Oolala, Paris!

Many apologies for the late entry here... I have barely had enough time to answer emails, much less update my very neglected blog. But no worries, as of now I will have internet access for at least 4 days a week at the university, so updates should become much more frequent. But now, without further ado....

Things I learned in Paris:

• I did not learn many French words. You probably know as many as I do. That made things a little difficult.
• French words are also hard to pronounce, but I came up with a sure-fire way to sound French (or so I thought). At the end of almost all French words, they omit like the last 2 letters when they say it, and end the word with a dull verb sound. So I figured if I did that with about every word, I´d be good. Like one stop on the Metro was Lamarck. It is actually pronounced lamar-uh, kind of. That´s about all I learned about speaking French.
• Sports are universal. If all the TV channels are in another language, you can at least be entertained by a soccer or basketball game.
• Paris is VERY expensive. Cut all corners possible, like cooking meals for yourself at the hostel.
• Try to make sure your hostel is not next to a grade school. Waking up to a playground of screaming children every day is not fun.
• Try to find food you like to eat that is not expensive. This is quite difficult when you are as picky as I am. My end result was eating almost only bread for a week straight.
• For the most part, the French seemed to be annoyed by Americans, or maybe just tourists in general. But don´t make generalizations- there are extremely nice people and extremely mean people anywhere you go.
• Australians spend a lot of money. At least the one we met did. He was only 22, and had decided to travel the world. His goal was to spend about €100 per day while travelling. Not me!
• There are cute kids all over the world. There are also annoying kids everywhere too.
• The Metro smells. Bad. Don´t ride on a queasy stomache, because I can tell you from experience that it will only end with you throwing up in the trash can at the nearest stop. Yuck.
• The Eiffel Tower is, in my opinion, overrated. I´ve seen so many pictures of it that when I got there, I was just like, "Yep, that´s what I thought."
• However, the following are my must-sees in Paris: Notre Dame is absolutely amazing. The outside, inside, everything. It filled me with a true sense of wonder and awe. The Arc du Triomph is also amazing. I didn´t get to go under it, but even seeing it from across the street, and zooming in with my camera... wow. And the Louvre Museum. Now that I´ve seen the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, I really do feel a little more complete. And it´s true- Mona Lisa´s eyes really do follow you around the room.
• Read all tickets and reservations CAREFULLY. Check and re-check them, and have other people look at them. Being on time is so important. Misreading one thing on a plane ticket means about $175 extra to get where you´re going. You can never be too prepared.
• Look carefully into international phone cards, or you might end up paying $20 for 30 minutes of talk time.
• Try not to get too homesick, although this is something no one can really help. Especially when you are tired, sick, frustrated and sad on your 21st birthday in Paris. Remember that 2 months is really not all that long, and missing home is a small price to pay to travel the world.
• You don´t tip at meals in Europe. In some places this is ok, but in Paris, it means that your waiters really don´t care about you. They don´t want to talk to you, don´t care if you have enough bread or water, and won´t stop by your table if you need something. So save your water for the end of the meal when you´re really thirsty, or be prepared to run down a waiter to get some more water.
• Drunk Parisians on the Metro at midnight are fun, but a little smelly and crazy.
• If you have an important day when you are traveling, keep careful track of the days. It´s very disappointing to find out the next morning that you didn´t really celebrate your 21st birthday, you celebrated the day before your 21st birthday.
• And my last piece of wisdom about Paris: if you are ever in a shower where you have to hold the faucet handle down to keep the water running, or keep pushing it every 20 seconds, simply use your butt, or back, or whatever is at the height of the handle. That´s right, if you keep your behind pressed up against the handle, you will have a steady stream of water for your entire shower, making it much more enjoyable. But then again, when you really think about it, a lof of people probably know this trick, making those the biggest butt-handles in the world. Nice, huh?

Expect another update on Madrid and then some more on Valencia soon.

Mucho amor de España,
Kris