Long time no blog

So, it's been a while. Sorry. My life went from going non stop, to going non stop, but in a much less touristy way.
For those of you that were confused why the blogs from Edinburgh were showing up a week after they were dated, it's because I was post dating them. I didn't have time to write in Edinburgh, but I wanted to keep things nicely in sequence.

Hhhhokay. So now I'm in Bordeaux! How thrilling! Yay!

Bordeaux is a great city. It's big enough to have lots of things to do, see, eat etc. but small enough to have a friendly population. It's a total college town. There are tons of universities and dorms all over. Just walking through the city you run into the Bordeaux Universities (1-5 I think...), random art institutes, engineering schools, pretty much anything you can think of school wise.

And then there's BEM (it's pronounce bem, not spelled out) Bordeaux Ecole (school) of Management. That's where I go. In France, if you go to a public university it's paid for by the government, but BEM is a Grand Ecole, which basically means that it's private. The students have to study for 2 years after high school, take a very difficult exam and then pay about 3,000 euros a year to attend BEM. It's really funny because they always talk about what a hardship paying for it is, when really they pay nothing compared to what we do in the states. Also, there's TONS of federal aid to help students. There's a program that literally just pays your landlord some money every month. How convenient.

Ok, I think from now on I won't neccisarily blog about my day, but a general topic, like the weather, or class, or food, or life....I don't know. Je ne sais pas.

Au Revoir

Finally time to leave Edinburgh. Today was not very exciting. We ate breakfast, packed up and hopped on a double decker bus for the precarious journey to the airport.

It was very strange. Matt and I checked in at different kiosks. Went through security together. And I saw him off at the gate. It was like the olden days. How weird. I practically expected little Jonah talking back to Tom Hanks to be right there. So off Matt flew, back to the US of A and I wandered off to find my gate. I had a slightly less painful Ryan Air flight and rode the bus to my apartment.

And so starts daily life in Bordeaux.

Cheers for that

Today we went to more free Scottish museums. Although these were less impressive than yesterday’s.

We went to the insanely creepy People’s museum, which basically described the people of Scotland, starting in the 19^th Century. Why was it creepy? you ask. Well instead of having normal exhibitions, like, this was Jane’s brush, and John’s bath tub, and Jack’s bucket. They decided to dress mannequins up in whatever fashion of the day happened to be in-style. You just walked room to room staring at these slightly lifelike, but not lifelike enough, creatures “learning” about them. Then you reach another room to stare at a Scottish police man, WHO MOVES. Scared the poo out of me. It turned out ok though, because he actually was real. Although why he was sitting so stilly in the first place, I’ll never know.

We went to the writer’s museum. A nice little museum about Edinburgh’s three favorite people/the only people that were slightly well known from Edinburgh. Robert Burns (poet?), Walter Scott (poet?) Robert Louis Stevenson (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Treasure Island (Thank you Muppets!))

We also went to the Edinburgh museum, which really by this point was just overkill. I’m sure that’s why my writing is so sarcastic. So. Many. Museums. But at least they were free. And at least we had more pie…and fudge.

So since we were not enjoying ourselves to the fullest (as one should in such a lovely town) I decided to take us to the back to the botanical gardens because it was a lovely day, and we loved it so much. So I start us off (using the BAD MAP) and we get slightly lost. Lost isn’t really the right word, we just weren’t where we wanted to be, I knew where we were. We find a different park, and watch crazy people dump loads of bread out for the swans/seagulls/ducks/pigeons to eat. We get up to go, MAYBE find the gardens and it starts POURING. So we run. Into the botanical gardens. It was pretty lucky that we found shelter so quickly because the rain didn’t have a chance to soak through to the marrow of our bones. Neither of us have been in rain like that, it was like it was hailing, only it was water. So much water.

Being the clever person I am, I decided we should try and take the tour bus back to the hotel, despite the fact that our tickets expired some days ago. And yay! It worked! Of course, it had stopped raining by that point….

