I'm NOT an Ugly American!!

Home Again! Home Again! Jiggty Jig!

2006-12-22T16:16:00.000-08:00

So I got into Seattle last night at about 6 and that means to god ol' Port Townsend for Christmas and then to Spokompton (fo' shizzle) for New Years, then back to Seattle on the 2nd to try and set up my new apartment, a studio in the Murphys (thats on-campus housing for all the non-SUs). Some time in there I have to go through all of my stuff (and I mean ALL) and throw out/donate what i dont want/need and spend some conciderable time with the my families, not to mention get over my jet lag / culture shock. So for all of you out there thanks for reading and now you can just call me on my old cell to chat or what have you!

London and Amsterdam

2006-12-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

So all will be relived to know that I wasnt sold into prostitution when I was in Amsterdam (which is what I think Gram was afraid of) and had a great time there as well (but not too good) , but I'm getting ahead of myself, first I went to London...

So I decided to spend my last few free weekends in France, or as the case maybe not in France. My friend Kaitrin and I got a cheap flight direct from Grenoble to London and stayed with her aunt to make the cheapest trip to London ever, which is still not THAT cheap, but really fun anyway. We went to all of the things that we didnt have to pay for. We saw Big Ben, Abbey Road, the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens (which I had never seen before) and walked around alot. We also got shown around the London night scene by a real Londoner (Kaitrin's aunt Lucy). and then flew out really early on Sunday morning. But it was an excelent day in London, but I am glad to be going back on the 15th for a week!

Thanksgiving here was really great too. The French dont celebrate Thanksgiving so we didnt celebrate on Thursday, but rather Friday, when we didnt have classes. We all made on dish and ate at our program cordinator's house and generally had a good time. I made the Mashed Potatos and the Apple Pie, and I helped a bit with the Turkey too. It wasnt exactly a home Thanksgiving but it was pretty good for a Frenchified one.

This last weekend I went with my friend Brandon to Amsterdam. Again because of the 8 hour train ride, we only really got two nights and one day in the city. As much as Amsterdam gets the rap for being Europe's "City of Sin" I really liked it for some other reaasons as well. We went on a 3 hour long "Free Tour" by the same company that I did a tour with in Munich, which was awsome. Then we also went to the Heinikin Brewrey (which was reallky pretty cool, or maybe I thought it was cool because they gave me 3 free beers) but what I was really excited to see was the Anne Frank House, which I cant really even describe except to say that it was really something that you have to see for yourself. It was pretty funny when I bought her diary in Dutch at the Museum shop and the sales girl kept talking to me in Dutch (I nodded and said "Ya" alot) then she was like "OK your obviously English, why did you buy this book in Dutch" to which I replied that I wanted to have it in the original language, and then she also told me that there are a few entries in English, so I will have to look for those.

This is probably going to be my last blog before I am home and can talk to you all in person! Hope all is well there and I cant wait to get home! Pray for me while I take all these French Cumulative Finals!! God Save Me!

A Whirlwind Week

2006-11-08T01:58:00.000-08:00

So this last week in France everyone was on holiday for the entire week, celebrating the festival of Toussaints (All Saints), you see in France even though the government is not religiously affiliated, when they tried to abolish the Catholic holidays everyone raised holy hell (dont mind the pun), and so now they are the secular state with the most holidays because they have both national holidays and Catholic holidays, which is fine by me ;) So the entire University had the whole week off, except the CUEF (which of course is the part where I study). We just had Wednesday off, although most of our profs canceled class anyway (knowing that if you dont leave France for the week you starve, because nothing is open-everyone is on vacance!) So I did actually go to class but only Monday and Tuesday.

The Friday before last I went to Marsaille tout seul (all alone) because everyone needs a little private time, and I really, really, really needed to be by a large body of water (preferably salted). So I went and the sea air gave my soul strength, and I spent alot of time at the Chateau d'If (which is where most of the first half of the Count of Monte Cristo takes place), on Saturday, which is a prison island, kindof like the midevil version of Alcatraz. It was beautiful while I was in Marsaille, the high on Saturday was 31 degrees, in celcius, which I think is about 90 degrees in for us. It was warm enough that I wore a summer skirt and was not cold at all. I saw so many sailboats out on the water and it was such a beautiful day that I wanted to go sailing SOOOO bady, and I was very sad that I had not the oppertunity to do so. So on Sunday I packed up my things and had breakfast down on the wharf (a crepe of course) and went in search of Gram's and Denny's friend Roger, who has an apartement in Marsaille and a flat in London. Gram only had his address in Marsaille and the address and phone in London, so my oroginal plan was to look him up in the phonebook and confirm his number with the address, but France is not like the US (need I forget) and there are not phone books in every phonebooth (I have heard that you just have to call the operator, but doing said transaction in French is terrriflying!) so I found the address on my map and just went, then I had a moment of crises when I wondered if I should ring the bell to get buzzed up, so I called Gram, at 1 in the morning PT time (sorry Gram!) but that was ok, because it turned out that Roger was there and is a very nice man who I was very pleased to meet. We went out to lunch before I caught my train and he also graciously invited me to stay with him in London before I head home (I fly from Paris to London, and it was a snap to change on flight to a few days earlier), which is great because we all know how much I LOVE London!

