Hello blog! Nothing much has gone on since we've arrived in Montpellier. The drive here was pretty hectic, though. Between my mom's re-learning stickshift, my difficulty understanding how to operate the French GPS, and the frequent speed-cameras situated on the highway, we didn't have much time to relax. Plus, the night before, we all slept horribly. Once we got there, we pretty much chilled (or tried to chill) in our new apartment, where there are only 3 beds and 2 bedrooms. Plus, there's no AC: the only way to keep the place cool is to open up the windows, which means waking up to these really, really weird noises that I think are some birds fighting outside. I think they could be seagulls, but I'm not entirely sure. I guess the pluses are that we have a space that's bigger than our closet of a hotel room in Paris, and that the beach is just a five-to-ten minute walk away. I've spoken to a few people here, and they're all really surprised that I'm American, because apparently, Americans are too lazy to actually learn to speak the language here: the stereotype does exist after all! So yeah, that's pretty much all that's happened since my last post. Then again, I have no idea where my last post left off: there's no WiFi here, and I'm composing this post in OpenOffice until we go park in front of the visitor's center and hijack theirs, because my mom has no shame whatsoever. Next post should come by whenever my mom feels the need for internet again. Until then!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Recap Part 2
So after Nice got boring, we pretty much just hung out a lot. The last day with my family was interesting to say the least, it was the France vs. Mexico game and everyone was really interested. Or so I thought.
The football game was simply a façade to allow the kids to drink to their hearts content, something that left me rather (._.), for lack of a better word. I was watching them as they finished their first glass of beer, upon which they moved onto a bottle of rosé, and then another beer after that. Looking through their photo album of that night, it's fairly clear when they started to get drunk because they all began taking pictures of random road signs, climbing up these respective road signs, and singing/screaming at the top of their lungs. This was all while going through several cartons of cigarettes, of course. Needless to say, it was a little surprising, but once again, it's a different country, and they were really having a good time. That said, I didn't join in for fear of expulsion, so I was branded the evening party pooper. Once weighing this against being expelled, however, I thought my integrity was fairly intact.
So after that crazy night, we all slept over at the same house, and waking up a bunch of hungover teenagers was, not surprisingly, fairly difficult, especially at 8h00. We drove to the train station, said our fairwells, and I got back on the TGV to go to Paris. Which was, ironically, the longest train ride I have ever taken: While we were out having fun, a storm had rolled in over Marseilles, which is directly between Paris and Cannes. A flood destroyed a great portion of the region, and while they were able to clear off one of the train tracks in time for our departure, there were terrific electrical problems during our voyage. We started off at a decent clip, but once we hit the flooded region, we inched along at what seemed like 5-10 mph. We eventually came to a halt, upon which the conductor told us that there was a problem with the electricity that would necessitate disconnecting power from the railways. For the next hour, the lights in the train were limited to the aisles and one ceiling light out of 5, and no air conditioning of any kind. By the time the grid was fixed, we were all very eager to get underway, and cheered when we saw the countryside begin to pass before our eyes again.
After a bit, we hit a stretch of TGV track that let us cruise along at the usual 200 mph; TGV track is different from normal track because it's smoother, allowing the train to travel at a faster clip. So there we were, moving right along, until we discovered that the train in front of us had hit a goat, and that the SNCF crew had to clean up the resulting mess. So the train stopped once again, and we sat, waiting, for several hours more. At last, the train advanced!... for 50 yards, then stopped again. The conductor went on the loudspeaker to tell us all that, in hitting the goat, the train in front of us had thrown a bolt and would need to be repaired on the tracks. More waiting. Thoughts of walking back. After all, we were only an hour away from Paris. It'd have to be faster than repairing a 300-yard-long high-speed train, right? We never found out, because we eventually got moving again and arrived in Paris 4 hours late. We had sat on that train for 10 hours, which is 3 hours longer than the time it took for me to fly from New York to Paris. We almost missed our reservation for the restaurant on the Eiffel Tower, but thankfully we were able to get there only 10 minutes late. We would have gone to the Musée d'Orsay, but the 3 hours it would have taken were consumed by the obnoxious train delay. So we settled with dinner on the Eiffel Tower, poor us, and got back to our hotel at about 1am.
The next day, I got myself ready by about 7:30, which was, apparently, 30 minutes before a receptionist would show up at my parent's hotel. While I was a bit irritated for waking up earlier than I had to, Mr. Barrs was absolutely panicked, because this meant that he'd have to find a way to get me to my parent's hotel before he got to the airport, which would have had to have been at 8h45. Thankfully, we figured out that my dad was on his way from the hotel, and that he'd be arriving at around 9h00. So I went back to the hotel with my dad, and I spent my first day in Paris without a friend, which really wasn't fun at all, because all my family wanted to do was sleep, and I kept having fleeting thoughts of re-finding Mr. Barrs and my school group at the hotel, only to realize that they were on a plane headed for Chicago. So I've pretty much been relaxing since then. Pretty much. One of my Saint Louis friends is on a tour through Europe, so the 20th and 21st we've been hanging out. After she left, we checked out the Fête de la Musique (Music Festival) of Paris, in which anyone gets out on any street corner and plays an instrument, no matter how good or bad they are. I've found that this can be both good and bad. We went with some friends of friends, the Bottes, and they were really friendly. I hope that we'll be able to meet up again when we return to Paris, although it'll probably be a bit busier considering it's the school year and all. We'll see.
