Seeing Stars (Amsterdam, Belgium, and Luxembourg)

Hi everyone! My holidays are coming to an end 😦 But I figured I might as well write about them! Since I last wrote, I only had one more week left of work before my holidays. I had also lost my keys during the last blog posting, and I ended up getting a call from my work a couple of days later and the bar had found my keys! So that was quite a nice surprise. The last week of work was the longest week ever! Even though I was working at my favourite school, the kids were on their worst behaviour ever.. likely because the holidays were coming up. That week, I was approached by the Vice Principal and the Head of Science, and both asked if I’d like to come back after the holidays as a full-time teacher since their science teacher was leaving at Easter. I’m still not wanting to take a full-time position, as I don’t want to have to worry about preparing lessons during my holiday, and I don’t want to have to mark. Also at that school, all teachers are required to stay until 5pm everyday and since it takes about an hour and ten minutes for me to get there, I don’t usually end up getting home until 5 if I leave right after school. I talked to the Head of Science about what my responsibilities would be and she said that the work would be supplied for me and I could keep the same hours as I have, but I might have to give feedback to the students. I was still hung up on the distance and the hours. This school felt like their students were falling behind, so they’ve added an extra period to each day and therefore the schooldays are a lot longer than every other school I work at. So I (thought I had) said I’d think about it, but then the next day, about six other teachers AND the principal came up to me and said that they were so excited that I was joining them! I was so confused and I tried to replay conversations in my head, because I didn’t remember actually agreeing to anything. However, then I got an email from my agency saying that I was assigned to the school for the next seven weeks! I wrote my agent and explained that I hadn’t actually agreed to anything, and he asked me to get it figured out. So on my quest looking for the Head of Science, I ran into the Head of Humanities and she exclaimed that she had wanted me for humanities, but science got me first. By that point, I realized that they were pretty desperate for teachers, and that I had the upper-hand. Might as well take advantage of it! I found the Head of Science and said I wanted some more details before I made my final decision. She was kind of taken aback and said that she thought I had agreed, and I said that I still had to think about it. So I fought for no planning, no marking, and the same hours (basically what I’m already doing now, except I’ll have my own classes and they’ll all be science). And then I talked to my agency and explained that I was concerned about the distance, so they offered to pay me ten pounds more each day! I also said that I’d try it out for the next seven weeks (until the next break) and then possibly extend it until the summer. So now I won’t have to worry about not getting work or not getting paid, and I still get my freedom! And I’ll be able to build the classroom relationships with the students that I don’t normally get to build as a supply teacher. So it’s pretty much a win-win situation, minus the transport. On the last day of school, I had a conversation with the teacher who I’d be replacing. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone so passionate about teaching! He decided to leave because he felt like the school had too many rules and guidelines as to how you had to teach (which just started being implemented during the past two years). He explained that teaching is an art and it can’t be robotic like that, and I could really see how much he cared about the students. I think he’s the first teacher I’ve met here who hasn’t complained about teaching, and it was really refreshing to hear!

Anyway, my break started two Fridays ago, when I went to the Ellie Goulding concert with Becky and Charlotte. We went out for a late lunch first and good thing we went quite early because the service was horrible. It took us nearly 30 minutes just to get a drink! We had standing tickets at the concert so we were quite close to the stage – it was great! John Newman opened for her and while I recognized the name, I didn’t know any of his songs until he started performing them all. Ellie Goulding was really good as well! The next day, I had to get to the station so that I could take a bus directly to the airport. Unfortunately for me, I had to print out my bus ticket, as they wouldn’t accept mobile tickets. I knew I had limited time so I made my way to Putney (the next neighbourhood over – about 10-15 minutes away by bus) and asked a printing company if they would print out my ticket. He said I just had to email it to them and he would print it out, but the website wouldn’t let me send it on my phone! So he directed me to an internet cafe and I ran over there. I tried to print out my ticket there but the printer wouldn’t work! The man there was like, “Okay, well try it on another computer then.” So I tried it again and still nothing. The man was on the phone so I secretly emailed the ticket to the printing company, and then told him that it still wasn’t printing. “Well, you’re doing something wrong.” “No I’m not! This isn’t going to work, I’m going to have to go somewhere else.” “Okay, bye.” I ran back to the other place and he explained that I needed to pay minimum 1.50 and asked if I wanted multiple copies of my ticket. No, one is fine; I’ll pay 1.50 for it… I ran back to get my stuff and then started my journey to the airport. As usual, my trips to the airport are always hectic so I wasn’t surprised when the train service was cancelled to the station, therefore requiring me to take a bus to another station so I could catch the train there (and nearly doubling my travel time). I still made it to the bus stop in time but then the bus ended up being about 10-15 minutes late. I ended up being the only person on the bus because another bus had picked up everyone else. However, on the way to the airport, we were making a left turn and suddenly I heard a big thump and the driver braked so fast! Some idiot had tried to squeeze through on the inside lane when obviously, a bus needs two lanes to make a turn. So then the bus driver had to get out, get all of the driver’s information, take pictures, hold up traffic (EVERYONE was honking), which made us another 20 minutes late. I made it to the airport in time to still have a quick dinner before boarding the plane. The flight to Amsterdam was only about 50 minutes, but it was the worst flight I’ve ever been on. And I love flying! It wasn’t just your normal everyday turbulence, but we were doing constant freefalls. I was in the very back of the plane so I could hear all of the carts sliding around, and stuff falling off, and when the flight attendant went, “Oh my God!,” I decided to start freaking out as well. The final drop I swear lasted for like 3-5 seconds and it was during that time when I actually thought I was going to die. The lady beside me screamed, and she ended up crying for the majority of the flight. I think there was a sigh of relief throughout the plane once we touched the ground! I didn’t realize how tense I was until my whole body relaxed at the end of the flight. The prices of hostels were absolutely insane for Saturday night (as in 150-200 pounds for the night!) since it was Easter Sunday the next day. However, I found a considerably cheaper place (still quite pricey though) in a hostel about 40 minutes outside of Amsterdam. I decided to stay there for one night and then move into Amsterdam for the rest of my time there. I had to catch a bus from the airport to the hostel and on the bus, I ended up sitting next to an Australian guy (Zac) who I spent the majority of my time in Amsterdam with. It was actually his birthday the next day, so we spent most of Sunday going to pubs throughout Amsterdam. However, the buses back to his hostel only ran until midnight and we didn’t realize that until about 1 in the morning. We went back to my hostel until it closed at 3 and the hostel owner kicked us out. We asked if we could just look up directions outside before I came back in, but then the hostel owner locked me out and wouldn’t come to the door despite our constant knocking! So we spent the rest of the night on a bench in the train station waiting for the trains to start again at 5:45 that morning. After that, I headed back to my hostel and found out that there was a different night door! ARGH, the hostel owner could have told me! So I went in and I was able to sleep for about three or four hours before I had to wake up again. That day, I was able to meet up with my cousin Janine and her friend Roxan! We had lunch and then Zac met up with us and we did the Heineken Experience at the brewery, which was pretty cool! It was really interactive compared to other breweries I’ve been to. On Tuesday, Roxan was pretty sick (and ended up getting tonsillitis), so Janine and I went shopping and checked out the different markets. Then, we went on a Lovers Cruise (I had to replace Roxan), and we had pizza and Heineken while cruising down the canals of Amsterdam with a whole bunch of couples haha I then had to say bye to Janine since both of us were leaving the next day 😦

On Wednesday, I took the train to Brussels. It was actually pretty intimidating at the Brussels train station because there were police and guards everywhere! They were basically surrounding the entire station in their camo uniforms and with their camo trucks, carrying guns around. I wondered what I had gotten myself into, but once I got away from the station, it wasn’t so bad! Honestly, that was probably the safest time for me to ever go to Brussels since their security level was so high. However, my hostel was eerily quiet… I rarely saw anyone! That evening, I had some mussels and then I went for a walk around the area. There was a huge memorial site set up due to the events that happened the week before, which had a huge impact on the city. I ended up walking through the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert, one of the oldest shopping malls in the world. As I was walking through, one of the salesmen tried to coax me into his store and even though I constantly refused, he continued trying to persuade me. Well, what did I have to lose? I decided to go in. He took me to the back of the store and I said, “Just so you know, if your intention is to try to get me to buy something, it’s not going to work.” He looked SO offended, “I don’t want you to buy anything, I just want you to try this product and talk to you.” He took out this hand scrub and rubbed it on my hand, and then proceeded to tell me that it was made with 24-karat gold. “What?! How much does this cost?!” “Well, this container is 500 euro.” “What?! How much did you put on my hand?!” The amount of money on my hand was probably more expensive than the clothes I was wearing. Anyway, he did the whole works.. moisturizer, etc. Then told me that yes, the scrub is 500 euro, but FOR YOU, I’ll give it to you for 100 euro, and I’ll give you the scrub and moisturizer for 150. Ha, I knew that was coming. No, not interested, sorry. Okay, well what are you doing tonight? Want to go for drinks? I pulled the old, “Sorry, I have a boyfriend” card, and I’ve never seen someone recoil so fast! “What?! Is he here?!” He looked so nervous, looking all around him. He quickly escorted me out the store haha

On Thursday, I started the day off with a walking tour, which ended up being three hours long but it was a good way to see Brussels. Brussels’ claim to fame is its statue called Manneken Pis, which is a tiny statue of a little boy peeing. That weekend, he was dressed in a police uniform, as a tribute to all of the hard-working service people in the city. The leader of the tour was so appreciative of us being there and said that the terrorists will not destroy them. The only thing they can do is make people afraid, which they’ve already done a good job of since the hotels and the tourist industry has had so many cancellations since the attacks. She thanked each of us for not being afraid and for still coming to visit Brussels, and to keep spreading love around! 🙂 After the tour, I went to the Musical Instrument Museum, which has over 8000 instruments. You get an audio guide in the museum, and you’re able to listen to each of the instruments while you walk around the museum. It was pretty cool, as I had studied quite a few of the instruments before, but I had never seen them in person.

On Friday, I took the train to Bruges. This was by far my favourite place during my entire trip! It was so picturesque and peaceful, and everywhere you looked was absolutely gorgeous. Since it was such a beautiful day, I started it off with a canal tour, which took about 45 minutes. Then, I went to the De Halve Maan brewery. This was probably the best brewery tour I’ve been on in terms of information. Most tours I go on, the information of making beer is all there, but I never fully understood how it was made until I went on this tour. Of course, I got my free beer at the end of the tour! I went back to my hostel and met my two roommates, Celsey (from Australia) and Matt (from Ottawa), who I spent most of my time in Bruges with. We went on a walking tour, which was again about 3 hours. After that, we went to one of the pubs to try out their 11% beer. They only allow people to have maximum three glasses per sitting since it’s so strong! I definitely felt it and I only had one! On Saturday, Celsey and I went to check out the markets, and I bought my very first original painting! Again, the artist’s wife thanked us for coming and for not being afraid to come, and explained that their hotel normally has all 22 rooms booked up every day and that week, they only had 7 bookings total! It was weird that so many people were so appreciative of something that I didn’t even think twice about doing. But it was nice to know that we were somewhat making a difference, and fighting the fear! We decided to check out the windmills of Bruges and then go to the nearest town called Damme. We were originally going to go by boat but we missed the last boat by ten minutes! So we decided to walk the 6km trek. Once we got there, there was a windmill that we were actually allowed to climb into! It had three levels and you had to get to each one by climbing extremely steep stairs. It was my first (and likely only) time in a windmill! It made the whole walking trip worth it. We decided to get a crepe and hot chocolate in town, as we had gotten quite hungry by that point and then we planned to take the bus back. However, we found out that the bus only came three times per day, and we once again missed the last bus by ten minutes! So we ended up walking the whole way back as well. By the time we got back, we were completely worn out, so we met up with Matt and went for dinner at a place called Humpty Dumpty. The restaurant must have forgotten to put in our order or something, because we ended up waiting and waiting and waiting for our food, while watching everyone around us get their meals before us. Although we were starving, we luckily had good conversation so it wasn’t that bad. I don’t think we ended up eating until about 8:30 though. After our extremely long 3-course meal, Matt was determined to find hot chocolate. In Belgium when you order hot chocolate, they usually just give you a cup of warm milk and a plate of chocolate, so we wanted to try it out. I was skeptical because in my opinion, you should always have more chocolate than milk in a hot chocolate. Am I right? However, after walking around for over an hour, we never found our hot chocolate 😦

On Sunday, I made my way to Luxembourg which took about five hours. I had to stay in a bed and breakfast because there weren’t any hostels available, so it cost A LOT more than what I’m used to paying. But I got a nice queen-sized bed and an ensuite bathroom all to myself! That evening, I went to the Chocolate House, which had the hot chocolate that we were looking for the previous night. It was actually so good; I was pleasantly surprised! The next day, instead of waiting for the walking tour at 2pm, I decided to do the self-guided walking tour. During it, I stopped at the Chocolate House once again for lunch, where I had a salmon quiche with a caramel latte. When I was served, a photographer came up to me and said that he was taking pictures for the new website, and asked if he could take some pictures of me enjoying my food and drink. Do you know how difficult it is to pose for someone while drinking a boiling cup of coffee?! Kind of an awkward experience haha but I guess I’ll see if any of my pictures are up on that new website! Part of the tour was to see the casemates, which are an underground system of passages used for protection under the castle. They were pretty cool to see! I did a lot of walking through the city’s old town, and its green area, as Luxembourg has a lot of it! On Tuesday, I went to a town on the border of Luxembourg and Germany called Vianden. It’s a cute little town with a castle, so I got to have a castle tour! I usually never go inside castles, so I think this was one of the first times I actually went inside one. The town also has a chairlift to go up the mountain but because it was raining, I don’t think it was running so I sadly didn’t get to try it. I went back into the city and then stopped at the Chocolate House one more time before going to the airport and heading back to London.

