Finally…. have access to the Internet and Blogsome works (though the latter lasted only a day or two).
We have internet finally!! After weeks of trying to get it, it is in our apartment and working on both our computers. Yes! Now I will be able to post more pictures and more often to my blog.
Nichole and I took off for Paris on New Years Eve. We bought the tickets the day before… the prices are a little more static in Africa because it is much more expensive to fly. On our way to Paris, Nichole and I figured we would celebrate with some first class airline wine. The stewardess informed us that no one else wanted wine, as a result there was ample wine left. So, we did what any college students would do. The other passengers didn’t seem to mind the repeated ringing for the stewardess throughout the flight.
Once we arrived, we were both not quite operating at full capacity. She passed out on the bus while I got motion sickness (and maybe sick from not being the most sober). A very nice Parisian man helped us find our hostel. When we finally got to the hostel, he said to Nichole, “Elle a bu trop.” Nichole denied it and blamed it on the motion sickness, but he only responded, “No, elle a bu trop.” Well, there’s no sense in denying the truth. There was a really hot guy working at the desk, but I didn´t really notice until the next morning.
Day 1 in Paris: We went to Notre Dame for Christmas mass, and it was beautiful, but it was a little distracting because everyone kept taking pictures during the ceremony, still I felt like I celebrated Christmas some… though Christmas isn´t Christmas without my family. After that, we went to go do ice skating, but it was too expensive and I didn´t want to break anything, so we watched others ice skate. I mean an you imagine hobbling through France, Spain, Morocco, and Mauritania? Then, most everything was closed, so we decided to go see a movie.
On our way to the movie theater, we ran into some Italian boys. They were so much trouble! We decided to go to a bar with them and had a drink while we waited for the movie. It was a lot of fun, we really enjoyed their company up until the movie. We went to see Angel, but I wasn´t really able to enjoy the movie because the Italian boy sitting next to me attempted kiss me. And then again… and again… pretty much throughout a majority of the film. Now, I’m a proper American girl. He should know better. For whatever reason, he didn´t get the hint, and even up until we said goodbye, he was all over me. So Nichole and I ran off after the movie and to a McDonald´s… I never felt so relieved… more so from being able to eat Western food, but better yet, I could enjoy it without some guy mauling me.
Day 2: the Louvre and an attempt at the Eiffel Tower (”That ain´t a small tower,” said the british guy). We kinda slept in, and then took off for the Louvre, where we went into the two wings the Mona Lisa wasn´t in. I forgot their names. But they were a good time…until we got lost. On that fateful we day we managed to walk through the same halls somewhere between 5 and 6 times… it was to the point of memorizing all the paintings in each room. Don´t ask me how that happened.
Then we met Damien, our first couchsurfing host. He was awesome! A real sweet guy, he seems to keep to himself but he likes to travel a lot. Unfortunately, we were there during the workweek so we were unable to hang out with him a lot, but he was so trusting. He gave us his keys, a bed, and let us use his kitchen. We were so shocked! But like he said, you have to have trust in the system. And well, you gotta start somewhere.
Next on the list was to see the Eiffel Tower, but it was WAY too cold. I came from Senegal - I had only a sweatshirt and some thin t-shirts and thin pants. I was wearing four layers of pants and shirts. Needless to say I did not look very fashionable, and it sucks when you are in a city where everyone looks fashionable. I looked kinda like a Floridian version of an eskimo due to the lack of warm clothes, but the puffiness of wearing so many layers. One layer was my flannel Victoria Secret PJ’s. So, shivering to the point of looking like we were having convulsions, we ran out to the Eiffel Tower, looked at it, and then ran back to the train station. And then back to Damien´s.
The next morning, Nichole tried to cook breakfast for him (I´m notorious for a. not being able to wake up in the morning and b. not knowing how to cook…so I had relatively little purpose for getting up.) Unfortunately, he didn´t seem to want Nichole to cook for him, so she went back to bed and we slept in again.
