Things that are weird slash sometimes annoying in France and Europe.
*Don't get me wrong, I love France and Europe; this is just weird in comparison to the U.S."
1. At restaurants they don't automatically bring you water. And when you ask for it you have to specifically ask for tap unless you want to get charged 5 euros for it. The other day while dining at a restaurant, the first thing the waiter did was bring us water without us having to ask (and it was free!), which made me giddy.
2. You have to ask for the check at restaurants. Something I find quite strange. In the U.S. they always bring it right away at the end of the meal but here they assume you want to chill for 10 or 50 minutes afterward so they don't bring the check until you ask. Either that or they bring it before you've even received your food, even more annoying.
3. Unlike in the U.S., waiters are actually paid pretty well here so they don't have to be nice to you and most often times aren't. In the U.S. it's all about the customer but here it's all about them, they rush you out to get new business. But on a lighter note, you also don't have tip much or any at all. People typically leave about 50 cents to a euro for a 20 euro meal.
4. They don't give you butter with your bread in restaurants. What are you supposed to do with that?
5. Ice cubes don't exist over here. Or if they do they're a rare breed.
6. People eat later, go out later and stay out later. I don't know how Europeans stay out til 6 in the morning, but they do it somehow.
7. Think you're going to get cool passport stamps from all the different countries you visit? Wrong. You don't go through customs if you're traveling within the EU and even if you're not they don't always stamp. All you're left with is a neck cramp from that awkward bit of sleep you managed to attain.
8. Everything is closed on Sundays.
9. They take their siestas seriously, even here in France. You'll try to go to a shop or the visa office to try to live here legally and they are closed in the middle of the day, off putzing around somewhere.
10. The metric system. Whatever smidgens of this system I learned in elementary school went in one ear and right out the other. People look at me like I'm an idiot when I tell them no, I don't know how heavy 20 kilos is.
11. Certain websites don't work over here. Namely Pandora and Hulu, aka among the top five most important websites. No Christmas music stations or the ability to easily watch that tv show you missed last night because you were out.
12. People go out everyday. I can't sustain that because I am a grandma, but there is literally something going on every night. Monday is Euro beer nights at the Australian. Tuesday is quiz night at the Shakespeare then off to Fitzpatrick's after to celebrate the loss (the quiz is actually really hard-- how are you supposed to know in what manner 20 different famous people died?). Wednesday is always Erasmus night so on any given Wednesday there is always at least two or three different international parties taking place. Thursday is club night, as in the 'go out to the clubs near the beach and take the Amigo bus that people will curbstomp you to beat you in line' night. Friday and Saturday you're traveling (well, I am) and obviously you have to go out in whatever foreign city you're spending a few fleeting hours in. Sunday is the one day of rest. Rinse and Repeat.
13. The conversion rate. It makes me want to cry when I look at my bank statement.
14. Pillows are thin and long, almost a cylindrical shape, and extremely uncomfortable to sleep on.
15. Lack of breakfast. This is more typical to France then anywhere else. Usually breakfast consists of a piece of baguette with butter or confiture (jam, jelly, etc) or a bit of croissant. What happened to pancakes and bacon? Mmmhm.
16. No Thanksgiving :( Waaaaah. But me and my friends are doing our own little French version consisting of slices of Turkey, because it's hard to find a whole one, and wine to make up for missing our real American holiday.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
AMSTERDAM!
Whoooops I've neglected this blog for over a month.
Smallest house in Amsterdam (across from the widest bridge)
clogs
This is a long post because it was a long weekend
Before I get into this weekend, I would like to say a couple things about Amsterdam: I love the city, everyone is so friendly and chill about everything; it is the city of tolerance. I really want to live there and marry a tall blond Dutch boy and have Dutch babies. The end.
So the strike that I spoke of before turned into one super long strike and is pretty much just now winding down. So that means all of my travel plans were ruined. (Grèvistes = egoists means strikers are selfish)
BUT I still made it to Amsterdam! I went with my friend Kimmi who I had traveled with to Strasbourg last weekend. We were supposed to go Friday night and meet up with a bunch of other kids that Kimmi and our friend Sophia (who I met in Strasbourg) knew from Sophia’s internship program in Europe.
Our original train leaving Friday was cancelled so we took one a couple hours later and it was so packed with people that they had to slow down the speed for “security reasons.” Well, of course we missed our connection. And mind you this wasn’t the original connection, but the back-up connection also meaning that it was the last train leaving Paris to go to Amsterdam that evening.
So, we decided to hop on a train to Brussels instead because one of the employees at the station informed us that it was very likely we might not make it out of Paris the next day due to a manifestation. At first it seemed like a good idea to go to Brussels since we’d be closer to Amsterdam and away from the strikes but we quickly realized we had nowhere to stay in Brussels.
Panicked, we started frantically calling any and everyone who we knew had friends/family/any sort of connection in Brussels (surprisingly we knew a handful of people but none turned out successful). Throughout the hour train ride, I’m sure we disturbed the entire train by our state of hysteria and random outbursts of extremities whilst trying to find accommodations for the night.
We finally came to the conclusion that if we couldn’t find a place to stay we would just lock our stuff up at the train station and go to a bar or club until the early morning and head back to the train station (it was a better/safer option that waiting around in the train station with the weirdo townies and drunkards). Overhearing our no-so-subtle panic, the two women who were sitting across the aisle from us (who we didn’t realize were American until this point) asked if we were really going to sleep in the train station (of course not….). Turns out they were a mother/daughter pair hailing from Chesapeake, Virginia and the daughter was on a business trip with NATO. They were quite concerned about our tentative sleep arrangements and offered us a spot on their floor in their hotel room in Brussels.
Since our other options fell through and there were no more trains or buses leaving Brussels to Amsterdam that night, we ended up taking them up on their offer (which I’m not sure they entirely thought we were going to do). Kimmi, having her mother bear instincts on her, was a bit worried about this situation but I told her to shut it because they were from Virginia and they were a mother and a daughter on a business trip from quite a respectable company. And it beat out the train station idea.
And it did end up being fine. We went and played bingo with them at a “casino” nearby and was quite fun except for the fact that I was the only one who didn’t win anything. Then we tried to buy them McDo’s for letting us sleep in their room (everything else was closed and we are poor college kids) but they refused. We ended up getting only a couple hours’ sleep but it was nice being in a warm hotel room.
We got up early to get to the train station to catch the first train out to Amsterdam at 6:20 am. FINALLY! On a train to Amsterdaaaam!
Nope. The ticket checker kicked us off two stops later in Antwerp because it was a different ticket company than our original tickets. Sorry bout it.
Not to fear though, there was a train leaving an hour later to Amst (I’m tired of spelling it out each time) on the correct train line so we chilled in Starbucks for a while and had some good old American coffee. But this was not the Starbucks I knew; they had no free wifi…or bathrooms come to think of it.
*Note: you will most likely have to pay to use any public bathroom in Europe, especially at train stations. But it’s usually like 40-70 cents so it’s not too ridiculous.
FINALLY! On the train to Amst—and we didn’t get kicked off this time, it was the right train. We arrived around 10 am and headed towards the city centre to do a free walking tour at 1.
It was a really good tour especially considering that it was free. The company is called Sandeman’s New Europe and they have free walking tours in Amst, Dublin, London, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Hamburg, Edinburgh and Paris, along with bike tours (those you have to pay for). So if you’re ever in those cities make sure to do the tour (free PR.. you’re welcome).
We started off at Dam Square, which is in the main part of town, and it is so called because there used to be a dam in that spot. I did not know that Amst’s name derived from the fact that the early Dutch settlers dammed up the river Amstel to create the city. Also where Amstel Light comes from.
Anyway, then we took off through the Red Light District, which was quite interesting. I didn’t 
realize that the hookers had actual windows that they stood in, I just kind of figured they stood on street corners. But it’s more complicated than that. A security company rents out the windows to them, which works out in their favor in case there is a sleaze that hits them or something, the girl can hit a panic button and the security team arrives. They take their time getting there though because they want to let all the other prostitutes beat up the guy first and then when they get there they proceed to beat him up. We weren’t really allowed to take pictures though because if the girls see you do that they get pretty pissed and throw some sort of disgusting liquid on you. I got a couple pictures of the area though.
I like the architecture of the houses a lot because they are all tall and narrow and sort of lean to the side. That also means that their foundation is messed up though. Some of them lean forward because the earlier residents would tip them to make it easier to hoist heavy/large items up into their houses.
