LONDON, OXFORD, and Home!

What a great weekend! My experience in London was outstanding - stayed in a great hostel downtown near Waterloo, where I immediately met people and spent the day (and night) with - we saw Tower Bridge, St. Paul's, and some other things, then got Indian food (London specialty), and went out for drinks in Piccadilly Circus, where we stayed out til 3 chatting, dancing, making shenanigans, etc.
Next day was an early wake-up call for morning train to Oxford (about 1 hour by train), the famed university where my friends Brendan and Chi are doing a summer program. We walked around the town (which is surprisingly large), saw a lot of old buildings, went out to lunch (twice) and participated in a mini-pub crawl sponsored by the program directors haha. Overall a lovely day - though I was reeling from the lack of sleep the night before.
Then it was back to London for Monday, when I said goodbye to my new hostel friends (mostly Aussies and Americans) and saw a bit more of the city - the Imperial War Museum (pretty cool), Westminster Abbey (awesome, but packed with tourists), and Covent Garden. I met up with Max (from Georgetown) for lunch in Covent Garden, where I had the classic fish and chips. :) After that, it was back to the hostel to pick up my bags and then I took a train to Clapham Junction, where I met David (from the Tours program). We stayed at David's uncle's house for a nice chill night - a nice break from the running around.
Today began at 5:50am, when i woke up for a train to London-Gatwick airport, where I caught a train to Charlotte, where I am now. It feels eerily strange to be back in the States - not sure if I like it. I will miss Europe...a lot. It has been quite a summer full of experiences I will never forget.

Goodbyes

So it was that time - time to say goodbye. About half of the Georgetown group left this afternoon after a nice lunch we all attended (plus Guy). It was also the celebration of the end of our course - I received an A (no surprise considering the lack of difficulty of the course, though I certainly was probably only one of the few to get one in our class) and I enjoyed today just talking (mostly in French) with the profs and students in a casual setting.
Tomorrow it is off to London - I have mostly packed and am not looking forward to waking up at 6:30 tomorrow morning (for an 8am train), but I'll be travelling with Jacque all the way to London (sorta - we have seats that are not next to each other on each leg of the trip), which will be nice. Upon arrival in London, I will have to take the Tube (subway) across town to my hostel with a suitcase with a broken wheel...
I may be giving my friend Max, who lives in London, a call, and I hope to see the rest of the city that I missed last time - like Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and St. Paul's Cathedral. We'll see how it goes!
After that, I will be spending Sunday in Oxford visiting Chi and Brendan (Georgetowners doing a business program there)! And then Monday I will be meeting up with fellow Tours-program student David to stay at his uncle's house and hold a last hurrah in Europe before I depart the next morning for home!
Anyway, should be a fun weekend - hopefully nothing goes too wrong...
It will be sad to say goodbye to Europe - it truly is all its cracked out to be - the history, the culture, the food. Awesome. I'm so happy to have done this trip!! But of course, all things must end, and I am excited to go home as well - to relax, to see the family, etc.
So I may have spotty Internet service for the rest of the trip, but I will do my best to finish off this blog right!

PASSED!!!

So all 5 of us passed the proficiency exam, which is great news!! We celebrated last night and stayed out a bit too late, so today is a bit rough haha. 2 more days of class and my mind has all but checked out. I need to start packing soon for the London extravaganza/going home!

Oh, What a Day...

So the ever-looming nightmare - the SFS proficiency exam - finally struck today with full strength - between 11:35 and 12, I was barraged with questions on an article that somehow managed to cover just about everything in French politics - retirement age, social security, the Madame Bettencourt affair, the economic crisis, the Greek crisis, international relations, and a random part about a plan to tell parents to tell their kids not to walk at night (?). Craaazzzyyy. I was asked detailed questions about such things like tax loopholes and the progressive tax system and was forced to explain something nearly impossible to explain in English - the crash of the housing bubble in the US and how it affected unemployment in France. Wow.
And the funny part is: I think I held my own. Aside from not knowing what "bouclier fiscale" meant (which translates literally to "tangled money" but means "tax ceiling") and taking a long time to wrap my head around the fact that they were seriously trying to get me to explain the specifics of the global financial crisis, I think I did pretty well. I gave a pretty stellar summary at the beginning and held my own (it was mostly my wit that pulled me together haha) during the questioning period. And seriously - if I don't pass because I didn't know what "bouclier fiscal" meant or what the IPF is (a tax on rich people), then that's just nuts.
I should hear the results tonight via email! Thus the constant computer-checking begins...

