Travel How To's and How To Not's

This is related to my winter break trip with Val.

1. Book all tickets in advance so you don't get screwed over by transportation
2. Learn which public transportation actually check tickets so you don't waste money
3. Buy a fanny pack
4. Wear comfy shoes that give good arch support or you will be limping the entire time otherwise
5. No really, buy a fanny pack and keep all of your tickets in there so you don't lose them and have to rebuy them later
6. Don't drop your camera halfway through the trip so the lens breaks and you no longer have a camera right before you go to Rome
7. Double check bus/ferry times so you're not waiting multiple hours because you missed it by 3 minutes
8. Don't book an ridiculously early flight until you know how and when you'll get there - unless you like sleeping in airports (and so you don't book a hostel for the same night you'll be sleeping at said airport
9. Spend more than two days in Rome - lest it own you
10. Don't have bad karma

Ok, so I suck at blogging. I'm sorry.

Hiii all. Again. After an extended hiatus. Ok a few small comments before I update:

1) I suck at blogging - ok I write too much, which takes too much time, and then I don't have time to finish later.

2) I'ma write shorter things, but will get to write about more - pros and cons? Go.

Readysetshoot.

Rest of Winter Break

London 16-17 February

I arrived in London at 6:30am and after getting really confused about where Val and I were meeting, we finally met up in the huge ass Victoria Station - and had a cute running with open arms through the train station moment. Yaya <3

I dropped my stuff off at Val's kickass dorm and had my first crumpet (with peanut butter and honey!). She had finals, so while she was in her final, I wandered around London! (en fait... I wandered and then got horribly lost for 3 hours looking for Buckingham Palace - how do you miss something like that? whoops).

Here are things I saw!

(London Eye, Parliament/Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, cute London phonebooths, Picadilly Circus, cute "this is the way to look to cross the road" signs, Hyde Park, Harrod's)

I stopped at a hole in the wall cafe and got fish and chips and a Stella - duhh and a very English chocolate cookie (whatever that means).

The next day, I chilled at the dorm, planning more of Val and I's upcoming Italy trip! When she got out of her final, we bought tickets for EasyBus - a bus from Victoria Station to the airport - and thus began our transportation woes.

Both the 16h and 16h30 buses didn't show up and we were at risk of missing our flight, so we had to run to the train station, take the subway, then take a train to get to the airport on time - wasting £10 on the bus ticket and then another £17 on a train ticket that never got collected. 

But we did make it to the airport, and to our flight on time, and we got seats next to each other on the plane - RyanAir - and we didn't die! Yaya! 

Venice - Venezia - 17-20 February

After another mess-up with the bus system when arriving in Venice (we ended up in Venice... our hostel was in Fusina...), we finally arrived at our hostel - Camping Fusina - an amazing campsite, where we had a bungalow! 

Venice was super amazing! We went during Carnevale, so there were random people dressed up in classic costumes, just walking around San Marco. We saw the Basilica San Marco and 4 museums in the plaza on the first day! On the second day, we saw Santa della Maria and then wandered around for the rest of the day.

Highlights of Venice:

1) Wandering around Venice and realizing how small, easy it is to get around.

2) Eating gelato all the time.

3) Eating poofs.

4) Seeing all of the epic costumes for Carnevale.

5) Having an Italian football (read: soccer) player ask me to take a pic of him and his buddy in front of the Basilica San Marco. :)

6) Taking 60 illegal photos (sans flash, no worries) inside of the museums and only getting caught once. ;)

7) Buying a bottle of wine but not a bottle opener and trying to open the bottle with a key - yeah, don't do that. It doesn't work.

8) Lovey-dovey photos with Val.

9) Buying real Venetian masks.

10) Getting totally screwed over by transportation - this was a theme of our trip - but still loving Venice the best.

Florence - Firenze - 20 February

We were up super early - 6h15 - to catch our train to Florence - 1st class on a train - not worth it!

Arrived in Florence at 10h15 and began our whirlwind, less than 24h tour of Florence!

