Neuvieme/Diexieme semaine

Hey everyone!
Sorry, I haven’t written forever! Or, more like two weeks…I think. Anyway, I’ve obviously have been very busy and I had my petit vacances the other week as well, so that was a factor in the missing blog. Also, when I got back from vacances, I had to rattraper (catch up on) all my homework, including an 8 page dissertation! But now things are calming down (not by a lot) and I can write to you more leisurely…kinda. Hehe. So, let me catch you up on my life…shall we?

So, I think the last time I wrote you was the week right before vacation. Nothing much happened that week except for me trying to finish my dissertation (French gothic architecture on the Cathédrale Saint-Maurice d’Angers), which didn’t happen unfortunately…I really tried! Trust me! I also faintly remember going to SNCF-the train company here, to try and get all my tickets in order for my trip, including making a couple mistakes for my train in Switzerland, but then getting that cleared up. I also bought a winter coat (finally! I have been absolutely freezing here!) and some more sweaters (I was so afraid of the cold in Switzerland!). After class on Friday (I had my geography TD in the morning), I packed and got ready to leave. My uber nice French mom offered to drive me to the airport and so we left around 3. Unfortunately, I am the stupidest person in the world and forgot my Eurail pass and so we drove back to the house after I remembered about halfway there and I got it…I felt sooo bad! I kept apologizing endlessly!!! I am soo stupid! It was just that the vacation came up on me really quickly or else I would have had more time to organize all my plans…and ohhh…I felt sooo bad! Well, anyway, I got on my flight from Bordeaux to Geneva en Suisse and got there around 7:30pm.

Now, I was absolutely starving when I got there, not having eaten anything since noon and my baggage took a really long time to collect and soo….I missed my train from Geneva to Interlaken (most likely the result of me stopping to get something to eat…but I was so hungry and I knew I would arrive in Interlaken at 11pm where I was pretty sure nothing would be open…!), but yes…that was my downfall. Food. Boo. Anyway, I was really stressed and angry that I missed my train and thought I would have to sleep at the airport that night, but luckily, after explaining in exasperated French to the women at the ticket office, found out that there was another train I could take about 45 minutes later. So, I took that and rode for about 2 hours to Berne and then 3 hours from Berne to Interlaken. I got in after midnight, tired, cranky (having tried to do my music homework on the train ride but…that didn’t work out very well), hungry, and with my contacts very dry….also, slightly confused as I found that I had entered the German territory of Suisse and French would not help me much. Because it was so dark and I couldn’t really see because of my dry contacts, not to mention that I couldn’t pronounce half of the streets names on my googlemap because they were all 14-15 letters long and in German…I couldn’t find my hostel; I tried to find my way around but I couldn’t find any street signs…!

So, I walked into the only thing that was open with any sort of light on at the time and that happened to be a Best Western hotel restaurant. Inside, I found a really nice guy (half Filipino and half swiss!) who walked with me around the town, searching for my hostel with me. When we found it, I was enthralled…except, it was locked and all the lights were off and …yeah, there was no one home. Because my cell phone didn’t have network in Switzerland-it kinda had one in Geneva (only because I was so close to France I think), I couldn’t call them. I had warned them ahead of time that I would be coming around 11pm because that was when I thought my train would get in, but because I missed my train and had wandered around for a while, it was nearly 1am. So, the really nice worker and I walked back to the Best Western where he used his own cell phone to call the hostel, speak to the owner in German, and get him to open the hostel for me. He was soo nice! It made my night! Especially after I was so tired and hungry and exhausted from traveling…it was just nice to find someone who was this generous and kind. So, I got into my room finally and crashed.

