Screw Baylor, I'm moving to Paris

This weekend we took a speedy tour of Paris. We left early Friday morning and got into Paris at 10 am. Immediately we were off for the Pasteur institute, where they said they wouldn’t let us in until two. Instead we went to the Sacred Heart church, which was really pretty. We shopped in little tourist-y boutiques and had lunch, and returned to the Pasteur institute to take a rather pointless tour. Then it was off to the Notre Dame, which was amazing, though smaller than I remember it. We ate crepes for dinner and split to go to our separate hostels, planning to meet at the Eiffel tower metro stop at 8pm.

It was raining. Paris is really behind me, its just too dreary to see it well.

I was there at 8pm. And I waited. And I waited. Then I waited some more. I finally left because a creepy French guy who worked the near by souvenir stand was hitting on me, and I didn’t want to be there anymore.

I wandered around the tower for what seemed like forever, looking for people, and finally finding Connie and Holly. After some extensive waiting on our part, some more of the group arrived, and we declared the rest of the group hopeless. We wanted to actually go up the tower, but it looked like the third floor was closed and we figured it was pointless to only go to the second. So we took pictures from the lawn and watched the light show, and then went to see the Arc de Triumph.

I tried to go out to the Buddha bar, but that didn’t work out so well, so I studied for about ten minutes before going to bed (lame, right?).

Saturday, I woke early to meet everybody at the Louvre at 8:45. And everybody ended up being George. Undaunted, we saw everything of importance there, and then had a really nice walk to the Eiffel tower. There we waited in line FOREVER to get to the top, where we took some pictures and then waited in line to get back down. Yay. Next we went to see the Catacombs!! They were so cool. Sadly though, I got wayyy too much dead people particles on my pants and shoes. We went to the Bastille, which really isn’t there anymore, but we went anyway. By this time it was about 4 pm, so we split our separate ways – George to the train station, and me to my hostel.

Dead people in the Catacombs

When I got back, several people were going to change their tickets to leave that night instead of Sunday morning as planned. I decided to go with them, since I had no means of hooking up with anyone else for the rest of the day, and I would have just been in the hostel. So we rushed to the train station and changed our tickets just in time to get on the train home.

Overall it was a great trip, and I had a wonderful time. Today we take two of our midterms, and so I've been going insane trying to study for them.

Oh, and about my title. I was hit on by more guys in Paris in the day and a half that I was there than my entire life combined. Some were creepy (souvenir stand guy) and others were cute and nice (one guy held the metro for me) and couldn't speak very much English. But I was still very flattered.

And now I should study some more...

Are we ever going to make it to Copenhagen?

We arrived from London on Thursday afternoon. Friday I went to class, and Friday night I went to Copenhagen! Insane, right?

So we left Friday night, and caught our train out of Maastricht to Roermond. Our next train was late, thus making us late for our next two connections. We met a nice U Maas student who was on his way home, and he helped us out, translating the Dutch announcements and asking a conductor to hold our overnight train in Düsseldorf.
Sadly, his efforts were in vain, and we arrive about five minutes too late for our overnight train. We instead changed tickets for a 3 am train, which had a change in Hamburg, so we could get to Copenhagen at noon, four hours after we were supposed to get there. It was our only option, so we took it.
At this point it was only a little after midnight, so we decided to wander Düsseldorf for a while. It was kind of sketchy, so we returned to the train station and sat on the platform for three hours.
Our 3 am train was late, so when we got to Hamburg, we had to run across the station to our next train, which had moved platforms. It was insane.
On the way to Copenhagen, the train was loaded onto a ferry to cross the Baltic Sea. We all moved up to the deck to take pictures, it was really cool.

When we finally got to Copenhagen, the ATM declined my card, so I had to borrow money from Tracy. But we really enjoyed our short time there; we saw a really cool church with a climbable tower, the royal palace, and the Little Mermaid statue. Copenhagen, if you didn’t know, is the home of Hans Christian Anderson, who wrote the Little Mermaid and other fairy tales.

