And now I'm home...

Okay, so I'm home, finally, unfortunately. And so I'll make a last blog post about my little 2 week adventure. The weather, generally, got nicer and warmer as we went south: Chilly in Copenhagen, Cloudy in Berlin, increasingly warm in Amsterdam, sunny in Brussels, and absolutely splendid in Paris. And of course, I barely did any sort of historical or touristic sight-seeing: mostly our days were spent wandering around.

Copenhagen (May 9th-May 11th)

I arrived in Copenhagen on the 9th, and stayed in Humlebæk with my 2 travel companions, Jane (who was studying there) and Kelsie (who came from the US). Humlebæk is 30 minutes away from Copenhagen and we left for Berlin early on the 11th, so I only spent 1 full day in Copenhagen, but it was really great. Although, there's not really much to stay--clean city, small, blah blah blah. We had to leave at 5am to catch our flight, and almost missed our train.

Berlin (May 11th-May 14th)

Berlin was definitely my favorite! It was raining when we got there, but we stayed with this really nice woman, Albina, kind of on the fringe of East Berlin. Every day we'd take the tram and wander around the East--the farthest West we got was the Brandenburg Gate. During the day we hung out with Andy, Albina's roommate, and Christophe, another couchsurfer staying with Albina. I absolutely fell in love with Berlin--so many open spaces, so much green and trees and parks, such a good open, creative feeling: Berlin is a good place to be young. I especially loved all the artists' collectives scattered throughout the city: Albina directed us to one, I can't remember the name, that featured some warehouse-type buildings and an open area behind them filled with shacks acting as little ramshackle galleries, and really cool cafes and seating areas where you could sit and drink a beer on some sand. At one point, Jane, Christophe, Andy, and I (Kelsie was sick that day) spent a day walking around, going to the Wall, and walking through random parks, sipping on delicious and refreshing lemonade beer. One night, we went out to the Weinerei and met some other couchsurfers in the area.

Amsterdam (May 14th-May 17th)

Amsterdam...was totally trashy. Literally! There was a trash pickup strike! We got to Amsterdam expecting to see picturesque canals and a buttload of bikes, and they were there, but you kind of had to get past the GIANT MOUNTAINS OF TRASH. Luckily, after a day or 2 the strike ended and the trash guys went back to work (Jane and I started to clap and cheer at one truck at a stoplight, making the workers start to blush and laugh embarrassedly), but...Amsterdam is pretty trashy without the trash, so it definitely colored my perception of the city. Don't get me wrong, I loved Amsterdam, but the center was a little bit riddled with tacky and kitschy tourist shops. The center, with it's Madame Toussauds, just kind of felt like a European Times Square. Escaping the center, when we went to the Van Gogh museum, was definitely like a breath of fresh air. There was even a park! Then we went on a canal tour.

Brussels (May 17th-May 19th)

Basically everyone we asked about Brussels continually put it down--"it's boring," "there's nothing there," "Why are you going to Brussels??"--so needless to say we had pretty low expectations. Which is a good thing to have! Because we pictured Brussels to just be some gray, faceless city, we were never badly surprised; instead, Brussels was pretty pleasant! Of course, we left a day early, since there really ISN'T much to see in Brussels, but the time we spent there was nice and lax. After getting off the train from Amsterdam and having no idea where we were (and our CS host being MIA for the night), we wandered over to a park where we chilled in the sun for a bit, before finding our way to a last-minute cheapo hotel. Most of Brussels looks like Midtown Manhattan--lots of cars, big shiny buildings, people in business suits walking purposefully--but in the center, with all the old buildings and narrow streets, and the main square with these magnificent gold-accented buildings, it was really calming. And the beer...delicious. The main attraction in Brussels (other than Mannekinpis, a statue of a little boy peeing) is going to Delirium, a bar with over a hundred (nay, a thousand) kinds of beer. After a mishap with a snooty bartender who was generally being a jerk, we had a lovely evening (and some free drinks from his replacement to apologize for the service). The next day, we boarded an 11:00 am train for our final stop: Paris!


