When in France expect cheese...

While being driven along the coast of France this afternoon - the Mediterranean to the right of me french vineyards to the left - I couldn’t help but repeat to myself “remember this moment.”

The truth is my entire trip has been one amazing moment and my time studying here in Perpignan is no exception to that.

Since we have arrived I have been able to experience so many things and see a lot of France and the French culture that I probably wouldn’t have been able to if I had been on my own. I definitely owe a million ‘thank you’s’ to both the iei-media Program Director and the woman who runs Alfmed here in town.

I wish I had been journaling every day, every moment, but the first 8 days here were intensely busy so I will have to try to search back and evoke the feeling of the early days if the program.

Our first day we headed to the Alfmed school for an informal orientation, which involved a meet and greet game and some wine and cheese tasting. After that the entire group of students (about 17 of us) decided to go to dinner all together. We ate outside at a small restaurant in Perpignan’s city center that was nice enough to push about half a dozen tables together. We were definitely a sight to see (and hear I imagine). Our bill at the end of the night was about 216 Euros! (they don’t seem to do separate checks here)

The next day we met in the morning with our professors and the director of Alfmed who took us to the Castillet in the city center where we were able to climb to the top for a gorgeous view of Perpignan. On the way back down we had a small tour of the museum inside the Castillet, which focused on the history of Perpignan. From there we had a small tour of the narrow streets in the center of town, crowded with both small boutiques and big name stores as well as cafes and patisseries. We ended the tour at one the the larger Plazas in town where an open air morning market takes place everyday. Vendors sell fruit, honey, jam, cheese, fresh eggs, meat, spices, and bread to give you only a rough idea. We stopped for traditional french coffee at an outdoor cafe bordering the market, spending an hour people watching and talking about the activities planned for the week.

With the group now properly caffeinated our professors decided to send us out into the streets on a scavenger hunt. The seventeen of us were broken into our multimedia project groups and given five tasks to complete around town, requiring us to interact with locals, shopkeepers, a restaurant, and of course each other. My group worked well in hunting down garlic aioli (mayonnaise) to be used in preparing escargot for us later that night.

The scavenger hunt took almost 2 hours and at the end I was ready for a nap but felt my time would be better spent wandering the town. I came across what resembled a garage sale except that it was in one of the plazas with multiple people selling antique nick-knacks. One woman was selling the most amazing wooden owl figurines but they were all much too big to fit in my suitcase, otherwise I would have liked to picked one up for Trevor. While in the same plaza I saw a wedding party dancing while waiting on the arrival of the bride. The women were lovely, many of them decked out in colored head scarfs and gold bangles.

I walked back towards the Castillet where I happened upon a performance by Trobada de Falcons a troupe of castelleras, or human castle builders, which is an old Catalan tradition.

I cannot explain how exited I was to see this because I thought I knew I had missed the big performance of castellera done by Diada Castellera as part of Le Festa Major a few days before we arrived. I ended up writing my first assigned blog post for the program on the performance.

We ended the second night with a big welcome dinner at a lovely restaurant in town. As a before dinner treat we had cargolade - escargot in butter and garlic cooked over charcoal. I ate two and found them to taste overwhelmingly of butter.

To start our three course dinner I chose a simple green salad with tomatoes (after having been surprised when ordering a salad with goat cheese the night before to find it was a few green leaves and big thick slices of goat cheese fried in philo dough with honey drizzled on them). For the main plate I had a grilled white fish and for desert I had nougat ice cream. All of it was amazing!

Since I've been here it has become abundantly clear that the french are serious about their cheese and if a menu item says cheese it doesn't mean a bit of cheese or a hint of cheese or even accompanied with cheese... it means you are getting cheese. Often times cheese is the first ingredient listed, before pasta, bread, or meat - what you might have assumed would be the main part of the dish. While I can appreciate great cheese I can't consume it in such quantity. I'm a little cheesed out, ok to be honest I'm totally cheesed out.

Switching backpacks

Please excuse the embarrassingly large gap between this post and the last. A lot has been going on here with the Perpignan Project.

So to wrap up briefly, we were only able to spend a day in Barcelona but nonetheless we wanted to make the most of it.