When we woke up, it was snowing. I mean seriously… snow, what is that??? We were like damn… it was going to be even colder. So, we roughed it and tried to go to Centre Pompidou (this was on a Tuesday) and we happened to go the only day of the week they are closed. So… off to shopping. We shopped the entire day, it was so much fun! I usually don´t like shopping, but you get clothes made in Senegal, you don´t really shop for them. We went to Forum des Halles, a huge shopping area and I found this gorgeous blue-green sweater… my favorite colors, I couldn´t resist. Nichole found a cute skirt and a black dress. We then went the Champs-Elysees to walk down (convulsing the entire time I might add) and saw the beautiful lights, and walked on down to the Arche de Triomphe. After that, we decided to go see In Her Shoes, and it reminded me of my twin. This time, I did enjoy the movie because I was not being mauled by an Italian boy.
Day 3: Sooo Centre Pompidou on Wednesday. It was fabulous! There was a showing of Scorsese´s stuff, William Klein (a photographer among other things), Big Bang (influences of modern art) and Dada art ( like I even knew it existed). My favorite part of it was the library, there were tv stations showing in 6 or 7 different languages. CNN… i miss watching the news. You better believe I sat there and watched it for a full 20 minutes before hitting up the free internet… have to feed the internet addiction. After that, we met up with Kevin, who introduced us to his Parisian friends and had dinner their place. They were a dynamic group of people, it was a lot of fun and we had a great homecooked french meal. I wish I ate more food… I just can´t seem to eat very big portions. Everyone seems to comment on it, and I blame it on jaw surgery but it has been like this for as long as I can remember.
Day 4: Montmartre. It was beautiful! The Sacre Coeur Church was gorgeous, but the little town around the area was so incredibly charming. We went to buy gloves and hats (and I decided to buy a purse…I just couldn´t resist!) and the cashier gave us gloves and two eiffel tower key chains for free - he was such a sweet man. Then Nichole and I ran into these guys from Senegal who were trying to put bracelets on our wrists, but we resisted - I think we are just accustomed to saying no and refusing people, because in Senegal people always want something. I finally gave in and let him start doing the bracelet. After a few minutes, they figured out we could speak wolof and we were from Senegal, and they said we were family, and you always give family gifts. It was so cute, I feel like all the Senegalese think of us as family when they find out we are living there.
We also had our cafe in a coffe shop (it was still snowing out and freezing) and looked in some art galleries. I think it was then we decided we were going to come to Paris and live there in the future.
After that, we headed off to go see Coco, my suitemate over summer - he lives in Paris and I wanted to see him, it was only for a few minutes but it was ok, it was still so fun to see a friendly face. After that, we went to the Eiffel Tower, which was amazing (still convulsing)! It spastically lights up all over for about 15 minutes every hour.
After that… it kinda went downhill, but something had to go wrong. We missed our train and we lost all the money to go along with it. But what was worse was that when I asked to speak to the manager, she brought out the police on us! They surrounded the window and she was a complete jerk. So, then we decided to try to get a flight, and took the last train for the night to a small airport that turned out to be closed, so we were stuck. I was really upset by this time, so we called a taxi, and taxis are sooo freakin expensive!!! So the taxi guy picked us up and started talking to us about what was going on, so we explained what happened, and by this time I was holding back tears. He told us that if we couldn´t get a cheap flight out of the major airport he would take us back for free, and he was calling all the airlines to find out who had the cheapest flight. After he said all the nice things… I just couldn´t help it, I was bawling. So he took us to the airport, got out of the taxi - charged us 30 euros less than what he should have, walked us to the airport, showed us where to talk to the airline people, how to get to other terminals, and where to get a drink. He was so nice. And before he left, he said now is the time to smile, not cry. I, of course, started laughing and crying again. Geez talk about being emotional.
So then we slept on the cold tiled floor of the airport.
