This past weekend, me and my friend Anna were invited by our friend Virgile to go to his families summer home in Loscolo Bretagne with his friends from Angers. It was a great weekend and the place really reminded me of Hornby as the weather and the relaxation were similar. Anyhow, I am adding a slideshow as well as 2 videos from the weekend. Enjoy!
The photos.
This one is of two guys playing pingpong, a guy inside on the piano, and virgile reading his book outloud.
Virgile playing amazing grace on some odd instrument.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
once again... off for the weekend!
Hello,
I am leaving this weekend. Again. This time to Bretagne (Brittany) with some friends from here, I will update you and show pictures as soon as I return!
-nancy
I am leaving this weekend. Again. This time to Bretagne (Brittany) with some friends from here, I will update you and show pictures as soon as I return!
-nancy
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Planes and Danes
My family has all left Paris as of last Thrusday. Needless to say, I was very busy while there were here, and have been busy catching up with school work since they have left. This past weekend I also participated in the Eurocup tournament which was held in Paris. It was a tournament with schools from all over Europe in many different sports. We places second for volleyball. The general consensus was that the Danish people were the coolest :P. The guys and the girls were so nice. I met one girl who just got back from being on exchange at SFU. My team placed 2nd, loosing to the team from Bratislava. I hope this week to go and train with an N2 volleyball team here which has completed their season. This way I should get a couple weeks of good practice in, as I want to be able to make my club team again when I return home. It was nice at this past tournament to have a real coach there. This coach complemented me and two others as being the best players on the team and saying that our level was above that which we were playing in. This is really nice to hear, and also, before it was our Captain who chose who played, and as we play the same position, she would nearly always choose herself to play over me. So, this tournament I was able to play 100% of the time, while often it is a lot less. :)
The other exciting thing about this past week was that I rebooked my ticket home, and I booked my ticket to visite Israel. I am now coming home on Aug the 11th, and I am going to Israel from the 27th June until the 12th of July. My ticket to Israel has a stop over in Rome, and on the way back, if possible, I will just stay in Rome. It should be possible since I only plan to take carry-on with me. I will then stay in Italy for a week or 2 (possoble WWOOFing, google search that if you do not know what it is), and if not just moving onto another country. I then hope to visite Switzerland and my family there for a couple days, before returning to Paris for a couple days before flying home. Flying out of Paris coming home was important to me, since I want the chance to say goodbye.
It is really sad here already as all my friends are buying there tickets to leave Paris. Some are leaving as early as the end of May (people at other Universities), but most will be leaving between the 25th-30th of June. I am already not looking forward to saying goodbye! But, I have no doubt that I will see a number of these people at some other point in the future. I am convinced this will happen especially after seeing so many people from home, in Paris!
I am really looking forward to my summer here, and I am happy to have booked those major tickets. The rest of my travel will likely be by train, and those I will not book until a lot later. Now that these cornerstones are set, I am free to be spontaneous in my travels within those limits. I can now stop looking at tickets everyday and concentrate on finishing my semester here.
The other exciting thing about this past week was that I rebooked my ticket home, and I booked my ticket to visite Israel. I am now coming home on Aug the 11th, and I am going to Israel from the 27th June until the 12th of July. My ticket to Israel has a stop over in Rome, and on the way back, if possible, I will just stay in Rome. It should be possible since I only plan to take carry-on with me. I will then stay in Italy for a week or 2 (possoble WWOOFing, google search that if you do not know what it is), and if not just moving onto another country. I then hope to visite Switzerland and my family there for a couple days, before returning to Paris for a couple days before flying home. Flying out of Paris coming home was important to me, since I want the chance to say goodbye.
It is really sad here already as all my friends are buying there tickets to leave Paris. Some are leaving as early as the end of May (people at other Universities), but most will be leaving between the 25th-30th of June. I am already not looking forward to saying goodbye! But, I have no doubt that I will see a number of these people at some other point in the future. I am convinced this will happen especially after seeing so many people from home, in Paris!