After saying goodbye to our new friends we walked through Barcelona from the bus station, up and over Las Ramblas to Casanova where Hostal Centric was located. Our room was not ready when we arrived and crew men were working to restore electricity to the building as there had been a fire the night before. Sweaty and loaded down with our backpacks we decided to leave our stuff in a storage room and explore the city with the one small, incomplete map that we had.

Our first stop, as it was closest to us, was Las Ramblas. I have to say I wasn’t incredibly impressed with the street. Yes, there were some interesting street performers and human statues and a few artisan stalls, but in general there wasn’t much there that didn’t seem tourist and commercialized. Trevor said the area reminded him a lot of Telegraph in Berkeley.

From there we went into the Barri Gotic (Gothic Quarter) of Barcelona and walked around looking at the incredible architecture. We happened upon one of the many plazas in Barcelona, this one with the Christopher Columbus fountain statue. It’s quite tall and depicts Columbus pointing out towards the sea. The fountain water was cool and refreshing in the bright sun.

With the heat turning muggy we headed to Port Vell, Barcelona’s main harbor and from there we followed the crowds of people towards Barcelonetta, where the beaches are. Trevor put his hand into the Mediterranean but the beach was too crowded to stay for long.

We walked a different route across town to Hostal Centric, walking by gorgeous Gothic and Renaissance churches.

For dinner that night it was decided I must try a local food: tapas and paella. We picked a small restaurant with outdoor seating and ordered tapas, chicken paella, and a pizza for Trevor.

It’s been decided that I’m not much of a tapas fan and will definitely not be ordering paella any time soon.

As the evening wore on we headed off to one of Barcelona’s most famous sights, La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi’s famous unfinished church. It was a long walk almost all the way across town from where we had eaten but watching the sun set behind the tall towers of Sagrada Familia made it worth it.

Early the next morning we hoped on an aeroport bus and rode 30 minuets to the airport. As a side note I am so glad we decided not to try and walk to the airport, we never would have made it!

Trevor got his plane tickets and we sat together for a while before the Perpignan group arrived and we were forced to part ways, myself traveling back into France and Trevor home to California.

The bus from Barcelona to Perpignan was only 2 and a half hours and I caught a small but much needed nap.

I’ve been in Perpignan for about 8 days now and it is already becoming an adventure of its own. In the next post I will tell you about my cargolade tasting (mmm escargot!) and the great tours we’ve been on here.

Bonjour from Perpignan France

Today is my first full day in Perpignan in the South of France. Classes do not begin until Monday (Lundi) but we have a fully planned weekend of orientation activities.

To go back a bit to the last post and fill you in ......

(OK FYI I am watching a Bruce Willis movie right now that is dubbed in French and it's super weird and scary, I'm not sure the name but anyone familiar with a Bruce Willis movie where he and a woman find a broken window in their bedroom and then a man in his underwear standing in their bathroom who is bloody and cries before shooting Bruce Willis and then himself??)

Back to the trip....

On our second day in Paris we headed towards the edge of the city to Parc Citroen where for 10 Euros we took a 30 minute hot air balloon ride. It was by far the best 10 Euros I have ever spent. It was not a traditional hot air balloon but a montgolfiere, which were invented in France by the Montgolfiere brothers, Jacques-Etienne and and Joseph-Michel around 1782. The balloon stays tethered to the ground during the flight but floats as high as the second story of the Eiffel Tower and does get blown around by the wind.

Taking a trip in a hot air balloon has been something I have wanted to do for years so it was an exciting morning for me and I really can't think of a better way to get an aerial view of Paris. From the sky we were able to see all the Paris and spotted the Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dam, Montparnasse, and so much more.

After our ride we wandered through Parc Citroen until we found a metro station, stopping to use one of the free, self cleaning, public toilets. As you step inside and close the door a long message is rattled off in French, which I was unable to understand in even the slightest bit, but I'm hoping it said something to the effect of "don't worry we flush the toilet for you" as I could not get the thing to flush.

(OK I think I've figured out that I am watching the Sixth Sense in french as the little boy from that movie is onscreen)

From Parc Citroen we headed to the Pantheon where we climbed 271 steps to the top dome for a second view of Paris. After we toured the Pantheon and the crypt, visiting the graves of Voltaire and Rousseau, Marie and Pierre Curie, and many French dignitaries.

