In Oslo. Totally blown away by Bergen and Flam, but a little bit ready to be seeing people I know again. Will try to write more later.

Today is my last day in Sweden, though due to some complications (I'm so used to train service here being good and regular I didn't check the overnight train schedule to Oslo, and so to avoid paying for a hostel in a city I won't even see, I'm going to take an overnight train down south, and then another one back up to Oslo), I will get to see a lot of it tomorrow via train. And then I will have a day in Oslo, and then I'm heading to Bergen.
I got really lucky with the weather in Stockholm and so spent a lot of time exploring by foot; today will be my museum day, as soon as I get my act together and leave the hostel.

Tonight I am in Tampere, spending my only my second, out of the last eight, night in a bed. Also, as of yesterday when I got off the train, I had spend significantly more time traveling than actually being in places. So it will be nice to spend some time in Stockholm. And tomorrow I'm going to Moominvalley! Apparently it is unseasonably cold here, but I do not understand how people live in this country. I think I would have to become migratory.

It is raining in Helsinki so I am hiding out in the tourist office, using free internet on a superbly disfunctional computer. I have counted that my total country count will be 20 after this trip, or 21 if I decide to go to Tallinn when I'm back in Helsinki on Saturday (but I would like some time to explore here when it is nice). The ferry over was quite nice, with beautiful views of Sweden's coast and a room dedicated for deck passengers sleeping. Now I've left my pack in a locker and will take an overnight train (12hrs after an 18hr ferry ride) to Rovaniemi, a city 8km south of the arctic circle (and Santa's village). It will be cold there (I had to convert to celsius to rember what 52 degrees felt like) but less rainy, I think. If I were coming a month earlier, it would be light all the time, a month later and I would be able to see the northern lights.

p.s. People aren't joking about this whole scandanavia being expensive. The cheapest (filter) coffee I can find in Helsinki is 2 euros.

Some highlights of my past two weeks, since I haven't been updating with details:
-Took the train jaune into the Pyrenees
-World Petanque championships
-Crazy local goat's milk curd/ cheese
-An awesome art exhibit inspired by Rabelais all over Montpellier
-2 euro jeans
-24 hours of straight trains
-The world's largest cukoo clock
-Karl Marx's birth house
-Two new countires: Luxembourg and DENMARK (and Sweden tomorrow)
-Seeing my first 7-11 in almost a year (because there are a ton here)
-The world's smallest coffeeshop
-Five+ hours in an art museum with a design inspired by Dante's Inferno
-Lots and lots of cool people and new friends

I'm leaving Copenhagen today, heading to Aarhus in the Northwest. Its pretty rainy and cold, and I discovered my raincoat doesn't function anymore, so that sucks a little bit, but other than that I was pretty much in love with this city. For example, this morning I went to the world's smallest coffee shop (with 5 seats, and about the size of a large walk in closet). I also met some really cool people in my hostel, and now have a person I can stay with if I ever come back here (a Norwegian starting university) and potentially someone to take me around Oslo.

p.s. my rail pass is for 30 days

I don't have time to type up any journal entries, but I just wanted to say that after 24 consecutive hours of train travel, I arrived in Freiburg, the cutest little German town. Yesterday I saw the world's biggest cukoo clock. Now I am Trier, Germany's oldest city and the birthplace of Karl Marx. Tomorrow I am going to Luxembourg and then taking an overnight train to Copenhagen. Cool!

I don't really feel like typing up any of my journal entries, but I'm in Montpellier now, after spending a couple of days with Sara in Millau. Tomorrow I'm heading to Nimes, and then after that I'm heading towards Copenhagen via Germany. I have my rail pass, after much struggling, so now I'm all set to go.

Bayonne/ Anglet, Tarbes/ Cauterets

Wednesday, 6 August (Bayonne, Anglet)

I'm in a really bad mood and I don't even really know why. I think pqrtly its self-fulfining missing Spain--I actually felt a wave of relief when I got back into France, but now I'm super annoyed by French + French people + the French way of doing things, including that there are no lockers at the train station, chich meant I had to haul my bag around... There's not even a park where I can lie in the shade + I was in too bad of a mood [after dropping my stuff off in the hostel in Anglet] to go back into Bayonne... Also, people here drive too fast...