I am really looking forward to my summer here, and I am happy to have booked those major tickets. The rest of my travel will likely be by train, and those I will not book until a lot later. Now that these cornerstones are set, I am free to be spontaneous in my travels within those limits. I can now stop looking at tickets everyday and concentrate on finishing my semester here.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Vancouver in Paris (and vice versa)
My mother AND Peter are here in Paris with me now. I am happy to have them both here, as they can entertain each other while I stay at home and do productive things, like writing this blog post.
Paris, is definatly not a city to go to if you want to seclude yourself from the world and people you know. Had I chosen to go on exchange in, I don't know, Dubai, I expect the number of visitors I would have received would have been a lot fewer. So far, I have seen nearly 15 people I know from home in Paris, with at least 4 more passing through before I leave. In some ways, it would be nice to have a complete break from my "old" life in Vancouver for the year to be able to fully submerge into my one here. However, I think I am doing a good job balancing the two, and it is nice being able to share the city with people I know so that once I return home, there will be people around who will have some idea of what I am talking about when I speak of things, people, and places that I have grown to love here.
Besides the fact that I have seen a lot of people from Vancouver here, the complete break is not possible, or at least would be difficult due to the internet. The internet is also a mixed blessing when integrating somewhere new. It serves as an awesome tool to learn and connect with people here, but it also tempts one to spend more time online talking to people I know, than to go out and talk in person with friends I have made here. In addition, I am getting a lot of news via Canadian and American media. I frequent the same news sources as I did before: theGlobeandmail.com, some blogs, cnn, and I nearly daily watch the daily show and the colbert report (which just yesterday became unavailable for people outside the US, making me download them from illegitimate sites, seriously, blocking out the official version will not stop anyone from watching it...). I am also able to watch my favourite TV shows here, even though I have no TV due to them being available for streaming online.
It is weird to think that in only a couple months, I will be back home, and seeing people I know from there for real, and feeling nostalgic for the friendships I have made here. However, by late August, I will have hopefully seen at least 3 people I have made friends with here, who will be passing through Vancouver, and more in the future I am sure. This experience has really made me realize how small the world is, and I have no doubt that when I do leave Paris, I will at some point re-connect with many of my friends from here, just as when I return to Vancouver I will re-connect to people from there. I am not sure I will always stay in Vancouver as I realize that it is not really that bad moving somewhere new and that making friends, when you have motivation to is also not impossible.
To conclude, I am happy to see Vancouver in Paris, and am excited for when Paris comes to Vancouver. Now, I hope my parents won't mind having some house guests :). To end on a cliche again, the world really is a small place, at least with decent priced flights and some vacation time!
Paris, is definatly not a city to go to if you want to seclude yourself from the world and people you know. Had I chosen to go on exchange in, I don't know, Dubai, I expect the number of visitors I would have received would have been a lot fewer. So far, I have seen nearly 15 people I know from home in Paris, with at least 4 more passing through before I leave. In some ways, it would be nice to have a complete break from my "old" life in Vancouver for the year to be able to fully submerge into my one here. However, I think I am doing a good job balancing the two, and it is nice being able to share the city with people I know so that once I return home, there will be people around who will have some idea of what I am talking about when I speak of things, people, and places that I have grown to love here.
Besides the fact that I have seen a lot of people from Vancouver here, the complete break is not possible, or at least would be difficult due to the internet. The internet is also a mixed blessing when integrating somewhere new. It serves as an awesome tool to learn and connect with people here, but it also tempts one to spend more time online talking to people I know, than to go out and talk in person with friends I have made here. In addition, I am getting a lot of news via Canadian and American media. I frequent the same news sources as I did before: theGlobeandmail.com, some blogs, cnn, and I nearly daily watch the daily show and the colbert report (which just yesterday became unavailable for people outside the US, making me download them from illegitimate sites, seriously, blocking out the official version will not stop anyone from watching it...). I am also able to watch my favourite TV shows here, even though I have no TV due to them being available for streaming online.
