7 Weeks, 53 days, 6 countries and 12 cities later I am finally updating my blog. To be honest, before I looked at it a few minutes ago I couldn’t even remember the last trip I wrote about.
So lets just start from the beginning. 7 weeks ago, on October 17th my friends Marina, Zoe, Lauren, and I left on the worst airline ever Ryan Air, from the worst airport ever Paris Beauvais (which isn’t even Paris in the first place because to get there you first need to take the metro to almost the outskirts of the city and then you have to get on a bus for at least another hour in order to finally arrive at the airport. Anyways after our trek to Beauvais we got onto our flight, flew over France and about an hour later landed in Pisa, Italy. Pisa is small. So small that we walked out of the airport and all the way to our hostel in about 20 minutes tops. Granted it was a little bit of a sketchy walk through dimly lit streets but it was just so close that we risked it and walked rather than paying for a taxi. We walked up to the sketchy hostel and were greeted by Italian’s whistling at us from the courtyard and we couldn’t help but just laugh. Getting called out by Italians is not al all scary or creepy like it is in Paris, its more just funny and cute instead. We weren’t at all scared around Italian men like we sometimes are in Paris.
Super early the next morning we left our hostel and walked to the train station where we bought tickets to the la Spetzia train station which was the city where you start the journey to Cinque Terre which are the 5 cities on the northern Italian coast with hiking paths in between them. From La Spetzia we took another train to the most northern city in Cinque Terre called Monterosso. We got out of the train and were greeted by the warm sunshine, the ocean and one of the cutest and most beautiful cities we’d ever been, and that was just the beginning. Before we set off on our hike we found a restaurant on the beach and we stopped to eat an early lunch because we were starving from waking up so early. At the restaurant we were served the best ciabatta bread that we had ever tried. Unfortunately the bread in the rest of Italy was horrible but the food definitely made up for it. After our delicious first Italian meal we began our hike along the coast. Cinque Terre has got to be one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and I would go back in a heartbeat. I loved getting out of the city and getting fresh air at the ocean I really needed it 7 weeks ago because I was starting lose interest in Paris and life in the city was beginning to be really frustrating for me. Luckily after a few trips that feeling has passed and I am back to absolutely loving it here but I’ll get back to that in a bit. After our day hiking through Cinque Terre we took the train back to Pisa and met up with one of Lauren’s family friends who it working on his masters I believe it was all in Italian there in Pisa. He brought us around the city, showed us the Leaning Tower of Pisa, taught us about Italian culture, took us to an amazing dinner at a super authentic restaurant, taught us about Italian culture, and showed us where the young people spent their nights in the piazzas. The next morning we got back on the train and headed east to Florence where we spent the rest of our amazing weekend. We explored the city, ate way too much gelato, pasta, and pizza, took loads of pictures and had the best time. I absolutely loved Florence, it was exactly the image of Italy I had in my mind and it was the best.
When we got back to Paris we had a week of stressful midterms to focus on and then after was the start of our weeklong fall break. After midterms, i headed out alone on the bullet train under the English Channel to spend the next week in England. First I met my longtime friend Amy(who I had as an exchange student in high school) that lives in England in London and we spent 2 nights in the city. I absolutely loved London, it was so similar to Paris because they are both big busting cities filled with so much history. The biggest differences that I noticed were only that the metro was so so so much cleaner in London and the fact that everyone was speaking English around me so it made the transition into the city so much easier. I could definitely see myself living there someday if I have the opportunity. After our 2 days in London we got on the train Sunday night and headed to Amy’s home in York, England where I would stay until Thursday morning. I had already met Amy’s family before because they came and visited America and stayed with us earlier this year in march and so being able to stay at their house surrounded by people who knew my family, where I come from, and know my personality was amazing. They welcomed me in and I felt right at home while I was there. Kay(Amy’s mom) made a traditional English meal for us on Monday night that they typically call their “Sunday Dinner/Tea” (they call dinner tea in England, that was hard to get used to hearing but luckily I had already learned a lot of their different words for things when they came to visit in March). Kay is a fantastic cook and baker and it was amazing to eat homemade food for the first time in 2.5 months. One of the days I was there Amy and her boyfriend Chris took me on a tour of downtown York. We walked around the ancient city walls, had a traditional English tea at a famous shop called Betty’s, went to a fudge shop where we sampled and learned how to make Yorkshire fudge as well. Kay, Amy and I also went to the seaside one day in Whitby, England and it was the cutest little town but so so cold. We had fish and chips and I couldn’t help but feel a little bit like a real brit, it was great! I loved York and it was so wonderful to spend time with Amy, Chris, Kay and Dave (Amy’s Dad), being there felt almost like home.