[later]

My mood has gotten magically better, mostly because I discovered that I'm still getting CAF, which means I should have 560 euros more to spend on this trip. I don't know why, but I'm much less comfortable in this hostel than I have been in any of the others I've been to. I think all of the others ... had good communal spaces to hang out in... Plus, I find it much hqrder to start making small talk with French people, I think because they don't really do it that much and also I feel awkward starting conversations in French when I have such an obvious accent. I guess that was actually less of a problem outside of France; because then me and the French person are equally tourists.



Thursday, 7 August (Bayonne)

Better mood today, even though its rainy and supposed to be rainy tomorrow. I don' t know what I was expecting from basque country-maybe all of the tiny villages I slept through-but I don't think this wad it. I did get to learn more about the language at the museum, which was in general pretty cool, but didn't have as much history as I would have liked... Bayone is also known for its chocolat, so I got myself some of that.



Friday, 8 August (Tarbes + Cauterets)

It is so amazingly beautiful here. I got up at 7, caught and 8:30 train to Tarbes then a 9:30 bus to Cauterets. It was already worth it for the views on the bus ride. Then I got a 12pm shuttle up the hill a bit (after buying groceries and figuring out what I wanted to do), hiked past 6 waterfalls, then got to the Pont d'espagne. After that it was another 40 minute hike to this lake, from which you can see the highest peak in the French pyrenees. I saw it a bit before the clouds came in. There are a ton of people here because the lake is so accessible (you can do it walking all of 10 minutes on a paved road) but it is still totally worth it. I am also really impressed that I'm doing this myself, getting out of places that are easy to go to and really seeing things. When else in my life will I get a chance to do this?


This is the lake I went to!

San Sebastian, Tarbes

I've been on the computer a while and have to get up early tomorrow to take a bus into the Pyrenees, but I wanted to catch up a bit on my travels. Right now I have a private room (!!) at a youth hostel that is actually a foyer de jeunes travailleurs (like a dorm, but for young people, not students), so its a little harder to meet people, but I have free internet and access to a kitchen, and did I mention my own room.

Tuesday, 5 August
Day two in San Sebastian. I (luckily) got a place in the hostel yesterday and then went out to explore the city. I was so exhausted, though, that I could barely function and so I ended up mostly napping (I took two separate ones on the beach and one in a park at the top of one of the hills). Its weird because I got much less sleep last night and I've been able to be much more active today than yesterday. Maybe my body is so used to little sleep that I couldn't function or maybe because I didn't have a whole lot to do my sleep deficit was catching up with me or maybe my body was shutting down from lack of human connection. (I did meet one person in Bilbao but we didn't hang out for that long-maybe just an hour total). Last night I ate dinner with some people and then ended up hanging out and then going out with a large group of British and Australian guys and two gals from Quebec and New Zealand.
I'm heading back to France tomorroz qnd I'm a little bit sad to be leaving Spain. I can't really put my finger on why but I think I've just had so many good experiences here and people have been so friendly. Of course; most of those people haven't been Spanish, so hopefully it will be the same. I'm also a little frustrated with my inability to speak Spanish, especially because I can often understand what people are saying, I just can't respond myself. It also makes it harder for me to eat out, especially if I don't want to stand out as a tourist. Today I got pinxtos, the Basaue version of tapas, a really good mushroom skezer and then a tortilla espagnol, which is about the only thing I can consistently eat.

Bilbao, San Sebastian

Saturday, 2 August:
After missing my train and then wandering around the correct train station for a while trying to figure out what to do, I went and used internet for an extended time, sat in the Plaza Espana, wandered around looking for food, panicked I was going to miss my train again, and then ended up getting to the train station an hour and three quarters early. I slept a little while I was waiting, but ot enough, because I couldn´t keep myself from falling asleep on the train, even though the scenery was beautiful. At one point I woke up just in time to see a breathtaking canyon. The whole way was mountains or plateaus or rocky outcroppings or huge wheat fields with monastaries or little villages. The weird thing was that I kept catching sight of things and then the train would dip or go around a slight bend and when we got back to a point where it seemed like they should be visible again, they appeared to have vanished.
In any case, now I´m in Bilbao in a massively huge hostel. I assume there are lots of people, but I think the problem I´m going to have staying in HI hostels in general is that people aren´t that friendly. I´ll guess I´ll have to come up with other ways to meet people.