So when I got back to Grenoble I had a scant 2 days of class before I headed to Barcalona with Nikki. We left super early on Wednesday to get there in the late afternoon (although it was dark), and have dinner with her cousin, Natchi and his wife and daughter. It was really great to get to meet some of Nikki's family (she has met a few of mine on weekend trips to PT) and also to have some natives show us around what I can only describe as one of the most beautiful cities! In the early portion of the last century, there was a man named Godhi who did alot of achitectual designing in Barcalona and the result is magical, it is like a modern fairy city made of sandcastles, with wide tree lined avenues and tourited apartment bulidings and movie theaters that look like Roman amphitheatres. Nikki and I walked down the streets and eneded up taking pictures of Insurace bulidings and the like just because the architecture was SO cool. We mostly walked a ton and got a real feel for the city and the one "touristy" thing we did was go to Sagrata Famillia (Holy Family) which is a church that they started in 1882 (the same year as Gram's house!) and are still working on today (this is not unusually, Notre Dame took 300+ years to finish) but what they have done is simply amazing! It is also designed by Godhi, and take it comming from someone who has seen ALOT of churches in her time, this one is totally different from anything youve ever seen. Its really modern, and is being created for a modern worshiper, and it will be increadible when it is finished in another 100 years or so (Nikki and I promised eachother that we would come back when it was done!). And in the meantime it is unconcrated so there are funny things like vending machines in the soon to be sanctuary and things like that. We also waited in an hour and a half long line so that we could see the panoramic view that one of the cathedral's towers has to offer, and it was deffinatly worth the wait!

So that has been my last week, and what lies ahead foe this weekend? Only God can know, because I sure as hell dont, so I am on my way to the SNCF (the French rail system) office to see what my student discount card can do for me!

A tout a l'heure!

So I'm a little behind...

2006-10-24T02:44:00.000-07:00

So I am a little bit behind in my posting.

The last time I posted it was to tell about Aix and now I am going to tell about Lyon before I forget! I went to Lyon with Kaitrin, Kikki and Robert and although we only stayed one night it was a really good time. We left Friday after Robert and I got out of class and got to Lyon in time to see theis concert of a band that Nikki, Kaitrin and I had seen here in Grenoble called Mango Gadzi, they are a Greoble band and do this really awsome and compeatly indescribable music that I'm sure I will have everyone listening to when I get home. There was also the present surprise of having a very good warm-up band at the show called NoMad that would probably have to be classified as the same kind of music as Mango Gadzi but is totally different at the same time. The next morning we went to the Basillica of Lyon that sits on the top of a hill overlooking the city with amazing views, we also went to the Musee Beaux Arts which I thought very impressive for a museum so small, and I have been hard to please after my 2 week long art class in Paris with Dr.Weihe.

My birthday was good and I have to thank everyone for all of the presents and good wishes! Althogh as I am in a place where the drinking age is 18 I cant say that being 21 is much different than being 20. But I'll see about that when I get home. And for all of you who are curious I will let you know that my mom did indeed end me a Birthday Cake in France, contiuning her tradition since I have been away from home and that it was very tasty and didnt look mushc worse getting here than getting to Seattle!

This last weekend I just rested in Grenoble and didnt do much other than my homework and reading. Although I was thinking of going to Marsaille next weekend and I will certenly have something to say about that!

School keeps on going and I think that I am doing well, although it is hard to tell because we have no work handed in or anything to judge by until we get our final exams! Im excited that I am comming home soon, but still sad at the thought of leaving France.

Aix now, Lyon later

2006-10-13T01:15:00.000-07:00

So last weekend I went "tout seul" (all alone) to Aix and had a wonderful time. It was really great to be able to go somewhere by myself as after getting to Grenoble I have just been with people all the time it seems (which is good too). But I just did alot of aimless wandering all over Aix which I loved as Aix-en-Provence (there is also Aix-les-Bains) is really famous for its street markets (read:I took alot of pictures of fruits and veggies glinting in the sun), and by connection, its street musicians. One of the other great things about Aix is that it is where Cezanne painted for the last 20 or so years of his life, and although there are very few of his paintings in Aix there is his studio, which I luckily happened upon by complete accedent.

While at said renound artist's studio I meet a really cute little French woman, of about 70 I think, and we began discussing art (in French mind you), and when they kicked us out of the studio so they could close for lunch (a very french thing) she invited me to her house for lunch, which is very near the studio, where she goes often as she is a trustee and donner to the privately owned and opperated museum. So I went as I felt that if she really was an untrustworthy person I could take her down (she was about 5'2" and like I said, a white haired grandmother), but happily that occassion didnt arise. We had a love lunch in her lovely garden talking of art and after lunch she asked to show me something. Turns out that she has a very small (and very blue) Van Gogh which I got to SEE. IN A PRIVATE HOME. It was probably one of the most amazing experiences of my life, if I had any less tact I would have asked to take a picture, but I'm glad I didn't.

So this weekend we (Nikki, Kaitrin, Robert and I) are off to Lyon, but first I have to get to class so more on that later!

SO...

2006-09-24T04:42:00.000-07:00

Nothing to exciting to report as of yet, as I havent had the mulah to travel yet, but I will when I get my financial aide from SU...

Still things are going well here in Grenoble, we find ways to fill our time. The thing that we end up doing most is just hanging out in a park, or more often a cafe and just chatting. Mostly just the SU kids get togather, but every once and a while we adopt another into our little circle. In partiqular we are hagging out alot at a cafe called the XIII, the triez, thirteeen in frenchm, where we have become regualars to the extent that they will let us sit there for hours after only buying one drink apiece. Its one of the really nice things about French culture, the empahsis on knowing people, it is the same way with bakeries and resturants even, when you become a regular you are treated like one of the family, the servers know your names and what you prefer to drink and will go out of their way to give you really good service when they know they can depend on your patronage. At the bakery it is more likely to be something like the freshest bread, still warm from the ovens, rather than the baguette that was baked 2 hours ago.

I have also noticed how much better my french is getting day by day, i feel like my vocabulary has exploded since I got here. To the point where I can have disscussions about politics and religion and the things on the news with my host family and if I dont know a word, no matter how complicated, I can explain AROUND the thing that I want to say and then they tell me and so this is how I learn new words! I have also discovered that I am alot better at French than I thought I was, but that I just didnt really respond well to being put on the spot at no notice and without volunteering in class. It just takes me a second to gather thoughts and the right vocabulary around me.

Well thats it for now! Hopefully next time I write I will have gone somewhere exciting, and I will post pictures as soon as I get my computer!

