We are now a bit outside Birmingham in a place called Hamilton and about to cross over into Mississippi. It's been an experience and feels like we've been on the road for a lot longer than we've actually been traveling. My car is holding out! YES! The trip to Orlando Friday night was marvelous. We met up with Ryan in the Gaylord Palms which is just as magnificent as I remembered. A very amusing part of that trip was the reactions of the bellboys to the fish which we left on the baggage cart with our two bags, a bottle of [View Full Entry]

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Shalom! So much has happened here in the past week or so its hard to remember it all. I haven't been able to find the time or the internet connection to sit down and write so here's a short blurb. I'm currently in Jerusalem with a few days left. I know 7 letters of the Hebrew Aleph Bet and about 5 words/phrases. I have been rapelling off a cliff in the Negev Desert. I've seen the Arab controlled Jericho from a mountain in the Judean Desert. I've been to Tel Aviv, shopped in Shuks, bartered with crazy shop owners, been asked [View Full Entry]

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I have now been in Jerusalem for four days and its been a strange experience. It's nice being with Carly and Derek. Most of the people are great and the Rabbis are nice, friendly and open to question and doubt. My two roommates at Kibbutz Lavi, Heather and Amanda, are lovely and entertaining people. Day 1: This turned into Day 2 with 30 hours of traveling for everyone and probably a total of 4 hours sleep for me. It was a very, very difficult, long and tiring day of travel. It made me realize what I was really getting into. This [View Full Entry]

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Now I have what I'm going to call the London Eye. It is not the giant ferris wheel. Oh no. It's my poor left eye thats puffy from some sort of irritation. Hence, the London Eye. But yes, I've been in London since Friday and it's positively lovely. Only one night did I have to stay in a hostel and that was last night which wasn't too bad because I do believe I had a bit of food poisoning and needed the air conditioned room and clean bathrooms. But for the rest I've been staying with Alex, Emma's boyfriend, and Emma [View Full Entry]

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So yes, I'm in Portugal and this is how it happened. I left Tuesday early in the morning fully intending to go to Amboise and spend a day and then do an overnighter to Portugal. What I didn't expect was for the trains to be completely incompetant. After a hefty argument in French at the train station in Amboise, I managed to procure a ticket to St Pierre Station in the Loire. I wandered around aimlessly for a bit before my train. It made me want to return. From there I traveled to Irun, Spain which took a total of 6 [View Full Entry]

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Today is my last day in Paris and I will not miss Paris because I know I'll be back but I will miss my host family. They are such wonderful people. They talk about everything around their dinner table. Tonight their cousin came from Cannes and she's so sweet and young. Only 15/16 and she made me miss my sister. They spoke of racism and I said my piece and I found out later that the cousin said I was really nice. I'm glad I could make a difference. I'm also glad that I understood almost 80% of the dinner chat [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday was pretty uneventful during the day. But at night we went to the Champs-Elysées and walked around before dropping in on a friend of Garance's who was working. Then we had a drink in a café and some dessert. I forgot what it was called. But then the friend, Gaelle, dropped by and I spoke in French almost the whole time with her and Garance said later that I held my own pretty well so I was happy. For some reason my comprehension jumped yesterday...or maybe it was just that I noticed it was better. Who knows? Anyway, on the [View Full Entry]

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Oh my I can't even remember all that happened in the past few days. I know a few days ago Mélanie, Garance's sister, took me around and I got to see Montmartre and the Sacre Coeur, L'arc du triomphe and the Champs-Elysées. We had a good time chatting and walking around. It was very quite and peaceful despite the many tourists. Having a French person really helps me feel like I'm on the inside instead of just watching the façade of Paris race by me. We had icecream which everyone seems to be having everyday because it is so darn hottttttttt [View Full Entry]

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Okay, here I go trying to remember everying. Laurent, the family friend showed me around Paris two days ago. We passed the government center, explored the left an right banks of the Seine, ate a cute French lunch at a cute French café and of course, visited Notre Dame. Wow, its totally amazing. It was interesting to be with him because his English isn't as good as Garance's or her family's but we managed in Frenglish. We walked through the outside of Le Louvre and he explained to me how all the arches in the city went straight through the center [View Full Entry]

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So I keep losing track of time because I'm just having a blast. I'm really acquiring and insider's view because I am living with a family. Wednesday I woke up at 1pm. A curse and a blessing. I really needed to sleep. I accompanied Garance on her errands all day and it was sooooooo nice to not be in touristic places. I still have not seen the Eiffel Tower. That night We watched the football game with some family friends and although there was a language barrier the fact that France won the semi- finals left no emotional barriers. The little [View Full Entry]

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