It is weird to think that in only a couple months, I will be back home, and seeing people I know from there for real, and feeling nostalgic for the friendships I have made here. However, by late August, I will have hopefully seen at least 3 people I have made friends with here, who will be passing through Vancouver, and more in the future I am sure. This experience has really made me realize how small the world is, and I have no doubt that when I do leave Paris, I will at some point re-connect with many of my friends from here, just as when I return to Vancouver I will re-connect to people from there. I am not sure I will always stay in Vancouver as I realize that it is not really that bad moving somewhere new and that making friends, when you have motivation to is also not impossible.
To conclude, I am happy to see Vancouver in Paris, and am excited for when Paris comes to Vancouver. Now, I hope my parents won't mind having some house guests :). To end on a cliche again, the world really is a small place, at least with decent priced flights and some vacation time!
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Tourist week
Hello everyone,
I seem to have fallen out of the habit of updating! I need to restart, so I shall. What is new in France? A BIT, not so much.
From what is new with me personally: I have a friend from Vancouver staying with me this week, Gloria (find her Travel blog on my blog list). It has been fun doing a lot touristy things here with her. On sunday when she arrived we did a walking tour with NewEurope. The tour is free (donations collected at the end), and good! It is the same tour company that I did my Berlin walking tour with. Then on Monday we went walking through the Marais. The Marais is the Jewish part of Paris (and the Gay part), so we had a bit of a Jewish day. I attempted to have a Jewish day a couple weeks ago, which was a complete failure since it was a Saturday... Shabbat... so everything Jewish was closed. Anyhow, this Monday we had no problems and went around shopping, eating Falafel, ect. My friend's knowledge of Hebrew got us a free Falafel sample too! Language skills come in handy at very random times.
Tuesday (St. Patrick's Day) we went to the ballet in the evening. It was the "Troisieme Symphonie de Mahler". It was at the Opera Bastille, one of the big opera houses in Paris. We arrive at the Opera at 710, and the show was at 730, and we did not have tickets. So, we went to the last minute line up, which only sells tickets 15 min before the show, so we were actually on time! We got great seats (5th row, fairly central), for 15 euros, a great deal. The show was amazing! There were about 70 dancers accompanied by an orchestra and an opera soloist.
Yesterday we went to Versaille, which is fabulous! It is huge, we spent 7 hours walking around and just got the basic stuff visited. With my bus pass here I get free entry, so that was nice. Also, being mid-week and low season we did not experience huge lineups like many do. We took lots of pictures and shall post some here soon. At one point we asked an asian man to take our photo, and after he asked us to take one... but he pulled back the camera and handed it to his friend, he meant to take the photo WITH us, not of him. It was a great day which ended at LaRotisserie, a restaurant in Belleville which is run by a different NGO each night to raise money, the idea is neat, the food was OK, but the company was awesome as I met back up with the people I traveled with to Morocco.
Today has been chill; I went to school and am now catching up on unreplied emails and some homework. The city is on Strike today and there are big manifestations all over town. The past few weeks have been funny in that sense... pretty much all the Universities here are on strike here (not including mine, since it is an Institution and not a public University). However, we now have to present our student cards when entering the building due to apparent thefts (but I am not sure that is the real reason). I bet they lose more money hiring the security guards than they would in stolen goods. Ironically the school got occupied Tuesday afternoon by protestors who came in through a back entrance. I am not exactly sure what that all was about, but they are gone now. Some of my friends at other Universities here have been very affected by the Strikes and I have heard stories of students returning home, since their semester is already as good as a loss with their courses being suspended now for over a month. France is definatly living up to its repupation for having a lot of strikes and protests.
I seem to have fallen out of the habit of updating! I need to restart, so I shall. What is new in France? A BIT, not so much.
