An American in France: A Cliché Story

March 2011: The day after I returned from Croatia, I was off again to visit Celine in Belgium!

That's how far I got into writing my blog about visiting Celine in Belgium which is sad, because it was such a great trip! I didn't get around to writing it because I was having such a good time in Paris.

Now, all the details are a little fuzzy, but I'll do my best.

Sasa and I met at the eurolines station to catch our bus to Brussels. It was a pretty uneventful ride and we met Celine upon our arrival! Aw, snap. All the days are mixed up to me. Anyway, we go to Leuven, the town where Celine studies and lives during the week. We decided to check out this really cute cafe place where everything is kind of DIY. For instance, we order orange juice and they brought all the material we needed to do it ourselves. Kind of a lot of work, but rewarding!! It was a neat concept. .

The next day we went to Ghent to visit Lise-Marie! She met us at the train station and we started our tour around the city. It's such a cute place with lots of restaurants and shopping and old buildings to see. One of the more interesting routes was walking through the sex district and seeing ladies in windows. It's just in the city and people can walk on by with their children or whatever. Very strange for me. Very disturbing too. But, they're used to it. We had some lunch while we were there and then stopped for some Krieks, a style of Belgian beer with a cherry flavor. At some point, it really started to rain and we hiked back to Lise-Marie's apartment.

After saying goodbye to our excellent tourguide, we took the train to Neerpelt, where Celine's family lives. Her family was extremely welcoming and put me and Sasa up in Celine's brother's, Jacob, room. Thank you, Jacob! Celine's family has a really beautiful house that they practically built themselves. Very very cool.

We spent the next day exploring the cute little town. We saw when Celine works and the park (which was a lot of fun). We walked along the river's edge and had a lovely dinner with her family. The next day, I was sad to leave, but it was off to Bruges for the day! I really love Bruges..it's soooo adorable. I could have spent a lot more time there. We had lunch and walked around. Celine and I went on a Brewery tour while Sasa roamed around. Sasa tried all the pastries and we had a good time!

That night, we returned to Leuven with all the other students coming back to school from their weekend at home. It was a parade of students with luggage and I kind of felt like I was part of the crowd with my travel bag. Very cool.

Totally off topic, I definitely had french fries almost every day I was in Belgium and boy were they delicious!!!! Especially with the mayonnaise they have there!!!

The next day, we took our final walk through Leuven to the train station so we could make our way to Brussels to head back to Paris. We spent a good majority of the day in Brussels. Even though it was my second time in Brussels, I felt as though I had a pretty good grasp on where things were. I remembered the instrument museum and the Grand Place were.

I had a really tasty veggie sandwich and wondered why Paris didn't make any like the ones I had in Brussels. This time I did see something new. I saw the Manneken Pis.

Finally, it was time to go. I was sad because I had become so attached to Belgium in such a short period of time. Well, it may have been au revoir for the time being, but I have a feeling Belgium and I will reunite again one day...especially as long as Miss Celine Baeten is there!

Résidence de Saint-Cloud, I miss you.

La Défense, I miss you.

Versailles, I miss you.

Paris, tu me manques.

This week, we have another guest blogger, Dusty Ross.

We had to catch the first train out of Saint Cloud at 5 am. I actually went to bed early so that I would be well rested. I am lucky I woke up on time. I set 3 alarms on my watch for 3:40, 3:45, and 3:50 am and I didn’t hear a single one of them because I had my earplugs in. Luckily I woke up at 4:05 am. It was sweet Laura, Nicoletta, and Maria all came by to wish me bon voyage! I can’t believe Laura is leaving already. She is such a sweet girl and I am sad to see her go. I really only have 2 weeks left in Paris. I don’t head back to the states for a month and 1/2 but I will be in Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Belgium, Italy and Greece the rest of the time.

Once we got to the airport I discovered the handle of my bag almost keeps it from fitting in the little crate that they use to measure your bag to make sure it will fit in the overhead bin. Luckily it fit! But it JUST fit. I think I will borrow a slightly smaller bag for the remainder of my trips just to make sure I don’t run into any issues. It would have been expensive to check my bag...I think it’s something like 50€! I am excited to experience a new culture and see a new part of Europe. I am so appreciative that I am getting to see so much of the world.