Monet is pretty legit

So Scotland is pretty awesome. Their national museums are free! So that is what we did today. Because it’s free, and awesome. We walked to the National Scottish Museum and wandered around there. It is a HUGE museum. It has information on Scotland from the beginning of time until present day. It’s slightly awkwardly arranged, but maybe that’s just because we really are starting to become exhausted from all this walking. The days are tough when you start walking, then have some slow walking in between, and finish with some walking.

After the museum we walked to the National Scottish Gallery. It had some very impressive stuff, although we didn’t find the impressionists (my favorites) until the museum was about to close. We can’t really complain that much because we did see two amazing museums for free, ones that in the US, would have easily cost $20 each to enter into.

During our walk to the gallery we ran into horses. Not literally because we knew they were coming. But there WERE a lot of them. It was a GINORMOUS parade of horses! Never have I seen so many horses in my life! What a hoot. It was also fun when the people sitting outside of a bar booed the police horses. Smile and wave boys, smile and wave.

For dinner we went to the World’s End Café. It is so named because that’s where Edinburgh’s wall used to be, and back in the day you had to pay to leave and enter into the city, so generally, if you were born there you died there (if you catch my drift). Therefore, the wall was the “world’s end” for most people. The food was pretty good, but it’s just a little tourist spot so nothing to freak out about.

During one of our many walking sessions today we stumbled upon a nice little park that happened to house the Nelson monument. And other random war memorials (cannons) and a romaneque thing (columns ect). Pretty pimpin’.

Also, we ate more pie.

Let them Eat Pie

Today we realized how far we’ve been walking every day. Just to get to the sights from the hotel is a little over two miles every morning. Not to mention the slow museum walking followed by the walk back at night. We are easily getting at least 5 miles of walking a day.

Today we walked to the beginning of a hike to Arthur’s Seat. Then we hiked (and I wheezed) up to it. Arthur’s Seat is the tallest point for miles around, so naturally it had an amazing view. We were able to see all of Edinburgh, the sea and the beautiful blue sky. We picked the perfect day to hike because the sky finally decided not to rain. It was insanely windy at the top (I was a bit concerned for my safety) but just fantastic.

It was a really great hike because there were multiple ways to reach the top; you don’t have to go up and down in the same direction. Going down we stumbled upon some ruins and a swan pond.

It’s really great, because I’m really starting to figure out Edinburgh and how to get around, we’re finally able to get ourselves off the beaten track but still manage to make it back to the hotel.

It's a simple question of weight ratios

Today was epic. Yesterday or the day before we found this tour company that goes to the SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS that’s still kind of just starting. In Scottish, that means it’s free (well, you pay what you want). And it was awesome.

The company is called the Hairy Coo. Coo is cow in Scottish. Hairy coos are these wonderful cows that are gingery and hair and have giant horns. They are quite epic. As was our bus because it was orange and had horns and little fringe on the top. It also had a sign on the back of it saying “honk if you’re horny” (much to the delight of the garbage man)

This tour involved us riding through the Scottish country side to visit many a sights that we (who are under 25 and cannot rent a car) would have never seen.

The first stop was the Falkirk Wheel. Many years ago Europe was obsessed with canals, so Scotland jumped on the band wagon, only with slightly less thought. One engineer started from one end and the other from the other direction and attempted to meet in the middle. Failing to discuss at what height they would be meeting. Long story short they were WAY OFF and built a horrible loch system that was only recently replaced by the epic wheel/boat lift extravaganza.

Hopping back on the bus, we went to a little Scottish town. Luckily for us there was some dog thing going on, the main event being herding. But instead of herding sheep like normal people would they were herding ducks. Let’s just say it’s not very efficient. Highlight of the stop: DUCK RACING. It really doesn’t get any better, unless the man calling the race happens to be Scottish. And the person who bet on the winning duck gets 5 quid. Epic.

On this adventure we saw the William Wallace monument, old bridges, new bridges, we went off-roading in Scotland’s first national park. We visited a beautiful lake called Loch Drunkie because alcohol smugglers used to sink their whisky in the loch to hide it, they used to say that you could go swimming in the lake and get drunk because there was so much alcohol. I just watched Matt skip rocks much to the amazement of the weird American students on the tour.

Seeing the Hairy coos was amazing. We even saw little baby ones. What joy.