Everyone rides bikes in this city. I’ve never seen so many bikes in one place. It is ridiculous and 
cool. Our tour guide told us a couple things to watch out for about bikes: the locals like to hit tourists while riding their bikes. They have a point system where you get a certain amount for just hitting a tourist, hitting one looking at a map, or hitting one on a walking tour. So she advised us: “If you hear the bell, run like hell.” Secondly, locals with bikes need to watch out because people love to throw bikes in the canals. They will search until they find one that is not locked up and whoever makes the biggest splash wins. Supposedly, the first 5 meters of the bottom of the canals are just bikes. And then the city comes through, fishes them out, refurbishes them and resells them.
Smallest house in Amsterdam (across from the widest bridge)
clogs Anyway, I’m continuing this post weeks later (actually now its Nov 23 so its been about 5 weeks hah) and specific details are becoming hazy, but basically Amsterdam is one of my favorite places. Everyone is so friendly and chill—it’s the city of tolerance so pretty much anything goes.
After the free walking tour we headed over to the Heineken Experience and met up with some 
friends there. It was cool because you went through the museum at your own pace and it wasn’t a guided tour. We did the little beer ride, got mini tastings, learned why foam is added (yes added) to beer: to help keep the oxygen in so the beer doesn’t go flat; and then had a happy hour at the Heineken bar where I met my future Dutch husband, Bob (who by the way, studied in Montpellier as well-- great start to our relationship).
Then after that we did a pub crawl! It was awesome. We did one on the Leidesplein instead of 
the Red Light District because this one was clubs and also the Red Light District can be a bit shady at night. It was a whole lot of fun. It was me Kimmi, Sophia, and the other kids from the internship program in Germany. We didn’t make it to the last couple places—there were six in total and we thought it was like 3 a.m. Turns out it was only 1 when we got back to the hostel though haha.
Sunday we went to a couple museums, Van Gogh included which was really cool because it had all his artwork laid out chronologically. We also got to play on the giant I Amsterdam blocks.
All in all it was a really good weekend. We didn’t have time to do a couple things like see the Anne Frank house or go on a biking tour or see the windmills but that just means I need to go back.
We had a bit of trouble with transportation on the way back, as our train arrived late into Gare du Nord in Paris so we literally had to BOOK IT to Gare du Lyon only to find out the train had been cancelled. Note to self: running through train stations in heeled boots isn’t the best idea. Anyway, we ended up staying the night in Paris and luckily Kimmi has a friend living there and she was nice enough to let us crash for the night.
I want to go back. Now.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Strasbourg!
Two weekends ago-- October 8-10 I went to Strasbourg with my friend Kimmi.
Strasbourg is located in the north/EAST part of France right on the
German border. I remember in high school, my senior year history teacher (Ms. Martinov) was obsessed with the fact that Alsace (the region in which Strasbourg is located) would switch from being a part of France to being a part of Germany and vice versa overnight. She was so amazed by it "They'd wake up and they'd be in Germany, they'd go to bed that night and they'd be in France! Then wake up again and be in Germany! Fascinating!"
I obviously don't share her same enthusiasm, but it is cool that it is so close to the border because there are a lot of German influences. Most people there speak both French and German and a lot of the buildings are designed in German style, especially Petite France-- it's so cute!!
We headed out Friday after class and made it to our hostel in Strasbourg around 11 or so that
night. We were originally planning on going out that night, but we ended up talking to the two girls that were in our room for about 4 hours. They were both really cool; one was named Alex and she was from Canada and she's been traveling around the world and teaching English in different countries pretty much since she graduated college. The other girl was named Kerry and she was from NYC! Her story was pretty interesting-- she had been planning this big trip with a friend for like half a year to travel Europe after the friend took the bar exam and then right before they were going to buy tickets her friend bailed. But Kerry still decided to go and has been meeting up with people along the way and meeting new people (like us!).
Saturday we decided to check out some of the markets and do tourist-y things. We made it to one
market and then went shopping. Strasbourg surprisingly has really good shopping though-- a lot of high end boutiques also. But the market we went to was cool-- it was a book market and they had a bunch of old school French books and a lot of vintage posters and postcards. I got a Kronenbourg poster that was literally cut out from a newspaper in 1959 and then an old postcard.
Afterwards, we went on a tour of the Kronenbourg factory. It was cool to learn the process of brewing beer and we got to see the history of Kronenbourg and a bunch of vintage posters and paraphernalia of the brand. The best part was at the end when we pretty much had free reign on their bar area. The tour was only 4 euro for an hour tour and then an hour of bottemless beer tasting. Kronenbourg owns or partners with a bunch of other beers so in addition to Kronenbourg, they had Carlsberg, Guiness, 1664 and a couple others. It was pretty sweet.
Beer tasting time
Ad shoot for Kronenbourg
For dinner we had made plans to meet back up with Kerry at the hostel and then we were
meeting a friend of Kimmi's named Sophia who was in Strasbourg for the weekend with her dad. She's doing an internship program in Germany for the semester and we also met up with her the weekend after in AMSTERDAM! (post to come)
We went to dinner at a typical Alsacien restaurant in Petite France, the area with all the German-looking houses, and had a typical Alsacien meal. Afterwards, we headed to a bar in the main square area. I guess it was still early and it was a chill place because everyone was just sitting down in chairs talking amongst themselves. So we got bored and ditched it for a boîte (club) that we found by making friends with a few passerbys. The club was cool because it was underground so it almost looked like a grotto.
La Petite France
We stayed for a couple hours and decided to head back because Kimmi and I wanted to go to
Baden-Baden the next day. Baden-Baden is the area in Germany (not too far from Strasbourg) with the naturally occurring thermal waters and they have a couple big spas there. They also have a famous casino where they filmed part of Casino Royale. On our way back to the hostel we stumbled upon the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg. It was amazing because it was so immensely huge. I have a pretty cool picture of Kerry just standing in front of it looking up at it and the cathedral is so big you can't even see the top of it.
The next day, Kimmi and I got up to go to the train station (and took some picturesque fall pictures along the way-- Kimmi is from Seattle and they don't really have a fall season there so she was surprised to see all the leaves changing color. It wasn't even as pretty as fall in VA though.)
However, our plan to go to Baden-Baden was thwarted because they were doing work on the track and didn't have a lot of trains running. Our train home left at 3 and there wasn't a return train until after that. So we
decided to do more touristy things. We had crepes at a café near the cathédrale for lunch and it was so good, love crepes. Then we did a boat tour along the river and for some reason I could not manage to stay awake. I still enjoyed it though. Then it was time to catch our train and head back, but not before we stopped to get a bratwurst on the way out!
And not to worry, we are still going to Baden-Baden. Strasbourg has a big Christmas market in December, so we're going to have a spa/Christmas market weekend in Baden Baden and Strasbourg the weekend before finals!
Strasbourg is located in the north/EAST part of France right on the
German border. I remember in high school, my senior year history teacher (Ms. Martinov) was obsessed with the fact that Alsace (the region in which Strasbourg is located) would switch from being a part of France to being a part of Germany and vice versa overnight. She was so amazed by it "They'd wake up and they'd be in Germany, they'd go to bed that night and they'd be in France! Then wake up again and be in Germany! Fascinating!"I obviously don't share her same enthusiasm, but it is cool that it is so close to the border because there are a lot of German influences. Most people there speak both French and German and a lot of the buildings are designed in German style, especially Petite France-- it's so cute!!
We headed out Friday after class and made it to our hostel in Strasbourg around 11 or so that
night. We were originally planning on going out that night, but we ended up talking to the two girls that were in our room for about 4 hours. They were both really cool; one was named Alex and she was from Canada and she's been traveling around the world and teaching English in different countries pretty much since she graduated college. The other girl was named Kerry and she was from NYC! Her story was pretty interesting-- she had been planning this big trip with a friend for like half a year to travel Europe after the friend took the bar exam and then right before they were going to buy tickets her friend bailed. But Kerry still decided to go and has been meeting up with people along the way and meeting new people (like us!).Saturday we decided to check out some of the markets and do tourist-y things. We made it to one
market and then went shopping. Strasbourg surprisingly has really good shopping though-- a lot of high end boutiques also. But the market we went to was cool-- it was a book market and they had a bunch of old school French books and a lot of vintage posters and postcards. I got a Kronenbourg poster that was literally cut out from a newspaper in 1959 and then an old postcard.Afterwards, we went on a tour of the Kronenbourg factory. It was cool to learn the process of brewing beer and we got to see the history of Kronenbourg and a bunch of vintage posters and paraphernalia of the brand. The best part was at the end when we pretty much had free reign on their bar area. The tour was only 4 euro for an hour tour and then an hour of bottemless beer tasting. Kronenbourg owns or partners with a bunch of other beers so in addition to Kronenbourg, they had Carlsberg, Guiness, 1664 and a couple others. It was pretty sweet.
