Amsterdam!

Let's see how fast I can describe one of the most fun weekends of Lauren's year in Europe. Ready Set Go.

At the start of the year at Corina and David's birthday party, I somehow got convinced by a charismatic Dutch guy who loves Vancouver and hitchhiking that as I clearly already knew how fabulous Vancouver was, I needed to try hitchhiking in order to be even cooler than I already am. Two and half month's later, a few planning sessions having been attended and facing a day of wind, rain and chilly temperatures, I stood outside the Centre Pompidou in the center of Paris about to embark on my first ever hitchhiking expedition. That's right friends and family - Lauren was going hitchhiking. I was part of Le Concours d'autostop (hitchhiking competition) from Paris to Amsterdam over the Armistice Day (Remembrance Day) long weekend. 10 teams of 2 had signed up, and were racing to Amsterdam and then reuniting for a weekend of partying.

The keen crowd ready to rock outside the Pompidou. Note the umbrellas.

Timon, my Dutch friend who roped me into this adventure had also set me up with a partner, Simon. Simon was born in Switzerland but has lived in the States for the last 10 years. We headed off just after 10 and took the metro, as permitted, out of the first three zones of Paris out to La Courneuve. After a bit of walking we managed to find the gas station we were trying to leave from. Problem: two very large concrete walls seperated us from the Gas Station. We quickly decided that it seemed unlikely I would be able to scale the walls in the rain, so we headed back to road, temporarily stumped, but thanks to our "No Retreat, No Surrender" policy, we quickly asked the first passing car by the on-ramp if they would take us to the gas station, which they kindly agreed to so after a moment's hesitation. Score. Arrived at the gas station just before 12, to find two other times trying to get rides. Apparently two other teams had also been here and had left before us. They had all walked a bit further down and scaled the wall. Oops. Well at least we got there and I wasn't all muddy and wet.

Our good luck continued and Simon and I got dibs on asking an incoming Uhaul sized truck for a ride. The driver accepted. That's right, very first car we asked took us out of the city, which is the hardest part about hitchhiking. Once you get onto the highway and hop gas station to gas station, its relatively easy. Some teams didn't make it out for hours, with one team calling it quits, and another disbanding and a girl taking the bus. Needless to say, we were pretty pleased with ourselves.

We hopped in and met Peril, our driver (fortunately his name was not a bad omen.) He was headed back to England going through Calais for work, and had to drive this truck full of lighting equipment back for his company, which does luxury photo shoots. Peril was the coolest guy ever. We chatted about our lives, the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. Of Irish and Barbados decent and in his late 30s, Peril has had a pretty sweet life. He got into film production in his twenties, owned his own record store and a DJ label in London before becoming a lighting technician that gets flown around the world doing shoots. Not shabby. He gave us his card and told us to get in touch with him if we needed anything as he was back and forth between London and Paris a lot with work and his girlfriend. Our ride was awesome, though admittedly slow, crawling along at a mere 90km/h.

As we drove north, we also passed by the fields of the Somme. Seeing the muddy rolling hills and river on this dreary day, I couldn't imagine what fighting a grueling war in conditions like these would have been like, for weeks and years on end. It was the Remembrance Day reminder that I needed and we all reflected on the history of the region.

Our first time check was a 2pm, where we had to text a referee back in Paris our approximate position to receive a ranking. This came just as Peril dropped us off at a gas station 50km from Lille before he headed west towards Calais. We were in 4th place. Not shabby. This was when we got our first real taste of hitchhiking. We ended up waiting about an hour for our next ride. During this period, we grabbed some lunch, got cold and wet outside (ok well Simon did anyways), and made a sign for direction Amsterdam! It was somewhat entertaining how I would be smiling with my sign hopefully, people would smile back, read the sign, and -still smiling- shake their heads no. I firmly believe that smiling goes a long way though. Eventually, an older gentlemen said sure, come along and we hopped into a small hatchback for ride number 2 of our journey.

Meet Ivan: A middle aged man from Turkey who has lived in France for the past 30 years. In his youth he was an avid hitchhiker, and loves helping out young hitchhikers nowadays, especially since its so much harder to get rides nowadays. He was headed to a small town near Rotterdam to visit friends for the weekend. Unfortunately I was in the back and didn't get to talk to Ivan very much, but he was a wonderful old man and went above and beyond for us and one of the reasons my hitchhiking journey was amazing. As soon as we got in the car, he immediately gave us each a portion of his 3-part sandwich. Mid-route, we stopped for a bathroom break at which point he bought us all coffee. In the end, he also took us 45min out of his way north of Rotterdam to drop us off in the "good spot" where we could easily find our next ride. He was a bit of a father figure on the trip. He gave us his number in case we had any problems and so that we could give him the final results of the competition. He was thrilled with our 6pm time check two, when we managed to move into 3rd place.