Epicness of all Epicness was going to Doune Castle. One would think by now ANOTHER castle wouldn’t impress us. But this was awesome. No, it didn’t look that cool, or house a gangsta kind or queen. No, no. This is where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was shot. Every single scene that involved a castle was this castle. Good times were had by all, with coconuts in hand.

Free Cookies are not always free

Today we got up early so we could see Edinburgh Castle and the Palace of Holyrood. We caught a new bus to take us to the castle. On the drive there we saw Hogwarts! And I don’t mean that phoney stuff that you see in the movie, I mean the school that JK Rowling actually based Hogwarts after! My life is just THAT much cooler now.

When we reached the castle it was starting to rain. Oddly enough, both of us were smart and brought our Bellingham rain coats. The rain is Scotland is very strange, it barely drizzles and then all of the sudden it’s POURING.

Then all of the sudden it’s sunny and beautiful out.

Freaky

Edinburgh castle is really awesome. It’s on the top of the city so it has amazing views. It’s a very weird castle because some parts of it are really old (13^th century) and then works its way up to the 18^th century. It also has the royal crown museum and Scottish military history museum inside. By this time the rain had finally let up, and allowed us a spectacular view of Edinburgh.

Moving on to the Palace of Holyrood. This is a newer (for Europe) building, maybe 17^th century. It’s just your typical castle and another place to practice our audio tour syncing. It was enjoyable to learn about the crazy shenanigans that happened to Mary Queen of Scots. The only old part of the castle is a 12^th century monastery that’s now in ruins, but it was one of the most beautiful and yet melancholy places I’ve ever been. It inspired Mendelsohn’s Scottish Symphony, and if you listen to that music you really feel what the emotion of the building is.

We decided to visit Scottish Parliament after the Palace (and free cookies!) because it was across the street. This building is creepily modern (don’t get me wrong it’s beautiful, but it doesn’t really fit in with the rest of Edinburgh) and apparently went about 400 million pounds over budget. Wow.

Fantastic day filled with amazing sights, history lessons and bus rides. Oh, and Hogwarts.

Having a Yacht isn't a Luxury, it's a Necessity

Today we had to make decisions (eek!). After contemplating, internet research and much hemming and hawing we decided to do the most touristy thing possible. We bought tickets for the open roofed tour buses. Oh yes. Not only that, but tickets to three main Edinburgh adventures and 48 hours of unlimited riding FOUR DIFFERENT BUSES. Oh yes.

Since we got a fairly late start to the day we decided to only participate in one of the three sights. Because it was sunny we decided to go for the one that was the most out doorsie. The Royal Yacht Britannia.

On the way to Britannia we learned many fun facts about Scotland, saw Robert Louis Stevenson's house and many other fun monuments to various kings and Scottish heroes.

Britannia was the Queen's Yacht, but it was decommissioned a few years ago, and now it's organized into a very nice museum of Royal yachting memorabilia. We found all the pomp and circumstance of Kings and Queens a little weird. It’s strange that all these archaic traditions are even considered important now. It was all very fascinating but the most fun Matt and I had was syncing our audio tours. (Nothing’s worse than finishing a room before the other person and having to mull about)

After the yacht we rode the bus to the Royal Botanical Gardens. I have never seen such a well-manicured garden before, especially considering its size. Also, the Scottish let you walk on their grass, which I find quite hospitable, especially compared to SOME OTHER countries I know…

Och-Aye Land

As most people did not know I ended up going to Edinburgh. Where I met Matt. Not the Matt I've been traveling with, mind you, not my dear pal, with whom I've shared many a French class. But with my very own Matt. MY Matt. My "special" fwiend. For a while, we were planning on meeting in Rome. But Matt never got around to planning that so I always assumed it would never happen. Then on day two or three in Paris he emails me and says hey! lets go! Just to add to my stress level. Well, as it turns out getting anywhere from Bordeaux is very complicated, and I'm not super comfortable with the train system in France (or anywhere for that matter) so just the idea of train hopping was freaking me out. A lot. So I say to him. I'm not going anywhere but Brussels or Edinburgh (they speak English!) because those are some of the only places that Ryan Air flies from (it's cheap and simple! Yay!).