On Wednesday, I went to the Hans Zimmer concert, which is one of my favourite movie composers. Little did I know, he wrote some of the music for the Lion King! Why Elton John gets all of the credit, I don’t know. So he played that, as well as Gladiator, Crimson Tide, The Da Vinci Code, Batman, as well as many others. It was really good! On Thursday, I went to get my haircut. I had gotten a groupon-type thing, and since the salon was only a month old, there weren’t any reviews online. I decided to just go for it and get my hair cut off, as the hairdresser seemed to know what she was doing. She said that in her seven years of cutting hair, she’s never had anyone donate their hair to charity. However, when she cut the first braid and I saw how short it was, I started freaking out! It was waaaaay shorter than shoulder length! However, I just tried to stay calm and convince myself that it would all grow back eventually. She offered me a glass of champagne (which helped!), and she convinced me that I would love it. And I did! I’m still not sure how I’m going to style it like she did, but hopefully I’ll get the hang of it. On Friday night, I went to the London Coffee Festival with my flatmate. We had VIP tickets so upon arrival, we got goodie bags (complete with a sample bottle of Bailey’s), and then we were offered a free rum coffee cocktail (which wasn’t very good). Then we were able to go through the entire expo, which must have been about 200-300 companies, each sampling their products. We got to try different coffees, chocolates, teas, everything! It was pretty cool! Then after the expo was done, there was a launch party with a DJ. We stayed for a bit and then headed back home.

This morning, I decided to go to the walk-in clinic because my throat has been really bothering me the last three days. It wasn’t like a sore throat, but it felt like I had swallowed something huge and sharp, and it had gotten stuck in my throat so every time I tried to swallow, the muscles would squeeze around it. I had never felt anything like it before, and I didn’t have any cold symptoms so I knew it was something different. I ended up having to wait nearly two and a half hours at the clinic, as there were no doctors and there was only one nurse taking all of the patients. All I had to do was open my mouth and the nurse was like, “Oh! Yeah, I’m getting you antibiotics.” So this weekend, I’m stuck in bed with tonsillitis. I have to take two tablets four times a day for ten days. And she said that I had to rest my voice for four or five days, or the infection will spread further down my throat and hit my voice box, and then I won’t be able to talk. So that’s fun! I’ll be sitting in my room watching tv shows all day. She said as long as I do minimal talking today, tomorrow, and Monday, I should be good to go back to work when school starts on Tuesday. Anyway, I hope everyone’s doing well with the spring/winter/spring in Canada! I definitely don’t miss that… Love always

Seeing Stars – BØRNS

Edinburgh (Scotland)

Hi family and friends,

Sorry I haven’t written in quite awhile.. now I feel like I’m just living life over here, and people might get bored of reading “I got up, waited for a phonecall, got called and went to work, the kids didn’t behave, I went home and made dinner, watched my tv show and went to bed” over and over again. But I DID just come back from Scotland, so I might as well update everyone on that! First, I guess I’ll give you a brief update since my last post. The past six weeks went by extremely fast, and they were a lot more enjoyable compared to the term before Christmas. Maybe I started to change my attitude around… In London, everyone is extremely cold here, and it was very difficult to get used to at first. I used to take everything so personally and I’d wonder why everyone was so mean! And then Christmas came and for a day, everyone was in a good mood. I think I just carried my good mood on and decided to just keep killing everyone with kindness. My biggest fear is that this culture will get implanted in me and I’ll come back to Canada acting like a jerk. So yes, I’ll say ’thank you’ when I get off the bus, sure I’ll smile at someone on the sidewalk, yeah I’ll ask that old lady if she needs help carrying her bag down the stairs. And I’ll feel good about it, because I might have made someone’s day better if only for a second. So my mood has definitely felt a lot more positive! I spent three of those six weeks at the same school, which is a school I absolutely LOVE working for. For the first time, I didn’t mind going to work cause the kids were (comparably) well-behaved! Most of the kids actually said, “Thank you” when walking out the door at the end of class. I’ve shared multiple moments on Facebook, such as my sex ed experiences. The kids were hilarious! I just loved teaching them because they were so curious about EVERYTHING, and I’m pretty sure most of them didn’t even know what sex was. I also felt glad that I was there, cause the kids seemed really open to asking questions, and I don’t feel like they would have gotten that opportunity had their real teacher been there. I explained to the kids that an ejaculation emitted up to 250 million sperm and it was basically like a big race and if that ONE sperm hadn’t gotten to the egg first, they wouldn’t exist. The kids went absolutely insane! “Wow, I am SO blessed!” “Miss, are you impressed that I won that race?” So entertaining.. However, there WERE some classes that I wasn’t so fond of. Throughout all schools, there seems to be a common theme of students poking holes into other peoples’ water bottles. I see it absolutely everywhere I go, and I don’t get it cause I don’t ever remember that happening when I was in school. Anyway, one morning, I was on my way to work and I was standing on the train and my back was feeling really weird so I put my hand there and realized that my entire back was wet! The kids had poked holes in my water bottle the previous day and I didn’t notice cause it was nearly empty at the time so when I filled it up before school and put it in my backpack, it emptied out all over me. I was SO not impressed cause it took at least three hours to dry so for that amount of time, it likely looked like I wet my pants. Darn kids! During the last two days before the break, my agent said they desperately needed a science teacher in the northeast part of the city (aka the EXACT opposite direction of where I live). This would require me to travel nearly two hours each way(!). Since it was the week before holidays, I kind of HAD to take the job since I wouldn’t be guaranteed pay. But when I got there, the man in charge was under the assumption that I agreed to stay for the next few weeks (which my agency has STILL not brought up with me – not surprising). So not only is the transportation way too long, but the kids were not good at all. I did agree with the man that I would stay for one week after the break (since that would guarantee me pay), but then I don’t think I’ll have the patience to stay anymore.

In other news, our landlords said they wouldn’t be renewing our 6-month contract due to “redecorating purposes.” While this is probably for the best (since they made our stay a living hell), it still would have been nice to have the option to stay if we needed to. Considering I’m supposed to be moving in 9 days and I still haven’t gotten a new place set up. We’re also concerned that they won’t be giving us our fees back. They took 4-weeks’ rent money as a finders fee and a void protection fee, which is basically used in the case that we don’t stay for our full 6 months and don’t find a replacement tenant, those fees can be used as security for rent. But technically (in my mind), they should be able to give those fees back once they get our last month’s rent (which they did three weeks ago). However, they said they won’t give the fees back until we check out and they make sure everything’s okay. BUT in that case (and this is the law!), they should have put the security deposit in a protection scheme (which is basically given to the government so that neither the landlord or the tenant can touch the money until the returned amount is agreed upon). This scheme was put into place when landlords started charging tenants for ridiculous (and made up) damages to flats – like charging 250 pounds to replace a lightbulb. Since our landlords didn’t put the fees in a protection scheme, they can’t really use the money as a security deposit. We’re under the impression that they always keep the fees and get new tenants every 6 months, and that’s how they make all of their money. But who knows.. All I know is I NEED that money in order to afford a new place. So I guess I’ll find that out in about ten days.

Other than that, I’ve just been enjoying life! Cooking, baking, trying out new restaurants, shopping, etc. And I just got back from Scotland! Actually, Scotland has never been on my list of places to go. For some reason, I just never felt the need to go there. However, a week before my break, I realized that ticket prices had gone way up and because I was already stressing about having enough money to move flats, I decided to just pick the cheapest place and fly there. Which actually was Germany.. but next up was Scotland and I made a last-minute decision to make the trip there. And am I ever glad I did! I’ve seen so many places now, that many of them are nice, but not many of them shock me. Edinburgh did. From the moment I got there (at 11pm, mind you..), I was in awe of everything around me. It’s an absolutely gorgeous and picturesque city! There were many moments during the week when I seriously contemplated moving to Scotland, since my visa would still be valid there. Anyway, my first day there (Sunday), I realized what I forgot (cause I ALWAYS forget something). This time, it was my toque. Which I figured would be easy to replace since there was a Primark in Edinburgh, which is the cheapest store ever (and is where I do my weekend shopping!). First, I went to check out the castle.. I didn’t actually go inside cause I thought it was too much money, but I quickly found myself getting extremely cold due to the wind. I made my way down to the main street and stepped into Primark, which had all of their bathing suits and spring stuff out. When I asked about winter hats, they said they didn’t have any. So then I went into H&M, which was the same story. And I literally repeated the same thing over and over again all the way down the street, until the last stop was a Scottish store that sold knitwear (which happened to be on sale, score!). So I was able to get a toque, which helped me survive the rest of the week. After that, I walked through the castle gardens, and then decided to get a good view of Edinburgh by climbing the Scott Monument. It’s something like 287 steps in a spiral staircase, which was SO narrow and most of it didn’t have a hand-rail. Of course, the only way up was the only way down so when someone was coming from the opposite direction, you really had to work together in order to pass each other without having someone fall down the stairs. At one point, I had someone lift and push me up in order to get past him haha The view was absolutely worth it though, and gave an awesome view of Edinburgh! After that, I made my way to the National Museum of Scotland, which was somewhat boring so I didn’t stay long. BUT I did find out that Scotland’s last wolf was seen more than 250 years ago. So that’s a fun fact! Kind of blew my mind… Afterwards, I went to The Elephant House, which is a cafe that apparently was the birthplace of Harry Potter. Apparently it was cheaper for JK Rowling to buy a cup of coffee than to pay for her heating bill, so she’d come to the cafe to write the first Harry Potter book. It was pretty cool to see, and the mocha and brownie that I had did not disappoint! That evening, I went out for dinner with a couple girls from the hostel, which was nice since it was Valentine’s Day and all. One was also a teacher in the UK from Ontario, and another was English.

On Monday, I caught a bus to Glasgow, which took about an hour and a half. Glasgow definitely had more of a city-feel to it, and didn’t really have much charm compared to Edinburgh. However, I tried to make the most of it! That evening, I went walking through the city but everything seemed to be closed, so I didn’t find much. However, I went to this AMAZING vegan restaurant! I was really able to treat myself to the food in Scotland, cause even though they use the exact same currency, the price for a meal was about half as much as it would be in London. It was crazy! Anyway, at this vegan restaurant, I had a buffalo tempeh burrito (stuffed with coca cola(?!) black beans among other things), a tomato-butterbean-kale soup, and then for dessert, I had a raw chocolate and avocado cheesecake. So good!

On Tuesday, it rained the entire day so that kind of limited what I could do. I decided to check out the Glasgow Cathedral, which was really nice! I then came upon this restaurant called “Steak, Cattle, & Roll,” which sold milkshakes. I had the best milkshake I ever had in my life – a nutella & dark chocolate milkshake. Absolutely amazing! I actually went back the next day to have another one… I had a falafel burger there, with fries, coleslaw, a corn cob, and some chicken wings. Of course, I couldn’t eat it all, but the prices were once again unreal! I then spent the rest of the night hiding from the rain by checking out the mall and the shops.

On Wednesday, I went for lunch at this great Italian restaurant. I had caprese to start (tomato and mozzarella with basil), and then I had a tomato-mushroom-chicken risotto. After that, the rain cleared (thank goodness!), so I decided to check out the Necropolis, which is essentially a huge cemetery with a great view of Glasgow. It was quite muddy, but I made it to the top without wiping out! I then went to the St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art, which gave information and showed paintings from different religions around the world. It was pretty cool, looking at all of the differences! I then took a short walk downtown before heading back to my hostel for the night.

