time to go to france

MY BRUSSELS AND ITALY POST

2007-03-24T17:26:35Z

1. This is really late. I had no time to do it.
2. It was all going to be a picture post, but I stopped beacuse... (see 1.) My pictures are all here and captioned: http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r73/natalouise01/
3. If you're not Nancy Trenthem, this is going to be kind of boring so you might want to skim.

In general, this vacation was amazing. I had wanted to go with a big group of girls to Italy but it didn't work out, so it was just Andrew and me the whole time. This turned out great because we had so much fun together. We both wanted to do more or less all the same things, we both wanted to spend as little money as possible, and we were never grumpy or got sick of each other because we slept in... almost every day haha. Oh, it was grand. It was great to get out of France!

Here's what went down...

PARIS

We woke up early on Sunday, ate some pain au chocolat (that's how it's done in France, k), and rode our bikes to the train station. The bags were heavy, but we had no choice since Angers buses don't run that early on Sunday mornings. I was pretty nervous at this point because I've never done anything like this by myself. And it was by myself because Andrew let me do alllll of the planning. I would have actually welcomed his help because it freaked me out to know there was no one to catch any mistakes I might have made. Overall, the trip was flawless. We had a close call when we almost didn't change trains once, but we figured it out!

So we arrived in Paris and I'm just thinking, hmm, my third time in Paris, it's not even special anymore! It sounds like a lot even though I had only set foot in 3 different countries in my entire life up to this point. Ok, I forgot, Andrew was a little grumpy on this day because we had to carry around all our belongings on our backs since we didn't have a hostel for that day. Metro tickets are a rip off so we trekked from Tour Montparnasse to the St Germain des Pres area (aka Bohemian artsy university left bank area).

We stopped for a rest in this park - Parc Marco Polo - and watched the ducks and pidgeons play in the fountain. A girl visiting from another part of France told us that the figures in the fountain represented the 4 continents. You know, America, Europe, Asia, and Africa! Australia is part of Asia, did you know? And I guess Antarctica doesn't exist. Crazy European teaching.

We also walked through Parc du Luxembourg, which I remember as being really pretty in the Spring the last time I went. It was kind of ugly and there weren't any palm trees like usual? Strange.

When we reached our first planned desination - the corners of Rue St Martin that boast Les Deux Magots and Café du Flore - we found this great urban band rocking out right across the street. They were pretty crazy. If you live in Knoxville, they were like the Fort band that wears red but a million times better. We watched for quite a while... you'll have to ask one of us to send you a video. They even went into the street and blocked traffic at one point. Andrew was disillusioned by the prices in the two famous cafés and we agreed that Sartre would have never paid 6 euro for an espresso. Sad.

We took a long rest in the Tuileries which was still pretty in winter. Very pretty, in fact! We walked up to the Louvre but we had both already been in on previous stays. We had only one museum in mind for this day! Musée de l'Orangerie. This is the newly-renovated museum in Tuileries that holds Monet's waterlillies and a small, but pretty impressive collection of Renoirs and Picassos among others. It was pretty amazing to be surrounded by the waterlillies. The rooms were all white and surreal with natural night flooding through the ceiling - this is how Monet wanted his Nyphéeas to be displayed. I recommend whirling around really fast in the middle of the room so they all blur together! There were famous Reniors too, like the girls at the piano.

We then walked north through the Place de la Vendome area. This was probably a bad idea since we were hungry (we had only eaten lots of pain au chocolat all day) and this is the richest part of Paris. That means no kebab stands! (Kebab in Europe is not meat on a stick - it's a fast food phenomenon where turkey is cut up and put in a pita and served with fries.) We stepped inside Opera Garnier but they weren't giving any Phantom of the Opera tours, haha. We saw all the glamorous hotels and drooled at the windows of pricey restaurants for half an hour until we finally found ourselves in Le Marais! This is the Jewish area around Place des Vosages (where Victor Hugo lived). We love love loved this area. Cheap food and cheap shopping! I bought a cute sweater and a belt in a thrift store and we had the best falafel EVER. Oh man it was so good. Andrew liked it so much he had another one on the way out. We will return to this area most definitely.

Lastly, I wanted to see the St Martin Canal since it was on the way to the train station and I had never seen it before. We suspected it was not the best place to be at night, and this was confirmed by the hundereds of homeless people living in tents all along one area of the canal. The government obviously allows this, for reasons unknown to me. Kinda crazy. It didn't look like the scene in Amélie, but then agian, the world isn't really tinted green either. I said goodbye to Paris by having a cheap sugar crêpe and a café crème in a café by the train station. I was almost as nervous as I was leaving home for Angers because France is my home right now and I feel quite comfortable here.

But Belgium?! Oh, Belgium was a lot more exciting than home...

BRUSSELS

We loved Brussels. We love Belgians. They are so nice and helpful and... jolly! Especially coming straight from Paris, the capital of snobbery. They actually approached us on the street while the only thing strangers ever say to us in France is "pardon" (in an annoyed way when you bump into them, not when they bump into you!) so um... yeah. I hate to encourage the stereotype that French people are rude, though. They are great when you befriend them but they don't like strangers.

We immediately noticed this was a really happening place for 20-somethings. Our hostel gave us an extremely cool map with tips on how to not be a tourist, cool jazz clubs, thrift stores, etc.
We also noticed it's kinda ugly! They are apparently proud of this. Paris is so pristine and perfect but upon reflection... TOO perfect. Too white. A lot of beautiful buildings in Brussels were surrounded by ugly modern buildings and construction sites. I've never seen so many cranes! And they don't restore their old monuments and churches like France does, save for the beautiful Grande Place. An interesting change!

So yeah, there's that... then there's the language thing. I learned that Belgium has two languages - French and Dutch. In reality, they have 5 or 6 including English - especially in Brussels. Quite the international city. When Belgians came up to us they would ask "what language do you prefer" in several languages until arriving at the best choice. Nutso. The signs were hilarious... You would see three versions of the same sign all over town, with the English always a little off, or you would see one sign with all three languages mixed up to the point where it no longer makes sense. It was endlessly amusing. See my photobucket for examples.

Our hostel was pretty hip in true Brussels style. This was the first hostel I had ever slept in so I was a little nervous. But when we walked in the door I thought we were in the wrong place because there was moody music playing, candlelight dancing all around, and the reception looked like it belonged in a fancy hotel. The rest of the room was a cool looking bar with people hanging out, playing pool, whatever. The rest was hostel-y - 8 bunk beds to a room, but the showers were definitely cleaner than our dorms in Angers. (As an aside, everywhere else we stayed this week was lightyears better than our dorm and I kid you not we paid 14 to 18 euro per night all week long.)