In other news, after lunch, I went on my semi-spontaneous day trip (absolutely FREE, and thus the best kind of trip) to the nearby towns of Angers and Saumur. Overall, a lovely experience, though I didn't have time (or the desire to pay 10 euros) to enter the chateaus at each of these places, so I guess I didn't truly experience the two places. But oh well - it was a nice break!
Saumur was my first stop and reminded me a lot of Amboise, except with less people and not quite as cool. It was very nice, however - I walked up a good-sized hill to the chateau overlooking the town and the Loire river - but again, didn't go in due to time and money constraints. The rest of the town was nice as well - particularly the town hall (le mairie), which had similar architecture to Chambord, the most famous chateau in the area.
Angers was the former capital of the state of Anjou, which hit its stride close to same time as Touraine - 13th, 14th century. The town itself reminded me a lot of Tours - around the same size - about an equal amount of attractions, etc. However, I think Angers (pronounced Ahn-jair) might be slightly prettier, as there were roses everywhere and less ugly grey-white buildings. There were also some tremendous gardens and parks, many of which I didn't even get to see but they look cool in photos.
In other news, I got an interview for a fall internship in DC with the Stimson Center - which i have to do Friday night at 8pm! Inconvenient time, but good news nonetheless!
So depending on the results announced tonight, I may be having a celebratory drink with the rest of the test-takers tonight in Place Plumereau!

Proficiency Exam Tomorrow!!

Ahhh! It's just one day away: the light at the end of the tunnel - the test that could lift a great weight off my shoulders - the School of Foreign Service language proficiency exam in French. At 11:15 tomorrow, it will be just me, Professor Spielmann, and an article - and for 20 minutes I have to talk about the article, answering questions about French politics, society, etc. and formulating arguments in response to the article.
Well, the weird thing is...I'm not really nervous. I figure this: I have been in France for 6 weeks now and have been speaking it almost every day for most of the day and have been reading Le Monde (French newspaper) every day - so there's not really much more I can do. Plus, I am thinking maybe the test will be easier because it is monitored here by a professor who normally doesn't monitoring them and is rather relaxed and easy to understand. So on the whole, not too stressed. But only time will tell how I will do...
After the test, since I have the afternoon off and a bunch of free train tickets remaining, I have decided I will be visiting the nearby towns of Saumur and Angers. Not sure why i picked them - but they both have large chateaux and a good deal of nice churches and whatnot. Since I only have less than a week in Europe left, I might as well take advantage while I can, eh?
On that note, I am also planning the final few days of the trip, when I will be in London from July 31-August 3. I just booked a hostel near Waterloo station (unfortunately not the station I get into from Paris on the Eurostar, so a connection is necessary) and am in the works of planning a day trip up to Oxford University to visit Chi, Brendan, and compnay on August 1. Also, David was kind enough to offer a place to sleep for August 2 with his uncle in Chapham Junction, so the two of us will hopefully have a little last hurrah (pub crawl, maybe? haha) that night before my flight the next morning out of Gatwick Airport.

Geneva - Day 3

So last half-day in Geneva - we spent the morning taking a gondola to the top of a nearby mountain (in France, actually), where we got a magnificent view of Geneva and a so-so view of the Alps to the south and east - unfortunately it was too early in day, so all the mountains showed up only as silhouettes and clouds were blocking the view of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in the Alps and always a dream peak of mine to see and eventually hike. Well, both would have to wait for another time - but the trip to the top of the Telepherique (Gondola) de Saleve was nice enough - we breathed in some fresh mountain air and descended around 11:15 before taking the bus back to the hotel, where we picked up our bags. Then it was the long train ride back, during which I slept, read Le Monde, studied up a bit for the SFS Proficiency exam I have Wednesday, and chatted.
Overall, it was a nice trip - not the best by no means, but nice. I am hooked on Switzerland and feel I have only scratched the surface - yet to see snowcapped peaks and stunning valleys - unfortunately these are in the German-speaking part, and as is my rule, I hate going places without knowing at least a bit of thee language - so maybe I'll have to add German to my list of languages to learn. Rosetta Stone maybe?
So now it's back in Tours for a week - taking off for London on Saturday and flying out on August 3!