The next morning, I took the bus back to Edinburgh. I had lunch and checked into my hostel, and then I went to the Surgeons’ Hall Museum, which is basically an anatomy museum with real specimens of every single thing that could go wrong in your body. Like there must have been at least ten thousand jars of random stuff. It was interesting! But I definitely felt sick towards the end of it. I don’t know how many times my mind went “Oh. My. God.” when looking at some of the items. I learnt some cool things though! First of all, apparently surgeons were in need of bodies way back in the day because they wanted to study more anatomy, so there were actually gangs who went and stole bodies from graves because they would make so much money off of them. Not only that, but there were two guys who owned an inn and they started killing the tenants, so they could sell them to a professor who would use the bodies for his anatomy lectures! I also learned that before stitches and staples were a thing, some cultures used ants to close wounds because the ants would bite the edges of the wound, and then the bodies would be twisted off. The jaws stayed behind and would keep the wound closed! Pretty cool! Other than that, I saw everything. I saw a tumour in every body part that you could imagine. I saw a lung with tuberculosis. I saw a scalp that was torn off because the person’s hair got stuck in machinery. I saw an IUD in a uterus. I saw an x-ray of a coin in someone’s throat. And then I left the museum feeling sick to my stomach, and wondering what was wrong inside my body haha You’re lucky because we weren’t allowed to take pictures (out of respect for the bodies) so I don’t have any to share. After that, I did some more looking around the shops and then had dinner before getting ready for bed.

For Friday, I booked the Original Loch Ness Tour, which was 12 hours long and started at 7:45 in the morning. It was moreso a bunch of driving; we covered nearly 600km, so a trip to Calgary! 🙂 It was crazy how we were able to see every season at some point. There was rain, there was snow, there was rain in snow, there were coloured leaves like fall, there were green fields like in the summer. It was crazy! I tried haggis since it was my last day there. It was actually haggis in a baked potato, and it was so good! We also did a 1-hour cruise on Loch Ness, which was pretty cool as well! On the boat, I had a Whiskey Chocolate, which was basically hot chocolate with whiskey. So I got to try two of the official food/drinks of Scotland! Didn’t see Nessie though 😦 I got back feeling so tired and quickly went to bed because my flight left at 7:15am the next day, so I’d be getting up at 5. My sleep didn’t last for long because at 2am, everyone else seemed to come back from a pub-crawl or something, and decided to spend the next hour talking, giggling, yelling, etc. So when my alarm went off at 5, I felt like I hadn’t had any sleep. I made it to the airport on time though, and got back home by 10:30. And that was my week! This weekend, I’ll likely be packing my stuff up so it’ll all be ready when/if I find a flat to move into next weekend (fingers crossed!). I hope everyone’s doing well! Miss you all tons! Love always

Edinburgh – The Lake Poets

Edelweiss (Austria)

Hey everyone, hope you all had a great holiday! I was so not looking forward to going back to work but luckily, I haven’t gotten called in too many times. My holidays were really enjoyable! Just enough time to refresh myself for another six weeks of teaching. The first few days, I did a lot of baking and relaxing. On Sunday, my French family came to London for the week! They had rented an apartment for the week and had one extra bed, so I ended up staying with them until Christmas Eve! I went over Sunday night for dinner, and I got to see the kids another three years older (Alice was 12 but turned 13 on Christmas Eve, Antoine is 11, and Elsa is 7!). I’ve unfortunately forgotten most of my French, so it made it quite difficult to communicate with everyone, especially since the kids speak so much faster and use words that I don’t understand now haha it worked out cause Alice has really good English now (probably equivalent to my French) so she would speak to me in English and I’d speak back to her in French. It was good practice! On Monday, we went to the Natural History Museum first thing in the morning. After that, we went to Winter Wonderland and then we checked out m&m’s world. Elsa and Antoine were both sick, which kind of concerned me since I was sharing a room with Elsa and I didn’t want to get sick before going to Austria. We ended up taking both of them to the clinic (I was there to translate) and the doctor diagnosed them with a chest and throat infection and gave them antibiotics (which scared me even more)! Luckily, I didn’t end up getting sick but I was seriously contemplating spending the rest of the week at home. On Tuesday, Emmanuel stayed home with Antoine and then Anne, Alice, Elsa and I went shopping because Alice wanted to shop for her birthday. We only lasted until lunch and then we went to the National Portrait Gallery for awhile (not really my thing, but oh well). On Wednesday, we went to Camden market, which is a HUGE market that I’ve always wanted to go to. Unfortunately because the kids were sick, we weren’t able to spend too much time outside but it was neat to see nonetheless. After that, I had to go back home so Alice came with me and we made gingerbread cookie dough to bring back to the apartment so we could make cookies there. That night, Alice and I made cookies and then Elsa helped us decorate them the next morning. On Thursday, it was Christmas Eve and it was Alice’s birthday!

We tried to go to Tate Modern, which ended up being closed. Then we went to Covent Garden, which was SO busy! It started POURING rain (sideways) so we went back to the apartment to dry off (since we were all absolutely drenched – umbrellas don’t help in those situations). That’s how my iPod had died before so I was guarding my iPhone with my life this time! Once the rain stopped, we headed over to the Portobello Market and then went back to the apartment to spend some more time together before I went back home. It wasn’t too tough of a goodbye this time, since I knew I’d be going to France sometime in the next six months. I made my way back home and got back nearly at the same time as Jess (who was in Amsterdam for the week). We watched some Christmas movies before going to bed to wait for Santa to come. The next morning was a pretty lazy day on my end. Jess made an amazing Christmas dinner and we watched movies pretty much the entire day. Absolutely everything closes in London on Christmas Day, including public transport, so we pretty much had no choice but to stay at home. We even thought about going to the cinema but that was closed too.

The next morning, we started our journey to Austria! In London, we have an app that tells us what buses/trains to take in order to get somewhere, which usually comes in quite handy. Because all of the trains and most of the metros were closed on Boxing Day, we had no choice but to take a bus to the airport (which would double our travel time – taking two hours). This day, the app told us to go to a bus stop (by bus) and then take another bus directly to the airport. What it didn’t tell us was that we had to reserve spots on that second bus ahead of time, as well as pay extra for the ticket. So when we got to the bus stop, we waited and waited for this bus that never seemed to come. Finally, we figured out it was a van that would come every so often to pick people up. I looked it up online and figured out that it was completely booked up for the entire day. By that point, we were kind of freaking out but we found out that there was a coach bus that also goes directly to the airport. However, we’d have to take another bus to get to its station. The bus only came every hour on the hour and we got there at about 11:10 so we had to wait 50 minutes for the next one. However, if we caught that one, we’d get to the airport JUST in time to catch our flight at 2:30 (as the bus takes about an hour and a half). We booked our tickets online, which cost 15 pounds each and were non-refundable, and then we waited. At 12, the bus hadn’t come so we waited for awhile but then got extremely anxious when it still hadn’t come by 12:15. I tried to track down the bus online but the website couldn’t find the bus. So I had no choice but to call the company (and get charged 14 pence per minute, so dumb). I talked to one guy who tried to track the bus and put me on hold twice for over ten minutes each time. He said the bus wasn’t trackable, but he took my phone number and said he’d call me back when he figured out where it was. By that time, we were freaking out because even if the bus came, there was no way we’d make it to the airport on time. Taxi rides cost about 80-100 pounds so there was no way we’d be doing that. Luckily, there were two other guys at the stop who were waiting for the same bus so we decided to call an uber which ended up costing us ten pounds each! We still weren’t sure if we’d make it in time though, as the trip would take about 50 minutes. On the way there, the guy called me back and said they found the bus and it would arrive at 1:15 (an hour and fifteen minutes late – later than the next bus would be) and asked if that would work for us. I replied no, our flight leaves at 2:20 so we wouldn’t make it on time. Luckily, he refunded me (which now that I think about it, I never got any money back…) We made it to the airport about 40 minutes before our flight. Luckily, Gatwick is so organised so we were able to smoothly make it through security and we even had time to run and buy lunch to take with us on the plane. It was a stressful trip, but we made it! We got to Salzburg about two hours later and made our way to the hostel. We booked two beds in a six-bed female dorm but when we got there, we were surprised to see that the room was composed of two bunk beds and one queen-sized bed. The only spots available were one on the bunk bed and one on the other side of the queen-sized bed. How weird! Luckily, the other girls arrived later so she switched and Jess and I just shared the queen bed. Better than sleeping with a complete stranger! The next morning, I woke up extremely early to get tickets for the Sound of Music tour. It was a four-hour tour and it showed us the house and gazebo in the movie, as well as many different parts of the Do Re Mi song in Mirabelle Gardens, and then it also took us to Lake Wolfgang, and the church where they got married in the movie. It was a really good tour!

That day, I got to try my very first strudel, which was so good! Since the tour ended around 2pm, we still had a lot of time to explore afterwards. We went to Mozart’s birthplace and Mozart’s house, which were pretty neat! Unfortunately, we weren’t allowed to take pictures, but they had a lot of his pianos and his violin, as well as a whole bunch of information about his family. We were able to buy a Salzburg card, which was awesome! It gave us free transport as well as free entrance into all of the museums and attractions. We also did a bit of shopping that evening, since the boxing week sales were so good! On Monday, we went to the Natural History Museum so that we could watch the shark feeding! It had some pretty good exhibits, as well as some really nice aquariums. After that, we made our way to the cable car ride, as it was included in our Salzburg card. It was somewhat scary but so worth it, and was really cool to see Salzburg from up above (an altitude of 1776m!). After making our way back down, we went to the Steigl museum, which was also included on our card (along with a Steigl mug and three 2-oz samples of beer!). I hardly made it through my beers before I was unable to breath and it was then that we realised that most of Austria’s restaurants have a smoking and a non-smoking section, and we had chosen the smoking section. After finishing our beer, we moved to the non-smoking section and we ordered dinner, which was SO GOOD! I know I can always count on breweries for having good food 🙂

On Tuesday, we caught a train to Vienna. That evening, we did a little more shopping and looking around. On Wednesday, we went to the Vienna zoo, which was a pretty nice zoo, and it’s the oldest zoo in Europe (It opened in 1752)! You can tell that the animals are well taken care of and they seem pretty happy at this zoo, which was nice to see. They even had some of the old historical cages on display, which was so crazy to see, as it was such a small area for a bear or a lion. After that, we went to look at schonbrunn palace, as it was right beside the zoo. It was absolutely huge! Vienna was much colder than Salzburg, so spending time outside was quite difficult. Especially since during the trip, my boot literally started breaking apart, seeping in water so my feet were permanently cold. After warming up in McDonald’s for awhile, we made our way to the Ferris wheel of Vienna, which was a crazy long line-up! We finally got our one turn around the Ferris wheel, and then spent a bit of time downtown. On Thursday, I decided to check out the cemeteries, since Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss, and Schubert were all buried in Vienna. It was the coldest day so far and it was absolutely freezing! For the majority of the time, I couldn’t feel my feet at all. So both cemeteries were really short trips haha Beethoven’s grave was gorgeous! I kind of feel bad cause he seems to have been forgotten about since most of the focus is usually on Mozart. After the cemeteries, I warmed up for a bit and then checked out the market before heading back to the hostel. In Vienna, they have a New Year’s Trail, which is basically 12 different stages along the streets of central Vienna, each providing its own genre of music – oldies, classical, dance music, etc. Because it was completely outside, I put on as many layers as I possibly could and then I made my way to Saint Stephen’s Cathedral, where they had a Philharmonic Orchestra performing. It was so nice to see! And every time a waltz was performed, the older couples in the crowd would

start dancing. After an hour or so of that, I met up with Jess and we made our way to the DJ section, which was a huge dance party. We danced the night away (literally… For three or four hours). There wasn’t a countdown for New Years; everyone just started cheering when their phones turned to January 1st. We hung out for quite awhile and then went back to the hostel to get a bit of sleep before getting up and catching our train back to Salzburg. It was raining when we got to Salzburg, so my feet once again got cold and soaking wet, and when we got to the hostel at 2pm, we were disappointed to find out that reception was closed until 5pm. So we walked to the nearest McDonald’s to hang out for three hours before checking into the hostel and resting there for the rest of the night. We caught our flight back to London on Saturday morning, and the line-ups to check-in and to get through security were absolutely insane! Then they started boarding late, and people had to get on a bus to be moved to the plane, which was literally a 30-second walk away (which slowed down boarding even more). Our flight was only two hours but then it still took us 4.5 hours after arrival for us to get home! With our luck, the train happened to be cancelled that weekend so we had to catch a coach bus (which cost us 12 pounds each and took about 1.5 hours). Then we had to catch another two buses to get home once we got back into London, which took another 1.5 hours. We FINALLY got home at 4:30 and then used the evening to relax and unpack. Sunday was my catch-up day, where I did loads of laundry, grocery shopping, and cleaning before going back to work on Monday.