We woke up, had our complimentary breakfast, and headed out. The first thing we did in Brussels was get lost. For a long time. But before we even got to the downtown area Andrew was in love with the place. The people and the feel of the city is a lot more relaxed. I think we were in a poorer area of town and the buildings were still interesting and attractive. Big, tall, Dutch. I found out later we were actually right by some huge famous church thing but it looked like we'd have to walk through its gardens for a good 2 miles before actually getting there and I had been in Belgium far too long without having a waffle, so we decided not to go.

We gave up on the map and took the subway straight to the best waffles in the world. We tried them first with melted chocolate and almonds but we went back later to follow some advice we heard to try them plain - since they're already warm sugary carmelized perfection. This waffle, the chocolate bar I had later, tiramisu flavored gelato, and the little red riding hood caramel and raspberry sorbet crêpe found here in Angers are the four best tasting things I have ever eaten. Belgium: 2 Italy: 1 France: 1 USA: 0. Work on that. Anyway, you can find the greatest waffle ever at Papillon in Place Agora. Put it on your life to-do list.

We walked around in this area a bit more... there were a lot of fancy shops called the Galeries Royales and a maze of touristy streets full of restaurants with ridiculous fruit and seafood displays that were very pretty but surreal and out of place... it was like walking around a copy of a city in Epcot. Then Andrew stopped in a famous bar - La Mort Subite - to try the best Belgian beer in Belgium. It's sour. I preferred the bar's mascot - Schoopet. (Pronounce it like it's German.) We became fast friends.

From there we decided it was finally time to check out Grande Place - the major tourist pull of Brussels. There's no way I can describe the feeling I had when I first stepped in the square. The first glimpse from the corner was literally breathtaking, but to stand in the center and actually be surrounded on all sides by such beauty was, I think, actually dangerous for one's health. I was so excited I had trouble speaking, and the only thing that made sense was to start snapping pictures. The next thing that made sense was to spin around really fast blurring all the buildings together! Good fun. I would give a history of the place, but I don't have the internet, so I'm sorry. The main building is the town hall, the one across from it is now a museum, and the rest are mostly guild buildings from the 1600s. Each guild had its own building and they have old family names and carvings all over them to indicate which is which. That's all I know! We came back here several times during our two day stay... whenever we were in the area and definitely at night to see it lit up.

Next we visited a church because we were lost again and it looked pretty. We walked around for quite a bit looking for a few restaurants listed in our guide book for a late lunch. Unfortunately lots of places in Brussels (oh wait... and all of Europe) are closed from 3pm to 6. Instead I bought a delicious veggie poppy seed sandwich and Andrew had some kraut-y sandwich to accompany his best Belgian fries in Belgium (I trust you know French fries are actually Belgian). Somewhere around here we literally ran into a parade for Chinese New Year as Andrew almost got blown up by some pretty intense fireworks. The kind where you have to put your hands over your ears because you have no choice. Then we saw a dragon dance. What a cultural day! We strolled through town some more until we came across Mannekin Pis, a statue of a little boy peeing that attracts just as many tourists as the Grande Place. Pretty weird.

As night fell, I decided the night would best be spent uptown seeing THE ATOMNIUM, Brussels' World Fair project, and Mini-Europe, a theme park that has replicas of over 200 well-known European monuments. Mini-Europe was closed, but that's ok because it was 12 euro anyway. It was in this strange very non-touristy area with a sort of outdoor Peabody Place with restaurants and such. Peabody Place doesn't have THE ATOMNIUM though. It's just a big model of a molecule, but I like the name.

For dinner we went back downtown to a Vietnamese place we had tried to go to earlier because of their 3.10 euro lunch special. (I know you all already recognize that as cheap, but in Europe, even without the euro conversion, it's even harder to find cheap meals eating out. So we were pretty interested.) The dinner special was 4.80 and filling, not to mention delicious, so no real loss there.
Hanging out around the Grande Place later, I decided it was time to try... Belgian chocolate. Because... Best Belgian waffle? Check. Best Belgian beer? Check. Best Belgian fries? Check ...You get the point, this was all part of the mission. (The mission to get really fat?!) This one lady really appreciated my French and gave me some precious free samples. It was all... pretty expensive and I'm not that big on chocolate, so I just bought a bar for 2.90 at the cash register. I SHOULD HAVE BOUGHT FIFTY. White chocolate with capuccino filling and so different from any chocolate I've ever tasted. I'm going to have to start getting that shipped to my dorm.

THE NEXT DAY we set out for the European Quarter to check out the European Parliament! On the way up the hill to the enormous shiny beacon of diplomacy that is the EU building, I can't tell you how many real live diplomats I spotted on their way to do research in the diplomat library and discussing committee topics over coffee... I even saw the playground where the children of diplomats must play!!! Andrew couldn't call me crazy enough since they weren't really in session. But come on, let a nerd be a nerd, you know? We took a short (and free!) tour so I could see the debate chamber, I took pictures of random men in suits, and then we were on our way.

We walked through Ciquantiare Park to see the Jubilee Arch and learned about how King Leopold once kidnapped an entire African village and put them in a zoo in Brussels for his own amusement. Cool guy!

For lunch we had SOUP AND BREAD at this bar. I don't know what it was called because we kept calling it SOUP AND BREAD. It was this great homemade soup with the best bread and the best spread. Ugh why does Europe rock so hard?!

I wanted to go check out the main museum to see the Death of Marat and the Fall of Icarus but that particular wing was closed so we got a refund. However, all the museums in the city are all on one big hill with a great view of the city below, so the trip was no loss. I love panoramas! In the gardens below, we walked by the filming of what appared to be a cracker commercial. There was a basically naked guy painted from head to toe to resemble a statue who came alive to take a bite of a cracker and smile. Hm. It was cool enough to hear "ACTION" and "COUPER" in french.

Oh yeah and in the metro station waiting to head out of Brussels there was a quite friendly guy sitting next to us that was asking about our travel plans. He did some strange things like stroke my shoes and try to buy them from me before taking out a homemade alumnium pipe and offering Andrew some heroin. Uhh. That's just weird, especially because Brussels and even its metro stations didn't strike me as very sketchy. Although I did see sometihng really disturbing before where a guy punched his girlfriend on a people-mover and then bashed her head into the wall before running away. I was pretty alarmed and ran up to her to ask if she was ok in French and she kept saying yes. I saw some policemen looking a little curious.. not sure what they saw... so I kind of pointed her out to them. I've never seen anything like that before... geez.