We wandered around the area surrounding the Pantheon, visiting the historic University of Paris, Saint Etienne du Mont (a beautiful Gothic church), before wandering the streets, turning down those that looked interesting.

For dinner that night Trevor took me out for a three course French meal and La Bohemia in the Montmarte area. I had a tomato salad, roasted chicken in thyme sauce, and chocolate mousse while Trevor had an amazing french onion soup, a cut of meat that I cannot recall, and caramel flan. It was a leisurely meal lasting almost 2 hours allowing us to sit and observe the many people strolling through the street.

Around 10:30 p.m. we headed over to the Eiffel Tower in order to catch the light show that happens every night from at the top of the hour, every hour. We arrived at Champs de Mars just before 11 p.m. and took our time strolling down towards the Iron Lady. At 11 p.m. the tower began to sparkle before turning back to its traditional amber glow. We sat on the grass and tried to soak in our last night in Paris, and couldn't help ease dropping on two French boys attempting to hit on two girls from Prague in English.

At midnight we headed back to our hotel for the night to pack our backpacks and get some rest.

The following morning we checked out of our hotel in the early afternoon and headed to the Austerlitz area. After a delicious lunch of seriously the most amazing fajita salad I have ever had we took small naps in a park outside the Museum of Natural History. Through the windows we could catch peeks of large dinosaur skeletons. As we sat a few groups of school children came through near us and we had quite a time watching them and trying to respond when they would talk to us. Later that same day we stopped in a store to buy some of the cookies (they called them biscuits) which they were eating. They turned out to be to die for little graham cracker sandwich cookies with chocolate cream in between and are in the shape of smiling and winking pieces of toast.

As the afternoon wore on we walked along the outside of the menagerie were we we able to see small deer, red pandas, and kangaroos.

I had been attempting to fight off a head cold for a few days prior but on our last day in Paris it really hit me so we popped into a Pharmacy to pick up some medicine. All 'real' medicine is located behind the counter and in a fantastic bit of luck the shop girl did not speak any English. I only know froid, the word for cold in reference to the weather so there was a lot of gesturing but she seemed to understand and handed me a box. I can't read much of the directions as they are in French but I understand it has a decongustend in it! Still congested today but hopefully soon I'll be feeling well.

As it got close to 8:30 p.m. we headed to the train station to catch our night train to Barcelona only to find out that there was no train as the French train company had just decided to go on strike. Instead we were placed on a bus and driven 13 hours to Barcelona.

I'm still attempting to sort out what I can do in order to get a refund on the 73 Euro seat reservation we EACH had to pay for the overnight train sleeper cars. Seems unfair to still pay 73 Euros when we struggled to catch a few winks on a crowded bus.

We did meet some nice people on the bus including three Americans, two from Ohio and one from Florida, as well as a beautiful girl from Copenhagen Denmark.

I will have to save Barcelona for another post as this one has already become incredibly long.

In a few hours I head out for a evening walking tour of Perpignan and then a welcome dinner which will include cargolade (escargot grilled over charcoal).

good idea ... bad idea

It's a good idea to not eat every meal at a cafe, street vendor, or restaurant.

It's a bad idea to buy a bag of ten croissants for 1.19 Euro - I've eaten five already and it's only been two days!

nom nom nom

"You're not in Europe until you hear police sirens every ten mins"

On our first day in Paris we had a later than usual morning, leaving around 10am. We found a open air produce market a block from our hotel where I bought some fruit for a small breakfast and a snack for later.

Trevor decided we should head to Notre Dame first and from there we chose to walk down the Seine river in order to see as much of Paris as we could (although what you see of Paris on the Metro is also interesting).

Notre Dame was beautiful and not too crowded with tourists but definitely not a place that was sparse with people. We kept getting hassled by a duo of "Romanian" women asking for money to return home..... "Non, laissez-moi tranquille!" For breakfast we bought one ham and cheese and one blueberry crepe from a street vendor (delicious!) and ate them in a park behind the Notre Dame as we listened to the bells toll the hour.

After walking around the church we meandered through the surrounding side streets for a bit before heading down the Seine towards the Eiffel Tower.