Paris (May 19th-May 23rd)

Paris could not have given us a better welcome: sunny, no clouds, and deliciously warm. After arriving at Gare du Nord, we met my friend Remi at the Louvre, where we stored our bags (after getting free tickets by conning the museum officials Jane and I were EU citizens, using my French 12-25 student card). After Kelsie took an early flight home, it was only me and Jane. The first day, after Remi finished his classes, we went to the Louvre for a couple hours to look at Renaissance, 19th-, and 18th-century French paintings, plus the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The show came complete with Remi, an art-history student at the Louvre, jumping around with excitement as he expounded upon the glories of 18th century French landscape painting. That night we stayed at Remi's apartment in Malakoff, a small suburb to the south of Paris, as we had arrived a day earlier than we had told our CS hosts, 2 students at Sciences Po. Next day, we had a lovely little picnic before wandering around the neighborhood; during our trip, we also went to Montmartre and the Eiffel Tower, but the highlight was definitely going to my cousin Andrew's apartment for tea. Not in the least because it involved Remi trying on many of Andrew's old clothing, including a spiffy canary-yellow 70's bespoke suit. We also went to the Cimitere de Montmartre, right in the middle of Clichy, which only cemented by love for cemeteries. What else? Oh yes, the night before we left Remi also made us a delicious dinner of asparagus omelets and veal. The next day, my last, we ended it with one last picnic: Italian saucisson, warm fresh baguette, Tomme du chevre, olives, stuffed chili peppers, and fruit juice. Sad that we were not allowed to drink wine in the park, we finished it with some Leffe beers at a nearby cafe.

Leaving, at Charles de Gaulle, was, if not overtly emotional, very...reflective. I love Europe, I loved being in Europe, and hopefully I can come back for a more permanent stay. Whether or not that means teaching English, magically finding a job I'm actually interested in, or marrying some European man to get citizenship remains to be seen. Anyway, everyone always asks me if I feel I've "changed" since I've been to Europe. I normally say yes, at least before I saw how scarily easy it was to fall back into my old habits of TV-watching and lounging around since I've been back in the US. Of course, I've spent almost 21 years in the US, and only 5 months in Europe, so of course my American habits trump all, but...I'd like to think I've changed. Maybe? I can never tell these things.

Anyway! C'est tout! Goodbye, blog!

Bises!

Greetings from Berlin

So I arrived in Berlin on Tuesday and we're leaving for amsterdam tomorrow morning. I'm writing this on my iPod, so this is going to be short, but I have absolutely fallen in love with Berlin! It's so...eclectic. Today were going to do some sightseeing, hit up the wall and then maybe brandenberg gate. Wunderbar!

Home Stretch

Welp, I'm leaving in an hour. My bags are packed, my suitcase is a beast, and my apartment is weirdly clean and empty--although even with a made bed, I still feel like it's mine. Right now, in some weird circularity, what began with oddly cold weather and light snow is ending with oddly cold weather and light rain. And I even got myself a pain au chocolat, just like that first day! Although it's not like getting pain au chocolat is out of the ordinary for me...I'm just getting nostalgic. I'm thinking about the next group of students to live here. Even though everyone else seemed to hate Auberge Cardinale, I absolutely loved it. It's the best apartment: cozy, traditional, with lots of character. It's also my first apartment ever, and I will definitely remember that. I want to write a note asking the next group to be kind to our Auberge, because it may not be swanky, but to me it became home.

Ugh ugh ugh I don't want to leave Aix!

Last night we had a little apéro chez Mme. Gigi (i.e. Professor Scott), where everyone brought drinks and food and gathered together one last time. It was fun, and kind of sad, especially because the group didn't begin to bond until just recently. In between glasses of wine and plates of food, I managed to get in my last goodbyes to everyone--even to Eliza and her little sister, who came before going off to a concert in Marseille. I also talked to Mme. Gigi, who said that I was "one of two people to think creatively," but that I couldn't express myself because of my atrocious grammar. Um...thanks? But seriously, it really meant a lot coming from her: she was totally one of the best professors I've ever had.

Oookay so it's about 10:30 right now and I want to call a cab (no way am I going to drag my ridiculous suitcase all the way to the bus) at 11:00, to be at the gare TGV for my 12:13 train. First stop Paris, and then tomorrow Copenhagen (oh god I'm going to Copenhagen tomorrow!), if the ash cloud doesn't get in my way. I don't want to go!


Question: how does one become an expatriate? I don't want to teach English, but I will if it means getting to live here. I don't want to leave!