Next morning, I met the people who were in the room with me. 2 Americans from Virginia, just having graduated from college and traveling around Europe for 2 months. We went down to breakfast together and then they left on their trip to go hike up a mountain. Now, I was supposed to meet my friends there originally, but plans didn’t work out and they wouldn’t come until that evening and I, unfortunately, would be leaving early the next morning for Geneva because that was where I flew out of. So, I was alone. Luckily, I introduced myself to a group of people who looked rather friendly at breakfast and they allowed me to hang out with them for the day. They were students at a hospitality school in Switzerland…2 from Singapore, 1 from Hong Kong, and the other from Indonesia. They were really nice and their English was great so we had no problems communicating. That day, we just walked around town (because it was their first day in Interlaken too) and shopped for souvenirs. Even though the main language was German, most people spoke English and in fact, really good English, so it wasn’t a problem. I tried to speak French to them (in order to keep my real immersion program feeling), but I could tell they weren’t comfortable with it all, so I guess English was a better bet. Anyway, my new friends decided to go to Lucerne in the afternoon after lunch and because it was too expensive for me (they had Swiss railpasses), I went to Lauterbrunnen instead. It was 18 francs roundtrip and I got to go into the Swiss Alps!! Well…not “up” and into….but more like, just “into.” See, to get some height, it costs a lot more…so I saw the Alps…from the bottom. But it was pretty cool…and there were pretty waterfalls! I walked around for nearly an hour and a half, going into the mist which, of course, kept moving away from me…but I got some really cool pictures and got to bond with the cows! I saw Swiss timbermen too! It was gorgeous and not that cold (just about as cold as Bordeaux…which actually, is pretty cold) and I saw the supposedly highest peak in Europe which had snow on it…so that was cool.

I returned to Interlaken in the afternoon, showered, packed, got food, and ended up watching Dr. Who on BBC in my hostel room which was now just me. Later that evening, 2 people from Taiwan came in and I talked with them for a while but went to bed early since I had an early train at 7am. Now, I totally could got have gotten more sleep if someone told me about the daylight savings time here in Europe, but no…since my phone didn’t have a network, my time didn’t change automatically and so I arrived at the train station at….6am, looking for my train which left a little after 7. However, it wasn’t a problem since there was another train heading to Berne and then to Geneva at that time and so I just took that and arrived in Geneva an hour earlier than expected, which wasn’t a bad thing.

Geneva was gorgeous and I had a really nice hostel which gave me a map and list of things to do as well as a free travel card that I could use to access all means of transportation (tram, bus, and even one train trip to the airport from the central train station). It was not bad traveling alone this time since I had a list of things to do…and so….I just did them. First, I walked to the jet d’eau, a huge shooting jet of water from the lake. Afterward, I walked around and found my way to the old part of Geneva and had some coffee at a small café outside the cathedral while I waited for it to open. After visiting the cathedral there, I had lunch at a restaurant nearby, and then went walking in the park to visit the Luther Reformation Wall. There was a huge life-size chess set there as well and it was cool to watch the intense old men playing chess and just kicking each others’ pieces aside. It was a gorgeous park as well and all the leaves that littered the very clean ground were brown and golden red…I really liked Geneva, especially in the Fall…and also because people speak French and not German and therefore, I can understand them…

I then took a bus back to the hostel and got into my room (I had to put it in luggage storage before because it wasn’t time to check in yet). After I got into my room, I took the tram to the Red Cross Museum and the United Nations building. I got half price tickets at the Red Cross Museum because of my hostel which was great since everything is so expensive in Geneva! After that I went to the downtown area to try and do some souvenir shopping but since it was Sunday, there wasn’t much around. That night, after I showered, I told myself that I had to get fondue for dinner since Samantha Brown of Passport to Europe on TravelChannel did that and therefore, I must do it too. So, I found the most inexpensive fondue I could for one person, (which was 24 francs) and got that for dinner. It was pretty sad eating fondue by myself, but it was really good (3 kinds of melted cheese with white wine) and I didn’t mind eating alone. I returned to the hostel and went to bed, ready to leave for my flight the next morning.