Once again, we wouldn’t be guaranteed pay the first week since it was the week after a holiday. On Monday, neither of us got called in so I went shopping to buy some new (much-needed) boots. That night, there was a monthly Canadian Expat Wing Night in London, so Jess and I decided to go check it out for the first time. One guy brought a huge box of Timbits from home since he got back from Canada the previous day, which was a nice surprise! Most of the people were middle-aged, but I had a good conversation with the oldest guy there, who just had his 50-year reunion from graduating at McGill! So he told me stories from the 1940s and 50s, which was pretty cool. On Monday, I was also told that I’d have a job from Tuesday to Friday (thank goodness!), but it wasn’t at one of my favourite schools to work at. The kids don’t do much work and are quite disrespectful. The last time I was there, one of the classes were writing a test, and I happened to notice that one of the students had two tests in front of her. Then she “dropped something on the floor,” and as she went to pick it up, she gave one of the tests to the person behind her. So I went and asked for it and said he could hand it in as is; he seemed pretty upset. Then, as the girl was still “looking for what she dropped,” the guy beside her swapped their tests so that when she got back up, she could fill out his test for him. I didn’t notice it until I went to collect tests, I asked for her test and it was in his hands. So I told them I’d be writing the three of them up for cheating and they’d have to rewrite the test. I still didn’t know the last guy’s name though, and he refused to give me his test cause then I’d know his name. Finally, at the end of class he gave me his test, but he had scratched out his name and wrote down someone’s name who was absent (so they’d end up getting trouble). I remembered the name and made a comment about how it was weird that this person wasn’t in class, and this guy kept getting more and more upset cause he’d keep trying to outsmart me and it wouldn’t work. Anyway, the following week was insane. The classroom was an absolute mess every day by the end of the day, kids would fight each other, and no one would work. Apparently, this class has already went through two science teachers since the beginning of the school year and the second one had given his notice of resignation that week, so they are currently in the process of finding a third teacher. My agent had told me that on Friday, he would let me know if the school would need me for another week, but once I found out that the teacher gave his notice, I wrote my agent and told him that I wouldn’t be coming back the next week. And good thing I did because this past week, I only ended up working a total of two days (one full day, and two half-days!). So I got quite a bit of (paid) time off, which was nice! Already counting down the weeks until my next holiday (four more weeks!). Last Thursday night, I met up with Helena (my friend whom I met in France, who was also an au pair there) and we went to the Billy Elliot musical. The kids in that production were SO talented, I couldn’t believe it! They could tap, do ballet, sing, act, and they didn’t look older than eight.

Anyway, yesterday we found out that the landlords weren’t going to renew our 6-month contract due to “decorating” or something. I wasn’t too surprised, and I had started looking for a new place before I even found that out. Unfortunately, it’s really difficult to find a place in London, and you usually have to pick a place on the day that it’s posted. Since our contract doesn’t end until the end of February, I’ll likely have to wait until about two weeks before we move out before I start looking for a place. And of course, looking for two bedrooms makes it that much more difficult! But hopefully it’ll all end up working out.

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays as much as I did! Miss you all tons! Can’t believe it’s already been five months since I left.. Love always

Edelweiss – The Sound of Music

Everything’s Right (Greece)

And Greece is now done 😦 but that’s okay cause I’m definitely coming back! On Monday, I was quite ready to leave Croatia so I checked into the ferry at 8pm that night to go to Bari, Italy. When I had booked my ticket ahead of time, I asked if I could get a bed and the lady said I had to get it on the boat. But then when I got on the boat, I asked how I could get a bed and they said I should have bought a bed ticket when I had gotten my ticket. So I was stuck with a deck ticket. I got on the ferry and laid out my sleeping bag on the floor in the hall and set up camp. A lot of people had done the same so it was funny when someone brought out their guitar and started singing Kumbaya on the other side of the boat. The problem with my section of the boat was I was the only non-Italian person there. I’m pretty sure Italians are the loudest people on earth so it was difficult for me to sleep a lot of times, plus the hard floor didn’t really help me get very comfortable. But the Italians were also really nice and offered me food and whatnot so I can’t complain. I think I only got stepped on a total of three times during the night. After 12 hours of being on the boat, we arrived in Bari at about 8am. We then had to go through passport control and for the first time, I was happy that I wasn’t an EU citizen since they had a line specifically for non-EU citizens, which included me and only a few others. I walked to the ticket office and met three girls there: Phoebe and Ruby from Australia, and Lara from Germany. We found out that we were all making the same trip to Greece so since we had about 12 hours until our ferry left, we decided to explore Bari together. We just walked around, sat in parks and coffee shops, and enjoyed ourselves. Bari wasn’t what any of us were expecting; it was an actual city, not a small port with a couple of shops, like we thought. We headed back to the port to board our ferry at 5 and we found out that because there weren’t many passengers, we were upgraded to the reclining seats free of charge! This ferry was so nice compared to the last one, which was great since we ended up being on this ferry for a total of 18 hours. When we finally arrived in Patras at 1pm the next day, I went to the bus station and took a bus to Athens. The trip from Patras to Athens is absolutely gorgeous! But once I got into Athens, I was wondering what I got myself into. The part of the city that the bus terminal is on is pretty sketchy and very dirty so my first impression of Athens wasn’t that great. I somehow found a way to the metro stop that I was supposed to meet my couchsurfing host (Nick) at and to my surprise, he was also hosting another girl (Denise) from Germany/Turkey. That night, Nick took us for souvlaki and then we met some other couchsurfers at a bar. I tried raki, which was waaay too strong for me; I don’t know how other people can handle it! It can be made with up to 90% alcohol content so you can feel it pretty fast. We didn’t make it back to the house until 5 in the morning (yet again).

On Thursday, Denise and I had lunch before heading to the city centre. We found a frozen yogurt bar and decided to give it a try. If you think Pure frozen yogurt is good, Greek frozen yogurt is a million times better! It was sooo delicious, I was just shocked! We then went to the Acropolis Museum, which was cool. I really liked seeing all of the vases and utensils they had used 3000 years ago, it was amazing! After three hours in the museum, we went to check out the actual Acropolis (and got in for free yay!). The Acropolis was so gorgeous! Especially because we went during the last hour that it was open so the sun was setting right behind the Parthenon.. Beautiful! We then walked to Monastiraki, one of the city’s main squares where the Athens Flea Market is located. Eventually, we made our way back to Nick’s and then we met up with the same people from the night before and went to a lounge on a hill with a gorgeous view of the Piraeus port. We didn’t get back til about 3:30 that night, which kind of sucked since I had to catch my ferry to Mykonos at 7:30 the next morning.

That Friday morning, I took the five hour ferry ride to Mykonos! I stayed at this awesome resort and spent my entire time on the beach with an ENGLISH magazine! It was so nice, hopefully I’ll still have my tan when I get back home; it’s probably the darkest I’ve ever been! I got my own private beach cabin, which surprisingly wasn’t even near the beach haha but that was probably better that way for sleeping purposes. That evening (even though I was extremely tired), I went into town to have dinner and check out the stores. I also of course got some frozen yogurt. I don’t know if I’ll be able to go back to Pure frozen yogurt when I go home; this stuff is way too delicious! Mykonos is so cute; it’s known as the party island so everyone I talked to said I wouldn’t enjoy it, but there’s something to do for everyone, even families. I almost didn’t go to Mykonos and instead planned to spend an extra night in Athens, but I’m so glad I went! It was also just nice to have a chill day on the beach for the first time of my trip!

On Saturday morning, I took the ferry to Santorini, the island of romance. And of course, I went alone. The trip to Santorini was the worst! One of the staff members wouldn’t let me take my bags to the deck, which has never happened before. And I have never left my bags before. So when I stubbornly said there was no way I was leaving my bags, he said, “Fine! You stay on the deck, not in the boat!” which was fine with me since I was planning to go on the deck anyway. The first two hours were nice; I just lied on the deck in the sun and listened to music. Then, we reached the rocky waters. Everything I had with me got absolutely drenched from the boat going back and forth non-stop. On the deck, it was basically suicide to try to move anywhere since the floors of the deck were so slippery and with one shift of the boat, you could go sliding across the deck. So basically everyone who was on the deck was stranded up there, holding onto whatever they could to keep themselves balanced. After awhile, my stomach got the best of me and I knew I needed to eat something or I was going to be sick. So I took my two backpacks and carefully made my way to the other side of the deck to where the stairs were. Instead of going from front to back, the stairs were from left to right. Right when I got to the top of the stairs, the boat hit a wave and tilted the other way, which caused me to fly towards the bottom of the stairs. Luckily, I grabbed onto the rail with my free hand just in time but it sure got my adrenaline rushing! Scary, scary moment. I was surprised that they didn’t have anyone go up on deck to help everyone else get down. Anyway, I safely got in the boat and sat down on one of the chairs; it was nice being rocked back and forth while sitting; it pretty much lulled me to sleep. But by the end, I started to feel sick. And just when I thought I was supposed to get off the ferry, they informed me it was still another 2.5 hours, making it a 10-hour trip! So I tried to think good thoughts and ignored the sick feeling in my stomach. It got to the point where the crew wouldn’t allow anyone to leave their seats unless they had to use the washroom, and in that case, they would be escorted by a crew member. I finally arrived in Santorini at about 8:30pm and got a ride to my hotel. I had my own room with a bathroom and a mini fridge! It’s always a nice change from a hostel but it also gets lonely since you can’t exactly meet anyone there. My hotel was located in Perissa, which I found out later is the 10th top attraction in Santorini, due to its beach (which was about a two minute walk from my room!). However once I got to Santorini, I still felt like I was on the boat. I couldn’t walk in a straight line and even standing still, I felt like I was swaying back and forth. I honestly think it’s the tipsiest I’ve ever been! My only solution was to go to bed early cause that was the only way I didn’t feel like I was moving.

On Sunday, I had breakfast on the beach and then I went to Fira (pronounced Fear-uh), the capital of Santorini. It’s a cute city with lots of places to shop. I just love going into every souvenir shop and looking at everything, even if I can’t buy anything. I did however get my Christmas ornament! Around four, I decided to walk to Oia (pronounced Ee-uh) which is the other main city of Santorini. The trip was about 11km and is supposed to be one of the prettiest walks in Santorini. However, after doing the Cinque Terre, I wasn’t TOO wowed. Of course, there were beautiful views, but it wasn’t much of a “hike,” just a road with very uneven rocks and stones. Quite dangerous actually; I found myself sliding down a hill of volcanic rock at one point. And with none of the rocks being sturdy, one wrong step and you roll your ankle and your knee makes direct contact with a pile of rocks, gashing it in three places. So what did I do when I was unfortunate enough to have this happen to me? The same thing any normal person would do… I took a picture. Then I cleaned it out best I could with my water bottle and beach towel since that’s all I had. I found out I had 5 more kilometres until Oia so I continued my walk, open wound and all. It wasn’t that bad; I just poured water on it anytime it started to hurt. I’m just glad I have such a high pain threshold cause by the time I got to Oia, it really started to get to me. So I went to the pharmacist, who gave me an unknown substance for 2.50 and I put it on. And boy, I would have walked BACK to Fira instead of putting that stuff on. It probably needed quite a bit of cleaning though; I’m just hoping there aren’t any pebbles stuck inside that I can’t see. So once I got to Oia, I was in a pretty sour mood. I went for dinner and got some moussaka, an eggplant casserole, very good! Then I headed back to Perissa to spend some time on the beach before going to bed.

On Monday, I went to the beach around 10 and stayed there until I had to catch my ferry five hours later. The bartender on the beach kept staring straight at my knee every time he walked by and eventually came and put a band-aid on it haha, I guess it wasn’t really the prettiest sight. I got to the port but by the time I was supposed to leave, the ferry still hadn’t arrived. Finally 45 minutes later, it came! So we left an hour behind schedule, which made me kind of nervous because I still had to catch a 3-hour bus to Chania once I arrived in Heraklion, and there would only be one bus left IF we made it there on time. That bus was at 9pm. The ferry arrived at 9:15pm. So before I started freaking out that I had nowhere to go, I decided to clear my head. I went for a McFlurry and onion rings at McDonald’s. What I’ve learned is that letting the worry come in won’t help with anything. And that trying to make logical decisions on an empty stomach doesn’t help either. Surprisingly, McDonald’s didn’t have wifi but I was lucky enough to find it elsewhere so I could get directions to an available hostel. When I got there, he said the dorms were actually all booked up (the Internet said otherwise) but he would give me a private suite for the same price of a dorm (I seem to be having a lot of luck with these private suites!). Probably the nicest room I’ve been in so far!

