimmed and the previews finally ended, the curtain closed and you could feel the excitement. The curtain opened and everyone started clapping and cheering. It was awesome. There are no words for the next three hours. I laughed...I cried...I was just in awe. Best HP yet. It was unbelievable. When it was over, I was ready to hit rewind and watch it again. I would have gladly sat there for another three hours if they had released the second part, too. I can't wait for the next one :) After the movie, we just talked about it for awhile as we walked towards Millennium Bridge, St. Paul's Cathedral, and the Tate Modern. The bridge is so cool. I was kind of obsessed with the design and also the fact that it was destroyed by Death Eaters in the 6th movie.... St. Paul's was also amazing. The dome from the inside was gorgeous, and everything was so beautifully lit and shiny haha. After that, we started heading back towards the bridge towards the Tate Modern, but the other girls said they were planning on doing all of that the next day so I went by myself. It was a Friday so the museum closed late, so I went to find food first since I was, once again, starving since I had just eaten that bagel early that morning. I walked over to Borough Market, which is a huge market with tons of booths. You can get any kind of food or treats you want, or meat and fish and cheese and all that, too. I got fish and chips because you kind of have to when you're in London. It was amazing. I pretty much inhaled it, though, because I was so hungry, which in hindsight wasn't the best idea. But it was so good. Then I headed back over to the Tate and walked around in there for a couple hours. Most of the art was really cool, especially the Liechtenstein and Warhol stuff. Other pieces I could have done without. Like the video of a naked woman covering herself in blood and then rolling around in bird feathers. Don't really understand stuff like that. After walking around for a while, I realized how tired I was and decided to go home and go to sleep. I looked at my watch, and it was about 7pm. Stupid sun sets at 4pm there. Really throws me off. I headed home anyway so I could get a good night's sleep before meeting up with Mara and her friends the next day. Someone in Amber's hall was playing "Only Girl in the World" or whatever it's called on repeat for like three hours straight. I watched Bones and passed out. YOWZA!

The next morning, I headed out to meet up with Mara and her friends at the train station. Again, it was SOO great to see someone from home. And all her friends were amazing. They were all so nice and easy to talk to and get along with. The day was kind of unorganized, but really fun :) We went back to Borough Market for food, and then we walked over to Tower Bridge and the Tower of London because I hadn't seen it yet and they didn't really have plans. We also went to Oxford Street to go to this store called Primark, which is a lot like Target but just clothes. It's all really cheap, but it was also extremely crowded. Since there is no Thanksgiving here, there is no specific day when people start Christmas shopping, and it was in full swing. We were really overwhelmed by all the people, so we just went to get coffee. But not before one of the girls went through a revolving door the wrong way and almost took out the person on the other side, who kind of freaked out when she came out the other side. It was kind of funny. After shopping, we hung out at their hostel for a little bit while they all got ready for their Thanksgiving dinner that night. Then we went to Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland for a little while, but apparently we went to the wrong part. We were in the carnival area, but I guess there was another part that was mostly just lights and more calm. Oops. Then I had to go meet up with the other girls for dinner and the show we got tickets to. Mara's entire group walked me to the Tube station and helped me find it, it was so nice! When I left, Mara was like, "See you back in LA." It was so weird to think about that. Only five more weeks! When I met back up with the other girls we found an Indian restaurant and it was amazing. I had never had Indian food before, and it may be my new favorite thing ever. Delicious. Then we went to the theater for the play. It was called "Deathtrap," and Jonathon Groff from Glee was in it. It was really entertaining, but I still kind of wish we had seen a musical since EVERYTHING is playing there right now. If I had known that beforehand I would have planned for a show every night. This play was "a comedy thriller," which I think is a good description. It was kind of funny at times, and also made me jump out of my chair more than once. The story is really hard to explain because essentially the two main characters are playwrights who are kind of writing the play as it's unfolding. It was pretty cool. After the play, we waited outside the stage door, but Jonathon Groff didn't come out. The other actors in the play did, but he didn't Lost a few points in my book...it's not even like there were a bunch of people waiting. There were only about 15 of us. Oh well, we tried. I headed back to Amber's and went to sleep, since I had to get up at 4am to take the night bus to the train station to take the other bus to the airport to get back to Paris. As I was leaving, some really drunk kids were walking into the building carrying huge traffic cones and the guy at reception was kind of freaking out about it. All par for the course for 4am in a dorm. Glad to see not much is different across the world. I took one of the double decker buses to the train station, and I sat in front on the second level. It was soooo much fun! Kind of scary being so high up and on the wrong side of the road, but still awesome. At the train station, apparently I was walking the wrong way because some random stranger stopped me and asked if I was looking for Victoria Station and told me that it was the other direction. So considerate! Especially for 5:30 in the morning. I passed out on the bus on the way to the airport, and kind of blindly made my way to security since my contacts felt like they were glued to my eyes from sleeping on the bus. You can only take one bag, not even a suitcase and a purse, so I was holding all my books that didn't fit into my suitcase. As I was waiting in line there was a little boy who had run away from his mom and gotten to the other side of security. His mom couldn't reach him and one of the guards stood up and yelled, "Breach!" and went to go help, it was so funny. I put all my stuff in the plastic bin to put through the scanner, and someone put more of the plastic bins onto the pile, and in doing so knocked my whole bin off the tracks. It was way too early in the morning to impress people with my reflexes. Then, another one of the guards commented on all the books I had with me: "That's a lot of reading material for one flight." I told her there's not exactly a surplus or wide selection of books in English in Paris. Anyway, my impression is that English people are very cheerful and friendly in the morning :) The flight was uneventful besides the kid behind me who kind of stared at me the entire flight. Reading, he was staring, woke up from my nap, he was staring. Kind of disconcerting. The RER back into Paris was long and I was so tired at this point. I got home, got to eat, and then had to leave again to go tutor the French student I'm helping with English. Then I met up with Amber and Becky for dinner and to give them back their keys. We got French Onion soup first and I can't believe I haven't had that yet. Sooooo delicious. Then we had our main dinner and then the most amazing dessert ever. Chocolate mousse and crème brulée. For the chocolate mousse, they brought out a HUGE bowl from which they served us, but first they just left the huge bowl there and we were like hyperventilating. It was all so delicious. I couldn't really move after, but it was totally worth it. Also, it had been raining and I was wearing my Converse so my feet were wet and freezing. By the time I got home I couldn't feel my big toe at all. Not a fun (lack of) feeling. I took a hot shower and could feel it again though so that was good.