I’m not sure if it was just because I was so happy to finally be there, but I really loved Copenhagen. It just seemed to blend the old and new so well.He doesn't look that excited to be with me...

We ate dinner at the Hard Rock Café before boarding a 12 hour night train to Cologne. I studied a little and slept a lot, though it wasn’t a comfortable sleep because we had opted for the cheap non-bed cars.

We got into Cologne at 7am, and saw the beautiful Gothic cathedral there. We even went to the 8am mass, which was kind of cool, even if I couldn’t understand the German, and I was the only one who didn’t take Communion.

Me and the giant Gothic Cathedral in Cologne

At 9:30, we got on a ferry boat which took us down the Rhine River. It was a nice, leisurely cruise, and we watched the scenery, talked, ate, and studied. We got off in the cutest little town called Linz, and proceeded to take an array of trains back to Maastricht, arriving at 9 pm last night.
The first thing I did when we got back was shower, since I didn’t know that night trains had such amenities.
But I had an amazing weekend, with some great memories and stories that will last a lifetime.

This week, I have to study like crazy, because midterms are next week. I can’t believe I’m half way done with the semester!

I heart London

London was AMAZING!!! I had a wonderful time and saw pretty much everything!

Monday we took a train from Maastrict to Leige, changed to a train to Brussels, and then took the Eurostar through the chunnel to London! We arrived and took forever to check in, which made me glad that we're making all our all own lodging arrangements from now on.

I knew that Billy Talent was playing in London that day, and so as soon as I made it to my room, I went about finding out if I could go. The concierge let me use their phone to call and ask if they had any armbands for the exclusive signing left. And they did! So I ran to my room, grabbed my things and rushed to the HMV. I got a wristband and then wandered around the street for a while. The show was at six, and it ROCKED!!!! I love Billy Talent. I got them to sign my cd book for their new cd. I also met some cool people: a guy from Iowa, and a native English guy.

Ben, the Billy Talent lead, in person

That night we went out to a sports club, danced and had a great night. The tube closes at midnight, so we rode the double decker bus back.

Tuesday we left early and saw: T (can't remember the name) square, St. Paul's (where Princess Di got married), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Parliament and Big Ben, the London Eye, the London Tower, London Tower and London bridge, and Shakespeare's Globe Theater. We ate lunch at this cute Sushi place, and saw Stomp! that night. Stomp was crazy!!! On the train back, we had our own version.


Wednesday we had a great wakeup call. The fire alarm went off. I ran down seven flights of stairs barefoot and waited outside. I felt bad for those who were on the higher (like 16) floors. I grabbed my purse and important documents before I left, so I have pictures!
The whole group went to the Science Museum, and saw cool medical history exhibits. Then we went to the Gordon Museum (of diseased organs), which was interesting. My group went to the British Museum, where we looked at mummies and saw pieces of the Parthenon and the Rosetta stone! We had too much fun taking pictures with the priceless art. We then shot over to King's Cross, where we saw... Platform 9 and 3/4!! It was really cool. We had Pizza Express for dinner, and then went to see Phantom of the Opera. It was so pretty and wonderful and awesome.

Thursday we went to Buckingham palace again, to get pictures with the guards (we failed). Then we walked Hyde park, which was so pretty! We ended our London adventure with a little shopping at the Hard Rock Cafe. Then we came back!!

So, I had an amazing time. I wish we would have had more time, but oh well. I had a great time, spent too much money, and took tons of pictures.

I'm leaving tomorrow after class on a night train to Copenhagen. I'm going with 4 other people. We're going to spend Saturday there, and be back on Sunday morning.

I LOVE traveling/living/being in Europe!

