Goodbye, Bordeaux

This morning was ridiculously difficult. First, the goodbye to downtown last night--thank god Adrianna was there. It was such a nice closing night, complete with fireworks, salsa dancing, muskrats and perfect reflections in the miroir d'eau.

This morning, I woke up early to say bye to Kareen. That was hard. She has become such a mother figure to me. I couldn't stop crying. She had to leave in order to stop herself from crying. I feel like I'm going to see her soon, but sadly, I know it is not so.

After, Pascal and Matthis drove Steph and I to the train station. Laughs, jokes, pictures and promises to return were made. Steph and I boarded the train. While Matthis and I tried to keep it together, the train started leaving, with Pascal and Matthis next to it blowing bisous and the tears started flowing. I can't believe that was goodbye.

My adventure in Bordeaux may be over, but my friendships there are not. My family there will always be in my heart. I will return. I have a feeling that no matter where i travel after college, I will route it through France. I can't stay away.

We are headed to Paris to couchsurf for 5 days with a girl named Julia who lives next to the Louvre.

Nice can be Nice, right?

We got to Nice about sunset, exhausted but I was stoked be back in my second home country. Just hearing French on the train again gave me a few little chills.

When we got off the train, I called the hostel to get directions. The woman I talked to on the phone told me they were on the street that had a pharmacy on the corner. And hung up. Oh crap. There were 5 pharmacies on the street. Luckily we had the street name and ended up finding it fine. But what we found was not what we had in mind. We had read that we had to go to a restaurant and ask for "the Pink Lady." Sketchy, right? Right.

The Pink Lady was about 80, the chef and owner of the restaurant, and the owner of the hostel. She was adorable and dressed in all mismatched pink, but a bit crazy. She told us, in a reprimanding manner, that we came during the dinner rush and had to come back in an hour.

Steph and I immediately started looking for free wifi to look up another hostel and food. We ended up getting Kebobs with really good mint tea but couldn't find another hostel with any availability. So we went back to the Pink Lady and asked to see the room before we committed.

The hostel turned out to be a converted apartment (we think..) It was a little cluttered and shabby but the beds seemed clean and it had a kitchen, which we weren't expecting. We decided we wanted a story and said.

That 1st night was spend splitting a bottle of wine on the Promenade des Anglais. We had a lovely conversation and really enjoyed watching the planes land at the airport and the lights on the water.

We had a leisurely morning of pain au chocolates and cereal then hit the stores and beach. But of course, there was a flash thunderstorm, so we ended up back at the hostel, looking up ways to sanitize our beds after waking up with some unwanted and unpleasant bites. We decided we needed to get a drink or two to relieve our hostel situation and went to a pub that is known for having live music. There was no dance floor so everyone was dancing on the tables. It was a blast and we met some neat Kiwis and Russians.

The next day was spent at the beach. It was so relaxing. We got to swim, tan and eat quiche. Although we were tired and had a 6am train the next morning, we were afraid of our beds so we decided to go out all night, if not only to avoid sleeping in those beds again. We went out with the same people from the night before and a few from our hostel.

That morning, we grabbed 2 pain au chocolates each from the bakery we frequented 2x a day (they knew our order by that morning), worked out a horrific ticket situation with the help from a wonderful SNCF employee and boarded a train to go to Bordeaux.

And now here we are. On the way to Bordeaux, for the last time this trip. Holy wow, I can't believe we are already at this point. It seemed so far away.

I'm nervous about being in Bordeaux without the other Californians, but I'm excited to be back "home". Because that is what I'm feeling right now- that I'm going home. Home to Bordeaux, where a meal will be waiting for me. Where some French friends and I will reunite. Mission accomplished.

I feel so independent and I can't wait to make another town feel like home in the future. I love traveling and I love new cultures. I just want to se them for longer. I was to dissect a culture, a town. I want to become a local. I did that in Bordeaux and I will never forget it. I can't wait to do it again. where will be "home" next?

5 Hours in Venice

After Austria, we headed to Venice and were back on track with our itinerary. The train station in Venice is a fair bit away from the city center and we had to wait in the rain to get the bus to our hostel in the rain for about an hour. We were exhausted, smelly, wet and ready to eat some Italian food.

We got to Camp Fusina to find that was a trailer park with portable rooms also on the property. At first glance, we were a little worried, but we found our room to be clean and quiet. And it was a private room for 15€ so we were happy. The ferry was expensive so we decided only to see Venice that evening as our train left for Nice the next morning.

So we had 5 hours to spend in Venice- another canal city that is difficult to navigate. We fell in love with the other island surrounding the main one and getting lost between canals. We decided that it was necessary to at least see the Piazza of Pigeons and the main canal. The piazza was overrated and we didn't find it very pretty but did manage to get some great pigeon-scaring pictures.