So that's my entire recap! Well, I've abridged it a bit, but for brevity's sake I figured it'd be better that way. We're headed off to Montpellier tomorrow, we're getting a taxi to take us out to the dealership where we'll be picking up the car that our mom bought for our stay. I still really wish that we could live here. I just love the subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences between American and French culture. Maybe I'll get to live here when I'm older. Who knows.
The football game was simply a façade to allow the kids to drink to their hearts content, something that left me rather (._.), for lack of a better word. I was watching them as they finished their first glass of beer, upon which they moved onto a bottle of rosé, and then another beer after that. Looking through their photo album of that night, it's fairly clear when they started to get drunk because they all began taking pictures of random road signs, climbing up these respective road signs, and singing/screaming at the top of their lungs. This was all while going through several cartons of cigarettes, of course. Needless to say, it was a little surprising, but once again, it's a different country, and they were really having a good time. That said, I didn't join in for fear of expulsion, so I was branded the evening party pooper. Once weighing this against being expelled, however, I thought my integrity was fairly intact.
So after that crazy night, we all slept over at the same house, and waking up a bunch of hungover teenagers was, not surprisingly, fairly difficult, especially at 8h00. We drove to the train station, said our fairwells, and I got back on the TGV to go to Paris. Which was, ironically, the longest train ride I have ever taken: While we were out having fun, a storm had rolled in over Marseilles, which is directly between Paris and Cannes. A flood destroyed a great portion of the region, and while they were able to clear off one of the train tracks in time for our departure, there were terrific electrical problems during our voyage. We started off at a decent clip, but once we hit the flooded region, we inched along at what seemed like 5-10 mph. We eventually came to a halt, upon which the conductor told us that there was a problem with the electricity that would necessitate disconnecting power from the railways. For the next hour, the lights in the train were limited to the aisles and one ceiling light out of 5, and no air conditioning of any kind. By the time the grid was fixed, we were all very eager to get underway, and cheered when we saw the countryside begin to pass before our eyes again.
After a bit, we hit a stretch of TGV track that let us cruise along at the usual 200 mph; TGV track is different from normal track because it's smoother, allowing the train to travel at a faster clip. So there we were, moving right along, until we discovered that the train in front of us had hit a goat, and that the SNCF crew had to clean up the resulting mess. So the train stopped once again, and we sat, waiting, for several hours more. At last, the train advanced!... for 50 yards, then stopped again. The conductor went on the loudspeaker to tell us all that, in hitting the goat, the train in front of us had thrown a bolt and would need to be repaired on the tracks. More waiting. Thoughts of walking back. After all, we were only an hour away from Paris. It'd have to be faster than repairing a 300-yard-long high-speed train, right? We never found out, because we eventually got moving again and arrived in Paris 4 hours late. We had sat on that train for 10 hours, which is 3 hours longer than the time it took for me to fly from New York to Paris. We almost missed our reservation for the restaurant on the Eiffel Tower, but thankfully we were able to get there only 10 minutes late. We would have gone to the Musée d'Orsay, but the 3 hours it would have taken were consumed by the obnoxious train delay. So we settled with dinner on the Eiffel Tower, poor us, and got back to our hotel at about 1am.
The next day, I got myself ready by about 7:30, which was, apparently, 30 minutes before a receptionist would show up at my parent's hotel. While I was a bit irritated for waking up earlier than I had to, Mr. Barrs was absolutely panicked, because this meant that he'd have to find a way to get me to my parent's hotel before he got to the airport, which would have had to have been at 8h45. Thankfully, we figured out that my dad was on his way from the hotel, and that he'd be arriving at around 9h00. So I went back to the hotel with my dad, and I spent my first day in Paris without a friend, which really wasn't fun at all, because all my family wanted to do was sleep, and I kept having fleeting thoughts of re-finding Mr. Barrs and my school group at the hotel, only to realize that they were on a plane headed for Chicago. So I've pretty much been relaxing since then. Pretty much. One of my Saint Louis friends is on a tour through Europe, so the 20th and 21st we've been hanging out. After she left, we checked out the Fête de la Musique (Music Festival) of Paris, in which anyone gets out on any street corner and plays an instrument, no matter how good or bad they are. I've found that this can be both good and bad. We went with some friends of friends, the Bottes, and they were really friendly. I hope that we'll be able to meet up again when we return to Paris, although it'll probably be a bit busier considering it's the school year and all. We'll see.