I had a test on Monday morning, but I hadn't really studied or spoken French for the entire preceding week, so I think I did as well as I could have given the circumstances. Oh well, doesn't really matter anyway. Then, in class, I was talking to one of my friends about how excited I am for Thanksgiving, and this kid (from Canada) who I really can't stand was like: (copied from G-chat convo because I didn't want to retype it):"why does everyone like thanksgiving so much" i don't get it. you just eat and, what?"and then he said, "it's nothing special in canada, and you don't even get the day off so you have to start cooking after work and by then there's no point"

  so i couldn't take it anymore
  and i was like "wow, sounds like you're just a little bitter about it.
  and he looked at me
  and i was like "so, you really seem not to like anything, is there anything you DO like?"
  and he just kept staring at me  He is the most pessimistic person I know, and I can't take it anymore, so I've started calling him out on it. And it feels good. Even if everyone starts thinking I'm a beeze I don't even care at this point if he'll just get over himself.

Anyway, I think that's all for now. I'll probably remember more things from my trip later that I forgot to write about, but until then, bye for now! Strasbourg this weekend and Bordeaux the next!!

Mara (!), Chartres, and Back to School

The day after I got back from Bruges, Mara came in from England!! Her train didn't get in until kind of late, and it was seriously the longest day ever. When it finally got here it was all I could do not to do the cheesy movie run-across-the-station to greet her haha. It was soooo good to see someone from home. Mara insisted on buying Metro tickets, which turned out to be a good thing because the first time we got of the train, there were controllers at the exit scanning everyone's tickets to make sure you had them. I've never seen that before, and probably never will again, but good thing she didn't want to break the law like I did lol. We got Nutella crepes (since *somebody* had already eaten dinner on the train) and walked around the city, and then sat down by the Seine near Notre Dame for a while. The next morning we got up and got croissants from the bakery around the corner and headed to the Catacombs. It was just as awesome this time, and kind of better because my heart rate was a lot lower this time since I knew what to expect. There was one point where the ceiling was dripping a lot of water, and I didn't want to get wet so I got out my umbrella and walked through. I was kind of laughing at myself and at the ridiculousness of it, but who knows what's dripping from the ceiling really far underground with a bunch of piles of bones. Mara loved it, which apparently people back in England thought was weird since it's a bunch of bones in piles underground. Awesome? Creepy? You be the judge. After that, we headed to the Marais to get our falafel. I don't know why I don't go to that place for lunch every single day because it's amaaaaazzziinggggg. Like seriously. I could eat 10 a day and not get sick of them. After walking around there for a while we headed up to Montmartre to see Sacre-Coeur. On the way, we passed Rue Nicolas Flamel, French writer and alchemist. I about had a heart attack it was one of the coolest things I've seen here yet. If you think that's sad, you're obviously not a HP fan and we might not be able to be friends anymore. But anyway, Montmartre is probably the shadiest area of Paris I've seen yet. The church was beautiful, and we got our workout in climbing the stairs up to it (man, there are a lot of stairs). Plus, the view of the city from up there was amazing. Also when we got to the top there were two people with guitars playing Free Falling. So random. There were a ton of kids there, though, who were begging and trying to get tourists to sign their petitions. I always feel bad when I ignore them, but then when they really get in your way and don't let you pass I don't feel as bad. After that we decided to walk down to the Moulin Rouge just to see it. I can't even tell you how many sex shops we passed on the way. It was sooo seedy. I can't imagine there's any real competition between any of them, either, because there are just so many. I wondered two things about them: 1. how do any of them stay in business? and 2. how can there possibly be a need for that many sex shops? The Moulin Rouge was less than impressive, too. And Christian wasn't there waiting for me so that was disappointing.