From what is new with me personally: I have a friend from Vancouver staying with me this week, Gloria (find her Travel blog on my blog list). It has been fun doing a lot touristy things here with her. On sunday when she arrived we did a walking tour with NewEurope. The tour is free (donations collected at the end), and good! It is the same tour company that I did my Berlin walking tour with. Then on Monday we went walking through the Marais. The Marais is the Jewish part of Paris (and the Gay part), so we had a bit of a Jewish day. I attempted to have a Jewish day a couple weeks ago, which was a complete failure since it was a Saturday... Shabbat... so everything Jewish was closed. Anyhow, this Monday we had no problems and went around shopping, eating Falafel, ect. My friend's knowledge of Hebrew got us a free Falafel sample too! Language skills come in handy at very random times.
Tuesday (St. Patrick's Day) we went to the ballet in the evening. It was the "Troisieme Symphonie de Mahler". It was at the Opera Bastille, one of the big opera houses in Paris. We arrive at the Opera at 710, and the show was at 730, and we did not have tickets. So, we went to the last minute line up, which only sells tickets 15 min before the show, so we were actually on time! We got great seats (5th row, fairly central), for 15 euros, a great deal. The show was amazing! There were about 70 dancers accompanied by an orchestra and an opera soloist.
Yesterday we went to Versaille, which is fabulous! It is huge, we spent 7 hours walking around and just got the basic stuff visited. With my bus pass here I get free entry, so that was nice. Also, being mid-week and low season we did not experience huge lineups like many do. We took lots of pictures and shall post some here soon. At one point we asked an asian man to take our photo, and after he asked us to take one... but he pulled back the camera and handed it to his friend, he meant to take the photo WITH us, not of him. It was a great day which ended at LaRotisserie, a restaurant in Belleville which is run by a different NGO each night to raise money, the idea is neat, the food was OK, but the company was awesome as I met back up with the people I traveled with to Morocco.
Today has been chill; I went to school and am now catching up on unreplied emails and some homework. The city is on Strike today and there are big manifestations all over town. The past few weeks have been funny in that sense... pretty much all the Universities here are on strike here (not including mine, since it is an Institution and not a public University). However, we now have to present our student cards when entering the building due to apparent thefts (but I am not sure that is the real reason). I bet they lose more money hiring the security guards than they would in stolen goods. Ironically the school got occupied Tuesday afternoon by protestors who came in through a back entrance. I am not exactly sure what that all was about, but they are gone now. Some of my friends at other Universities here have been very affected by the Strikes and I have heard stories of students returning home, since their semester is already as good as a loss with their courses being suspended now for over a month. France is definatly living up to its repupation for having a lot of strikes and protests.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Little events
Hello,
I have been very bad at updating this regularly recently. I am very busy finishing up my final paper, preparing for exams, and booking tickets to travel!
This past week had a few neat suprises. I went to an Asian Food party last night, and a Japanese girl from my Asian cinema course was like: "I brought you manga! It has Jesus in it", since she knew I went to church. The manga, which she translated for me was about Jesus and Buddah who were roomates going on vacation. It was comedic, but we didnt read it all, since it was a long book. Interesting, and made my day. Also, another girl brought me dried seaweed :). She found it in the Asian area for 80centimes, whereas at Monoprix 7 sheets of seaweed is 11 euros! Way unaffordable.
This morning I decided I would venture to Hillsong Paris, to check it out. But, it was cancelled today. There were a lot of people who showed up though, who had not received the memo. It was ok though, we had coffee instead. I was happy, becuase the guy telling us the unfortunate news noticed my new boots. :)
I bought boots at Gallarie Lafayette 2 days ago on Solde. They are real leather, but I have not broken them in yet, and have gotten some blisters now... hopefully that will not persist.
After the coffee I went to my friends house. She was supposed to come to Church with me, but had fallen back asleep after I called her. She was lucky to not have made the trek I suppose. She is the girl I will be traveling to Morocco with, along with another Canadian girl, and a guy from the Netherlands. It should be a nice trip, but we still haven't bought our tickets! That is on todays to-do list.