So that's my entire recap! Well, I've abridged it a bit, but for brevity's sake I figured it'd be better that way. We're headed off to Montpellier tomorrow, we're getting a taxi to take us out to the dealership where we'll be picking up the car that our mom bought for our stay. I still really wish that we could live here. I just love the subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences between American and French culture. Maybe I'll get to live here when I'm older. Who knows.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Recap
So I realize that it's been a fair while since I last posted, and I just wanted to apologize profusely, both to whoever's reading this and myself, because I realize that I really need something to remember this experience and I'm not doing anyone any favors by putting this off. A lot of stuff has gone on since, and I really hope that I can remember enough, although I'm sure that I've forgotten plenty. I'll start off at the beginning and work my way back.
So last time I posted, it had been the first few days that I had gotten back. Now, my homestay is over and I'm in a one-star hotel that happens to be a block away from Notre-Dame. Which isn't all that bad, it's just ridiculously cramped. We'll be leaving the hotel for Montpellier on Wednesday, but I really wish that we could stay in Paris permanently. I like the beach and all, but I really love this city, and I can't wait for the school year to start so we can make our way back. But I digress. The day after I put up my last post, I went to my neighbor's school, because Nicolas had to study, so I didn't see much of his friends after that, except for Marion who was at his house once after that. So we went to her school, and we were about 30 minutes early. Everyone had stationed themselves facing the school across an intersection, smoking enough to replace at least three bonfires. It was charming. And also rather smelly. Noticing my extreme discomfort/asphyxiation (ironic that I'm typing this while listening to a song that's repeating "I can breathe again", it's French so I don't know the title. Whatever.), everyone proceeded to ask me if people smoked in America. I told them that young kids never smoked in public like this, and that it's very rare for people to smoke, and when they offered me a cigarette and I told them that I didn't smoke, they didn't believe me at all. One thing that I always have to tell myself here is that it's a different country. Just keep telling myself that, up until the point where they all tell me that ritual sacrificing of Americans is quite common, and that they'd need me to lay down on this bier for a brief moment.
So after the first day, which was somewhat uneventful and incredibly boring, we basically just toured around town, mainly to Nice. One day we went down to the Nice air show, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Nice's joining France, and it was really amazing. The only problem that I had was the fact that the announcer liked the sound of his voice a bit too much, and kept talking for at least an hour and a half after the show had actually finished. People were getting pretty angry at him, but he didn't seem to get the point. Anyways, Nice is absolutely beautiful. Old Nice is incredibly colorful, filled with lots of fruit, olive oil, and gelato stands, has a few beautiful cathedrals scattered here and there, and has an amazing view of a turquoise beach. A perfect place to live if you have a ridiculous amount of money, which I happen to not have. After going to Nice a lot, the weather got kind of crappy, so we stayed away from there given that it was pointless to enjoy the beach in stormy weather.
I have to wrap it up now, but I'll be adding more stuff tomorrow! It's almost midnight, so I need to get myself into bed. I'll add a part two later on. I realize that I can edit my posts, but for some reason I just prefer adding it in parts. Adds to the suspense, no? Because I'm sure the entire internet is reading my blog right now, anxious to hear what happens next. See you all tomorrow!
So last time I posted, it had been the first few days that I had gotten back. Now, my homestay is over and I'm in a one-star hotel that happens to be a block away from Notre-Dame. Which isn't all that bad, it's just ridiculously cramped. We'll be leaving the hotel for Montpellier on Wednesday, but I really wish that we could stay in Paris permanently. I like the beach and all, but I really love this city, and I can't wait for the school year to start so we can make our way back. But I digress. The day after I put up my last post, I went to my neighbor's school, because Nicolas had to study, so I didn't see much of his friends after that, except for Marion who was at his house once after that. So we went to her school, and we were about 30 minutes early. Everyone had stationed themselves facing the school across an intersection, smoking enough to replace at least three bonfires. It was charming. And also rather smelly. Noticing my extreme discomfort/asphyxiation (ironic that I'm typing this while listening to a song that's repeating "I can breathe again", it's French so I don't know the title. Whatever.), everyone proceeded to ask me if people smoked in America. I told them that young kids never smoked in public like this, and that it's very rare for people to smoke, and when they offered me a cigarette and I told them that I didn't smoke, they didn't believe me at all. One thing that I always have to tell myself here is that it's a different country. Just keep telling myself that, up until the point where they all tell me that ritual sacrificing of Americans is quite common, and that they'd need me to lay down on this bier for a brief moment.