We grabbed sandwiches for lunch, saw Michelangelo's David -epic!, got amazing gelato, witnessed my camera die, visited Il Duoma, realized that Dante was from Florence - duh!, went to Santa Croce, took at picture with the Dante statue, ran into some Grenoble girls, saw Dante and Michelangelo's tombs, found a famous fountain, wandered through Uffizi, took a nap back at the hostel, met the G-girls for dinner - Val and I had our first sit-down meal in Italy!, had my first cappuccino, started our vlogs for Jenny & Katelyn back at the hostel, realized I could use Val's videocamera as a camera, then passed out!

 (pics before my cam died)

Rome - Roma - 21-23 February

Up again at 6h15. Caught the bus to the train station - had McDo for breakfast - sometimes... you just gotta.

Some comments about Rome: a) should you ever visit, don't stay with any of the company that owns Happy Days, Roma Inn, or Gulliver's House. THEY SUCK. b) spend more than 2 days in Rome, lest it own you.

Day 1

We had some issues with the hostel - see above comment - and had to get moved to a new hostel. We finally got settled in around 12h30ish and rushed over to the Colosseum and spent all afternoon checking out the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill. We then walked towards Traian Column and the Victor Emmanuel Monument before realizing that we hadn't eaten since our McDo, so we got pulled in the tourist trap and bought a "pizza panini" from one of the stands - groosss. We stopped by a pastry shop - I got a weird pastry thing and another cappuccino before heading back to the hostel for bit. We decided to go out to dinner again - at a real restaurant! I got a 1/2 L of red wine before realizing that Val doesn't like red wine! Whoops! We saw the Trevi Fountain along the way. After, we found a gelateria - gelottery! - and ate inside - remember those service charges I mentioned before? Yeah, it was 7 euro to eat inside. merde. Finally passed out early at the hostel - got woken up a couple of time's by our Latvian host - who was super cool/cute, minus the snoring.

Day 2

We had to get up early again - though we slept in till 7h45 - and switched hostels before running over the Vatican. It was the last Sunday of the month, so the Vatican Museum was free and everyone and their grandma was there trying to get in! We saw St. Peter's Basilica first and then stood in line for the museum. It took oh, about 2 and a half hours and we were seriously worried we wouldn't get in. (They close the doors at a certain point). But we did get it. HAH. And apparently they let you take pictures in the Sistine Chapel on the last Sunday of the month? So I got some mad photos. After wandering through the museum and then the Chapel, Val and I were both mentally and physically exhausted after. It was like sensory overload for like 2 hours on top of standing in line for forever. Grabbed a "quick" pizza from a tourist restaurant, and then saw the Spanish Stairs, Pantheon, Plaza Navona, and St. Angelo's Castle. We got dinner from a cute place that was close to the hostel. Then parted ways :'( on the subway - we were at different airports, both leaving at 6h30, so we both slept at our respective airports.

In summary: Winter break was a whirlwind week but was so amazing - it was great seeing Val and I can't wait to travel with her again - I kept thinking I was going to go back to Boston after Rome, but honestly, I did really miss Grenoble and French when I was in Italy. 

Winter break - Paris

Hey all. Story time! Since I did a lot on my winter break and I like to write a lot, I'ma break up winter break into multiple blogs.

Kgo.

Friday 13th (omgosh! maybe my trip WAS cursed from the beginning) February 

I took the TGV in the afternoon to Paris. It was pretty cool. I slept most of the time. Though when the train would go really fast in the tunnels, my ears would pop, which was crazy.

I arrived in Paris around 7pm and Sam met me at Gare de Lyon. I was so great seeing her after 8 months!!! I bought metro passes and we went to the Fondation des Etats-Unis where she lives. Of course, on the way, we got completely lost in the subway station at Chatelet - which is this ridiculously huge station. Right away, Paris' subway reminded me of New York, very big and confusing and a whole lot of 'em.

