the past three weeks

Alright - I'm sorry. Yes, it's been far too long, I realize, but I've honestly been too busy to think. Let alone write. Since Amsterdam, I've been to Strasbourg, Alix has been here, and I've been hit with my final round of papers and tests - the light at the end of the tunnel isn't even close yet, but it's getting there.

First of all - Amsterdam. What a cool city. I had an excellent time. There were a ton of kids from my program that all happened to go over on the same weekend, but everyone was spread out in different corners of the city and we didn't really run into anybody else. Marina (my spring break buddy) and I stayed in a hostel next to Vondel Park and spent the majority of our time there soaking up the sun in the tulip gardens next to a gorgeous lake.

Our hostel was a monster of a building and was mostly a youth hostel - we got hit-on by 18 year old Austriens the first night - but had a fun atmosphere, good breakfasts, hot showers and looked so ridiculously germanic on the outside that we had to take pictures. We stayed in a 20 bed dorm on the top floor with huge open ceilings and red and yellow latice work.

As my money is ever dissappearing, we didn't do much sight seeing in Amsterdam, but mostly just walked around the city. It's a really interesting place with little winding streets full of ecelectic shops, bars and restaurants. There are of course the "darker" sides of the city as well - many trashy porn shops along the red light district (an experience to say the least... I've never seen so many sad looking women lumped together in one place) and then the very legal drug shops. The city bustles with tourists and business men, old hippies and eclectic european youths. It gives the city a bizarre feeling - classy and trashy all at once, but certainly charming.

I also really liked how many bikes were scattered around the city - it's clearly the best way to get around and so environmentally concious, too! My only regret over my weekend is that I didn't rent a bike and go exploring. Aside from the Anne Frank house - which is certainly worth the visit, though very sad and humbling - the only other touristy thing I did was to visit Keukenhof flower gardens. Acres and Acres of tulips, lakes, trees... just beyond words. I took too many pictures and Marina and I spent a good four hours wandering around the paths. We also saw a little bit of the remaining tulip fields, but the tractors were following behind us and digging them up as we went along.

Back from Amsterdam, I had a few days of classes and then I took a short weekend trip to Strasbourg, France, on the German border. It was dreary for the day we were there, and aside from a very gothic cathedral and a historically preserved French village, there isn't much to see or do. We ate pretzles, drank beer, nearly fell on our asses when we discovered how cheap food is outside of Paris, and went home. Oh, and we did see the European Union, but I'm going to come right out and say that it wasn't all that impressive.

As soon as I made it back to Paris, Alix arrived! It was wonderful to have her here, and we did the tour of most Parisian land marks. All Alix has been talking about since she bought her ticket to Paris was the bell tower at Notre Dame, so we went up it, which was a first for me. A great view of Paris and the Gargoyles look really incredible and scary. I forgot my camera, so I'll have to go back.

Having my lovely cousin here really gave me a strong dose of home sickness, add to that the fact that she brought me gossip magazines, candy bars and extra crunchy peanut butter. oh! and Big Red gum... the french do not know what they're missing. She stayed with me for the week because the closest hostel to my dorm is an abosolute dump, and we slept head to foot in my tiny bed just like we used to when we were twelve. We stayed up giggling and talking, only this time we were a great deal older and found there was much less space to sleep in. Every morning when I'd get up for class I'd have to pick Alix's legs up off the floor and place them under the covers.

And while Alix was here, she lucked out and got to come on a weekend excursion to the Loire Valley with my group. Four castles in two days. Four castles. Two days. I hate to sound like a snob, but seriously, once you've seen one castle, they all start to look about the same. But the French country side was gorgous and we got to see some impressive fortresses - not to mention the trip meals of excellent and traditional french culinary treats. *Did I mention that Alix and I tried escargot while she was here? Yum-O (oh Rachel Ray, how I loathe thee). Seriously - mom and dad are going to have to try them.

I've made a Picasa album, so now all of my pictures both stupid and pretty are available for your viewing pleasure. I've labeled most of them and they're all in chronological order, with the exception of my southern trip that I still have saved on a friends computer. Only a month left to go and I'm certain it'll fly by what with mom and dad visiting and my week long trip to Germany just before I fly home.

PARIS

MADONNA

So imagine that you're sitting in bed, feeling rather lazy and lethargic, when you get a call. A call that could change your life.