So after the first day, which was somewhat uneventful and incredibly boring, we basically just toured around town, mainly to Nice. One day we went down to the Nice air show, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Nice's joining France, and it was really amazing. The only problem that I had was the fact that the announcer liked the sound of his voice a bit too much, and kept talking for at least an hour and a half after the show had actually finished. People were getting pretty angry at him, but he didn't seem to get the point. Anyways, Nice is absolutely beautiful. Old Nice is incredibly colorful, filled with lots of fruit, olive oil, and gelato stands, has a few beautiful cathedrals scattered here and there, and has an amazing view of a turquoise beach. A perfect place to live if you have a ridiculous amount of money, which I happen to not have. After going to Nice a lot, the weather got kind of crappy, so we stayed away from there given that it was pointless to enjoy the beach in stormy weather.
I have to wrap it up now, but I'll be adding more stuff tomorrow! It's almost midnight, so I need to get myself into bed. I'll add a part two later on. I realize that I can edit my posts, but for some reason I just prefer adding it in parts. Adds to the suspense, no? Because I'm sure the entire internet is reading my blog right now, anxious to hear what happens next. See you all tomorrow!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Homestay
So after a really long train ride with a bunch of screaming Americans, I got off the train. The train ride itself was pretty cool, it was like being in an airplane that was continuously taking off. Me and Gowri went to the bar upstairs and ate lunch, watching the entire French countryside pass before us. It was absolutely stunning. As if that weren't good enough, after we got off the train, I met my family, who lived in front of an amazing view of the "countryside"; apparently, it's not the countryside here. If this isn't the countryside, then I really want to see the countryside.
So after I met them, Nicolas decided to take me back home with his dad. He still has a learner's permit; in France you get it at 17. I felt kind of bad for him, they were all talking about how everyone wanted to be in the US so that they could get their licenses early. I told them that the food, fashion, and pretty much everything else was crap compared to here, and that if they went to the US, they'd have to wait until they were 21 to drink or 18 to smoke. Speaking of which, when I went to his school, everyone was smoking out front, and when I arrived at his house his sister was drinking a rather large glass of wine. Definitely different, but I'm keeping an open mind. I'm amazed that they let people make decisions such as whether they should be addicted to certain things before they do something as simple as driving, but I guess it's better to be addicted than dead. Whatever. I'm just being observant.
So I got to their house, pretty much just in time to unpack and eat dinner, I met his parents, who were very nice. There isn't much to do here when there isn't internet, though, although they have a gorgeous view outside their back windows. We talked with his neighbors, apparently one of the people from our group lives right next door, so we're pretty much all we have right now. Or at least, she's all I have, considering that I don't have a cell phone out here and my internet is restricted as per Nicolas' discretion. That being said, they're very nice people and I doubt that I'll have any problems, other than the obvious language barrier.
So, after I went to sleep, woke up, and got dressed the next day, we went to his high school to study for his BAC. It was fairly boring, but his friends were incredibly nice. I had no idea that cards were so popular here, but they really are, and I spent a fair amount of time playing cards with his friends. After about an hour of "President" (card game) at his high school, we played pictionary (in French) for about an hour, then went to his physics class, where I proceeded to be bored out of my mind until the teacher inadvertently spelled out "Fap" in a mathematical equation and I tried my hardest to keep myself from laughing. As soon as I told Nicolas what was wrong, he became extremely interested and wrote it down in his notebook with a star next to it. Look at me, teaching the French the intricacies of the English language. I ought to be ashamed, but it was pretty funny.
Then, after that, we ate lunch, which, for a public school cafeteria, was pretty good; I'd say it was better than some of the restaurants I've dined at. At that time, I learned that the letter I wrote to my family was filled with double-entedres, and that he thought it was so funny that he showed it to all of his neighbors. That was a little embarassing, but I was glad to have made him laugh so much with my terrible French. After all of that, we went to his friends house, a girl whose name I have completely forgotten. I think it's Marion, I'm just trying not to name her after some marinade or something. If I get it wrong, she'll have to sue me. It's my first week speaking legitimate French. So we went to her house, went swimming, where her and her boyfriend decided to start making out in the middle of the pool while me and Nicolas just sort of stared awkwardly at each other, which was great, and then we went back inside to play more "President."
Speaking of President, I forgot to spell out the rules. It's sort of like crazy eights mixed with BS; you put down cards in ascending order (you follow the standard order, except 2 is the best), whoever wins the hand serves next and can put down however many of a certain card they want (but they have to start out with small ones, so, for example, I would put down 3 3's, and everyone else would have to put down 3 of something as well. If not, then I win the hand, and I get to serve next.) Whoever finishes first is the President, second is the Vice-President, and then the last and second to last are Asshole and Vice-Asshole, respectively. I like how I understood that word. I felt a little guilty, but it actually turned out to be useful.