A Day in the Life...

2006-09-12T02:14:00.000-07:00

So, Hi there! I know I havent updated in forever, but I am having computer... issues. Meaning that my computer has been taken hostage by the French government and I have to write a letter to them telling them that I am a student and that I am leaving in December and taking my computer with me and I also have to find, somehow, the repcit for a computer that I bought two years ago, which wouldn't be a problem except that that paperwork is in storage in Seattle!!

So about Grenoble, I really like it.

The family I am living with is tres sympa (very nice) and my French is getting better by the day. In my host family there is a mom, Valerie and a dad, Stephan, and two kids, Maxance, 11 and Eloise, 5. I really enjoy being in a family with kids because Eloise dosnt hesitate to correct my French and Maxance is just taking English so he was super cute and asked me to speak with him for a few minutes every day and I also told him that I could help him with his homework. Other than the family there are also 3 other students living here (all French) and they are really great to hang out with because they are all just a little older than me and know all of the cool places that have live music and the like. There is also a dog, a little Apolapso, who is actually very cute and not annoying and also a cat, who is a gray one with one of those funny squashed-up faces.

My classes are going very well. They way they work is kindof cool. You are assigned a certain level of language classs that you have 4 days a week, then there are also 8 elective classes and you get to chose four of them. SU kids have to take the translation class, so that means I get to pick 3 more, but I cant decide (in usual Libra fashion) and I think I am going to take 4, the 4 being French and Francophone Literature, Contemporary History of France, French Politics and Economics, and Art History of France. Each of the electives (including translation) meets once a week in the afternoon, where the language classes are in the morning.

So as far as what I do every day other than classes, I and the other SU kids hang out alot at cafes and bars (because that is what you do in France) and I also spend a good chunk of time with my host family. Like yesterday for example, I went for drinks after Lit class with most of the other SU kids, then came home for dinner with my host family, after which Valerie (my host mom) as well as Alise and Baptist (two of the students who also live here) played Trivial Pursuit (in French of course), needless to say I lost worse than I have ever lost at TP, (those out there who have played it with me know how rare that is) but it was really fun and a good way to practice my French anyway.

GRENOBLE!!

2006-08-24T06:23:00.000-07:00

So the internet is rediculous, as is this keyboard so bear with me. I got to Greboble at 9 pm last night and am staying until the 1st at a hostel near the outside of town. I scoped out the house where I will be living here and it looks really good, but I will have to take the bus and the tram to get to classes everyday. It looks like the family that I will be staying with has a cat (that I saw) and kids (there were toys in the driveway-but that might be the neighbors) so we shall see...
for the moment I am going to try and get some work done on my story that is due and then maybe some more miandering around town!!

Graz!!!

2006-08-20T15:04:00.000-07:00

So here I am in Austria. It is just as beautiful as I remember it when I was here two years ago with choir. The countryside (as seen by train) is beautiful and the people are really nice, and mostly can speak English (which, althogh I dont like to be an ugly american and make them, is good for me).

So here in Graz I have met up with my friend Kristen from Seattle U , she was also over here in the classes I was taking and is staying for the summer. To day we met at the train station and (after ditching our luggage) went for a very long and miandering walk through Graz´s really old and ritzy district, althogh there might be more of them. To get there we went through a big park where there was a band playing jazz and swing standards as well as some showtunes (right up my alley!) and then just wandered and chatted about every thing from life and the short stories that we are working on for the Ireland class. It was really fun but not too exciteing, but tommorow the work will really begin, but it is soooooooooo increadably great to have someone to talk-shop (so to speak) with.

As for my next stop on Glenna's wonder-tour of Europe it will either be Paris to meet up with some friends or to Grenoble to really strap down and get going on turning this story and poems in, they are due, by-e-mail on the 31st of August!!

When I know I'll publish it, also there should be some new pictures up in the next few days...

I AM ALIVE!!!

2006-08-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

Contrairy to popular belief (or at least the belief of Troy!) I am, in fact, alive, and, at this very momnent, on an Air Force Base in Germany.

I had a bit of a crisis, in which I was really, really, really broke and was bailed out of said predicament by my Gram. (Thank You Thank You Thank You Gram)and some friends from high school who I met up with in Munich and after hearing of my troubles said "Come Stay with us for the week", they are working here at a summer camp/day care thing and have a 2 bedroom apartment only currently inhabited by the two of them (its meant for 4) so it has worked out really well for me.

My weekend in Munich with Kristi and Megan was really, really fun. We went on a Free Tour, which was quite possibly the best tour I have ever taken and if you are ever in Munich or Berlin I would really recommend going on the Free Tour offered by NewMunich or NewBerlin Tours, as they were excelent (I didnt go on the Berlin one, but I bet that it is good too). We then went on the pub crawl with the same tour company and had another excelent time and the next morning we had a sobering (dont mind the pun) and moving tour of Dachau (a large concentration camp outside Munich).

I know some of you might think that going to a concentration camp on vacation is just a stupid thing to do. But it is really something that I felt I needed to do, and that I really think anyone should do given the oppertunity. Me being me I have read alot about World War II and the Holocost, starting with Anne Frank in the 5th Grade, and I can tell you it was a compleatly different experience actually being in the place where those atrocities took place. The museum at Dachau really does a good job of presenting all of that information and I only wish I would have had more time there to process it all. One of the things that struck me most was the size of the yard where the prisoners were made to assemble every morning for roll-call. As I looked across this emense space, there were people walking around in it and it seemed compleatly impossible to me to have that huge space cram-packed with people as it was when the camp was liberated in 1945. That really said more to me than all of the books I have read about the Holocaust what it really meant and still means to so many people.

Well anyway, that is about all I have done, I spent alot of time this week working on homework and reading quite abit, while Kirsti and Megan are at work, so it has been pretty boring, but nice to have some down time. TTFN!

So it is NOT ABOUT PICTURES!!

