Mi no wanto speaka Spanglish

I signed up to take Español courses while I am in BsAs (how cool people write Buenos Aires)

After mucho research I chose..........Linguaschools

Location is great, all teachers have degrees in teaching, they also integrate culture classes with the language courses, not tooooo expensive, and a good references from my BsAs amigo.

11MAY11

Hasta La Vista

Sayonara

I'm leavin on a jet plane. Don't know when I'll be back again

Well actually, I do know when I will be back. The plan is 11 May fly to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Wander approx 3,000 miles. Depart from Bogotá, Columbia on 24 July.

But before then I need to throw away all of my childhood trinkets and memories, move all of my material possessions to an unknown location, learn Spanish, and visit mi amigo en Chicago.

Home Sweet Home

I made it to Paris unscathed. My railpass had expired so I had to buy the train ticket. It was pretty expensive and no one even checked it!!! Pff, the French.
I have been awake since 4am. But that means it is noon in Paris. Shouldn't I be sitting on a bench in a beautiful park eating an eclaire?
At first I was annoyed that I had to backtrack to Paris to fly out but then I was so glad I got to see that amazing city again. And it felt really comfortable because I already knew the area and how the metro works and where everything was. A couple of the boys in my hostel wanted to go out for my last supper of Europe. It was very nice but I really just wanted to do my own thing. I went to the Musee du Jue de Pame which is a photography/film museum and then went to my favorite ice cream place and walked around and said my goodbyes. It was the best way to spend my last night. The featured photographer was Andre Kertesz. I had never heard of him and now he is probably one of my favorites. I fell in love with his work almost as much as I fell in love with Paris. If you get a chance look him up. His work has so much life and intensity. At first I felt sad because I will never be as talented as him, but by the end I felt inspired. Then I stumbled upon a preview of a Russian film while in France with English subtitles. Haha. Oh Paris, such a culture melting pot.

Just a few things off the top of my head........

Things I will miss:
Peanut Cheetos
Paprika Pringles
Beautiful boys around every corner
Gelato at my fingertips - probably a good thing
Zara and Bershka - yes I went shopping on my last days. I have no idea how I got it home.
The Grocery Store Game - It was so exciting, you never know what you are getting
Do I need to even mention the chocolate???
Nutella - luckily this is accessible in the US

Things I will NOT miss:
Herbal Mineral Salt Toothpaste - While in Hungary I ran out and it was all they had
Bread - I now hate bread even more. I don't care if I don't eat a piece of bread for a month
Developing Lung Cancer - Americans may be fat, but Europeans have a serious tobacco problem
Scanning every sign desperately searching for English
Being without my high heels and make up and wonderful hair products - so vain I know


WARNING: Really cheesy content. Do not continue if you have a weak gag reflex.

I feel so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to see and experience so many beautiful and wonderful things. I coud not have asked for anything better. One of the best parts was how different I felt about a place from the time I first stepped foot out of the train station and only knowing what I had read or heard about to how I felt as I was leaving and had been able to develop my own opinion. I have had the privilege to become personally connected with so many different places and to take a little piece and put it in my heart. My heart is full. But not so full that there is no more room. Already planning my next one :) Look out Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Spain and Portugal.

My First Creeper

My last day in Nice I wanted to walk around the Place de Messena before I left. It is the main square and really pretty and fun with lots of things going on. I noticed this guy who seemed like he was kind of following me so I went and sat on a bench and kept looking at my watch and all around as if looking for someone. He came over and sat on the end of the long bench. I thought surely he had seen any spy movie and knew that is totally against the rules of following someone. I assumed there is no way someone could be that bad at it and figured I was just being paranoid and walked off to take some pictures of this really cool statue. After that I wander over to cross the main street and as I was waiting in the group of people I look over and see the same man about 10 feet away. When the cross light turned green I turned and walked the other way. I looked back and saw him do a double take when he realized I wasn't crossing the street with the group. At this point I wasn't scared because they were so many people around, I was more just curious as to what this little critter was doing. Whatever it was, he wasn't very good at it. I wandered around the fountain and took some pictures of some really cute kids playing in it. After a while I couldn't see him anywhere so I went to the tram stop. I look over and see my little friend waiting for the tram. When the tram came it was really full so I walked down a few doors to get on. I glance over and notice him waiting to get on until he sees that I get on. So right before the doors close I look over and his head is turned so I jump off and run down the street. I thought about waving bye as the tram left but I thought that would be over the top. I now wish I wouldn't have done that because the curiosity is killing me as to what he thought he was doing. I really do wish I would have just walked up to him and asked him. Oh well. It was kinda fun and exciting for a minute.

Really Random Photo Montage

View from my hostel in Manarola, Italy. This was my first of many Italian Riviera sunsets. I thought this church was such a treat to have right outside my window. That is until the next morning when I learned it rings 34, yes 34 times every morning at 7am.