After Sacre-Coeur we went to Ile St.-Louis and got Amorino gelato, and I swear I could eat that every day and not get sick of it. We had been walking a ton so we just sat by the Seine and talked again for awhile. We then went on a macaron search, which took surprisingly long. And they weren't as good as the gelato. Maybe we just didn't find good ones. I shall try again soon haha. At that point we had walked all over the city and climbed so many stairs and taken the Metro sooo many times all we wanted to do was shower and just chill. We came back to Montrouge and got groceries to make dinner. Bibiane was like, "So, big plans? Going out tonight?" And now she probably thinks my friends are just as lame as me for wanting to just stay in and eat delicious pasta and watch movies. Oh well, now she knows I'm not the only one lol. After dinner we were hanging out in my room and all of a sudden the bed, like, collapsed out of nowhere. It turned out the slats had just slid off the part that holds them up, but it was sooo funny. The next morning Mara's train was leaving kind of early so we got up and headed to the train station. They announced something about her train and we didn't hear it, so I asked someone in really bad French (it had been a week since I had used it) and he just responded in English.... It was just that her train was leaving from the first floor, which the sign said within the next two minutes anyway. I headed back home and as I was walking through the neighborhood I saw meat being delivered to the boucherie. Like huge almost-whole cows. Nasty.

The next day, we had our excursion to Chartres. We all met at the train station at 9am, but it wasn't too bad this time because the station was actually on my Metro line and only a few stops away. I realized I had been in a train station 5/7 days that week. On the train, some of the kids were talking sooo loud and pretty much the whole car was staring at us, it was kind of embarrassing. I don't think they realized they were being that loud because it's probably a normal volume in the States haha. When we got to Chartres it was freezing and rainy like Amboise. We went to a stained glass museum and learned how they make the windows, which was pretty cool but kind of boring. I was almost falling asleep during the presentation. We learned that the windows tell a story that you read from bottom to top, left to right. We also saw a cool modern stained glass exhibit. After that, we got lunch in the town, and then we had our tour of Notre Dame de Chartres. They're in the process of restoring it, so the oldest stained glass windows weren't there. But the part above the altar was totally redone and it was beautiful. It was all white and gold and sooo bright compared to the rest of the cathedral. I guess it's going to take about 5 or 6 more years to complete the restoration, but just to see what it's going to look like is reason enough for me to come back then. Our guide was this 76-year-old British man named Malcolm Miller, and he has been studying the cathedral for over 50 years. Apparently all of his tours are unique and different because there is just so much to talk about. We got the "history and the stories behind some of the stained glass windows" tour. Guess who knew the date of Charlemagne's coronation? :) He told us so many cool random facts, including the origins of a bunch of words so I was totally geeking out. Like the word "bank" for example. Bankers used to have benches they would work from, and the word for bench was pronounced "bonk" (not sure on the spelling, maybe just "banque" like in French). So the word for bench became the word for bank. Also, "bankrupt" technically means "broken bench" because when the banker was dishonest or something the other bankers would break his bench so he was out of work. ("rupt" like rupture). So interesting!! Also, apparently in the Bible it never says that the Forbidden Fruit was an apple, but the word for "apple" and the word for "evil" are the same in Latin (malum) (in Italian it's male=evil and male=apple) so apples just became the forbidden fruit. So fascinating I couldn't even handle it. He told us so much more, but I won't bore you because I've been told that things like this aren't as exciting for everyone else as they are for me haha. We made it back to Paris even though there were more strikes. And I held onto my wallet this time, so it was an all-around good day :) When I got home I was exhausted so I just made some dinner and passed out.