Geneva - Day 2

Ahh, a full day in Geneva. We didn't have a strict agenda, but we had some ideas in mind as to what to do. Of course, we got off to a late start as we finally were able to sleep in a bit and took our time with breakfast (Speculoos mmmhmmm). But after awhile, we made our way to the entrance to the United Nations - European hub. We crossed into the dead-zone: international territory - not sure what nation to call it? - for a tour of this great place where nations hold thousands of meetings and get surprisingly little done. We saw the new section first - with gifts from many countries - and then the old, home to the big assembly hall, security council chamber, and relics from the time of the precursor to the UN: the League of Nations.
After the UN, we stopped for lunch and eventually found our way via the complicated bus system to CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research - home of the famous particle accelerator, which seeks to recreate the Big Bang and discover "antimatter" (anyone read "Angels and Demons"? - this is the same place). Here we checked out a couple exhibits - definitely worthwhile but as someone who is not so amazed with science, it wasn't paradise for me. The others enjoyed it very much though.
At this point, we were pretty darn tired - so we headed back to the hotel and chilled, napped, and ate for a bit. Around 7pm, we walked up to Vieille Ville, the old part of the city perched atop a hill and home to John Calvin's famous cathedral, which was architecturally interesting because the facade did not at all resemble a church - but rather a museum with large columns.
Old Town truly is beautiful and full of great little fountains, parks, statues, etc. We settled on eating at a salad place, which somehow made Hansky and I sick later but was good at the time (though, like usual in Switzerland, expensive).
About 20 minutes later, after we walked down to the festival again, I really wasn't feeling very good - something wasn't settling well in my stomach - and the rest were tired, so we didn't hang out for too much longer. We walked along the lake until we got to a pathway leading out to the Jet d'Eau (which wasn't on :( ), where we got a nice view of the city. It was so peaceful here - and I took 10 minutes alone to appreciate it - at this point, I went into reflective mode - thinking about my 6 weeks in Europe thusfar, the great time I have had, and the sadness of leaving as well as the stress I know this next semester will bring in comparison to this relaxed summer. I spent the walk back to the hotel in silence - sick, tired, and reflective.

Geneva - Day 1

And so ends the last weekend trip of Europe madness 2010 - we just got back from Geneva, Switzerland, where Hansky, Jacque, Lauren, and I trounced around, saw the sights, ate lots of Speculoos, crossed into international territory, learned about alternative universes, and went through way too many hypothetical questions brought to you by Lauren on the long train ride.
So the story begins on Friday with a lengthy train ride on a slow train from Tours to Lyon, through the countryside of France - towns I figured I would never see and that are so far off the beaten path they haven't heard of a tourist. But a lovely ride nonetheless, though we kept getting kicked out of our seats to pesky people with reservations haha.
From there it was a 2-hour ride through the beautiful Jura range from Lyon to Geneva, where we arrived around 10pm, crossing into Switzerland. On the train ride, we ran into a group of 4 girls we had no idea were from the same Tours program we were in until one of them recognized Jacque. Wow - small world - they were on the same ride back on Sunday too!
So anyway - we got into Geneva and found out that our hotel was of course in the red light district - full of sketchy prostitutes. Hmmm...we never felt unsafe, it was just a bit strange - the other, grittier side of Europe, if you will.
But our hotel was very nice - and a good deal, as we squeezed four people onto four twin beds pushed together - after Pamplona, this cuddle sesh was not so strange haha.
So that night we explored a bit - went down to the lake, saw the Jet d'Eau (a giant fountain) from afar, and danced for a bit to some American music at the carnival/festival in one of the gardens on the south bank. A nice time, but I guess we were tired and wanted to conserve energy for tomorrow - so we headed back, still franc-less (the Swiss currency), and hit the sack in our luxury hotel.

Back to Switzerland Today!

Well, so good thing I held on to my 10 Swiss francs I kept from last trip, as Jacque, Lauren, Hansky, and I will be heading back to Switzerland this weekend - this time to Geneva, just over the border (and a bit far from the mountains for my liking, but oh well, that's what the group decided). We plan to visit the UN, CERN (particle accelerator and scientific stuff), Old Town, and maybe the Red Cross museum. In addition we have discussed going up a ski-lift deal (télépherique) to a nearby mountain (though small), which will then afford us views of Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe outside of Russia. Overall, should be a fun trip.
The amount of days let in Tours has reached the single digits - it's really getting quite sad and I don't exactly want to leave Europe quite yet.
Anyway, gotta go to class before leaving - so I'll be back on Sunday night!

A Bit of School, A Lot of Vacation...

So here's how it goes - go to class each day, speak French all day, then return home to plan vacations. Basically how it goes each week - this week, after much debate, I decided to return to Switzerland this weekend, this time to Geneva, with different friends - Lauren and Jacque. Yes, I was just near there - but of the options (which we Strasbourg, Lourdes, going alone somewhere else, or nothing), this was the best. And since it's covered by my Eurail Pass, why not? I'm excited to return to the land of mountains, and hopefully this time we will get a peek at Mont Blanc, the highest point in the Alps, which will make the 6-hour each way trip worthwhile. Plus, it should be a fun group! All we need is to buy some Speculoos to make it amazing...
As far as school goes, I have received my tests from last week back and got good marks on all of them - anything about 15/20 is an A and I received 16's. We have another test tomorrow over some grammar which should be fine.
A little over a week til the SFS Proficiency Exam (11:15am on Wednesday the 28th), which is a little scary but I feel pretty confident as I have been reading Le Monde almost every day and could probably do well enough to describe an article given to me and even have an opinion on it.
Speaking of opinions, I had an intense discussion with my host family yesterday about religion. I defended Muslims as my host parents railed against their "endorsement of violence" and "way of life incompatible with Christianity." Hmmmm...it was interesting to hear their view (very similar to many in the US but maybe even harsher) and I think I did a decent job of explaining myself - though they are convinced that the Quran tells Muslims to "kill the infidel," which as far as I know, is a mistranslation. Anyway - it was interesting discussion, and while I am by no means Muslim, I felt like I had to argue the other side a bit. Meanwhile, the Swiss lady living her for the week basically sat out on the conversation. At the end, my host family gave me "homework": an excerpt from a book on "historical correctness," which attempts to correct for biases created over time, particularly about religious wars like the Crusades. So now I have some more reading haha...

