Oh, so that's why I'm broke

I sat down today with a glass of sparkling rose wine and a piece of chocolate cake to make the process of going through my finances easier.

And I discovered why I'm in around -70 euro in debt on my French bank account and why I'm around 450 in debt on my Canadian bank card.

Two nouns.

London. Paris.



I spent waaaaaaayyyyyyy more money then I had planned to.

The biggest purchases on that trip was all the train rides, with me taking the wrong train and everything. In total I payed 215.58 CDN and 78.20 EU for transportation. That's a lot, and next time can be avoided by booking early, not travelling during peak periods, not getting lost, (being less careless is something I have to work on in general!!) and booking trains only with my French account--> which I didn't have a choice of because at the time my debit card hadn't activated.

I spent around 100 Euro on food and beer, which can easily be avoided by NOT EATING OUT!!! Sometime it is very tempting, but I have to learn to control myself. I think next time I can get this number down by half, which will still allow me to eat out a few meals.

I have 50 euros, 150 USD and probably 20 pounds in cash unaccounted for so I have no idea where that money went! Probably ice cream knowing me...

I can't stress how important it is to write down what you spend, either when you are spending it or at the end of the month. For me, it opened my eyes on where I can easily save and where I am overspending. And it only took about 20 min, so its pretty painless. I was kind of in denial before, but now I see how careless I can be. I know what mistakes I won't make again like.....

1. using my Canadian cards
where the exchange rate makes everything 1.5 times more expensive. To my credit, this couldn't be helped because my French card randomly stopped working for a few days in London.

2. Bank fees.
I spent a total of 17.7 on bank fees. Every time you purchase something in a non-Euro zone my French bank charges me 1 euro. It would have been better had I taken out a wad of cash, for which they would have only charged me 3 euro. Of course, knowing me I would have lost all the cash so thinking about it, I would rather spend money on bank fees!


Things I did good

1. Tourist Sites
I only spent 16.07 on tourist site, and that was for ONE entrance fee to the Tower of London. All other touristy things I did for free including walking tours, museums, and markets. This just takes some research time on the internet.

2. Hostels
I spent 40.68 on accomodation. it would have been only 20.65 had I not taken the wrong train and had to pay for a hostel in Nantes.

Now I can budget for future trips with a better estimate of how much I really need and not a fairy-tale version.

Pics From London!

This is me on Halloween. I won't tell you what my costume is, you will have to guess. I think it is hilarious, but I am easy to amuse. I realize now that those stripes are not doing me any favours though. I am standing beside a ubiquitous (did I use that word right?) telephone booth. Its adorable. I don't even know why people in London have cell phones, they should just make calls from these all day long. And wear Mad-Men-Style fedoras. G-d I want to live in an early 1960s movie.




This is the book that I am obsessed with reading. Though this picture is from London, from Waterstones in Oxford Circus, I finally bought it in Paris, at my second favourite bookstore in the world, Shakespeare and Company, which is across from the Notre Dame.





This is my friend Kat in front of Darwin, at the Museum of Natural History. I actually learned a lot while I was there! Also, last year in school I became really interested in evolution and natural selection so it was nice to see Darwin's ideas basically proven in this museum.




This is a Yemeon Warder at the Tower of London. If you have read Philippa Gregory books about the Plantanageta and Tudors (The Other Boylen Girl, The Virgin Queen, The White Princess etc.,), you will understand why I had to see this, never mind the 14 pound entrance fee. It was totally different then I imagined. I literally thought it was a tower, but it is really an enclosed compound (enclosed partly by an ancient Roman wall) with several different buildings, including one that Yeoman Warders live in. They have been the guardians of the tower for like, forever. All the executions happened in different places and each scaffold was built especially for that person. The places where they were executed is very small! Its just a smallish green patch of land, way smaller than my backyard. I guess since they were all aristocrat, they didn't want lots of spectators.

As opposed to the non-aristocrats who were hung, drawn and quartered in the streets for all of London to see. Gosh there are just so many benefits to being royalty.



This is from Henry's Blog, a book from the Tower of London gift shop that is from the very mouth of Henry VIII. Read it. It kind of makes me sad for this generation. But it also made me laugh.