We took a shuttle to the airport and had dinner in their cafeteria. A word of advice to anyone flying Ryan Air in the near future - eat before you get to the airport! They're usually small and only have one place to eat... so what you're looking at is a 7 euro cheeseburger or nothing at all. But hey, the 24 euro flight makes up for things like that.

FLORENCE

Italy was something else. Remember how I mentioned how white everything is in Paris? Italy is all about COLOR. In Florence the Tuscan reds and yellows on every street and the red and green on the church. I think I prefer it! Italians are so cooooooool. They weren't as outwardly nice as Belgians, but they love the heck out of life and make sure you know it. Even in the way they talk. Andrew pointed out that Italian sounds so cool because when they speak they make it sound like they love every word they say. A stress on every word.

We didn't get into Florence until almost midnight. I was worried that the guy waiting for us would leave and our "guest house" hostel would be a dump. Wrong wrong wrong! He was nice and we had a 3 person room to ourselves. An old gorgeous Italian apartment room with high ceilings. The next two nights they moved us to a private room for 2. I had signed up (and paid) for 4 person rooms, we just got lucky. We watched Italian TV before falling asleep. Saw some interesting things like call girls stripping for the camera and guys dancing in glittery thongs? We're not in Kansas anymore! Or, uh, the US.

We set out strolling the streets with food on our minds. I didn't bother with the map... if I saw something interesting in the skyline, I walked towards it. There were outdoor markets everywhere, but they were quite touristy. We hung out around San Lorenzo then ran into the duomo. Again, I love the reds and greens. Andrew got attacked by a beggar who showed him a picture of a guy dying in a hospital bed. He gave her some change but she kept following him saying she heard more money in his pocket. He was walking away really fast and she was just chasing him like pidgeons. Kinda creepy.

We took out the map to find Trattoria Mario - a place our book said was cheap. What it really meant is that the first course is cheap. In Italy you have your first course, usually pasta, then a second course, usually meat. So I had my delicious 4.50 euro ricotta pasta with bread and we shared 2 euro Chianti. Delish! This was family-style seating so they set us down by two British guys in their late 30s who had also found the place in their guidebook. This place was straight out of a movie, I swear. Family members running everywhere yelling, and cooking right by the tables. It felt like we were intruding on a large familiy reunion lunch!

On the way back through the market area Andrew wanted to buy a cashmere scarf. I decided to get one as well and we bargained for a lower price. We didn't bargain a whole lot, I was just proud because I've never really done it before. With the money I saved I could buy 4 gelatos !! Ah yes, gelato. AKA the best thing ever. I was pretty excited as we found our way to the best gelato parlor in Florence (and perhaps Italy since it originated here) because I LOVE ice cream and there's no where to get it in Angers except from the dessert menu at a fancy restaurant. We had a whole lot of gelato during our week in Italy but the quality was the best at this place - it's called Vivoli and I'm sure it's all over the guide books. I had café (strong!) and chocolate chip. That last one is highly recommended because their "vanilla" is about a million times better than ours.

Next we went down to the Palazza della Signoria - the square with Palazzo Vecchio and all of the sculptures. You walk around the corner and you are surrounded by art. Most of the sculptures are copies (like David) but they originally stood here. We weren't planning on spending a lot of money on museums and tours but we got pulled in by a description of an Activities Tour of the Palazzo Vecchio where they show you secret passages and rooms. We went to sign up for a tour but the only one we hadn't already missed for the day was in French and later in the day. We decided to sign up anyway and hoped for a guide who spoke slowly!

While waiting for our tour, we walked past the Uffizi (sorry Botticelli, I was saving my euros for when they would rip me off to see David!) to the greeeeeeeeeeen Arno river to check out the Ponte Vecchio. The river is so very green, but not in a nasty murky way either. Very pretty. The bridge was of course fabulous. We shopped for gold and diamond jewelry (ha) and then walked down the river to see the view of it from the next bridge down.

By that time it was time for our tour of the palace. The guide had a thick Italian accent, but we got the gist! Americans taking a French tour in Italy - how international! She took us behind paintings and up tiny staircases. We didn't get all of the history but to be honest, we paid our 5.50 to open up portraits and walk through the palace inside its walls. Duh. The private studio of Francesco de Medici was nuts. It's a tiny tiny tiny room filled from ceiling to bottom with gaudy art. Paitings with huge gold frames, sculptures, vaults, ahhh. The rest of the palace is like this too but it's something else when it is all squished into one tiny room without windows. He kept his treasures in shelves behind the paintings. Behind one painting was a staircase that led to yet another, even smaller studio. At one point in the tour she took us to the huge Salone dei Cinquecento. Enormous paintings everywhere, including on every inch of the ceiling. The room is so big and there aren't any columns, so this thing is sort of caving in. Later she took us up to the attic (yes, the palace has an attic... It looks just like mine without all the storage!) to explain how that ceiling stays up. It's some stystem of metal cords held up by wooden beams. I understand that geometry is important. I also understand that this entire place could go up in flames so easily... I counted 9 extinguishers!

*** The rest of my Florence part got deleted... I will rewrite it because it was my favorite night of the entire trip and my favorite part of this entry. GRRRR! Right now the internet is about to close... ****

VENICE

It's not an easy choice, but Venice was our favorite. We stayed here for four amazing days and enjoyed every second. Ohhhhhh Italy, how I miss you so!!

On Friday we woke up at some ungodly time in Florence to catch a 6 am train to Venice. That part was a little stressful. It took us awhile to figure out the ticket machines and then by the time it was time to get on the train, we couldn't find any place to validate the tickets. I'm not sure what the penalty for this is, but I definitely hopped off the train at the first stop to find a machine - I found one, but it didn't work - risking getting myself left behind. It was one of those stops where people only get off and it takes about 60 seconds. Exhilirating little run, really. Frace does this whole train thing a lot better, I swear. Nevertheless the conductor didn't say anything at all when he came to check. We also almost went to Milan instead of Venice because I didn't see that we had to change trains. The guy beside us understood English and must have picked up that we were headed for Venice because he let us know. In all the confusion I left one of my books for school on that train, so we didn't get much homework done for the rest of our travel time! Oops. But yeah, next time I'm not in France where things are familiar and in French (wow, I almost said "English") I'll wake up at 4 am instead of 5 because you overlook things when rushed! Hmph.