Anyways, after that, we went back to Nicolas' house, where we hung out with his neighbor, her respective buddy (from my group), and Nicolas, playing soccer, ping-pong, and billiards. Which was pretty cool. Then we ate dinner, which was also really good, and I'm going to go to the neighbor's school tomorrow because Nicolas has to study for the BAC, and I really don't want to. So right now he's sitting behind me on his bed, playing Guitar Hero, and I'm trying to use complicated words to keep him from understanding. But I'm probably being kind of mean, and he's a senior, so he can probably understand a great deal of what I'm saying. Nicolas, if you read this, bravo! You're ready to take your English exam, and I have to pack up and run away before you kill me. Bye!
So after I met them, Nicolas decided to take me back home with his dad. He still has a learner's permit; in France you get it at 17. I felt kind of bad for him, they were all talking about how everyone wanted to be in the US so that they could get their licenses early. I told them that the food, fashion, and pretty much everything else was crap compared to here, and that if they went to the US, they'd have to wait until they were 21 to drink or 18 to smoke. Speaking of which, when I went to his school, everyone was smoking out front, and when I arrived at his house his sister was drinking a rather large glass of wine. Definitely different, but I'm keeping an open mind. I'm amazed that they let people make decisions such as whether they should be addicted to certain things before they do something as simple as driving, but I guess it's better to be addicted than dead. Whatever. I'm just being observant.
So I got to their house, pretty much just in time to unpack and eat dinner, I met his parents, who were very nice. There isn't much to do here when there isn't internet, though, although they have a gorgeous view outside their back windows. We talked with his neighbors, apparently one of the people from our group lives right next door, so we're pretty much all we have right now. Or at least, she's all I have, considering that I don't have a cell phone out here and my internet is restricted as per Nicolas' discretion. That being said, they're very nice people and I doubt that I'll have any problems, other than the obvious language barrier.
So, after I went to sleep, woke up, and got dressed the next day, we went to his high school to study for his BAC. It was fairly boring, but his friends were incredibly nice. I had no idea that cards were so popular here, but they really are, and I spent a fair amount of time playing cards with his friends. After about an hour of "President" (card game) at his high school, we played pictionary (in French) for about an hour, then went to his physics class, where I proceeded to be bored out of my mind until the teacher inadvertently spelled out "Fap" in a mathematical equation and I tried my hardest to keep myself from laughing. As soon as I told Nicolas what was wrong, he became extremely interested and wrote it down in his notebook with a star next to it. Look at me, teaching the French the intricacies of the English language. I ought to be ashamed, but it was pretty funny.
Then, after that, we ate lunch, which, for a public school cafeteria, was pretty good; I'd say it was better than some of the restaurants I've dined at. At that time, I learned that the letter I wrote to my family was filled with double-entedres, and that he thought it was so funny that he showed it to all of his neighbors. That was a little embarassing, but I was glad to have made him laugh so much with my terrible French. After all of that, we went to his friends house, a girl whose name I have completely forgotten. I think it's Marion, I'm just trying not to name her after some marinade or something. If I get it wrong, she'll have to sue me. It's my first week speaking legitimate French. So we went to her house, went swimming, where her and her boyfriend decided to start making out in the middle of the pool while me and Nicolas just sort of stared awkwardly at each other, which was great, and then we went back inside to play more "President."
Speaking of President, I forgot to spell out the rules. It's sort of like crazy eights mixed with BS; you put down cards in ascending order (you follow the standard order, except 2 is the best), whoever wins the hand serves next and can put down however many of a certain card they want (but they have to start out with small ones, so, for example, I would put down 3 3's, and everyone else would have to put down 3 of something as well. If not, then I win the hand, and I get to serve next.) Whoever finishes first is the President, second is the Vice-President, and then the last and second to last are Asshole and Vice-Asshole, respectively. I like how I understood that word. I felt a little guilty, but it actually turned out to be useful.
Anyways, after that, we went back to Nicolas' house, where we hung out with his neighbor, her respective buddy (from my group), and Nicolas, playing soccer, ping-pong, and billiards. Which was pretty cool. Then we ate dinner, which was also really good, and I'm going to go to the neighbor's school tomorrow because Nicolas has to study for the BAC, and I really don't want to. So right now he's sitting behind me on his bed, playing Guitar Hero, and I'm trying to use complicated words to keep him from understanding. But I'm probably being kind of mean, and he's a senior, so he can probably understand a great deal of what I'm saying. Nicolas, if you read this, bravo! You're ready to take your English exam, and I have to pack up and run away before you kill me. Bye!
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
The Champs-Elysees
Today was so much fun, and so incredibly exhausting. We went to the catacombs (this computer won't let me upload photos because I can't connect my camera, I'll post them later) where there were literally walls made of bones. In the 19th century, there was a huge epidemic, and after the mass graves filled up, the people decided to fill up one of the excavated quarries below the city with the bodies. So there were layers upon layers of bone, and sign after sign that said things that translated to stuff like "at death, one allows everything". Really cool. Also, to add to the effect, there's a sign above the entrance to the ossuary that translated to "Stop! This is the house of the dead!" (It wasn't added for effect by the museum, either, the entrance was carved into the wall and had been there since its construction). After that, we went to a pizzeria for lunch, where the waiter nearly gave up because of the twenty loud Americans all shouting at him at once. But I digress. And insult myself. Moving on.