Lo and behold he decides on Edinburgh. So after many hours for him flying. And the longest 2 hours of my life (lets just say Ryan Air takes economy to an entirely new level). Matt managed to find me in the airport.

After a very long hug (seriously, how lame are we? only after a week apart....) we asked a gent how to get to the hotel.

We rode on the top of a double decker bus, totally missed our stop because they don't announce anything nor is anything obviously labeled. Luckily I'm very skilled with a map and we managed to find the adorable little hotel!

Random side note, the Scots are impossible to understand. I seriously thought that they were going to send me back to the US because I made the passport guy repeat himself so many times.

Welcome to Bordeaux!

Today was the day. The day that could make or break my experience.
We caught the TGV around 8 am from Paris to Bordeaux, managing the metro was a little better this time because I wasn't nearly as tired and Matt wasn't carrying as many things, so he could help me.
I sat next to a very pleasant little old French lady, and managed to snooze a bit on the train.
When we got to Bordeaux we managed to ride the correct trams and end up in Talence (which seems to be the college suburb of Bordeaux and is where BEM is located.)
When we got off the train we realized that we didn't actually know where we were going so Matt ran off to get directions while I stood awkwardly in the middle of the path with all of our things. We walked about a kilometer or two and finally saw BEM! I was so happy that we didn't even get lost once.
When we showed up we went to the exchange student room (run by Melting Potes) where they informed us we were the first to arrive! There were about 10 BEM students ready and willing to help us.
One drove us to where I needed to pay and fill out forms and get my keys for my apartment. This turned out to be the biggest challenge of the day. French offices don't really seem to have any organization. Which is strange because they require you to fill out tons of paper work, which I sense just gets lost later that day. There aren't really lines, just groups of people willing the secretaries not to ignore them. I despise French bureaucracy, it is excessive.
Finally I got my keys and was introduced to the woman (cleaning lady?) in charge of the building. She let me into my room where my adorable Korean roommate was shocked to see us.
My room is fairly small but I have a desk, bed shelves and decent closet space, along with my own bathroom and a shared dinning room/kitchen. The other two rooms are still empty, but there will be two Canadians coming (we think).
I got unpacked and then we went to the super market.
I still need to get bedding and towels and toilet paper. Wish me luck, because I feel like this adventure is just beginning!

Paris, I am through with you

My last day in Paris was very very lazy. Which was nice. We woke up late and attempted to find a market that was open. Apparently all of Paris shuts down on Sundays (besides the touristy things of course). We finally managed to find one and had nice simple omelettes for brunch. (Did I mention I got to talk to MY Matt that morning? Yay!!)
Then we lazed around a bit and I decided it was time for me to move. I took the train the the Louvre which was insane! The first Sunday of every month is free day at all the national museums in France (which is nice for those people who normally have to pay, but doesn't really make a difference to students like me...)
I saw all the usual sights there, and just enjoyed watching the hordes of people. The Mona Lisa had a mob around her, you'd think that it was Mickey Mouse or something. Seriously, for such a tiny Italian painting France probably makes millions of dollars (although not on free day...) ridiculous!
I wandered down the Champs Elysees and rested here and there just people watching. The sidewalk was disgustingly full of tourists I didn't feel like making the effort to get closer to the Arc de Triomphe. I saw it, waved, and got back on the metro.
On the way back to the apartment I attempted to find more food (thank goodness for Muslim families or I would have starved)
All in all, Paris is very different than I remembered. I don't know if it's the jet lag, or the fact that I have to be responsible for myself but Paris just wore me out. I am physically exhausted (all the walking) and mentally exhausted (speaking French, not knowing where I am, stress about money and where I'm going to live, being homesick (which I have never experienced before)). Everything has just made me loose my appetite and feel very beat.