Beer tasting time
Ad shoot for KronenbourgFor dinner we had made plans to meet back up with Kerry at the hostel and then we were
meeting a friend of Kimmi's named Sophia who was in Strasbourg for the weekend with her dad. She's doing an internship program in Germany for the semester and we also met up with her the weekend after in AMSTERDAM! (post to come)We went to dinner at a typical Alsacien restaurant in Petite France, the area with all the German-looking houses, and had a typical Alsacien meal. Afterwards, we headed to a bar in the main square area. I guess it was still early and it was a chill place because everyone was just sitting down in chairs talking amongst themselves. So we got bored and ditched it for a boîte (club) that we found by making friends with a few passerbys. The club was cool because it was underground so it almost looked like a grotto.
La Petite FranceWe stayed for a couple hours and decided to head back because Kimmi and I wanted to go to
Baden-Baden the next day. Baden-Baden is the area in Germany (not too far from Strasbourg) with the naturally occurring thermal waters and they have a couple big spas there. They also have a famous casino where they filmed part of Casino Royale. On our way back to the hostel we stumbled upon the Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-Strasbourg. It was amazing because it was so immensely huge. I have a pretty cool picture of Kerry just standing in front of it looking up at it and the cathedral is so big you can't even see the top of it.The next day, Kimmi and I got up to go to the train station (and took some picturesque fall pictures along the way-- Kimmi is from Seattle and they don't really have a fall season there so she was surprised to see all the leaves changing color. It wasn't even as pretty as fall in VA though.)
However, our plan to go to Baden-Baden was thwarted because they were doing work on the track and didn't have a lot of trains running. Our train home left at 3 and there wasn't a return train until after that. So we
decided to do more touristy things. We had crepes at a café near the cathédrale for lunch and it was so good, love crepes. Then we did a boat tour along the river and for some reason I could not manage to stay awake. I still enjoyed it though. Then it was time to catch our train and head back, but not before we stopped to get a bratwurst on the way out!And not to worry, we are still going to Baden-Baden. Strasbourg has a big Christmas market in December, so we're going to have a spa/Christmas market weekend in Baden Baden and Strasbourg the weekend before finals!
Day 34567890 of the strike
So... classes are canceled for the rest of the week!
The situation on campus has gotten so bad that the school administration doesn't want the students or teachers being put in an danger so they decided to cancel class until the manifestations pass. Apparently about 380 school were blockaded yesterday in protest.
The protesters on campus physically barricaded the buildings on campus with
whatever they could find. Mainly they used all the chairs and tables from inside the buildings and just stacked them up really high in front of all the entrances. I wish I had brought my camera because some of the stacks were ridiculously high but this picture will do. It's kind of hard to see but you can make out all the chairs stacked in front of the entrance.
One of the buildings has an outdoor stairway to get up to the second floor and there were chairs literally blocking the entire thing, it was ridiculous. Nobody was really doing anything about it though-- students were just standing there talking casually as if 100 chairs weren't physically preventing them from going into the classroom.
The only building on campus they didn't barricade was my building, the IEFE building (the foreign language center). So yesterday classes were still going on as usual, but the strikes are going to get worse today and tomorrow so they decided to cancel class. They are having a police force go onto campus this week to physically remove the protesters, but I don't think they're going to have too much luck with that.
The law to change the retirement age goes through either today or tomorrow so I'm not exactly sure just how bad things are going to get after it actually passes.
My friend posted a link to a cartoon making fun of the situation that is pretty funny. The question is asking if high school kids are being manipulated. The one kid thinks that the unions are distributing iPads to encourage kids to participate in the strike. Note the 'Twilight Forever' shirt on the left.
Basically, all the protesters are trying to rally up the high schoolers and even the middle and elementary school kids to help them blockade the tramways. It's just humorous because even the government noted that these kids are not affected by the reform at all. But the protesters are trying to manipulate and brainwash them to make the situation worse. Somehow someone got a hold of a bunch of high school kids' cell phone numbers and parents were worried because they were constantly getting texts to participate in the manifestations and blockades.
I'm hoping the SNCF, the train company, doesn't completely cancel trains once the law passes-- I don't think they're really allowed to do that. But they usually always have TGV runnings at least a couple times a day so I should still be able to get up to Paris on Friday!
The situation on campus has gotten so bad that the school administration doesn't want the students or teachers being put in an danger so they decided to cancel class until the manifestations pass. Apparently about 380 school were blockaded yesterday in protest.
The protesters on campus physically barricaded the buildings on campus with
whatever they could find. Mainly they used all the chairs and tables from inside the buildings and just stacked them up really high in front of all the entrances. I wish I had brought my camera because some of the stacks were ridiculously high but this picture will do. It's kind of hard to see but you can make out all the chairs stacked in front of the entrance.One of the buildings has an outdoor stairway to get up to the second floor and there were chairs literally blocking the entire thing, it was ridiculous. Nobody was really doing anything about it though-- students were just standing there talking casually as if 100 chairs weren't physically preventing them from going into the classroom.
The only building on campus they didn't barricade was my building, the IEFE building (the foreign language center). So yesterday classes were still going on as usual, but the strikes are going to get worse today and tomorrow so they decided to cancel class. They are having a police force go onto campus this week to physically remove the protesters, but I don't think they're going to have too much luck with that.
The law to change the retirement age goes through either today or tomorrow so I'm not exactly sure just how bad things are going to get after it actually passes.
My friend posted a link to a cartoon making fun of the situation that is pretty funny. The question is asking if high school kids are being manipulated. The one kid thinks that the unions are distributing iPads to encourage kids to participate in the strike. Note the 'Twilight Forever' shirt on the left.Basically, all the protesters are trying to rally up the high schoolers and even the middle and elementary school kids to help them blockade the tramways. It's just humorous because even the government noted that these kids are not affected by the reform at all. But the protesters are trying to manipulate and brainwash them to make the situation worse. Somehow someone got a hold of a bunch of high school kids' cell phone numbers and parents were worried because they were constantly getting texts to participate in the manifestations and blockades.
I'm hoping the SNCF, the train company, doesn't completely cancel trains once the law passes-- I don't think they're really allowed to do that. But they usually always have TGV runnings at least a couple times a day so I should still be able to get up to Paris on Friday!
Monday, October 18, 2010
The strikes never end.
They really don't. As you will learn from an upcoming post about this past weekend, the strikes tried as hard as they could to keep me from getting to Amsterdam (and back), but they did not succeed.
The strike originally started last Tuesday (just about a week ago) and are still continuing. There were more manifestations planned for this past Saturday and more strikes will be going on tomorrow and this upcoming Saturday. The law for the new retirement age passes Wednesday though, so I don't know how much striking is going to help after that (aka please stop).
My uni (université) is cracking down on students who will be on campus this week and checking everyone's IDs to make sure no "hooligans" are screwing around trying to start huge protests on campus.
The high schoolers are the ones that we should be worried about. A lot of the grevistes (strikers) go to the lycée (high school) to round up all the young impressionable kids and get them to barricade the tram lines and whatnot. Although it's pretty useless for them to be involved in this at such a young age, because as my host mother put it, they don't even know what they're going to be doing in 40 years when they hit retirement age. Completely new laws could be in place that declare something else entirely different.
Although, I guess if I were in high school in France at this time it would be kind of interesting to be involved in something like this that the entire country is pushing for. But, since I am not I feel pretty detached from the whole situation except for when my trains get canceled.
So let's just hope that it isn't too intense at the end of this week so that I can make it to Paris to meet mis padres and my bro bro!
The strike originally started last Tuesday (just about a week ago) and are still continuing. There were more manifestations planned for this past Saturday and more strikes will be going on tomorrow and this upcoming Saturday. The law for the new retirement age passes Wednesday though, so I don't know how much striking is going to help after that (aka please stop).
My uni (université) is cracking down on students who will be on campus this week and checking everyone's IDs to make sure no "hooligans" are screwing around trying to start huge protests on campus.