Sunday, 3 August:
This is my first Sunday not on the Costa del Sol and I forgot how dead it would be. Bilbao was basically silent--I felt like I was the only person on the street. Of course, this also means that there is absolutely nowhere for me to buy food other than in a restaurant. I´m a little stressed about where I´m going to sleep tomorrow so I´m being extra strict on my bdget. On the other hand, I now have a reservation for somewhere through the 11th, after which I can go visit Sara, so now I can take a little more time to figure out how I want to see the pyrenees.
Bilbao is so beautiful. I wonder what it was like before the guggenheim was here. The museum is amazing and architecturally stunning, but really the city itself, and its location (among rolling green hills) is what catches me. The views out of the hostel this morning were great. On the other hand, this has really reminded me how much better I feel all around if I arrive in cities during daylight--things are just more appealing, and I feel so much more oriented.
Today was the first day in over a month that I actually felt chilly at all (with the exception of a few of the times when I was up from 4am-7am) and I forgot how nice a fresh summer morning chill can be. I guess I might end up using some of my layers sooner than I expected.

Today:
I´m in San Sebastian, and have a place to stay! Woo! I got to the hostel (thanks to a very nice bus driver) just in time to get one of the last free beds. Its pretty overcast today, though, so I´m not exactly sure what I´m going to do.

Travels in Spain

So I´m actually trying to journal a little bit on this trip, but my internet access is more sporadic, so I´m going to type things up when I have a chance.

Tuesday, 29 July
I´m trying to start journaling on this trip, but since carrying a notebook around is too much, I´m just going to use scraps of paper. Arrived in Malaga yesterday, totally sleepless after my last night of camp. The hostel is way out of the historic center, in a pretty grungry part of town. Been thinking a lot about what kind of places appeal to me and why. Anyway, free pasta and internet at the hostel. Met a german and then two canadians (could NOT understand the quebecois accent--exhaustion?) and then a french gal and everyone was really friendly. Will hopefully see the german in madrid, and maybe the French, if I see them again to get their numbers.
So day 2 of traveling alone going pretty well for me. My still out of it ness led me to wander hopelessly for a while trying to find the picasso museum, though mostly I´m just rushed because I´m trying to get a veggie taps meal before 4, otherwise the centre ville is great for wandering. The picasso museum is packed, but there3 are so many breathtaking pieces here, just spent 5 minutes staring in awe at "The bather"--hostely feel like my life has been made more complete in some way by seeing these. My first reaction was how could I have made it this far without seeing them.

Wednesday, 30 July
Day 3 of traveling by myself. Did a New Madrid free tour with some gals at I met at my hostel (one is 25 and married with two kids but doing it with her sister, who never got a chance to see europe) and the guide wasn´t the best, but I got to talk to a lot of people and am now at the museum with 2 british gals. So I´m doing pretty well, my main worries being that 1) I won´t find anyone to go out with tonight 2) hostels in the cities I want to go to will be all booked up (none of the HI hostels have websites, which makes it more difficult). I also need to figure out where I´m going next because I´m pretty sure a lot of places in southern France will be booked. Camping is always an option, I guess. I´m thinking right now of getting a eurrail pass for after marseille and heading to Scandinavia and Eastern Europe for a month. Hopefully then it will be easier because I can always just hop on a different train if there are no open hostels. ALso, I´m hoping to dump a lot of stuff in France, which will make traveling a lot less painful. But (maybe because I´m really tired), I keep ending up thinking about what I´m doing next instead of focusing on the now.