I feel bad leaving Paris so much, next Friday I will leave to Annecy, and then go to Switzerland to visite family. On the other hand, I am happy to be able to profit from being in Europe and having everything so near. I have 1 week of courses left, 12 days off, 2 exams and then another 12 days off before Semester 2 starts. Meaning, I will hardly be here the entirety of February!
When I come back, it will nearly be March, and the 1st weekend I am going to Lille for sports training. As of Christmas, the time here has started to really fly! Anyways, before it flies too far, I need to finish my essay!
I have been very bad at updating this regularly recently. I am very busy finishing up my final paper, preparing for exams, and booking tickets to travel!
This past week had a few neat suprises. I went to an Asian Food party last night, and a Japanese girl from my Asian cinema course was like: "I brought you manga! It has Jesus in it", since she knew I went to church. The manga, which she translated for me was about Jesus and Buddah who were roomates going on vacation. It was comedic, but we didnt read it all, since it was a long book. Interesting, and made my day. Also, another girl brought me dried seaweed :). She found it in the Asian area for 80centimes, whereas at Monoprix 7 sheets of seaweed is 11 euros! Way unaffordable.
This morning I decided I would venture to Hillsong Paris, to check it out. But, it was cancelled today. There were a lot of people who showed up though, who had not received the memo. It was ok though, we had coffee instead. I was happy, becuase the guy telling us the unfortunate news noticed my new boots. :)
I bought boots at Gallarie Lafayette 2 days ago on Solde. They are real leather, but I have not broken them in yet, and have gotten some blisters now... hopefully that will not persist.
After the coffee I went to my friends house. She was supposed to come to Church with me, but had fallen back asleep after I called her. She was lucky to not have made the trek I suppose. She is the girl I will be traveling to Morocco with, along with another Canadian girl, and a guy from the Netherlands. It should be a nice trip, but we still haven't bought our tickets! That is on todays to-do list.
I feel bad leaving Paris so much, next Friday I will leave to Annecy, and then go to Switzerland to visite family. On the other hand, I am happy to be able to profit from being in Europe and having everything so near. I have 1 week of courses left, 12 days off, 2 exams and then another 12 days off before Semester 2 starts. Meaning, I will hardly be here the entirety of February!
When I come back, it will nearly be March, and the 1st weekend I am going to Lille for sports training. As of Christmas, the time here has started to really fly! Anyways, before it flies too far, I need to finish my essay!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Plans
This has not been the most exciting week as I have been spending a lot of time at homing trying to write my papers. My prof just sent an email to say he has extended the deadline, which does not help me. It is not due next Friday at midnight, but by that time, I will be in Dusseldorf and therefore will not be working on it.
So, to recap my Christmas plans: Go to Cologne on Dec. 19th to meet up with Ulrika. Go to Dusseldorf Dec.19th in the evening with Ulrika to meet up with Peter. Tour around Dusseldorf on the 20th. Fly to Perpignan the 21st. Travel about Girona the 22nd (?). Explore Perpignan the 22nd. Prepare for Christmas the 23. Celebrate Christmas 24-25th. Chill out the 26th. Return to Paris the 27 (?). Tour and celebrate New Years in Paris from the 27th- 3rd. Resume studies!
I have been spending a lot of time this week to think about what I want to do for the rest of the year during my breaks, and what to do in the summer. I really want to get to italy, see family in Switzerland, and go skiing. I am thinking I will try to spend my Feb. break to go to Switzerland again, and perhaps visit a friend in the Alps and ski a bit. During my spring break, I hope to go to Italy and Greece (hopefully there will be no riots by then!). For the summer, I am contemplating many options. I potentially would travel around Europe more, perhaps in the East, or find work somewhere. Another option, that I have recently been considering, is going to volunteer in Ghana. This may seem random, but it isn't really. I have always wanted to go to Africa, and Ghana especially after we sent a care package to a school there when I was in grade 7. I have been looking online, and there are a lot of different opportunities, and I have found a couple with really reasonable participation fees. Also, the flight from here is not too expensive either. I considered not mentioning this here, since I hate letting people know what I am considering until I have set plans. I never want it to be like..."o hey, remember when you wanted to do something really cool... and then didn't?". There is only a 30% chance I will, but there is only a 30% chance that I will travel around Europe, and 30% I'd work. They would all be good in their own way, so those are my current options. I do plan to go home to Vancouver at least by early August though as I will have a lot of things to sort out (room, courses), and I do love Vancouver and Summer there is great. Anyways, if you have followed my thoughts to here, have a great week.5 until Christmas!