2006-08-02T11:43:00.000-07:00

So I realized that I haven't really said much that has not been related to the uploading of pictures in the last couple days. So here is the fill-in.

So the day before I left for Portugal (while I was in Paris), it rained and I found out that I had WORN a hole in the bottom of my everyday walking shoes (the only other pair of footware I have being some shower shoes that are not too horribly embarassing to walk the streets in). So my thought was, great, well as long as this had to happen I'm glad that it happened while I was in Portugal, because things are really cheap here and I havent been spending much and I can probably get a decent pair for about 20 Euro. Ok. So I found a pair that I liked (white, ballet flats, with a red strap and red accents around- very Eropean at the moment) and bought them, well I asked if I could ware them out of the store and that was fine, so they gave me my old, holy, shoes in a bag, which I preceded to pitch into the first garbage can I saw. About a block later I was really wishing that I had not thrown them out, because I had blisters on the back of my right heel already and I still had about 5 more blocks to go before I could change shoes!! So I hobbled back to the hotel, changed into flip-flops and headed to the local pharmacy, where after a sign-language session with the pharmacist I found myself the owner of 10 heel-blister spicific band-aids (that work great). So since then I have been forcing myself to ware the new shoes at least an hour (although today I went 3) so that I can break them in, and I can tell that in a few days they will be really comfortable, but for the moment I am mostly slogging around in the Belgian rain in flip-flops and taking lots of vitamins and air-borne to try and not get sick from doing so.

After buying shoes and giving myself blisters, I got on a train. A train to Paris, which took 19 hours, during which I met the guy who was in line in front of me at the ticket counter in Porto reserving a train to Paris (surprise, surprise he was sitting next to me). He was rather good looking and I ended up talking to him and playing cards and UNO (which I brought with me) most of the train ride to Paris, where he was staying and I was going on to Brussels :( He was really interesting to talk to though, he was in Porto after working in Spain writting for the Lonley Planet series of guide books, and he had just graduated from college with a degree in Journalism from Boston University, so he was great to talk to about books and what exactly you are supposed to do with a degree in Liberal Arts. So he saw me to the Gare du Nord where I caught my train to Brussels. This was an all together uneventful trip, but I did get a few hours sleep then, the first that I had gotten since leaving Porto, Clay (the guy) was just too fun to talk to. Needless to say I was a little disoriented and confused when I got off of the train and booked my ticket to Brugge. On the train to Brugge I met two very nice Finnish girls who were going to the same hostel I was, so we floundered our way through the city as a team and we did eventually find the hostel. After a short freshening-up we all went out for dinner and drinks (and some beautiful night-time pictures of the city) and then headed to bed early, they were tired too, after traveling from Amsterdamm. I slept really late today (well till 9 when I partook of the free hostel breakfast, then went back to sleep) until 2, just catching up.

When I finally did wake up for good. It was already starting to rain outside and there were ominous clouds gathering in the sky all around the city. But I was hungry. So I did some wandering and found a pizza place on a little back alley, where I got a real Italian 4 cheese pizza for a pittance and watched all of the people run by trying to get out of the rain. By the time I was done eating the rain had stopped just a bit and I got myself to this Internet cafe before the next downpour started. There is thunder and lightning and what I want most is to curl up on a couch with some tea and a book and a friend and watch the storm. However as that is impossible at the moment, a little cafe will just have to do.

So about Brugge. It is a very cute little city, very much what I would think about when I thought about Belgium. It is a little bit touristy. Like Port Townsend. But really I kindof like that, being used to it in PT and all, but I hate the tourists and I REALLY hate being a tourist, but as there is no real way to get around that I just try to stay away from all things really cheesy and try to only whip out my camera when no one is watching. I am also very careful not to treat it like I have seen some people in PT, like it was Disneyland and there wernt real people that lived here and real cars on the streets trying to go places and all of that. The one thing that is really amazing here are the bicycles! The bikes probably outnumber cars 3:1, the streets all have a car lane, a bike lane and a sidewalk! (All of the main streets anyway) I can rent a bike at a discount at my hostel, but I decided not to do that today because I got up so late, so I would have only had it for about 6 hours, instead of a full day, which is 12. But I will definatly get myself out of bed and explore the city by wheel tommorow, as it seems the way to do it! There are so many bikes that I bet in the low season here they even outnumber the people!

So I hope this blog makes up for the blandness of late and keep the messages comming! Dont forget to take a look at the pics I spent several hours and 20 Euro uploading! And see my fabulous hair! Hopefully I wont have to go that long without posting some ever again!! Now that I know how to do it!

LOVE LOVE LOVE AND KISSES TOO!!

In Burgge!!!

2006-08-02T02:13:00.000-07:00

Hey all, I got in here last night but by then the internet was closed (or at least all of the places I looke were). Si I just e-mailed Kiel and hopefully he will be getting back to me short;y! So I have some reports that ,y second album is not comming up so i will retype the site, it should be

http://glennasglamshots.shutterfly.com

so give that a whirl and see how it goes, if it dosnt work then heads will roll!! (on the website that is).

XOXOXO

OK scratch that!

2006-07-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

That is only the link to the first album I published, to get them all go to

http://glennasglamshots.shutterfly.com

that will give you all of them, and most in the Second part of the Europe stuff has captions too. So you will semi know what you are looking at, and probably think I am crazy.

So as of tommorow I am leaving Portugal and going to Belgium to see my friend Keil bike race and to hang out with someone who I know and, joy of joys, speaks English!!

Enjoy the pictures!

Pictures Are Uploaded!!

2006-07-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AbsWrlo1cMmLiI

These are ALL of the pictures I have taken thus far on my trip. They are at the moment in two segements, not really breaking in an place in particular (well - they end when one memory card got full and I had to buy another on in Paris). I also have some video clips, but shutterfly wont read them so those will be comming later. Also for all of the Townies out there, there are also pictures of Gram's Fantabulous Follies dance recital and of Rhody Fest 2006! I wasnt smart enough to get them off my memory card before I left! So there you go and you can stop bugging me for pictures for awhile.