Fresh off the train we had our first taste of the maze that is Venice when we had to find our way to our hostel's office, a little ways from the actual place. It is so crazy to be looking directly at the place you wish to be standing but have to zig zag through several alleyways and bridges to get across. Frustrating when you're in a hurry, but we gave ourselves 4 days here, so when we weren't hungry or late we just laughed and enjoyed. Maps are almost useless here. It will give you a headache to try to chart a path on the maze and even if you did, it's impossible to follow it. The streets aren't even streets because there aren't any cars (very peaceful by the way), they're mostly tiny alley ways that occasionally open up into squares and they are so narrow that you have to walk single file and one way to get through (these were often part of the "main routes" to and from the tourist sites, so it was crowded). Some "streets" would unexpectedly dead end in the water. We would go out and hold on to the wall to peer around the corner and see in which direction the nearest bridge across was and then go back into the maze to try to find the street leading to that bridge. I mean, the major tourist attractions and the train station had signs leading to them at every corner, so that part wasn't that difficult (although we did get lost twice on our way BACK) and once we had been there for a few days we had memorized how to get from place to place. The map is only really good to see in what general direction you should head for. Just some advice if you plan on going.

Our hostel was around Santa Margherita Square, so that was our first stop. This is apparently a student/nightlife area but it seemed more charming than cool to me. Lucky us, on Fridays they have a fish market there. We met lots of dogs and cats (much more dogs than cats though) and birds hunting the dead fish while waiting for lunch places to open. We were basically starving since we hadn't had breakfast and woke up at 5. We got a huge Margherita pizza (because that's just fitting) and ate it on a bench in the square before dropping our luggage off in the office since we couldn't check in until after 2.

Next we set out through the city to explore. It wasn't the prettiest day (kinda foggy) but that didn't hide the pretty of Venice. Because there are no cars and you are often isolated by the tiny streets, the city is often almost silent except for the little waves of the canals. It's very peaceful, but creepy at night since you can go without seeing another person or hearing a thing for several minutes. We saw the Rialto, all the shops, and San Marco's. San Marco's is so... colorful!! And gold is everywhere, all over the ceilings inside. We spent much more time (hours if you add up the days) however in the square than in the church. When my parents went in the fall the square was flooded, but the water was pretty low when we were there, judging by the amount of moss on all the buildings and stairs. When it's not flooded with water, it's flooded with pidgeons and corn vendors. It's pretty gross in my opinion... I was a bit squirmish, but Andrew loved letting the pidgeons land on him and crown him Pidgeon King. Watching unleashed dogs react to the enormous amount of pidgeons is pretty hilarious as well.

On our way back to check into our room, we stopped by La Boutique del Gelato - best in Venice. Had Tiramisu flavor... best ever. Our hostel (or "guest house" really) was amazing and the best of the week. It was more like a hotel room - big, wooden-beamed ceiling, colorful, a kitchen area with a hot plate, sink and dishes, and our own bathroom. It was only a 3 bed room when I paid for 4 (ha!) and the third was unoccupied at the time. We loved it so much we took a nice long rest to read and laze about before going out again.

Andrew read in the guide book that sarde en soar (sour sardines?) were a Venetian specialty so we went to the swanky wine bar recommended for it and tried it. Not as gross as it sounds, Andrew loved it. The bar was cool... the ceiling was covered with brass pots and pans and everyone remained standing, talking with a glass of wine in one hand and an hors deurve and the other. After the appetizer, we crossed the Rialto to a pizzeria called Cip Ciap - the first of many visits. Their pizza is fresh, delicious, and cheap and I liked olives for the first time ever. We wanted to see San Marco's and the bay at night so we headed in that direction. We spent quite a while just hanging out on one of the gondole docks talking as all the lights and reflections danced around in the distance. So so so nice.

On the way home we got really lost for about an hour and a half. It was dark and there were no people in sight for 90% of the walk. I think we were in a bad part of town because all of the windows had bars on them and we saw a handful of fat Italians in leisure suits yelling. Hahaha... I'm not joking though. Anyway when we finally found our way back, we were tired and frustrated and only gelato could cheer us up. Amaretto gelato in a cone with hot (spiced) wine, while it sounds strange, is quite a nice treat, especially while standing on a bridge watching the moon's reflection in a Venetian canal. Yup. When we went back to our room, we discovered that we had a roommate. But that's ok, because he rocked. His name was Frederico, he was from Uruguay, and he hardly knew any English. But we got along great!!

Saturday we walked around before going back to Cip Ciap for 2.50 mozzarela and proscutto calzones. They were HUGE and delicious. This is the best, cheapest place to eat in this city. Love these guys. We ate on what had now become "our bench" in the square nearby. Gelato count: 6. I love this country. We went to San Marco's and played with the pidgeons a bit more before paying a fee (ugh) to climb the campanile aka bell tower. Ah, the blues of the sky and the ocean blurring into the rusty reds of Venice... pretty cool. We spent the rest of the day exploring the other half of the city with the Ponte della Accademia and the boardwalk along the bay of the Canal delle Giudecca. We sat on a dock watching the boats and talking late into the afternoon.... while eating gelato, of course. Dined outside Cip Ciap again. Real pepperonis (spicy!) are delicious. This was a simple day for us, but if I could repeat it forever, I would.

Sunday was BOAT DAY. We had decided to only ride a boat bus for one day since a one way ticket was like 6 euro and a day pass was 13 euro. We used our day pass quite well... we spent more time on a boat than on land haha. We had crappy paninis before boarding the boat... that's what we get for not going to Cip Ciap for every single meal!! GC: 8. First we took the boat all the way through the Grand Canal so we could see the city from the water. Next we headed out into the Venetian lagoon to Lido, a sort of resort town with a beach. Unfortunately it was a really nasty day... cold and windy so it wasn't the greatest day to visit the beach. We had to stop in a bar for coffee to warm up right when the boat docked. The beach was mostly shells (ouch!) so we spent a lot of time looking for the prettiest ones we could find to take back to Angers. They had built rocky sandbars going out into the sea like long docks and we sat on these for a long time and had quiet time. The weather was miserable but the sea was amazing as it always is. We got on a boat to visit Murano, the glass-blowing island, but we didn't know the boat ride would take about an hour! We were too late to see any glass blown because it was past five and they had all closed. Terribly disappointing since that was the whole point in going.... but it was a cute little place and at least I can say I bought my Murano glass jewelry actually ON Murano... When we got back to Veniceland (an hour later) we decided that for once on this vacation, we would treat ourselves to a nice restaurant. The place was called Vivaldi and had a music theme. I had a classic spaghetti dish to see what it was for them - it's different! There's definitely cheese IN the sauce, and I approve! We tried Tiramisu for dessert. I'm glad I got it because it's interesting to see what REAL tiramisu is like (not nearly as sweet), but I've had some I like better in the States.

