Party last night 12/2/2009

Last night was a terrible night. It started really great, but got a lot worse. Tonight was the last night of presentations. These are the presentations that several countries make each week. This week it was Russia, China, and Italy. Each one consisted of a really long video segment, a couple games, a dance, drinks, and food. When I arrived, I had a shot of vodka and a pickle to wash it down. This is a very good combination; I recommend it to those who haven't had it before. Then I had some Russian salad. By the time I finished talking to people near the Russian table, the presentations had started and there was no Italian pizza left. My laboratory partner told me that he would serve me a piece if I arrived early. Well I got there in time to eat, but I was talking so much I didn't get to eat.

The presentations started with China, I think, then Russia, and Italy. Maybe Russia was first, but they showed each group's preview first. Each one was funny, and gave sampling of what their whole presentation was going to be like. Each one was great, and the videos were really well done. The Russian one was very long, but was of good quality. The Chinese one was pretty cool, but the audio was pretty bad. The Italians showed themselves trying to pickup girls in creative ways, it was very funny, but a little long.

There was an afterparty at a place called Sasazu. I didn't really want to go, but I was convinced by my girl, Ludivine. We travelled with a huge group of people. The whole trip there was much better than the actual club. First, the people that are in our program are really great. There aren't many, or any, really nasty people. Everyone seems to get along pretty well, even though there are over 400 people. However, the times when I've run into other Erasmus students (Erasmus is the European exchange program), I've had a bad time.

Once, I went to an 80's party, I didn't like that some people were trying to cut in front of me, so I told him and his group to get lost. Then later on, I was dancing with Ludivine when two guys came up and started dancing with her, and telling her they thought she was blah blah. So, I had to chase them away, and then had to chase them away again when they came back. Later that night, I watched two guys be assholes, one climbed on something, so he got thrown out of the club.

Last night, the trip to the club was really funny, there were many people in the train. The Brazilian and Portuguese guys were crowd surfing on the train, jumping a lot, and making lot's of noise cheering. We arrived, and had to wait ouside in the cold for 45 minutes. At this point I wanted to go home, but we made it inside. Ludivine and I split up for short time. I had a beer and was watching the crowd. The place is a giant dance floor ringed by bars. I was gazing at the crowd, the light pulsing with the music, when I hear to my right, "you spilled beer on me!" A guy, probably a foot taller than me, was yelling at a shorter bald guy. The bald guy did something to the tall guy, so the tall guy pushed the small one saying, "don't touch me!" Somebody threw a punch, the small guy tried to get in close to punch the taller guys face. I stood with my half full plastic beer cup and tried to stay out of their path. The small guy was only up to the other's armpits, and was in a dire situation. Fighting with someone looking into their chest is not a good place, especially one who has about 30 lb on you. They both hit the ground with the big guy on top. Thwap! Thwap! Thwap! The big guy barraged the bald guy's face with his huge fist and arm, the small guy went limp. Blood started coming out of his nose. Thwap! I dropped my beer and jumped on the big guy, pulling his neck with my forearm. He stopped punching the small guy, since he couldn't reach him. Then he started to back off. I let go and walked away, lest he turn his anger to me. Luckily he didn't, he looked at me, and then walked away the opposite direction into the crowd. The bald guy lay bleeding from the nost, a circle of people closing around. Phone calls were made, and security rushed over. He was limp for another minute, but then stirred, and eventually stood up.

I usually don't like to intervene in other people's problems, but when I saw that the guy was knocked out, I thought he was going to kill him. I really don't like this club now, and (sadly) I especially don't like the parties with other Erasmus students...

Prague First Week (continued)

The next day, was a Friday, but for me it was like a weekend everyday for a week. Demarcus and I met my buddy here in the dorm. Vojtech was going to take us to some of his favorite places. For lunch, since we had no idea how to eat, we went to a gyro place and got some yummy meaty sandwiches. I have posted the picture of this event in the previous entry. People here call them kebabs, not gyros. At least my buddy does.

Then we went and played some more pool. It was really nice, kind of early in the day, and no responsibilities. I had been warned before about the toilets in the Czech Republic. Sometimes they do not have toilet paper, and sometimes they do not work. In the basement there were many toilets and many of them didn't work. I was a little scared of being in this place, because of the front door. To leave the building, the door had to be unlocked by the receptionist. If there was some kind of emergency, this would be a problem. This system was used so that people don't leave without paying, but it made me feel unsafe.

The next week was a learning experience. Firstly, there is a kind of collective information system that was used by us, called word of mouth. This works like this, one person learns something that all the Americans should do, and then tells someone, who then tells someone, until everyone knows. At the time, we were like children, having no idea how to do anything. How do we do laundry? How do we eat? When are the menzas (cafeterias) open? The problem with this method of information transfer is its unreliability; people provide incorrect times, dates and other things. Learning how to use the menza was funny. We were given student cards that could be used to buy food. Somebody said that we needed to put money on the card to use it, but nobody knew where we had to do that. For some time, we didn't know where the menza in our building was; there are two or three eating establishments in or near the lobby of our building. The one that we could see from the entrance was not the menza, the one in the basement wasn't either, but there was a sign on the door of the first that indicated where breakfast could be found. However, the arrow on the sign was not very descriptive, until I realized that there is a sort of hidden hallway next to the staircase, and the menza is down that hall.

The lobby of the building has five stairs in it. There is a staircase straight from the entrance, the main stairs for this part of the building; then there are four stairs kind of like an H without the middle line. I have many choices for stairs, and if I see someone I don't want to talk to, I can simply can another set of stairs.

The first night I went out to a club, the Americans decided to go to the "five story club," which has a real name, but no one can remember it. This was the first night that I hung out with the Americans, since most of them I've never met. Demarcus is the only one in my grade, the rest are Juniors. I think this was a Tuesday, but I'm not sure. I think there were 12 of us. It was around midnight when we got to the tram stop. We were supposed to take one tram into the city and then walk, we let one tram go past, and were waiting for the next. We waited for about an hour, and decided to take the tram that came. All the Americans were drinking beer and using the bushes across the street.

Where was the freaking tram? Why hadn't the right number come yet? Because, the last tram, with the number we wanted, had already left. Now, only the night trams were running. Luckily, we had someone with us who could find directions. He was one of the American's flat-mates, from Russia.