The next day (this is Sunday now) was Guillemette's birthday, so the family was here for lunch. Which was amazing. We had gratin dauphinoise, which is basically potatoes with cheese and cream and probably going to give me a heart attack but ohhhh man are they good. My mom used to make them all the time, too, (Bibiane's recipe!) so it was like being home. We also had beef fondue which I'd never had before and was amazing. Then we had a salad course (to lighten up the meal apparently), and then a strawberry tart. I just about died it was so delicious. I think I took a nap after that. Lunch was actually really entertaining, though. I'm starting to follow conversations a little bit better, but it's really hard because everyone talks over each other and talks really fast. But I'm working on it! Some of the gifts were little gag gifts, too, like it was her 30th birthday and Antoine had a huge road sign with the number 3o and a big red line through it which was funny. For dinner I just made myself a really small salad haha.

Monday was the first day back to school and it was rough. Waking up early and heading out into the freezing rain was not fun. It was SO cold. Class wasn't as bad as I was expecting it to be. We did a listening exercise and I actually got one of the answers totally right! I'm starting to feel a little bit more comfortable every day. Finally. That night, I watched a movie totally in French with no subtitles and I think I got most of it. It was kind of a really violent movie, though. On Tuesday I watched Friends in French, and it was totally weird. Still funny, but the voices were a little off. Janice was nowhere near annoying enough. Wednesday I had 7 hours of class it was ridiculous. French was good. We listened to an Edith Piaf song (so good!) and had to try and figure out some of the lyrics, which was really hard. Then I had my first conversation group. There were only two other students and the teacher, but it was really nice to just practice speaking. My art class was awful as always. That class is so useless I can't even handle it. And sometimes the teacher just disappears for like 30 minutes, I guess yesterday she was making copies, but shouldn't she do that before she gets to class? Next week they're going to the Musée D'Orsay, which I'm bummed I won't be able to go, but stoked I'll be in London :) Last night I watched the news and amazed myself at how hard I was focusing. I think I figured most of it out, too. I'm finally getting better! lol. Took long enough. I went to bed early again, and I think one of my dreams was in French! Exciting. Today is another super rainy day, so I'll most likely be inside for a lot of it because it's also 39 degrees outside. No thanks. They did start putting up Christmas decorations around the city, so I'm really excited for the lights to come on and everything. I think that's all for now. Only 6 more weeks of this crazy adventure. I hope it stops raining before then.

Bruges

This is a very long post. You've been warned. Enjoy!

So the other night I discovered it's very hard to make small talk in a language you can't speak. I found this out at Agathe's birthday party. I was downstairs for a little while, and no one was talking to me and I couldn't start talking to anyone or join in any conversations, so I was just awkwardly sitting there getting a headache from the smoke. Also, when I tried to start talking to someone and asked them to speak slowly, they all quickly lost interest.... I decided to just make dinner and go back up to my room. That was also awkward because everyone was in the kitchen, but when I had tried to make dinner earlier Bibiane was using the kitchen so I couldn't. My stomach also hurt so I just wanted to lay down. The music was SO loud, and my room smelled AWFUL from all the smoke. I left the window open all night. I tried going to bed around 12 because I had to get up and go to the train station, but I didn't get to sleep until 4:30 it was horrible. I wanted to kill whoever invented bass. I had my noise canceling headphones OVER my earplugs, and I could still hear what song was playing. Also, random people kept opening the door to my room, which doesn't lock. Kind of unsettling. I woke up early the next day anyway, before my alarm. I took a shower to wash off the smoke, plus as kind of a last hurrah because I wasn't planning on showering in the hostel in Bruges. The house was pretty clean already, but the white stairs up to my room were all black and sticky it was pretty gross. It looks like they enjoyed my cake, though, it was totally destroyed.