Ride three was thankfully found in only 15min, as it was downpouring and we were riding a bit of a high from our great ride with Ivan and being only 30km from Amsterdam. We could practically taste the accomplishment. Our final driver surprised me, and unfortunately I didn't catch his name. A middle-aged white collar dutch man, he clearly didn't particularly like us. I had the feeling he thought I was a bit of an idiot. (Probably because I got really excited when I saw my first windmill and explained how it was exactly like in my childhood books Donald and Daisy got to the Netherlands). He also said he could never live in Amsterdam because there were too many foreigners and tourists - but not like us, the other kind. Despite his coolish demeaner, ride three was still pretty awesome, because despite not even living in Amsterdam, he took us right to door of our hostel. Simon speculated his Dutch civil duty to help these ignorant young travellers. Either way we had made it over 430km! Arrival time 7:51pm meaning it only took us less than 10hrs to do a 5hr trip! And we came 3rd overall. Not too shabby if I say so myself. (We texted Ivan our result and he called us back, so excited :)

Arrival at hostel, checked in and wolfed down the most delicious 3 euro dinner of kebab. Mmm mmm Mmmm! As most groups arrived by 9 or so, there was some sharing of the best stories, which included a direct trip from Paris to Amsterdam, and a car of Romanians who decided en route that why go to Brussels when you can go to Amsterdam! By 10 we were out the door and on the tram headed down to Rembrandtsplein to meet some of Timon's friends and celebrate our achievements. A fabulous night on the town that somehow escalated and featured the most unbrazilian Brazilian bar I have ever been to and another great club that played some traditional Dutch marching music. Highlight of the night: Brandon, a fellow hostel dweller befriended by Poullette and Leo and came out with us. I pretty much cry laughing every time I look at pictures of him. Back to the hostel by 4 or so, except Ayumi didn't have her key so we waited up for her roommates to get back until 5. By waited up, I mean slept on the couch in the lounge. Quality nap right there.

Myself, Leo, Timon, Poullette and Ayumi celebrating our hitchihiking victory.

My shot of the night: the creeper in the back is Brandon.

Saturday clearly came much too soon as I got up at 9:30 for breakfast. I also made another pleasant discovery. I advise against being in recovery from a strong cold and then hitchhiking all day, no naps, no tea and then going out dancing, singing and having a few alcoholic drinks and then going to bed at 5 am. Not pertinent to the maintenance of a speaking voice. So Saturday was spent virtually sans voice, or at least a very crackly, pubescent, warble, which would only go downhill as the day progressed.

We checked out of our hotel and headed downtown to Central Station, which is beautiful, with the intent of taking advantage of the walk in policy at one of the numerous hostels. Reason being, many people were just meeting on the trip and decided it would be easier to find accomodation when we there, together, and others were headed off to visit other friends, family etc. Anyways, long story short, bad call. Always book your hostel first. I paired up with Juliette, a girl from England, and we wasted about 2hrs calling and dropping in on porbably over 50 hostels and sketchy hotels, with no luck. Needly to say we were a little panicky, and not looking forward to paying 50 euros to stay in the sketchiest, dirtiest dorm style hostel. However, lady Luck decided to reward our search by having a kind hotel receptionist at this very cute hotel in the bourgeois Jourdan neighbourhood rent us a room for one night of a three night reservation for only 55 euros all in. Score! We unloaded our bags and then proceeded to walk around the neighbourhood reveling in our luck and finally getting out and enjoying Amsterdam!

What a city. Every city has a distinct character, and Amsterdam is cozy. The narrow houses that I'm in love with and the gorgeous canals, with bikes covering every available railing make you want to stroll around and then duck into a gorgeous bookshop with books floor to 12ft ceiling. After you could pop into one of the hundreds of gastro pubs or coffeeshops and curl up sipping a good tea. The pace of the city is so relaxed, a far cry from Paris. You can easily go from your coffee to a bar or club with out necessitating a change in clothes, and everyone smiles. I truly loved the atmosphere of the city and recommend it to anyone.


So yes, Juliette and I walked around, got some lunch and headed up to Vondelpark to meet up with Boris, Timon and Ayumi before heading to indoors for some hot chocolate as the temperatures had started to drop. So cozy. The rest of my night would consist of hopping from cozy watering hole to neighbourhood eatery with Lauren Bailey, Poullette, Leo, Simon and Juliette amidst strolls through the streets and featured a delicious pink fruity beer and the best brocolli soup I have ever had. By 10:30 though, I had to back down on another night out on the town as literally I had no voice, so I headed for home. You know you made the right choice when you enter your room, fall onto the bed and are instantly sleeping fully clothed with the lights on.

