Greece so far

Well today I left Athens, almost halfway through my time in Greece. I can't believe this trip is going by so fast! I remember sitting in Marseille thinking I would NEVER get here, but here I am sitting in my hostel in Athens, about to head to Thessaloniki for a week. But let me rewind to the beginning of Greece: so we spent over 24 hours in trains, busses, and boats, finally arriving at 8am in Corfu. The 13-hour ferry we took was definitely...an experience. We don't have to show our passports or anything, just walk up into this very derelict-looking loading dock (soon to be full of cows), past cars and freighter trucks, finally arriving at the passenger deck. Which wasn't much nicer. There were some couches, tables, and chairs, all a bit shabby and a faded blue color--mostly full of Romanians heading home. Now I thought I was out of place in Marseille. On this boat, I felt so WHITE. Julia (who has red wavy hair) leans to me on our little section of threadbare couch we had claimed and says, "do you feel...watched?" Every single person on deck was shamelessly staring at us for the first few hours on the boat. After that, they switched to sporadic staring when they got too bored screaming at their children. or at each other.

About an hour in, one of them decided to talk to me: this cute little boy around 3 years old. He gave me a piece of bubble gum and faked me out for a high five...it would have been nice to know what he was saying to me, though. We also met this man around 65 years old from San Francisco that was cycling across Europe. He was really nice, but a bit bizarre when he pulled out a little debbie cake and a mini bottle of vodka, says "it's my birthday!" and scarfs both down in front of us while talking about how expensive coffee is in Italy. Then he cut in half his ENORMOUS map of Greece and gave it to me, in case I got lost.

We didn't have a cabin on this boat, so we had to sleep on the deck couches. I spent the night with about 40 Romanians sleeping on the floor and couches, at least 5 of which had sleep apnea. And one old lady on my right who kept shoving her feet into me...so that was my first night of no sleep in the week to come. We arrived at the Pink Palace in Corfu--GORGEOUS--and the first thing they do is give you a shot of pink ouzo. At 9 in the morning. The next day we did a 4-wheeler safari where we rode around the whole island: up mountains, on beaches...I had trouble believing whose life I was living it was so spectacular. But mostly, it just felt good to be driving something! It's been wayyy too long since I've been behind the wheel (or handlebars) of a motorized vehicle. We spent the next day at the beach, then took a night bus to Athens. The bus wasn't so bad, we were just really tired when we arrived at 5am. Then we got lost about 4 times, I sat on a bench and cried for about 15 minutes, then once we finally made it to the hostel I tripped and busted my lip open on the bed frame. And I lost my memory card for my camera so all of my photos thus far are gone.

On the upside, I got plenty of sleep, saw the Acropolis and Parthenon, hit the Athens markets, and had some great moussaka, souvlaki, stuffed grape leaves, gyros, baklava, spanakopeta, and the works. Nothing like feta and flaky pastries to make you feel better :)

I arrived in Thessaloniki this evening after a 5.5 hour train ride, got lost, found a Starbucks, and now I'm re-couping with an iced coffee before I set out again to find my hostel. Item one when I arrive: laundry.

Italy

For those of you who thought I fell off the face of the earth, I apologize! things have been crazy on this side of the Atlantic: moving out of my apartment, ending work (finally), starting my hostelling for the month of May. Julia and I were going to begin on Easter Sunday but realized that with all the holiday stuff and hotels being booked, we'd rather avoid sleeping on the street and leave on Monday after. So we arrived in beautiful Genoa, immediately got a gelato on the port (pistacchio and cioccolatte) then the next day saw the important things like the cathedral and big piazzas, Christopher Columbus' house, and the shopping district before we hopped the train to Florence (which took a ridiculous amount of time in slow, regional trains covered by the eurail pass). Our train to La Spezia, where we connected to get to Florence was a full hour late, so we were in a completely exhausted state. Somehow, this charming Australian guy convinced my roommate and I to go out for an Argentinian's birthday, so as luck would have it, I got about 2 hours of sleep that night before getting up to climb the Duomo the next day. After 4 nights there, I have to say that Florence is one of my favorite cities in Europe; not just because it was beautiful and we met some amazing people there. I saw breathtaking art I had only imagined seeing in person. I remember freshman art history, seeing slides of the frescoes in Santa Maria Novella, imagining myself standing in the church in front of them. Actually making it there, I almost started crying it was so cool.

We met some great folks in our hostel with whom we went out for a big Florentine meal. We had some excellent tuscan chianti, and I tried a steak florentine: the most rare piece of beef I have eaten aside from tartar, one of my roommates and I shared a giant t-bone steak that just melted in your mouth. Our second day there, we went to Pisa, where we took the obligatory photo then looked at the obligatory leaning tower of Pisa souvenirs a little old man was selling beside it. This sweet man was so excited to talk with us that he gave us these little wooden Pinocchio figures and said in Italian, "sometimes, children know it is better to tell a lie than the truth".