Switzerland!! (Day 3)

Sunday meant we had to go home sadly, but not after we met up with Georgetown's very own Alice Antunes, who had just recently moved to Lausanne from Paris. It was lovely to see her smiling face (and cute dog) as the 4 of us walked down to Ouchy, Lausanne's port on the lake. What a bummer - unlike the day before, today was cloudless and sunny - a much better day to hike. But oh well...
So we decided to walk back up the enormous hill (something the locals evidently NEVER do) toward the train station, said goodbye to Alice, ate lunch at a pizza place (expensive as always), and then said goodbye to our lovely host Anna before MT and I went to the train station. There we caught a direct train (3 1/2 hours) to Paris, where we walked around for an hour, hoping to get some famous Berthillon ice cream on Ile de Saint Louis, but the line was outrageously long.
The two train stations we were in in Paris were jammed pack with people, likely Parisiens coming back from vacation. It was amazing how crowded it was.
And so we caught the slow train back to Tours - and returned around 8:30pm. A lovely trip overall.
I returned to find myself with a new housemate - a nice 60-year-old woman from the German part of Switzerland whose French is fortunately worse than mine. :)

Switzerland!! (Day 2 - A Day of Hiking)

So hiking solo is often a very refreshing feeling - maybe not the smartest, but a great way to relax, do what you want, reflect, etc. Anyway, that was plan for Saturday - to do a day hike somewhere in the Alps nearby. After minimal research, I settled on a hike that involved a 900-meter ascent (about 2800 feet) to a peak called Le Dent de Jaman, an intimidating piece of rock that is one of the highest in the area. This area is not truly the big Alps (like Matterhorn or Mont Blanc), which are much higher, but this was closer and therefore had to do for now.
So I left the house around 9:30 to catch a train to Montreux and then Montreux to Les Avants, a quaint little town in a valley just below Dent de Jaman. The hike started out on a road and then quickly transitioned to a steep, steep climb through the trees up to the Col de Jaman (Col = mountain pass), which is about 1600 meters high. This was by far the hardest part and I was definitely out of breath and felt out of shape after doing it.
But something about seeing a nice view gives you energy, so when I broke out of the trees at the Col, I felt ready to conquer anything. And thus I took off for Dent de Jaman, only accessible from the opposite side - so I walked about 3/4 mile to the other end, where I crossed some train tracks. I sat down for lunch with a view of the mountain...
...and then ten minutes later, without me moving an inch, the view of the mountain entirely disappeared in a massive white cloud of fog. The fog became so incredibly thick that you could only see about 20 meters in front of you. A crazy sight.
But I continued all the same, and after some crazy rock scrambling, arrived at the top of the mountain - 1875 meters high - and had the summit all to myself. The fog was still all consuming, unfortunately - until about 15 minutes later, when I finally got a peak of Lake Geneva, the surrounding mountains, and the valleys below. But again, after 5 minutes, it was gone again - my cue to head down.
After a nice rest, I decided I wasn't done - what else could I do? Descend and go somewhere else? Keep walking some other direction? After walking down to the Jaman train station (which is up 1500 meters high), I decided to walk over to another Col, this one much smaller and very close to a series of awesome jagged spires that were calling my name. The hike was short and pretty easy as I was fed and motivated, though it was starting to get a bit chilly.
Then I decided to descend the opposite direction, continuing past the Jaman station and down to Les Cases, what I believed to be a small little town and turned out to actually be nothing but a train station. The walk down was long and seemed never-ending - and it was beginning to rain and thus got very cold. To add to the troubles, my left shoe managed to break a bit - the sole was coming apart - nothing a bit of Duct tape couldn't fix, but I obviously didn't have that on hand.
After passing a ton of semi-wild sheep, then cows, then goats, and then Germans :) , I made it to the bottom - Les Cases turns out to be nothing but two houses and an empty train station. I was exhausted by this time, as I had probably walked around 7 miles and had gained and then lost over 2500 feet in elevation. So it came as a bit of a bummer to see that the next train (or at least the next one that stopped here) was not due for another hour.
And so I sat in the rain, thinking and shivering, for an hour, before boarding the train back to Montreux and from there, back to Lutry. Oh boy - what a day.
After a lovely shower and even lovelier dinner with some great wine, me, MT, and our hosts (the Christiansens) played a bit of Taboo, which quickly became way too competitive. After the guys unfortunately lost, Anna's father and I had a semi-heated discussion about Africa, in which he tried to convince me that all academicians are wrong on the subject. Hmmm, it was interesting I suppose, to say the least.
After I played a couple games of billiards, it was bed time - one more half-day here tomorrow before heading back!