Enjoying delicious pink beer with Simon and Lauren.

I woke up Sunday very refreshed, although I must admit my voice sounded even worse and faint. Juliette and I were out of our hotel in good time, and walked 10 min to our new hostel for Saturday which we had booked the day before and dropped our bags before beginning a mission to find the most delicious greasy breakfast. 5.50 english breakfast did the trick. We briefly met with Ayumi before heading off on our own to partake in the New Amsterdam FREE walking tour. I must say, this was the highlight of my trip. Our three hour tour was led by a young university graduate, Shannon, who was both entertaining and pointed out the quirks of Amsterdam, such as the public open air male urinals, and the reason for the purposely leaning houses. The tour was also a history lesson the developments of many areas of Amsterdam and the landmarks of the city core. Obviously being the history geek that I am I had a ball and would love to recount all the amazing fun facts I learned but I will summarize my favorites with a few pictures.

The narrowest house in Amsterdam: 1.8m. Its current inhabitant is 2m tall. So he cant lie down sideways in his own house. The houses are narrow because they used to be taxed on their width.

There are 2.2 bicycles for every Amsterdamer. You will by your own bike back every 16 yrs. Every year when the canals are emptied and cleaned, over 15 000 bikes get pulled out.

Post tour, Juliette shared my affinity for public markets and we strolled up to Waterlooplein market and picked our way past the stalls. We then headed back to the hostel to shower before meeting up with Ayumi, Poullette, Lauren and Leo in Dam Square (main square). It was a bit early for dinner, so we headed decided to take a small tour of the Red Light district (when in Rome) and then to a 'coffeeshop'. An enjoyable evening was had, topped off by delicious greasy pizza, my first since being in Europe, and the best waffle I have ever had (fresh and topped with hot liquid milk chocolate). Heaven. Rounded the night out with some cider at an Irish bar in Leidseplein (I have so much fun trying to pronounce Dutch street names) before a rainy walk home at 1 (Amsterdam is also friendly to walk home in at night).

Juliette and I enjoying the most delicious waffle ever. EVER.

Sunday was the day of the traditional tourist that began, once we checked out of our hostel and left our bags at reception, with a long Sunday morning walk through the city to the edge of the core to the Van Gogh museum. I love walking through quiet morning streets in a bit of rain, its just so calming. As I munched on some sausage rolls for breakfast given to us by some randoms at the Irish bar the previous night, I was yet again in awe of the sheer number of cyclists in city. There are literally no cars, only trams, bikes and pedestrians. Whole families will roll by, and you quickly learn to look both ways before crossing the bike lanes. We Canadians do have a thing to learn about bike commuting. It warmed by heart.

So back to Van Gogh. After a short wait in line, we spent the next couple of hours wandering through the museum that also featured a group of works by Monet and Daubigny. I must confess, I am not a huge art museum person (don't know if you noticed I have yet to go to one in Paris). When I am there, I find the most interesting part reading the descriptions of the lives of the artist and the context of the work, rather than spending hours reflecting on the piece itself. I did, however, thoroughly enjoy our visit, and the museum does a great job showing the influences on Van Gogh's development and the evolution of his style.

Classic tourist moment right by the Van Gogh museum.

Walk back through town and grabbed some lunch at the fabulous chain Wok to Walk (clever). My first asian food since crossing the ocean, it was a real treat, and I really need to reinfuse the asian into my culinary world when I return. Afterwards I even managed to grab magnet #3 for my world tour collection!

Final stop on the tour: the Anne Frank House. I had read the book as a teen, and it was quite the sobering visit to see the reality of a life spent for two years in such a confined dark place. I can't even imagine what those years would have been like for a young girl no less. The museum is very well done, andI highly recommend it to anyone visiting the city.

Sadly, I had to rush through the last few rooms so as to get back to the hostel to grab my bags and hurry over the train station to catch my first train back to Paris, stopping in Brussels. Note to self: always print train tickets out in advance. After some ticket stresses I hopped on the train and proceeded to spend the next two hours in suspense as this commuter was overfull, and kept being threatened to be stopped if passengers did not disembark and find alternate transportation. My 42 min layover in Brussels was reduced to 12. I ran through the station to get ticket number 2 Brussels to Paris and made it up to my platform with one minute to spare - until I realized that train was going to be 40 min late.