There are many Russians going here, who are from Siberia, and they all live in our dorm. They're very nice, and are really fun to hang out with. For a long time I thought that this guy was named Alex, but I was mistaken, his name is Oleg. I trusted that he would find out where we had to go, since he was text messaging someone who lives here. However, we got the second set of directions wrong.

We would take the next night tram and get off at some stop; it really didn't matter where we got out. About 40 minutes before we got on the tram, two of the Americans, Dearon, and I think Sam, decided to go on an adventure. They would walk there. I thought that this was a really silly idea. After my time in Tokyo, I would never walk anywhere for fear of getting completely lost. This was the night I realized how much smaller Prague is. We said bon voyage to them, and continued waiting, knowing full well that we would never see them again. I actually thought that we would get there at the same time as them, because things usually end up like that. For example, when I was in NYC, two groups of people were going to a bar. One group went by train, and the other by car. We went from Brooklyn to Queens, and we both got there around the same time. We took the tram to a stop right next to the river. We were supposed to transfer to another tram, but it was across the street, and we didn't get on it. Again, the group split up. Some people decided to walk to the club, and some were going to wait. I was going to wait for the next tram, but then we found out that we had missed it.

We started to cross the bridge, when the two missing Americans appeared. I was completely bewildered, there was a river to one side, and a giant hill to the other. Dearon explained how they were walking around, ran into some people, who gave them a beer, and pointed them in the right direction. Then they walked through this big park and down a giant set of stairs to the bridge. I thought we were going to see them at the club, but was happy to see them a little earlier.

We walked along the river to the famous Charles bridge, and through a kind of underpass, filled with little stores selling junk. The club was just outside this tunnel. It was a hundred crowns to enter. I was surprised that the bars inside served beer in glass cups. I also found out that bartenders change the price of beer randomly. At this place they charge you and then ask if they can keep the change. In the Czech Republic tipping is usually just the change, not the usual 15%-20% in the USA. Each floor of the club is a different kind of music. People ended up dancing on different floors, but I think the group I was with was dancing in the hottest one. I don't remember what I was wearing, but I was sweating up a storm the whole time I was there. I would take breathers and beers after about 15 minutes of dancing.

I had lots of fun dancing in a circle, dancing as pairs, dancing by myself, etc. Now that I think back on it, I'm not sure if I'm remembering the first time or some other time I was there. Anyway, I had fun the times that I was there. However, like most clubs, there is some time when all the girls leave, resulting in many guys.

What I learned from this experience, find out the tram to get there and back, and find out the times of the trams, before walking out the door. It can be a hassle to find the right tram. If you do know the last tram that you need, you still need to know what tram connects with that one, and where. It really stinks when you have to wander around looking for the tram, or when you have no idea what tram to take. Luckily there is a nice website that can figure out how to get from one place to another, for the whole country. It includes information on connections, and times. Another nice feature of the Czech transportation system is the timing. Trams, buses, and the metro are usually on time, or arrive within a minute of the scheduled time, and all this information is online.

Prague First Week (continued)

After two beers, one light and one dark, we were both feeling pretty good. We were full and happy. I'd never had Czech food in a Czech restaurant. I learned that there are some unhealthy things in the Czech republic. My list of unhealthy things now had two items, beer and fried cheese.
We went back to the dorm, and ran into some other Union students. The other two Electrical Engineers were going out with their buddies. We made plans to meet later. It was quite an adventure. Every city I've been to looks completely different at night. The neighborhood of the dorm is simply empty, but the downtown area is really magnificent at night. There are lots of people, and the lighting is wonderful. The type of people changes too; instead of tourists shopping, it's people enjoying drinks outside, and going to hang out with their friends or going to a bar. I had never been to the city center before, so going there was kind of like going into a maze. I didn't recognize anything, and since it was night, I couldn't even guess at what direction we were going. It's like when you get in a cab in a new city, and the driver just goes. When we got off the train, Vojtech told me that we were at the biggest square in Prague, or maybe it was the longest square. There are two squares in Prague that I went to. So we walked down along this square, then down some small streets and finally found the pub that we were looking for. It had green lettering above the entrance. We walked into the ground floor, which was a small bar, and then past this, down some stairs into the basement. The basement was a huge beer hall, equipped with a huge bar, and giant wooden tables. They served the famous Pilzner, in half litre mugs. Vojtech had mentioned that you have to pay for everything, but I was kind of hungry and I thought it was so nice that there were pretzels on the table. So I had to pay about a dollar for a really bad pretzel. They have them on the table for people like me. Here, I met Dan, Nate, and their buddies. We drank a few beers and talked loudly. The inside of the place was really neat. The ceilings were high, the barmen were large, and there was a lot of copper near the bar. We decided to play pool in some place I'd never been before. However, we would first go to another bar.
We went to a place that I learned was known for having underage people. It was three Union guys, Nate, Dan, and me, with three Czech guys, Vojtech, George, and another friend, George. One George is very tall, and when I saw him 2 weeks ago, had blue hair. The other George I haven't seen since. However, these were not their real names, but for the sake of our American tongues, and ears, they were George. If you asked me now to retrace my steps, I wouldn't be able to tell you at all. I was truly a sheep following the herd. We were in a fairly bright place, mabye one of the major squares. From there we we about a block or two to a darker street, with crumbling and graffitied walls. The place was empty on the first floor. There was a bar, where we each got a beer. There was a spiral staircase to the basement, from which a lot of noise was coming. As we walked down the stairs, we looked to the source of the commotion, which was a large table of about 15 young people. I think each one of us paused a moment to look at them. The basement was big enough to fit about 4 tables, with some walking room in the middle. The big group took up 2 tables opposite from where we sat. I think there was either another bar there, or just a lady to look after the basement, but I wasn't really paying attention to that corner of the room. We talked and had a nice time. This was where I heard that the legal age is much lower in the Czech Republic, than in the USA. These other people were probably school kids, who shouldn't have been out late drinking beer in some pub. I think they left the pub at about 11, because it was probably their bedtimes.
We left shortly after to play pool.
The pool place was gigantic. It was also down an alley, and was a little scary from the outside. This place used to be a gymnasium of some sort, and is now a pool hall, with bowling, table tennis, and (of course) a bar. Some of us got another beer, I think all the Americans did. We played Americans against Czechs, and we lost. The Czechs and the Americans split up and went to their respective homes. Now that I'm writing this, I don't remember how we got home, but I think it was using the metro. Vojtech lives about 45 minutes from my dorm, in the opposite direction, and I don't think the other Czechs lived in the same direction either. So now I'm curious as to how we managed to get back. Well, since it's really easy by metro we probably did that.