Yesterday we arrived in Naples, where it was pouring absolute buckets. We couldn't access the internet in our last hostel, so I couldn't get directions to our Naples hostel. Ergo, we were trudging through the rain and puddles in Naples looking for an internet cafe. Finally we made it to the hostel, soaked from head to toe (including our suitcases), and desperate for food, since we'd barely eaten in trains all day. So we ordered a pizza and went to bed, then this morning woke up to sun and birds chirping outside our window. So we walked around the city and had REAL neapolitan pizza at Sorbillo's. Sorbillo's is this famous pizzeria owned by like the biggest family in Italy. Not only are they famous for their pizza, but there are news clippings in the restaurant about how each generation has sick amounts of children: the great grandfather is quoted saying that the secret to good pizza-making is having at least 20 children to help make it. By the way, the pizza was INCREDIBLE

Then we wandered around again until we found this little limoncello factory because I wanted a little bottle to take home. They see us looking and immediately offer us a free tour of the factory, followed by a free tasting of their liquors that they make. Folks: I tried arugula liquor today and it was SO GOOD. It sounds disgusting but it tastes like caramel or Dr. Pepper or something with a bitter aftertaste. SO good. After that we wandered down by the port, got a little lost, then made it back to the hostel to plan our next move.....

CORFU!!!! We're leaving for Bari, then tomorrow night taking the ferry to Corfu where we'll live the dream in the Pink Palace, one of Europe's famous hostels. I'm paying 24 euros a night for basically a resort on a Greek island. You should google it. And wish me luck with my 24 hours of travel tomorrow!

Isfromhell and Didiot

This post is going to be mostly about how much my landlords suck, but keep reading because there might be some other funny stuff. News: Maria has sadly gone home to Spain because she's close to being offered a better job there. I was excited because that meant I could sleep in a room on my own for the rest of the month (until the rent she had paid was through). mistake. Now for the landlord story: So on Valentine's Day, we had a torrential downpour here in Marseille, so to cheer myself up I dashed out in the rain to Rue Saint-Ferreol and bought myself a green Swatch (because my old $6 Target watch finally quit). After braving the wind and rain, I came home and baked a pineapple upside-down cake for my roommates (minus Maria). Just as Pauline and I are about to dig in, there's a frantic bang bang on our door---uh-oh. **ominous music** It's the landlords.....Isabelle and Didier (more commonly known as Isfromhell and Didiot). They storm into the apartment, uninvited, and start screaming about who is sleeping in Maria's bedroom (at this point, Esther has snuck out the door to go out with this guy she met in the street a few days before, Bruce). I heave a big sigh, leave my cake behind in the kitchen, and brace myself: Maria had just told I&D that she was not returning, so they had come downstairs to our apartment to unleash their fury and lock her bedroom door for good measure. Pauline and I stood beside my beautiful cake for over an hour listening to Isabelle scream at us, call us liars, bad tenants, and overall insult our intelligence (mostly because we are under the age of 50).

I subsequently had a complete meltdown once they had left, totally not realizing that they had locked not only Maria's boxes in her room, but also some of my stuff. But Pauline and I--we're so smart--we think we can pick the lock. mistake. Back up: on Saturday we hosted a big pancake brunch with bloody marys, maple syrup, and delicious sausage. After several bloody marys, Pauline and our friend Benoit decide to go at the locked door. They end up removing the door knob, making the knob on the other side of the door fall. Awesome. So after hours of youtube videos and internet articles, we've found out we'd make horrible criminals because we can't open this simple lock. I don't even want to think about what I&D will say when the door is opened. That is, if we ever get the key from them. They're threatening to not even open for the moving company Maria is sending from Spain.

In other news, I only have 15 days of working left! well, it's 5 weeks, but I only work 3 days a week. Julia and I are planning some travel after we finish, leaving for a tour of Italy at the end of April, then on to GREECE in May. But for now, I'm working on going to Barcelona next week (I'm on winter holiday right now), then Paris in March. I'm going up there to meet Pauline's friends and family, then we're driving her car back down south. 8 hours in a tiny little Twingo? It's gonna be legen....wait for it.......DARY.

Oh and the cake turned out to be delicious :)

Droit au But

This weekend was super-full: starting out with Maria's birthday. We had a little party at our house for her Friday night where everyone cooked something, and I had THE BEST cherry chocolate cake of my life that our German friend Maraika made. Pauline's friend from Paris, Mathilde, came in town so we got to see her again. Saturday the weather was gorgeous again: just over 60 degrees and sunny, blue skies. So I put on my big sunglasses (in case I saw any of my students I didn't want them to recognize me), then headed out for a nice stroll to the Pharo park. This park is built around Napoleon III's Pharo Palace that he built next to one of the forts overlooking the ocean and the Vieux Port, but never actually lived in it. So I had every intention of walking up there, reading a book in the sun by the sea, but then I walked past Rue St Ferreol..........[ominous music].....the shopping district.