We picked up Jill and Gerald and Rebecca D. (another girl from my program who was visiting Jill). We headed to some part of Paris (I was entirely lost the entire time, but Sam was an amazing guide) and ate at Hippopotamus - an amazing resto with a crazy waitress who made Rebecca put on a helmet and apron as a joke. This was also the time I realized I was going to go broke in Paris (the restos are so expensive!).

After dinner, we went to the first jazz club - Caveau de la Huchette - an hypercool swing place, where the band played in an underground tunnel that looked like it was an old war hideout thing. We chilled in a hidden cave and Sam and I caught up for like 2 hours.

Then we headed to the second jazz club, Duc des Ombards, where there was a "jam session" that night. It was a super ritzy looking place and we had a really close aerial view of the stage - so amazing!

Finally went back to the Fondation to "crash" but ended up talking until 4 in the morning! It was so nice being with someone I've known for so long - going on 3 years, craziness!

Saturday, 14 February

Got up and headed to Versailles! We had to take the commuter rail equivalent and got really confused on how to buy tickets but eventually we figured it out. We walked around the gardens and the chateau in amazement until 5pm ish. We walked around the jardins first, down the grand canal, saw Marie Antoinette's "house", then walked in the chateau itself. The RdC (ground floor) wasn't impressive but the first floor was spectacular! There were tons of amazing ceilings (as I would discover, there are everywhere in Europe) and paintings and whatnot.

After I found a Starbucks (omgosh they have Starbucks in Paris! I didn't realize how much I missed my lattes!) and had one on the train back to Paris. Of course, I accidently used both of my commuter rail tickets for the ride there, so I had to sneak on and off the train, (by going with someone through the booth - like they do in Boston - notice how my English is getting worse by staying in France?).

We rested at the Fondation for a bit before heading to the Place de la Concorde. We took a nice walk down the Champs d'Elysees and saw the Arc de Triomphe - which we tried to get to the middle of (there's a giant rotary around it that's impossible to cross) but we ended up completely walking underneath the Arc from one side to the other. We saw the Eiffel Tower and went on the Carrousel de Paris! It was a double decker carrousel and it was amazing!

After that we made a mad dash to find food before restaurants stopped serving - we found a pizza place and I got delicious pizza and then my first panna cotta. After dinner, we met Radhika, Anna, Emily, and Rebecca F. who were also in Paris. We all went to Cafe Leffe for a drink - I did not get a leffe though :-)

Sunday, 15 February

Sam and I got up at 9am ish and went to the Louvre which was spectacular, fantastic, magnificent, too amazing for words and completely overwhelming. I saw paintings by Delacroix, Gericault & Corot - all who I've studied in l'histoire de l'art!

After the Louvre, we walked around Paris some more, seeing the sites in the daytime. We walked through the Jardin des Tuileries, saw Notre Dame, went to the Pantheon - which we went inside and quasi joined a tour, saw all the tombs and was really cold slash freaked out - went to the Palais de Luxembourg, saw a giant head in the gardens - which was completely random and odd amidst all the old statues.

After walking around, we headed back to Fondation to regroup - see the trend? - we realized my bus was way outside of the city and tried unsuccessfully to print my bus ticket. So we just met Gerald and went to Sacre Coeur. There was a concert going on so it was packed. We walked up way too many stairs, where there was another free concert, singing random American songs. We went into the church, but there was mass going on, so I left pretty quickly, cuz it was weird. 

Then, we walked down the street to Moulin Rouge. The actual walk to Moulin Rouge was more amusing than the actual building. The streets were lined with sex shops, that were in way trying to conceal the contents inside. I saw more stores called "Sex Shop" than every before in my life - actually, I've never seen a store called that, so there you go. 

Finally, we met the girls - R, A, E, & Foff - at Indiana, a French restaurant's take on American food. Dinner was amazing - I had enchiladas and a margarita and a funny incident with one of the waitresses, when I was looking at the drink selection on the happy hour memo - just to see what drinks were, not to order anything else, this waitress reaches over and abruptly says (in English), "Happy hour finished." Well, then. So sorry.