Pool hall!

Prague First Week

9/10/09

I'm writing this now about two weeks late. It's Wednesday around noon, and I'm supposed to go to the gym today. Luckily that's my only plan for the whole day. I now have my class schedule, and had one class yesterday called Photovoltaics; it's about solar cells and solar panels. We got a high level overview of all the things that need to be factored into designing a solar plant. Meaning everything related to the sun, ie. the path of the sun during the day, the path of the sun over the course of the year, the incoming power in the radiation, etc. We had a laboratory session, which was really fun. The building with the laboratory has a really large space in the middle, sliced into smaller rooms, and is partially ringed by a hallway. This hallway was actually only a U, and our room was at the top of the U. We rang a doorbell, which seemed to have the right number, except for the letter a at the end. A guy came to the door, and was extremely unhelpful. The door said 32 on it, but we had to go to 32a. He said there was no class here. To which we responded, "fine, where is 32a." He sidestepped this question and said flatly, "surely your class is not here." So we left in a huff, and walked all the way around the U to the other side of the room. There was a door that said 32a, and we could see that guy sitting at the other side of the room. I was very peeved at that man when our professor came, and let us into the lab room.

There were many doors in the left wall, that led to the labs. Turns out the "walls" between the various labs were less than 6 feet tall, so they weren't really rooms. The lab was only wide enough for a lab bench and sitting space, so if someone wanted to get by, we had to scoot in. It was quite fun. We learned about the typical solar cell's voltage current characteristic, and about what factors affect it. Turns out that an increase in temperature decreases a cell's efficiency. So maybe there is more sun in the desert, but the solar panels won't not run as efficiently. A typical rating is 0.4% efficiency per degree kelvin. Room temperature is 20 degrees centigrade, but his example was a cell at 80 degrees centigrade, meaning a 24% decrease in efficiency, I think. I'm sure we'll learn about this in more detail later. My trip to Prague was a lot more interesting.

I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Thankfully, my roommate had an alarm that worked pretty well. Maybe his cell phone. It would talk to you in a quiet, but building, high pitched voice that said, "good morning." Kind of a strange thing to wake up to, but it worked. After checking in, I waited in the terminal, and could see a plane out the window that seemed like it was ours, mainly because the hallway that all the other passengers were heading down, went towards a plane. I was grateful that soon I would be sitting. I gave them my ticket and walked down the hall toward the plane, but the end was blocked off, and I was forced down a flight of stairs, and onto a bus. My heart skipped a beat, and the image of my dad ordering tickets came into my head. I could see him choosing the very cheapest tickets, but somehow not noticing the travel time, "15 hours by bus." Then I thought that maybe the plane had been canceled, and they were just going to drive us by bus. Luckily, it was just the bus to the plane, but I still had to stand, and wait for the rest of the passengers. I felt so cheated; this plane was sitting right there waiting for us, and they had waved it in front of our faces and then packed us all into a bus instead. The bus took us to the plane and the plane took us to Prague.

Thankfully there were no customs this time, so I got my bag quickly, and met my buddy outside. We got on a bus that took us along an unknown street. It was a little hilly, and quite barren. It turns out that this bus actually went right to the school. I've learned that there is a bus circle here, and that many people come through this area on their way to wherever. This is also the last stop on one of the subway lines. People take the train here and then take a bus or tram out of the city. There are constantly people with luggage waiting for the bus, or changing to another mode of transportation.

My buddy, whose name I can't type out in Czech, took me to fill out some paperwork for housing. He took me to the bank to take out 8,000 Czech crowns, which is about 500 dollars. 5,000 of this was a security deposit for housing, so I'll get some of it back. Then there were a bunch of other things I had to buy and wait in line for. The photos I brought were too big, so we had to go to the photo booth in the train station. The booth had instructions in English, but said them all really loudly, to my embarrassment. Then we didn't have any change so my buddy had to go buy a stick of gum. While I was waiting outside the booth, some lady came up in front of me, faced the wall, and I think talked to herself. It was kind of strange. The photos came out, but my blue/green, yellow hair, looked a little different in the pictures. I then got 4 new pieces of identification: a resident card for the building, an international student club card, an id for the transit system, and a student id for the school. That's in addition to my international student id card, college id card, state id card, and passport. Oh and my debit card has a picture of me on it too. I arrived at around noon, and we finished all this necessary stuff at around 4pm. My buddy, Voitah as it's pronounced, took me to the nearest food place.

The place we went is right on campus, and the downstairs felt really dated. This is about when I realized that I wouldn't be able to understand, or even guess at, anything. Everything was in Czech, but there were pictures. My buddy told me he was getting a famous Czech dish, "frightened cheese." This really confused me, but after some discussion we figured out that it was really, fried cheese. Something like a giant mozzarella stick, but when I asked what kind of cheese, the response was "brick cheese."

Here is a picture of Vojtech (my buddy), and Demarcus, on Friday eating some yummy gyros.

Day 6

Wednesday 9/9/09

This morning all four of the roommates had breakfast. We had a nice talk and then went our separate ways. I took a nap and was late meeting Shelly. I actually got really lost and was a half hour late, but she had gone shopping anyway. When we met, we had lunch at the corner, which was really delicious and cheap. It was thirteen euro for an appetizer, a main dish, and a beer. The appetizer was eggplant and some kind of cream, and the main dish was a salad. The salad had an oil and vinegar dressing and consisted of thin slices of meat and beans with onions. I was very happy after that meal. We took the bus and saw the Rodin museum and Napoleon's tomb. The best ones were of lovers. The human forms entwined in each other and blending into the stone. The bare skin of the figures gave radiated carnality. Napoleon's tomb was very different, it was so overdone that it lost any sense of authenticity. None of it could be taken seriously. Afterward I said farewell to Shelly and headed back to the hostel.

Napoleon's Tomb

Pretty

Today is my last full day in Paris, I am catching an early flight tomorrow morning. I think I have to leave here at seven thirty to get to the airport in time. I will bring my phrase books along so that I can navigate properly. I hope that my buddy finds me at the airport. I will be getting dinner soon and putting some letters in the post box. Unfortunately some of the pictures that I took today were corrupted and lost. So I don't have any pictures of the tower up close. Next time I write I will be in Prague...