On the Métro on the way to the train station this little girl sat across from me and kept hitting me with her feet that were hanging over the edge of the chair. Her dad kept moving her legs so they wouldn't hit me, but she kept moving them back. Every time she hit me we would kind of stare each other down it was kind of funny. I got to the train station in plenty of time, and found a grocery store to get lunch for the ride. It was a super sketch grocery store, but it was really cheap so I wasn't complaining. The train ride wasn't too bad. I just listened to music the whole way and tried to sleep. When I got into Bruges I figured out the bus station and headed towards the city. I didn't realize I didn't even know what language they speak there (Dutch). But everyone speaks English, anyway, a fact they seem to be very proud of. All the people there are really nice and very helpful and speak amazing English and French, even some Italian and Spanish! Quite impressive. They can just switch around between them so easily. Jealous haha. I found the hostel pretty easily even though I had written down the wrong address. I wound up at this old lady's house a few doors down; she was very confused. Turns out the hostel even has a sign out front, but that's me and my powers of observation for ya. Oops. I checked in and went up to the room. It was pretty decent I guess, a lot like camp. I also had to go through another room to get to mine, so that was kind of awkward. It's a pretty quiet and chill place, though, even with the bar and music playing downstairs. I met another kid in my room who had actually been on the same train. He's at the end of his two month backpacking adventure. We ended up sticking together for the weekend. It was awesome to find someone else to see the city with. I definitely ended up doing more than I would have on my own I think. We just walked around that first night. There is a beautiful park pretty close by and all the trees were changing color and it was amazing. The buildings are cool, too. Apparently some are not as old as people want you to think, but a lot of them are. Very medieval looking. We went to the top of the concert hall and saw part of an art exhibit located in 5 places around the city. Then we walked around some more and got dinner at this little restaurant near the main square. It was 3 euros for a huge bowl of spaghetti. Awesome. The soda cost half as much as the meal. Ridiculous. It was super filling though and delicious. Then we walked around a lot more to walk off dinner, and then, we got waffles. Real Belgian waffles. Holy moly they were good. They're not breakfast there, you get them for dessert with powdered sugar and toppings. I got chocolate and David got caramel and both were amazing. I'm glad we walked so much because I plan on eating many more of those. The city is so beautiful at night. I wish my pictures did it justice, but they just can't. It seems like a really mellow town: lots of old people and horse-drawn characters and stuff. I think it was a good choice for a city to go to alone. We went back to the hostel bar, and these people had brought their dogs in who were barking like crazy. Very strange. I decided to branch out again, and joined a group of girls playing Taboo. It was the British version, though, so we didn't know what some of the things were. Then, these Irish people at another table came over and invited us to play cards. We played Egyptian Ratscrew and then BS which was interesting because the deck was all jacked up. For example, there were eleven 10s and five kings, plus it was missing a bunch of other cards. For the first time, you could put down 5 cards and not be "cheating" (aka using strategy...Bri). Also, you could BS a person for putting down 4 cards, which you would never do otherwise. I came in a solid 3rd place...with my 5 kings. Also it was a French deck so the king had an R on it, the queen had a D, and the jack had a V. I only knew king was R for roi. I guess queen is D for dame, and jack is V for valet? When we all first saw the face cards we were really confused. Also Ace was just 1. I went to bed around midnight and slept pretty well. I'm really glad I brought my own pillow case, but everything else seemed pretty clean, except the comforter which I was careful to wrap in the sheet I hope they washed well. It was really quiet, too, given that the music was bumpin downstairs in the bar. I only woke up when the other people in the room came in and turned the light on. Also they guy in the bunk above me apparently seizes in his sleep, because I woke up to the bed shaking a couple times. He also snored. But it was still quieter than the bass so I wasn't complaining, and I had earplugs that worked this time.