When we arrived we wandered around the neighborhood our hostel is in. We ate lunch at a little restaurant and Rashaun and I shared seafood paella. Sounds good, huh? Think again. It was a greasy soupy mess. Definitely need to find some better paella. We then went to the Barceloneta beach. It’s cool they have water fountains all over the city so we were able to fill up our water bottles all the time. Paris could use some more of these. The strand and the ocean were beautiful. I will say there were a ton of vendors walking by every 5 seconds shouting “Massage?” “Coconut?” “Beer?” “Scarf?”. It was annoying to the max. But I enjoyed my margarita I got from a bar/hut on the beach. The water was freezing but the sun was warm, the breeze was perfect, and my toes were in the sand...so there were no complaints from me.

We left and headed over the the Poble Espanya. We decided not to go in and walked to the top of the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya instead. The view was perfect. We headed back early since we had been up since 4 am. We decided to cook nachos for dinner and grab some groceries so we didn’t have to eat out as much. The nachos were pretty tasty. We had cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, black beans, and avocado. All it was missing was salsa. But it was still good. We played some scrabble and had a glass of wine. It was a relaxing way to spend the evening. Rashaun and I even made it out to the patio to chat it up with a couple Brits and a Oregoner. Jeremy, from Jamaica who lives in England, introduced us to this awesome fruit called soursop. It kind of looks like a big avocado with bigger divots (sometimes they have spikes)and it’s kind of a cross between a banana and a pineapple. It was yummy.

The next day we decided to see some sites that Molly picked out. I have to say I am really impressed with her choices. First we went by the Casa Batlló. We waited in line for about 20 min and found out the tickets were more expensive than we thought they were going to be so we decided not to go in and we walked over to the University of Barcelona instead. The campus was beautiful. They had a pond with coy that was surrounded by orange trees. They were calling for bad weather and we have totally lucked out with lots of sun. But it had drizzled a bit earlier so we grabbed a dry covered bench in the garden of the uni and had a picnic. Next we walked down the La Rambla, which is this great area to walk through. There were so many vendors and the streets were bustling with people. We randomly stumbled upon a huge market and we decided to wander through. There was every fruit, vegetable, fish, meat, and cheese you could imagine. I would love to have one of these wherever I live.

Next we went to Barri Gòtic, which is one of the older historic districts. This was probably one of my favorite areas. There was a beautiful cathedral and tons of cute little shops, balconies covered in plants and flowers galore, street musicians, and street tango dancers. I found a beautiful scarf in one of the shops and decided to splurge. We are on such a tight budget but I just had to have it. We were trying to figure out how to get to the Picasso Museum and with Molly’s superb directional sense we stumbled right into it. There was a girl playing the violin in roller blades outside the museum. She was really good. The museum was cool. It was neat to see so much of Picasso’s work organized chronologically. He had such an exciting and productive life even if he was promiscuous...ha ha. Of course pictures weren’t allowed and of course I snuck a few. But don’t worry...I didn’t use a flash...so no harm no foul.

We decided to go back to beach. On the way we walked past the marina. There was this amazing group playing sax, bass, guitar, and some other instruments. They were great performers. There was a guy in a girl’s one piece bathing suit that did a little dance for the crowd. We never figured out why but we imagined it was for a bachelor party. It was hilarious nonetheless. When we got down the the beach we were glad there weren’t any vendors. But there was a group of guys in thongs. One even had the Borat bathing suit on. Not quite sure what all that was about but it seemed like they were having fun. We left and went to Montjuric, which had amazing views. We then headed down to catch the fountain light show. It was pretty. We missed a lot of the show but the part we saw was neat. We got back to the hostel and ordered some pizza. We had a glass of wine with some of the other guy’s in the hostel. This hostel is very different from Edinburgh’s. The people are nice but not as interactive. I’m hoping Porto will be more like Edinburgh.