Switzerland!! (Day 1)

Well, so it has always been a dream of mine to go to Switzerland - mostly for the majestic Alps and lovely lakes, which look so awesome in photos. So hence why I chose to go with my friend Maria Theresa to Lausanne, a town on Lake Geneva in the French-speaking portion of Switzerland, this weekend. There we would be staying with one of her friends and fellow Georgetown-er Anna Marie.
I was not disappointed. Friday afternoon (after an excruciatingly easy test at the Institut), I headed straight to the train station and took the long, 2 1/2 hour train to Paris, where I had 3 hours before my connection to Geneva. I spent this time walking around seeing the sights I hadn't seen on my previous trip to Paris - Jardin du Luxembourg, Ile de Saint-Louis, Place des Vosges, and a bit of the Le Marais neighborhood (including a nice church named Saint-Paul). It was a nice walk - I was happy to see Paris again - but I am too eager to go back. It's not my scene, I guess? Too many people, too many tourists, too stressful, too many crazy drivers, too much everything.
Boy was it different in Switzerland - after a 3 1/2 train ride, I barely made my tight connection in Geneva (just across the border) and met MT and Anna 30 minutes later in Lausanne. After grabbing a quick bite to eat (6 francs was the cheapest thing in town), we walked around a bit and saw a bit of the night scene - saw some cool bars (but didn't really go in) and finally settled at a place for a quick drink before we caught the midnight train to the nearby town of Lutry, where Anna lived.
Switzerland is calm and welcoming - a great feeling and contrary to Paris. Walking through the quiet vineyards in Lutry, we finally made it to the Christiansen residence - an incredible house with an amazing balcony view and a complete furnished "basement" which used to be a wine cave for the previous owner. What a great place - and Anna's parents were lovely and incredible hospitable as well.
After eating a bit more, we headed to bed - I was planning to hike the next day!

Lausanne Tomorrow!

Well today we had our first two tests of the new class - one was expected and consisted of reading an article (about the show "Friends"?) and answering some questions. Not too bad. The other was a pop quiz on oral comprehension - listening to a tough piece and trying to answer questions. Much harder. This class is not the breeze I thought it might be...
After a long day of classes, I went home and worked on getting ready for the trip tomorrow (to Lausanne, Switzerland!!) and attempting to buy tickets for the Eurostar back to London just before I leave in early August. But of course it didn't work - I got so close to booking and then, long story short, my credit card didn't work and I am blocked out of the system. I guess I have to call either Eurostar and/or Visa soon to figure out what's up. Booooo...unneeded stress.
I had a long, 1 1/2 hour discussion with my host parents tonight about many things, including my Polish heritage, my plans in life, etc. It really was great, and now that the kids are gone, it's just me and them and so I can really work on improving my speaking ability. But we are getting a new visitor (who is evidently in her 60s) who is from the German part of Switzerland and is evidently here to learn French as well. So we'll see how that goes...she gets here when I get back on Sunday night.
As for the Lausanne trip, I leave tomorrow at 12:29pm, have 3 hours in Paris to explore a bit, and then go Paris-Geneva; Geneva-Lausanne, where I hopefully will meet MT and her friend Anne Marie (who we are staying with) at the train station around 10:15pm. I plan on bringing only a backpack and no laptop, except this time I think I will actually get a bed, or at least the ground inside, to sleep on. :)
We get back Sunday night around 10pm - in the meantime, I hope to hike a bit in the area, maybe around Montreux in the outskirts of the Alps!! Can't wait! I will update again after the trip!

Le 14 Juillet - Bastille Day!