After getting lost getting out, we ended up at a cute pizza place and lived it up. We ate a full pizza each, drank wine and had some amazing gelato. It ended up being a blast.

The next morning, we headed out to the train station again to start our longest day of travelling. Destination: Nice, France. I'd finally be back to home #2!

Adventuring in Austria

We are alive! And not only in the physical Alex-didn't-turn-out-to-be-a-cereal-killer way, but in a mental way. We are all completely still intoxicated from the massive hike we took yesterday and today.

The Austrian Adventure started out great-complete with Italian pasta, lemon beer, guitar and non-awkwardness. St Anton is such a typical countryside town--sandwiched between a ski resort in a lush green valley. You can actually ski between the towns in the valley in a day and the chair lifts are situated in the middle of the town with stores and bars around them all. Wild flowers are in bloom and we went on a night star-glazing hike in a thunderstorm and ended up frolicking in a field. And that was just adventure number one. The more expensive tickets have already paid for themselves.

Yesterday, we began our supposedly 7 hour, overnight, hike. All were in good spirits and it was beautiful. The first hut we found was decked out to the max (stove, blankets, cards, candles, beds) and we were stoked to see what the mountain had in store for us. The hut had a fresh water pond that you could drink straight out of.

After quenching our thirst, we set off towards peak #1 which had some pretty thick sections of snow. While it started out appearing very doable and even safe, the higher we went, the less secure it all was. Rock climbing, snow hiking, mountain scaling defined the next 2 hours as we zig-zagged towards a false peak and back and then across a chute that turned adventure into brillant stupidity. We had considered turning around to go back to the first hut and just call it a day, but going down became scarier and more dangerous than going up. I will always remember Alex calling out ahead of us "do you feel crazy?" Why, yes. Yes we do. We had hit, quite literally, the point of no return.

So we continued going up; putting all our trust in our fatigued legs and arms. That first peak felt so good. Although our legs were shaking, we were so pumped, nothing else mattered. Until we realized that we had another peak to go before the downhill.

Peak #2 was just as challenging as fatigue had hit us all pretty hard. It was more snowy but not as steep. Our shoes (not hiking shoes, mind you) were soaked and it was getting to be dusk (which lasts about 3 hours in Austria so light wasn't really a primary concern). While I was questioning what the hell we were thinking not turning back 3 hours ago with hut #1, I reached the summit and saw the endles alps. Everything was worth it. It was unbelievable how far that mountain range stretches.

The decent began and we faced 2 hours of non-snowy patches through a ski resort. Dehydration, exhaustion and the fading sunlight kept us on the move--planning to stop at the next hut we saw. Well that hut turned out being a cattle house so we had to make a tiny asent to the 3rd hut. Which was on top of a hill. Overlooking the Eastern Alps for miles. With a pond right there. And a waterfall next to that. The word perfection had never had a more real surreality attached to it.

Alex got the wood stove going in the "winter room" which is open to crazy winter hikers and Steph and I water and tried to get warm. While the hut-stored just-add-water broccoli soup with hot dogs was on the stove, the 3 of us used 12 blankets for 3 people and regained feeling in our feet. The meal was warm, the guitar came out, as did the stars and the night was spend in warmth and laughs.

This morning's hike was a "short" (we started to learn how to not trust Alex's distance perception) ascent to our last peak and down into the valley that would lead us back to St Anton. The peak was muddy, which made it very "dodgy" but the flower fields, pure blue/teal lakes, and promise of downhill pushed us through. We even made it back ahead of schedule.

We were all pushed to our limits and grew so much in the process. I am so proud of Steph for facing her fears and overcoming them. While our bodies are paying for it now and will be for the next few days, the bonds that were formed and the inner strength that was found has created an unnatural high in the most natural form. We are all positively high off of the last few days. I hope it lasts for a very long time to come.

Train to St Anton am Arlberg

What. Are. We. Doing? Going to Austria to stay with a friend we made in Amsterdam from New Zealand for a weekend? Passing through Switzerland? How the hell did we end up here?

It's so Pretty!

      Lake Como and Menaggio were so pretty. Literally, that is the only way to describe it. Every word to describe its beauty is an understatement. It was so night to get out of a city for 2 nights and to hike.
      Our hostel was not as nice as the others, but for 15 euro a night and an outdoor deck looking out over the lake, how can I really complain? The first afternoon was spent waiting for the reception to open by eating some bomb chocolate gelato and taking naps on a bench. Berlin had wiped us out real good so we hit the hay early that night in order to gear up for our hike the next day.
     Little did we know that the next day was a national holiday so none of the buses were running to take us to our starting point of a 5 hour hike. So, as usual, Steph and I decide to do the hard thing and walk to the starting place by combining 3 different hiking trails, hoping we were ending up on the right trail. This actually worked pretty well, but we underestimated that the trails we were combining involved going over many different mountains instead of climbing up just one. We never made it to our original destination, but did find some pretty sweet views and ate some good chocolate so all was well.
     That night, we stayed at the hostel for dinner. It turned out to be one of my favorite nights of the trip. Not only were we in a beautiful place with the sun setting over the lake, but we were in good company of other Californians, Texans, Kiwis and French-Swiss with live music.
     The next morning Steph and I caught a 6am bus to Como to start an adventure that was not in our itinerary. We were going to Austria. What?