I saw this and had to take a picture and post it, sorry

I had a really crazy, and great time at the bar last night. You see after writing for a few hours, my roommates came back, and just by chance our schedules worked out perfectly. Three of us went to eat, and we decided to meet the fourth for drinks later in the evening. The three of us walked down the strip, at prime time. The streets were crowded with people dipping in and out of small crowded shops. People seemed to come from all directions. There were some young people with backpacks trying to stop people on the street. One such lady had stopped me earlier, but I couldn't understand what she was saying. The encounter was silly though, because I saw what she was trying to do. I made eye contact by accident and knew that she was going after me. I tried to side step her about 20 feet away, but she countered with continued eye contact and a wave, that said "I see you." Then I think I said something in English and that changed her attitude to, "oh you don't understand me, that's maybe why you were dodging me."

We ate at some cafe near the Bastille. I got an oversized steak thing with pomme frites. It was gigantic, and with a lot of fat. I realized after I ate it that I probably should have ordered something else. My roommates both had some pasta, that looked really delicious. We then went to get some gellato, but held off when we actually got there because only one of us really wanted it. So we went to another place directly in front of the train station and had some coffee. I remember the conversation was lively, and very fun. We were relaxing with our cafe, as I am now, when we realized that we had to meet our other roommate.

Made me feel very full

Malik and Hiro (right)

Shortly after we returned our fourth buddy returned. He informed us that he had gone for some food, and had met an Italian guy. We went to meet these new people at a nearby bar. We walked for a while, down to the Bastille and then down a very crowded street. The tides of people were now gone from the main street near the hostel, and were now in this off centre street that was full of bars and clubs. I wished I had known about this place before, but it doesn't matter because now I know where to go next time. We skipped most of the places and our Italian roomy, Simone, found the right place. I can't remember the name, but I do remember certain things about it. It was quite dark inside, and the wood was relatively dark as well. The WC was in the back corner and I think it was behind a crinkled glass door. It was all graffiti on the inside and not in very good condition. The entrance was in the middle of the front, and the bar was right to the right of the door, and then went straight back. It was a narrow place and was not very deep either. There were a few small tables to the left against the wall, then a couple more against the back wall. The table we chose was after the end of the bar but in the center. We had met up with about four people; thus making the group a total of about seven. So it was difficult for us all to fit at one table. There were two bartenders, one guy and one girl. The girl was extremely beautiful in my opinion. Blonde, slender, a gorgeous face, and a very attractive accent. She was one of those people that you hope looks back at you when you look at them. Fortunately for me I was a customer so she had to look at me. Later in the night, the people sitting at the back wall were very noisy, and spilled several drinks on the table and on the ground.

We had met a number of very nice people; Marco had met our roommate Simone. Simone, you pronounce the e at the end in case I hadn't already mentioned it, had gone to a different place earlier to watch a football game, and had made acquaintances with Marco. He said that he had heard some Italian being spoken and then made conversation about the game. I find that Americans are not as friendly. Then again some of us are here in Europe with the mindset that we don't want to meet more Americans. I'm lucky so far, and have only met really wonderful people. There is very little antagonism going on amongst the people I've met here. I think today, three weeks after arriving, I saw the first couple glimpses. There was talk that certain groups were not very friendly, but there are people in every group that become somewhat disliked. For example I think there is one guy who is going to be disliked by most of the girls, and I may be disliked for breaking hearts. The other three roommates, me, Hiro, and Malik, were very happy to meet new people that night. We met Marco's friends, Andrew, a girl whose name I can't remember, and at least one other guy, but I can't remember certain names. It was a truly hilarious and fun night from then on.

I think we were all introduced outside, because there were many smokers, and you can't smoke inside in Paris anymore. We quickly moved inside, and sat at the table. I found out a little about almost everyone. Marco and Simone talked a lot to one another in Italian. Late in the night, they were sitting across the table, talking like mad, and not in English. I was later informed by Marco, that there are many different dialects or languages spoken within Italy. That each region speaks its own language that others can't really understand. He told me about the vatican and Rome, and how they had a kind of private army. He told me about Sardinia and Sicily. He spoke English, French and Italian, was tall, had brown hairs, wore glasses and smoked cigarettes.

There was Andrew, Marco's friend, who is blonde, smoked cigarettes, was originally from Canada, and speaks French, Italian, English and understands Spanish. He was studying to manage people's funds and lives south of Paris. Turns out my hair had turned the same colors as their town's rugby team. So it was good luck for them, since they have been ranked very highly, but have never quite had the glory of some championship.

Then there was this girl, who was very pretty, and really talkative. I can't remember where this started, but she was very insistent on talking to me. However, there was one difficulty, that she didn't speak English, and I didn't speak French. So whenever she wanted to talk to me she had to get someone to translate it. Usually this meant nudging someone who was in another conversation. Marco and Andrew were the usual translators. She would spew these long French lines, and monologues, that would then need to be translated for me. Then I would find something to respond with.

I was sitting at the table with Hiro on my right, and Malik across from him. The French girl sat across from me, with Marco next to her, and Simone on my left. I think this was more or less how we sat at the table for the whole night. One of the first things I found out about her was when Marco said to me across the table, "don't get any ideas, she's Andrew's girl." Still she kept getting Marco to translate, for both of us. I don't remember the conversations, except when she spoke in English, which happened for a while. Then I also told a friend's story, that took about fifteen minutes, because I had to talk very slowly. Afterwords, Malik said, "wow, that took a long time." I had my phrase book, which was pretty much useless, since I could only say stock things. I knew how to say, things like, "I'd like a beer," and "I'd like some water." "How are you?" I could look up phrases, but the best ones were about dating, and I couldn't use them. As the night went on and she got more frustrated, she started yelling at me "TRYYY!!!!!" Then she thought I was making fun of her because I couldn't say anything. Malik tried to intervene, by giving me French words or phrases, but it was no help. Never having taken French, ever. I couldn't do anything. She did try and talk to Hiro for a while as well, and we all tried to teach one another words or phrases, which was a lot of fun.This was probably after two or three hours after we'd arrived, but it was good because I was afraid I was going to get beaten up for talking to this guy's girl too much. It was funny when she'd speak a stream of French and the translation was "She said, she wants to be able to talk to a blue headed American boy." I didn't have a good response to these kinds of statements. She finally got frustrated with me and the group split up. I stayed with Hiro and Malik, while she went with the French and Italians. I was a little relieved, because she was not getting upset at me anymore, and a little happy, because she had not gotten thoroughly upset. It was an experience that I don't think any of us will forget, nor be able to retell well. Hiro, Malik and me, all sat and intently tried to converse with one another and this girl, for a few hours.