Finally, finally, Sam, Gerald, and I parted with the girls and took the metro to my bus station. I took the overnight bus from Paris to London. How does that work, you wonder? After going through customs, getting really confused about language I should speak, and sleeping a lot, the bus went onto a ferry for an hour, to cross the Channel. I made the mistake of not exchanging my money on the ferry - 10% commission at the train station in London, what?! - and slept a lot more on the ferry in the comfy chairs. 

Arrived in London at 6:30am on the 16th! 

To be continued... :)

Goodbye homesickness, Hello Europe :)

AH! I'm so happy! I just had an amazing dinner with Claude, Christine, and Christine's mom. Jennifer wasn't here because she was going dancing and "couldn't change her plans", whatevs. The food was amazing - rice & veggies, with fish and corn, then a cheese platter and ice cream and little coconut cakes. delish! While there wasn't a lengthy conversation about random, political things and whatnot, like there is when Jennifer is there - where I usually just sit quietly and listen, wahwah. I did have a really nice conversation with Claude about computers and taking apart computers - yeah, nerds! and about why they use real sugar here in sodas but fake sugar in the States. And then, Claude and Christine showed me this crazy contraption that they're making! They're making their own vinegar! How crazy is that! They have a jug of like red wine, with the "mother of the vinegar" which is basically like bacteria from a mushroom (from what I gathered). Claude washed his hands and pulled it out and it was really slimy and all maroonish, cuz of the wine. But it was really cool. And yeah, we had a really nice dinner and they invited me to watch a movie but unfortunately, I'm going to see another movie in t-minus 10 mins with some people, which leads me to my other point. Yeahhh, I finally feel like I'm getting a routine! I was so worried and like, homesick, because I felt like I didn't connect with anyone here, but now I'm finding people I really like hanging out with, and it feels normal and like home. and I love it! yyayy! annd! I leave tomorrow for winter break where I get to see Sam and Gerald and VALLLL!

Anyhoo. I won't have a compy during break but look out for a crazy blog about my adventures in Paris, London, Venice, Florence, and Rome during the next 10 days!

A tout!

Getting settled in - yeaahhh.

Bonjour tout le monde!

I just realized that I don't think I've taken too many more pictures since the last time that I blogged... in other words, nothing happened!

Hah, just kidding. Let's see...

Musée de la Resistance. vendredi, 30 janvier (Friday, Jan. 30)

I only have class until 12:30pm on Fridays (in fact, I don't think there are ANY Friday afternoon classes), so what better to do than go to a museum? So, I went with Andrew to the Resistance Museum. It was insanely huge and really cool, in a weird, depressing kind of way.

Raquettes. dimanche, 1 février (Sunday, Feb. 1)

The whole group got together at 11am to faire des raquettes, i.e. to go snowshoeing!!! We had to bring a picnic in a backpack and because I was lazy on Saturday and didn't go out to buy one, I borrowed one from my host family, and bought some premade food from the grocery store that's across the street (that chain of grocery stores is called Casino, hehe). I was also happy, because the day before I bought a thing of Chips Ahoy! and they were very yummy and comfort food-esque. So, I met the group and we took a bus up Chamrousse, one of the surrounding mountains. The bus ride was about 1 hr, and then we stopped almost to the top to have our picnic. We walked down this long road and emerged in a beautiful spot, with a log cabin. There was also a competition going on, so there were lots of athletes and tents around! We ate and then walked back to the bus and took the bus the rest of the way up. Everyone got their shoes (if they need shoes - we needed waterproof shoes, so I borrowed some) and then our snow shoes! I was disappointed that the snowshoes weren't actually tennis rackets, but they were still pretty nifty. 

After getting our shoes, we then proceeded to hike up the slope and traverse this huge path where skiers and snowboarders were flying across. Our guide was like, yeah, don't everyone go at the same time and go slowly, or else the skiers and snowboarders will be bowling soon. Hah. You're a funny guy, Christian. So after we make it across two of these paths, our big group split into two groups. I was in the "TGV" group, because apparently we were going to go faster, although I think it was just more rigorous slopes and more deadly drop-offs that our guide took us to (new conspiracy theory: BU is trying to kill us). 