So here are some random pics

2006-07-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

So dont mind these totally random pictures that I uploaded, I am trying to figure out the best way to get some of my pictures on the internet for everyone to see and that didnt really work, it just did the first 4 pictures of 217, so look at them, sorry they are a little dark, but I cant fix that from here. Im having a bad time trying to do all of this in Portugese, so be patient and hopefully sometime in the very near future I will have a place where you can see alot of my pictures at the same time, without having a huge open the file wait to see them!

1

2006-07-29T06:18:00.000-07:00

Portugal- The Texas of Europe?

2006-07-29T04:12:00.000-07:00

So they say that everything is bigger in Texas right? Well never having been to Texas I don't really know if that's true there, but it certainly is here. And not only is it bigger, its cheaper too! And everyone is super, super nice and helpful. I got here not speaking any Portugese or Spanish (which just about everyone speaks too) and was still able to get a really good room for 25€ (at something called a 'guest house' which I think is just like a hotel-except smaller) and thats all to myself!! With an amazing view of one of the city of Porto's main squares, and a balcony!! From my balcony (!!!!) I can see the city hall at one end and the train station at the other with a square in the middle that has a fountain and lots of trees (but, alas, no grass).

Sorry that I have not updated so much since getting fired, hope I didnt live anyone hanging on too much of a cliff. So the family I was living with gave me a day to get out, but after sleeping there one night I decided that was enough for me and headed out the morning after I wrote that last blog. It was just too akward to do anything else, so I hopped on a bus to Dover, got on a ferry to Calais and then a train to Paris. After a night in Paris I decided to try and find some friends of mine who had been in Porto, Portugal the last I had heard from them. So I bought a ticket to Porto (when I say bought I mean reserved- I have an EUrail pass) and three trains and 18 hours later I found myself in the beautiful city of Porto, where I have not found my friends, but thats ok because I am having a good time anyway and getting lots of work done on my homework for my Ireland class where computer time is cheap. I am very glad to say that it makes it easier becasue just about everyone speaks English, and so I think on some level I have stooped to being an Ugly American in some why because I do not speak Portugese, but what can you do? I had about 24 hour advance decision-making before comming to this country, so I learned curtosy phrases and also Portugese for "Do you speak English/French?" and that coupled with universal had gestures and a confused lo

Well SHIT!!

2006-07-24T12:27:00.000-07:00

OK, so I jsut got FIRED from my au pair job, and Im pretty upset about it and now feel very uncomfortable being here. I have tommorow to get all my stuff planned and go somewhere else. So if anyone out there is reading this is in Europe then e-mail me or leave a post and I will come and hang out with you until I get some stuff figured out.

Greetings from Sunny England!!

2006-07-18T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hello Hello All!!

I just wanted to write and tell everyone that I made it to my job in Hawkinge, England safely and have started my job as an au pair. Things are going well here and it really is quite sunny!!! Hawkinge is a very little town that is quite near Dover and the coast, as well as Canterbury and Leeds Castle (which Mom, Dad and Gram all tell me is spectacular). Its nice to get a reprive from living in hostels and also to just chill and be mellow for awhile.

Hope all is well where ever you are!!

Back to Dublin

2006-07-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

So I tried to post last night but the computer I was using wouldn't let me. (I got really frustrated then went to the desk and asked for a refund, which I actually got.) But anyway I wanted to update everyone on where I was and what the PLAN is for the next few weeks. So I got a job, yippee!!!! In England, Kent in fact. And I start on Sunday when I have a flight into London then the family that I'm working for is picking me up. In the mean time I have come back to Dublin with some of my friends from class and we are staying at the Litton Lane Hostel which is really cheap and in a really good area so its a great deal all around. While I'm back here I am going to be very boring and studious and try and get the first draft of my major creative writting paper done for my Ireland class and also go back to some of the places that I wish I got more time in. (most of the museums here are free- which is the best thing EVER!!) But it will be really weird not to have a schedule for the first time in a month.

Tommorow we got cheap student seats to the Abbey Theater (Ireland's National Theater) for The Importance of Being Ernest, with an ALL MALE CAST. It's supposed to be unbeliveably funny and increadably good. And after seeing the last play they had there I dont see how it couldn't be.

The last thing that I wanted to mention is Skype. Since I will be in Europe for a while I was thinking that if anyone wanted to talk to me you could get Skype, its an on-line phone that is free with other people on-line I already have an account and my name is surprise, surprise "shamrockdragonfly". The other nice thing about it is that you could also call my cell phone for cheaper than it would be to call it from anywhere else, I just thought I would throw that out there and if anyone already has it or gets it I would love to talk to you.

So that's all thats going on for now and I hope to hear from you soon!!

Wow!!! Its been a while!!

2006-07-09T07:22:00.000-07:00

So I have been very, very, very busy of late and did not even realize how long it has been since I have written. I am in Galway now and it is very like Port Townsend. With the nearby sea and the visable Aryn Islands in the near distance it would not look out of place if this was the view from Gram's house. It is really quite small for being the third biggest city in Ireland and there are lots of places that cars are not even allowed.

At the moment here we are staying in the Barnacle Quay Street Hostel which is on one of these pedestrian-only streets. You would think that because of that it would be quiet, but no. There is one of the most famous pubs in Galway across the street and the crowds can get rather rowdy and loud right outside out window every night (even weeknights when the pub closes early!!) Our room is very small, 4 bunkbeds with a narrow gap down the middle and a rather large bathroom. The main thing is that there is no place to put anything so I have one narrow bed that I have to share with my luggage.

The nigthlife in Galway is really pretty great considering its size. We have been out and had really good seafood and also afterward to listen to Irish music of which there is no shortage. We have even heard of a place where there is Irish Dancing at a pub and you get in for free and then just have to buy a pint or something, that is on Tuesday, the last night in Galway.