It turns out that there were many people there that were related to Andrew. This girl was his girl, Marco his friend, his brother came later in the night, and the beautiful bartender was his sister. I was so lucky to be in the company of this fine group of people, and to have met all of someone's siblings. I must say they were a very good looking family. We stayed till closing, and then we exchanged e-mails. I thought I would be able to send them emails later that weekend, but I was so overwhelmed with things to do the next week, that it took some time. I hope I can stay in touch with them, and maybe get some good stories from them.

We said our goodbyes, and made the long trek back to the hostel. I am very grateful to Simone for finding such a nice group of people. I think it was the best note to end my stay in Paris on.

Interlude 1

"Czech Paradise"

Sorry for being so far behind in posting things, but I haven't sat down yet and written about Prague yet. I'm still trying to write about my last night in Paris. Still, I will give you a little preview, clubs, beers, a tour of Prague, and a trip to Czech Paradise. The people are great, French (from France, and from Canada), Italians, Spanish, Portuguese, Russians, Scottish, Taiwanese, Germans, and many more.

On the train to Czech Paradise

Day 5

Tuesday 9/8/09

This morning I missed breakfast and was late meeting Shelly at Notre Dame. It was five euro to go to the top, which was well worth it. Thankfully she had gotten there about thirty minutes before me and was near the front of the line, because the line was extremely long when I arrived. There were so many stairs that I got kind of dizzy going up. The view is very nice from the first level and the gargoyles are pretty neat up close. The bell tower was open so I got a couple nice shots of that and the very top was also open. The view from the very top is really neat. When we got up there we were greeted by ringing bells from another part of the building. When we had taken enough pictures we descended and had lunch. Later today I am having dinner with a distant relative and have bought a bottle of wine for the occasion.

View from stairs of Notre Dame

In a cage

First gargoyle

Gargoyle above us

View of Pompidou

Looking towards bell tower

Bell in the bell tower

The very top of Notre Dame

Looking east

These relatives live near the Eiffel Tower, which is quite far from here but is still walkable. I set out to walk along the Seine, and it only took an hour. I did see a building that was covered in moss and plants. This was a building I think someone mentioned to me before, but I really couldn't believe what they said because the description was preposterous, but now I have photographic evidence and understand. I came to a park and thought to myself, this must be where the tower is. I took a few steps and saw it through the trees. I edged closer onto the grass and took a picture. I noticed that where I was standing and about twenty feet to my left the ground was bare because so many people must have done exactly what I just did. I walked underneath the tower and then sat and watched some old italian sounding men play boccie ball. After about half an hour I set out to find my relatives' apartment.

The apartment was gorgeous; it was wonderful beige stone, high ceilings, and a nice backyard. We had a drink in the yard and got acquainted. They made a phone call to their daughter in NY and we had a nice conversation. They had two pretty dogs, one would jump up if I stopped petting it. They gave me a bottle of scotch, that was rather accidentally acquired by them, and I gave them a bottle of wine. I had a delicious seafood kebab as a main, and soup for an appetizer. I had a really lovely time with them and hope to see them again.

Three of the four roommates went out to a bar when I got back to the room. It was a little pricey, but they are good company. One is from the US and the other is from Nagasaki, Japan. We got back a little before the hostel closed and talked before going to bed.

Day 4

It's now Monday the seventh of September, and I had to wake up at six to get to the train station at seven to meet Shelly. I met her at a clock sculpture in front of Gare Saint-Lazare. There was a big old looking clock on the station itself but there was also this tall sculpture of many clocks bending and twisting together. It was a good idea for a meeting place. We got tickets easily and I even got a small discount for being young. On the train we got a room with a table, that we shared with a young couple and child. The ride was smooth and I got to write on the computer for most of the trip. Shelly read a book that my aunt had me give her. The two hour ride was very easy, except when we had to play the ignorant tourist card for not validating our tickets. The attendant was nice enough not to fine us. We were quite hungry when we got to Deauville, so we went across the street and had some breakfast or lunch. We had cafe auit lait and croque missieur, but the latter was overcooked and not great. Shelly later said things like, "not a good introduction to croque missieur." I still ate mine and half of Shelly's. The bus to Honfleur was really quite fun, since the roads were very narrow. We were a battleship amongst fishing boats. Any time the bus went around a turn or had to share the road, I thought something bad was going to happen. At one point we followed a biker very closely up a shallow hill and then passed him. I could only imagine the rider's thoughts, "don't mess up, don't mess up." Honfleur was much nicer than I expected, and had much better food than Deauville.

Scenery on train to Deauville

Deauville Harbor

We walked to the little harbor and sat at a cafe, that we would revisit throughout the day. My aunt and uncle met us there and we began our walk around the town. My uncle was very excited to take pictures, which was part of the reason they had come to the town. We bought a tour guide to the historic sites in the town and began about half way through the tour. The buildings in this area were very old, the streets very narrow and the shops very cute. The first stop was Saint Catherine's church, which had a very strange looking bell tower next to it. We went to a museum of a painter named Bodin. Every painting in the museum was of Honfleur or of the surrounding areas. There were beach scenes, harbor scenes, and scenes in the towns. My aunt and I agreed that is was neat to see so many different interpretations of the same area. Each painter had a slightly different style, but their subjects were very similar. One funny part about this beautiful town is that across the water of the Seine there is a large port. The opposite shore was many container cranes, liquid containers, and some big industrial buildings. It really looked like Jersey when you drive through Staten Island, but it might have smelled better. We left the museum having a good feel for what life used to be like in Honfleur, and an idea about why so many painters had gone there. The snapshots of life in these beach towns, that were captured in these painting, were very different from the tourist crowd we saw on the streets. They showed people relaxing on the beach, stormy waters, and wooden masted ships.

