Blogs from France, Europe - page 1258

Thanksgiving has never been my favorite holiday. That is not to say that I do not like it; I much enjoy seeing my family all together and sharing a meal, but I’m not a huge turkey or stuffing fan, it involves a lot of traveling on a busy traffic day, and I inevitably end up eating so much that I’m uncomfortably full and sleepy. However, when the week of Thanksgiving came this year, I realized that I was quite sad not to get to celebrate it. There were no Thanksgiving decorations anywhere, and no one was talking about it. In fact, I discovered that most people know that we celebrate it but have no idea why (I actually purposely researched it a bit ahead of time because I figured there would be questions about it - ... read more

Meeting my host with that mess is horrible, but thankfully.... I got the last train to St Malo, had to change at Rennes in 12 mins and the train got there 10 mins late. As I was running thru the station looking for the connectoon which is not listed on the board....panicking and dunno what the hell will I do in Rennes. I found the SNCF staff and the bus was waiting!!!!!!! thank god!!!! So got on and arrived in St Malo, 20 mins later than I told Emelinda, my host... Deserted train station, and no car waiting...... and no phonecard....shit. but then she showed up!!!! she was driving around looking for me!!!! OMG, so nice!!!!!! and she went backand forththe old town and train station to see if I was waiting somewhere else! Thankfully she ... read more

I would like to apologize for the lack of entries and for the inferior quality of the past few entries in this blog. I really have been extremely ill for the past several weeks, and it just got a lot worse three weeks ago and FINALLY started going back up here last week. I went to a free clinic and got some medicine. I didn’t know that there was a free clinic in Lille. It isn’t like in the States, where poor people cannot afford insurance and, therefore, don’t have it. If you’re a French citizen, you have insurance, and almost everything is paid for, so it’s different. So who goes to the free clinics? Yours truly - immigrants, whether temporary or permanent. They still suck - it takes forever, it’s crowded… some things are universal. ... read more

Ok, love the city, hate the metro, and I got my mobile stolen on that freakin smashed up train!!!!!!!!! All I can think of now is my memorycard inside!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH they stole it while I was on my way to the train station to leave Paris!!!!!! SHIT!!!!!!!! and it was such a beautiful day , I deliberately went up the hill to see the view and the church!!! ARGH!!!! from HOlland onwards...or maybe Belgium...ALL GONE!!!! SOMEONE KILL ME!!!!!!! I cant stop thinking about it!!!!!!! Stupid guy, stole a cellphone that had 3Euros worth of credits, is old and not even worth a penny in Hong Kong, cant find the charger anywhere else in Europe nor Japan nor China....... and its in Japanese which I wonder if he can even get thru the menu???? SHIT! and what ... read more

So in Paris.........; First thing, stuck at the train station with no lines running to my hostel!!!! shit. Finally, a nice HUngarian student came to help me, brought me to this metro thats running and went to this station where I eventually found one bus running near my hostel......... so late and tired, and rainy, got a nice crepe (oooooo they are soooooo gooooooood!!!!) and went to bed....... Next day..COLD!! and WINDY!!!!! and I joined the free walking tour.... The same company that did the one in Berlin..but the guide wasnt as good......maybe coz it was cold....but last time it was rainy ar! anyways, went to the major sites, didnt soak up as much the history coz......the guide assumed everyone knew about the different revolutions in France? and the history behind all those Louis kings?? I ... read more