Our last day in Barcelona was by far the most perfect even if there were a couple bumps in the road. We started out by going to Park Güell. The park was designed by Antoni Gaudí. It was absolutely amazing. We had to hike up a huge hill on the backside of the park, which had panoramic views of the city. We then walked down and looked at the Casa Mila where Gaudi lived at one point. There was this really cool colonnaded footpath under the roadway viaduc that made fro some cute photo ops. We worked our way down and Rashaun and I found some really cute earrings for just 2€ each. We then walked down the other side of the park where there was tons of tile work...any ceramist’s dream!

Next we stopped for some falafel and fries for a cheap quick lunch. It was delish! We then walked over the the Sagrada Familia. It was cool. But we decided not to go inside. It is a bit much. And my friend Jessica Turner said that Casa Batlló was better. So we walked over to Casa Batlló. This was by far my favorite! I am glad Rashaun and I decided to go. The building has no straight lines and tons of tile, glass, and beautiful fluid plaster, arches that look like bones or ribs...if I could live in any house in the world...it would be this one. But I would want it to be in Lauterbrunnen...and I would want Switzerland to be located next to NC and OR cram in South Africa and New Zealand and I would be set...ha ha.

Afterwards we headed over to our Spanish cooking class. It was supposed to start at 6 pm but didn’t actually start until 6:30. Our flight for Porto was at 11 pm. So we knew we were cutting it close but we all really wanted to go to the cooking class. The other 10 people in the class were great. There was Rachel from New Zealand, Daniela from Austria, Shannon, Chyvonne, and Candice from British Columbia-Canada, a couple people from Germany, a guy from France, and the 3 of us. So we had a nice mix of people. The chef brought out a plate with toast, manchego chesse, tomatoes, olive oil, spicy paprika, and olives. We made our own Catalonian tapas and it was totes yummy! They also had 2 other potato tapas dishes. Then the chef showed us how to make paella. And the bartender told us how to make sangria. We also had a discussion about the new use of the word “totes” in the US and Canada...being in France we are missing out on the development of popular slang...ha ha. Totes hilarious. Ha ha. We left right at 8:30 pm and went back to the hostel to get our luggage.

We grabbed our bags and then caught the train towards the airport and everything would have been timed perfectly had we known that the 2nd train we needed to take only runs every 30 min. We got to the airport at 10:30. We home alone style ran through the airport. We did not see anyone at the Ryanair desk where we HAD to get our passports checked to even board the plane. We got to security and they had just closed 2 min before. They did not speak English but we understood that they were NOT going to let us in. I started to cry and this angel came around the corner and told the guards to let us in. We waited in the line for about 5 min. super excited that we were going to make our plane (and I was a little nervous that my bag might not fit in the Ryanair crate) and when we got to the desk they wouldn’t let us on! They told us we had to run back to the other side of the airport because we HAD to get our passports stamped. We almost admitted defeat as we were trying to figure out where to go. We found a police officer who didn’t speak English but understood the stamping signal we were making on our tickets and he let us back downstairs to the checkin area. We ran all the way back down to the desk, my flip flops flew off and I dropped my pencil, but then lo and behold we found the itty bitty Ryanair check-in desk by the entrance to the train station. I dropped my bag in the middle of the airport and just ran towards the check-in. Molly followed suit and Rashaun was close behind. We got our silly stamps and turned around and grabbed our bags and then we then ran all the way back, threw our bags on the conveyor belt and ran through security AGAIN (this time they just let us through) and we literally ran on the plane right as they were closing the door. This probably worked to our advantage because although my bag fit the Easyjet crate I later found out that my bag in no way shape or form will fit in the Ryanair crate. Thank you sweet Baby Jesus for letting us catch our plane!