On Tuesday, I went to Knossos Palace, the second-best archaeological site next to the Acropolis. But I realized while travelling that archaeology isn’t something I find very interesting. To pay money to see a bunch of rocks that used to be a palace 4000 years ago is a waste for me. A rock that was once part of Knossos Palace looks like a rock that was once part of the Acropolis, which looks like a rock that was once part of the Roman Forum. I would rather go on a hike and look at a bunch of rocks that have no purpose. I like to see things as a whole or at least partly complete. Seeing the Parthenon was cool, as well as seeing the Colosseum. Looking at cells in university doesn’t excite me either. Looking at a blood cell from a frog or a hair cell from a cat or a skin cell from a human… Cells are cells, rocks are rocks. Maybe I’m just ignorant? I do however love looking at the tools: the hammers, the vases, the paintings. I guess different people just have different interests, and I’m slowly learning mine. After going to Knossos Palace, I went back to the city centre to walk through the markets before heading back to my hostel. Then, I did even more looking through stores around that area. I made my way into a jewelry store and the lady working there (Afroditi) was determined to find me a ring that fit my extremely tiny fingers. Since it is now off-season, I think the storekeepers are desperate to sell anything so when we finally found a ring, she said she’d take 10 euro off! So I decided to buy it and she was like, “Sit down, I want to make you a cocktail!” and went to the back of the store to get some raki and orange juice. I told her about my trip and she told me about her two kids, who are about my age. Afroditi was the nicest lady, saying it was brave of me to travel alone and warning me to be careful. “Now I’m sounding like your mother,” she said, but it was nice to have a motherly person around again. She gave me her name and email to add her on facebook, sounding very excited to have another friend. “And make sure you send me pictures of your trip!” The people of Crete are extremely welcoming, and I know I’ve said that about a lot of places, but the Cretan people go above and beyond to make you feel at home. I went for dinner and got a plate of a combination of things so I could try all of the different Greek foods. As much as I love the gyro pitas (because they’re extremely delicious and they never cost more than 2.50), I decided I should expand my knowledge of Greek cuisine a little further. Boy, do I love Greek cuisine! Heck, I love every kind of cuisine; where can you go wrong with anything that’s not American food? Anyway, my plate included a stuffed tomato (stuffed with rice and spices), pastitsio – a baked pasta dish, bekri meze – pork marinated in white wine, soutzoukakia – spicy meatballs with garlic and tomato sauce, eggplant papoutsakia, and of course tzatziki, love it! After I was done, the waiter came with a small pitcher of raki and said, “Here you go, Canada.” It had enough to do about six shots! After three painful shots, I told him it was too strong to finish. Apparently raki is supposed to be really helpful with digestion, but it burns the throat when drinking it. I headed back to the hostel and easily fell asleep.

Today, I’m just killing time until I have to go to the airport to catch my flight to Istanbul, which isn’t until 5:30. I guess I’ll just have to fill up on Greek frozen yogurt before I leave Greece! I can’t believe I only have one place left to go and then I’m done my Europe trip, it went by way too fast! Hope everyone’s doing well! Love always

Everything’s Right – Matt Wertz

Hello Alone (Croatia)

At the 8 week point now! On Monday, I made my way to the Venice train station at about 1:30pm. I was actually planning to spend more time in Venice and take the night train to Zagreb later that evening but in December, Italy decided that they didn’t want trains going through Slovenia or something so they stopped all of the night trains. Therefore, my time in Venice was cut short as I only got about 24 hours there. I was still feeling sicker than before so maybe it was good for me to get some rest on the train. In Croatia, trains aren’t a huge form of transportation; they mostly use buses. So I had to take a train ride to Trieste on the edge of Italy, then take a bus to Rijeka. We had to go through border control (for the first time on my trip) which seemed to take forever; I just wanted to sleep cause my nose wouldn’t stop running on the bus. We then got to Rijeka, which was right on the sea. When we got there, both of my ears were completely plugged but I didn’t realize it; I just remember walking through the streets and loving how quiet the city was. I was lucky to find a hostel close to the bus station so I rang the bell to see if they had a room. I was waiting and waiting and then I heard an extremely quiet voice on the intercom. And that’s when I realized how plugged my ears actually were; I could hardly hear anything! Anyway, they had room for me and it was by far the cleanest and nicest hostel I’ve been in so far! I had a late supper and went to bed.

Tuesday morning, I woke up early to catch the bus to Zagreb. You can’t book tickets online or anything so I’ve just been going to the ticket station and there’s usually always a bus about to leave in the next ten minutes. The bus to Zagreb was about two hours and afterwards, I went to my hostel to drop off my stuff before spending the rest of the day exploring. I started off by going to the Dolac Market, a daily market with so many fruits and vegetables, as well as some homemade souvenirs; it was really neat to see! Afterwards, I went for lunch to a Croatian restaurant. I had grilled vegetables and meat and for dessert, I had Gibanica, a four-layered cake with chopped walnuts as the bottom layer, then poppy seeds, then cheese, then apples. It was so good! I’ll have to try to make it when I get home. I then walked around the lower town and the upper town, just taking in the sites. It’s a gorgeous city! Croatia is a lot more welcoming and laid-back compared to many of the other countries I’ve been to. I can get a coke and just sit there for two hours whereas in Italy, I felt like I was always rushed to eat as fast as I could cause they were trying to get you out just as fast as they got you in.

Wednesday morning, I got up early again so I could make it to Plitvice National Park by 11. I read in a lot of reviews that it was too touristy and overcrowded and I could definitely see that since most people chose to do the 3-4 hour hikes. I chose to do the 6-8 hour hike, which went completely around all of the lakes, went up and down, and just had a lot more variety than the others. Luckily, my hike usually went to higher ground in the spots where there were lots of tourists so I could see all the tourists below me, but on my path I hardly ever saw anyone; it was so nice! I couldn’t believe how blue the lakes were, it was absolutely insane! The only logical explanation I have is that they put blue food colouring into the lakes every night. I’ve never seen such clear waters, it was amazing! Now I know why these are also a UNESCO World Heritage Site as well. By the end of my walk, my legs were just hurting and I was ready to go to bed. I stayed in a town called Grabovac, about 11km away from Plitvice. So I had to wait for the bus to take me there. I must have waited 20 minutes and still nothing had come, but the stop was starting to attract more and more people. Then a taxi driver came up and asked if we wanted a ride. Clever guy, he sits by the stop and once he can get a full car, he shows up right before the bus. He charged 100 kuna per person to go to Zagreb which isn’t too bad considering my bus ticket from Zagreb was 105. And then for me, he charged 20 kuna, about three bucks! So I got in the taxi with six other people and headed to Grabovac. There aren’t really any hostels around the area since it’s still not that touristy, but they have lots of guesthouses. So I had to go a little over what I normally pay for a room but I got my own room with an ensuite and balcony! Such a nice change from hostels! When I got there, a girl answered the door; she must have been 9 or 10. She showed me my room, asked for my passport, and got me checked in haha I was quite impressed! I then asked where the closest place to eat was, which was 500 metres away. I think my legs were mad at me for doing even more walking. It was a little restaurant at a campsite so it was quite cheap. However, Croatia is considerably cheap compared to everywhere else I’ve been in Europe. And they always give very generous portion sizes, unlike Italy.

Thursday morning, I caught the bus to Zadar. Every time I’ve talked to other travellers and told them I was going to Croatia, they’ve all been like, “Oh you’re going to LOVE it, it’s so beautiful!” but I was always comparing it to Switzerland and I couldn’t see what all the hype was about. But on this bus ride, I finally saw the beauty of Croatia. Gorgeous hills and mountains, and all of the leaves are just starting to change colour. I absolutely loved Zadar! It was another one of those really positive energy cities; I got a really good vibe from it. I had some shrimp risotto for lunch (yum!) and then walked around the old town. One of the coolest things about Zadar is its sea organ. There’s an organ that’s built into the water and it plays notes based on how much water is pushed into it. So when boats go by and make big waves, more notes are played; it’s really cool and it’s so hypnotizing; I just got lost staring at the water and listening to the organ play. After walking around the entire old town, I got some gelato and I was casually strolling down the street when I saw a sign. It said, “70% off, 29 kuna.” My brain quickly did the math as I continued to walk down the street only to find out that wow! That’s five bucks a shirt! So I turned around, noooooooo! I was doing so good! So four shirts, a dress, and less than 30 bucks later, I had another bag of stuff to carry. And once I started, I couldn’t stop. Crap… I went to two more stores and bought even more stuff. When I went back to my hostel, three of my roommates were there: two guys from England and one from Mexico. The four of us went for drinks and went for a night stroll along the coast, it was fun!

Friday morning, I caught the 3.5 hour bus to Split and then in Split, I was planning to catch the ferry to Hvar soonafter. However, when I went to buy my ticket (which I wanted for 11:30am), she said the only ferry going was at 5pm. I was so not impressed… Not only would I be stuck in Split but I would be missing the last of the nice weather in Hvar since it was supposed to rain the next day for the following week. Luckily there was a sooner ferry at 2:30pm that went to a different port. So I decided to take that one and therefore keep myself entertained in Split for the next three hours. Meaning sitting at a restaurant and reading and writing. I wasn’t planning on walking around Split carrying my bags of newly acquired items. I finally caught the ferry, which took about two hours, and then I went to my hostel and found out that they had overbooked.. So instead of having to stay in an 8 bed dorm, I was put in a one bedroom suite with a kitchen and bathroom for the same price. Score! I took advantage of having my own room. Since I was literally down to my last pair of underwear, it was time to do laundry. But standing at a laundromat all day (when you could be exploring the city) is not my idea of a fun time. So I decided to do it the old fashioned way… In the kitchen sink. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. I’ve never handwashed clothes before, but I’ve seen the washing machine work plenty of times, so I tried to imitate it as best I could, complete with a wash cycle and a rinse cycle. Couldn’t figure out how I’d do a spin cycle… Then I set up my drying station in the wardrobe, hung everything on the pole and hangers, and set up the fan to dry them. It worked quite well! I spent the night exploring the old town in Hvar. I went to an amazing restaurant and had the best pizza I’ve had in a long time (even better than Italy!). The thing I liked about Croatia was you knew all of the food was homemade. In Italy, I’m pretty sure everything was premade and just sitting there all day. In one restaurant I went to in Pisa, every time someone ordered a pasta, I’d see the “cook” walk into the room beside my table and walk back out trying to hide the frozen microwave pastas that she took back to the kitchen…no joke! And in Croatia, the bread basket you get at a meal is always soft, fresh bread. Not like in Italy, where the bread was always hard and stale. It’s funny how now that I’m in Croatia, I’m noticing all these things about Italy. I wouldn’t have noticed that the bread was so stale in Italy had I not gotten such fresh bread in Croatia. I wouldn’t have noticed the unwelcomeness from Italy as much, had I not felt so welcome in Croatia and Switzerland. But life is all about comparisons, is it not? I think it’s unavoidable. To find a better job, a bigger house, a cheaper lifestyle. To have a better day or year. I wonder if it’s what determines a lot of what we feel. If we didn’t know what a good day was like, would we still be upset about a bad day? Or would it just be like every other day and therefore there’d be no such thing as better or worse?