Bastille Day, the French version of the 4th of July, was yesterday, meaning we had class off. I had planned to rise at a reasonable hour but managed to not wake up until 11:30. Oh well - I actually was one of the first up - everyone else from Georgetown seemed to sleep in until 1pm. Wow - the Pamplona fatigue was definitely starting to hit.
Unfortunately, it rained for most of Bastille Day, but I for some reason agreed to go on a "rain walk" with Jacque, Allie, Justin, and Mara. We headed down to the Cher, the other river that goes through Tours and which I had never seen, and got only a bit drenched in the process. Eventually the rain cleared up (just as we picked up umbrellas haha) and we found a nice park on the other side of the Cher with a lake and the coolest playground you will ever see - complete with a zip line, a crazy see-saw, and the most dangerous children's structures known to man. A fun time of course. :)
Heading back, we tried to find some more Speculoos, but to no avail, so I returned home and proceeded to take yet another nap, as I was exhausted. Afterwards, I worked on important things: studying for a test for today and finishing another application for a fall internship. And of course I added some more photos from the mega-trip (still haven't been able to add the Pamplona ones yet!).
So my host family was gone all day, so I had the house to myself and had to make my own meals, which worked out fine as they left some ham, salad, cheese, and cantaloupe.
I left that night for the big fireworks show - set off from an island in the Loire just across from the guingette - which was great! Lots of good photos, I think! We then danced for quite a while and had some interesting encounters with a couple guys who were dressed as girls and were vraiment creepy. And then there was David with his scooter - wow...
So after finishing take-girls-home duty, I made it back around 1:30, when I did some more photo stuff and headed to sleep - test tomorrow!

Back to the Grind

So returning to classes after such an awesome trip was kind of a drag. But then again, French grammar is always a drag, right? At one point on Tuesday, I was confronted with a massive amount of sleepiness, struggling so hard to stay awake during class. After a couple cups of coffee, I was better just in time for literature class, which again was more interesting than I expected. We read an interesting story that had striking similarities to the story of Adam and Eve - a cool correlation.
Tuesday night we went out for a bit to watch the fireworks from St. Cyr (across the river from Tours) at the guingette (a bar hang-out on the banks of the Loire with music and dancing). A pretty tame night - but I met a good deal of students from Michigan State (the other main university that sent students to the Institute from the U.S.), most of which were cool but some of which were just downright annoying. On the whole, not bad, though.
So my host brothers both took off for Scotland for two weeks with the Boy Scouts, so I won't be seeing them until July 29. So that left me with the two parents, which was fine but slightly less interesting, for dinner. But they won me over with some of the best canteloupe I've ever had. Yummm.

España Day 4 - San Sebastien to Tours

Well, after two absolutely crazy days (which felt as long as 7), day 4, our return day, was pretty chill. We rose early around 8:30am to leave the hotel of the UT kids, who didn't wake up to see us off, which was probably for the better, as maybe they would ask questions as to why the hell they put us up in the first place. We made the long walk back to Old Town, where we ate a hearty breakfast (yogurt, fruit, Nutella, and a yummy lemon bread thing) before deciding to hike a bit up the mountain between Old Town and the Bay of Biscay, where there stands a giant statue of Jesus at the top. We had tremendous views all the way up and I very much enjoyed getting some exercise - though it was not real hiking, it held me over for now (til I go hiking this weekend in Switzerland!). At the top is an nunnery, where Lauren befriend and speak Spanish with one of the nuns, who showed her around as we contently sat down on a bench and observed the lovely view.
After heading back down, we again ate - this time a solid lunch consisting of a sandwich and a cookie. It was probably the closest thing we had to a true meal. After a bit of moseying, we walked to the train station, where we talked to a skier from Quebec for a bit before boarding a train to Hendaye, a French town just over the border.
Here we killed an hour by exploring a bit of the town and buying Basque souvenirs. Finally, we got on a train to Bordeaux, during which we chatted for quite awhile and discovered the most heavenly food ever: Speculoos - like a mix between peanut butter and nutella with cinnamon in it. Literally the best thing ever. Snaps for Justin for buying it and sharing. Wow.
So we had an hour in Bordeaux, so we wandered the town a bit, bought dinner, and proceeded to not find anything worthwhile except the sketchy part of town, so we made our way back to the train station. We boarded the TGV and found that we basically had a little nook to ourselves, complete with a great table for playing cards, which I utilized to dominate the rest at gin rummy. :)
And so there it was - by this point everyone was delirious and slaphappy, meaning anything and everything was funny. After a short navette from St. Pierre des Corps to Tours, we were back - and we dispersed, finished with one of the greatest trips of my life.