Looking out at the harbor

Looking back at Honfleur harbor

Street in Honfleur

We were getting very tired, but we pushed on. We decided to split up: the men going for a longer walk, and the women heading back into town. We walked a while to a beach and then up a hill back toward the town. There were several very old beautiful houses on this path. Jon had to stop and take pictures through or over fences. There were a couple very old looking farms; one was probably a house, while the other was probably a hotel. We finally got back to town and regrouped at the cafe we had met at in the morning. The plan was to have dinner at five thirty, and then take a bus at seven back to the train.

Sainte-Catherine Church bell tower

View of Seine and Le Havre from a beach near Honfleur

I had a really funny time with Shelly this whole week. It's really an adventure when travelling or spending time with her. When we were going from Deauville to Honfleur we almost got on the wrong bus. When I was holding the tickets she kept asking if I had the tickets. It's good that she was making sure, but after a while it got silly, so we both had a laugh about it. On the train home she was very antsy so we almost got off at the wrong stop. Then when we were waiting for the transfer to come we almost got on the wrong train. Another time she suggested we go to the place where I got a twelve dollar beer. Her thought was that no matter where we went lunch would be twenty. I said, "are you sure are you sure." She said "yes, yes." When we got there she looked at the menu and said, “this place is expensive.” Still it was only the main dishes that were expensive. I got a delicious pasta entree (starter), penee in fromage sauce and roe. In Honfleur we almost sat to have a drink outside a place but luckily I checked the menu, since every main course was over thirty euro. I had a very good time with her, despite some near mishaps.

Our plan to go to dinner at five thirty did not work out. Earlier in the day when we were at the cafe we kept revisiting, we had all sat and listened as Shelly made reservations for dinner at five thirty. Somehow there was some sort of miscommunication, and the restaurant was actually not even open until seven. We found this out at five thirty when we talked to the head chef.

We decided to return to the first place we had gone. The place where we had lunch, dinner, cafe, and after dinner drinks. We also at one point sat down and then left without ordering. I hate doing that, except when there is a good reason, like at the place that denied us the bathroom.

We were both exhausted when we got on the bus, but there was a pretty girl there that I kept meeting eyes with. For this part of the ride we had to transfer trains, but when we got to the station there was no train. We waited for almost an hour before the train came. The conductor told my travel buddy that a child had been killed falling into the train tracks, and that it had taken two and a half hours to resolve. The train came and zipped us quietly back to Gare Saint-Lazare and got me in bed shortly after.

This was the longest day of the trip so far, aside from the trip from New York. That reminds me, I was so tired on Friday that I can't really remember where we went that morning. Turns out that we had walked through Luxembourg gardens at some point. Similar to the trip from home, traveling to Honfleur took a total of seven hours, and we were up for about eighteen hours.

Day 3

Sunday morning I met my uncle at Hotel de Ville and we went to meet Shelly at her hotel. A pretty short walk past Notre Dame. My aunt was napping at the hotel because she could sleep the night before; she thought the waiter had mixed up the cafe order and given her caffeinated coffee. We talked about going to Honfleur and Shelly offered to buy me a ticket, so I had to go despite the long travel times and early wake up time involved. After discussing the matter my uncle and I went to the Cluny museum. This museum is free the first Sunday of the month, so we walked over and waited in a short line outside the museum, which looked like a cathedral. There were some small gargoyles of various states of decay hanging from the rooftops. This is where my age was asked by the cute teller, and where I treated my uncle to an audio tour.

Cluny Museum Gargoyle

Another Cluny Museum Gargoyle

The museum was pretty neat because all the pieces were from the middle ages, and varied from weapons, to tapestries, to statues. I learned from my uncle that at one time there were two ways to be successful, the church, and the army. The sheer number of religious pieces of art that were commissioned is staggering and gives some indication of the amount of power the church had. This could be totally untrue though, because this collection could be a very small sample of the total amount produced. Either way, there were a lot of religious works. We only had time to get through half of the museum before we had to head back to meet my aunt at half past noon.

Our walk for the day started at my aunt and uncle's apartment and never ended. First I convinced them that we should walk to the Bastille because of how close it is to the hostel, but the plan for the day was to walk, so this became a walk to a walk. We did stop in a very nice park on the way called, Place des Vosges. It was a park that seemed to inhabit a giant courtyard, since the buildings around it were all connected. There was a statue of Louis the XIII, who my aunt joked is one of those people who nobody knows the true face of. This line of conversation comes from a story she told me earlier about a statue of a famous person that a student had posed for, and is now called “the big lie.” We took a couple of pictures of the glorified courtyard and went to the Bastille, that is now marked by a pillar, and forms another big traffic circle.

The Bastille marker

Bastille Traffic Circle

Place des Vosges from Rue de Rivoli

Inside Place des Vosges

Louis XIII

Near the Bastille there is an old elevated railway that has been converted to a wonderful garden and walkway, and is now called Vaduc des Arts Promenade Plantee. We walked on this elevated park past buildings of a totally different character from the buildings in the center of Paris. These were brick and were described to me as looking British, but whatever they were, they had very strange looking smoke stacks. Now looking at the map it seems that we didn't walk very far along this promenade, even though it felt like forever. We hopped on a train at Gare de Lyon and went to the laundry museum.

Promenade Plantee

View of houses near Promenade Plantee

Apartments near Promenade Plantee

I couldn't remember how to pronounce the museum's name but it sounded something like laundry, ah it was the l'Orangerie. It is located at the end of Tuileries and has Monet's water lilies. They were really great, and much bigger than I imagined. The museum was quite small, but was very nice. At one point my uncle tried to get a picture of a guy sitting in a chair next to a painting, but it didn't come out as well as he wanted. Some Japanese girls became interested in my hair and kept trying to take pictures of it. They never did get the shot they wanted, probably because I didn't ever stand in one place long enough and they didn't want to blatantly take a picture. I was imagining telling them in Japanese that it was ok, but I didn't. Both when we entered and when we left, one of the guards complemented my hair a bunch, it was all very comical.