Thoughts on the Dutch/Europe

Instead of studying or doing my laundry as I should, I though I'd just post a general update and talk about random things I've been thinking about.
Tusday we went out for international drink, but it cost money to get in, so we all went to the Shamrock instead. I had an Irish car bomb, which was crazy fun, and a dirty girlscout shot. A few people and myself decided we would drink through the shot list at the Shamrock before we left. It should be fun. I had a really great time, talking with people and watching others play pool.

One thing I really like about the Shamrock is that their bathrooms are free. It's crazy how you have to pay to use the bathroom, its no wonder you see guys going on the street. It's varies on how much it is, the most expensive I've seen is 50 cents. I hate it, because I need every penny I can keep.
Also, they have no pennies in the Euro. They have two cent coints, and that's it. I find that, and one/two Euro coins to be odd, and something to get used to.

Today we went grocery shopping (for our lunch meals). They don't have bags for your groceries; you have to provide your own. If you don't have your own, you pay 2o cents for one. I suppose that it saves paper/plastic/whatever in the long run. But the US is such a convenient country, I'm just not used to it.

I have to do laundry today, and I'm going to wash it in the bathtub, by hand. It cost 4 Euro to do a load of laundry, and the washing machines are tiny!

I do have to say that I love the extensive train system, and I enjoy walking or biking everywhere. It is a nice alternative to cars.

It's a Friday night and I'm here studying and doing laundry, how lame is that? I plan to make up for it by going out with Bram tomorrow night, and Sunday night we're having a big Baylor toga party. I bought some rose (accent on the e) wine for the party, since its BYOB (bring your own bottle, 'cause not everyone wants alcohol).

Then Monday is London! Yay!

Week's end: Amsterdam

As of today, I've been in Europe for a whole week. Man, life is awesome.
We got out bikes this week, and I while riding mine for the first time, I got whistled at by some guys. (Bram told me they were probably French!)
Though people went out Wednesday and Thursday nights, I felt an obligation to study and sleep.
This was also in preparation for Friday. Friday night I went out with Bram. We went to three different pubs, drank, played foosball (I won), talked and enjoyed ourselves. I made sure to only have one glass of wine and be home by 2, 'cause I had class on Saturday.
Saturday I was planning on going pub hopping my my friends, and Bram and whoever he invited, but all my friends bailed, so it was just me, Bram, and his friend from Singapore. His Singaporean friend left at midnight, because he had to go to mass in the morning, but we stayed out until three. I had my first real daquari and took my first European shot. It was so much fun.
A side note on going out with a Dutch guy (he's NOT my boyfriend, I'm only here for a few months after all...), "going Dutch" really is the norm here. He buys the first and third rounds, and I buy the second. But it's really interesting to talk and compare different cultures and stuff. He makes fun of me because of my very American accent and way of talking, and I just marvel at his amazing ability to pull off any accent and speak five languages. And he's trying to help me learn my way around Maastricht, but I am just not good with directions at night, or when I've had a few...
Yesterday I got up super early (I got about 3 hours of sleep) so I could catch a train to Amsterdam. I went with three other girls and we just spent the whole day there. It was awesome! We went to the Anne Frank House, van Gogh (which is pronounced more like a cough than anything) museum, another famous museum with a hard name, the Homo monument, and the red light district. The homo monument is great, and it is just what it sounds like. Its made of three pink triangles that form a larger triangle, and its a memorial for all the gays who have ever been oppressed. The red light district was interesting, and very sad. We went in the morning, to be safe, but there were still girls sitting in windows. It was just depressing. I got a shirt that looks like a von Dutch shirt, but it says "Gone Dutch". The train ride back was also lots of fun, because we were being loud, crazy Americans, and some Dutch guys laughed at our attempts to say things in Dutch.
Today I slept in, as it will probably be my only opportunity to do so all semester. I have to spend the day studying, to get ready for next week of class. It's going to be crazy - 6 full days of class - Tuesday through Sunday. But then we get to leave for London on Monday. Yay!
The party never stops.

Also, check out facebook for all my lovely pictures.