España Day 3 - San Sebastien

So the feeling of waking up on a cardboard box and getting up quickly and basically leaving everything behind except the clothes on your back and your wallet is quite bizarre. Yet that is exactly what we did - deserted our "home"for the night and walked through the piles of trash toward the bus station, where we finally retrieved our bags and freshened up the best we could (still no showers). Before our 11am bus to San Sebastien, we ate, bought souvenirs, and took some pictures on a giant statue of some bulls. At 11, we caught the bus (after some crafty Spanish work to figure out that our bus was actually not departing from where we thought originally) and enjoyed a lovely 1-hour ride through the mountains to San Sebastien, a Basque town on the Bay of Biscay (part of the Atlantic Ocean), noted for its nice beaches.
At this point, a couple of us were at rock bottom - very, very tired and just wanting a rest. Eventually we made our way 30 minutes from the bus station to the tourism office and then from there to the "playa" - a nice beach situated next to a port in a small bay surrounded by mountains. For a beach hater, I enjoyed it quite a bit - though I found out that I am quite a bad swimmer - I attempted to swim out to a small dock about 150 meters into the lagoon. I made it - but barely. After a good rest on the floating dock, I swam back very slowly and headed back to the beach to play a good deal of cards with the homies. A nice relaxing afternoon.
But of course at this point we still ahd no idea where we would be staying the night - sleeping in a park was acceptable in Pamplona, as everyone did so, but here, probably not a good idea - or an attractive one at that.
So we grabbed a quick dinner at an awful and terribly expensive tapas place in the main square of old town before heading out to find a bar to watch the World Cup final. We heard rumors that there was a large screen where everyone would be watching, but it turned out to be a lie. So by the time we returned to Old Town, the game had started and all the bars were packed - we watched the first half from outside a small Basque bar and then switched to an Irish pub that was sparsely crowded, but completely one-sided toward the Netherlands. Most of the Basque people I met hated the Spanish team - not surprising I suppose, but come on - can't you put aside your difference for a minute?
So the game went into overtime, but was a bit dull overall, especially considering the anti-Spanish atmosphere of the bar. But afterwards, we headed out into the streets and joined the mix of locals and tourists (mostly tourists) who cheered "Ole, Ole, Ole!," "Viva España," and the like. A good time overall - but it quickly turned into a normal night - bar-hopping - where we found a good deal of American music and American tourists. After a couple failed attempts with some Americans students who were studying there to find a place to stay, we finally ran across some peculiar students studying organic chemistry from the University of Texas. After Jacque pulled off the lie of all lies, stating that she actually knew a guy who one of the Texas guys was friends with who went to Yale (not true), and a couple more hours of following the Texas people in their stupid endeavors (losing people, taking care of a guy throwing up, and putting up with a long discussion of chemistry-related things (haha pyrite)), we convinced them to house us for the night.
And so we walked. And walked. And walked some more - for a good hour, until we finally got to their hotel/dorm and crashed on their floor - concrete and uncomfortable, but certainly better than a cold, dirty park. What a difference.

España Day 2, Part 2 - Viva, Viva Pamplona!

So after a crazy morning, the rest of the day was much more chill. Around 10, we met up with Lauren, Jacque, and Justin and shortly after, we ran into David's friend Charlie, who was there with a big group of Georgetown students who were studying in Barcelona for the summer, much like our program in Tours.
Armed with bottles of cheap Sangria, we headed over to meet the rest of Charlie's crowd, who were all passed out in the sun next to the stadium. This was the low point of the day - it was hot, I was extremely tired, Charlie was REALLY loud, and I just wanted to nap.
But we plowed through it. And after an hour and a half or so here (during which I chatted with a cool dude named Aaron who was from UC-Davis and was on a 6-month world excursion on less than 5 dollars a day), we moved to another, shadier park. We all fell right asleep, taking a good 1 1/2 hour nap.
We woke up to Charlie being loud as always and talking about how he forgot where he was. We eventually decided to get some lunch, which we did at a supermarket. At this point, I was mad at myself for successfully forgetting next to ALL of my Spanish - 10 years of studying it wasted. Yikes. The bright side was that I did understand quite a bit when it was spoken, but could barely speak it. Yet we got by just fine.
After picking up ham, baguettes, carrots, etc. for lunch, we headed back to the park to find our group size doubled. We merged with some French dudes and a Dutch guy, all of which were very cool and we were happy to speak French again. One of the French guys managed to get a huge gash in his leg while wrestling with Aaron, causing him to get 11 stitches. Ouch. When you do stupid stuff, you get hurt.
At this point, we learned the greatest cheer: "Pulpa Paul" - the Spanish name of the German octopus who had successfully called all of Germany's games in the World Cup up to this point and picked Spain to beat the Netherlands during the final. A stupid superstition, but entertaining - especially as we led the cheer the next day after Spain won.
We chilled here for a good 5 hours or so - and we weren't the only ones. The park was packed with people from all over the world - I estimate about 300-500,000 people were in Pamplona on this day.
Finally, around 10:30pm, we headed out for the night. We quickly lost Charlie's group on accident but managed to have a great time nonetheless. First, we found a funny Santana cover band, where we danced to "Corazon Espinado" and I managed to get some of my Spanish-speaking ability back. Then, all of a sudden, we heard a massive crack - fireworks! We sprinted through the streets for a view - and what a show it was - one of the best I've ever seen.
A bit worn out, we headed back to the main plaza - Plaza del Castillo - where we rested for a bit and waited for the performers who were going to play at the big stage in a little bit.
So we struggled to find a spot to sit down that wasn't absolutely gross, however. The whole city smelled like a mix of urine, sweat, sangria, and bad eggs - nasty. But eventually we found something and waited 30 minutes for the band to start.
Oh what great fun the band was - two old guys singing with two back-up dancers and some guys on guitars and a piano. The music was great - very Spanish and truly a lot of fun to dance to. When we started doing the Macarena, I got suspicious. Once we did it twice, I knew - these were the ACTUAL creators of the Macarena!! Haha - Los del Río, owners of the biggest one hit wonder that ever existed. Hilarious, yet great. And they managed to get the tune "Viva, Viva Pamplona" stuck in my head for the rest of the trip.
Eventually, after 2 hours of dancing, they finished - and we were exhausted. After watching another random band for a bit, we decided to find a place to stay. We decided not to go back to get our bags and we simply would sleep in what we were wearing. So we headed back to the same park from the afternoon and found a nice spot away from the craziness and loud music.
Boy were we creative - David found some cardboard boxes, which we laid on, and a random jacket and a wet, white sheet. What a sight it was - five college kids cuddling under a jacket and a wet sheet on some cardboard. The closest I've ever felt to homeless. And sleep we did - I was out within 5 minutes. It was about 3:30am by this time. What a long day. But wicked awesome.