Jon taking pictures on the walk back to Notre Dame

We had some cafe and crème brulee, and I again drew many looks from passersby. I also bought a Czech phrase book and a teach yourself Czech book and CD, so that I can maybe understand some of the language when I'm there. We decided to walk back so that my uncle could get a good shot of Notre Dame in the evening light. It was a very long walk and made us all very tired. We decided to go to the neighborhood near the hostel. The restaurants and other things in this area are open on Sunday when everything else is closed. We had falafel and I got a delicious drink called Kir. Interestingly this area is also known for its gay population, or for having many gays visit. I got my computer and we went back to my aunt and uncle's apartment where I used the internet and posted the entry about my first day and uploaded photos.

Paris Day 2 Part 2

Now it's Monday morning and I'm riding a train to Honfleur, a port town two hours on train and twenty minutes by bus, and am trying to catch up on writing this blog. Shelly is with me and we're meeting my aunt and uncle there for the day. I had to get up at six am and met Shelly near a statue of many clocks outside the train station. The train is very very smooth, and the view out the window is very beautiful. We are in the non-smoking second class car, which is about half way down the train. The smoking cars must have been farther along, because many teens with cigarettes and stylish clothes including shopping bags from the weekend were walking by. I'm guessing these kids came for the weekend to shop in Paris and are now returning to their towns of origin. We've gone from the urban environment of Paris to a more rural area now. Supposedly the town of Honfleur is beautiful, I can't wait to see it.

After the Louvre on Saturday, we walked through the Tuileries, a park adjacent to the Louvre. The train that comes near the dorm also goes right by all these places and to the Arc de Triomphe, all the way down Rue de Rivoli. We wanted to get some food after the Tuileries, but making a short detour off course led us instead to the US embassy. However, we weren't really in the mood for American food, so we went back to the promenade. We stopped and I had my first sandwich in Paris, delicious ham and cheese with herbs, hot pressed to melt the cheese and on a lovely baguette. The park was bustling with people, but the sky was threatening us with dark clouds and rain drops. We found some temporary refuge in a theatre, and let the rain subside.

Sphere trees in Tuileries

We stopped in a few stores on the walk including the Pugeot store. They had a series of five or so discs rising to the top of the store, each one slowly rotating one of their cars. The first one was a rally car, the second a very old looking one, and the rest a mystery. We went into the Gap and a few other stores to find a scarf. The Gap had a pretty popular song playing called Help I'm Alive. There was another cool car store, I think it said Urban Control on the front, but was some other company like Renault. The store had a lot of rubberneckers outside and was causing the stream of people to bend and slow. There was a car leisurely rotating on a platform inside. It had air ducts on the front, set on the sides next to the head lights, and suicide doors, so that the whole side of the car seemed to open. We were now just before our destination.

My uncle took a picture of us standing in the street in line with the monument. There was a line of people waiting for this opportunity. Just watching the traffic zoom around in this totally crazy traffic circle is fun. Contrary to typical traffic circles, the traffic going in the circle would yield to the people gunning it down the straightaway. Whatever your opinion of this system, it did seem to work somehow. It was even funnier to watch from the top of the arc. We were up there for only five minutes before there was almost an accident. The circle travelling traffic was busy yielding to some people on the straight, but there one straggler who entered the circle when the yielding traffic was starting to move. The guts and arrogance this guy drove with, was evident when he barrelled into the circle without the slightest hesitation. The tiny car collision, tinier from above, would have been devastating to at least one trunkless car. Thankfully the little group of circle goers stopped just in time, and had a little argument. The funniest thing I saw was a biker going around the circle in the midst of a group of cars. Somehow this guy made it around the circle in traffic. Actually I think the cars near him were afraid to go around him for some reason. Ending our time atop the Arc we went down, took some water, went down again and had some coffee at a cafe.

Jon and Sharryn at Arc de Triomphe

Eiffel Tower from Arc de Triomphe

Street view from Arc de Triomphe

It's always interesting when the English only speaker has to interact with with someone. There may be an assumption made by both parties, or either party that one understands the other. The usual way to find out is to speak at them and see what they say. My aunt and I do not speak French, but my uncle does, so whenever there is a transaction it in someway has to go through him. Since I am young, the people at many establishments ask my age in case there is a discount. This happened at the Cluny, the beautiful young lady at the desk turned to me, mind you the museum is free on Sunday, and said what sounded to my ears at the time like “lahj.” This is where I usually employ one of my special facial expressions, which include blank stare, anger, surprise, and confusion. I chose bewilderment and looked to my uncle, who said “she wants to know your age.” So I told this pretty girl how old I was, “twenty two.” However, some interactions don't go as well as this one. Usually I use the fifth most important phrase from the book, which has many forms; “Je ne comprendez pas,” “je ne parl pas Francais,” “yo no comprendo,” and “no.” The last is reserved for people who walk up to me speaking French, asking for cigarettes or money, or if I speak English, because they then usually ask for money. Sometimes when the English only speaker is sent to do an errand, a short story of their adventure usually comes back. I like to give a play by play, since I can't process any interaction in real time. I have to go over it once to figure out how rude I was.

The plan for the evening was to take a short nap before traveling to Monte Marte, an artistic area with a large beautiful church, on top of a hill. It is famous for having many painters including Tolouse deLautrec, who depicted the ladies of the night, and did the famous illustrations of the Moulin Rouge. It is also famous for having the Moulin Rouge and the red light district. I sat and wrote in the hostel instead of napping. At this time there was a model getting photographed outside the window. The guy at the front desk and I discussed this happening; I learned that he did not find her attractive and that the photoshopping of the image would remove the look of cold she had and was surely experiencing. She did have very long legs, which is pretty uncommon from what I've seen, then again there are a lot of young people around. I killed tons of time typing away and then took a short nap before setting out.

Photo Shoot

The station at our destination was very cute, and like the station near the hostel had a carousel next to it. The hill that the Funiculer goes up really is a hike, but we marched up it with a few breaks in the middle. Before the church there is a large set of stairs, that are cut by the road. The stairs continued below the road but stopped at a balcony overlooking a small park. On all the steps there was a large group of people, of all ages, drinking, smoking, and singing. There was a small group of people at the bottom of the stairs in the middle that were singing a Katy Perry song, and they were getting the crowd to sing along. We walked along the road up to a small square dominated by cafe and restaurant tables, but I'm told was formerly full of artists. When it was time, we went down the hill to the restaurant.