The next day, I woke up around 8:30. Breakfast was pretty decent. Pretty sure they gave us the 65¢ corn flakes, but I had those and some toast and it was good. They also had mini things of Speculoos spread like those mini jelly or peanut butter things. I guess it is Belgian. Then we headed out for the day. A lot of the stuff we wanted to see wasn't open yet or was closed for the day because it was Monday (a lot of museums are closed Monday) and a holiday (All Saint's Day...not really even sure what that's for). We decided to do the canal tour first. It was amazing. It was beautiful, and still sunny and kind of warm. Our guide was a cute old man who was quite the character. It was cool to hear some of the history of the city, like how one bridge has three kind of layers, each built in a different century. Also, there is a row of seven houses, each built in a different building style. There used to be a window tax, too, so rich people would pay more because they had bigger houses and therefore bigger windows, so some of the windows in some of the buildings are sealed shut so they rich people wouldn't have to pay for them. There are also tons of swans and ducks in the canals. Our guide told us "Duck à l'orange" is a French "delicatessen." I think he meant delicacy. There was also the cutest old dog just chillin with its head and front paws out a window over the canal. He was just sleeping there it was adorable. I tried to capture everything in pictures, but the boat was going so fast it was hard to get decent shots. I think I got a few, though. Hopefully. After that, we went to the City Hall, which is a museum, too. For 1 euro we got tickets and audioguides. Basically we got a very detailed history of Belgium and the Dutch. Flashbacks to AP Euro. One painting was funny because it looked like the head of one of the people had been painted on a different piece of canvas. Turns out, the artist did most of the work in his workshop in Italy, but the face was done on location I guess and then brought back and attached to the main painting. Upstairs was a beautiful Gothic room, but you couldn't take pictures, so of course I snapped a few. Then we went back to the church that had been having mass earlier to see a Michelangelo statue (one of the few outside of Italy). On the way we passed a parade...not sure what it was for, but there was a marching band and a few people following them. Kind of bizarre. The church was pretty, but I'm also glad it was free. Then we went to the French fry museum and learned all about the history of potatoes and fries. Turns out there are like 4000 different types, and they used to be really small. We learned how they're grown and what nutritional qualities they have, etc. The plant itself is actually really poisonous. And although invented in Belgium (supposedly, but a fact they are very proud of), they are called French fries because during WWI some Belgians gave some to some Americans, and the Americans thought the Belgians were French so called them French fries. America fail. The traditional topping there is mayonnaise, but I couldn't bring myself to just dip fried food into mayonnaise and eat it. I'm sure it's good, but I stuck to ketchup. Which I also learned is most likely based off a Japanese sauce called "ke' tsiep" that the Americans tweaked a little bit. The fries were frickin good. After the Friet Museum we went to the church that has a vial of blood that supposedly came from Christ...not sure I believe that one. I felt really uncomfortable as the two priests came out carrying this ornate vial filled with blood and then put it on the altar and started talking about how it "wasn't a tourist attraction, it's an expression of faith." Then you could, for a small "donation," go up and touch the vial. We didn't. Jews and idol/object worship don't mix. Especially when Christ is involved. It was a very strange and semi-unpleasant experience. I don't think it should be on the list of touristy things to do if they don't want tourists in there. I'm guessing they actually do, though, because they probably make a lot of money.

Anyways, after the creepy church, we went to the local brewery for a tour. I hadn't been planning on doing this, but thanks to a lot of the museums being closed we decided to do it. It was actually pretty cool and really interesting. Our guide was awesome. She had a really dry sense of humor and half the time I wasn't sure if we should be laughing, but that made it that much better haha. Among other things, I learned that hops is related to cannabis, which I guess is kind of like caffeine being related to cocaine. Also I learned that Belgians are very proud of their beer and take it very seriously. The laws there don't regulate what you can put in your beer like in some other countries, so they infuse it with a ton of random flavors. They used to use it to preserve fruit, so they have fruity beer. One brewery started making banana beer and chocolate beer, but apparently that was just a capitalist move/tourist trap. Our guide warned us against it. We also got an amazing view of the city from the roof. Getting around inside was kind of tricky. There were a lot of really steep staircases and really small doors we had to squeeze through, but everyone made it. The malt kind of made it smell like the pet food aisle at the store, and it tasted like it, too, lol. At the end of the tour we got a glass of the beer they brew there, which was OK, but I think I just really don't like beer. After the brewery tour we headed back to the hostel and met another kid from Australia named Matt. We all went out to dinner, and the restaurant played the most random music ever. It changed from Simply Red to Shania Twain to Bridge Over Troubled Water to that song from Miss Congeniality. So random. After dinner we got waffles with whipped cream this time. Soooo freaking good. One of the guys in the restaurant where we got the waffles was really adamant about me sitting down while we were waiting two minutes for the waffles. And then he grabbed my camera and started taking pictures of all of us with our waffles and tried to convince us to come to breakfast at his restaurant the next day. We left pretty quickly after that.