Thursday, 31 July
So I guess bad days should be expected to go with good ones. I started off okay, with a really great contemporary art museum, but then things started going down hill. The market I wanted to buy lunch at was shut, then I got disoriented and spent hours wandering around mostly pretty boring (with some interesting) neighborhoods, on my way to the train station to see if I could get a youth discount. Not only do you need this specific youth card that I don´t have, I had to wait for almost an hour only to discover that I bought the ticket for tomorrow instead of Saturday and now have to wait again, even longer. Plus, I have to change hosteals tomorrow. I´m worried all of the hostels in France will be booking (maybe I´ll buy a tent= and I´m worried that I´m not going to be able to see everything I want to in the Pyrenees. After I´m done waiting at the train station, I think I´ll go back to the hostel to try to make some reservations and eat dinner before I (hopefully) find some people to go out with. On the bright side, I did go to two really amazing bars last night, even if the people I was with didn´t realize the second one´s awesomeness.

Friday, 1 August
I´m not sure why I´m in a state of being so succeptible to the power of art--maybe its the one consistent thing in my life this last week, but I totally got knocked off my feet (literally-into a provided beanbag chair) again by an exhibit at the Reine Sofia. Unfortunately, I was a little too tired and arted out to spend much time on the main exhibitions but there were some amazing Miros.
I don´t think Madrid is my favorite city to be a tourist, but it is so appealing in some way. I guess it helps that my hostel is really good and I´ve gotten a chance to see some of the nightlife. I don´t know if I can go out again tonight, since I have an 8am train tomorrow, but I also don´t want to miss out on a friday in Madrid.
I think I´ll get some gazpacho for dinner since its the one spanish food I have´nt tried yet (and I´ve eaten pasta for a lot of meals in a row). My tapas were really good and the bocadillos were pretty good (better if you eat meat, I think) but either the churros I had were not good or its just not the right weather, because I feel like I might die from them.

Today:
Now I´m at an internet place in Madrid, because I missed my train to Bilbao, due to various stupidities. I think one of the biggest advantages to traveling with other people (besides the ability to split hotel rooms and hitchhike, etc) is that you have some other people to check you on your really stupid mistakes, like going to the wrong train station. So I´ve lost a day in Bilbao, and 8 euros, and my morning (I could have slept in and hung out with cool people at the hostel) but at least I´ve managed to do a little searching for where I´m going next (I reserved in Bayonne for a night, and then hopefully can stay in Taubes, and then Perpignan for a night, and then I don´t know where I´m going to go... hopefully somewhere into the Pyrenees but I need to find a place where I can stay). I´m super exhausted after yet another night of very little sleep, so I think I´ll go sleep in a park when I´m done with this.

Summer Plans

I can't believe its almost the end of my time in France. As some of my 7-month assistant friends noted, its too bad the school year isn't spring/ summer/ fall, because Blois and the Loire Valley are much more enjoyable this time of year. All of the cafés have outdoor seating, there are tons of festivals and events, and its perfect bike riding weather. At least I am getting to take advantage of it before I leave.

I realized that I hadn't officially announced my summer plans (I don't think), and since I just bought plane tickets yesterday, I figured it was a good time. I have a three-week job as a Senior Counselor at Camp España in Marabella, Spain (on the Costa del Sol). Its an international summer camp for teenagers, which means luckily I'll get to keep speaking French (and hopefully that my lack of Spanish won't be a problem). I don't know a whole lot about the camp or what my job will be, but I'm flying into Madrid on the 2nd of July and I'm done on the 27th. After that I'm going back to France, where either I will pick up my luggage and head back to the US, if I've found a job, or I'll embark on a month or two of travels. We will see!

French Holidays

I am currently taking advantage of the numerous public holidays in France in the beginning of May and doing some long weekends (faire-ing le pont as the Franglish say). Last wednesday, Anja and I went to Grenoble to visit a friend. The city is amazing, with mountains all around and a really good art museum. We also spent a night in the Alps and did a great hike (through some remaining snow) and a day in Lyon.
After two days of school, Claire and I left again, this time for Brittany. We spent a beautiful sunny day exploring Rennes, went to Mt. Saint Michel today, and tomorrow are heading for Quimper. We'll also hit St. Malo and maybe another town before heading home on Monday. Eating lots of crepes and trying to learn Breton.