We arrived and were happy to be in Porto! We took a bus to the stop that was supposed to be 2 min from our hostel. But the bus driver couldn’t take us all the way to our stop because there was some kind of event going on. There were tons of young people in black capes. It looked like Harry Potter world and we were on our way to Hogwarts. Molly asked one of the kids why they were dressed up (after she asked if anyone knew where our hostel was). No one knew where our hostel was and the they explained that the costumes were to celebrate school and that it is their uniform. We were still completely confused. Luckily this awesome girl from Poland who was on erasamus walked us through the massive crowd of black capes straight to our hostel.

After some successful googling and wikepediaing I discovered that this week long tradition is called Queima das Fitas. During the parade through the city, different year students wear and play different parts:

THE GRADUATES (the last year students) wear top-hats and

walking-canes, both the colour of their Faculty

THE SOPHOMORES wear the traditional costume with their

capes fully crossed

THE FRESHMAN (who after being greeted by the Mayor become

sophomores) wear funny/silly outfits (usually with carnival

props related to baby-costumes) the same colour as their

Faculty

They then sing songs as loud as they can, do some sort of group dances, usually get hazed a little bit, and when they get to the Town Hall have to crawl on their hands and feet to walk by the Mayor. The graduates wack each other on the tops of their top hats with their canes. At one point I even saw some kind of ritual where a student laid her cape on the ground and she and another student stood on either side of the cape and dumped a bottle of water across the cape on the ground. It was a really interesting tradition. And it was a neat thing to see when entering the city.

We were in for another surprise. May 1st is Labor Day and everything is closed. We wandered the city hunting for a grocery or a restaurant that had non-meat options. After no success we settled on a McDonald’s, which Rashaun was very excited about! You can take the girl out of America but you can’t take America out of the girl : ) I was excited to just eat ha ha. We had not had food for almost 20 hours...so I was a little hungry. So far the city is super cute. There are lots of buildings with tile on the facades and everyone seems friendly. I figured since it is rainy and everything is closed that this would be a good time to finish my homework. After some quality homework time we went to look for some dinner. Most everything was still closed of course but we found a restaurant that looked promising. Boy were we wrong. None of us liked the pasta that we were brought. It was too saucy, greasy, and smelled awful. They also brought bread, butter, cheese, and tuna pate to the table...none of which we asked for and all of which we were charged for. They also charged us for an extra basket of bread that we didn’t ask for and didn’t eat. Not to mention the service was not good. They basically seemed annoyed that we were there. But c’est la vie. Better luck next time.

We decided to head to the beach since it was Molly’s b-day and so pretty outside. Molly was sung happy birthday at midnight by Rashaun, a little later by me, and by the staff and other hostel guests at breakfast. It was turning out to be an awesome day and it had just started. We were told the nicer beaches were a little further south. We met a cool guy from the UK, Asim, who came with us to the beach. We took the bus...but it took us to the Porto beach, which was north. So we rode the bus back and caught a train to Miramar. The beach was amazingly beautiful. We had the most perfect time wandering about. Asim suggested we grab lunch at the restaurant on the beach. The windows were open and the breeze was blowing. The food and service were phenomenal. Molly and I both had salmon, Rashaun had this flaky yummy looking croissant pot pie chicken thing, and Asim had prawns with bacon that was served on this cool shish-kabob skewer AND the same salmon dish as Molly and I. He was a champion eater. They even brought Molly out a chocolate mousse and sang happy birthday in Portuguese. We went back to the hostel and got ready to go out for the evening. Rashaun did a great job with Molly’s hair. We met up with another cool guy from South Africa, Jason. He came out with us to see the Dom Luis Bridge and we grabbed a drink. We ran into some French guys that were really cool who were in town for the b-boy competition. Molly was so excited. She got to practice more French with them than she has the entire time she has been in France. They said her accent was perfect. I am so glad Molly had a good birthday. And I am so glad that Molly, Rashuan, and I made this trip together. We made memories that will make me smile for many years to come.