This did give me lots of time to reflect on the weekend. Europe is so incredibly blessed with such a diversity of cities with so much history and character. If only I had endless amounts of travelling money to finance trips all over to see them (hint hint christmas!) I am so glad I let myself be persuaded to do this trip, for both the hitchhiking and also the opportunity to meet new people. Before I left, I was really only casual friends with 2 of the 20 people making the journey, and it is always so wonderful to meet new international friends (check off Mexico Finland). I also learned some valuable travelling experience this time, which will serve me very well in the future. Amsterdam 2010 definitely is on the top 10 experiences for the year.


Done! That only took me approximately 1 hour and 59min to write and add pictures over the course of an evening and a morning. This is why I procrastinate updates on a regular basis.

Bisous mes amis. xx

No more neglect.

Forgive me followers (if there are any regulars) for I have neglected you. In my defense, the past few weeks have been incredibly busy (surprise surprise). I know, normally I am known for my vegetative state and never undertaking practically more than I can handle, but with less than a year here in Paris and Europe, I occasionally pack the itinerary a little full. Believe me when I say, however, that each time I think of the blog and what a slacker I am, I feel a tinge of guilt. Fear not, for this post marks the first step towards my recovery.

Last time we chatted I had just returned from the most fabulous weekend in London with Annie and Christie on Tuesday morning and hopped fully into the swing of things by heading to salsa and history of fashion. It was also on this Tuesday that I learned in my idiocy, I had written my french essay on the wrong topic, and that I would have to submit a detailled essay plan on the correct one as soon as possible, while my first essay would be counted as extra credit. Lucky me. Got that out of the way by Thursday morning, and it ended up doing well so I can live with that.

The week was rolling along quickly, but a few cool things did arise at Sciences Po. The first was a guest lecturer in my History of Chile course. Patricio Guzman, a international prize winning documentary maker came to class to discuss his films and violence and memory in Chile during and after the Dictatorship. It was very very interesting, and I continually impressed by the number of reknowned Chileans our professor has brought to class. It really does enrich the learning experience. And yes, apparently I am a huge geek. (I know that this might come as a huge shock...)

Continuing on this geeky trend, that evening I attended the Grand Final of the 1st annual Transatlantic debate being held a Sciences Po. Among the participating schools were Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Princeton and a joint delegation of Sciences Po and Ecole Polytechnique. The debate topic was "Should Obama care about Europe", a face off between Yale and the French coalition. The resulting debate was very entertaining, as the French team, defending the position that Obama should not care, obviously had the tougher side and thus resulted to very entertaining metaphors of the United States and European relationship. The style of debating between the two teams was evident, with the French debators favouring, humour, slow careful arguments, while the US delegates rattled away and spoke a whirlwind a minute. While good points were made on both sides, the victory went to the Yale team. This was my first experience truly watching university debating and I really enjoyed myself. Before, I had been quite unaware of the debating world, but this exposure made debating seem 'cool'. I might just look into it upon my return to UBC. Who knows.

By the time Friday hit, I was pretty tired, but managed to finally accomplish some errands that had been on my to do list for about a month and meet my partner for expose for French on Tuesday so I was feeling like a champ. In the evening I had a very needed movie night at home with Nadir and Etienne, Garden State (which is such a great movie if you haven't seen it). A relaxed day Saturday due to sheet of rain was also in order, and featured the most massive grocery mission ever by Etienne and I. That night, I lucked out on a scrumptious falafel dinner party at Timon's and ended up going to a bar/club in Montparnasse after with Timon, Boudewijn and his visiting twin brother Sebastian, all Dutch. The resulting night of dancing must definitely be counted among my most fun nights out this year. I also had the new experience of riding on the rear rack of a bicycle. This my first time on a bike in Paris, and being perched seemingly precariously on the back of a bicycle sans helmet at night riding through the city caused a few yelps of 'of dear lord'. However, it was incredibly fast and exhilarating and I not only accepted a second ride home at the end of the night, but also set in motion my application for a year long Velib pass (Paris' bike-lending system).

Despite my 4am bedtime, I was up at the reasonable hour of 11 on Sunday and got right to work. Not to brag, but I was a bit of a champ on the homework situation all day. I even managed to go for yet another swim.

Monday got off to a good start with putting the finishing touches on my expose, wrote my coup de coeur (short oral annecdote fro French language class) and discovered that I had an etude de texte on a French short story the next morning, so I was able to read it in advance. I got back my French Politics paper on the Lucie Aubrac memoir and got a 15! By Sciences Po standards, this is pretty darn good. Work is evaluated out of 20, but in reality, anything over 17 is unheard of. Of our class of 42, only 7 people got 15 to 17, so I was very satisfied with my efforts. I then headed over to Daniel's for an impromptu dinner with he and Karem, as we had both yet to visit his apartment in the 13th. This was great, until the end of the night when, on my metro ride home, my nose started running uncontrollably and my throat all of a sudden felt incredibly disgusting. I feared the worst - this was the worst possible week to fall ill with my Amsterdam trip coming up on Thursday morning. My worst fears were confirmed as I got home and finished up my work and got to bed.