Early Thursday morning Amy had to head back to work and so Dave drove me to the train station and helped me catch my train back to London where later on that day I was going to meet up with my lovely friend from high school, Anne-Elise who is studying abroad there this semester, after her classes got out that evening. I left my suitcase with the concierge at a fancy hotel near Regent Street and explored more of London by myself that day. I found a Whole Foods and was in heaven, I stocked up on things I couldn’t find in Paris to bring back and ate lunch there and later after Anne-Elise got out of class went back with her to pick up dinner. I seriously could never get sick of that store. After we picked up dinner and mu suitcase we took the metro(they call it the tube in London) to Anne-Elise’s flat at her university which is more like a dorm room but all dorms in England are singles with their own bathrooms so that was super nice. I wish our schools in America were all like that. That night was halloween and so all of the British students(who all happen to be freshmen) on Anne-Elise’s floor were dressed up and drinking because in England the drinking age is 18 and so they are allowed to drink in the dorms AND there are no RA’s. Unfortunately though Anne-Elise says they are that loud every single night. Seeing how crazy the British students were and what she has to deal with on a nightly basis made me appreciate Zoë and my tiny studio apartment in Paris even more.
The next morning Anne-Elise and I woke up, packed up our stuff and headed on the tube to where we would catch our bus to the airport. We were running late as usual and missed our bus even though we sprinted from the tub exit all the way to the bus stop. We saw the van/bus leaving so I even ran into the street and pounded on the drivers window begging him to stop but he just shook his head no. For a few minutes we felt like we were out of luck and would never make it to the airport but fortunately we asked a man by the bus stop and he said there was another stop just down the street and sure enough the bus was there and we made it on. Once we were on the bus headed to the airport we knew we could breathe again. We got to the airport, checked my bag in, got through security and sat down at our gate to Budapest, Hungary where we were surrounded by British men of all ages dressed as oompa loompas on the day after halloween. It was so strange getting in the airplane with them but it was so so funny at the same time. We got to Budapest and took the underground train, which looked like it was straight put of the 70s or 80s and got out in the city center where we walked to our hostel. The hostel building turned out to just be the businesses office and so after checking in the woman who was helping us walked us a few blocks away to our fully furnished apartment that we were going to be staying in. It was so amazing and so unexpected because we thought we were staying in a typical single room hostel with the small price we were paying but no we had a living room, kitchen, bedroom and everything! After our first day there we real noticed how different this city was from the rest of the places we had been to so far. It is amazing how their country is still under Russian influence and in so much poverty. 1 US dollar is the equivalent to 223 HUF and so we were paying at least 1,000 HUF for meals which seems so insane but then when you convert the price is is so cheap. Budapest was so incredibly beautiful especially at night and the people there were so nice to us and we never felt threatened at all. While in Hungary we also went to two of the famous Hungarian baths where the water is supposedly healing. The first bath was a Turkish bath and we really didn’t know what to expect. It was pretty dirty and smelled like sulfur but the water definitely felt healing. The second one was more commercialized and had pools but indoors and outdoors and it was beautiful but felt more like a public pool than a healing bath. Both of them were wonderful though and I’m so glad we tried out both types.
On Monday we caught a flight to Paris where Anne-Elise stayed with me for a few days. She took me to the best ice cream shop in Paris and we walked around for hours both days just exploring Paris and hang fun while I wasn’t in class. It was so nice having her here because she has been to Paris multiple times before and so we didn’t need to go to the main tourists spots the whole time although we did go to the trocadero at night to eat crepes and see the Eiffel tower. My favorite thing we did was sneak into Paris Opera Garnier. In the theater they were setting up the lights for the show they were running at that time and it was so beautiful in the opera house when the house lights were on. Inside the theater I could definitely feel that so many important people had attended or performed once there. Being inside made me really want to see a show there someday.
Anne-Elise headed back to London Thursday morning and later that evening my friend Jen and I flew to Venice, Italy. Yes I loved Italy so much that I had to go twice. I know that they say the whole city of Venice is made on water but I didn’t actually think that was completely true but in actuality it is. Rather than streets there were canals and you could either get around by boat or walking. The whole city was a maze and I was lost about 90% of the time I was there. It was so romantic though and I loved it. Jen and I had probably the best meal ever for lunch one day at the tiniest restaurant with only like 4 choices. We both had raviolis with spinach and cheese with a cheese/cream sauce and we were so full but so so happy. It was the best. We also tried our first peach Bellini’s which are a drink with champagne and peach puree that were invented right there in Venice. After 2 nights in Venice we took the train to Florence for our next 2 nights. The first day in Florence was beautiful because a storm was just clearing and so the sun was out for us. We hiked to Piazza Michelangelo and admired the view and walked around the city. I was able to get us around really well because I still remembered my way around from before. We also got gelato of course and later that evening we met up with a friend of Jens who is studying abroad in Florence but unfortunately I got food poisoning and so that really put a stop to my fun for the rest of the weekend. It was horrible and I felt so bad that I wasn’t able to do very much with Jen but I was so glad that she went out on her own to do things that I had already done my first time in paris while I was sleeping.