The next day, we got up early again and rented bikes and tried to find a castle I had read about online. It was a little off the map we had, so we had to kind of guess. It was nice to bike around instead of walk, but we got wayyy lost. First we made a wrong turn and went the wrong way for a while, and on the bike back towards where we had turned the wind was against us so it was really hard to pedal that way. Then we thought we were on the right street, but basically we saw the industrial side of Bruges plus a landfill (mainly bicycles). Not very scenic. We went even farther that way and didn't see any castles, so biked all the way back against the wind again. Also a ton of HUGE trucks kept driving by, spraying us with "water." I was glad I was going home that night to my shower. Then we decided to look for a different castle that was on our map because we decided the one we had been looking for had been demolished. A nice man directed us the right way, but we didn't find that one either. We did find a lake and a very muddy bike trail, though. Oh well, can't say we didn't try. Then we headed back towards the city to find the windmills, which we did successfully. We biked up to one of them, and I thought my bike was going to collapse under the strain of having to go uphill. I gracefully got off the bike and slipped and almost fell down the super steep hill. Close call. And typical. When you've seen one windmill, I think you've seen them all, so that path got old pretty fast. We biked towards the Jerusalem Church and Lace Museum, but we decided we'd seen enough churches and couldn't find the museum. Then we got lunch at a place with "Flemish cuisine" apparently. We both got the plate of the day, which was pumpkin mashed potatoes and a cheeseburger. It was basically bright orange mashed potatoes and a patty, sans bun, covered in gravy. Also it was pork. Apparently there was cheese in there somewhere. It was good, though, just not what I was expecting when we ordered a "cheeseburger" haha. We got back on the bikes and headed for the chocolate museum. It was pretty interesting, like the French fry museum, and we saw the ChocObama. I renamed him that because it sounded better than just "Chocolate Obama," kind of like "Dunder Mifflinfinity" We missed the demo but got to taste the chocolates. Delicious. Obviously. Then we went to the van Eyck and Dürer expo. Pretty much, it was countless depictions of Jesus being crucified and pictures of the Madonna and Child. Got old pretty fast. After, we went to the Hospitaalmuseum, which was pretty cool. I guess they used to have the hospital beds in there, but they don't anymore. They did have two "ambulances" though. Little carts two guys would put people in and carry around. Upstairs, there another one of those modern art exhibits. Think Macy's Day Parade balloons. Now picture a giant hairy man version of one of those balloons. Now picture that...ahem, well-endowed...man-balloon in his birthday suit. And that was the exhibit. That upstairs room used to be where the nuns lived before the convent was built. I thought it was appropriate. Then we went to get our amazing ice cream topped waffles, which may have been the best yet. They were actually freshly cooked instead of just reheated like the other ones. The batter was sooo thick, more like cookie dough than waffle batter. Definitely learning how to make those back in the States. After, I bought some chocolates to bring back to Paris. And while they are delicious I'm not sure it was the best idea because I'm having self-control issues haha. We walked our bikes back to the hostel because at this point we were so sore we could hardly even walk. Those bike seats were less than comfortable, and every successive time we sat down it was more and more painful. It didn't help that the entire city has cobblestone roads, and are therefore incredibly bumpy. We got dinner at the grocery store and made it in the hostel kitchen. I got soup which was mostly broth but was also only a few euros. I also got Sprite in a blue bottle (!) but I seemed to be the only one who thought that was cool haha. Then we walked to the train station and I thought it would be a good idea to run across three lanes of traffic going opposite ways, but we all need a little excitement in our lives I guess. We said goodbye and I started the long journey back to Paris. Two hour-long trains, one hour-long layover, and one Métro ride later, I was finally home and in the amazing shower. I hope David made it back to the hostel OK. I navigated pretty much the whole trip and once we were literally standing across the street from it and he was like "OK boss, where are we?" I was like, "Um...."

So that concludes Bruges, congratulations to those of you who made it to the end of this post. It was 10 pages in my Moleskine, so I tried to leave out some stuff that wasn't important (you're probably thinking, "Wow what the heck did she cut?") But as a reward for getting here, if you mention this post, I will make you the best version of Belgian waffles as I can when I get home :)

Who's Reading This, Anyway?