As for after right now I am hoping I have a job in Kent, in England for a few months, now if only I could figure out how to get there... So pray for me that I get it because I'm really starting to freak out. People keep asking me what I am doing after the class and all I can say is "Your guess is as good as mine." But if I do get the position I might finally be able to upload some pictures of stuff and of my new hair!!

So tonight is the night of the World Cup Final and so a bunch of us are going out to a pub to watch it on the big screen and so that should be really fun. Also I hope everyone had a good 4th of July and all of that and I'm sorry I missed it (I did go out that night though and drink a toast to the old US of A that night though).

And as a sidenote last night we went out and saw the new Pirates of the Carribian and you should really go and see it in the theater (this means you Mom and Dad) because its like the first one in the sense that you wont see some of the coolest things when you see it on your TV. It was seriously 3 of the shortest hours of my life, but totally worth it.

Ta Ta For Now!!

''The Wind that Shakes the Barley''

2006-07-03T13:39:00.000-07:00

So for all of my Irish family and friends out there who like to learn about Irish history I must recommend this movie to you. I was a little bit gory and violent but only really because that was how this partiqular period in Irish history was.

It is about the revolutionary period after the Easter Rebellion of 1916, but before all-out Civil War broke out in Ireland. (I have been learning alot about both of these things lately) The film won the coveted Golden Palm award at Cannes and after its premire there it has been very well recived here in Ireland. It was increadable to be able to see a film of this callaber in the country that the action takes place, although the movie mainly takes place in the South.

In other news... things have been busy her and while I am still looking for a job, I am hopeful and realize that I can do the whole 6 weeks without a definate plan thing better. (read:I'm not freaking out about it so much now) And I might just use that time to do some chillin' in Ireland, there are a few people in this class that are staying here for a few weeks and my train ticket works here, so what the heck? I am really falling in LOVE LOVE LOVE with Ireland and could deffinately love to stay here FOREVER (dont worry mom- I'm being faceitus).

So with that - Top o' the mornin' to ye!!

Ireland Feels Like Comming Home

2006-07-02T04:52:00.000-07:00

So can you guess what I feel from the title? But it really is true and its not just because I understand what people are saying to me 9because sometimes I dont), but also the weather (its raining buckets at the moment) and the way people act toward eachother and the fact that I have an amazing sense of direction here. To get where I'm going all I have to do is follow my feet and I'm exactly where I want to be. The only thing I really want right now is to smell the sea, it has been a weird feeling that I have had since I got to Dublin, the smell of sea air lingers just out of smelling range, it seems and I want it to be everywhere. In a very odd way Dublin stikes me as just a really big Port Townsend that just happens to be founded by Vikinings.

So we have been doing some really amazing things as well, last night we went to a Russian play translated and semi-rewritten by a very famous Irish playwrite, the title is ''A Month in the Country'', and it was at the Abbey Theater, which is the national theater of Ireland. The play was increadable, not just in content but the acting was very good and it really is the best stage play that I have seen in a very long time. The actors are big name people in Ireland and the UK and have done alot of shows and stuff that we used to watch on the BBC (when I lived in Spokompton and there was nothing more multi-culteral to do than watch the BBC). This particular play is nearing the end of its run and we are thinking that we might be able to get into one of the previews for the next show at the Abbey, ''The Importance of Being Ernest'', by none other that my birthday-twin, Oscar Wilde, an Irishman himself (who I visited in Paris), and on top of that, its done by an intirely MALE cast, as in there are men playing Lady Bracnell, Gwndolyn and Cesily. So that would probably be beyond funny and a little bit of fun as well. So I hope that happens before we leave for Galway and if not I might just have to come back...

So I am going to put this out there and hopefully someone can help me, I am trying to get a job as an aupair for the 6 weeks in beween when this course ends and the next one begins and I really need a picture, a GOOD picture of myself to put on my profile, I have pictures but Internet Cafes dont really like when you hook stuff up to their computers so I havent been able to get any up, but if anyone out there has some digitized pics and wouldnt mind E-MAILING them to me that would be great.

IRELAND

2006-06-30T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!! This is my first post from a small island that you might have heard of- Ireland. All that I really have to say about it so far is that is beautiful and I love it. Things are so much more REAL here than they are in Paris, Paris is kindof like Disneyland, you like to visit but you can't really believe that anyone really lives there. There are real people in Ireland and those people are great- fun, nice, talkative and passionate people that are fun to interact with. So we are staying at Trinity College, which is pretty much the Harvard of Ireland and it is really great, SOOO much nicer than the Stella that it makes you see how bad the Stella really was. So far we have been to the National Museum and also on walking tours of both Dublin and Trinity, and also today we just got in from the PUB, watching Germany beat Argentina in the World Cup, it was really wild especially considering that it was in the middle of the afternoon and it went into triple overtime!! Well that's all for now, the internet is super EXPENSIVE, I need to find a cheaper cafe and I will write again soon.

MY HAIR!!

2006-06-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

So kind of randomly today I walked into a hair salon and got my hair cut pretty short. I just told them to do whatever, but make it short and it came out the best ever!!! I think this is the shortest that it has ever been in my adult life, but it is SOOO wonderful and its really cool (temperature wise) and super cute and spunky. I comes to right above my jawline and my hair just kind of flips out from there. I also have ''swoopdy-doo'' bangs ( as mom would say ) for the first time since I was 6 or some thing and I like them too, but they're pretty long as far as bangs go, although there is a little tiny poiece that is too long to put behind my ear and it is probably going to drive me insane, but I'll live until it grows out and in the meantime I've got that whole Veronica Lake thing going for me. I will get a pic of it up ASAP.