"Sam, it's Nicola. What are you doing RIGHT NOW?"

"Nothing kid. I'm being a bum. Who lit a fire under your ass?"

"Do you want to get free tickets to see Madonna?"

"What? SHUT UP! You're serious?"

"Pack a bag, wear some layers and call me when you're ready to leave for métro Opera. We're going to sleep on the street."

And so we did. After twelve plus hours of waiting in line, chatting with the groups near us, munching on cheese and peanuts, guzzling Red Bull and beer, trying to sleep on the side walk and spooning together for warmth throughout the night, Nicola and I finally had our tickets and wristbands to see Her.

Yes, Her. I must say it was quite the religious experience. After we had our tickets, Nicolas and I rushed home to shower and nap (I was out cold for a solid two hours) and then went back to the Olympia theatre to wait in line AGAIN to get in. For five more hours we waited and when we finally got into the theatre we couldn't stop laughing and giggling...the time had come, the walrus said. We were going to see Madonna FOR FREE at one of the oldest and most established theatres in Paris - the Olympia Theatre where a shy little Edith Piaf once sang and won over the hearts of millions. Only this time it wouldn't be "La Vie en Rose," but "Like a Virgin;" my how the times have changed.

The crowd filled as Nic and I were pushed to the stage within twenty feet of the DJ. The first attempted to spin, but mostly just blended one stale dance floor track into another before the crowd got anxious and he was kicked off the stage to bring on ANOTHER DJ. This one was much better and was actually putting some great riffs together, but it was clear that the Madonnaloonies were getting restless - at this point we had been waiting a collective 17 hours and most of us were smelly, tired and cranky. The situation was only made worse by the pounds of candy the crowd had eatten while waiting in line. Promo girls had passed out suckers and gummies (clever marketing, non? The HARD CANDY album after all) and Nic and I felt the hit as we came down from our sugar high in the middle of the mob.

Finally, just after ten, the crowd made a huge commotion and Nic and I turned around to see Lenny Kravitz take his seat in the first row of the balcony - ten feet away. Now everybody was just itching to see her and it seemed like the apperance of a celebrity demi-god could mean only one thing: we were down to minutes.

Lenny sat, his group sat, and then the lights dimmed. Show time. There. Was. Madonna. She came out in all her glory - full makeup, dancers, colors, flashing lights and weilding a gaint walking stick like she was cock of the walk. I've decided that she is. I was close enough to see her sweat; close enough to see her wrinkles. And she was amazing - such a performer. I'm not sure if it was my lack of sleep, lack of food, or just the situation I found myself in, but I nearly wept. I hate to admit it - really, I do - but it was just so incredible.

She sang six songs (it was a free show after all) and then she was gone - fading into the side curtains and disappearing back into her faux-English accent and Kaballa books. After the show Nic and I felt like celebrating and went out for cocktails, but we were both so exhausted that we could barely finish our drinks and had to stumble off to catch the bus with smiles plastered on our sleepy faces. Just like two kids after a day at Disney Land...



This video is about how close we were to her. How incredibly unreal. Amsterdam details and picture album on next post. Promise.

spring break

Sorry I haven't written in a while - I've been an absolute bum this week enjoying the rest of my vacation, but as I recieved emails from mom and gma, I suppose it's time to update this thing. I'll start from the begining, so prepare yourself for a long post.

The day before break started, my group was lucky enough to see a Paris National Opera ballet performance: Noureev, Balanchine, Forsythe. We all got dressed up for the evening at the modern opera house in the Bastille. It was a performance of three ballets - scenes from a classical performance (Balanchine), a modern take on a classic ballet (Noureev), and the last one was an incredibly modern peice (Forsythe). It was SO COOL and made me realize how much I miss dance classes and the bar. It also made me realize that I have to quit my dance team when I get back to Champaign - I'm sick of dancing on what amounts to be a high school poms squad. I liked the modern piece the best - it was really bizarre and utlized a ton of lights and claps, very hypnotic. The evening would have been perfect had it not been for the group of junior high kids sitting behind us - what a bunch of shits.