The huge after-Christmas sales don't start until January 11th here, so everyone is going stir-crazy, waiting for these MEGA---I mean, like -50% everything---sales, then once the 11th hits it is a complete mob scene in this part of town. In french you would say, "c'est le bazaar". So I'm on my way to a tranquil sit by the sea, when the "soldes" start calling my name. It takes me 2 hours to buy 2 t-shirts in Zara, the store is so crowded. Never again, I tell myself.....haha we'll see.

Saturday night we went out again for Maria's birthday, but last night, Sunday, I attended my first OM match! that's Olympique de Marseille, the football team here. I mean soccer...you get it. We scored these tickets from a friend of a friend of....I have no idea, but it turns out our seats are in the "ultra" section. like the super-fans. There's a guy with a microphone in front of us leading songs and chants, at the beginning of the game we all held up different color papers and made the OM symbol on our inzone, and there's CONFETTI. everywhere. With all this confetti and singing going on, I'm curious to see what will happen when someone makes a goal. OM scores and all hell breaks loose: these guys are so happy they start moshing. I mean, head-butting, punching, body-slamming, throwing each other to the ground....then they start singing again and throwing confetti at each other until something else happens. They even had a 2 year old boy with them; conditioning him to be the next microphone guy, I guess.

In the end, OM won and we had a great time (nobody got injured in the mosh, at least). They had a big fireworks show in the stadium after, which made me happy since I didn't get fireworks on New Years. As for the difference between this and an American football game, I can't say I prefer one or the other. I will say, however, that there's something nostalgic about cheerleaders, marching bands, fight songs, and yelling the word "TOUCHDOWN!"

Hellooooo 2011

Well the holidays were lovely in Bordeaux, Niort, and Paris but they were COLD! So instead of a White Christmas like everyone back home I was stuck with super-cold rainy and clear days alternating through the 10 days. In Paris, though, it was pretty puch a steady overcast and cold (now I remember why Versailles was so depressing). But despite the weather we managed to keep the holiday cheer: in Bordeaux we stayed in a cute bed and breakfast owned by a man named Jean-Pierre and his fat gray cat, Chanel. Chanel ate breakfast with us every morning. There in Bordeaux we enjoyed the Christmas market, beautiful Christmas lights, and went to the cinema to see Harry Potter in English. On Christmas Eve we made it out to a small town called Saint Emilion, which is famous for its wine; bottles usually run around 30-40 euros in the rest of the country.

Then after Bordeaux we went to Niort, chez Brita to relax for a few days. There, in Niort, I found a spectacular Karaoke bar called Uncle Sam full of old French townies singing 80s love ballads in French. It was hands-down the most eventful night of my holiday (yes, even beating New Years). So there is this overweight woman in her 30s spilling out of a black satin boustier, drunk as a sailor on leave in Amsterdam. She keeps going behind the bar and pretending to pour drinks for people; lecturing me about how horrible men are and that I should never trust them. All the while, some old lesbians in the back are wailing into a microphone some love ballad, while on the karaoke screen some bizarre video of a man on a motorcycle is playing on a loop. (BTW, the karaoke machine was so old it used records. Not CDs or even 8-tracks, records.) So I pop outside to answer my phone, when an extremely drunk woman in her late 30s comes barreling out the door, then starts crying about her boyfriend. Boustier women comes out to console her, both of them leaning on me (I am, at this moment, very uncomfortable). Apparently, her boyfriend was cheating on her with his ex-girlfriend, so the woman says, "I know! Ill tell him Im pregnant" boustier woman: "thats a great idea, honey, you show him what-for!" It is this moment that I seize the opportunity to slip inside. To close the night, Brita and I sang "Come Together" by the Beatles (as the only English songs they had were by the Beatles), bowed our goodbyes, then woke up early the next morning for Paris.

Paris wasnt terribly eventful; we went shopping, saw the lights on the Champs-Elysées and the windows of the Galeries Lafayette (Broadway show themed this year!!), then ended up in Montmartre for the New Year where we watched the Eiffel Tower sparkle at midnight. Somehow, that will never compare to watching the ball drop in Times Square.

This morning I showed up to work and--surprise surprise--the professor neglected to tell me he wasnt at school. So now Im killing time, about to break this French keyboard because all the letters are in the wrong places and I still cant figure out how to stroke an apostrophe. In any case, Bonne Année to everyone, and Meilleures Veaux!

It's the holiday season!