Berlin: Poor but Sexy

Never has a tour slogan had a more accurate definition of a city. Berlin is poor, but it is sexy. It was such an interesting city. So full of recent disaster, recent discrepancy, recent pain, recent reconstruction. It is every sociology majors dreamland. The contrast between the East and the West and the presence of all the memorials- whether they are over 2,000 cement blocks in a plaza of miniature cobblestones laid out in front of the last known residences of holocaust victims was fascinating. It is nice that there is a presence of the past.

It seems that Germany has rapidly embraced non-suppression and has made very conscious efforts to commemorate the past, but focus and change the future. The amount of pain and strife that Berlin has seen is unfathomable. It is a once in a world opportunity to rebuild an already-modern city. Everything could change and everything did. It was a perfect opportunity after the Cold War to rebuild and recreate. Half the city was destroyed in World War II and again in the Cold war. It is a city sought by foreigners, artists and people looking to live in a cheap European city.

My favorite part of the city was honestly the East Side Gallery. It is the longest left-standing portion of the Berlin Wall and it is painted by difference artists from around the world. It shows the biggest social commentary about the wall and is the most realistic in terms of grasping how huge the wall was. It was truly confining. It felt hopeless. The art brought to life the necessity of not allowing history to repeat itself, to always remember but to continue to live.

I feel like I hit everything in Berlin I wanted to hit. We went on a free walking tour that showed us the historical areas and interesting anecdotes. We went on an "alternative pub crawl" that lead us to bars I will never return to. We saw a concentration camp and became completely overwhelmed with the reality of brutality. While it was one of the most difficult parts of the trip, I feel like I finally bore witness to the holocaust. I never want to return to a concentration camp to visit. It was simply too much for me.

We went on political history tour in order to try and comprehend life under Hitler and grasp how a country could look away from the horrors. We went to a techno club with Texans and danced til dawn-unintentionally. We slept in the Tiergarden. We ate Bratwurst almost every day and tried Schnitzal. We drank, we laughed, we cried and we coped.

This was the last leg of the trip for Ms. Sandy. It was really difficult to say bye to her. But luckily she lives close and I know I will see her soon.

I am currently a few cities behind on this blog. Steph and I are in Austria (and have been for the last 2 nights) visiting a new friend. We leave for Venice tomorrow and then France.

Alright, I am far to tired to be writing after 17 hours of hiking in the last 24 hours. Peace out.

It is all about the people you meet in the places you go

I Amsterdam. Checked off my list. It was beautiful. I loved being in a canal city and all the bikes scurrying about. But what made Amsterdam really fun was not the coffeeshops or the red light district. It was not the Anne Frank House (even though it was really well done and a great experience) or the tourist sights. It was, hands down, the people in the hostel.


But for good measure, this is what Amsterdam looks like:

On morning 1 we met two Kiwis. That night we met a girl from Australia. And after that, a friend of the Kiwis. We were quite the bunch and shared many laughs, stories, drinks, photos, cards and travel advice. Steph and I may go visit Alex (New Zealand) in Austria next week.


While I feel like we didnt cram our days with things to do, I feel the most connected to Amsterdam and the Flying Pig Uptown Hostel. It has been proven again how much I thrive in the hostel world. I am absolutely infatuated by it. Even though we may never see the people again, they become close friends, and fast. We share the same mindset and similar desires. Hostel friends maz be more similar to me than my friends at home. They may even understand me better as they share the same passion of really seeing the world. As Alex watched Steph and I consider throwing our itinerary out the door, he said he knew exactly how we felt. He understood the Athens Airport experience I had. 

Hostel goers form such a specific and permeable community. The ebb and flow ensures no continuity between the people there, but ensures a foundation, a society in which one feels more at home in a foreign country than anywhere else.


So we left Amsterdam in high spirits and renewed perspectives. We are now in Berlin for 5 days and are already impressed. More later!

I'll meet you at the Rosetta Stone

So my last night in Ireland was pretty fun: I ended up hanging out with people from Portugal, Canada and the US and had a great time out and drinking Guinness with them.

I then headed to London and could not be more stoked to see Stephanie and Sandy. The first day, we walked the city and saw the regular sights.