So, to recap my Christmas plans: Go to Cologne on Dec. 19th to meet up with Ulrika. Go to Dusseldorf Dec.19th in the evening with Ulrika to meet up with Peter. Tour around Dusseldorf on the 20th. Fly to Perpignan the 21st. Travel about Girona the 22nd (?). Explore Perpignan the 22nd. Prepare for Christmas the 23. Celebrate Christmas 24-25th. Chill out the 26th. Return to Paris the 27 (?). Tour and celebrate New Years in Paris from the 27th- 3rd. Resume studies!
I have been spending a lot of time this week to think about what I want to do for the rest of the year during my breaks, and what to do in the summer. I really want to get to italy, see family in Switzerland, and go skiing. I am thinking I will try to spend my Feb. break to go to Switzerland again, and perhaps visit a friend in the Alps and ski a bit. During my spring break, I hope to go to Italy and Greece (hopefully there will be no riots by then!). For the summer, I am contemplating many options. I potentially would travel around Europe more, perhaps in the East, or find work somewhere. Another option, that I have recently been considering, is going to volunteer in Ghana. This may seem random, but it isn't really. I have always wanted to go to Africa, and Ghana especially after we sent a care package to a school there when I was in grade 7. I have been looking online, and there are a lot of different opportunities, and I have found a couple with really reasonable participation fees. Also, the flight from here is not too expensive either. I considered not mentioning this here, since I hate letting people know what I am considering until I have set plans. I never want it to be like..."o hey, remember when you wanted to do something really cool... and then didn't?". There is only a 30% chance I will, but there is only a 30% chance that I will travel around Europe, and 30% I'd work. They would all be good in their own way, so those are my current options. I do plan to go home to Vancouver at least by early August though as I will have a lot of things to sort out (room, courses), and I do love Vancouver and Summer there is great. Anyways, if you have followed my thoughts to here, have a great week.5 until Christmas!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
5 hours
5 hours = the amount of time my plane to Berlin was delayed by.
After we all got to the airport at 5 am, noone was impressed by the delay. What added to it, was that they would not tell how long the delay would be for, for quite a while. The screen simply said "delayed". After 2 hours, they gave us some good. This was good since we met other people on the flight, and had people to converse with. I met a student from Paris who is living in Berlin, and a translator from Berlin who is living in Paris. This was nice, the three of us talked from about 6 am until the place landed in Berlin at 1pm.
A 5 hour wait is a bit excessive, but at least I got there the same day. I have heard horror stories of poeple having to wait multiple days with delays. I would like to say it is better to just train since it is simpler, however coming back from Barcelona my train was about 2.5 hours late... so I don't know what the most reliable transportation is. Perhaps walking...but that is too tedious when traveling... and who knows, maybe one would sprain an ankel and also be late. Last night getting home took over an hour when it should't take more than 30 min due to construction on S-Bahn lines. grr...
OK, that was my transportation rant... I am done.
After we all got to the airport at 5 am, noone was impressed by the delay. What added to it, was that they would not tell how long the delay would be for, for quite a while. The screen simply said "delayed". After 2 hours, they gave us some good. This was good since we met other people on the flight, and had people to converse with. I met a student from Paris who is living in Berlin, and a translator from Berlin who is living in Paris. This was nice, the three of us talked from about 6 am until the place landed in Berlin at 1pm.