Tuesday was death. I dragged myself through French class for my coup de coeur and expose, both of which I nailed before nearly dying in my French novel class. By noon I was so sick I skipped ballroom dance class (which was the hardest thing ever) and rushed straight home to hot soup, many cups of tea and a 3 and a 1/2 hour nap. I felt a bit refreshed after the nap and was able to make a hearty dinner to keep my strength up and proceeded to drink my body weight in tea and orange juice. I logged an 11 hour night of sleep and woke wednesday determined to get healthy before my departure. I napped, had a short shuffle jog to flush toxins and skipped dance. Did some homework for the next week and attended a short 1 hour play at this really cool theatre La Lucernaire with my French class. The play, le Gorille, was a rendition of Kafka, and was a critique of European attitudes of assimilation of foreigners. The actor was amazing, and I really enjoyed myself. It was also a great test for my French oral comprehension skills. Home to pack and another good night's sleep.

Up next - a recount of my fantastic weekend in Amsterdam!

Can I leave my Gorilla here?

As a dutiful citizen of the Commonwealth, I decided this past weekend that it was time to pay my respects and visit the motherland. Or at least that's the excuse I'm using to explain my four day trip to London! (England, not Ontario). Once again teamed with my partner-in-crime in Europe Annie, we headed for the bus station on Friday October 29th for our 6 hour bus ride to the capital. A brush with disaster from the beginning was about the only thing that went wrong all weekend. After having just hopped on the metro to get to the station with a bit of time to spare, I realized I had forgotten the centerpiece of my Halloween costume in my closet at home. I quickly dashed off and managed to meet Etienne who saved the day and just made it to the bus just in time for our 2pm departure.

The ride over, which we had assumed was 6 hours (depart Paris 14:00/2, arrive London 20:00/8). About 4 1/2 hours into our ride we became aware of our, for lack of a better word, stupidity. We had forgotten to factor in the one-hour time difference in London (behind Paris). This meant that our 6 hour ride quickly became 7 hours, which actually ended up being about 7 and a half. I know that extra hour doesn't sound like a lot, but when you've mentally prepared yourself for only 6 hours of sitting on a bus, 7 seems so much longer, especially with no food. Fortunately on our stop on the English side of the border, there was a vending machine. Best processed waffle ever. All in all the hours went by relatively quickly thanks to my brilliant idea of bringing cards. The other highlight of the ride was the ride under the Channel. Obviously this was my first trip, and I wasn't sure logistically how the chunnel worked. Pretty darn cool. They have these huge pressurized train compartments that can withstand the water pressure and all the vehicles get loaded in and park. The compartments then speed along the tracks to the other side. Its weird because you don't feel like you're moving at all. All in all the crossing took about 30 min, and then just over an hour to finally arrive at Victoria station in the center of London.

Above left: Me with all but four of the cards. Being the champ that I am I still managed to win.
Above: A bus being loaded into our Chunnel train. We were sitting at the very back. Cuz we're cool kids like that.

Arrival in London at Victoria Station and made our way over the Paddington station on the "Tube". I can't describe to you how surreal those first moments in London were. A- because I was actually in London. B- because randoms walking by were speaking in English. What is going on here!? Apparently in only two short months, hearing English spoken by the casual passerby has become practically alien to me. C- Not only do they speak English, but they have very hot, cute accents. D- They say funny words like CHAV (council house and violence) aka sketchy looking youth, and loo. E- They have wide sidewalks and very different buildings and front yards. Slow down, this is too much to process for a poor Canadian girl all at once who's still woozy from a 7 hour bus ride.

Anyways, I was a little overwhelmed in the best possible way with my arrival in London. We went to Paddington station to meet Peta, a friend of Annie's from Australia who has been living and working in the UK for the past two years. We went back to hers to get changed and headed out to a very authentic London Pub, the Duke of York, where Peta's friend Kiriay. It was just off new Bond street and Oxford street for those of you whom that might interest. After Annie and I quickly wolfed down kebabs for dinner at 11pm, we went back to the pub for the "lock-in". This is where the pub stops serving alcohol to customers and locks the doors. While the staff are cleaning up, they partake, and their friends, in a few pints on the house as congratulations for a good nights work. A very pleasant evening chatting with the bar staff, a few of whom had been to Canada, Ontario and Vancouver respectively. Did I also mention is was Halloween theme at the pub that night? All the staff had gone all out on their costumes, which included a dead bride and a english soldier complete with white wig. My favorite moment of the evening, which inspired the title of this post, was when around 2, Graeme asked if he could leave his gorilla costume at the pub, explaining that he was uncomfortable walking in his neighbourhood at night in a gorrilla suit. Maybe it was funnier if you were there...Oh well, it pleased me.