The walk must have taken an hour and a half at the very least but I can't be sure as I was not paying attention to the time and we paused a few times. Along the way we stopped at the Louvre, Musee d'orsay, Plaisis royale, and many other historic landmarks. Dotted all along the Seine are small foldable/collapsable market stalls, many of which sell books, art, postcards, and trinkets.

Finally after many teasing peaks of the top of the Eiffel Tower through trees and behind buildings we were able to see the tower in its entirety. Built as part of the 1889 World's Fair the tower is certainly a unique structure in Paris. Trevor found the men selling trinkets to be quite frustrating as there were so many of them selling exactly the same thing in a small area.

After walking under and around the tower we headed across the Seine and down the Avenue de New York towards the Arc de Triomphe. We popped into a tabac in order for Trevor to buy a pack of cigarettes, somewhere along the way, anticipating the fact that most tabacs close early at 6 p.m.. Trevor has continued to buy Paul Mall here in Europe despite the many never before seen brands available for purchase.

At the Arc de Triumphe we found that Portugal had won their game in the World Cup 7-0 as the roundabout surrounding the Arc and the Champs Elysee was full of people waving Portuguese flags, spilling into the streets, and flying flags out car windows as they drove by. It was a noisy scene, chaotic at times when large groups would jump into the street and bring traffic to a stop.

We rested our feet at a cafe on the Champs Elysee and whetted our tongues with a glass of wine (Trevor) and an espresso (me) before taking the metro back to our hotel to change shoes. On the way we made a small lunch out of a baguette and Edam cheese.

Heading out again we walked towards the nearby Sacre Coeur Basilica. To reach the basilica we had to climb a few hills and quite a few steps but the view at the top was well worth the price. Outside le Sacre Coeur we were disappointed to see not only loud amateur street musicians but also men selling beer and coca-cola.

Inside, however, the beauty of the church is indescribable. While we didn't have enough money to pay to light a candle we did sit and say some prayers at the main alter after visiting each saints alter. Supposedly the crypt below the church contains a piece of Christ's heart, but the crypt was closed today, much to Trevor's dismay.

From there we walked aimlessly through the narrow, twisting streets of the Montmarte area surrounding the Sacre Coeur (on top of the hill), finding lovely, small sweet shops selling macaroons, glaces (ice cream), and various art souvenirs. We ate dinner at a small sidewalk cafe, having a Salad St. Luce (salad with cucumber, beets, goat cheese, and tomato) and Ravioles au fromage (cheese raviolis in an amazing tomato cheese sauce) while splitting half a bottle of white wine.

After dinner we wandered down the hill, listening to live music from cafes and bars on many different streets while slowly making our way to Rue de Clingy to see the Moulin Rouge lit up at night. Walking past all the sex shops and clubs back to our hotel where we are now having a cup of tea and ending the night (at 12: 20 am) watching French TV.

Bonjour Madame et Monsuir, ca va?

Tonight we pulled into Paris, France via Thalys train after spending 4 hours in Brussels.

After saying good-bye to Dan yesterday evening (or very early this morning depending on how you classify 1:30 am) we woke up around 8 am this morning, grabbed a hearty breakfast (granola cereal, bread, honey, tea, and orange juice} and headed out on a long walk towards the edge of Amsterdam to see one of the last remaining windmills within the city.

It was smaller than I had expected and looked nothing like the giant stone ones you see in postcards. In fact this one was made of wood and has been overtaken by a cafe but it is a windmill in Holland none the less.

Our weekend in Amsterdam came at the perfect time as Saturday the Netherlands played in the World Cup. Orange (color of the Dutch team) was everywhere, on people, on banners, on flags and streamers strung across the streets.

On my next trip to Holland I will certainly be renting a bicycle. I had no idea how many people in Amsterdam rode bikes - they are even given their own 'tram way' parallel (or sometimes in place of) the road.

We found a lot of bicyclists in Brugge as well. In Amsterdam, however, it was often times a sea of parked bikes, especially in Leidse Square.

Trevor and I both agreed that were we to live in Amsterdam we would certainly need a boat in order to motor through the canals, blasting our techno trance music and pumping both hands in the air.