Monday was our last day in Venice, so we didn't plan a thing. It was the most gorgeous day I have ever seen in my entire life, so I really wanted to hop on a boat and go back to the beach on Lido but we didn't have time. Bad luck, huh? We had our last lunch from Cip Ciap (sad!!) sitting on the side of a canal for over an hour watching the gondolas float by. All the tourists took our picture - I guess we were cute. I had two helpings of gelato for my farewell to Italy - mousse and coconut (with coconut shavings of course). Andrew wanted to see the Jewish Ghetto - the first ghetto ever, so we walked uptown. It turns out that the Jewish ghetto is one of the prettiest parts of Venice, I think because the streets are much less crowded. The canals are wider and open out into the sea. We sat on a bench where the ghetto opens out into the sea in the hot sun watching the boats go by and wishing we owned one and lived here. We were really sad about leaving... but it was time. On our way back to gather our bags, we tried an overpriced Bellini (champagne and peach juice) by the Grand Canal. We killed time in a park before it was time to catch our bus to the airport.

This plane ride had the worst turbulance ever. Oh my God I thought I was going to die. I actually cried, haha. It wasn't just bump, bump, bump like I've felt before. It felt like the plane was about to turn upside down in the air. It was jumping up and down like a roller coaster and my stomach was dropping and ahhhhh. BAD. But we lived. :)

PARIS, again

We arrived back in Paris late late late. It was freezing. I wanted to be back in sunny Venice. I think we stayed in a bad part of town, but I didn't notice anything. We bought waffles and bananas from a store to bring back to the hostel and slept like babies.

In the morning we visited L'île de la cité. The famous ice cream place was closed for renovations, but you know what, I think we had had enough ice cream for a lifetime at this point. We went to St. Chapelle since Andrew had never seen it then had Asian for lunch overlooking Place St. Michel. Visited Notre Dame and it's park and then the Holocaust memorial. Then to the famous bookstore Shakespeare & Co. for like an hour because I knew Andrew would love it and I wanted to visit their kitty cat. Then it was time to head back. We said hello to Moulin Rouge and the sexy Pigalle area (which is actually not a bad part of town... there is a nice park along the median of the road where families were taking strolls, haha).

Sorry, that one was short because it was JUST Paris. Going to Paris is like living in a suburb and going downtown. It feels like home, so it's not a big deal. We just have to go there all the time in order to travel anywhere else. We had kebab waiting for our trian. Kebab in France is not grilled meat on a stick, it is a gross but undeniably good HUGE fast food trend all over France. It's a pita filled with chunks of some unknown meat (I think turkey?) and smothered with either special sauce or fries and ketchup. Just thought I'd share. When we got home we discovered that someone had let all the air out of our bike tires so we had to wait like an hour for a bus back to our dorm. Ugh, that would have NEVER happened in Italy, is all I could think. Haha.

THE END.

Coming soon, The Chateaux of the Loire!
Those pictures are already in my album.

bike accident

2007-03-06T17:30:55Z

Oh yeah, to keep you entertained while I write about Italy... and while I'm griping about the French, I never reported about my bike accident a few days ago! It wasn't serious it was just frustrating because of the circumstances. I basically got hit by a bus. You know how Europeans drive in the movies? That's not just in the movies. And the buses do it too. I noticed from the minute we landed in the Paris airport and the shuttle (standing room only!) was speeding around barely missing the other shuttles, swerving and knocking everyone around. I find this funny when I'm on a bus, but when I'm on my bike and it's herdling towards me, not so much. I had to throw myself off to avoid it and I cut my hand and foot. My wrist just now stopped hurting. The light broke off of my bike but I'm not paying for it because its the bus company that rents out the bikes! Hmph!!

silly french and pictures

2007-03-06T17:11:24Z

Today I went in my room just for a second to change into my robe before going back into the hall to go take a shower. Right when I closed the door and slipped off my clothes, someone knocked loudly on my door. Before I could answer, she yelled that I had left my keys in the door and started to open the door. I quickly pushed it shut and said I knew I had left them there and to hold on. She kept pushing. I pushed back. I found this very bizarre and yelled "please stop" and hit the door really hard as you would if you were trying to scare away a dog or something. It worked. They're getting on my nerves, man.

Anyway, just posting to say I finished posting all of my pictures. There're out of order because Photobucket is stupid and that bothers me, but they're there. All the February albums are updated. Read the captions or check back here later this week beacuse I'm going to post what we saw and some little stories, etc.

http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r73/natalouise01/

back in france

2007-02-28T14:15:30Z

I'm hooooooome. Oh how I missed my little Angers! But oh how I wish I could have stayed in Italy forever. Hmph. Everything was fabulous! Picture post in the works. Sooooo much to do though. Rarr.

(happy st valentin!)

2007-02-14T14:56:00Z

Mon, Feb. 12

There are good days and bad days here. Examples:

Yesterday was a good day. Andrew and I planned to ride our bikes downtown just to search for some food since we weren't able to go to the store before it closed Saturday for the weekend. But in addition to eating at a cutesy panasian restaurant (makes you feel at like you're back home, really) we stayed on the bikes all afternoon long exploring Parc Balzac. We had been to this park before but it looked like a whole new place because it was mostly flooded. The city does this on purpose as an experiment with marsh life or something. It was strangely pretty and extremely calming. We spent some time by the river as well. We love our city. It seems like we're the only foreigners we know here that really explore it like that. Pictures next week because I have to spend all of my free internet time this week planning my February break! (Ha, I get three Spring breaks and you don't!)

Today was a bad day. It started quite nice. It is my free day so I had a whole list of things to do. I woke up, ate, and set out to the store to do a little shopping before going to the wireless area to plan our first grand voyage. However, before I could get to the store, an ATM ate my bank card. The bank card that I needed to make reservations online today for my trip on ... Saturday. Then I had to run around downtown (with Andrew because he's the nicest person ever) trying to figure out how to get it back. That wasn't so successful since the bank is closed on Monday. (Haha, I bet you think I'm kidding. Nope.) So that took a lot of time, and so did trying to find someplace I could get on the internet. Always a chore. So now here I am with only an hour of internet time to plan my trip. And this being France, who knows when and if I will ever get my ATM card back.