España Day 2, Part 1 - Running with the Bulls!!

What. A. Day. 5am to 3am non-stop, with only an hour-long nap. But an incredible day nonetheless.
So Justin was kind enough to not wake me up for my 4am lookout shift and we all woke up at 5am to head down to the action - for the running of the bulls. We gathered our belongings and tiredly headed in the right direction. Boy - what a sight. EVERYONE was still out, most of which had been partying all night, and the place was a landfill - trash everywhere, up to your knees in some places. Wow.
So we quickly found a parking garage with a bathroom, where we changed clothes, freshened up a bit, and proceeded to get kicked out by a couple guys who thought we were there to find a friend's car and were upset and we weren't.
We trudged through the trash and people to get to the area where the bulls (and David and I) would be running just 2 hours later. The track works like this: it is 400m, rather short, and the people who run are in two groups: one group is for the hard-core Spaniards who want to become bull-fighters and they line up at the beginning of the track and taunt the bulls. The second group starts further down the track, but still gets to run with the bulls, though it's not quite as intense. Our plan was to find this second group.
After saying goodbye to our stuff (we handed it to Lauren, Jacque, and Justin, who would be heading to the stadium to watch from the stands), David and I parked ourselves at Dead Man's Corner - an area where the bulls traditionally swing wide and hit the wall before turning and moving on. The plan was to stay on the inside corner and out of harm's way.
But of course things changed as the police proceeded to push everyone off the course in order to clean the track. Uh oh. In a split second decision, I decide to follow some other Americans, lose David in the process, and run around in a loop, eventually make my way back to the track, sneak under the fence (the police generally look the other way) and get pushed into a massive crowd waiting to be let back in. Just before 8am, everyone does a prayer to San Fermin (for which the festival was named) and hopes for the best. I stake out a spot on the inside corner of Dead Man's Corner.
Ten minutes later - the cannon sounds, which announces the release of the 6 bulls (and their steers - also big cows). I wait for a bit and then decide - hey, what the heck - I'm going to run. I begin running and about a minute later - Vroom - there goes bull #1 to my left. I hit the wall and take a breather. I'm not feeling so hot right now - sprinting on very little water and food consumption made me feel I bit sick. But I pull it together and make my way down the track and enter the stadium.
Entering the stadium, with people cheering all around you in the stands, made me understand what Gladiator must have been like. Coolest feeling EVER. There are probably about 200 other people in the ring with me at that time, and shortly, bulls #2 and #3 come zipping by - very close to where I was standing - but they ran straight through the stadium to the stables on the far end.
The rest of the bulls came within 5 minutes - doing the same thing. And so I thought it was over - time to go home.
WRONG. Then they let out each of the bulls, one by one, and they run around the ring with ferocious fury - chasing after anything that moves. The first bull caught me off guard - after a close encounter, I sprint to the wall, where most people hang out, and proceeded to watch person after person get owned by the bull, thrown up by its horns and nearly trampled afterwards. Crazy.
They released the 5 other bulls after - and magically about halfway through, I find David sprinting toward me. We were reunited - and at that point, we were both saying - "Yeah, I think I've had enough bull." So we head out of the ring, but still watch people do crazy stuff - get their pants yanked off by the bull, jump over the bull (a talent dubbed "hurdling"), and run around screaming to the wall.
What a sight. The only downside was that I did not have my camera, which I had given to Lauren, who stored it with the rest of our stuff for the day. I wouldn't get it back until the next morning. :(
So it was complete - we survived - and David and I went to buy a victory bottle of wine and waited for the others at a designated meeting spot. You could say we bonded, man to man time, haha.