Break started on Friday and Marina and I took the train to Aix-en-Provence - an incredibly beautiful town that moved at a deliciously slow pace. We got off the train at night and not having any idea where we were, we were forced to take a taxi. This wasn't the best way to start off our trip as we had promised that we'd work on a budget, but it didn't matter by the time we got to the hotel. It was raining and dark and we never would have found it on our own. The hotel was just outside of the city center; very small and private settled right in the middle of an olive field. Our room was pretty standard, but comfortable with amazing views of the hotel garden. As it was late and the rain showed no sign of letting up, we gave up the idea of going out for the night and promptly crashed.

For our day in Aix, we bought ice cream and walked around the town soaking up the sun and taking pictures of the cobble stone streets. We had a few beers in a sun-drenched town square, I dragged Marina to just about every church on the map, and we finished up the day at an exhibit of the 9th art - really creepy comic book stuff. Loved that. We kicked off our trip in style with dinner in a tapas bar and then tried to get picked up in the city but there wasn't much of a night life. It's so sad - we were getting so desperate to flirt with french country boys that when we found a bar full of men we practically ran to it only to be promptly turned away - it would appear that we found the only boy bar in the town.

After Aix we went to Nice which is probably one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life. No, IS the most beautiful place I've ever seen. We lucked out and stayed at one of the most highly recommend hostels in the world. Despite it being a bit of a treck to get to (tram ride, thousands of flights of stairs), it was worth it because we got free breakfasts, cheap beers and an accommodating staff that really hooked us up with all the ins and outs of the tourist sights. We spent our first night in the hostel bar and met a ton of really interesting people from all over the world that were either backpacking around Europe or on their spring break like us.

Day number one we went to an antique and flower market (where I found some bizarre and lovely jewelry) and checked out the Nice beach....it's all small blue stones and nothing like the beautiful white sand that spoils me so much in Siesta Key, but still an incredible sight. In the afternoon we went to Eze, and though it was really cool to see this medieval town, I have to say that I wasn't nearly as blown away by it as Grandma was. I found it to be a little too touristic and disgustingly expensive. However, we did take the recommendation of the hostel and had an espresso on the terrace of the Golden Goat castle. The unexplainable view made the seven euro coffee worth it, but just barely. After checking out the church we hiked down the side of the mountain and jumped back on the train to Nice where we got off at a few petit fishing towns and wandered around covered streets from the seventeenth century.

That night we tried to go to a jazz club in Monaco, but finding it closed we just walked around the deserted Monte Carlo. It's so clean and sterile - like a Disney Land for adults that sells Chanel purses insead of mouse ears. We parked the car in a deck (we went with a group of people led by the hostel owner's son, Albert, so nobody better give me any crap about jumping in strange cars with strange men) and there wasn't a single tread mark on the asphalt. The whole city has a new car smell to it and all the palm trees are wrapped in lights and the fountains look like a movie set. In general it seemed fake and over priced, but still pretty cool.

For our last day in Nice, we had planned to go scuba diving in the morning (Marina insisted and as it didn't cost THAT MUCH I said I'd go along) but ended up getting faulty directions to the port and were nearly thirty minutes late for our appointment. We were walking all over the damn city trying to find this little boat and when we finally got to it there were only pot-bellied, middle aged men in wet suits - not one other woman in sight. We were both in such horrible moods after booking it across the city that we just decided to not go and save our money. We were already late and had expected that the boat would be gone, so I had resigned myself to the fact that we couldn't go, anyway.

Marina was BEYOND pissed, especially when I bailed and said I'd rather not go and I was hung over and didn't want to be on a boat for five hours or under water for that matter when I wasn't in a good mood. She didn't really talk to me for the rest of the morning and we both sat in silence as we ate filet-o-fish and fries at Domac (that's french slang for McDonalds - it's the verlan (lanvers) or the inversion of the word by syllable). The day was off to a shit start, however we managed to salvage it by taking the train to a little cove and soaking up the rays.

We started off on the rocks as we were too stingy to spring for hotel chairs, but quickly had to cough up the five euros as the waves started crashing up on the beach and completely soaked us. Just as we had settled down and taken our tops off (oh yes, we embraced the french way of life), a MASSIVE wave came and drenched us and all of our shit. We jumped up screaming and I'm sure everybody on the beach got a laugh at our expense.