Our last full day in Porto was wonderful. We climbed to the top of Riberia to see panoramic view of the city. We also went on a port tour at the Croft cellar, which was free. Next was a lazy boat ride down the Douro River. That night we went out to see the big parade for Queima das Fitas. It was bananas. We headed out with a Londoner, German, 2 Belgians, and an Australian. I have to say one of my favorite things about hostels is that all of the people are traveling and open to experience new things with people they have just met. The parade was such a sight to see. The students do all of these dances and there is tons of music and they chant sayings with the other students of their university/faculty/grade. In the morning we went by the Porto Photography Museum. The building used to be an old prison. The photo exhibit they had there that showed a lot of the buildings in Porto and the surrounding areas. It was really cool.

I have to say I am so glad we came to Porto. It has been amazing. The people, the food, the atmosphere, the beach, have all been great. The big Queima das Fitas parade was on our last night and everyone filled the streets. It was madness. There were soooooo many people. I am so glad we got to experience this tradition. I am also glad that we had such a perfect trip.

I am a little bit behind on my blog writing. OK. A lot a bit behind.

Here we go! So, March 13th-16th was my mini-vacation with Chet. He had arrived in Zagreb a day earlier than me and spent the night in a hostel. On Sunday, I flew into Zagreb's airport and took a bus from the airport into the city center for 40 kuna. I got to the bus station about an hour earlier than planned. So, I sat on the steps and observed the people. Croatian's have a certain look in their face. I find it difficult to describe but it is distinct. Finally Chet appeared at the bus station!! After a quick lunch snack for him, we boarded a bus to go to Plitvice Lakes National Park. The journey there was really beautiful. We saw a lot of cute towns and one that looked like it came straight out of Zelda! Finally, we arrived at our bus station in the middle of nowhere. We walked a very short distance to the bed&breakfast we were staying at. The lady who lived there was extremely nice and had a wonderful spread of foods for breakfast. She was the perfect amount of conversation and privacy. We put our stuff up and I took a shower. Afterward, we decided to walk a round a bit and get a good feel for where we were and where the restaurants were. We ended up hiking to the top of a hill and looking down on one of the lakes that we'd be visiting the next day. Just to let you guys know, there is practically nothing going on in this town. It was sparse. It was obviously made to accommodate many tourists but because we were there in off-season it was a ghost town. For dinner, we ate at the only restaurant open, a pizzeria. I am partial to the Funghi (we had to eat there two nights in a row because it was the only place around).

The next day we ate breakfast and the husband of the family drove us to the entrance of the park. There were literally 30 people in the park. I felt like we had the whole park to ourselves. We didn't have to worry about going faster or letting people get around us. Perfect. The park itself is beautiful. I was worried that because of the time of year, it wouldn't hold all the charm it is said to have but it was the opposite. Some of the water was still frozen and there was snow here and there. We went the main route towards the waterfall, walking on planks of wood without railings (so un-American) right above the water. At the waterfall, there was a steep path to the left that was supposed to provide a really amazing view. We began hiking the stairs but soon realized they were quite dangerous and covered in ice (you can kind of see these stairs in the photo of me with the park...they weave pack and forth). Again, there were no railings. But, after some struggling, we persevered and were afforded several really great views as a reward for our adventure up the slope. Unfortunately, it started raining pretty heavily at this point and we were forced to find refuge. We sat under a little fort with an Asian guy that didn't seem interested in having anything to do with us. We let him have his way. After the rain let up, Chet tried to convince me that there was a restaurant around. He failed because the restaurant was NOT at all open. We started to worry about what we were going to eat. We spent some more time in the park--discovering vases and stairs. It was wonderful.

Eventually, our hunger got the best of us and we exited the park. There was a sign saying that the National Restaurant was across the street so we decided to give it a shot. It smelled delicious the first second we walk in. They were cooking everything on an open wood-burning stove in the middle of the restaurant. Even though it was designed to cater to large amounts of tourists, we made up the fourth full table in the entire place and it was still cozy. We had some drinks (Ožujsko, of course) and then I order the potatoes baked under a clay bell and a rice dish. It was quite nice. Then, the husband came to pick us up from the park. Chet showered and we hung out and then decided to go to dinner at the same pizzeria place. That evening we played UNO, haha. We decided that in the morning, we'd wake up very early and catch the 6:52 bus back to Zagreb so we could have the entire day to explore.