The high schoolers are the ones that we should be worried about. A lot of the grevistes (strikers) go to the lycée (high school) to round up all the young impressionable kids and get them to barricade the tram lines and whatnot. Although it's pretty useless for them to be involved in this at such a young age, because as my host mother put it, they don't even know what they're going to be doing in 40 years when they hit retirement age. Completely new laws could be in place that declare something else entirely different.
Although, I guess if I were in high school in France at this time it would be kind of interesting to be involved in something like this that the entire country is pushing for. But, since I am not I feel pretty detached from the whole situation except for when my trains get canceled.
So let's just hope that it isn't too intense at the end of this week so that I can make it to Paris to meet mis padres and my bro bro!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Quote
I was bored after packing for AMSTERDAM! and I just did a Glee character quiz and I got Finn which was kind of upsetting because he annoys me sometimes. (Also I did a Harry Potter sorting hat quiz and I got Ravenclaw... I guess that's appropriate.)
Anyway, one of the questions was what is your life motto and one of the quotes was: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's learning to dance in the rain." I thought that was so cute and inspirational. And then I found this little picture to go with it.
This is a good quote to remember when you're stressed or something isn't going quite the way you planned. Just stop thinking about whatever is stressing you out and just learn to live in the moment.
Anyway, one of the questions was what is your life motto and one of the quotes was: "Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass... it's learning to dance in the rain." I thought that was so cute and inspirational. And then I found this little picture to go with it.
This is a good quote to remember when you're stressed or something isn't going quite the way you planned. Just stop thinking about whatever is stressing you out and just learn to live in the moment.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
OKTOBERFEST
Last weekend, October 1-3, I went to Oktoberfest in Munich! C'était genial-- it was great. It was all planned very last minute though.
Originally, I was going to go with my friend Erin who I know back at Tech from club field hockey and is studying in Dusseldorf this semester. However, that eventually fell through due to complications but it just so happened that my housemate, Andrea was also planning on going so I decided to just go with her and her friends.
We flew into Frankfurt Hahn, which is pretty much solely a Ryan Air airport. Don't be fooled by the title though, that airport is TWO HOURS outside of Frankfurt. That didn't matter though
because we rented a car at the airport and drove to Munich that evening. There were 5 of us in the car: me, Andrea, her friends Victor and Tatiana, who are both from Colombia as well and are studying in Montpellier, and Tatiana's boyfriend. It was a pretty drive through the German countryside, but it was kind of a long drive. The only downside was that I was the only non-Colombian, meaning the only non-Spanish speaker. Although I do know minimal Spanish and they helped me improve a bit.
We drove into Munich that night and headed straight to Oktoberfest. Although it was about 10 pm and the grounds were starting to shut down, there were still a good amount of people out and we ended up sitting at an outside beer garden and ordered steins. We stayed there for about an hour and a half and had fun chatting with a group of Italians-- although they were starting to get a bit
rowdy. I might as well have not even bothered taking a year of Italian because I couldn't remember anything. But they spoke broken English so we managed to communicate.
The importance of "Bro."
As we were exiting the grounds to head back towards the car, my trained ears registered a word that I hadn't heard in a couple months. As soon as the word "bro" was uttered, more like shouted, I shouted it right back at them. Of course they were American. No other country uses such a term. Both parties stopped to look at each other from a distance, and I shout "I'M AMERICAN!" They got really excited and rushed back over and each of us were like what are YOU doing here? They were from Philadelphia, I think, and were here for a pre-wedding trip or something. Seeing as my friends hadn't stopped to wait for me because they didn't understand the importance of bro, I told them I had to go but we made a plan to meet at the swings the next night at 8.
Afterwards, we met up with a bunch of Andrea's friends who were also in Munich for the weekend and we headed to a night club.Because we had only planned the trip that week, we didn't have anywhere to stay, per se. All the hotels and hostels were all booked or extremely expensive. Although there was a camping ground that a lot of people stayed at, we didn't really look into that. So we just parked the car at the train station and I managed to get a couple hours' sleep. It felt like a true backpacker's experience, or maybe a homeless one.
Crazy Italians
That morning we hung out at the train station for a bit to get breakfast, a beer and try on traditional German garb. The traditional outfit for males is called Lederhosen and consists of suspenders with short shorts. The outfit for the girls is called Drindl and is the corsett looking thing with the long skirt. Andrea and I tried on Drindl and had a mini-photoshoot before deciding that it wasn't worth the price (80 euro) and we headed on to Oktoberfest.
There were ridiculous amounts of people there especially since it was the 200th anniversary and
it was the last weekend. So the lines to get into all the main beer halls were very long and none of the people I was with really wanted to wait in those lines. We walked around for a bit, got food, rode some rides and eventually ended up in an outdoor biergarten (I forget which tent it was at though). It was a lot of fun and we befriended Italians, Brits, and other Americans. I ended up separated from Andrea and the rest of the group because the car had gotten towed and they went to go deal with. I stayed and hung out with the other two Americans-- they were in the Army stationed in Hamburg I think.
One of them dared me that I wouldn't ride the drop zone ride, which was a huge mistake on his part. Of course I rode it and it was a lot of fun-- it dropped 3 separate times so it was better than the drop zone and King's Dominion! And then he ended up owing me a bratwurst and a beer. We headed back to the same biergarten and made friends with some Germans who then showed us around the grounds. We were going to go onto the beer carousel but then I realized it was 8 o'clock and my train to Frankfurt left at 8:50! So I quickly exited the grounds. Remember those bro guys? Yeah we never met up. They're probably still standing there under the swings waiting for me like a lost child waiting desperately for his mother. Or they completely bailed like I did.
The bier garten we were at
Hofbräuhaus tent
Bye Oktoberfest :(
I never ended up meeting back up with Andrea but luckily I had brought my backpack with me to Oktoberfest so I didn't have to find the car. I also had her jacket which was lucky because it was quite cold that night. I met some other Americans who were taking the same train and we sat in a private car and I just slept the whole way. I got to the train station in Frankfurt at midnight and the next bus to the airport wasn't until 3 am so I just sat around in the McDo's for a while, exhausted. Finally, the bus for the airport left and I slept the whole way again but it was still only 5 am by the time we got to the airport and my flight wasn't until 9:40.
I sat around again for a couple hours and slept a bit, and then eventually wandered outside and saw the most amazing sunrise. The sky was completely orange with streaks of purple and blue
weaving in and out. It was hands down one of the prettiest sunrises I have ever seen. Then again, I'm often not up that early to watch the sun rise.
I definitely want to go back at some point and do it again. Things I would do differently: plan better-- not the week beforehand! You have to book hotels and hostels in the summer if you want to get a decent place! I will also buy Drindl and I will make a table reservation at one of the big beer halls because that's where most of the action took place. I still had a lot of fun this time around, all in all it was a fun weekend.
Originally, I was going to go with my friend Erin who I know back at Tech from club field hockey and is studying in Dusseldorf this semester. However, that eventually fell through due to complications but it just so happened that my housemate, Andrea was also planning on going so I decided to just go with her and her friends.
We flew into Frankfurt Hahn, which is pretty much solely a Ryan Air airport. Don't be fooled by the title though, that airport is TWO HOURS outside of Frankfurt. That didn't matter though
because we rented a car at the airport and drove to Munich that evening. There were 5 of us in the car: me, Andrea, her friends Victor and Tatiana, who are both from Colombia as well and are studying in Montpellier, and Tatiana's boyfriend. It was a pretty drive through the German countryside, but it was kind of a long drive. The only downside was that I was the only non-Colombian, meaning the only non-Spanish speaker. Although I do know minimal Spanish and they helped me improve a bit.We drove into Munich that night and headed straight to Oktoberfest. Although it was about 10 pm and the grounds were starting to shut down, there were still a good amount of people out and we ended up sitting at an outside beer garden and ordered steins. We stayed there for about an hour and a half and had fun chatting with a group of Italians-- although they were starting to get a bit
rowdy. I might as well have not even bothered taking a year of Italian because I couldn't remember anything. But they spoke broken English so we managed to communicate.The importance of "Bro."
As we were exiting the grounds to head back towards the car, my trained ears registered a word that I hadn't heard in a couple months. As soon as the word "bro" was uttered, more like shouted, I shouted it right back at them. Of course they were American. No other country uses such a term. Both parties stopped to look at each other from a distance, and I shout "I'M AMERICAN!" They got really excited and rushed back over and each of us were like what are YOU doing here? They were from Philadelphia, I think, and were here for a pre-wedding trip or something. Seeing as my friends hadn't stopped to wait for me because they didn't understand the importance of bro, I told them I had to go but we made a plan to meet at the swings the next night at 8.