Paris you are very full and busy, it's exhausting

On September 4th we woke up at a fairly early hour in order to go to the Rodin museum before it got too busy. But before we left we had a nice breakfast of croissants du chocolate and brioche (it's like a giant bun of goodness) Once again, we WALKED to the museum. Normally walking is not a bad thing, but in Paris it is beyond stressful. There are so many cars and so many people (and mopeds and motorcycles that jump curbs despite the fact there are bars on the sidewalk to prevent them from doing so.) I find myself tensing up before I even leave the house.
Ok, so we walked to the Rodin museum. What a pretty museum! For all of his big sculptors they are in this wonderful rose garden which has views of the Eiffel Tower and the Palais Royal (maybe? My details are a little fuzzy...) if not the Palais Royal other impressive French buildings.
After wandering the garden for a little bit we went into Rodin's house. Which is a giant mansion. Usually when you walk into an artists house (at least in my experience) it's a tiny little apartment or something. Oh no, not Rodin. He has a house fit for a King (although, based on the size of the Louvre I don't think Louis XIV would have been happy). In said house there were many more sculptures (not all by Rodin) and there were mini models of his work. Making a giant bronze statue seems to require a lot of effort and many steps. This is probably why he reused many of his previous works in his newer ones (par exemple: The gates of hell has both The Thinking Man and the Three Men, only a bit smaller, to avoid squishing the Devil I assume)
All throughout the museum Matt's friend was explaining everything, in French, because she is getting he doctorate in Art History, or something of that nature. She was clearly very knowledgeable, although most of the knowledge was wasted on me and my minimalist style of French.
When we left the museum Matt's friend left us and we ran into people assembling for the demonstrations. It seems that the French protest everything, or go on strike. It's basically impossible to fire a worker because if they do all their employees will strike etc. etc. Although, this time there motivation for protesting is a little more pure. The president of France has kicked out all the Romanian Gypsies. Besides the fact that it's just mean, it goes against everything the EU stands for, and they are not amused. One last fascinating thing to note about protesting in France, they rarely get violent, probably because the police men wear armor.
Later we managed to find the other Western student going to Bordeaux and we hung out with her and her mom (we drank wine in front of the Eiffel Tower, quel francais!) Then that evening Matt and I walked through the quartier gay and the quartier juif in order to find Paris's best Falafel and then to find Taylor (the other WWU student) and hang out at her appartment for the evening with ANOTHER western student who's studying in Paris. Then we went home...and slept.

I walk and talk (not at the same time)

Today we WALKED! All over Paris. Walking with a local is so different than walking with a tour group. With a tour, you stay on all the main paths and you know where you’re going before you get there. With a local as a guide you are wandering the small random streets (especially the ones with little noise) and then happen upon the Moulin Rouge, Notre Dame, le Louvre, the Picasso Museum (which was closed for construction), many beautiful gardens, the Royal Palace etc.

Everything is gorgeous, except the Moulin Rouge…it was seriously worse than I expected. Other than that Paris is beautiful.

I got a phone today (where I witnessed my first rude Frenchmen (not directed at me)). And I think my brain is going to explode from all the French speaking that is/isn’t happening. Also, I am beyond tired.

I love Iceland! I hate my luggage! I love Paris! I hate being sleepy!

First of all, I want to go back to Iceland. They are really awesome people, mostly blonde (but in a good way) and have crazy long words with strange accents on their letters. Which all combine into a germanic-spanish-russian-ect sounding language! Crazy!

So once we arrived in Paris, we had to get to the place we are staying, which involved taking the train and two different metros. The train I face planted on because I can't manage all of my things. The metro's were difficult because you have to go up lots of stairs...while carrying 100 lbs of luggage. (...if only I could go back in time...)

Making it to Paris is great! Matt's friend is really nice, and my French isn't QUITE as bad as I expected...granted I'm sure I sound awful...but people generally understand what I'm saying.

We walked to Montmartre which was nice, despite the fact that I was sleep walking... We finished the evening with a wonderful meal. And now I'm dreaming of a wonderful bed.

Time to Travel!

Here I am. Sitting in the airport. After one of the most stressful weeks ever (consisting coming back from San Francisco and the nerve wracking visa appointment, rushing to Bellingham to pack not only a suitcase but my entire house, this also meant that my parents had to meet me in Seattle to pick up my stuffed car while I live with Matt's family.)

Now finally, phew! I'm ready to head to ICELAND! And then to Paris for a few days, then hopefully to the new homestead in Bordeaux.

So wish me luck because I'm way more nervous than I expected!