In Croatia, I really started feeling homesick. Backpacking alone is different than any sort of travel. Sure, it’s a great way to meet people but it’s tough! Leaving home for ten months to go to France was difficult as well but backpacking is a different form of difficulty. Au pairing in Rambouillet or even having my apartment in Paris for a month…it’s still a new world but at least you have a sense of familiarity. That same bed you sleep in, the same table you eat at, the same cafe you walk by on the way home, the same people you get to see. Even though it’s foreign at first, it becomes what you know, your rock, your anchor that holds you in place. But backpacking… Every night has a new bed, every meal has a new table, every walk has a new path, every stranger is a new friend, every day has a new adventure. Nothing is certain, you always have to be prepared for whatever’s thrown your way. Nothing is ever familiar. And even if it becomes familiar, it’s gone within a couple of days. You get lost in your own world, you start grasping what’s familiar to you: your memories. And because you’re so exhausted with all of the constant change, you hold on to those memories. And then you realize that you’re alone in a world full of people. Sure, I love seeing the world and meeting new people but I’m sick of having the exact same conversation with everyone I meet. “Where have you travelled?” “What are your plans after travelling?” I miss talking about nothing, or enjoying the silence with someone. I hate that when I get attached to someone, I have to say bye to them the next day. I hate constantly having to think about what comes next, where I’m sleeping the next night, how I’m getting to my next destination, and if it doesn’t work out, then what? Plan A, plan b, plan c. How nice it would be to stay in one place and not worry. I’m hoping that’s what Greece will bring me. That’s the difference with Croatia… Every night in Croatia, I’ve stayed in a different place, whereas in Switzerland and Italy, I’d usually stay for two nights in one place. I didn’t know it, but it makes a huge difference! Live and learn I guess…

Because I was so sick of moving around, the next morning I randomly decided to catch the ferry to Dubrovnik, meaning I would no longer be spending a night in Split. Lucky for me, the ferry only runs twice a week and Saturday was one of those times. So I went into town to catch the bus to the port. Unluckily for me, Saturday was September 1st. We were officially in the off-season and therefore, the one bus I could take to the port was no longer running. I was desperate to get out so I took a taxi. Fifty dollars later, I was finally at the port with a ticket for the 8-hour ferry ride. It was so relaxing and it was a nice environment cause everyone on board was in the same boat (ha) so even though most people didn’t speak the same language, it still felt like we were a little community. We had to stop at a port on the way there, which luckily had wifi so I found the ONLY hostel available (lucky for me!) and booked a bed. We arrived in Dubrovnik at 6:30 so I went to my hostel and then went to the old town with a couple of guys from Poland and Hungary. One thing I didn’t realize about Croatia is that since it’s still not part of the European Union, people are still allowed to smoke in the clubs. It was so gross, I’m so glad we don’t have to deal with that in Canada! We ended up not getting back to the hostel until 5 and then I was up again at 7, so I tried my best to get through Sunday with two hours of sleep.

On Sunday, I was still in Dubrovnik but I was in a different hostel since I had booked it way earlier. I spent most of the day on the beach and then that night, I met up with the people from my previous hostel. I didn’t stay out AS late that night, one because I wanted to get up early on Monday and two because I physically couldn’t. Of course though, I ended up getting lost and not getting back to my hostel until 2 anyway. On Monday, I got up and I finally went to Old Town in the daylight! It’s so cool, with the walls and all of the old buildings and churches. I wish I could have walked the walls but it was way too hot out; I wouldn’t have survived without shade! Afterwards, I just hung out by my hostel until I had to catch my ferry. Will be on a ferry for the next two days, should be a fun time! Love always

Hello Alone – Charlie Winston

Something in the Water (Italy)

Well my Italy portion of my trip is already over 😦 On Sunday, Ben and I just relaxed in Zurich and waited for our trains. I then caught my train to Milan, which ended up arriving an hour later than expected. So I was in Milan in the dark, when the buses were no longer running. The Italian guys sure lived up to their reputation. Within five minutes of me arriving in Milan, some guy approached me, and after several, “Please, come to the disco with me,” replied with several, “No, I have to find my hostel,” he ended up buying me a metro ticket and made sure I got on the right metro to get to the hostel. I got quite annoyed with the stares I got from the men while I was in Italy. I noticed that many of the other women were wearing pants! Well, I refuse to wear pants when it’s 34 degrees outside; I just wish I could wear my shorts with a little peace. I also felt bad being in Italy and not knowing the language. I mean, really, the only Italian words I know are “penne con pollo,” so it was hard for me to communicate since that’s not always something you can fit into your everyday conversation. However, I’ve used my French here as much as I’ve used my English because most Italians seem to know French better than English (or at least the ones I’ve met), so I guess at least I don’t have to be that stuckup American girl who expects the world to only speak her language. I always wonder if that’s what they all think when we come and only speak English…

Monday was just not a good day for me. Everything I had to do in order to get to my hostel by the Cinque Terre seemed to go wrong. That morning, I got up early to catch the train to La Spezia. Maybe I was really tired or maybe I just wasn’t used to it but I almost had a heart attack when a big, black bird came and sat on my window sill. I don’t know how Snow White does it… Anyway, to get to La Spezia, you have to change trains partway through and my two trains were extremely close in time. Luckily, everything in Italy seems to be late (literally, I don’t think I got on a train that was on time for my entire week) so even though my first train was late, so was my second. As soon as I got on the train, I remembered that I forgot to validate those stupid tickets. I still don’t understand the point of validating a ticket when you BOUGHT the ticket with a date and time anyway. I was just hoping that no one would come through the train to check tickets. But unfortunately, luck wasn’t on my side that time. The lady checked my ticket and said I could either get a fine or get off the train. I don’t know who in their right mind would pick the fine when given the choice so I gladly got off the train. I had no idea where I was but I had an hour and a half to kill so I just walked in a random direction, bought food to make three sandwiches, got two yogurts and a whole package of cherry tomatoes (all for less than five bucks! It’s so nice to not have to spend an average of 18-25 dollars on a meal anymore) and I found a bench right by the water and picnicked there. I later found out the town I was in is called Chiavari; it was good to have fallen upon it by accident and finally have my first real taste of Italy! I got on the next train to La Spezia, only to find out that buses don’t run in the afternoon, so then I had to sit and wait for the bus for three hours. Then I GOT on the bus, only to find out that you had to get a bus pass from the train station; you couldn’t pay on the bus (unlike every other bus I’ve been on). So I tried to explain this to my bus driver, ask where I pay, etc. in French and English but she didn’t understand. So I just gave up and sat down on the bus without paying. Finally, I got to Biassa which is a cute, little town with not much to do. And I was stranded there since the shuttles to the Cinque Terre only leave in the morning. But the hostel was nice; my roommate was from Australia and seemed to know quite a bit when it comes to travelling.

On Tuesday, I took the shuttle to Riomaggiore, one of the towns of the Cinque Terre. The Cinque Terre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is also known as one of the best walks in the world. It’s a walk that runs from village to village with five villages total (hence the Cinque). There was one section that was closed off so we had to take the train instead, but other than that, I did the entire Cinque Terre! It’s not too hard of a walk; it’s just the stairs combined with the sun beaming down on you with no wind that’s not too fun. I sweat more than I think I ever have in my life, in places I didn’t even know it was possible to sweat. Even my eye sockets were sweating! But luckily, there was a beach in each town to cool off in. I think all of the Italians thought the tourists were crazy for doing the Cinque Terre in 34 degree weather. I’m so glad I did it though! It’s such a beautiful area of Italy that still isn’t that well-known. I spent the rest of the day in Monterosso del Mare, the last village, and spent my time on the beach and by the water.

The next morning, I got on a train to Florence. On the way, I made a stop in Pisa to get my picture of the leaning tower. What I didn’t realize was that it was a 25 minute walk to get there from the station. So carrying all of my stuff in the hot weather, I slowly made it to the tower. Very busy, but cool to see! Then I got on the train to go to Florence. Now, walking the Cinque Terre in 34 degree weather is hard but it’s possible. But walking through Florence (on flat ground) in feels-like 42 degree weather is nearly impossible. I didn’t even know a temperature above 35 degrees actually existed when it comes to weather. But unfortunately, it does. I talked to the other people in the hostel about how there was so much we wanted to see and do but it was actually physically impossible. After walking for half a day, all you could do was lie on your bed and try to keep cool. I had no energy to do anything or talk to anyone. I will never again complain about our Saskatoon 27 degree weather with no a/c! I would have done anything to be thrown in a snowbank. And I found out that hot Janelle=crabby Janelle. I really didn’t like Florence. Maybe it was the weather that made me feel like that, but all I can associate with it is negative thoughts. I did like the Duomo, but other than that, there wasn’t anything that really blew my mind. So I will skip over Florence.

On Friday, I was SO happy to go to Rome and be in 34 degree weather again. I saved some money and took the 3 hour train instead of the 1.5 hour train. But a half hour after the train was supposed to leave, we were STILL sitting in the Florence station, trapped in a train with no air conditioning. Everyone was just sweating! And we had to continue like that for the next three hours until we got to Rome. Now I know that maybe saving my money isn’t always the BEST idea… I got to Rome and I was absolutely starving since I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. So I went with a girl in my hostel (Christine) to get gelato (obviously). Now, I’ve had my fair share of gelato and I’ve made a point to always get a different flavour (so far lemon, melon, strawberry, watermelon, peach, grapefruit, coconut, raspberry, banana, mint, coffee, and chocolate), but this was by far the best gelato I’ve ever had! After our gelato, we walked to the Vittoriano, a beautiful monument. Then we went to the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, which were awesome! I absolutely LOVED Rome! I wish I could have stayed longer! Every building was absolutely beautiful and it was just so fascinating that so much of it had such a huge history. Christine and I split up so I went to have my first pizza in Italy (so good) and then I went to the Trevi Fountain before going back to the hostel.

Saturday, I walked to the Pantheon and then went to the Tazza d’Oro for the “best coffee in the world.” I got iced coffee, which was actually ICED COFFEE. Like frozen coffee made into a slush, not like Timmy’s with added cream and whatnot. And all I can say is WOW! I don’t know coffee that well but I knew that this was some good stuff! After my coffee fix, I walked to the Vatican, the smallest country in the world. I wanted to see St. Peter’s Basilica but unfortunately I forgot about the “no exposed shoulders or knees” rule so I was forced to head back to my hostel to put on (gulp) jeans. Shani, another girl in my room from New Zealand, had arrived at the hostel at the same time so she joined me. We went back to look at St. Peter’s, which was huge! It was neat being able to see so much of Michelangelo’s work! Afterwards, we walked to the Pantheon before finding a restaurant for dinner. 10 euro for all you can eat buffet and a cocktail, what a steal! The buffet was all deep fried haha, it was the weirdest buffet I’ve seen: deep-fried cheese, onions, peppers, broccoli, etc. It was good though and definitely worth it! The best part was dessert: deep-fried apples, yum! Shani and I walked to the Trevi Fountain and threw a coin in. Apparently if you throw in a coin, you should have luck in finding love. So it better work!! We then headed to the Spanish steps and took in the atmosphere. It was great! And it was fun having someone to explore with, as it can get boring doing it alone all the time.

Sunday morning, I had to leave Rome to go to Venice. On the way there, it rained (thank goodness!); I don’t think I’ve seen rain since I was in Paris… But then it also rained most of the time I was in Venice. And that’s when my throat started to get sore and my nose started running nonstop. I was sick in Venice 😦 I walked around for a bit and then I got an unlimited waterbus pass and then just took it everywhere; I could have stayed on it all day long! It was just a big boat that went through the grand canal but it was so relaxing and it was probably the best way to see Venice. I went out for dinner before heading back to my hostel to get to bed early so I could fight off this cold. I woke up the next morning feeling better but still not great. I decided I would spend the morning in Murano, an island known as the glass island, where beautiful glass products are made. I would have bought everything if I could! Unfortunately, I don’t think I’d be able to carry it for the rest of my trip without breaking anything. Also, many of the items were a little out of my price range. But I did get a glass Christmas ornament so that should suffice. I had my last pasta lunch before going to the train station so I could leave Italy.

Italy was a great country to visit: lots of history, so beautiful. The culture reminded me a lot of France; Italy is still very dirty and I didn’t get the warm welcome that I got in London and Switzerland. However, it was still an awesome experience! I loved every place I went to (minus Florence); I just wish I could have stayed longer, especially in Venice since it was cut pretty short. Now I’m off to Croatia to see some more beautiful sights! Hope everyone enjoys the tiny bit of summer we have left, and good luck with everyone who’s going back to school or work! Love always

Something in the Water – Brooke Fraser

Ambitions (Switzerland)

Wow, I’m already getting close to the halfway point of my trip! On Sunday evening, we got to Geneva. We were planning to couchsurf our first night there. For those of you who don’t know what couchsurfing is, it’s basically a facebook for couches. You write to someone and ask if you can stay on their couch for a night or two. Anyway, there was someone who had said we could stay at his house but forgot to tell us where his house WAS. I had asked him before we got on the train and was expecting a reply once we got to Geneva. But when we got there, we had no reply. Meaning we were stuck in Geneva with no place to stay. I was at the point where I would gladly find a park bench and use it as a bed, but we found the closest hostel and got two spots in a six-person dorm. Is it ever expensive in Switzerland! I was always warned that it’s the most expensive place in Europe but I still wasn’t prepared for what I saw. Usually when things are expensive, my first choice is McDonald’s but even THAT was pricey. We decided to go to an Indian restaurant. Ben got daal and I got tandoori chicken. Of course the servings would be tiny! So our meal came to about 43 dollars for the two of us, and I was still hungry. That night, we went for a walk by the lake and to our surprise, there was a fair, which was really weird because on the train that day, I was saying I was sad cause we were missing the Ex. So we GOT the Ex, but in Geneva!