So today is our last real day in Paris; I leave tommorow at 1:20, but because we go the cheap flight it is suggested that we got to the airport (which is one way out in the middle of nowhere that is reall hard to get to) 3 hours in advance!!! And we think it takes about an hour and a half to get there from the city! Oh well, it only cost 30€ right? But I am really sad to be leaving Paris, it is a reall y beautifly city and although I have been here before I feel like this time has beent the only time that I have really experinced it differently and fully this time. It has been really wonderful and I love all of the people that are on this trip, and I'm sure that I will say this about Ireland too but right now I dont want this trip to end. Well I have to get going but I will write next from Dublin!!

Pompedu

2006-06-27T00:15:00.000-07:00

So I went to the coolest Musée yesterday, the Pompedu Museum, which is the Modern Art part of the Louvre just like the Orsay is the nineteenth century part of the Louvre. As bazzar as it looks form the outside what is inside is really awsome. To start with its about 2 stories taller than any of the surrounding buildings, so it has an AMAZING view of everything then the modern art inside is so cool that I spent 6 hours there and only got to two of the 6 floors!!! It was increadablz, because it was not just paintings (which I am just about sick of) but film and atmosphere and all of this semi-performance art and it was THE BEST!! So I have class in like 15, so I have to go but bye for now and LOVE YOU!!

WHO DOSN'T KNOW JIM MORRISON!!!!

2006-06-25T02:47:00.000-07:00

To my poor little cousin who was not raised to love classic rock, Jim Morrison, rock God and icon, is quite possibly the hottest rocker ever and also wrote and sang really great lyrics that speek to the heart of the American ROCK LOVER, and his band, THE DOORS, was probably one of the most influential of the last 100 years, so you should really listen to some of his music, your parents probably have some and if they dont then mine do and my mom will be more than happy to bring you into the light.

On a less scolding note, wandering around the Père Lachese Cemitary was really fun and just plain good excercise, even if my feet were killing me afterward, and when I tried to jump the fence that the Nazi gaurds put there and then yelled at me for trying to hop I did not see the Nazi, and BTW, you would have been very hard-pressed to find another Nazi anywhere else in the entire cemetary, but there one was, making sure that no one got close to Jim, even though for many people it is a really good reason to come to Paris in the first place. Besides when they put a fence there like that how can they not expect people to try and hop it? Really? Thats why they had the guard there. If they thought people would obey their stupid little rules then they wouldn't have to have the guard in the first place.

So yesteray that was all that I did, go out to the cemetary, because I wasn't feeling too well, and it was a free day so I lazed around in bed and was generally a bum the rest of the day. I'm not really feeling the greatest today either, but I just have to ignore that because we have an assignment out at the Picasso Museum today so I have to go out there. I'm getting pretty excited to go to Ireland in a few days, just for a change of pace and scenery, not that I don't love Paris but I need a little change at the moment, but maybe I just think that because I'm feeling not the best at the moment. Well I am off to buy a crepé and go to class and look at Picassos, ttfn!

Jim Morrison and Cell Phones

2006-06-24T06:46:00.000-07:00

This has got to be a qiucky as I only have 5 on my internet time.
First my number is : 033-06-28-62-49-25 , if you want to call me I dont pay but you do 0.75 cents (euro cents) a min.
Second I saw Jim Morrison today and they had a gate all around his grave and a cop standing by who yelled at me when I tried to jump the rail for a picture, SO NOT ROCK 'N' ROLL!!! ok times up bye!

The Daily Grind

2006-06-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

So i think that probably I should tell you what we are really doing over here on a daily basis. Believe it or not there is a pattern and some normalcy to the class and all. Class usually starts at about 9 every morning, either in the Jardin du Luxembourg or sometimes right outside of the hotel. Then we either meet and have class (if were in the jardin) or walk to our destination (with Dr.Weihe stopping at points of interest like the apartment that Gertrude Stein lived in or something equally interesting along the way). When we get to where we are going we generally have an assignment that has to do with looking at art and analysing it/disscussing how we feel bout it. All of this, of course, is kept in a journal that we get to turn in at the end of the course. Once we get to our place for the day we are responsible for the assignmnet but then we are on our own. So we then go to lunch/shopping/attraction/back to bed and we might meet again later in the afternoon. If we do meet that is usually followed by dinner at anywhere between 10 and midnight, after which we usually go out to bars or clubs or the Eiffel Tower, this usually ends by getting back to the hotel around 2 and sometimes as late as 4. And then it starts all over again.

When I am writting this on Wednesday the 21st we have already been to the Louvre, the Orsay, the Monmartain, Giverney, the Rodin Museum and the Orangerie. (In a special note to Gram the Orangerie where the water lilly panels are is really cool and all redone and beautiful on the inside). All in a week and on top of that I have seen 4 tottally wild World Cup games and celebrated the 21st birthday of one of the guys on the trip, all of which has been great and amazing and very overwhelming.

With the money I saved from not having to check my luggage I did splurge just a little and bought a really cute sundress at H and M and some really cute knock-off Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses (which I kinda needed because I accedentaly left mine in JessyLynn's room and she didnt have time to get back to me before I left). I also want to get my hair cut, but havent had the time yet.

On a more important note I did get a cell phone the day I went to Giverney (there was a place by the train station). However I cannot give everyone my number yet because me being me I was carrying around the bag with all the phone stuff in my hand and set it down and forgot to pick it back up, so while the cellphone was in my purse it now has a very dead battery and I have no charger and I cant remember the number (although its stored on the phone somewhere, but I would have to be able to turn it on to see it). So here's the deal with my phone. I can make international calls and that costs 0.75€ a minuit, but if you call me you get charged and not me. And you buy a sim card that has minuits on it like a phone card where you just get a new one or get the old one recharged, but the rates are better than with a phone card and I can just get a new simcard when I go to another country (like Ireland) and voila it does the same thing.

So this posting is really long and might be boring but I really dont know what else to say so à bien tot!!