Yesterday I tried to organize a trip to the Sewer Museum, but after changing the time to accommodate more people, I ended up there by myself. Also, I accidentally forgot one girl could come and I never went to the Métro stop where everyone was supposed to meet, so we didn't get to meet up. My bad. I walked all the way there (and back). Four miles each way. The museum was pretty cool. There was a weird smell, though, and it was kind of muggy down there so I wasn't a huge fan. I think it would have been more interesting if I was more interested in engineering. Also the English translations were pretty bad, but it was funny. The French sewer system is quite complex. There are so many different facets that have been improved and perfected over the years. And apparently there are fish in the Seine. Even though you can't see an inch under the water. It was also kind of gross to see what used to be done with the waste. It went from "tout à la rue" to "tout à l'égout" which means, from all in the street to all in the sewer. It sounds better/rhymes in French haha. There were also these giant balls they used to clean the sewers, which I thought were kind of funny. I still think the most interesting part about the sewers is the Victor Hugo aspect. In Les Mis he pretty much documented the entire sewer system (cut out from the version we all read). I did feel a little like Jean Valjean going through, too. But it smelled a little bit better and I wasn't hiding from the cops. When I got home I was exhausted and starving, so I did my homework, watched some TV, and went to bed. I've been walking to school, too, which hasn't been horrible. It was kind of cold on Monday morning, but today it was pretty nice. Also, on Monday, I found 5 euros in the street. I was like, "oh karma, you think you're soooo funny...." I also saw the biggest dog I have ever seen. It was literally a giant wolf. On all fours it was well above its owner's waist. I'm sure if it stood on its hind legs it would definitely be taller than me. It was kind of like a blend between Sirius's Animagus and Lupin as a werewolf but grey and even bigger. I was so mad I didn't bring my camera that day. Now I'm at school, getting through these last few days before break. Hopefully Bruges happens and if not it's OK because Mara is coming on Wednesday and it's going to be great. I'm also watching The Rocky Horror Glee Show between my classes and Glee really does make everything better. I was smiling like an idiot in the cafeteria haha.
 
In my art class, we had a sub. She was completely clad in purple, it was absurd. Pants, shirt, coat, scarf, even her bag. We went, yup, you guessed it, to the SAME MUSEUM WE WENT TO LAST WEEK. I snuck onto the bus because I still don't have a pass. Also, it turns out that I did my homework wrong from the week before. We were supposed to do it on paintings in one certain room, but I thought we could use any of them. But I used paintings we were supposed to write about this week. Oops, hopefully my teacher doesn't know the museum by heart. This teacher was a little more interesting than our normal one. She took us through the part of the museum that had to do with the French Revolution. They have a mini-Bastille that was carved out of an actual piece of the real Bastille--pretty cool. After class, I started walking towards where our cooking class was for that night. On the way, I got sooo hungry so I got a sandwich and scarfed it in about two seconds. I also got tortilla chips and funny dinosaur shaped gummy snacks haha. Excellent meal. I got to the Cordon Bleu really early because I just walked straight from class, so I found random WiFi and watched some TV sitting on a ledge outside an apartment building lol. The class was pretty fun, I was just exhausted. Also I will never ever be able to make what the chef did (he also didn't follow the recipe at all). It was delicious, though. We only got to taste it, which might have been worse than not getting to try it because we all just wanted more. Even though they didn't give us real forks. (What the heck is that thing?)Also, they put guinea fowl in a blender and then through a mesh thing to make it even finer, and it was called "forcemeat," but we all thought they were saying "horse meat" and having a panic attack. We figured it out, though, which was good because I wasn't going to eat it otherwise. Even if horse meat is "sweet, rich, lean, and soft" according to Bones. No thanks. After the class, I squeezed onto the Metro with the other girls, and then got interrogated about my germ issues when I didn't sit down like I always don't haha. I've decided I think I need therapy.

Today I didn't really do a lot, but my new debit card came so things are looking up! I was able to get my train tickets and reserve my hostel for Bruges this weekend. What better way to spend Halloween than in a Medieval city? Stoked. Hopefully all the trains work and the hostel isn't horrible. Last day of class tomorrow before vacation. Picking up my tickets and also hopefully buying a new wallet. Also, found out we're going to a France vs. England soccer game while we're in London, so that will be awesome :)

Finally, I saw my blog had 37 hits yesterday, and it's been getting that traffic pretty consistently. From what I can tell, not very many of my friends actually read this, so I was wondering who does. If you could just leave a quick comment or somehow let me know, that would be awesome!! Just want to get an idea of who actually reads this thing :)