A 5 hour wait is a bit excessive, but at least I got there the same day. I have heard horror stories of poeple having to wait multiple days with delays. I would like to say it is better to just train since it is simpler, however coming back from Barcelona my train was about 2.5 hours late... so I don't know what the most reliable transportation is. Perhaps walking...but that is too tedious when traveling... and who knows, maybe one would sprain an ankel and also be late. Last night getting home took over an hour when it should't take more than 30 min due to construction on S-Bahn lines. grr...
OK, that was my transportation rant... I am done.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
aufWiedersehen Paris!
I just can't seem to stay still!
Tommorow at 4:30am I start my trek to Berlin. I was previously unsure how I would make my 635am flight since check in stops at 6 and the Metro only starts runnig at 530! I decided to pay for a shuttle. My door to the airport will cost17.5€, which is only 10€ more then public transportation, much faster, and allows me to have a goodnight sleep at home and NOT hang out at the airport between 1130pm and 5am. I think it is worth the cost.
I will be staying with a friend in Berlin and meeting up with my Godmother's friend on Friday, and finally seeing a girl I met in teh Dominican Republic on Sunday. I love how networks and modern communication allows people to keep and get in touch from long distances.
I will then leave and meet up wtih Cecelia and Nick in Stockholm where we will chill for a day. I am excited to leave! Thank goodness I have been slowly adapting my sleep schedule for this. Woke up at 645 on Tuesday, 530 Wednesay, and tommorow 4am! If i keep this up...
Take care everyone!
Tommorow at 4:30am I start my trek to Berlin. I was previously unsure how I would make my 635am flight since check in stops at 6 and the Metro only starts runnig at 530! I decided to pay for a shuttle. My door to the airport will cost17.5€, which is only 10€ more then public transportation, much faster, and allows me to have a goodnight sleep at home and NOT hang out at the airport between 1130pm and 5am. I think it is worth the cost.
I will be staying with a friend in Berlin and meeting up with my Godmother's friend on Friday, and finally seeing a girl I met in teh Dominican Republic on Sunday. I love how networks and modern communication allows people to keep and get in touch from long distances.
I will then leave and meet up wtih Cecelia and Nick in Stockholm where we will chill for a day. I am excited to leave! Thank goodness I have been slowly adapting my sleep schedule for this. Woke up at 645 on Tuesday, 530 Wednesay, and tommorow 4am! If i keep this up...
Take care everyone!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Upcoming travel!
Hello,
So, I am a day early in announcing my upcoming travel. I have book flights to go to Berlin and then Stockholm during my November reading break. I will be spending 4.5 days in Berlin, and then 1.5 days in Stockholm.
I am seeing Berlin because I have always heard good things about the city, and Stockholm because I have a friend who will be there at that time, and it is actually cheaper (after taxes, service chargers, everything) to fly back to Paris through Stockholm.
I am flying to Berlin on EasyJet with the only concern being that I need to get to the airport at about 5 am somehow, and the metro doesn't start until 530 am. I have 2.5 weeks to figure out the night bus system though, and it was a lot cheaper to get this flight then one that got me there in the afternoon and would waste half my day.
I am then flying to Stockholm on Ryanair. The annoying thing about this airline is that is has its airports outside the city, but the shuttles aren't too expensive in Stockholm. My return flight cost me the equivalent of 12 Euros all fees included.
Now, I need to figure out accomodation in both cities. I will stay in a hostel in Stockholm most likely with my friend, but I am considering alternate options for Berlin (aka, friends of friends perhaps).
Other than that, things are going well in Paris!
So, I am a day early in announcing my upcoming travel. I have book flights to go to Berlin and then Stockholm during my November reading break. I will be spending 4.5 days in Berlin, and then 1.5 days in Stockholm.
I am seeing Berlin because I have always heard good things about the city, and Stockholm because I have a friend who will be there at that time, and it is actually cheaper (after taxes, service chargers, everything) to fly back to Paris through Stockholm.
I am flying to Berlin on EasyJet with the only concern being that I need to get to the airport at about 5 am somehow, and the metro doesn't start until 530 am. I have 2.5 weeks to figure out the night bus system though, and it was a lot cheaper to get this flight then one that got me there in the afternoon and would waste half my day.