Saturday dawned clear and fresh, so Annie and I headed up to Camden Town as Peta went to work. On weekends, a bustling, albeit packed, market overflows into any nook it can find with vendors of food, accessories, clothing and nick nacks. It was a riot. This part of town is also home to the remains of London's punk movement and a hipster sanctuary. I was given quite a few coupons for cheap tattoos, and was very tempted but knew my father might not be too pleased with me. Next time. We wandered around, in and out the stalls, as I was "very fascinated by this punk culture." Then we struck gold at the most amazing bag store ever. Since my arrival in Paris, I have been on the lookout for the perfect, tan leather school satchel for my books, since apparently the backpack is pretty much forbidden at Sciences Po. After two months, I was getting a bit discouraged, but finally, my dream came true. All real leather bags, absolutely gorgeous, sold at this very cute stall. The man who runs it is an absolute gem, having been here for years, he guarantees all his bags, no questions asked. It is one of those purchases that every time I use it I am filled with happiness.
Above right - the most amazing purse store ever, above, a view of Camden Town on a Saturday.

Riding the high from our purchases, we decided to have lunch at a good English pub, the Elephant Head, as part of my education in authentic English cuisine. First up: Steak and Ale Pie. Yummy :)

Steak and Ale pie at the Elephant's Head Pub.

Back on the tube and down to Portobello road in Notting Hill. Yes, the very road where much of the movie Notting Hill is filmed. On weekends it is another open air market, primarily antiques, where I managed to find a gorgeous pair of vintage earrings and a really cool necklack with an antique pocket watch on the end. So many cool trinkets and toys and everything in between. After strolling down the street, we ended up at Peta's Pub, the Castle, and enjoyed a drink and some nachos while waiting for her to finish work. And of course I had to snap a picture of me in front on the door where Hugh Grant lives in Notting Hill which is right across the street from The Castle. So happy!

Portobello Road and outside the door from Notting Hill!

After a quick stop at Peta's to grab some of my stuff I then tried to navigate through Tube closures on my three direct lines to King's Cross station and failed to do so in time to catch my 7:30 train to Stevenage. Finally able to get on a train 45min later, I was headed to the edge of London, to Hertfordshire to meet Christie, one of my best friend's from 1st year at UBC who had done her exchange at UBC. So it had been over a year and a half since I had seen Christie, and my visit was partially taken in order to visit her. She had just started her masters and was living at home in Stevenage, so I took the 25min train ride out to her place. Thankfully, despite my inability to contact her and tell her I had missed the first train (which so obviously figured out when I wasn't on it), she was there waiting for me and wisked me off to a dinner party at her friend Aman's. Not only was it great to see Christie, but also to meet some of her friends and see her interact with them. After a delicious dinner, we watched the X-factor, the all the rage singing talent show in England right now. Then back home and to bed seeing as the punch was putting me to sleep on the couch at Aman's.

Sunday, thanks to time change (which happens a week before North America) we benefitted from both sleeping in and being up at a reasonable hour to head back to London for a action packed touristy day. It was kindof surreal that all of a sudden, here I was, in England, with Christie, catching up and chatting about UBC people that I hadn't really talked about in a long while as if this was common place. Hanging out with Christie, despite the time apart (which was longer than how long we knew each other for) was natural and like we hadn't missed a beat and picked right up where we left off. Not that I was worried at all, but it couldn't have been better. Anyways, we arrived in London to a morning of rain and hopped on one of those double decker sight seeing buses, the Original London Bus tour, to see the sights around the city. Best idea ever, a must do if you ever visit London. As a history geek, I was relishing all of the anecdotes on the many London landmarks we went by, including Tower of London, Shakespeare's Globe, Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Westminster the Houses of Parliament and the Big Ben, among other sights that were pointed out. For example, when going over London Bridge, it was noted that this was the first bridge to span the Thames, and has been here since Roman times. Well if that doesn't take you down a peg, then I don't know what is. Or maybe seeing the residence building of the Archbishops of Canterbury for the last 700 years, which far exceeds the age of your entire nation. Anyways, the tour was amazing, and we lucked out by getting to move up to rather early on and get actually front row seats on the upper deck for the main portion of the journey. We opted to stay on the bus for its entire 2 1/2 hour journey, but you could easily make a day of it by taking advantage of the hop-on/hop-off policy.

A statue of Winston Churchill. There is an electric current that runs over the surface of the statue so birds won't sit and poop on him. He insisted.