Afterwards, we met up with a bunch of Andrea's friends who were also in Munich for the weekend and we headed to a night club.Because we had only planned the trip that week, we didn't have anywhere to stay, per se. All the hotels and hostels were all booked or extremely expensive. Although there was a camping ground that a lot of people stayed at, we didn't really look into that. So we just parked the car at the train station and I managed to get a couple hours' sleep. It felt like a true backpacker's experience, or maybe a homeless one.
Crazy Italians
That morning we hung out at the train station for a bit to get breakfast, a beer and try on traditional German garb. The traditional outfit for males is called Lederhosen and consists of suspenders with short shorts. The outfit for the girls is called Drindl and is the corsett looking thing with the long skirt. Andrea and I tried on Drindl and had a mini-photoshoot before deciding that it wasn't worth the price (80 euro) and we headed on to Oktoberfest.
There were ridiculous amounts of people there especially since it was the 200th anniversary and
it was the last weekend. So the lines to get into all the main beer halls were very long and none of the people I was with really wanted to wait in those lines. We walked around for a bit, got food, rode some rides and eventually ended up in an outdoor biergarten (I forget which tent it was at though). It was a lot of fun and we befriended Italians, Brits, and other Americans. I ended up separated from Andrea and the rest of the group because the car had gotten towed and they went to go deal with. I stayed and hung out with the other two Americans-- they were in the Army stationed in Hamburg I think.
One of them dared me that I wouldn't ride the drop zone ride, which was a huge mistake on his part. Of course I rode it and it was a lot of fun-- it dropped 3 separate times so it was better than the drop zone and King's Dominion! And then he ended up owing me a bratwurst and a beer. We headed back to the same biergarten and made friends with some Germans who then showed us around the grounds. We were going to go onto the beer carousel but then I realized it was 8 o'clock and my train to Frankfurt left at 8:50! So I quickly exited the grounds. Remember those bro guys? Yeah we never met up. They're probably still standing there under the swings waiting for me like a lost child waiting desperately for his mother. Or they completely bailed like I did.
The bier garten we were at
Hofbräuhaus tent
Bye Oktoberfest :(I never ended up meeting back up with Andrea but luckily I had brought my backpack with me to Oktoberfest so I didn't have to find the car. I also had her jacket which was lucky because it was quite cold that night. I met some other Americans who were taking the same train and we sat in a private car and I just slept the whole way. I got to the train station in Frankfurt at midnight and the next bus to the airport wasn't until 3 am so I just sat around in the McDo's for a while, exhausted. Finally, the bus for the airport left and I slept the whole way again but it was still only 5 am by the time we got to the airport and my flight wasn't until 9:40.
I sat around again for a couple hours and slept a bit, and then eventually wandered outside and saw the most amazing sunrise. The sky was completely orange with streaks of purple and blue
weaving in and out. It was hands down one of the prettiest sunrises I have ever seen. Then again, I'm often not up that early to watch the sun rise.I definitely want to go back at some point and do it again. Things I would do differently: plan better-- not the week beforehand! You have to book hotels and hostels in the summer if you want to get a decent place! I will also buy Drindl and I will make a table reservation at one of the big beer halls because that's where most of the action took place. I still had a lot of fun this time around, all in all it was a fun weekend.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Les Faits Divers
The title is what they say in the section of the newspaper or a magazine when they have random things to say but don't know what to call it. So that's what this is: a collection of random remarks about France/Europe kind of.
Before I start, I like this picture:
1. Shakira is everywhere. They can't get enough of her over here.
Doesn't matter where you are; I've heard her in France, Spain and Germany so far. Waka Waka is a favorite especially since it was the World Cup theme song and people here are fou (crazy about soccer). In Spain, a bus driver played Waka Waka 4 times in a row, a little excessive.
2. On another music note, they listen to a lot of American music here. But they also have all their European music, so they get the best of both worlds. The only time is when it's annoying is when clubs play 80s music non-stop. There is one dance club here called Australian and without fail, every night at midnight they start their American wedding/80s music track. The first time you hear it you're like "HELL YEAH!" And then everywhere you go they seem to play the Grease Super 80s mix and you gradually come to hate it.
3. People love their dogs. A lot. They treat them like children. They come into shops with them,
on the tram with them, and I've never seen so many dogs being carried before. And there are no leash laws. Surprisingly the dogs don't stray, I always assumed that dogs without leashes would run around like crazy but they stick by their owner's side. I love dogs, but the mess they make is a little out of control here considering there are no laws about cleaning up after your dog either. In Paris, it's so bad that people are constantly slipping on dog s*** and having to go to the hospital. Quel horreur!
4. People speak to you in English. It's pretty easy to tell right off the bat who is from Europe and who is not. Aka, if you are American. Sometimes it's a relief and other times it's just plain annoying. For example, the other day I was trying to find the stop for the bus from the centre ville to take me back home so I asked the first bus driver I could find and starting asking him in French where to find the stop. The guy doesn't even let me finish my sentence, interrupts me and says to me in English, "You can speak in English, you know." And I politely respond in French that I want to speak in French. And then he continues to speak to me in English, telling me about how he used to live in London and wants to practice his English. I'm sorry, but I don't care. I am in YOUR country learning YOUR language so please respect that and speak to me in French. If you want to practice your English, go back to London. :)
5. As I mentioned in an earlier post, they love their strikes. There was another one yesterday (Tuesday October 12-- the date on this post is messed up). It even lasted a bit into today for extra effect. They are still a pretty pissed about that whole retirement age deal.
6. Trailing that comment, they're not too crazy about their President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who they believe is entirely to blame for the retirement situation. Although to be fair, I did overhear someone discussing it and saying the other presidents just kept pushing it back and someone eventually had to do something about it. So kudos to Sarkozy. Although, running off with numerous women and remarrying a third time all within the public eye doesn't exactly leave your countrymen thrilled. Also, one of the first things he did as President was give himself a raise. Doubled his salary, actually, to "match his peers."
That's one mean looking man
7. The French don't hate Americans as much as we think they do. The only reason they really hated us before was because of good ol' G.W. Bush, but now that Obama is large and in charge they really like the U.S. The same is true for pretty much every country-- they all love Obama and will repeat his name to you multiple times if that is the only English word they know.
8. Nostradamus studied and taught here in Montpellier. So that means everyone here is wise and omniscient also. Including me.
9. People dress very well. Even their babies dress better than you.
Kids wear the cutest clothes here-- they put my purple ballerina outfits and princess dress to shame.
10. When you order a beer at a bar or a café, they actually put it in the right cup. Paulander comes in a Paulander glass, 1664 comes in a 1664 glass, you get the point. It's quite a difference from back home where they'll serve you beer in any available cup. Over the summer a bartender have me a JUICE CUP with my pitcher of beer. I kid you not.
11. Lastly, look at my Halloween pumpkin. They don't really celebrate Halloween here,
so that's a bummer. But I'll be in Barcelona on Halloween and I think they have a couple festivals. Although their idea of Halloween is literally ghosts, ghouls and goblins, not the Mean Girls vision we're used to.
Before I start, I like this picture:
1. Shakira is everywhere. They can't get enough of her over here.
Doesn't matter where you are; I've heard her in France, Spain and Germany so far. Waka Waka is a favorite especially since it was the World Cup theme song and people here are fou (crazy about soccer). In Spain, a bus driver played Waka Waka 4 times in a row, a little excessive.2. On another music note, they listen to a lot of American music here. But they also have all their European music, so they get the best of both worlds. The only time is when it's annoying is when clubs play 80s music non-stop. There is one dance club here called Australian and without fail, every night at midnight they start their American wedding/80s music track. The first time you hear it you're like "HELL YEAH!" And then everywhere you go they seem to play the Grease Super 80s mix and you gradually come to hate it.