My flight was stupidly (yes, it was stupid) 40 minutes late and since I got them super early, like all international flights tell you to, I waited around staring at ads for watches until they announced my gate. All went well though and I got into ROME alright. Yes! 2 countries off my list…! I actually flew into Rome Ciampino and then took the metro into Rome, which was quite a confusing process since there is absolutely no information help around (people or machines) and also, I don’t speak Italian. But with the help of other confused English speaking travelers, I found my way into Rome and using my googlemaps, found my hostel. My friend from my program who was supposed to meet me in Rome was already waiting in the hostel and it was perfect timing that I arrived there only minutes after she had got back from walking around. We left straight away for the Coliseum after buying our Roma Passes (travel passes for 3 days on transportation and 2 attractions for free…a great deal actually!).

So Megan, my friend, and I saw the Coliseum…but didn’t get to go this time since it closes at 3:30! We walked around the Roman ruins though and went into one of the oldest churches in Rome (we think…oh gosh we were so bad at history!) and walked around more. Oh…so much walking. Then we walked up the main street back to our hostel in order to make it on time for dinner…we got free pasta dinners at the hostel! I picked a good hostel…so we had dinner and then went to visit the Trevi Fountain, went on a search for good gelato, and ran into the Pantheon (which we didn’t realize what it was until we saw the word Pantheon...it was more, “oh…this looks familiar. I wonder what it is…? Oh! It’s the Pantheon..! Go fig!”). The next day, we woke up early to head to the Vatican and see the Basilica. We tried to go see the Sistine Chapel but the line was extraordinarily long and it began to rain and we were unprepared, so we ran back to the hostel to get umbrellas. We went back to the Coliseum and saw that as well as the other Roman ruins, the Circus Maximus, and the walked around on the other side of the river. We found a cute restaurant to dine at and saw people filming an Italian movie! That night we stayed in and watched Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck’s Roman Holiday with girls from the hostel.

The next morning, another early rise, we went to try the Sistine Chapel again. The Pope was speaking that morning so there were a lot of crowds, but we hoped that would mean less people in the Sistine Chapel…not really. We ran through the Vatican Museum to the end, saw the beautiful artwork of Michelangelo and then went back through the museum leisurely. After that, we got a formal Italian lunch and then walked around. We found ourselves at the cool Castle di Sainte Angelo which was a mausoleum, a castle, fortress, opera house…and a bunch of other random things. It was enjoyable and we got in for free, which always makes it better. We then went on a search to find my Italian souvenirs and I had some amazing hot chocolate! OMG…hot chocolate in Italy is the best ever! It’s so thick! Like thick chocolate melted pudding….yummmm….anyway, I found some souvenirs, nothing for me though (I tried to bargain but I refused to pay more than 20 euros for at track jacket…so, yeah. That didn’t work. Lol.) Then we went to the Spanish Steps and another beautiful church. We found some more gelato after that and then returned to the hostel to shower and have dinner. It was Halloween and so some girls we met at the hostel and Megan and I went to a wine bar to celebrate. Italian wine is really good! Very different from French wine…more full bodied. Megan and I went our separate ways the next morning as my train left for Torino to go see my friend and she went to Florence.

My train ride was 6 hours long and I was in a compartment with a family in which the mom spoke French, the dad Italian, and the little 6 year old girl both. It was amazing to see the little girl distinguish between the two languages so perfectly…I was jealous. I wish I could be raised speaking Italian and French…! I tried to do my homework on the way, but it was a bit distracting in the car and I wasn’t in the most comfortable position. After I got to Torino, I met one of my best friends from high school who was studying there. It was a happy reunion! I stayed with her for the night and she showed me around Torino a bit, we got amazing gelato (as usual) and some good pizza as well! The next morning, we left together for Lyon in France for the Michael Bublé concert (of which we purchased tickets for in February). We checked into our hotel (after getting a bit lost finding it) and then went to go find the theatre and eat. We went back, showered, dressed, and left for the concert, extremely excited because…WE GOT TO MEET MICHAEL BUBLE!!! Sigh….it was amazing! Absolutely amazing. My friend, Alyssa, had won a contest and we got to meet him right before the show! We had a little trouble getting in since the box office messed up our tickets and only gave us the backstage passes and not the tickets, but after I explained ourselves (in French, bien sûr), we got in and sigh…got to meet him!!! EKK!! It was SOOO COOL! And I totally freaked out afterward…wish I could have gotten that on camera. But anyhow, the concert was absolutely PHENOMENAL!! Sooo good…no wonder his tickets were so expensive….but so worth it! No doubt! He puts on such an amazing performance! So much character and personality…gènial!