But let's talk about my trip! I wanted to travel with big groups but I couldn't really get in on anyone's February trips even though we know many different groups of people. But I wanted to travel while I'm here so I just planned a trip for Andrew and me. Maybe next time, you know? Anyway we're going to Brussels, Florence, and Venice. I know that's a little random, and I hate to skip Rome, but I planned this backwards. I wanted to meet some girls in Venice, the cheapest way to get to Italy was from Brussels to Florence. Oh and since we have to go to Paris to go anywhere else in Europe, we're spending two days there as well - one day coming in and one day goign out. It was all pretty cheap. Hopefully that will be a handful of good days! Oh yeah and if you would like to tell me what to do or see in these places, go for it, because I have no idea what I'm doing haha.

It's St Valentin! hinthint Hopefully I will get another crusty red riding hood crepe. MMMM.

OH YEAH and I saw from my window the most disturbing thing I have ever seen in France today. There was a little girl walking with a cat on a leash. Cats shouldn't go on leashes, I thought, but what a cute kitty! Then I realized she was dragging it. Booo. It sat down and refused to move as she strangled it with the leash. A few minutes later I saw her chasing the cat that had somehow gotten free of the leash. Go kitty! It hid under a car and she bent over and dragged it out by its neck. !!!!! Then she rolled it over, reached her hand back and started smacking it. I opened the window and yelled at her but she didn't hear me. Yah, that's how upset I was. She just picked it up by its paws and dragged it away. She is freaking lucky her mom had cruelly declawed it. Yeah, they love dogs here. Not so much cats.

today and paris

2007-02-08T17:28:02Z

Ok so we have this friend Olivier who actually enjoys having Andrew and hopefully me around even though our french is slow. He has some slow english himself! Anyway we met him in some our classes (the big scary lit class where the professor speaks as fast as humanly possible and I sleep on my hand) and started eating lunch with him and his friends. He's pretty much a cutie. Yesterday at lunch we were talking about the differences in our cultures as usual (Andrew: "You eat fries with your hands, stupid!") when I asked him to confirm the horrible rumor I heard that all papers in France must be handwritten. He said yes of course and Andrew and I went on and on about how helpful a word processor can be with speed and reorganizing paragraphs etc etc etc - you all know this. Then he tore us apart telling us that with typing you don't have to think about spelling and grammar or the order of your thoughts, and that's lazy, and with writing you can think about your paper all at once. We argued that writing just took way too long and he told us that writing your work is "very french" and "romantic" because handwriting is very personal. I just thought that was kind of cool. But I'm afraid once you begin writing your papers in Word, it's very hard to go back. Anyway he's a cool little french guy. He actually invited us to a party he was throwing last night. Except when we got there it turned out to be a small, intimate get together with about 7 people. Plus he made dinner himself - gratin (which is basically buttery potatoes drowning in melting french cheese haha). So um, that was a nice gesture, no? We're long-lifers, I can feel it already.

We rented bikes today. This system is amazing. European cities don't sprawl and the government hates cars, so they basically just give out bikes for free. I can have it for as long as I like as long as I bring it by once every 3 months. I love you, Angers! Turns out the bike ride downtown is faster than the bus ride.

The private school teachers of Angers are totally on strike or something. There was a huge protest taking up the main road in the city and the policemen were clearing the streets for them. Oh, France! You place no policemen in the tourist areas of Paris to keep people from getting ripped off AHEM but you help the rowdy teachers org (who probably get paid 5 times more than those in the States) hold up all the buses. OH WELL, I have a bike!!

So let me just say real quickly that we went to Paris on Sunday on a bus with a bunch of French English students (including Olivier) for Andrew's birthday and it was awesome, duh. We only had a few hours to run around because we were actually there to see a play (en anglais) which was not very good anyway, but entertaining. We took a stroll down Champs Elysee then I took him to Montmartre because he had never been. I HATE STREET ARTISTS WHO TIE STRINGS AROUND YOUR FINGER AND DON'T LET GO. Oh, sorry, what? Anyway, we ate cheesy hotdogs in the park and then climbed up the dome of Sacre Coeur even though we had absolutely no time to do that. So really, we ran, and my legs still hurt. Worth it! Yeah, so Paris is huge. The metro takes 30 minutes to cross half the city. Needless to say, we were a little late to the play! One thing I noticed about Paris after spending so much time in Angers - everything is HUGE there. The beauty of Angers is in the little streets and timber houses. The only big thing is the chateau, and the cathedral is pretty tall. But in Paris everywhere you walk there is something HUGE and GORGEOUS and usually gold. It's ridiculous! I had no idea I would be so overwhelmed my second time in Paris after already having lived in France for a few weeks.

So Andrew and I are worried that our eyes have adjusted to all the pretty here. (See above paragraph: "the cathedral is pretty tall") It's like... Oh look, it's another big church. Yeah, that house looks old. Probably only from the 12th century though. How tall do you think that fountain is? Eh, I've seen bigger. I like home alright, but it might be a little boring walking around and not seeing my cathedral every day! I'll worry about that later though!
I am still loving it here. It doesn't matter where you travel, I'm sure the sentiment is the same. I've gotten to the point where I have a set schedule. I go to the store to get my bread, I walk to class, I do my laundry. These things are boring in your own culture, but everything is constantly interesting here. It's interesting because I'm learning something new everyday. Or maybe every minute haha. Not just new french words, but new things about the culture and all of that. Eavesdropping on conversations at the market, watching people, etc is never boring (especially when they dress so funny). You just look at the whole world and how you fit in it differently and I'm really appreciating that experience. Yup yup yup.

I've had my dose of culture for the day, so I'm going to go catch up on Gilmore Girls on youtube then check out some region 2 DVDs rented free from the library. I think some American girls are going to make us dinner. So that's life tonight.

pictures

2007-02-08T14:16:16Z

Yeah so I decided I didn't like blogging because I feel like I'm always having to play catchup. So forget catching up. Just go look at my pictures from the last few weeks! That is something I will be able to keep up to date better. There's different folders for January and February.

http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r73/natalouise01/

I'll start over with this week tomorrow.

pretty snow

2007-01-24T16:55:18Z

So today it FINALLY stopped raining...
because it started snowing. A lot. Yes, it snows in "the garden of France" - I had no idea. Basically, I'm studying abroad in Narnia right now, which is interesting since it was just 3 days ago that I was frolicking around in a park petting guinea pigs (more on that later). So it's just like I never left home!

I went to a million courses today. I have yet to find a single course I want to take here at this sucky school. Sucky school, awesome city - what can you do? I think the only credits I can get are 2 french electives and that is bad, bad news for my perfectly sculpted 4 year plan. But you know what? The French way of life has already made me more laid back. What can you do? C'est la vie. Whatever, man. I still wake up everyday and think it's amazing I'm in a different country. So I think I have the correct attitude about everything, and that was one of the main things I worried about from the start. Yay.