After all of this, we went on a scavenger hunt around the city to look for various things and take various pictures. The first one to came back won, and we made it back in time. Unfortunately, it also meant sprinting the entire way, and when we arrived, we realized that no one else had done the same, and that we could have relaxed and actually enjoyed ourselves. But at least we get a prize. Plus, we got to walk the Champs-Elysees all alone, which made me feel pretty damn cool. You know, just walking down to the Champs-Elysees with my friends. We also spotted out several bike rental stations (something totally foreign to me) and checked out the tiny cars. Anyways, I really felt proud because, when I wasn't with my friends, I could totally pass as a frenchman, and when I spoke French to them, they spoke it right back. When I was with my friends, though, they just spoke straight English, mostly because their cameras and obnoxious handbags screamed tourist. All in all, it was a great day, and even though this makes for a really short post, I'm too exhausted to write right now. I'll see if I can follow up tomorrow.
After all of this, we went on a scavenger hunt around the city to look for various things and take various pictures. The first one to came back won, and we made it back in time. Unfortunately, it also meant sprinting the entire way, and when we arrived, we realized that no one else had done the same, and that we could have relaxed and actually enjoyed ourselves. But at least we get a prize. Plus, we got to walk the Champs-Elysees all alone, which made me feel pretty damn cool. You know, just walking down to the Champs-Elysees with my friends. We also spotted out several bike rental stations (something totally foreign to me) and checked out the tiny cars. Anyways, I really felt proud because, when I wasn't with my friends, I could totally pass as a frenchman, and when I spoke French to them, they spoke it right back. When I was with my friends, though, they just spoke straight English, mostly because their cameras and obnoxious handbags screamed tourist. All in all, it was a great day, and even though this makes for a really short post, I'm too exhausted to write right now. I'll see if I can follow up tomorrow.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Blogging in Secret
So right now I'm at the ground floor of the hotel, it's about 6 in the morning over here, and I have some blogging to do before everyone else comes down for breakfast. Thanks to my handy-dandy voice recorder, I was able to record everything that went down between when I last posted and right now. Which is a fairly hefty amount, considering it was 3 days and I was awake about 75% of the time.
After waking up at 5:30 am, getting dressed, and getting to my gate, I noticed that the entire Saint Louis youth orchestra was on my flight to NYC, because apparently they had a performance in Carnegie Hall during the summer. So I took a deep breath and dealt with them all, and it wasn't so bad if you don't count the fact that they didn't listen to a word the flight attendant said, brought carry-ons that didn't fit, and brought a lot of carry-ons that did fit, so there wasn't any more room on the plane for anyone else's bags after the orchestra had boarded... I was probably just irritated because I was so tired. Which still hasn't got much better.
Upon arriving at the baggage claim in La Guardia, my aunt was there to meet me, and we went out to Coney Island where apparently there's a really cool carnival. And there was a really cool carnival, along with some AMAZING pizza. After chowing down, we checked out the ferris wheel, won a prize at one of those water-shootey-clowney thingies, and went to the beach, where, swim-suitless, we sat on a bench and ate funnel cake. Then, we fought our way throught the New York traffic to the JFK airport, where we literally waited for about 45 minutes to get my bags checked, and I was off to my gate.
Once I had gotten on the airplane, it didn't really get much better. There was a baby in the aisle next to me, and I only got about 2 hours of sleep, which took me through an entire day in Paris. Speaking of which, PARIS!! It was really nice to be in the place I had been preparing for so long to go to, but on the flip side, I was totally exhausted and it was 7:30 in the morning, so the entire day I was the most lethargic I had ever been. That said, we really enjoyed our dinner. The food was amazing, and there was an accordeonist who played for us!
So then we got to the hotel, I got in bed, absolutely collapsed, and woke up 5 hours later for some reason. And I'm still awake. Today should be better than yesterday, but it's likely that I'll still be really tired. I'm not entirely sure where we're going today, but I'll publish it whenever I can! I have my voice recorder handy, so hopefully I'll remember everything. Au revoir!
After waking up at 5:30 am, getting dressed, and getting to my gate, I noticed that the entire Saint Louis youth orchestra was on my flight to NYC, because apparently they had a performance in Carnegie Hall during the summer. So I took a deep breath and dealt with them all, and it wasn't so bad if you don't count the fact that they didn't listen to a word the flight attendant said, brought carry-ons that didn't fit, and brought a lot of carry-ons that did fit, so there wasn't any more room on the plane for anyone else's bags after the orchestra had boarded... I was probably just irritated because I was so tired. Which still hasn't got much better.