Home sweet home

My vacation has come to an end and I am back in Blois. Sadly, this was the last two week holiday I get, and now I'm working straight through to the end (well, not exactly, as I have May 1st off, as well as the 7th, 8th, and 11th). I'm pretty exhausted after a whirlwind tour of Rome, so this week is going to be a little bit tough to get through, but I'll try to post some of the highlights and maybe even some pictures sometime soon.

Greece, pt 3

Another quick update, since email is expensive (if quick) in this country.
After Rhodes, we spent almost 24 hours on a ferry and then spent two days exploring Santorini (mostly by foot). Then we took another ferry to Crete, where we spent a day in Iraklion, saw Knossos (apparently where the original minataur and labyrinth was), and came to Rethymno, where we are now. Our hostel is super cheap (9 euros a night), so we decided to stay here for three nights, and today we rented a car to explore the island a bit. It was absolutely spectacular.
The day after tomorrow we'll take a night ferry back to Athens and then fly to Italy.

Greece, pt 2

No time for a real update, as I am on a coin-operated internet system, but we are currently in Rhodes City, where we spent one good, but busy and exhausting, day exploring. We were originally going to spend two days on the island (after an overnight ferry from Athens yesterday), but the ferry leaving after tomorrow was canceled so we have to leave tonight (the ferry departs at 3am, but it gets into the port at 11pm so we can get on early and find a place to sleep). Then we will spend two full days in Santorini (we get in tomorrow at 8pm) before going to Crete.

I have been eating so much spanikopita. Mmmm....

Greece!

We made it to Greece safely, and are still awake (at least I am, Diana and Anja might have fallen asleep) after sleeping (barely) in the airport last night before our 4:30am check in.

Despite its reputation (or to spite us) its been rainy and cool all day, which made for the perfect day to go to a private museum and then get soaked wandering around some gardens. We finished the day off with some delicious fried rice and are going to crash out early in order to get up for another museum and then the acropolis tomorrow.

As of now, our plan is to stay in Athens for another day and a half, then take an overnight ferry to Rhodes, where we will spend two full days and then take a 18 hour ferry to Santorini. From there, we will either spend a day before heading to Crete or decide to take more time to explore and then head back to Athens.

Hopefully the weather will get better!

Strasbourg!

Last weekend was a long one, since we had Monday off for Easter (the explanation seems to be that the government does not want to give a religious holiday off, hence working on Good Friday, but they give Monday off so its still a long weekend), and Claire, Claire, and I went to Strasbourg. (Out of the six primary assistants in our department, two are named Claire--one is from Scotland and one from England. Add that to my landlord and the Claire I went to Morocco with, and you can see how it might get a little confusing.)

We were originally meant to take a 5pm train, but ended up catching an earlier one (at slightly more cost--we thought it was going to be cheaper, but as we were in the process of buying the tickets, the prices went up and then it was too late to go back), which got us there at about 8pm. Luckily it had stopped raining by then, so our walk across town to the hotel where we were staying was only cold, not wet. We found our room, which was enormous by my recent standards (two full beds and one twin, and the room was cheaper than it would have been to stay in the hostel), and decided to go to bed early so we could make the most out of the next day.

Of course it was raining again when we woke up, so after grabbing a breakfast from a bakery (I actually had a sandwich, because my dinner the night before had consisted of a pretzel and cookies) we went over to the cathedral, which we quickly admired, and then searched for the Palais Rohan, which houses three museums. As the rain didn't appear to be letting up and it was only one euro more to buy a day pass for all of the cities' museums (only three euros!), we went to the decorative arts museum and then the archeology museum. Both were pretty good and interesting, but nothing too exciting. After the museums we sought out Flam's, a local chain that specializes in tartes flambées, sort of like thin crust pizzas. Mine (onions, potatoes, and cheese) was good, but a little bland (probably the meat version had more kick). At that point it had cleared up a little, so we started exploring the city--La Petite France, the most famous part, Place de la Republique (the German-era bit), and then along the canals. We also stopped for some amazing ice cream (I just go chocolate sorbet, because I wanted a cone, but both Claires got more exciting things). After we figured out where we wanted to go to dinner (a baked potato restaurant), we discovered that nowhere opens for dinner before 7, so we wandered around some more. After dinner, we found a microbrewery and sampled their (all delicious beers).