I didn't have much to say... I just thought I'd stop by the computer lab and brag about the pretty snow. ONE DAY I will upload all my pictures. I really do not wish to email them to myself as that would take forever. I'm waiting for the wireless hotspot to be repaired so I can actually use the internet from Max, my precious laptop. The signal stopped working about when I arrived here. Processes don't go very quickly here in France, which is the number one thing you must understand to live here. Oh yeah, and that deodorant comes in liquid rolly-ball form.

Observations again

2007-01-22T09:52:44Z

- I found a common trend: black and brown together. At first I thought it just stood out to me because it's ugly, but then I realized they all do it. Navy sweater, black pants, brown knee boots. This is the style, man. I stand out in my hot pink, bright greens and yellows (not to mention Tennessee orange), let me tell you.
- We went to a party for the international club in the basement of a bar. French people dance like the straightest white boy at a middle school dance. Met some friends. Most are Americans though. When the room was practically line dancing to Beyonce's Crazy In Love, we showed them how to dance with zee booty. We have great contributions for the French culture, haha.
- Hamburgers come in pitas. Not bad though. The combination of ingredients is hard to mess up.
- Ketchup is delicious.

classes

2007-01-20T15:20:55Z

The classes here only meet one time per week here, so some are only 1 hour courses. I guess I can say bye bye to UT credit since I would have to combine 3 extremely similar classes in order to get credit. That's hard! So yah have fun with your homework for 5 classes while I'm working on my 10-12!! And they don't really have political science except for this one: Political and Social History of Contemporary France. C'est parfait pour moi!

Here's how we have to choose classes:
We received schedules but the schedules only say, for example, "comparative literature" in several places at different levels. There is no course catalog, so we have no way of knowing what the subject of the class is. We were told for the first 2 weeks we need to actually attend as many classes as possible to find out the subject and difficulty of the class. Does that not sound insane? Why can't they just tell me hahaha... or I don't know, put it on the internet? Fat chance! So I have a busy week ahead of me. No more fun castles or cathedrals or internetz for a while.
Later!

observations

2007-01-18T15:15:23Z

- I found a vegetable I don't like: endives. All the cheese melted on top does not hide the green slime. I can clearly see it. You cannot fool me, lunch lady!
- French men: please wear deodorant. You make me frown on the bus.
- Goth is back with a vengeance in Angers. This amuses Frances and me.
- But really, individual style is so much more individual here than in America. These young kids are all over the place. I can't pick up on any trends because no one is dressed anything like anyone else. It's quite refreshing to see guys wearing more than 2 varieties of shirts as accepted on college campuses at home. No wonder they like people watching!
- I know it must never get colder than it is now (45 and rainy) because everyone is bundled up like I would be if I were going to sit outside in 10 degree weather for 3 hours. This is good. All this rain sucks though.

JESSICA I did receive your voicemail and yes you are obviously the best friend ever since only my mom and sister have used this service thusfar. Even if you spent 3/4 of the message talking about how you were the best friend ever, hahaha. <3

Will add more pictures later.

first week

2007-01-18T15:13:56Z

JANUARY 13

Travel day (Friday-Saturday) was tough. Andrew and I couldn't sleep on the plane and that ruined Saturday for us. When we landed at Charles de Gaulle we couldn't even talk to each other we were so grumpy. We had about 3 hours before catching our train to Angers so we dragged everything we brought to live for 5 months all over the airport. We found a café with seats (very important) and bought baguette sandwiches and un petit verre de vin. Yay! Unfortunately we were too grumpy to remember to toast to the fact we were in France.
The scenery wasn't too impressive on the train ride... until we began getting closer to the Loire valley. Shabby, modern Paris suburbs turned into gorgeous little towns over rivers with beautiful bridges and cathedrals. That's when I woke up and got excited about catching the first glimpse of our city! The professor of English here came to meet us at the train station. I looked like a kid on Christmas morning when we stepped out of the train station - I didn't expect the city to be this big. This was my first glimpse of Angers:

He drove us in the sceneic route - or perhaps every route would have been scenic - right by the medieval fortress by the river. He showed us around our dorm along with the woman who works at the front desk. I understood their French very well, which made me feel better because there was a guy at customs who upset me because I didn't understand him... he laughed at me. :( We went to the university market for some bread and cheese (two 2-foot long baguettes with 2 packages of the most delicious cheese was 1.20 euro together and it lasted for 2 breakfasts, a snack, and a dinner for andrew haha) and I got a frozen dinner (much healthier than American frozen dinners...). The bottles of wine at our grocery are 2-4 euros haha. We were so exhausted that we weren't exactly happy to be here. Everything bothered us and I knew that if we just got some sleep we would feel better about everything in the morning, but somehow we kept getting caught up with others in the building. We wanted to call home but we couldn't work the public phone so the desk lady and random people kept trying to help us with it even after we had given up to sleep. When you haven't slept for that long, realizing that there is no phone or no internet and you can't even talk to your mommy and daddy is really the last straw, haha. I lost the ability to understand everyone's french and to sit down without drifting off to sleep.
Needless to say, we felt great the next morning at 10:30!

JANUARY 14

The morning was much better. We knew everything was closed Sunday so I took my Michelin guide and set out for downtown for a self-guided tour. We walked 40 minutes because we weren't sure of the bus sitation on Sundays. There is a bike trail from campus to downtown that goes through residential areas and ends in a park by the river. It was sunny (the only sunny day so far) and everyone was out taking family walks with their dogs (sooooooo many dogs). We explored le chateaux d'angers, which is the medieval fortress, and the famous apocalypse tapestries inside (oldest remaining tapestries of its size, its size being the perimeter of an entire building). Inside the walls there's a small chapel which Andrew loved, the royals' residence, and crazy gardens. It was all so ancient and eerie. We stood over the grating where they would pour boiling water on intruders, ducked through short-people doorways, climbed up the winding (and crumbling!) towers, and watched kids pretend to shoot arrows out from the cracks in the walls. They seemed to be growing some wine in one of the gardens.. Not sure how well it would grow there but Good King René had it made let me tell you. We meandered through the fortified Old City to Angers' grandest cathedral - Cathédrale St. Maurice. It's so tall you can see it from almost anywhere in town. This church was just as fabulous as Notre Dame de Paris inside. Loved it. It's huge - the ceiling is in the sky. The organ pipes are ridiculously huge and appear to be held up by four giant angels carved in wood. The rose windows were my favorite part. Guide Michelin says the reds and blues are some of the most vivid in such a cathedral. I took the most perfect picture! Sick of typing, see for yourself:
Oh yeah, on the way downtown we had found a cafeteria-style restaurant in a tiny neighborhood that was actually OPEN! We ate lunch there and came back for dinner too in fear that we would not be able to find food ever again. It was cute because everyone seemed to know each other. Frenchmen can be so jolly. "bonJOUR monsieur tarnaud et les enfants! voulez-vous des moules?! ah bon? ho ho oui oui au revoir merci!"
I love European cities. Each neighborhood has its own pharmacy, dentist, doctor, vet, chapel, soccer field, movie theatre or billiard hall... Cute cute cute. I've got French social security ($250, ya'll!! *end britney impersonation*) so I'm a French citizen now, basically. Temporarily. I already know I'll hate to leave.