3. People love their dogs. A lot. They treat them like children. They come into shops with them,
on the tram with them, and I've never seen so many dogs being carried before. And there are no leash laws. Surprisingly the dogs don't stray, I always assumed that dogs without leashes would run around like crazy but they stick by their owner's side. I love dogs, but the mess they make is a little out of control here considering there are no laws about cleaning up after your dog either. In Paris, it's so bad that people are constantly slipping on dog s*** and having to go to the hospital. Quel horreur!4. People speak to you in English. It's pretty easy to tell right off the bat who is from Europe and who is not. Aka, if you are American. Sometimes it's a relief and other times it's just plain annoying. For example, the other day I was trying to find the stop for the bus from the centre ville to take me back home so I asked the first bus driver I could find and starting asking him in French where to find the stop. The guy doesn't even let me finish my sentence, interrupts me and says to me in English, "You can speak in English, you know." And I politely respond in French that I want to speak in French. And then he continues to speak to me in English, telling me about how he used to live in London and wants to practice his English. I'm sorry, but I don't care. I am in YOUR country learning YOUR language so please respect that and speak to me in French. If you want to practice your English, go back to London. :)
5. As I mentioned in an earlier post, they love their strikes. There was another one yesterday (Tuesday October 12-- the date on this post is messed up). It even lasted a bit into today for extra effect. They are still a pretty pissed about that whole retirement age deal.
6. Trailing that comment, they're not too crazy about their President, Nicolas Sarkozy, who they believe is entirely to blame for the retirement situation. Although to be fair, I did overhear someone discussing it and saying the other presidents just kept pushing it back and someone eventually had to do something about it. So kudos to Sarkozy. Although, running off with numerous women and remarrying a third time all within the public eye doesn't exactly leave your countrymen thrilled. Also, one of the first things he did as President was give himself a raise. Doubled his salary, actually, to "match his peers."
That's one mean looking man7. The French don't hate Americans as much as we think they do. The only reason they really hated us before was because of good ol' G.W. Bush, but now that Obama is large and in charge they really like the U.S. The same is true for pretty much every country-- they all love Obama and will repeat his name to you multiple times if that is the only English word they know.
8. Nostradamus studied and taught here in Montpellier. So that means everyone here is wise and omniscient also. Including me.
9. People dress very well. Even their babies dress better than you.
Kids wear the cutest clothes here-- they put my purple ballerina outfits and princess dress to shame.10. When you order a beer at a bar or a café, they actually put it in the right cup. Paulander comes in a Paulander glass, 1664 comes in a 1664 glass, you get the point. It's quite a difference from back home where they'll serve you beer in any available cup. Over the summer a bartender have me a JUICE CUP with my pitcher of beer. I kid you not.
11. Lastly, look at my Halloween pumpkin. They don't really celebrate Halloween here,
so that's a bummer. But I'll be in Barcelona on Halloween and I think they have a couple festivals. Although their idea of Halloween is literally ghosts, ghouls and goblins, not the Mean Girls vision we're used to.
New logement!
I have moved to a new place! I wasn't feeling the dorm situation so much. It was a lot of fun during the pre-session when we were all in Triolet but then a lot of my friends moved into homestays and I decided I wanted to as well. Also the dorm I was in before was such a FAR walk from the tram stop that I didn't really feel safe at night walking back. The street I had to walk back on was a bit shady too.
But now I am much happier in my home stay. It's a bit further down the tram but that is fine because the walk isn't as long and it's much less sketchy since it's a family neighborhood. There is also a bus stop that's about a two minute walk so I can take the bus in the mornings to the tram if I'm feeling lazy. Or if I'm late, as usual, I have to sprint up to the tram and arrive in class panting. I need to get better about that. I will change my habits tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm living with a family named LaFon. M and Mme LaFon are so cute and kind. I can tell they've been doing this for a while- they have their system down pat. They have two daughters, both who live on their own. I haven't met one of them, but the other one Ann, is really nice and comes over for dinner a lot. We're actually going to the theatre tonight! Just a small comedy theatre but I'm really excited.
Right now there are four other students living in the house- there are quite a few bedrooms. Two of the kids (boys) are leaving Friday though, they were only here for a two week program from Switzerland. There are 200 kids on that program so right now Montpellier is overwhelmed with Swiss kids, especially at the bars (one bar in particular, they all seem to flock to the Australian). The other two are girls are named Martina and Andrea. Martina is 19 from Switzerland also and Andrea is 17 from Colombia. I actually just came back from Germany with her. A different post to come about that trip.
So to wrap things up, I like living here. And I would advise anyone studying abroad to do a homestay over living in the dorms- you get a better feel for the culture and the food is AMAZING. Also I get to practice my French pretty much 24/7 (English is frowned upon in our house but if I'm feeling too exhausted from speaking French all day I'll speak in English to Martina or Andrea).
Side note about the food: meals are very systematic. Every night for dinner we start with soup. Once everyone has finished, the salad is brought out. Then comes the main course, usually meat with another plat principal (main course). After the meat is the cheese round and then finally is dessert. Most nights they have fruit for dessert and I usually have a little thing of flan. Mmhm. Dinner is in 5 minutes so I'm starving right now writing this post.
Sorry there were no pictures! I haven't taken any of the house yet.
But now I am much happier in my home stay. It's a bit further down the tram but that is fine because the walk isn't as long and it's much less sketchy since it's a family neighborhood. There is also a bus stop that's about a two minute walk so I can take the bus in the mornings to the tram if I'm feeling lazy. Or if I'm late, as usual, I have to sprint up to the tram and arrive in class panting. I need to get better about that. I will change my habits tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm living with a family named LaFon. M and Mme LaFon are so cute and kind. I can tell they've been doing this for a while- they have their system down pat. They have two daughters, both who live on their own. I haven't met one of them, but the other one Ann, is really nice and comes over for dinner a lot. We're actually going to the theatre tonight! Just a small comedy theatre but I'm really excited.
Right now there are four other students living in the house- there are quite a few bedrooms. Two of the kids (boys) are leaving Friday though, they were only here for a two week program from Switzerland. There are 200 kids on that program so right now Montpellier is overwhelmed with Swiss kids, especially at the bars (one bar in particular, they all seem to flock to the Australian). The other two are girls are named Martina and Andrea. Martina is 19 from Switzerland also and Andrea is 17 from Colombia. I actually just came back from Germany with her. A different post to come about that trip.
So to wrap things up, I like living here. And I would advise anyone studying abroad to do a homestay over living in the dorms- you get a better feel for the culture and the food is AMAZING. Also I get to practice my French pretty much 24/7 (English is frowned upon in our house but if I'm feeling too exhausted from speaking French all day I'll speak in English to Martina or Andrea).
Side note about the food: meals are very systematic. Every night for dinner we start with soup. Once everyone has finished, the salad is brought out. Then comes the main course, usually meat with another plat principal (main course). After the meat is the cheese round and then finally is dessert. Most nights they have fruit for dessert and I usually have a little thing of flan. Mmhm. Dinner is in 5 minutes so I'm starving right now writing this post.
Sorry there were no pictures! I haven't taken any of the house yet.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Let me tell you a little something about strikes
France is infamous for it's strikes (des grèves). I'm pretty positive there is no other country in the world that goes on strike as often as France. In the past 2 1/2 weeks alone, there have already been two.
They're very organized about it though. Usually, the strike is announced the week or two weeks before and word spreads like wildfire. You always know when there is going to be one because people are always talking about it, and it is usually in les journaux (the newspapers). For the most part, strikes only last for a single day and then everything goes back to normal. However, two years ago I think it was, there was a strike that lasted several weeks and students in Paris didn't have school for a while! I kind of wish that would happen while I'm here and I could just travel....but I need the credits.
Right now, the French are pretty pissed about the retirement age (l'âge de retraite) being raised from 60 to 62, which yes to Americans is ridiculous because that's still 3 years earlier than our standards. But the French are pros at striking until they get what they want.
The only problem is, it kind of ruins everyone else's day. When the French go on strike, they go on strike. None of the public transportation is in service and even the dining halls on campus have quite odd hours (not so bueno if you're starving in between classes). The strike the first week of September was the reason we had to get our train tickets changed. None of the trains ran Tuesday (our original travel day) and we would have been SOL.
Strikes are different from manifestations (protests/riots). Manifestations can often be violent and last for however long people feel the need. In 2005 they were a lot of major manifestations in Paris that turned pretty violent. It started with a break-in and the death of two young French citizens who I believe were of North-African descent. This in turned started a rapid-fire outbreak of riots all over Paris and its suburbs with other young French of North-African descent protesting against racisim in France. The President even had to declare a state of National Emergency because there was so much violence occurring.
Anyhow, I expect to experience many more strikes during my time here but hopefully they won't affect travel plans. And hopefully there won't be another volcanic ash explosion from Iceland. Which, by the way, apparently the French decided to go on strike during one of the eruptions so others couldn't pass through to get to Madrid (the only place in Western Europe that had flights running).