Sacre Coeur

Outside the restaurant stood several tables with patrons along with several different types of seafood, buckets of shrimp, and mussels from what I saw. The narrow restaurant had a very nice looking bar in the front, but beyond that and up a small set of stairs was the real eating area. On the right was a long padded bench, with small white stone tables in front. Both walls had large mirrors with wood divisions. At first glance I thought the back wall was mirrored also, but it was really just more tables. We were a very comical bunch going into such a nice place; my uncle had brought with him all his camera supplies, including a tripod, which jutted out from his already large backpack; I wore my colored hair brightly. My aunt was probably the most normal of us. When we got to our seats the backpack nearly took out our very personable next table neighbors' drink. Not wanting to part with the camera goods, my uncle wrestled with the pack while trying to sit at the bench. The waiter came over and took the pack and put it in the chair opposite my uncle, and said “wa la.” We had the best waiter I think I've ever had. He was joking with us and the next table at every chance, and was very non-chalant with us. He kidded that the pack was another person, and at the end of the meal that he was a piece of dessert.

I had a delicious piece of fish with asparagus in a cream sauce. My aunt had mustard chicken with fettucini, and a piece of some kind of delicious everything bread. My uncle had mussels, and gaspaco as an appetizer. There were also two desserts, a crème brulee with fresh raspberries, and something made of marzapan called floating island something (we couldn't figure out the something part, until the waiter informed us that it was he). I was thoroughly satisfied with the meal, the fish was delicious and asparagus perfect; the chicken was very tender and the mustard sauce amazing. I didn't have any mussels but he said they were very good. This was the best meal I've had in Paris so far.

After dinner we went back up to the church to see if my uncle could get a good picture. We took the Feniculer, a short up-hill tram that wasn't worth the fare. The crowd in this elevator consisted of several drunk or drinking teens, several well dressed beautiful blonds, and a father with two boys. I don't know what was being said, but everyone was laughing at a young girl, who was with a wine bottle carrying boy. She was talking loudly to some older lady, probably explaining her public intoxication. The shots of the church were not as great as we expected so we descended the hill. At the bottom of another very long flight of stairs one of a group of shady looking men approached me with a very small cloth bracelet, saying “hey big man” “I saw something” or something like that. I said “no, no, no” but he kept going for me. I guess he'd seen my Mickey mouse watch and was trying to take it off my wrist. He was following me pinching my elbow. Needles to say it was very unpleasant, and I really wanted to beat him up after that.

After escaping from that trap, we walked to the red light district. This was actually a very short walk from where we were and was really cool at night. I overheard an overly made up woman saying to man, “ok it's a Saturday night and there is a flat rate.” There were many sex shops, all types of fun sounding shows, and some bars and restaurants. At another spot I overheard “I've got seven girls...” before going out of earshot of the lady. We went by the Moulin Rouge, which actually has a windmill on the roof. I think the windmill is marked on a map we had as a “historic windmill.” Across from the Moulin Rouge there were some working girls, one was soliciting random men on the street. We avoided them and took the subway back to our homes.

Moulin Rouge

Paris Day 2 Part 1

I woke up at seven and stayed in bed until nine. My roommates were being noisy for no good reason. There really isn't that much you can do in a cramped room like that. They serve breakfast from seven to ten, which was much like the breakfast on the plane, bread, bread with chocolate, coffee and orange juice. This time I got fruit spread, which was delicious. There were only five or so people in the lobby, eating reading, etc. Mostly loners it seemed. There were two pretty girls and a guy near where I sat. I ate and sipped my coffee while looking over my phrase book. The new phrase of the day is “could you recommend a good x to me” which according to the book is “pouvez-vous me recommander un/une bon x.” Shortly after mastering this phrase, and a couple others, a stream of people began pouring into the lobby. Every one was well dressed. They were mostly girls, and were all cute, but as I realized after a while, were all in middle school or high school. This was one of several groups of young students staying at the hostel, all with guardians or escorts. I was kind of hoping there would be young people that would be in similar situations but turns out they're all on school trips or the like, and they're all either French or German. I'm impressed because all the kids look very adult and dress much better than I do, and many people I know. I felt a little awkward, being an American and in a room that was slowly filling up with strangers that probably didn't speak English.

I took a short nap, but then came back downstairs to write an entry in the blog. The lobby was pretty empty at this point, but I heard some American English being spoken. I only saw a couple of people, but didn't recognize any. After about thirty minutes I thought I heard a voice that I knew. I heard it again and was sure. I got up and walked over to see Juan with a bunch of Union students. Juan had mentioned to me on facebook that he was going to Paris at the same time as me, but it didn't seem like we were going to meet. Luckily we were staying in the same hostel. He broke out laughing at my hair and at seeing me in the same place. They were all going to Renne for term abroad and were leaving that afternoon, for a two hour train ride. I wish I could have seen more of them, but I'm still happy that I got to run into them so unexpectedly.

Girls from Union at the Hostel

Me and Juan at the Hostel

I met my aunt and uncle at Hotel de Ville, which is s a nice place to sit on some days. There was a bunch of guys sitting at the fountain, that might have been speaking French but might not have. One had an empty wine bottle at some point. There was a couple dressed in wedding attire getting pictures taken, and many people sitting at the fountain waiting, including me and a bunch of pigeons. We walked past Notre Dame again and past Sainte-Chapelle, to the Louvre. A woman pretended to pick a gold ring up off the ground in front of me and handed it to me saying, “is it gold.” I looked on the inside to where it said 18k, but I didn't think it was heavy enough to be real gold. She wanted me to think she had found it and was going to give it to me, but it was a scam and she confirmed this by saying, but won't you take it as a souvenir. I said no and walked away.

The bell tower across from the Louvre was very nice. The first courtyard in the Louvre is gigantic, or as my aunt said “quite big.” The whole place seems endless, and from what I've heard, you could spend a week walking around inside. The statues and reliefs are absolutely stunning, partially because of they're size; at a distance they look about normal for a person, but they're much bigger. Next we walked through Tuilers garden which is quite neat with it's assorted geometric shapes; there are square trees and sphere trees. My feet were already sore, but we had a very long way to go.

Jon and Sharryn in front of Palais de Justice

Bell tower across from Louvre

Details of Lourvre

As I sat here writing, there was a photo shoot going on outside the building, so if you see an ad with a woman dressed in all black against a blue fence, that's this place. That reminds me, Juan said I look European because I'm wearing all black today. Jon said I look like a New Yorker because I'm wearing all black. Regardless I've definitely got the best hair here.