Everything that Went Wrong

Okay so I had a great time in London and Paris, but I want to tell you everything that went wrong in this post to get it out of the way and then I will tell you about all the fun stuff I did.

1. Blew My Budget

So much for my budget. At first I was really good about food, but by the middle of the week I was eating out one meal a day, plus snacks sometimes. I need to take my own advice. I just have this compulsion to try all the British chain store food like Pret A Manger, Wagamama, Eat. I also had a few beers out, around 4, so that added up at about 3.20 a pop.

2. My French Debit card stopped working

When I first arrived in London my French Debit/Credit/Blue card wouldn't let me take ANY cash out of the machine but it would let me purchase things. The second day I couldn't even purchase anything! I had to use my Canadian credit card and American cash that I had brought along just in case. So everything for a few days ended up costing me almost double because of the exchange rate. Miraculously, my card started working again on the 4th day and I was so happy that I just started spending like crazy. I kinda thought "fuck this! Its in Euros! It's a great exchange rate" But money is money and now I only have a little left for things like food and appt. decorations that I wanted to buy.


3. I missed my train

I didn't realize that the "Please arrive 30 min before your train" on my Eurostar ticket was more then a suggestion. It took me so long to FIND the Eurostar platform in the Paris station. Like...30 min. of walking from the metro, that station is HUGE and the Eurostar platform is upstairs, with no signs informing anyone of that.

The women informed me that since my train left in 6 min I couldn't board.

"WHY NOT!? That doesn't make ANY sense, I still have plenty of time to catch it, its not even HERE!"
"No."

And she sat back with her arms crossed. Then I started bawling. Nothing. She told me I would have to catch the next train, an hour away and I pleaded with her. Nada. Then she told me that it would be free.

Why didn't she just SAY so?

So I got another ticket and it all turned out fine.

4. I got on the wrong train

This one did not turn out fine. It was in Paris, on my way to Sablé that I got on the direct train to Nantes instead of the one that makes stops.

I found out when it was supposed to stop, and it didn't. I started bawling again. (this was a week later then the first bawling episode so its okay). It was too late to take another train to Sablé.

5. I got lost on the way to the hostel

So I had to sleep at a hostel in Nantes. The guy at the train station told me that it was very close. I asked him if I should take a cab and he said definitely not. He told me to turn left outside the station and walk straight. I confirmed these directions twice. Turn left. Walk Straight. So I did. In the rain. With my luggage. About 2km in I realized that this was definitely not the right way. I looked at my map. I was not supposed to be beside the river. The guy had forgotten to tell me I should turn left outside the NORTH entrance of the station, not the SOUTH entrance which I was at. So I walked backed to the station. In the rain. With my luggage. Bawling. And talking to myself.

6. I got yelled at by a cab driver

I decided to take a cab to the hostel once I made it back to the station. 1 min into the drive he starts violently swearing at me in French. I have no idea why. Just yelling really loudly at me. I started to bawl AGAIN. He continued to scream "MERDE" at me.

I kept one hand on the door handle in case he intended to murder or rape me.

This is fast becoming the worst night of my life.

Eventually after driving a very obviously way to long route he dropped me off infront of a nondescript building. Then he wouldn't give me change, claiming the extra was for 'baggage' even though the baggage was in the back seat with me and no cab driver in France has charged me for baggage before.

Then I had enough and started screaming and swearing at him.

FUCK YOU YOU FUCKING FRENCH CAB DRIVER YOU PIECE OF SHIT FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUK YOU I HATE YOU.

I walked around the building and found the hostel, by this time wet and crying and had snot coming out of my nose because I also happened to catch a cold in England.

The receptionist simply informed me that there was tissue in the bathroom and checked me in. No "are you okay?" No "hmm did something happen while you were on the way to the hostel "

She just gave me a room key, told me that I had the absolute last room in the entire hostel. That was my one piece of luck that night. If someone had gotten that room before me I might have just killed myself.

I think French girls must cry a lot since no one in France seemed the least bit perturbed by the fat that I was literally sobbing in a body-shaking kind of way.

The next morning I took the CORRECT train back to Sablé, not without spilling my coffee all over the floor of course, and went to go teach class.