An interesting blog from TIME about the retirement delay in France.
http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2010/09/24/are-the-french-right-to-protest-retirement-delay/
They're very organized about it though. Usually, the strike is announced the week or two weeks before and word spreads like wildfire. You always know when there is going to be one because people are always talking about it, and it is usually in les journaux (the newspapers). For the most part, strikes only last for a single day and then everything goes back to normal. However, two years ago I think it was, there was a strike that lasted several weeks and students in Paris didn't have school for a while! I kind of wish that would happen while I'm here and I could just travel....but I need the credits.
Right now, the French are pretty pissed about the retirement age (l'âge de retraite) being raised from 60 to 62, which yes to Americans is ridiculous because that's still 3 years earlier than our standards. But the French are pros at striking until they get what they want.
The only problem is, it kind of ruins everyone else's day. When the French go on strike, they go on strike. None of the public transportation is in service and even the dining halls on campus have quite odd hours (not so bueno if you're starving in between classes). The strike the first week of September was the reason we had to get our train tickets changed. None of the trains ran Tuesday (our original travel day) and we would have been SOL.
Strikes are different from manifestations (protests/riots). Manifestations can often be violent and last for however long people feel the need. In 2005 they were a lot of major manifestations in Paris that turned pretty violent. It started with a break-in and the death of two young French citizens who I believe were of North-African descent. This in turned started a rapid-fire outbreak of riots all over Paris and its suburbs with other young French of North-African descent protesting against racisim in France. The President even had to declare a state of National Emergency because there was so much violence occurring.
Anyhow, I expect to experience many more strikes during my time here but hopefully they won't affect travel plans. And hopefully there won't be another volcanic ash explosion from Iceland. Which, by the way, apparently the French decided to go on strike during one of the eruptions so others couldn't pass through to get to Madrid (the only place in Western Europe that had flights running).
An interesting blog from TIME about the retirement delay in France.
http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2010/09/24/are-the-french-right-to-protest-retirement-delay/
Thursday, September 23, 2010
ESPAÑA!!
Sorry I'm a bit behind on my blog posts, last week was the first week of class and it's been busy!
After the end of the pre-session we had a week until actual classes started, so two of my friends (Becky and Melissa) and I decided to go to Ibiza and Barcelona. We planned to train down to Barcelona Tuesday the 7th but, true to French form , there was a national grève (strike) planned for that day and none of the transportation services were going to be running. To avoid the strike we got our tickets changed to Monday and just stayed in a hostel that night in Barcelona and flew out to Ibiza on Ryan Air on Tuesday.
Aerial view of the island
*Side note: everyone talks about how cheap Ryan Air is, but they often slap on fees even after you hit the "book" button. We were slapped with 90 extra euros of fees that only showed up once we got to the payment page. Granted, it was for three plane tickets, but you need to be careful when you're booking flights.
Once in Ibiza, we took one of the public buses to our hostel in Es Canar. The buses run periodically through out the day and most of them are used as Discobuses to transport people at night to the area where the clubs are.
Ibiza is insane in all aspects of the word. Insanely beautiful (the beaches are so amazing), insane amounts of people (there were hordes of tourists everywhere), insane lifestyle (people habitually stay out til 630 or 7 in the morning like it's no big deal.
Our view at dinner the first night
There was a beach that was about a minute’s walk from our hotel, but it wasn’t as nice as a beach called Cala Nova that was about 5 minutes walking so we went there instead. Still, a crappy
beach in Ibiza is better than any beach back home. Like any good tourists in Spain, we had Sangria with most of our meals. The food really good for the most part, but we had to make sure we found somewhere that was decently priced and didn’t charge us 5 euros for a soda.
We took it easy the first night since we were pretty tired from traveling all day and we slept for a solid 11 hours which was amazing. The second night we decided to venture to Eivissa for dinner, which was a mistake because the food was not so bueno and it was all so overpriced. The entire place was a tourist trap, but it had interesting back streets full of people (a lot of trannys) and gay bars. Quite an interesting scene but needless to say we didn’t stay for too long.
Cala Nova
Oh yeah, we went PARASAILING!! Becky freaked out.
Thursday and Friday nights we decided to hit up the clubs to get the true Ibiza experience. We went to a club called Space on Thursday and one called Privilege on Friday. They were both HUGE. I mean, Privilege won the Guinness Book of World Record’s award for biggest club in the world. 
At Space, there was an event going on called "Come Together" and a whole bunch of different artists appear at different times in the night. We were able to see English rapper Tinie Tempah, who I had only heard of because his song is in the DJ Earworm summer mix, but he is really big all over Europe. On Friday at Privilege there were multiple things happening all at once it was hard to keep track. A pirate show was being put on while acrobats hung from chandeliers, and performers rode unicycles across tight ropes 15 feet in the air as everyone in the crowd watched in awe.
Saturday we headed back to Barcelona. We stayed at a pretty good hostel near a place called Las Ramblas. We went to dinner near the Santa Maria del Mar Basilica in La Ribera district. The girl who worked at the hostel recommended that area and it was a great place to go to get dinner or hang out at a café. Afterwards we wandered around for a while and stumbled upon a festival going on in front of the Arc de Triomphe. This was probably my favorite part of Barcelona and why I would always recommend just openly wandering around a city because you’re always bound to run into something. At first we just thought it was a summer festival equivalent to the wine festivals here in Montpellier, but then we realized that it was a sort of rally/concert/festival all packed into one for the liberation of Catalonia. The people of Barcelona (well a certain really proud percent of the people) are really adamant about being Catalan and not Spanish, hence the rally.
On that note, one must remember that they don’t speak Spanish in Barcelona. They speak Catalan, which is a mix of Portuguese/French/Italian/Spanish. I didn’t realize this when we first arrived and was confused as to why no one understood what I was trying to say to them. Then again my Spanish is very limited, but the language is so different that you can’t really get by just speaking Spanish.
During the day on Sunday we did all the normal tourist-y things. We opted to skip the tourist bus because it was 22 euros and most of the big tourist spots had metro stops right near them. We started off with Sagrada Familia, a Roman-Catholic church designed by Antoni Gaudi. The church has been under construction since 1882 and has even more scaffolding and fenced-off areas than the first time I saw it. I remember my tour guide in high school said that it is privately funded and they continuously run out of money to pay for the construction, so it isn’t expected to be completed until at least the 2020s (140 years in the making, mind you). Despite the construction, it is still a fabulous thing to see because it is so majestic.
Sagrada Familia
After the park we made our way over to the famous Gaudi houses: Batlló and Milà. Both were very architecturally intriguing from the outside and had museums on the inside, but since we are cheap college kids and their tickets didn't fit within our do-whatever's-free budget, we decided not to go in. Lastly, we headed to the Parc de la Ciutadella, a giant park in the middle of the city that includes a zoo, fountain and several museums. We didn’t go into the zoo or the museums because they, of course, cost money too, but instead we walked around and saw the fountain that was constructed for the Universal exhibition in 1888. It is based off of the Trevi Fountain in Rome and built in part by none other than…Gaudi.
That night we headed down to the port/beach area for dinner. We spent a while trying to find the plaza that I had remembered from my first trip and once we realized I had no idea what I was talking about, we gave up and ate at a pretty good seafood restaurant near the beach. A large majority of the restaurants in Barcelona offer seafood paella, a traditional dish featuring rice, seafood, meat and seasonings. But... I just had the chicken, figures.
Afterward we hung out on the beach for a bit, which seemed to be a pretty popular place for both
locals and tourists to hang out a night. We then ventured off to IceBarcelona, the self-proclaimed first ice bar on the beach. It was 15 euro for admission and one drink, and the necessary clothing to keep you from getting pneumonia (giant parka and gloves). Of course the only shoes we brought on this trip were sandals because we don't think ahead, but at least we had jeans! Some people were in there in shorts and dresses and they were loco. It was an interesting experience, complete with creepy bartender. It definitely wasn’t as big as the Absolut ice bars in London or Copenhagen, but it was cool because everything was made out of ice. The bar, the cups, the chairs, the people.. hah just kidding. It was funny because they were playing the movie Ice Age on the flat screen TVs that were apparently necessary for the bar. Except, it was Ice Age the Meltdown which made it more ironic because they were in a desert while our toes were slowly developing frostbite.
Getting attacked by an ice bear
Me, Becky and Melissa
After the ice bar we went to two other clubs that were on the same boardwalk. It was sweet because there were a bunch of people handing out flyers that gave us free admission so we didn't have to pay anything to get in (unlike in Ibiza, those covers were expensive).