My very own french speaking tour guide of the Riviera. He was such sweetheart and did all of my market negotiating, travel arranging and food ordering. And he can out dress me even on my best day.

Carnival in Monoco. I do have to hand it to them, they know how to put on a festival. I had a French Riviera treat of socca, churros dipped in nutella and a nutella crepe. All in about 10 mintues. I am already looking into medical treatment for my nutella withdrawls that will be happening upon my departure from Europe.

Princess Alberts Palace in Monoco. What a fruitcake.

The rough life of Monoco

Flower market in Nice. Bird of Paradise. One of my favs.

Just playin around. 25 second exposure makes the sea look like glass and starburst lights.

Post hike activity

Hiking the Cinque Terre. The total hike from the first to last town is 7 miles right along the coast. There was one segment closed due to a landslide but I did it all other then that.

Graffiti lovers paradise = Via dell'Amore (The walk of Love)

Siena, Italy

Daily activity

Vernazza, Italy

Looking down at the town from the hilltop cemetery in Monterosso, Italy

No explanation necessary. We did all have a strange, intense desire to watch Gladiator after.

Best meal of the trip. Maybe my life. I threw my moral and ethical convictions out the window and ordered the veal. You know, the "When in Rome" excuse. My Romies (Rome roomates) and I used and abused that phrase for 3 days. We decided to go big, real big and have a Roman dining experience. We went to the ultimate outdoor dining room, the Campo d Flora. Sat at a fancy outdoor table with linen and silverware and waiters with bowties. This is not a usual occurance for those on a backpacker budget. I had the best carbonara for the primo. This delicious baby cow for secondo. Rotana and I don't really enjoy coffee flavor but we decided on the restaurants specialty of Tiramisu because well, when in Rome. Right after we took the first bite our eyes got huge and we just stared at each other. It was so good we were simply speechless. It was fun hanging out with him because he is one of the few people I have met in my life that enjoy food as much as I do. While walking and waiting everywhere in Rome its pretty much all we talked about. My Romies and I talked about how much we missed big hardy breakfasts. So after the financial damage of dinner Jon woke up early and went to the grocery store and bought eggs, and meat and potatoes and surprised us with breakfast!! We each put in 5 euros. And then we bought pasta noodles and sauce and just made dinner at the hostel which was 2 euro each. So there is not even a drop of remorse from our Roman splurge.

View from my hostel in Roma

Sweet Siena

The David. One of the two fakies in Florence. Don't worry, I saw the real one too. But I followed the rules and didn't take peektures, unlike my father.

Good Morning Vietnam, I mean Venice

I am going to attempt to make my way to Paris tomorrow to fly home in a few days. There are currently transportation strikes in France. The government is raising the retirement age from 60 to 62. The youth are taking it to the streets. They have even cancelled university because so many students are rioting. Last week the metro in Paris wasn't running. There are demonstrations at the gates of the airports and they are not allowing fuel tanks in and flights are being cancelled due to lack of fuel. I guess strikes happen but never to this extent before. I am kind of hoping some chaos will still be going down while I am in Paris. They say everything is non violent so I'm not worried. In one of my favorite books the character walks around Prague during the Soviet invasion of 1968 taking dangerous and dissident pictures. I wanna feel like her for a day. Haha.

Nice is nice

And now I have found myself here:

Nice, France

I was thinking of going to Lisbon because some peeps I met in Rome were thinking of going there and the flight from Rome to Lisbon was 35euro. After some thought I decided Lisbon deserved more then the 4 days I had to play with before needing to head back to Paris to fly home. So I headed to Nice and I couldn't be happier.

I need to add to my list of favorite gelatos. In no particular order again: avocado, yougurt and kinder candy bar.

The one and only thing I didn't like about Italy was 'retardo treni' otherwise known as train delayed. I heard of this before I actually got to Italy but didn't realize how big of a problem it is. Every Italian train I went on except for one was delayed anywhere between 5-55 mintues. I am certain if all the beautiful Italian men didn't spend so much time on their hair they could get their trains to run on time. But then they put up Giorgio Armani ads of a half naked Cristiano Ronaldo everywhere at the train stations and suddenly you aren't as mad while waiting for your train.

I fell off the face of the earth

And landed here..............

Riomaggiore

Vernazza

Manarola

Otherwise known as the Cinque Terre. Words cannot even explain the beauty, so I won't even try. All I can say is no museum lines, off season meant no crowds, no internet (that I could afford) was a nice change of pace, and I partook of the freshest seafood I have ever eaten (the man who handmade my pasta and cooked my seafood caught it that morning on his little boat). And yes father, I did have to have to waiter rip the legs off of my shrimp. I just couldn't do it. Maybe one day.