The next morning, we woke up early and had our breakfast. The lady seemed to be rushing us, but we didn't know why because we had time. We brushed our teeth and made our way to the bus stop ten minutes early..only to watch our bus pull away. It was pretty awful. The next bus wasn't until 10:30 or something like that. Poor Chet was distraught. He wanted to go back to the B&B and admit defeat, but I suggested a walk on the nature path to the park instead. He consented and it was actually a REALLY NICE walk. The weather was great and we could see the park even though we weren't in it. Eventually, we even made it to the park entrance and that's when it dawned on Chet that the scheduled time of arrival on the chart was probably for the main entrance and not for our particular bus stop. Whoops! So, after our walk we ended up killing two more hours waiting on the next bus by talking. Finally, we decided to wait at the bus stop. I found waiting extremely humorous because the cars kept coming around a bend and Chet kept getting his hopes up like a little boy. The bus actually ended up being 20 minutes late which put us in panic mode originally, but we finally got on the bus and made our way towards Zagreb.

Upon arriving in Zagreb again, we walked to the hotel, checked-in, and dropped off our luggage. We went exploring after that and saw the old town. We walk through the park and I convinced Chet to forgo a nice lunch and to have a picnic with me since the weather was so nice. The picnic was delicious..mmm. We continued to walk around and see the sights (the Stone Gate, the Cathedral, Jelacic Square, etc.) We had a drink at a restaurant on a pedestrian road and watched people for a long while which was a lot of fun. Then we wandered around and ended up at St. Mark's Church which is quite striking. After that it was an early dinner and walking back to the hotel. The next day was sad and Chet walked me to the bus station. On the way, we stopped at a market and picked up some delicious pastries for breakfast. Then we said goodbye and I said goodbye to Croatia. I would like to go back one day because I think there is so much more to see!

Stay tuned for Belgium trip...

I've accepted that I will never fully comprehend the French and their culture. Admitting this to myself has just made it easier to enjoy and explore Paris. There's no denying that it is beautiful!

Last Thursday, I went to a little recital in Saint-Cloud at the German Music Conservatory by myself. It really stirred up a lot of emotions and was cool to be on the community inside. The day after was March 4th, Chet and my 2 year anniversary. We stayed in and had a date night on skype. Saturday, I went to visit Tim in Montmatre who was visiting from Strasbourg. I met some of him friends and we wandered around for a while. Sunday, Dusty's aunt and uncle were here and we visited Fontainebleau which was really beautiful.

During the week, I read and worked on my presentation. I also went on a date with Maritina to see We Want Sex Equality at Les Trois Pierrots. I ended up missing my first class on Thursday because the train was supprimé due to a fatal passenger accident. I made it to my second class where we got back our exams from last week and I gave a presentation on Chartism. My grade on the exam was out of this world. I made a 19/20 which is really unheard of in France. I was shocked. It definitely gave me motivation and courage to give my presentation which I felt went well. Yesterday evening, Nicoletta, Maritina, Maria, and I went out for a drink in Paris. We met up with Sasa and some of her friends, but we eventually split ways. The original four of us sat in a bistro in Odeon and nursed our drinks and chatted. It was a nice evening.

Today, I woke up early and went to the Saint-Cloud market to get some vegetables so I could have dinner tonight. I then convinced Laura and Dusty to go to this restaurant with me for lunch which I've been wanting to try called Chez Gladines. It's reachable by Place d'Italie metro station and is known for its hearty but cheap menu. Dusty and I split a salad which was like 8,50 and we were both stuffed after eating it. Laura could barely even manage half of her dish. It was obviously a very popular location because it was super crowded and it took us a while to get a table.

Tonight, I will pack and clean before I leave tomorrow morning for Croatia!! I'm meeting Chet at the bus station and then we are going to Plitvice for two nights before returning to Zagreb for a day. I cannot wait! Hopefully it'll be relaxing.

I'll return on Wednesday and then be off on Thursday again to visit Celine. Got to keep myself busy so I don't panic about graduate school!
Toooodleooo.