I am then flying to Stockholm on Ryanair. The annoying thing about this airline is that is has its airports outside the city, but the shuttles aren't too expensive in Stockholm. My return flight cost me the equivalent of 12 Euros all fees included.
Now, I need to figure out accomodation in both cities. I will stay in a hostel in Stockholm most likely with my friend, but I am considering alternate options for Berlin (aka, friends of friends perhaps).
Other than that, things are going well in Paris!
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Nancy Cecilia Barcelona
I just got back from my trip to Barcelona with my two new American friends Cecilia and Nick. Nick's name is not included in the title due to pop culture, and is not an attempt to make his presence insignificant.
Barcelona is just what I needed after being in rainy Paris and Switzerland. However, realizing how nice and sunny it is so near by, I had ask myself, what am I doing living in Paris?
Barcelona is a beautiful city filled with colour and life. It is small enough that we managed to get around most days by foot. We visited works by Gaudi, which were I have to say amazing. The church being constructed is approximatly 20 years from completion and the outside is at the moment a lot more impressive than the inside. Due to this one can almost feel ripped off after paying to see inside, but since the money goes towards the construction, it is at least towards a good cause.
I was alone my first night in Barcelona and arrived at the hostel at about 1030. I walked to the hostel from the train station because I found the bus system confusing and didn't want to wait around. I took my hand drawn map and found the hostel 30 minutes later with little trouble. I do not reccomend this hike to others though because I was approached by 3 people during the walk who all seemed very sketchy, I had all my belongings on me, and Barcelona has a lot of pick-pocketers and theifs. I arrived there and met the 2 Australian girls staying in my room and went to sleep. (exciting details... I know)
The second night me and Cecilia went to see Vicky Christina Barcelona at a theatre with no other tourists. We had seen just enough of the city that day to be like "Oh! I know where that is!" throughout the movie.
On the third night (Cecilia's second, Nick's first) we went to watch FC Barcelona vs. Madrid. We found out about the game through other's at the hostel. The crowd there was amazing. It was the biggest stadium I have ever been to.
The next day we saw the Picasso Museum, also very neat, and hiked around the city some more. We ate tapas and had bread with tomatos mushed on it (yummy!). We then, as requested by Nick, had a siesta. :)
Barcelona is just what I needed after being in rainy Paris and Switzerland. However, realizing how nice and sunny it is so near by, I had ask myself, what am I doing living in Paris?
Barcelona is a beautiful city filled with colour and life. It is small enough that we managed to get around most days by foot. We visited works by Gaudi, which were I have to say amazing. The church being constructed is approximatly 20 years from completion and the outside is at the moment a lot more impressive than the inside. Due to this one can almost feel ripped off after paying to see inside, but since the money goes towards the construction, it is at least towards a good cause.
I was alone my first night in Barcelona and arrived at the hostel at about 1030. I walked to the hostel from the train station because I found the bus system confusing and didn't want to wait around. I took my hand drawn map and found the hostel 30 minutes later with little trouble. I do not reccomend this hike to others though because I was approached by 3 people during the walk who all seemed very sketchy, I had all my belongings on me, and Barcelona has a lot of pick-pocketers and theifs. I arrived there and met the 2 Australian girls staying in my room and went to sleep. (exciting details... I know)
The second night me and Cecilia went to see Vicky Christina Barcelona at a theatre with no other tourists. We had seen just enough of the city that day to be like "Oh! I know where that is!" throughout the movie.
On the third night (Cecilia's second, Nick's first) we went to watch FC Barcelona vs. Madrid. We found out about the game through other's at the hostel. The crowd there was amazing. It was the biggest stadium I have ever been to.
The next day we saw the Picasso Museum, also very neat, and hiked around the city some more. We ate tapas and had bread with tomatos mushed on it (yummy!). We then, as requested by Nick, had a siesta. :)
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