Perfect timing that over the course of the bus tour, it had stopped raining and there was to be no more rain for the rest of the trip, a rarity for London at this time of year apparently. We headed uptown for lesson English cuisine number 2, authentic fish and chips, back at my favorite pub, The Duke of York. Then onto Oxford Street to go to TopShop, Christie's favorite store ever which she had raved about since first year. It was gigantic, and I can't really describe it to you, but it was sweet and I wish I wasn't a poor student. I did however, manage to find a gorgeous cream coloured sleeveless blouse which was on my list to go with my new navy blazer. (All part of my new grown-up look that I'm trying to create now that I'm 20 and a big girl).

Lesson in English cuisine 2: Legit Fish & Chips

Back down to the Thames where we had a lovely walk across the river to the next tourist attraction, the London Eye or Millenium Wheel. Thanks to advance fast-track ticket purchasing, we skipped 30min of line waiting and hopped right on. The ride was incredible, and very romantic. We arrived just as night was falling over the city and all the lights were aglow, yet it was still clear enough to see all the landmarks from our earlier tour. Amazing how high you go, and view from the top. I definitely recommend going at dusk as we did, I can't imagine what it would be to see the end of a sunset. Most spectacular had to be the view of the House Parliament and the Big Ben, all lit up against the night sky.

Next up a quick stop at a gift shop for a souvenir, and the beginning of my new world traveller's item - the magnet. I had been inspired by my world travelling friend Kyle's shot glass collection, and decided I wanted to start a collection of my own. I had thought long and hard as to what small token I wanted to collect at each stop on my world tour for the rest of my life and have finally decided on the magnet. Not only can you always find magnets, but they are cheap and you can display them easily in your home, a constant reminder of your wonderful travels. So magnet number 1 has been purchased!

View from the London Eye of Parliament and the Big Ben

We then strolled back across the bridge riding the high of our wonderful ride on the Eye and walked to Covent Garden, a gorgeous covered market where we went to a wine bar there that Christie and her family have been frequenting for years. We timed it perfectly to get one of the last tables 'outside' (of the restaurent, but under the covered structure of the market), and listened to a lively violin troupe serenade us while we sipped champagne and nibbled on nachos under the lovely Christmas decorations. Really I could not have imagined a more perfect day at all, everything was splendid and a huge thank you is in order to Christie and her parents for organizing the whole day and making it incredible. On the highlights of my year so far list.

Christie enjoying champagne at Covent Garden

We then caught the tube back to Picadilly and Peta's where we met up with Annie and got our Halloween on and costumed up, Annie and I as indian's with the most fabulous matching headdressed and Christie as a cave woman, which she had organized that morning (very impressive). With my heels and headdress on I would estimate I was about 6 1/2 feet tall. I had to bend to get to doorways, which was hard to remember a bit. Our evening didn't quite go as planned, and ended up being kindof random, definitely not North American Halloween epicness, but we embarked on a bit of a pub crawl and enjoyed some drinks etc. A decent night. A few things to note about Halloween in England. Dressing up is supposed to be scary. Your costume is lame unless there is fake blood involved and general death and scariness. Not everyone dresses up. Our party of about 10 did, and so we would forget about it until other in the street would start making pow-wow noises and then I would recall, yes, I was wearing a massive headdress.

Annie and I rocking our sweet headdresses.

Monday morning, Christie and I bid adieu to Annie and Peta and headed back to Stevenage to freshen up before heading out to Cambridge for the afternoon, which is about 40min down the highway. Sadly, my camera decided to die so I have pretty much no photo documentation of the city, but it is amazing. You can feel the history of the buildings and the streets. It was a real change from the bustle of London, the most delicious small town feel. I can't imagine going to school surrounded by such amazing, ancient architecture in a fairytale like town. I guess you get used to it. I, however, am continually thrown off in Europe by seeing establishements such as the dressmakers in Cambridge, that have been in operation since 1629. Its a bit mind boggling as I always contrast these dates with the age of Canada. We had a lovely day strolling through the town, into a few stores before sipping hot chocolates in the park as night came on. It was another perfect afternoon. I realized that time doesn't come between true friends as the two of us sat on our park bench admiring the fall leaves and talking about everything. They will always be there for you when you need them. This was particularly comforting for me as I think about my future after UBC and have no idea what lies ahead for me. Wow I am getting really sappy. Anyways the point is I really appreciated my really meaningful talks with Christie over the weekend, especially as since coming here, all of the friends I've made are still fairly new and you just haven'y built up that kind of connection yet. It was so good to have that back.

King's College Cambridge, one of the oldest colleges. If that doesn't inspire academia, I don't know what would. Note the spectacular gothic architecture.