After another week at school in Paris after Italy, Marina and I headed back to the airport for our last flight of the semester to Munich, Germany. We spent our first day in Munich exploring the central part of the city. It was absolutely freezing there, so cold that I had to headache and had to buy a beanie. We walked around the whole day and ate lots of delicious desserts and stumbled upon the best farmers market ever with the best apple chips ever. That night we went to an authentic German meal and the portions were out of this world. One persons meal would feed me for a whole week, it was crazy. The next day we took a train and all of our luggage to spend the night in Salzburg, Austria. We checked into our hotel and booked tickets to do The Sound of Music tour that afternoon. That movie was basically the reason why we wanted to go to Salzburg anyways because it was filmed there. Before the tour we found another farmers market and at a delicious lunch of pretzels, strawberries and raspberries. Then the tour started and it took us to all of the major locations the movie was filmed even the hills and the lakes. The hills really are alive up there, it was so incredibly beautiful. After our night in Salzburg we headed back to Munich on the train Sunday morning and explored even more of the city but mostly the English Garden, which was gorgeous with all the leaves falling and changing colors. It was freezing though of course and so we first found warmth at a restaurant for lunch and later just hung out at Starbucks before we needed to get back to the airport to fly back to Paris.
The next week we were busy working on things and projects for school and was especially busy because my mom and sister were flying into Paris on Friday morning and so I wanted to get the majority of my work done so I would have the most time possible to spend with them. After a busy week with a little bit of fun of course Mom and Jill arrived in Paris and right away I started showing them the city. We rented an apartment for the week and it was in such a central location in Paris it was the best. I wish my friends and I could live there for the rest of the semester. Anyways the first night Zoe and I took Jill and Mom to the champs elyseés Christmas market and we also rode the ferris wheel in the place de la concorde with views of all the beautiful city lights. The next day we went to Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur as well as the Moulin Rouge. We had a wonderful day exploring and walking around the city and Sunday was just as great. During the week days I went to school and while I was there mom and Jill went to various museums and explored more of Paris. Once I finished school I met up with them and we did more amazing things in the city. On Tuesday night we went to the W for appetizers and drinks and then we went to see la Belle et la Betê which was Beauty and the Beast in French. It was so great because we knew the story so even though we didn’t understand everything they were saying we still knew what was going on. It was so fun to dress up and go out to fancy places because my friends and I here really don’t get the opportunity to do that. On Thursday morning (thanksgiving) Mom, Jill, Zoë, Marina, Glory(Zoë’s sister), and I climbed to the top of the Arch de Triumph and got to see the spectacular views of the city. Next we went back to the apartment to celebrate Thanksgiving (mom cooked the best traditional turkey thanksgiving ever, and Lauren joined us) and to also celebrate Marina’s 21st birthday! It was one of the best days in Paris and it was so fun to be so cozy in the apartment, to eat good food and dessert and drink champagne with the best of friends and mom of course. The day after we rented a car which was quite the experience(mom is a champ at driving a stick shift car especially in paris where the drivers are crazy) and we drove to the beaches of Normandy. There we were able to see Omaha Beach, which was one of the main D-Day beaches where Americans attacked the Germans and triumphed. Omaha Beach is by far one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen despite the cold, the sand was so clean and empty, and the colors of the ocean and the sky were so so gorgeous. We also visited the American Cemetery and Museum near the beach and it was such a powerful place to see. Marina and I were talking and it was probably the most American thing we had done since being in France and that we weren’t used to seeing so much English around us so it was very strange. Getting back into Paris was nerve racking but we made it back to the car rental place in one peace so I would say it was a successful day. Saturday and Sunday were spent doing the things we had yet to do together in Paris like going out to a super nice dinner, venturing to Versailles which is still my favorite place I’ve ever been as well as doing a bit of Christmas shopping. Monday morning came far too quickly and it was time to say goodbye to mom and Jill for 3 weeks until I make the trip back to America.
Luckily since I come home so soon there really isn’t any reason for me to be sad and miss them, but it really was so incredible having them here in Paris with me and showing them some of my favorite places in this wonderful city. I know I am going to miss it so much here. It is definitely going to be hard to go back to living in Loomis and SLO and driving everywhere instead of walking and taking the metro. I love walking everywhere! I know its probably going to be hard to transition back into speaking so much English again. Even though it will be sad to leave though I know now that I can live in any city and be just fine wherever I go which is an amazing thing. I think I will definitely be living in another big city sometime in the near future.
photos i took for my fashion class, aren’t my friends cute??
Oh also, change of subject, on Monday night we accidentally left one of our keys on the inside of our apartment door and so Zoe, Marina and I were stranded outside of the room trying to break in to our own room because the key we did have wouldn’t turn. We tried so hard to break in with an old credit card sliding along the lock but the door was too tight against the frame so we ended up having to break the door handle. It was great fun… but our backs are killing us from pushing on the door so hard. Anyways we got a new door handle and we hope that never happens again. And if you read this whole blog props to you because right now this is word number 3634. Thank you for being so interested in my life!
avec tout mon amour, revoir pour le moment.
Emily
emilysize. emilyseyes 