Upon arriving at the baggage claim in La Guardia, my aunt was there to meet me, and we went out to Coney Island where apparently there's a really cool carnival. And there was a really cool carnival, along with some AMAZING pizza. After chowing down, we checked out the ferris wheel, won a prize at one of those water-shootey-clowney thingies, and went to the beach, where, swim-suitless, we sat on a bench and ate funnel cake. Then, we fought our way throught the New York traffic to the JFK airport, where we literally waited for about 45 minutes to get my bags checked, and I was off to my gate.
Once I had gotten on the airplane, it didn't really get much better. There was a baby in the aisle next to me, and I only got about 2 hours of sleep, which took me through an entire day in Paris. Speaking of which, PARIS!! It was really nice to be in the place I had been preparing for so long to go to, but on the flip side, I was totally exhausted and it was 7:30 in the morning, so the entire day I was the most lethargic I had ever been. That said, we really enjoyed our dinner. The food was amazing, and there was an accordeonist who played for us!
So then we got to the hotel, I got in bed, absolutely collapsed, and woke up 5 hours later for some reason. And I'm still awake. Today should be better than yesterday, but it's likely that I'll still be really tired. I'm not entirely sure where we're going today, but I'll publish it whenever I can! I have my voice recorder handy, so hopefully I'll remember everything. Au revoir!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Continued from Last Post, and some other cool stuff too
So, thanks to my mom's scary ability to read text over my shoulder very quickly, I won't be bringing my computer. Owned. Instead, I'll just bring a voice recorder and type it down once I get my laptop back.
But that's boring compared to the news I'm about to disclose right now. There was a huge riot that went on in the Loop tonight that I was right in the middle of! At this time of night, gangs are usually out, and they were absolutely everywhere. It was a total flash crowd. They weren't buying anything, they were just looking around to see who they should pick a fight with. Suddenly, two groups on opposite sides of the street descend upon one another and start a huge brawl -- in the middle of the road! At first, it was just yelling, but it soon turned into fist fights, then chair throwing, then, before it could get to matters involving guns and knives, the police showed up. I had never been so happy -- or terrified -- in my life.
We had decided to go get ice cream, seeing as it was the last night I had in America before I left for 7 months, so we left our house and began walking down. Thankfully, we made the last minute decision of taking the dogs out for exercise. If it weren't for them, we would have been in significantly more trouble; for some reason the people there are absolutely terrified of dogs. Anyways, after the police showed up, they began yelling at everyone involved in the fight: "GET THE FUCK AGAINST THE WALL!" and "IF YOU TAKE ONE MORE STEP OVER HERE, YOU'RE GOING TO JAIL!!" I totally felt bad for them; last year, some guy randomly shot a police officer in the Loop for no reason whatsoever. Thankfully, though, he was caught in Kansas City for a moving violation, of all things, and I haven't heard of him since. They named the street in front of the police station after him, and every time I walk down to the Loop I'm reminded of how careful one needs to be in a city with this high a crime rate. But no longer! Because we'll be in Paris, where the crime manifests itself differently: pickpocketers and expensive wines. Still, what a great way to remember America.
That was my side of the story, it you were there, I'd really like to hear yours. Comment on this post!
But that's boring compared to the news I'm about to disclose right now. There was a huge riot that went on in the Loop tonight that I was right in the middle of! At this time of night, gangs are usually out, and they were absolutely everywhere. It was a total flash crowd. They weren't buying anything, they were just looking around to see who they should pick a fight with. Suddenly, two groups on opposite sides of the street descend upon one another and start a huge brawl -- in the middle of the road! At first, it was just yelling, but it soon turned into fist fights, then chair throwing, then, before it could get to matters involving guns and knives, the police showed up. I had never been so happy -- or terrified -- in my life.
We had decided to go get ice cream, seeing as it was the last night I had in America before I left for 7 months, so we left our house and began walking down. Thankfully, we made the last minute decision of taking the dogs out for exercise. If it weren't for them, we would have been in significantly more trouble; for some reason the people there are absolutely terrified of dogs. Anyways, after the police showed up, they began yelling at everyone involved in the fight: "GET THE FUCK AGAINST THE WALL!" and "IF YOU TAKE ONE MORE STEP OVER HERE, YOU'RE GOING TO JAIL!!" I totally felt bad for them; last year, some guy randomly shot a police officer in the Loop for no reason whatsoever. Thankfully, though, he was caught in Kansas City for a moving violation, of all things, and I haven't heard of him since. They named the street in front of the police station after him, and every time I walk down to the Loop I'm reminded of how careful one needs to be in a city with this high a crime rate. But no longer! Because we'll be in Paris, where the crime manifests itself differently: pickpocketers and expensive wines. Still, what a great way to remember America.
That was my side of the story, it you were there, I'd really like to hear yours. Comment on this post!