A couple of our friends had been in Barcelona the three days before we went and they did a free walking tour and a bar crawl, something I wish we had known about. There are always free things to do in those major cities, so next time I am definitely going to do more research.
Monday we had a bit of a scare because we thought school started Tuesday, but then we kept seeing everyone's Facebook statuses saying FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! So I frantically called one of our friends back in Montp (it's what the cool kids call it) and she confirmed that classes had already started. Luckily, my classes didn't start til Tuesday (I am in the IEFE aka the foreigners school and they run on a different schedule) and Becky and Melissa don't have any Monday classes, so we were good.
As soon as our bus arrived back in Montp, we headed straight for the Wok. The Wok is amazing. I want it right now. It's Chinese stir-fry and you can get whatever you want in it and they have so many sauces and MMMHM it's so good! I might have to get some tomorrow.
After the end of the pre-session we had a week until actual classes started, so two of my friends (Becky and Melissa) and I decided to go to Ibiza and Barcelona. We planned to train down to Barcelona Tuesday the 7th but, true to French form , there was a national grève (strike) planned for that day and none of the transportation services were going to be running. To avoid the strike we got our tickets changed to Monday and just stayed in a hostel that night in Barcelona and flew out to Ibiza on Ryan Air on Tuesday.
Aerial view of the island
Once in Ibiza, we took one of the public buses to our hostel in Es Canar. The buses run periodically through out the day and most of them are used as Discobuses to transport people at night to the area where the clubs are.
Ibiza is insane in all aspects of the word. Insanely beautiful (the beaches are so amazing), insane amounts of people (there were hordes of tourists everywhere), insane lifestyle (people habitually stay out til 630 or 7 in the morning like it's no big deal.
Our view at dinner the first night
beach in Ibiza is better than any beach back home. Like any good tourists in Spain, we had Sangria with most of our meals. The food really good for the most part, but we had to make sure we found somewhere that was decently priced and didn’t charge us 5 euros for a soda.We took it easy the first night since we were pretty tired from traveling all day and we slept for a solid 11 hours which was amazing. The second night we decided to venture to Eivissa for dinner, which was a mistake because the food was not so bueno and it was all so overpriced. The entire place was a tourist trap, but it had interesting back streets full of people (a lot of trannys) and gay bars. Quite an interesting scene but needless to say we didn’t stay for too long.
Cala Nova
Oh yeah, we went PARASAILING!! Becky freaked out.
At Space, there was an event going on called "Come Together" and a whole bunch of different artists appear at different times in the night. We were able to see English rapper Tinie Tempah, who I had only heard of because his song is in the DJ Earworm summer mix, but he is really big all over Europe. On Friday at Privilege there were multiple things happening all at once it was hard to keep track. A pirate show was being put on while acrobats hung from chandeliers, and performers rode unicycles across tight ropes 15 feet in the air as everyone in the crowd watched in awe.Saturday we headed back to Barcelona. We stayed at a pretty good hostel near a place called Las Ramblas. We went to dinner near the Santa Maria del Mar Basilica in La Ribera district. The girl who worked at the hostel recommended that area and it was a great place to go to get dinner or hang out at a café. Afterwards we wandered around for a while and stumbled upon a festival going on in front of the Arc de Triomphe. This was probably my favorite part of Barcelona and why I would always recommend just openly wandering around a city because you’re always bound to run into something. At first we just thought it was a summer festival equivalent to the wine festivals here in Montpellier, but then we realized that it was a sort of rally/concert/festival all packed into one for the liberation of Catalonia. The people of Barcelona (well a certain really proud percent of the people) are really adamant about being Catalan and not Spanish, hence the rally.
On that note, one must remember that they don’t speak Spanish in Barcelona. They speak Catalan, which is a mix of Portuguese/French/Italian/Spanish. I didn’t realize this when we first arrived and was confused as to why no one understood what I was trying to say to them. Then again my Spanish is very limited, but the language is so different that you can’t really get by just speaking Spanish.
During the day on Sunday we did all the normal tourist-y things. We opted to skip the tourist bus because it was 22 euros and most of the big tourist spots had metro stops right near them. We started off with Sagrada Familia, a Roman-Catholic church designed by Antoni Gaudi. The church has been under construction since 1882 and has even more scaffolding and fenced-off areas than the first time I saw it. I remember my tour guide in high school said that it is privately funded and they continuously run out of money to pay for the construction, so it isn’t expected to be completed until at least the 2020s (140 years in the making, mind you). Despite the construction, it is still a fabulous thing to see because it is so majestic.
Sagrada FamiliaNext, we headed towards Parc Güell, the famous park with all the mosaic decorations. It was 
another site I had seen when I went to Barcelona in high school, but I was glad to be back because it had been so long, also because I didn’t bring my digital camera on the first trip; only a 35mm manual to take pictures for my photography class. The park was just as great as I remembered it. In the grotto area with the giant columns there were lots of vendors and my friend and I both bought necklaces in the mureno glass style (did I spell that right?). They were only 4 euro which was a pretty sweet deal!
another site I had seen when I went to Barcelona in high school, but I was glad to be back because it had been so long, also because I didn’t bring my digital camera on the first trip; only a 35mm manual to take pictures for my photography class. The park was just as great as I remembered it. In the grotto area with the giant columns there were lots of vendors and my friend and I both bought necklaces in the mureno glass style (did I spell that right?). They were only 4 euro which was a pretty sweet deal!After the park we made our way over to the famous Gaudi houses: Batlló and Milà. Both were very architecturally intriguing from the outside and had museums on the inside, but since we are cheap college kids and their tickets didn't fit within our do-whatever's-free budget, we decided not to go in. Lastly, we headed to the Parc de la Ciutadella, a giant park in the middle of the city that includes a zoo, fountain and several museums. We didn’t go into the zoo or the museums because they, of course, cost money too, but instead we walked around and saw the fountain that was constructed for the Universal exhibition in 1888. It is based off of the Trevi Fountain in Rome and built in part by none other than…Gaudi.
Casa Batlló and Casa Milà
That night we headed down to the port/beach area for dinner. We spent a while trying to find the plaza that I had remembered from my first trip and once we realized I had no idea what I was talking about, we gave up and ate at a pretty good seafood restaurant near the beach. A large majority of the restaurants in Barcelona offer seafood paella, a traditional dish featuring rice, seafood, meat and seasonings. But... I just had the chicken, figures.
Afterward we hung out on the beach for a bit, which seemed to be a pretty popular place for both
locals and tourists to hang out a night. We then ventured off to IceBarcelona, the self-proclaimed first ice bar on the beach. It was 15 euro for admission and one drink, and the necessary clothing to keep you from getting pneumonia (giant parka and gloves). Of course the only shoes we brought on this trip were sandals because we don't think ahead, but at least we had jeans! Some people were in there in shorts and dresses and they were loco. It was an interesting experience, complete with creepy bartender. It definitely wasn’t as big as the Absolut ice bars in London or Copenhagen, but it was cool because everything was made out of ice. The bar, the cups, the chairs, the people.. hah just kidding. It was funny because they were playing the movie Ice Age on the flat screen TVs that were apparently necessary for the bar. Except, it was Ice Age the Meltdown which made it more ironic because they were in a desert while our toes were slowly developing frostbite.
Getting attacked by an ice bear
Me, Becky and MelissaAfter the ice bar we went to two other clubs that were on the same boardwalk. It was sweet because there were a bunch of people handing out flyers that gave us free admission so we didn't have to pay anything to get in (unlike in Ibiza, those covers were expensive).
A couple of our friends had been in Barcelona the three days before we went and they did a free walking tour and a bar crawl, something I wish we had known about. There are always free things to do in those major cities, so next time I am definitely going to do more research.
Monday we had a bit of a scare because we thought school started Tuesday, but then we kept seeing everyone's Facebook statuses saying FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! So I frantically called one of our friends back in Montp (it's what the cool kids call it) and she confirmed that classes had already started. Luckily, my classes didn't start til Tuesday (I am in the IEFE aka the foreigners school and they run on a different schedule) and Becky and Melissa don't have any Monday classes, so we were good.
As soon as our bus arrived back in Montp, we headed straight for the Wok. The Wok is amazing. I want it right now. It's Chinese stir-fry and you can get whatever you want in it and they have so many sauces and MMMHM it's so good! I might have to get some tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)