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.

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.

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.

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.

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/

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

Next, 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!

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 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.

End of the Pre-session

Whoops, I've been lax about blogging the past three weeks. It's funny to look at my last post and see that I had written that I amazed by the fact that it had already been a week since I'd been here and now it's been a month! Ahh it's flown by.

So, for the past three weeks I’ve been quite busy. The week after my last post, we went to a winery for civilization class to taste wine. We learned about the “art of dégustation” which means how to taste and appreciate wine. First, you have to look at the color of the wine. You’d think this would be simple because it’s either blanc, rouge ou rosé, but vin blanc has different tones to it- most are yellow. Second, you smell the wine. The curve of the wine glass serves a purpose in smelling the wine by directing the particles in one direction towards your nose (I kind of made that up but I think it’s right). Take note of whether it smells more like fruit or flowers. Finally, you taste the wine. Enough said.

That Friday there was another Estivales, the wine tasting festival held in the main part of the city. This time I did have the wine and it was actually really good. Estivales is a great place to go to experience true French culture; great local food, local wine and the locals. We met a lot of interesting people including local French people so it was a good opportunity to améliorer mon français.

The next day we had a guided visit to Musée Fabre and got to see an exposition on Alexandre Cabanel, an artist from the 19th century who was originally from Montpellier. Cabanel won the prestigious Prix de Rome scholarship at age 22, allowing him to study in Rome at a young age. He eventually became a member of the Institut (the academy of distinguished painters) and became a professor at l'École des Beaux-Arts, the renowned architectural school that was featured in Inception.

Sunday we went on an excursion to Avignon. It was a cool city to see because there were a lot of ancient ruins and also the Palais des Papes. My mom studied abroad there when she was in college so

it was interesting to be in the same place that she had studied abroad back in the 1800s (only kidding). After Avignon, we went to a vignoble (vineyard) and got to see the vines and how wine was made. The one we went to was not only a vineyard but also a school where people go to become an œnologue, a connoisseur of wine. Picture: Outside the Palais du Papes. I'm not entirely sure of the significance of this elephant, I only know that there was a replica inside the palace.

That week we also got to see an olive plantation (ferme d’oliviers) and we were able to taste the olives and the olive oil th

ey produce. And when I say “we” tasted the olives, I meant the other kids did because I don’t like them. But I like the olive oil and that was good except not when it’s by itself, which is how we tasted it.

Our last excursion was two weekends ago. We went to Saint-

Guilhem-le-Désert aka THE cutest town in the history of the world. All the streets were coble stone and there were so many little shops selling all sorts of different items. Everyone fell in love with it and we’re all going to live there together some day. Not really, but it was so cute. When we had free time to walk around the town, we stumbled upon an art project in one of the little streets. The woman doing the project is a local artist and she lays out a canvas on the ground with different paints and asks everyone that passes by to paint something on it. It was really interesting to see/paint on because everyone painted something different.

After Saint Guilhem we went to Pont du Diable (Devil’s Bridge) to swim. The water there was so clear it was amazing. Right under the bridge there were a bunch of different leveled rock formations from which people were jumping off. Some of us swam over there and jumped off a couple times. I wish I had gotten some pictures but I wasn’t about to swim over with my camera. The first rock I jumped off of was only about 8-10 feet from the water so that was an easy one but then I moved on the a much higher one (aka 30 plus feet from the water). I was pumped to get up there but as soon as I looked over the edge I started freaking out. I almost didn’t go but then my friend told me to “ne réfléchit pas” meaning don’t think about it, so I sucked it up and jumped. And I survived. It was awesome cause you fell for so long and I screamed the entire way down causing the French teenagers to make fun of me but I didn’t care. And then I climbed up a second time and did it again. Picture: Le Pont du Diable