On that note, we went to two amazing cliffs. The first was very narrow and was literally us, edge, 800 meter drop. Beautiful. We could see the surrounding mountains and way down below us, a little village, that apparently, being surrounded by mountains, hardly gets any direct sun in the winter :( 

The next cliff was much larger and was more of a plateau at the top of the mountain, where we could allll around it.

Since I can't explain it's beauty well; here are some pictures.

School? Wait, what? mardi, 3 février (Tuesday, Feb. 3)

This was about the time that I realized, oh, hey, I AM in school!

After this epiphany, I promptly went home and did my homework. Yay. :)

French guys. jeudi, 5 février (Thursday, Feb. 5)

I picked up a French guy at the discotheque. :) His name was Nicolas, pronounced Nee-co-lah.

LOL. samedi, 7 février (Saturday, Feb. 7)

It's been raining all weekend, so the general consensus was to see a movie! I chilled at home for most of the day, catching up on work. Also, I showed my host parents the French vocab book that I bought and they were really happy (c'est pas mal. - i.e. really good compliment) and then went out to see a French film! It was called LOL (pronounced Lull) and it was basically Gossip Girl but set in Paris, and it was AMAZING. Also, I told my host mom that was I going to see it and she told me she wants me to give a summary and how I liked about it, at dinner on Monday - yay practicing French!).

Il neige. dimanche, 8 février (Sunday, Feb. 8)

It's been snowing all day and I went to the bank and got some money out and realized my spending habits are larger than my bank account. Hah. Hah. Soo... I'm going to be eating bread and cheese for the rest of February. Yay.

Till next time! A bientôt!

Catch-up/Illness :(

I blame my lack of blogging on a godawful ailment (doesn't this happen to me the same time every year? Damnnit!)

Catch-up!

Thursday, Jan. 22

No morning class, so I slept in till 1030! w00t!

I was planning on not going to any classes that day (they're kinda recommended, but I don't like going to class, so I've started skipping early, whoops?), but I went to campus to eat lunch with people anyway, and decided might as well go see what Art History and Culture were about, and it turns out, I loved the classes! So those are two that I'm going to take. Later that night, I went to my first French bar, called Bukana. There was a cover fee because it was Brazilian Night, but we told the bouncer we weren't going to pay (there were like 5 girls with me) and he let us in for free. Hah! I was kinda tired though and had class at 830 the next day, so I just had a gin and tonic (also for free, whoops?) and the headed home :)

Friday, Jan. 23

Class in the morning, and then the rest of the day off. I went to bank for the first time to get more money for food ( I withdrew 50 bucks from our food account and spent 32 bucks not on food. :) ). I had lunch at this yummy pasta place, Pasta Via, and then walked around centre ville for a bit, before heading home to chill. Then, I met up with some people, Andrew, Rebecca F, and my housemate, Jennifer, around where I live (kinda far from centre ville) and we ate this really cute sandwich shop. It's called "Le Beverly Hills" and then owner is an English teacher! He was really nice and told me to get the number so I can call ahead of time to order food. After that, we had a couple of hours before going to the bar, so we stopped by Andrew's house, so he could get his mini deck of Uno cards and then we walked to Centre Ville (takes about 25 minutes from my house). We met more people by coincidence (it's a small city) and went to a cafe to get some coffee. Then we headed back to Bukana, where there was a "Hi/Bye" night for students. The place was packed with students but it seemed semi-discotheque rather than bar-like. After staying there for a while, we got passes for free entry to a discotheque and headed to this awesome, cave-like club. There's 2 bars and a small dance floor, with a stage and cage! Hah! C'est très mignon!