Then we really couldn´t find any cheap flights so we just went back to the train station, and got another train out for the next night. We called Juli and told him what happened, and he was so nice, he said for us to call him when we got there. But when we did get there, we found out every other guest he had had some serious transportation issues - and our case was by far not the worst case. The worst was for the Romanian girls… they were supposed to come for New Years, and they were stopped at the Barcelona airport and not allowed in without hotel reservations. So they were shipped back home without stepping a foot into Spain.
Then off to Barcelona. We met up with Juli and Reuben and they took us back, and made us sandwiches, drinks, and time to shower. I was so grimy from the airport and a hot shower…. it was just so amazing. They were awesome from the getgo. It was Juli’s birthday, and to celebrate we went go-karting and trampoline jumping. Unfortunately, it didn’t go so well for the Irish guy. We were driving - and it takes some time for the tires to warm up, but the guys who worked there said after one lap, we’d be good. So, the second lap around, I was in the lead and I took a turn a bit too fast, and skidded out. The Irish guy was driving right behind me and crashed into me. His car somehow found its way under mine and it crushed his foot. Poor guy was hobbling around all night. Of course, I couldn’t help but wonder if he might sue… but he said he could take it like a man. Not that I’m denying that I’m a wuss, but how sexist. Poor guy hobbled on it all night and didn’t put any blame on me. I still felt bad and made sure he was comfortable.
We went out on New Years Eve to a fabulous restaurant -were everyone drank plenty (except me - I was feeling a touch sick due to the mixing of alcohols so the intake was limited). To bring good luck, we all had to wear something red, something borrowed, something purchased that day, and place money in your right shoe. I wasn’t sure if that was a Juli and Reuben tradition or a Spanish/Catalune tradition, but it was fun all the same! At the dinner table, there people from so many different places! There was one Slovenian, two Ethiopians, the somewhat incapacitated Irish guy, two latvian girls, two Finnish boys, and Nichole and I and Reuben and Juli. After the toast, we took off for a party and stayed there till somewhere around 3 or 4. We went to go home, but Juli had taken off with one of the Latvian girls and Reuben said they were gone and had been gone. According to Juli and the Latvian girl, they had been gone for a total of an hour. Anyway, needless to say Reuben sent us off in a taxi to get to their apartment but we didn’t know where it was. So Nichole and I and the Irish hobbler (grace a moi) meandered around for a very long time before we finally called them and they came and got us. I was so tired by that time, that I went in and passed out.
Slept in until sometime in the afternoon, either 4 or 6 pm… not sure which. So Nichole and I went and looked around Barcelona some but didn’t really do anything touristy. Juli picked us up and we met up with Reuben and both Latvian girls and we all had dinner. Nichole and I felt a little bit 5 and 6th wheelish so we gave the finnish boys a call…. I think Nichole had an ulterior motive because she got along a bit too well with one of them the night before. Although I wanted to get the hell out so the Latvians and the Spaniards could get it on. I mean I don’t want to get in the way of anyone’s fun…. so we took off for the Finnish boys’ hostel where we played beer olympics. It ended in attempting to ice skate while we were all drunk but a little pudgy guy ran us off the rink. Well, c’est la vie. Then I somehow lost Nichole and the Finnish boys, she claims they were sitting on the floor of the Finnish boys’ room but I went on that floor about 4 or 5 times. I was pretty ticked off. Of course, when she tried to come find me she had no clue where I was and thought there was no way I could be in the room. But lucky for me, I banged on the door and it happened to open. In my drunken state, I figured God had blessed me, though reflecting on it now I’m sure the door wasn’t closed all the way.
So off we left to hitchhike to Seville. Unfortunately we were unsuccessful at either. We went to the onramp to go south to Seville but Nichole just wasn’t into it. So I put my thumb out…. we got a few smiles and a few honks but no one was interested and without enthusiasm it was hard to get anyone to give us a chance. So we gave up and took a train to Fueringola (sp?) a very charming and beautiful area. It was right on the coast. We then took a bus to Algecirus where we spent the night in a hostel.
To be continued…. coming up next: Morocco and Mauritania