The next day, we got breakfast for free from our hostel so we ate as much as we could so that we didn’t have to eat again until supper. We went to the tourist office to get a walking map, and toured ourselves around the Old Town, which was very cute! Afterwards, we split up for awhile and I went to the flower clock and the jet d’eau, which was so cool! We then met up with Helena, my friend who was also an au pair in Rambouillet three years ago. It was so great to see her again! We reminisced, and just seeing her brought back memories that I had totally forgotten about! It’s too bad the other girls weren’t able to join us, but I’m glad I at least got to see someone. She took us to an amazing restaurant that gave awesome portion sizes, and because we hadn’t eaten all day since breakfast, we were easily able to finish everything. We went for a walk by the lake before heading back to Helena’s for the night.

Tuesday morning, we got up extremely early to go to Gruyères. We went to the cheese factory first, where we got to see how cheese is made, and we got free samples! We then went for lunch and this time I splurged (cause you can’t go to a cheese factory and not have fondue!). So that’s what I had. It was so filling but so good! For dessert, I had meringues with Gruyères cream, which was delicious. After lunch, we went to the Gruyères castle before heading to Broc. I’ve decided that when I retire, I’ll get a place in Broc. As soon as we got off the train, all I could smell was chocolate. It was amazing! I thought I died and went to heaven. But in Broc, the houses were normal and I’m pretty sure in heaven, the houses are MADE of chocolate… Aren’t they? Anyway, we went to the Nestle-Cailler house of chocolate. The tour was so cool! And at the end, there was a tasting room and we were allowed to eat as much chocolate as we wanted! I ate until I thought I was going to be sick; I don’t think I’ve ever gotten to that point before… I also don’t think that I’m used to this chocolate because Cailler condenses their milk for their chocolate, and the milk comes from the cows in the Gruyères area (where we were before), whereas most other companies use powdered milk. So this chocolate was VERY rich and filling, I definitely noticed a difference compared to the chocolate at home. After the tour and tasting room, I went and bought hot chocolate (cause you can’t go to a chocolate factory and not have hot chocolate!), even though it was about 28 degrees outside. The hot chocolate was basically a melted chocolate bar. It was SO thick and creamy; I almost couldn’t finish it! After we were finished, we caught the train to Bern, Switzerland’s capital. In Bern, we couchsurfed with Christina and Ursula, who were definitely the best girls to have our first couchsurfing experience with. They were such nice girls and if it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t have done half of what we did on Wednesday. Our first night, they took us for a walk to the rose garden and the bear pits.

On Wednesday, Ben and I went back to the rose garden and bear pits since we couldn’t exactly see them the night before. The bears were so cute!! A couple of them were swimming and fighting in the water, I could have watched them all day! Afterwards, we walked to the clock tower, walked around the old town (which is a UNESCO world heritage site), and went to the Münster cathedral. We then met up with Christina so she could show us around. We rented bicycles (for free!) and biked through the town and along the river. I was paranoid the entire way because I’m pretty sure the last time I rode a bike was in France three years ago, when the family took me biking. But everything was fine! Then we set our stuff by the river and jumped in! It’s a local thing to do; you walk upstream as far as you want and then just float downstream back to where your stuff is. It was kind of like the river tube ride by the Nipekamew sand cliffs. I loved it! It was so relaxing and refreshing, as it was 31 degrees that day. After a couple of times doing that, we rode our bikes to a restaurant that’s over the river; the rapids run right under its deck. We just shared a piece of pie and got some refreshing drinks. Ben and I bought some groceries so we didn’t have to buy another meal, and then we spent the rest of the day relaxing on the deck and in the house.

Thursday morning, we got up to catch the train to Interlaken. We got settled in our hostel, the Tent Village, which is a community of tents with bunkbeds inside. So far, it’s been my favourite place to stay! It’s been warm during the days but at night, it gets freezing cold! I was brought back to when I was younger, trying to keep warm in the tent trailer when we went camping in the mountains. We walked around Interlaken all afternoon. It’s a cute little town similar to Banff; it’s so awesome being completely surrounded by mountains, I love it! By law, it’s quiet time everywhere in Switzerland at 10pm so we just hung out with our roommates, two girls from Chicago, and socialized with the hostel staff, who are also from the US. Our tent was complete with slugs and snails, and the hostel bar was complete with mice so we were for sure roughing it! However, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I forgot how much I missed taking our trailer into the mountains and relaxing there.

On Friday morning, we just spent the whole time at the hostel. I lied on the hammocks and just relaxed before my big adventure. It was nice to have half a day to do nothing instead of always walking around and exploring! At 1pm, I got to go on my canyoning adventure! It was located in Grimsel, about a 40 minute drive from Interlaken. Our group was pretty small; there were three French people and two Koreans, so it was easy to get to know everyone. Our adventure started with a ten minute hike up the canyon, which was difficult because of the limited movement that our wetsuits allowed. Then, we repelled down a 50 metre cliff; we were attached by a metal pole on the side of the highway haha. We did some waterfall slides, many jumps, and a zip line that undid itself when you stopped holding on so you’d just fall into the water. My heart was pumping especially fast when I was about to do a ten metre jump off a cliff into the water. All I could think is that I was going to hit the rocks and not jump far enough. I was also quite nervous when I had to shimmy along the crack in the rock, with my back against one side and my feet against the other. But I did it all! And I’m still alive! Although I definitely felt it in my thighs the next day… I don’t think I could have done it if it weren’t for my guide, Iain, though. He for some reason reminded me of Matthew McConaughey with a Scottish accent. So of course I needed to show him the strong, brave, and confident woman that I am :p When we got to the bottom of the canyon, we had a nice picnic with sandwiches and beer. We then got in the van and Iain said within about twenty minutes, we’d all be completely out. He was right; everyone in the vehicle passed out by the time we made it to Interlaken. It was such a great time though! I’m glad I spent my money and did something, instead of later thinking, “I should have done that!” Especially in Interlaken; there was so much to do! That night, Ben and I walked into town and went to Hooters for some much-needed onion rings. Then we went back to the hostel to get ready for our early morning the next day.

Saturday morning, we got the bus and train to Winterthur, a town about twenty minutes away from Zurich. We used it as our homebase and couchsurfed there, as we weren’t able to find a place in Zurich. Our hosts, Christof and Steffi were so awesome!! They had a gorgeous apartment; Christof is a web designer/programmer and Steffi is a pharmacist. Ben and I went to Zurich for the afternoon but we weren’t really feeling it. It wasn’t like all of the other towns we had visited; I think it is more specifically aimed towards tourists. We went back to Winterthur and went with Christof and Steffi to one of their friend’s housewarming parties. We had to go out and buy our own meat and drinks, and then all the meat was cooked on the BBQ. We got to meet Steffi’s sister and sister’s boyfriend, and many of their friends. After dinner, we went to the Winterthur Music Festival! It was awesome to see some live music and to talk to some more people. I thought it was an awesome night, I had so much fun! The couchsurfing experiences almost seem to be the best experiences!

This morning, we got up and we’re planning to spend our last day together in Zurich before going our separate ways tonight. Ben’s headed to London and I’m on my way to Italy; it should be a fun time! If I had to use one word to describe Switzerland (besides expensive), I would choose cute. It had cute houses, cute buildings, cute people, I just loved it! It’s definitely worth spending the money for. And my favorite destination in Switzerland was by far Interlaken! I probably could have kept myself entertained there for days! I hope you all are doing well! Love always

Ambitions – Joe McElderry

Choices (London and France)

Now it’s been a full month since I left, how crazy! On Monday, I made my way to London! It was about a two and a half hour train trip under the ocean. I was expecting to see sharks and jellyfish but I was disappointed to see nothing of the sort 😦 Just a big, black tunnel that made my ears constantly pop. Finally, I arrived at St. Pancras Station. The first thing I noticed about London was how clean it is! No more having to watch every step I take in order to avoid stepping in the presents that the dogs left behind. And I love the cars! I don’t know why, I don’t even like cars… It was also weird to be able to talk to people I don’t know in English! I’m so used to approaching someone and only speaking French, so that was nice! I got to London around 2:30 and went to find my hostel, Clink78. It’s actually really close to the train station so I didn’t have to worry about the metro very much since almost all of the metros stop there. I found my bed in my 14-person dorm and it actually wasn’t that bad! After getting settled, I made my way to the will call office so I could pick up my Olympics ticket. I then headed to the Hard Rock to get my drumsticks before going to Hyde Park. I had to go through security before getting in but once I got in, it was so cool! They had some kind of chocolate tour and then they had four huge screens, each playing a different event of the Olympics. There were people everywhere! I made myself say hi to the first Canadians I saw and you’ll never guess where they were from… Regina! So they gave me some of their leftover tattoos since I didn’t have any, yay! After Hyde Park, I went to Buckingham Palace and watched the guards move (I thought they weren’t supposed to?). It started raining so they had to move into this little hut thing. I then went to the Big Ben and Parliament Buildings, which were gorgeous! London’s architecture isn’t as breathtaking as France, but I really enjoyed those buildings! I also got a nice view of the London Eye, didn’t go on though. I spent too much money on souvenirs… (so much for no more shopping!).

Tuesday, I woke up and had breakfast. I sat with this guy named Cameron who was from the UK and has never left except for Belgium, which I found absolutely insane. He said it’s not weird at all for EU citizens not to travel Europe. His accent was sooo strong though; half the time I felt like he was speaking a different language! After breakfast, I went to the London Tower and walked across the Tower Bridge, then walked along the river. I didn’t really do anything specific, but there was so much going on everywhere because of the games so it was always easy to find something to look at or to do. I then went to the station so I could head to Olympic Park. They said to leave at least three hours before your event so I was ready (and had been counting down every minute before then) by 4. I was impressed at how organized they had made everything; they kept the crowds moving smoothly and I seldomly had to wait (except for getting back to London). We had to go through security, just like you would at an airport. No drinks or liquids unless they’re less than 100mL! The Park was so cool! I heard someone beside me yell out, “This feels just like Disneyworld!”And was he ever right! There was that magical feeling you get, like a kid gets on Christmas morning, or that we all get at Disneyworld. It was just so awesome to be there, it almost didn’t seem real! I found my way to the Aquatics Centre and got in nice and early (so I could watch them dive beforehand). Only a true fan would know Alexandre Despatie from across the Aquatic Centre, just by seeing him holding his lavender towel 🙂 I was second row on the balcony, which were considered the best tickets. But when I sat down, I couldn’t believe I paid THAT much money for the view that I got. Sure, the seats WOULD have been awesome… If the staircase wasn’t right between my seat and the diving boards. Literally could not see a thing! So I made friends with the two girls from Great Britain who were sitting behind me (they bought cheap tickets for the women’s diving and said those seats were better than the expensive seats) and then I moved beside them once the diving started. I was able to see the entire competition, yay! The diving was great! It was just too bad when Alexandre’s knee buckled during his last dive, causing him to slap across the water, and making the entire crowd go, “Ooooooh,” in unison. I felt bad for him but he was happy with his overall performance, considering he lost three weeks of practice due to cracking his head open a month before the Olympics. After the medal ceremony, I was heading out of the Aquatic Centre and heard, “Canada!” So I met Phil and his son Justin (who’s about my age) who are from Montreal but moved to London in 1997. They invited me for drinks so we got some beer and strolled around Olympic Park. They were really nice guys and it was fun to meet some Canadians! I then headed back to my hostel, which took forever! We had to wait outside in the rain while they slowly piled us onto the Javelins. I didn’t mind, but it was pretty difficult to enjoy myself with everyone around me complaining. The next day, I went to St. Paul’s Cathedral and then walked through Picadilly until I made it to Westminster Abbey. After my back and shoulders could no longer hold the weight of everything I brought (and bought!), I went to the train station and waited to go back to Paris.

On Thursday morning, Ben came to Paris! I met him at Starbucks and then we stopped at my apartment before I gave him the big tour! We went to the Notre Dame, the Pompidou Centre, the Louvre, and through the Jardin des Tuileries. Lots of walking, so Ben was sure ready to pass out by the time we got home. I was impressed that he was able to stay up til 10! On Friday, we went to Versailles. We first went to an Italian restaurant for pizza and chocolate mousse (so good!), then we went to the castle grounds to relax in the sun. After Versailles, we went to Rambouillet to go to the Celtique! This time, no one I knew was working there; I was quite disappointed. That status that the girls and I worked SO hard to get was gone. No more being the important customers who were greeted upon their arrival. Now we had to wait. And wait and wait until someone came to serve us. Just like we had to do the first time we came three years ago. How sad… After the Celtique, we went for a walk in the castle grounds and stopped at my school before heading back to Paris. On Saturday, we did a walk from Concorde to the Arc de Triomphe to Trocadero to the Eiffel Tower. By that time, we were both extremely tired so we went back to the apartment for dinner, then went to the Sacré Coeur for a bit before trying to get to bed early.