The next day, Easter Sunday, it was snowing, though not really sticking. We decided to head for the modern and contemporary art museum, but stopped on the way for a cafe breakfast. The museum was pretty good, with a few really amazing pieces (especially a Kandinsky mural), but we did it in two parts, as we left halfway through to try to see the astronomical clock at the Cathedral (it wasn't running because of it being Easter) and then got lunch (student meal prices are one of the best deals in France). The snow kept up and it stayed cold, but we went back to the ice cream place for a second round anyway (this time I got peach and yogurt... mmm...) and then on to the Musée d'alsace (way too crowded) and the Museum of the History of Strasbourg (it was cool and very interactive, but we only went there because we had gotten another day pass, and only had a short amount of time). We had a late afternoon coffee break, where we sampled the local easter cake (in the shape of a lamb) and then found a winestub (the local traditional restaurant) that had vegetarian food and ate a feast.

Monday we got up early again and discovered that it was actually sunny, so we walked up to the university, which was very pretty, but closed off to visitors because of it being a holiday. On our way back we stopped to buy a kugelhopf (another local specialty) for the train and look at a really pretty high school. Then we checked out, bought some falafel for lunch, and went to the train station. Our train was 30 minutes late (it was waiting for a connecting train) and so we were a little stressed about whether we were going to make our connection in Paris, but it turned out fine and we got to see some pretty, snowy Alsacian villages on our way back.

Life In Blois

I thought maybe I should actually talk about what I'm doing here, since this seems to have turned into just a travel journal.

School is basically the same. I picked up another 1.5 hours of CM2 class at VH, so I have an extra 45 minutes of work now (I dropped the 45 minutes of CM2s I was doing at BA). Its a big class, but they're well-behaved and they've had English all year so we're not struggling the way we would be if we were really starting right at the beginning. They're also really obsessed with getting me to speak French to them. (The teacher they had before, who is pregnant, was a regular French teacher, so she spoke a lot of French in the lessons). Another one of my schools invited me to go on a three-day bike ride with them in May, which would involve seeing some chateaux and spending lots of time with the students (but they're my favorite school), but I have to make sure I can make up the hours I would be missing at my other schools.

I haven't found that many other things to occupy my time, but I'm volunteering at Chato'do whenever I can, and I might take over some volunteer English lessons that another assistant, who is leaving at the beginning of April, is doing. I'm a little worried about how I will pass my time when everyone leaves in April, but one of my best friends here, Claire, has got a bartending job, so she's going to stick around (though whether we'll have any overlapping free time remains to be seen) all summer. Also, the weather is just starting to get nice, and so I have plans to go on random day trips to little towns on the train line, just to check them out, and I'll also start biking more.

Last weekend, Claire, Luisa, and I went to a wine fair (a tasting with people from lots of different wine regions), which was pretty cool. I managed to learn a little bit about wines and what I like, so now I can leave France with some knowledge in that direction. We also got to taste some wines from the Loire Valley, some from right around Blois! Unfortunately, the buses stopped running on the way back, so we had to walk for a while in the wind and rain (and also, we walked 15 minutes in the wrong direction first) through farmland, and by the time we got back we were exhausted.

I also went to the chateau in Blois, finally, last Sunday. It was quite impressive and worth going to (at least once, I'm not sure how many times I'll want to go back), though they were in the middle of filming a movie there, so some of the rooms were not open.

I still haven't heard from the summer camp where I want to work, here in France. My plan remains the same, though (unless, of course, I don't get the job)--work there through August, travel around Europe in September and October (and/ or until my money runs out), and then come back to the states and get a job (though I am going to try to find something before I leave Europe so I have a general idea of where I'm going.)

As for future travels, I'm going to Strasbourg this weekend and then for my next vacation (the 5th through the 20th of April), I'm going to Greece for almost two weeks and then Rome for just a weekend. I've made a list of places in France I want to go to on weekend trips, so (as long as I have money left), I'll be hitting those as much as I can in May and June.