The next day we had to ourselves in Lyon and so we wandered around, tried to find the tourist office, found ourselves in old Lyon and found the Roman Ruins, amphitheatres and a really cool church (as well as many others). We ate baguettes and chevre (goat cheese) on the steps of the Palais de Justice and took the metro everywhere, getting confused where the entrances and exits were all the time (or just me, Alyssa was pretty good at it). That night, I met up with my friend from UCSD who is studying in Lyon doing the same EAP program I am and we went to dinner at an awesome crêpe place we found in our guide after finally finding the office of tourism. It was really good and we tried to get gelato afterward, but we couldn’t find the select place that my other friend had in mind. We went back to our hotel and had hot chocolate in the bar and talked and then said goodbye to my friend and went to bed. We left the next morning on different means of transportation: a bus to Torino and a train to Bordeaux…my train, however, was 2 hours late and so my 8 hour train ride did not get into Bordeaux until 11:30pm on that Sunday night (I had class the next morning). The night bus didn’t come till after 12 and I arrived home around 12:40…unpacking and washing up and getting to bed around 1:30…exhausted.

I just had regular class that past week and worked on my dissertation for my art history class. I had a 3 hour final in my history of theatre class which is now turned into a history of cinema class starting tomorrow, and kept being confused and bored in geography, and felt dumb and embarrassed in my music classes…but that’s okay. I actually just realized this past Thursday how much I love being here in France. It’s really cool because on Thursdays I have my music classes and we all go to lunch afterwards. It is such a chill atmosphere, being able to have lunch on the grass next to the Maison des Arts, speak in French and listen to our wonderful guitarists play and sing and just…chill. It’s nice to have French friends, and it’s also good for me because they don’t study English and therefore, don’t speak English. I went to go find the Bibliothèque Municipale de Bordeaux (the main library of Bordeaux) and bought, yes bought, a library card for 9 euros, (it’s not free here…although education apparently is nearly free) and tried to find the movies I need to watch for my history of cinema class, but found them all checked out. I also bought new boots that past week and saw these really cute Tiger PJs at the Disney store that I am very tempted to buy…

Friday was my 20th birthday and it was amazing to be able to spend it in France. My family celebrated with champagne for me and the mother gave me a set of jewelry and the father a CD of a cool Italian jazz pianist. It was really sweet of them seeing that earlier that day I had gotten my key stuck in the front door and because they couldn’t get it out, had to take it apart and change it to a new lock…(again, I felt soo bad!). I went to dessert and coffee with my friends that night which was fun and relaxing. I had planned to go to Paris for my birthday but since I had so much homework to catch up on, I felt it was best to stay for the weekend. And that’s exactly what I did all weekend. Homework and saw a really bad movie…Les Portes du Temps which is called Seeker: the Dark is Rising in America...and don’t see that movie! It’s bad in French and I’m sure it’s even worse in English!...It had a good trailer…I felt so misled.

I turned in my dissertation today…felt great…until I realized that my dissertation wasn’t due until NEXT WEEK…dang it. But that’s okay, because I’m going to Nice this weekend and probably wouldn’t have had time to do it anyway. That was my vacation and I can’t believe I only have 6 more weeks of school left and then only one week more until I have to leave! I am now fully adapted…took a while…and I really love it here..! Don’t want to leave!! I will try and make it last and I need to find some time to do some real job searching because the UCSD’s career center job search in France sucks…seriously…I only found 4 jobs and they were all for biotech peeps…dang, I wish I was one of those peeps. I could live in France then. I will continue to search and if not…the business school in Toulouse is amazing…we shall see.

There might be a grève (strike) tomorrow for the university…oh these political French students, but I hope not…if they block the school, who knows when it will reopen?

Much later,
(wow, my English doesn’t make sense…sorry)
Sherilyn