JANUARY 17

Monday through Wednesday was all business. Dorm forms, opening a bank account, getting bus passes, and running all around town exchanging proofs of everything. They love paperwork here and you've gotta do everything in person. I'm going to get sooo much exercise! The cafeteria is usually overcrowded but not bad! I know the French are famous for their cuisine, but their equivalent of our "home cooked meal" style is not what I expected. They eat some pretty weird food and combinations of food, I must say. Different, not bad. Though we have learned an important lesson as foreigners accustomed to an American diet: don't choose a dish if you can't tell what it is from looking or if you can't translate the name--the risk is not worth it when you only get one plate! But everything I've tried has been really quite good.

We've met some American students, but I want to hang out with foreigners. They have an international club that I'm going to join, haha. It will be bizarre to be on the other end of that spectrum...
Squishy comment: Apart from the grumpy travel day, Andrew and I have loved loved loved doing absolutely everything together. In love in France, oh là là! :)

We love our bus passes. Totally worth the price. Hop on, hop off, random adventure, go! Our friend from UT arrived and we wanted to go out for coffee but every store and café closes at 8 (even our grocery, my god, I will never adjust to that. I will surely go hungry one night.)! So we took the bus downtown near the train station because we're smart like that. My café crème at the café was exactly to my (extremely picky) espresso tastes. Perfect. After strolling around some more we found crème brûlée on an outdoor menu and we just had to try a legit crème brûlée, ooooof course. It was also perfect. Oh so perfect. Long live "the honeymoon stage," as they call it.

I uploaded like 15 pictures randomly until I can do more. Go look !
http://s141.photobucket.com/albums/r73/natalouise01/

i hate windy rain :(

2007-01-18T14:42:39Z

I wanted to explore more today, but THIS is no fun... so I now have time to post entries!
Until I can find a way to get online on my laptop, I can't easily upload pictures but I'll try for a few now and add more later.

P.S.

2007-01-17T17:16:39Z

Oh, sorry, I forgot to say something important:

EVERYTHING ELSE IS AWESOME. I'm loving it. The city is a lot bigger than I thought. It's like Paris without the major international city buzz (nooooo one speaks English) and the millions of tourists. Perfect. In fact I have not seen one tourist, but it is January. Maybe you should come be one!!

I've written down some entries in a journal and I've taken hundreds of pictures, but I don't have time to post them today because the internet shuts down in 20 minutes. I'll try to get it all in tomorrow... we'll see.

au revoir l'internet

2007-01-17T16:43:27Z

I am alive, sorry. Let me explain.

The internet situation: BAD.
It has been 5 days and I'm still not on it. I will post this when I can, along with all my other posts and emails saved to notepad.

Day 1:
- Upon arrival I am told I can't access the internet from my dorm. Sad, but I had expected it. I am extremely tired and can't get my phone card to work. I'm emotional and upset that I can't tell my parents I'm here ok.
Day 2:
- It is Sunday. Tout est fermé - everything is closed.
Day 3:
- I find out that I can pick up wireless at the library after I receive my student ID number. I find that I will not get my ID number until after I run around the city with papers for 2 days.
- I find a small computer lab next door. Connection is very slow, but I actually check my email for 20 minutes!!!
Day 4:
- I return to the lab next door but the internet is too slow to load any webpages. I try all 6 in the lab. Nada.
- I receive my student ID number and joyfully run off to the wireless hot spot. I find out that I need to get online to sign up before I can get online. Ha!
- I return again to the lab next door to my dorm to sign up but alas, it has closed. I see that it is open at night from 8-10 but Tuesday is unfortunately the only day these night hours do not apply.
- I find yet another computer lab in a library that will not let me use internet explorer without the login that I need to get online to get.
- I find a computer in this lab that someone has left logged in. I joyfully enter my student ID number and click the button to receive my magical login and... oh... it says the number is not recognized. I suppose it will take a few days for them to "get me into their system" which is how everything works in France.
Day 5:
- I get my login! Hooray!
- I go to the wireless hotspot (3 tables in a hallway - this is the ONLY hotspot)
- THE INTERNET ISN'T WORKING. It was working here yesterday before I had my login. I decide this is all a sick joke.

Thanks for letting me share my frustration! C'est la vie!

I don't care to spend hours on livejournal and facebook since I have plenty to do here, I just want to contact my mommy and talk to my friends and, I don't know, check my email once or twice a week. Phone cards are expensive.

Edit: I'm finally on, clearly. Not on my laptop though... I never have been. Wireless is down today - lucky me. I can only use it in the library 10 minutes from my room and wireless shuts off at 7 pm. Of course I have been busy exploring and with errands - soon with classes - so after 7 is the only time I have free to use the internet. OH WELL. So I guess I can't use this journal but once a week if even. Too much hassle as you can see. I will try to check email daily but waahhhh I dont want to. What time I've wasted. No wonder they dislike technology here.

like, call me!

2007-01-09T23:48:02Z

Just FYI because I have this free service with my intl phone card --

To leave me a message for free while I'm away:
Dial this access number:
1-888-579-0208
Press 2
Enter my account number:
7211222303919
Press #
And leave me a message.

My email address is still nata@ utk.edu and I will check that as often as possible.

hi...

2007-01-07T21:41:56Z

I think this will be my blog for when I'm in France. I'll post adventures and a few pictures - you know the drill.
This might not work out though because I don't know how easy it will be for me to get on the internet, how much free time I'll have, or how much I'll actually want to keep up with this while I'm there. But go ahead and bookmark it!

Oh yeah, and I realize this layout makes it look like I'm going to Nice (or Florida..), but what can you do. I wanted a travel theme!