Sunday morning, we woke up extremely early to pack up and leave the apartment. We went to Hillsong (for my last time) and then went for lunch with Beatrice. Now we’re finally on our way to Switzerland! We’re heading to Geneva first so in about three hours, I’ll be there! Now the adventure begins! And now I’m ACTUALLY backpacking! I have my little university backpack, and I have about six shirts, one pair of pants and one pair of shorts to last me for the next five weeks! I’m actually quite impressed that I was able to put that and a sleeping bag in my backpack! We’ll see how it goes… I hope everyone’s doing well! Love always

Choices – The Hoosiers

Hey You (France and Vimy Ridge)

Can’t believe I’ve been gone for 4 weeks now, where does the time go? On Tuesday, I went to visit the first family that I was with when I au paired. Alexia and Julien hadn’t changed much except for being three years older. It’s just hard to believe that Alexia’s sixteen now and she’s starting to learn how to drive! It was great to see the family again, and I managed to speak French for a full five hours! Catherine said my French was really good so that made me happy! Although after about 2-3 hours, I was mentally exhausted; it’s hard on the brain to speak, think, and listen in French for so long cause you have to use it constantly. They took me to the Abbaye des Vaux de Cernay, an old abbey from the 12th century. It was so pretty! I would have posted pictures BUT the computer in my apartment has broken down and the owner hasn’t bothered to come fix it. So now I can no longer upload pictures unless they’re taken on my iPod 😦 hopefully I can get to a computer soon to put some up! After the abbey, we went back to the house to play poker. It was a good time! I also left my suitcase with them so all of the shopping I did was for nothing and now, any shopping I do, I’ll have to carry with me. So no more shopping!

On Wednesday, I went on strike. That’s right… Wednesday was August 1st and the day before, I found out that my one-month metro pass was expired. I paid for one month because I’m in Paris for one month but I guess their months are from the 1st to the 1st, so I ended up paying one month for just over half a month. I was so not impressed… So I decided that I wasn’t going to use the metro. I don’t know who I was trying to prove my point to but it’s probably just because of me and my stubbornness. I’m a Taurus, it’s not my fault. So I walked to the mall to eye shop (no, it doesn’t count) and on the way, I found an English pub so I walked in and asked if they could turn on diving. At the time, they were playing cycling (which people were watching) but they changed the channel on all the tv’s just for me! Alexandre Despatie and his partner Reuben Ross got 6th place, but they weren’t expecting a medal in the first place. The REAL event to watch is THIS TUESDAY, August 7th, probably between 12pm and 2pm your time on either TSN, Sportsnet, or possibly CTV!! You might see a lone Canadian girl cheering in the crowd (that would be me). Anyway, after diving, I went to the mall and then walked back home. The entire trip was about 8km, so that was a good way to get rid of the crepes and croissants I’ve been eating! :p Afterwards, I went to the Sacré Coeur with Laura and Kelsi since it was their last night.

Thursday afternoon, I went out for coffee with a friend that I had met in church three years ago, Beatrice. She’s originally from Kenya but hasn’t left France since when she came five years ago. It was so great to see her again and to spend time with her that day, and again on Sunday!

On Friday, I got up way too early to catch the 7:20 train to Arras, a town about 45 minutes north of Paris. I sat at a little café to wait for everything to open and then I caught a taxi to Vimy. The taxi driver kept complimenting my French and said I hardly had an accent!!!!!! You have no idea how hard I’ve tried to sound French, to perfect that “r” noise that comes from the back of your throat: the sound that seems so weird to use because it’s never been used in the English language, but is needed in French so you don’t sound like a foreigner. How many times did Emmanuel tell the kids, “Help her with her r’s; she has to have them perfect before she leaves!” So the fact that I hardly had an accent anymore was a huge compliment! Vimy Ridge was absolutely amazing! I started by taking the tour through the tunnels and trenches. Because the Germans occupied the hill (that the monument is now on), we weren’t able to attack above ground because we would be seen. Therefore, tunnels were built in order to move the soldiers forward. Railways were also put underground to bring in supplies. It was really neat to be able to walk through, but it was tough to imagine how it would have been 95 years ago, under such different and difficult circumstances. On the way to the tunnels, the soldiers had to walk through a field containing all of the graves that were dug in advance, ready to be used (by many of them) once they went into action. The soldiers weren’t allowed to talk to each other and had to stay underground until given the message to move to the trenches. They waited for 36 to 48 hours in the tunnels with only 24 hours worth of food (the attack got postponed because of a snowstorm). To communicate with each other, they used phones but with wires running along the wall, they used morse code, pigeons, and runners. Pigeons mate for life so they would keep the male underground and send it up with a message attached to its leg for it to find its mate and at the same time, deliver the message. In another area, there was one pigeon, Cher Ami (he’s on Wikipedia), that was shot and lost one eye and one leg, and still managed to deliver the message, saving 200 Americans during World War I! Runners were a volunteer position and they were highly respected since during peak war periods, they usually wouldn’t live longer than 3-5 days. They would go in groups of two to run and deliver the message, many times getting killed in the process. Soldiers would sleep in dugouts that were in the sides of the trenches, usually with their feet hanging out because they weren’t very large. Also, the distance between our trenches and the German trenches was about 25 metres! So they were actually able to yell back and forth to each other. I found myself tearing up many times throughout the tour; words can’t even describe the feelings I felt. After the tour, I went to the monument, which is dedicated to all of the Canadian soldiers who died in France. On the monument, there are the names of 11,285 missing soldiers, whose resting place was then unknown. It really is a beautiful monument and area; definitely worth visiting! I always hear how I should be proud to be Canadian and be thankful for my freedom, and we have our Remembrance Day every year, but only until that moment did I actually FEEL it; it was so overpowering and it’s indescribable but I hope that every Canadian has the chance to feel what I felt at some point in their lives, because it’s amazing. I can now truly say I’m proud to be Canadian and I’m so thankful, and I UNDERSTAND. Those kind of things you can’t just learn in school or from a book, you have to learn from your heart. After I left Vimy Ridge, it started to rain so I spent the afternoon in a café before catching the train back to Paris.

Saturday, I didn’t do much except clean the apartment and buy groceries. Sunday, I went to Hillsong for church, then went for lunch with Beatrice. We spent as much of the afternoon as we could in the jardin du Luxembourg, then headed to her church when it started raining. After church, we went to the movie Brave which was so awesome! I heard good things about it, but I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was. I then went home to start packing! This afternoon, I leave for London; I’ll be there until Wednesday! Hope you’re all doing great! Love always

Hey You – Pony Pony Run Run

Cemetery (Dieppe and France)

Luxembourg Gardens

Well, another fun week is unfortunately done. Monday was my shopping day (I seem to be having quite a bit of these…). My goal for Monday was to get 1) a Christmas tree ornament, as I’m hoping to get one everywhere I go. And 2) a Lollipops Paris purse. I’ve always wanted a Lollipops purse ever since I saw my very first one in February three years ago. I remember it clearly: the family and I went to Hendaye for the week and the day that I decided to go to Spain, I jumped on the boat that would take me from France, across the bay, to Spain. There was a family on this boat and the mom had a gorgeous purse that I instantly fell in love with. So I got up nice and close until I saw the “Lollipops” label on it. When I got back to Rambouillet, I looked it up and went to the store, but only to admire the purses as they were way too much for my $3.75/hour paycheck to afford. But now it’s sale season, and sale season is a magical time. That day, I ended up getting my Christmas tree ornament, but I didn’t find my Lollipops purse. I however found not one, but two pairs of shoes. So now I have six pairs here… Oh geez.

On Tuesday, I went to my favourite gardens, the Luxembourg gardens. It was a gorgeous day out but it was one of those days where you had to sit still or you would die of heat. So the Luxembourg gardens were great for that! Then I found a cute, little park in Bercy so I explored that for awhile.

On the way to the cemetery


Uncle Walter Ahrens 30/09/20-16/07/44

On Wednesday, I woke up early to catch a train to Dieppe. It’s a nice little town about two hours north of Paris, right next to the English Channel. It’s also the closest beach to Paris. And since it was 31 degrees, I think a good majority of Paris had the same idea as me. When I got there, I found out what bus I had to take to get as far south as I could. Then I walked about ten minutes outside of town to the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, a beautiful little cemetery on the countryside. There, I was able to find Uncle Walter’s grave, my Grandpa’s brother. I felt so happy to finally be there, after talking to my mom many times about going. I felt such a sense of pride, knowing that he fought for our freedom. But it was also scary to me. And what’s so scary about it? A combination of things… The fact that he was only 23, a year older than I am now. That he went to the other side of the world to fight for his country and for our freedom, never to actually return. That only a handful of people have went to see him in the 68 years he’s been gone. But I know he hasn’t been forgotten. No, I knew who he was even when I was a child. Grandma and Grandpa kept a picture of him in that guest bedroom with the pink bed and the organ, the room my sister and I always slept in. But I wonder… Was HE proud? Happy? Did he get everything he wanted in that short amount of time we call life? Did he love? Was he loved? What were his final thoughts when he looked death right in the eye? Then I wonder, if I were to die tomorrow, would I be happy with the way I lived my life? I think so… But did I do everything I wanted to? Well, no. I have never let myself love, never been loved, never had a child to call my own. But maybe because I don’t know really those feelings, I don’t know what I’m missing out on and therefore it would be okay. Because I’ve also had amazing experiences, experiences that I DO know how they feel, and they’ve made me live life to the fullest. I’ve been lucky enough to swim in the Pacific and Atlantic, ride a helicopter, travel the world, walk up the Eiffel Tower, fly a plane, zipline through Mexico, swim with dolphins, go repelling down a waterfall, find friends who love and care for me. I’m happy with who I’ve become, with the people I have in my life, and the family that I have been blessed with. It would almost seem selfish to ask for more… But I hope that Uncle Walter got everything he wanted out of life; I think he should be really proud of what he did. After the cemetery, I made my way back into town. I explored the castle, which was pretty cool, and then I went to the Canadian square. It was really neat in Dieppe because down all of the streets, there were maple leaf signs with “Dieppe 1942-2012” written on them. Everywhere there was a France flag, there was usually a Canadian flag as well. I went for a walk by the beach, which was really overcrowded, but then I found a deck that was reserved for reading. They were strict on making sure that everyone who sat on that deck was only there to read. So that was kinda cool! I went for dinner afterwards and I figured I should probably have seafood since I was by the sea. So I got some kind of fish soup and then a HUGE bowl of mussels. They were okay, but the consistency was really throwing me off. I made myself finish them though, even though I wasn’t sure if I could keep it up. Then I had dessert! I don’t even know what it was but it was delicious! Some sort of apple cake thing, so good! And then I had to catch my train. And I literally could not walk; I was way too full! That’s what the French do though; they give you a really awesome deal to get an appetizer, main dish, and dessert, and then they give you HUGE portions. And you eat the entire thing cause French food is amazing, and then you can’t move at all! That must be how I gained 25 pounds the last time I was in France…

Dieppe Castle

On Thursday, I continued my search for my Lollipops purse but ended up buying two OTHER types of purses. Then Friday, I finally became the proud owner of a Lollipops purse, yay! On Saturday, I stayed at home to watch the Olympics before Laura came. I still don’t think I’ve seen an event with a Canadian in it. Unfortunately, France only focuses on France, but I guess it makes sense since they’re fourth place in the medal standings right now. Laura showed up later that night with her friend Kelsi, so we went out for dinner before going to bed. On Sunday, we went to the Moosehead Canadian pub for poutines and then we spent the rest of the day at the flea market. That night, Laura and I went to the movies to watch To Rome with Love! Unfortunately, half of the movie was in Italian with French subtitles, so I had to translate as much as I could to Laura. It ended up being an okay movie in the end though. Today, Laura and I went to L’as du Falafel for lunch and then we just walked down the street and shopped. It was fun! It’s good to finally have someone to talk to and to enjoy my time with; I’m really happy that she was able to come! I only have less than two weeks left here so I’m going to have to figure out if I need to do anything other than shop… Miss everyone tons! Love always

Cemetery – Charlie Simpson