It got dark and chilly so we headed over to d'Arry's, a very lovely gastro-pub for dinner. Once again thanks to Christie's parents for an amazing dinner. Such delicious food, including crispy duck salad and a beef and gravy casserole with horshradish mashed potatoes. The English sure know how to do comfort food. The atmosphere was classy yet homey, and we had a great time. On our drive home, journey came on the radio as we were talking about first year and I almost cried. It was one of our floor songs from 1st year and to have it come on then by coincidence was crazy. We sang along so loud. 2nd SL forever.

Notting Hill before bed (SO HAPPY) and all too soon, 5:30 was here for my wake up for my flight. Christie, being amazing, drove me to airport at that ungodly hour. As we said goodbye, it wasn't sad but comforting, knowing we'll get to see each other soon. And now for tackling my flight home...

All in all the best weekend yet in my European adventure. Let's see if Amsterdam this coming weekend can top it...

Closing out October

Home from Bretagne and back to books. Thanks to great advance planning, I wasn't too far behind on my schoolwork. I had had to be prepared before the weekend as on Tuesday I had an oral expose in my History of Fashion class. So far this class has proved to by my favorite. The teacher is fabulous, and the material in class is very interesting, including the readings. I genuinely look forward to doing them (nerd). My expose topic, with partner Allison from Australia, was particularly cool. It was a text analysis of the essay "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction", by interwar period German literary critic Walter Benjamin. Benjamin was defending photography and film as new mediums of art that were significant tools of political discourse in the 20th century. We had to apply Benjamin's analysis, and definition of art, to fashion. Essentially we were looking at whether fashion can be described as art. Very mixed opinions, pivoting on the definitions of both 'art' and 'fashion'. In the end, we concluded that haute couture can classified as art while the clothing/fashion industry, is not. Assignments such of these that are engaging and really make you think are the lessons in education that actually stick. My most meaningful academic work has always been a particularly difficult paper, or in this case, oral presentation, because they really challenge you to think. Though annoying at the time, the satisfaction at the end, and the learning process, is what education is all about. That is why being an arts student is the right fit for me. And when the professor tells you after class what a great job you did, that's also pretty nice ;).

In celebration of my presentation on from 5-7, I went straight to Annie's to meet up with Annie and her friend Fran from England and we headed off to concert #2 of year in Paris, Yeasayer. An American band, their music is a mix of alternative, psychedelic rock. Though mid crowd for most of the show, we were able to get right up to the front with my friend Glenn for the encore. A really solid show with a good, albeit slightly more mellow, buzz. Afterwards we went out to enjoy a drink before heading home before the last metro.



Wednesday Oct 27th: After my initial complaints about unseasonably cold fall weather, I have been pleasantly surprised by a return to pleasant autumn temperatures the last few weeks. Still riding the high of nailing my expose, I decided to go to the Paris catacombs on Wednesday before salsa with Nadir, a friend of Etienne's whom I've hung out with a few times. Unfortunately, we had forgotten that it was fall break for the primary and secondary schools, and the line for the museum was unmoving and long. Instead we decided to head to across to Quai de Bercy by Bastille and walk along the Seine and enjoy the sunshine. A real burden. I don't think I will ever fail to appreciate stolling through Paris on a sunny afternoon. It is simply splendid and always puts me in a fabulous mood. Enjoying a cup of tea while overlooking Bastille square wasn't too bad either. Its been a tough year. Really.

On my way home from salsa, I stopped by Monoprix and picked up some pumpkins. I decided rather last minute that I needed to bring some true halloween culture over to France. Essentially I just really wanted to carve a pumpkin. I had invited over a bunch of the Madeleine crew to mine for the evening. Though there were a few bailers, I ended up having a lovely night with David, Annie, Anna, Paulina and another Russian friend of theirs whose name escapes me. It was so much fun carving myself, but also watching the childlike glee of Anna and Paulina, who were carving their first pumpkin. I'd say we turned out two very fine pumpkins. After the crowds had cleared, Etienne came home from his own night out with friends and the three musketeers were united once again for another rowdy wind-down soiree.

Paulina and Anna with their very first pumpkin! Eiffel tower on the front, unicorn on the back.

Sarkozy and I, Annie and mine's masterpiece.

Thursday Oct 28th: Really not much to say, other than Annie and I ate so much delicious food all day, watched Scrubs and wrote French papers. Though due Tuesday, I had to finish this paper before Friday when I was leaving for London as I was going to miss my class on Tuesday morning. It was a bit of struggle, being my first essay in French and the question itself, "Is the state the essential power", a rather difficult topic to tackle. By the end I was quite proud of myself and blissfully unaware that I had written the paper on the wrong topic. But I wouldn't discover that until Tuesday night.

My two muskateers

Next up: my London Adventure!