With Dan as our pseudo guide we must have walked every inch of the city (mostly because Dan had only been there once before) but it was a great way to see Amsterdam and burn off the calories we'd eaten in falafel (YUM!), and cheese. They seem to really like their cheese and bread in Amsterdam (Edam was invented in the area). Trevor is a convert to the Dutch way of making an omelet and tells me the Dutch really know their ham.


We met some friendly Canadians at our hostel who invited us to play a Canadian drinking game with them. They were headed to Istanbul after having taught in Ghana for a few months as part of a school study experience.

The only museum we went to in Amsterdam was the Van Gough museum, although we did see the Anne Frank house from the outside (and pictures of the inside).

Brussels :

We were not able to spend long in Brussels and I am unsure of whether it was simply the area we were in (around Brussels Midi) or what but the city seems a tad seedy and quite frankly dirty for being the capital of Europe.

We did see the Museum of Royal Art, which is housed in what looks like a castle straight from the Rapunzel fairytale.

Paris:

It was late when we got here and having read numerous things about the dangerous reputation of the area around the Guarde d'Nord train station and Anvers Metro station after dark we decided to take a taxi to our hotel (yes I said hotel - no hostel for us in Paris) for only about 7 euros.

Now i am off to get a much needed backrub to ease my aching muscles. Today was my turn carrying Trevor's backpack and it offers less support than mine (thus the turns).

Au revoir!

Bruges - Belgium

Today we are in Bruges, Belgium, a beautiful medieval city full of amazing architecture, history, and incredibly friendly locals. It's currently about 12:45 am and I am waiting in the bar of our hostel (Snuffel Backpacker hostel) for Trevor to come back inside from having a cigarette with a Belgium gentleman whose name escapes me at the moment.

There has been lots to write about but little time to jump on the computer to do so here.

For a quick bit though London was fantastic.


It is already a city I love, having been when I was younger, and it was great to be able to make Trevor come to appreciate it. (He had doubts before for some unknown reason!) We took a double decker red bus tour to get orientated and see many of the 'must see' sights, ate at a few British pubs (a must for Trevor), walked around Westminster bridge, Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, rode the London Eye, took a Thames river boat cruise to Tower Bridge, toured the Tower of London (I saw 2 of the kids from Glee here) meandered the Thames river bank, and Camden Town and shopped the Camden Markets.

Trevor really took to Camden town and the Camden markets, as did I. We both bought things we didn't really have room for but we made it work. (both of us have an affinity for UK clothing brands)

The train station at Brussels proved to be a small challenge for us as some of the trains we wanted were not available (or supposedly didn't exist although they were listed online?) so we had to pay a higher reservation fee for one train and are forced to have different train carriages for our overnight Paris to Barcelona train (train rules?)

We're trying to not sweat the small stuff and hope it works out for the best.



In Brugge/Bruges today we climbed about 375 stairs up the towns belfry for a panaramic view of the city, walked extensively through the narrow, winding streets, visited The Church of Our Lady, tasted some belgium chocolate and beer, rode a boat through the canals, and have met 3 great local Belgium boys who proved very friendly.

I really must go find Trevor as the barmaid is starting to give me the eye....

Goodbyes and airplane rides

Tonight will be my last night in California for 6 weeks. I can't believe I only get 6 weeks in Europe, it hardly seems like enough time!

I've had my backpack packed since last week but you can bet I'll be re-packing it again (for probably the one hundredth time) tonight to double check I haven't forgotten anything.

Ten bucks says I still forget something - most likely my traveling partner, Trevor!

I've been dreaming about backpacking through Europe since I was a young girl and while this trip won't allow me the 3 to 6 months I'd like to have done it in, I am still very excited and nervous for what lies ahead.

Trevor and I are expected to land in London on the morning of June 15th. On June 17th we will head to Bruges by train and then Amsterdam on the afternoon of June 18th. After a weekend in Amsterdam meeting up with some friends we will head to Paris by train where we will spend three days before jumping on an overnight sleeper train to Barcelona. After a day here we will part ways: Trevor will fly back to the states and I will take a bus to Perpignan, France to participate in the perpignan project sponsored by ieimedia and SFSU.

Check back for tales from the road, hostel bed, or backpack!