One Last Day
So I totally shouldn't be blogging right now, it's likely that my mom's going to come down, see me doing this, and slice my head off. But there are a few things that need to be said before I leave. First off, the network controller in my Eee died, in a sick twist of fate, so I won't be able to post anything until after the first week and a half of my time in France. I'm going to keep a series of blog posts on my computer, then upload a zip file to the blog once I get the internet part squared away. In another sick twist of fate, they decided to remove all of the CoinStars in all of the Schnuck's (supermarkets) in my area, so I don't have the money to buy another wifi card. It's almost as if God Himself were ordering me to not proceed with this. Being human, however, I'm going to test fate and ignore Him.
Second, I've gotten an email telling me who my family is. My "brother" is a guy named Nicolas Malpertuy (of course, they give me a guy whose name must be as difficult as possible to pronounce), and my mom is now behind me and I have to stop blogging. I'll follow up soon.
Second, I've gotten an email telling me who my family is. My "brother" is a guy named Nicolas Malpertuy (of course, they give me a guy whose name must be as difficult as possible to pronounce), and my mom is now behind me and I have to stop blogging. I'll follow up soon.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Final Stretch
So there are only three more days until I depart for France. In the three days that I have until then, I'm going to be doing a lot to prepare for my whole journey. From what I hear, the flight won't be so bad, because there will be in-flight movies, food, and I'll have my iPod and a bottle of sleep medication to help combat the jetlag that will no doubt ensue. It's the entire process of getting on and off these flights that really worries me.
First off, I have to wake up at about 6 in the morning to get on a flight to NYC that takes off at about 7:15. Okay, maybe I'll have to wake up a bit earlier, but you catch my drift. After that, I'll have a 6 hour layover, where I'll be free to do whatever for about 4 hours before I check in for the flight to Paris. We would have had a direct flight, but since the darn terrorists knocked down the World Trade Center, the Saint-Louis-based TWA went out of business in 2001, and it's been connecting flights ever since. I realize that I'm definitely not qualified to gripe and moan about the 9/11 atrocity, but it is a real hassle.
Anyways, after I've checked in 2 hours early as per some weird international law, I wait. A lot. And then I get on a plane for 15 hours and wait a lot some more. Once I'm in France, I'll have to go through customs, all alone, and wait for about an hour, when all of my classmates arrive for the official school French trip. The reason why I can't go on the same flight with them is because they all needed round-trip tickets, and, because I definitely wasn't leaving with them, I got a one-way ticket. So basically I'll be all by myself waiting while they're on the plane actually having some entertainment with one another. All I can do is pray that I won't be stuck between two fat or flatulent people. That'll be the kicker.
While the flight definitely won't be fun, I hope my family will be pretty cool. Apparently my "brother" is a kid named Nicolas, and it will take all of my willpower to keep myself from calling him Petit Nicolas. Because he may kick me out of his house. And that won't be fun.
If anyone's reading this, ask me for a few pictures! I'll be there during the Tour de France, so I can take cycling pictures as well, in case anyone's interested. All photos will be published to my Flickr page, which, if I remember correctly, has a widget feature that'll let me post a slideshow. I just hope I'll be able to blog while I'm with my family...
First off, I have to wake up at about 6 in the morning to get on a flight to NYC that takes off at about 7:15. Okay, maybe I'll have to wake up a bit earlier, but you catch my drift. After that, I'll have a 6 hour layover, where I'll be free to do whatever for about 4 hours before I check in for the flight to Paris. We would have had a direct flight, but since the darn terrorists knocked down the World Trade Center, the Saint-Louis-based TWA went out of business in 2001, and it's been connecting flights ever since. I realize that I'm definitely not qualified to gripe and moan about the 9/11 atrocity, but it is a real hassle.
Anyways, after I've checked in 2 hours early as per some weird international law, I wait. A lot. And then I get on a plane for 15 hours and wait a lot some more. Once I'm in France, I'll have to go through customs, all alone, and wait for about an hour, when all of my classmates arrive for the official school French trip. The reason why I can't go on the same flight with them is because they all needed round-trip tickets, and, because I definitely wasn't leaving with them, I got a one-way ticket. So basically I'll be all by myself waiting while they're on the plane actually having some entertainment with one another. All I can do is pray that I won't be stuck between two fat or flatulent people. That'll be the kicker.
While the flight definitely won't be fun, I hope my family will be pretty cool. Apparently my "brother" is a kid named Nicolas, and it will take all of my willpower to keep myself from calling him Petit Nicolas. Because he may kick me out of his house. And that won't be fun.
If anyone's reading this, ask me for a few pictures! I'll be there during the Tour de France, so I can take cycling pictures as well, in case anyone's interested. All photos will be published to my Flickr page, which, if I remember correctly, has a widget feature that'll let me post a slideshow. I just hope I'll be able to blog while I'm with my family...
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