A sunburn update for Mom: It is getting better but it has been there for more than 5 days just because I have not been able to stay out of the sun, and also because it seems they have never heard of aloe vera in this country. I did try and go to a pharmacy and bye something for sunburn but they wanted 30€ for it and I was not about to pay that for something I wasnt sure would work.

Travel Itinerary

2006-06-21T08:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks for telling me what you want to hear!!
One of the things was that nobody knows when/ what I'm doing so I am going to attempt to put qn itinerary on this, so this is basically it:
June 14-29 : Americans in Paris class
June 29-July 14 : Irish Writer's Workshop (in Dublin/Galway)
July 14-September 1 : this is that extra amount of time that I have to play with and that is generally giving my mother heart palpitations
September 1- December 20 : Class in Grenoble
So another issue that has to do with this is where I'm staying, during the English classes we are staying in hotels, dorms and hostels (in that order), the ''in-between time'' is up for grabs and then in Grenoble I am staying with a family.
So that was a fun and colorful blog!!

Le Baggage

2006-06-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

So as most of you know, I was planning on paying aroud 200€ to store my bag at the Gare du Nord for 2 months, well I asked the owner of the hotel where I'm staying if I could leave it there for 100€, figuring it would be good for both of us, and she told me she wold do it for free!!! I am so greatful that I am goingto tell everyone to stay at the Hotel Stella, Rue Monseiur le Prince, and other than that it is in a really great local, even if it is really ''basic''. Oh and I have fallen in love with Paris so much that I think I am going to stay here for the 6 weeks between Ireland and Grenoble so that I can really get to know the city well. I am really hopping to get a job, maybe as an Aù Pair or at Shakespeare and Co., a very famous English bookstore that I have heard sometimes lets writers sleep there in exchange for working in the shop (they have beds upstairs in the lending library part of the store). So if anyone hears of work in Paris?

As far as what I hve been doing, the Louvre, the Orsay, the Eiffel Tower at night, the Monmarrtain Museum the Millol Museum, alot of writting in my jornal at cafés drinking all my food money away with the best coffee I've ever tasted. And walking somwhere in the vacinity of 20 miles a day, I think. It has been SO hot here and so humid that my hair is very wavy and cute as soon as I hop out of the shower. The internet cafe is right across from the hotel, open from 10-8 every day and this is the first time I hve been able to get here since I wrote last, which seems like eons ago to me but I dont remember what day that was. Oh, I got pretty badly sunburned on Saturday, the first day in a few months that I have forgotten to put on sunblock, unfortunately and that is pretty painful, but I'm not letting it control me (except I have been taking less out with me everyday).

You know I started thyis blog to tell everyone what was going on, but now I dont even know where to start and what y'all want to hear about so just tell me and all shall be revieled in due time. Untill next time...

Bonjour Paris!!!!

2006-06-15T06:22:00.000-07:00

Hello all!!
Just writing to tell everyone that I made it to Paris in one piece. So far things are great, not too much trouble getting here, unless you count the 2 hour delay and dragging qround my suitcase, but thqt is expected. All that we have done today is go to the Louvre, which was nice for qbout 2 hours untill the tourists qll woke up qt 11. Just to tell you, here the keyboqrd is qll different qnd the a and the z qre inveresd, and I'm sick of fixing it so you can figure it out. We went down to the Seine lqst night qnd got crepés for dinner, mine was egg and cheese, then wqlked to where we could get shots of Notre Dame and the Toure Effél. It hqs been very fun sofqr just hqgging out and getting to know everybody here and we hqve our first ,eeting in qbout a half hour, so I need to go but I reqlly wanted to tell eevrybody thsqtt I go here OK; And I will post my address qnd phone number qs soon asI get the chance; a bien tot!!!

I'M SO FREAKIN' EXCITED

2006-06-13T01:03:00.000-07:00

So, I am very, very super duper excited (and that is probably not the best way to express this), about leaving TOMMOROW!!! That is when this blog will actually become very intersting and will be more than me ranting and obsessing. For the moment the most interesting thing going on is that I am staying up all night and not sleeping, because I have to sleep on the plane so that I can "hit the ground running" when I get to the airplane part of my trip, mostly because I want to be awake when I get there and Dramamine does not make me sleep, it just makes me really tired. So enough rambling and ranting in my tired typing, I have to write a paper, yes a paper, about Camille Claudel before I leave tommorow and if you dont know who that is then you should deffinately Google her and maybe read my paper - I might post it for kicks and giggles, just so everyone can see how brilliant I can be on no sleep and some Rock Star engergy drink and 4 in the morning watching VH1 (aah- the life of a college student). Woo Hoo here we go again...

I'm NOT an Ugly American!!

2006-05-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

16 Days Left of My American Captivity!!
So here I am in quite possibly one of my favorite places in the world, Port Townsend, and all I can still think about is leaving. And while my desire to leave is not quite as bad here as it is in Seattle, it is still undeniably present and there is no way around it, so I will "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming..." For another few agonizing days during which I have to write 4 papers and take 2 tests and then find a place to pack up all of my stuff, so I guess it will go quickly but still seems to be dragging on and on and on and on...

21 Days and Counting

2006-05-23T20:23:00.000-07:00

So here's the deal, I want to get out of here so badly that I have packed my bags as much as possible for the moment (that is without wearing the same cloths for the next 20 days), I have started this blog, and I have basically become obsessed with leaving RIGHT NOW!! It's very similar to having a serious case of Senioritus, and I'm only a Sophamore!!! I've started reading my 'Europe on a Shoestring' for fun and making notes in the margins about things that it doesn't include but that I think it should. And the fact that I just had my last 'Americans in Paris' prep class last night is really not helping either (also my growing general annoyance for my roommates - sorry girls). I THINK IM GOING CRAZY!!!

2006-05-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

There is nobody out there to read this yet, but in a mere 22 days I will be heading to Europe for the adventure of a lifetime and this is where all of you can keep track of all of me ;)