Pics from my one day in Paris

So I went to Paris for a day, due to me booking the Eurostar too late for me to catch a train back to my hometown. See what I did on that one, fateful day: (okay it wasn't fateful at all, I mostly just shopped)





C'est Moi in front of the river Siene. The picture doesn't really show how pretty it was. It was actually raining, and my feet hurt and I was cold and worried about my hair curling, but you can't tell from this picture. I think the rain added to the atmosphere. It made everything all dreary and made me want to duck into a cafe and write my miseries away and pretend to be Hemingway or Simone de Bouvoire. But those cafes are pretty expensive and I don't really understand how to order food since the set meal always has meat in it, so I went to Starbucks instead.




Please look at this random, sketchy statue. It's so sexual. In a lopsided, Dali kind of way.



Look at the beautiful pasteries. The colours! The menu! Such a classy French boulangerie. Don't you think?

Think again!
Its MCDONALDS!!!!!!!!!!



A homeless man in front of the Pompidou.



This is the second-favourite-bookstore mentioned in my last post-Shakespere and Company.. It's right across from the Notre Dame and is famous. Well, as famous as a bookstore can get. To be fair to me, I stumbled across it innocently my first time in Paris. The second floor has books that you can't buy, but can only read in the store. A lot of them are signed or valuable copies I guess. The first floor has a mixture of used and new books. And there are ladders. Any bookshop with ladders rocks in my book. ooo a pun!

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.

Slept in!

Whoops, I totally slept in through my 830 class today! Very unprofessional! I woke up at 915 and was too late to go to my next class as well.

Those shutters are killing me, without light I won't be able to wake up.

To my credit, I am sick and my body needed to rest, but still that better not happen again, I'm going to buy a big alarm clock this weekend since I have just been using my phone and it doesnt have the same effect as large flashing red numbers.

Luckily, the teacher didn't seem to mind toooo much, but I'm sure it was still an inconvenience.

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.

A Comparasion of Days

I thought it would be fun to compare a day in the life of...ME. The first day is last year in November and the second one is this year in November.

My old days in school used to go something like this:

Wed In Canada

7:30: Wake up (Mon, Wed, Fri, other days at like 11)
7:40: Eat Breakfast
7:43: Get dressed, do hair, assesorize, etc
8:15: Go to bustop
8:35: Late for class
8:45: Leave classes to buy a coffee

Have class until noon.
12:00: Starving, wait in line to buy sandwich from the stand in the hallway.
12:10: Eat said sandwich while climbing stairs back to lounge.
12:12: Check and respond to e-mails, fb messages

12:30: Class until 3:00

3:00-6:00: Study in the Library. Possibly another coffee from the fake Starbucks in the library

6:00-6:20: Wait at bustop to go back to appt.

6:30: Make dinner, eat dinner, watch Lost, and do Yoga/strength exercises in front of the TV. No use wasting time.

8:00: Start researching or writing an essay. Procrastinate on facebook and wikipedia and grad school websites

12:00: Get ready for bed and read for an hour

1:00am: Sleep

3:00am: Wake up hyperventillating because of 10 essays due before Christmas.



Wed in France

7:30: Wake up, get dressed, eat breakfast sitting down at the table and make own cup of coffee
8:30: Get to class to teach until 11:30
11:35: Sit in staff room to check e-mails and read the BBC(not fb messages because that is blocked)

12:30: Go to the cafeteria for lunch

1:30: Go to staff lounge and read The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and National Post online


2:30: Stare at walls. Go for a walk downtown
2:35: Downtown. Decide to buy some groceries.

3:00: Go back to flat and stare at walls.

3:15: Go back to staff lounge and write on blog.

3:30: Start talking with every teacher who walks in

4:30: Go back to flat. Clean. Do laundry. Start making dinner. Stare at walls.

6:00: Decide to walk to Mcdonalds

7:00: Arrive at Mcdonalds. Use internet. Check Fb.

10:15: Walk back to flat.

11:15: Arrive at flat. Get ready for bed.

12:00: Sleep. Do not wake up anxious in the middle of the night.

Holy shit I'm poor and bored

But its okay! I found a website that told me how to ENJOY life cheaply. This kills 2 birds with one stone, since a lot of the tips seem good to relieve boredom as well.


I will try to make this the last "I'm poor" post, but I'm sure a lot of you are poor too so we are in this together! This is the first year that my parents haven't given me any money to live, so I am living almost completely off 750 Euros a month that I earn.

I like doing that though, since so many people are in debt it's important how to learn how to live frugally early! I need to have these habits. I'm way too materialistic anyways and I should learn how to be happy without a Marc Jacobs Torquoise wallet. I will just have to learn to live with my Gold broken D&G one. Or maybe I will make one out of duct tape! Or is that going to far?

Anyways, read the site I have enclosed the link. The main tips are just to enjoy the little things and spend time with the people that you love!

This is kinda hard for me since everyone I love is an 8 hour plane ride away, but I get the message.

I will just have picnics in the park by myself. And bake cookies for my classes. And just enjoy being by myself, on a sunny day, listening to Wilco (my band of the moment).

Dammit, I WILL be zen and fulfilled without a high salary and a packed schedule!

Pasta for the Broke:Eating on a Budget:

So I blew all my money on vacation (will describe it in many later posts) and have no money left to buy groceries.

I looked at the meager offerings in my fridge, leftover from a week ago, and invented the Poor Person's Pasta!

1 Cup of Pasta
Half of red onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 TBS of olive oil
Tomato paste from a tube
Butter
Swiss Cheese
Basil

I sauteed the onions and garlic and then squeezed out some tomato paste. It seemed really thick and sweet so I watered it down with a few splashed of cool tap water and stirred.

Then I shook some basil on it.

When the pasta I had been boiling was done, I strained it then added it to the pan and stirred it all together. I then added some butter and grated cheese, stirred and ate!

It is actually really good! I'm impressed by myself! And all from what I found in my fridge, since I really should use up all my food before buying more. Also I'm too tired to go grocery shopping.