Hello and happy holidays!! Today was the last day of classes before Christmas break, so the students have been a little restless this week...but so have I. I'm leaving in 4 days to go to Bordeaux with Brita (fellow French major from FU) where we will spend a relaxing Christmas holiday in a little bed and breakfast with a bottle of vin rouge. I've read that Bordeaux has the best Christmas market in France outside (of course) Strasbourg. So after all that relaxing and vin chaud in wine country we're headed off to Paris for New Years! I'm so excited it's my first big city New Year's celebration; I can't wait to see the lights on the Eiffel Tower. OH---but I have to back up to things I've done leading up to the holidays! I went to Nice a while back with my friend Jon who lives in La Ciotat, where the first movie was ever filmed ("Train arriving at the La Ciotat train station" by the Lumière Brothers. It's a train arriving at the station platform, how original.) Anyway we went to Nice and enjoyed the warm weather, saw the Matisse museum, wandered around the gorgeous flower market, and stayed at the BEST hostel I've ever experienced, the Saint Exupéry Villa. Not only are the towels and breakfast free, but they have a shuttle that takes you in and out of town because it's literally a villa in the hills of Nice.

Then a few weeks later I enjoyed FOUR Thanksgiving dinners! Ali hosted a spectacular dinner with a huge turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, and (my mouth is watering) pumpkin pie. All of the italians, french, and other internationals there thought all of us americans were crazy, gorging on this huge meal, but we were in heaven. Then a couple nights later four of us got together at Ali's again for a leftover party. Thanksgiving number three was at my apartment on actual Thanksgiving: my roommates and I did a raclette dinner (melted cheese on potatoes and charcuterie)--so I got a French Thanksgiving in. Then the fourth was the next night in Miramas at Kathleen and Darius' house in the country. We all had a big, traditional meal then (as tradition would have it) we all fell asleep on whatever sofa or bed we could find. Then I ran 3 miles every day for the next week.

It's been fun introducing French people to american Christmas, though...most of them have no idea who Rudolph or Frosty are...OH funny story that happened totally outside of any Christmas conversation in my apartment: we were keeping a kitten for a friend in our apartment for a few days (her name is Giselle and tore up the entire apartment but was precious all the same)--and I was talking about Shannon's cat, Tinkerbell, to Pauline (my roommate from Paris). So Pauline goes, "tinker bell? wha----oh! I know!" then she sings: "tinker bells, tinker bells, tinker all the way!" I was rolling on the kitchen floor laughing. What's also difficult is discussing Christmas with a bunch of Muslim students who don't even celebrate it (not to mention the strict separation of church and state here). So those conversations usually end up about soccer, the Marseille soccer team OM, and/or shopping. Oh, teenagers.

SO now I'm just counting down the days until I leave for Bordeaux and baking mountains of Christmas cookies for my roommates! I included a picture of our cute little tree in the salon...Happy Holidays to everyone back in the States; missing you all so much this Christmas season!!

Love and Blessings

Getting my history on

So because of the strike, not only are the streets littered with garbage, stench, and disease-ridden creatures, but most schools are also closed. No really, the students are on strike too: I went to my middle school for the first time yesterday and the middle school students were setting dumpsters on fire. and the dumpsters are pretty big right now considering they're overflowing. My high school has been shut down for the moment because students blocked the entrance yesterday throwing eggs and firecrackers at anyone who came near. SO: instead of going to work, I have been enriching my knowledge of my new city.

What used to be a Greek port, Massalia (now Marseille) is home to a number of great archaeological finds. which I just found out today at the Natural History Museum and the Marseille History Museum (which is conveniently located in the mall, just under the Galeries Lafayette). And get this: I was walking around the Palais Longchamp park today and just paid the 1 euro to get into the Natural History Museum and out of the cold, not expecting to see anything but stuffed dead animals and fossils of mammoth teeth, when I stumbled upon the Venus of Brassempouy! That probably doesn't mean anything to most of you, but if anyone took prehistoric art history with Marie Watkins, you will know that that little 3 and a half centimeter sculpture is a big deal. She belongs to a museum in Paris, but is put on display other places and I got to see her today!

Now my next great find today was at the Marseille History Museum: the best preserved hull of a 6th century ship in the world. Yeah I thought it was pretty cool. They freeze dried the wood and they only keep it under blacklight in a sealed off room with 3 tinted windows because it's so fragile. Then after I was tired of trying to squint to see the boat, I explored these roman ruins outside in the Jardin des Vestiges (also just outside the mall). Except there were a lot of really shabby, mean-looking cats stalking around so I didn't want to stay long.

OH--one more fun fact: the very first cafe ever in France was opened in Marseille in 1680-something. I guess that makes sense, since Marseille is the oldest city in France.

PS this photo is actually a fake pirate ship in the Vieux Port that has a restaurant inside it