Saturday, Jan. 24

After a long night out, Jennifer and I decided to just stay at home and do work. We had lunch with our family and then did some work in the afternoon. Then, that night I went with Jennifer, Stephanie and Rebecca D. to this local rock/electro concert. There were 3 bands

 from around the area. The concert 

was ridic long! Almost 4 hours! The first 2 bands were cool; the first was really mellow, and the second was hardcore electro and amazing! The 3rd was, in my opinion, anti-american, so I was a bit shocked to see Jennifer rocking out and cheering them on. We got into a bit a spat after, as she seemed to have difficulty accepting my opinion. But, c'est la vie, n'est-ce pas?

Sunday, Jan. 25

The group was supposed to go snowshoeing but the weather looked bad, but then, BAM AMAZING weather! So, the group had lunch at le 5, a resto attached to the Musee of Grenoble. Then, we all hiked up La Bastille (I wish someone would have told me before - it was the first day I wore my cute black flats - now they're all brown and dirty! :( ). It was beautiful up there! And we could see Les Monts Blancs, which are the tallest mountains in Europe! Scott and I gathered up a group of people to hike up farther past the Bastille but Marie-Eve (our Grenoble supervisor, if you will) was really against it, and after showing us where to go, convinced us not to go (we had about 1.5 hours to get up and down before they locked us in the mountain....). I hiked back down La Bastille and went to another cute cafe.

Mon, Jan. 26

Starting on Sunday, I could feel it in my chest that I was gonna get sick and then BAMM! I got whailed with this 24 hr bug thing. I was up all night Sunday and then slept most of Monday (skipping classes). I thought I was better and then it changed this other, awful thing, that apparently went around in the group last semester too. I'm doing alright today, I've only been eating muesli and drinking water, so maybe that's the magic cure.

Tues, Jan. 27

I braved classes and was fine pretty much all day. I still wasn't eating, because when I did, I felt nauseous. I had dinner at a kebab place with Radhika, Andrew, Elliot and Charlene and then we all went to an Irish pub where they were having live Irish music!!! Apparently, they have live music every Tuesday! I tried to show Radhika how to Irish step dance (just the basic 1-2-3) but she gave up too easily :( After a hour or so, my stomach was hurting again, so I went home early.

Weds, Jan. 28

Classes again the in morning, but then I wasn't going to take the afternoon classes, so I had the afternoon off. I ate lunch (or at least, attempted to) on campus, since it's really cheap, and then tried to find someone else who didn't have class. No one was free, and I couldn't convince anyway to skip (aw

ww, good students!), so I headed back to Centre Ville by myself, and went to the Museum of Grenoble. It's frickin huge!!! I discovered that I like classic art more than more modern stuff. I w

ondered around there, but then my stomach started hurting again, so I peaced out. I walked around the park around the museum for a bit and then went home. I was supposed to meet Radhika at the BU office to talk about winter break (she wants to travel with me for the first half, before I meet Val), but I decided to stop by Monoprix (think... super Target) to get some fruit, because I thought I might be able to eat that. I ate a clemetine and it attacked my stomach. I've never felt so much pain my stomach before. Hooboy. But I had to wait at the office. My host mom, Christine, came to present the cooking course that she teaches, and then we had to tell Patrice (the academic advisor) what classes we want to take and then tell him the topic of our research project - I'm doing mine on the difference between American and French ideas of "being green". duh. After that, Lauren let me rest at her house until I could go back home (I missed a yummy dinner with my family!)

Thurs, Jan 29

FRANCE IS ON STRIKE!

This is like the first nation-wide strike since 1968. Only one line of the tram is running and sparingly at that. And a lot of teachers are striking. Apparently, there was a HUGE demonstration in Centre Ville and.I.Missed.It! Because I was sleeping off this ailment. ZUT! But yeah, I'm not going to classes today, because I live far away and I'm still sick. uhh... But hopefully, my treatment of water and muesli lasts through the day, because today is Rebecca D.'s birthday and I want to fete la fete! (well, I want to be there, but I'll be refraining from really feting la fete, if you know what I mean...)

Till next time!