After beautiful Nice, we finished our trip in Marseilles - an old port town. We both decided that it was our least favorite place...it was just seedy and the people were less than savory. Despite the layer of salty grime covering the cit, it did have it's own distinctive look and tons of interesting churches and things of that nature. After we got off the train we decided to spend the afternoon at the beach, and though it wasn't really warm, we stuck it out for a few hours and took cat naps in the sand. As it was the last night of our vacation, we wante to treat ourselves and have a fancy meal - a genuine sea food feast. We decided to be brave and shared oysters on the half shell for starters follwed by a main course of Bouillabaisse - supposedly a Marseille specialty that runs about forty a person, but we found a restaurant with a set menu that allowed us to sample all of these fruits de la mer at only 20 euro each including a half bottle of wine. That should have been our first clue that we were in for it.

Oysters on the half shell is like eating slimy salt. I want to believe that I liked them, but really I just insisted on finishing my share because I paid for them. If you covered them in vinegar and olive oil and then ripped them out of the shell and put them on some buttered bread and plugged your nose and didn't really examine what you were eating then I suppose they weren't so bad. I stomached mine with a grimace, but Marina couldn't even eat half of one - her face was PRICELESS. I've never laughed so hard in my life. We caused a scene and it was even worse when she started hiding her oysters under the lettuce in an attempt to convince the chef that she had actually eaten them. I couldn't stop crying.

And yet, the oysters were nothing compared to the fucking Bouillabaisse. Specialty my ass...I could have swam in the ocean with my mouth open and it would have tasted better. First the waitress comes out with a plate of fresh sea food - fish WITH THE HEADS, whole crabs, a ton of mussels and some potatoes. Then she comes back with a bowl of broth and makes a ceremony of spooning the broth over the pieces of whole sea food. That's it. Another picture moment, I assure you. The smell was something else, too. I ate the mussels and the taters, avoided the crab all together and ate the fish until I'm certain I ate a bone or cut my esophagus or something of the sort and had to stop eating. I felt like a had a bone in there for a couple of days, but thankfully the cut healed or a swallowed it. We couldn't stop grimmacing as we ate the soup and the cook was glaring at us from the kitchen the entire time.

For our last day in Marseilles, we decided to check out this amazing church up on the highest point of the city with this incredible golden statue of some saint that glitters over the old port - Notre Dame de la Gard. We followed the picture and the bus directions on the map to a T and thought that we were headed in the correct direction. It wasn't until we realized that we were in an entirely different town that we knew something was wrong. We ended up in the little town of Estaque without a clue which was kind of cool because I've been studying this town in my art history class - it's where Braque went and started the cubist revolution (not Picasso).

As it happened, the little town does have a church worth seeing, Notre Dame de la Galline, so we asked around and discovered that it was just a little jog up the colline (which means hill but in this case mountain is more like it). The farther up hill we got the more people stopped to ask us where we were going and when we asked for the cathedral they responded with, "oh you mean the church?" and then finally, "oh the little chapel in the mountains? Keep going on the main road up, up, UP! and eventually you'll find it."

So we walked. And walked. And walked some more on the hottest day I have yet to come across since flying over the big blue ocean. Marina flagged a car down to ask if this church was even worth seeing and the driver said that we still had a demi kilometre to walk (and what does that mean? the American school system really screwed me over, just want you to know) and that we'd have to ask the little old lady in the farm next door for the key to the chapel. WHAT?!?!?! Eventually we found it and the little old lady, but I have to say all the walking and sweating and swearing was worth it. The chapel is one little room that was built in the 1000s or something of that sort with no more than five pews and an interior that curves upward to a crumbling cieling with an iron chandelier and nothing electric or modern about the place. Very much like stepping back in time.

After our religious experience, (hahaha!) we only had two hours to get back to Marseilles, run to our hotel, get our luggage and make our train. We made it with minutes to spare, sweaty and disgusting. All and all a very awesome vacation with lots of great memories. I enjoyed the train ride back to Paris and watched the flower fields and mountains fly by. Marina headed off to Greece and the second half of her vacation, and I have spent the last few days bumming around my dorm and reading book after book - recovering from my vacation.

Today I finally got out of the building and went to the Salvador Dali museum up in Montrematre. There are over 300 works by the artists including sculture, lithographs and paintings - very, very cool. After visiting l'Espace Dali, I've decided that I MUST marry a man with an eccentric moustache. I'll have it no other way.

Everyone will be coming back from their travels in the next few days and I'm excited to hear what they've all seen and done. Then it's back to school for three days only to jet of to Amsterdam on Thursday. Life's tough, ain't it?