 First picture of us on the trip..haha

The next morning, Stephanie was feeling a little under the weather but pushed through and came to the British Museum with Sandy and I. It was kind of cool to be able to tell Sandy to meet us at the Rosetta Stone. Probably will never say that again!

That night we headed to the Shakespeare Globe theater to try and get returned tickets to As You Like It. We were about to give up, when the worker brought us 3 standing tickets 10 mins into the show. What luck! It was a fantastic show and we laughed so hard we cried a little.

The next day, Stephanie and I moved to the Generator Hostel (where Sandy already was) and it was HUGE! We dubbed it as the Generator City because it had a 700 person capacity.

We strolled Hyde Park, Harrods and saw the changing of the guard. Our lunch that day consisted of us eating some plain rice out of a tupperware container, with baby forks, in front of Buckingham Palace. Lots of funny stares and I am sure we will get more when we do it again!

We met up with Alizee and her friend for drinks that night. It was sad because I think that might have been the last time I will get to see her this trip. (She will be in Greece and Australia when I go back to the Portiers in June).

I saw Liffy, my brothers friend from New Zealand the next morning at the Camden market. It was such a cool place and I wish I could have spent more time there. Talking to Liffy was really fun as well. She is going to Nepal this week for 3 months to work with a prison and children. She is really, very inspiring. I can only hope I can do some of the cool things she is doing sometime.

We caught our plane to Amsterdam, not knowing what to expect, but completely mindboggled that we were going to be in a different country after a 45 min flight.

So this person called the Queen took over Ireland

This is a week late, but Ireland was an adventure. I met up with Bridget and Monica (her sister) on the way to the center and learned that the queen was in town and the city was in a mess because of it. There were barriers everywhere and the Garda (Irish police) were running security. The pubs were luckily still open and we were able to eat some traditional food.

 Queen Security

 Closest I got to the Guinness Factory

At least I saw her!

We stayed with Bridget and Monica's distant cousins a little outside of Dublin. They were so accommodating and we shared many good conversations about the tension Ireland felt about an English monarch being in the country. I was completely in the dark about the deep controversy and found it fascinating to talk to some locals about what they thought.

The sad thing was that the Queen had shut down all the major attractions like Trinity College and yes, the Guinness factory. We were able to make the most of it, but it was still a shame to miss some of the things I really wanted to see. Oh well, I got an official whiskey taster certificate at the Jameson factory and was able to spend some good time with Bridget.

 Whiskey-Ginger Ale

A few days in, I ventured down south to Cork to experience solo travelling. It started out ridiculously stressful, as I found out my debit card had been cancelled and therefore had no access to cash. This is where Irish angel of the trip #2 came into play (angel #1 was a guy in a grocery story that waved the 10 euro minimum for cards for me in order to buy dinner). Angel #2 was the manager at my hostel. He acted as an ATM and refunded me 30 euro for the hostel in cash. I am proud to say that I was able to spend 3 days in Cork on 30e cash.

 View from my hostel

I took a day trip to Bandon for a few hours to see the country side. This is where I realized what Ireland was for me:

Ireland, the place I want to leave, but also stay. It is a cool place to visit, sure, but I either need less time for a WOOFing job. The south is better than the north and the tiny towns in the countryside are charming. I can see myself coming back here, only to hike and WOOF. Bandon is a town one can easily become a local-- the people are super sweet and are constantly running into people they know. I could get comfortable here. I love the multi-colored houses, the fact I could not find the tourist office and the river.

So thank you Mitch, for energizing me about Ireland. I enjoyed the country and may return, but now, onto the next grand adventure: 4 weeks travelling with Stephanie and Sandy.

To Paris, and Beyond

     Well here we are, I'm leaving Bordeaux in an hour and a half. I can't believe it. This last week was certifiably perfect. Many things on my bucket list were checked off, many friends were seen and many more memories were made.

End of the Year picnic chez Marisol

These people

Adrianna, me and Lea on top of Le Tour Pey Berland

Matthis: the aspiring chef

Oh no Justin, you look too American to be hanging out with us

Les filles

La Bourse: favorite building at night, period.

      I am completely upset that my experience here is over but at the same time utterly stoked to go traveling with Stephanie for 4 weeks.  Its a weird mix of emotion, but I know I am sad only because this meant so much more to me than I thought it would. I feel at home in Europe.

     As for the next adventures, I'm headed to Paris/Andeville today to see Alizee and the Portiers. Then to Ireland (Dublin and Cork) tomorrow to see Bridget Scruggs in Dublin and then Cork to taste some solo-traveling.

    Saturday the 21st, I go to London to meet up with Steph and Sandy to begin the crazy adventure of hitting 5 countries in 4 weeks. Go us.

   So, I will probably write again from a different country, after leaving all what has becoming familiar to me in Bordeaux behind. When I return, none of my CA friends will be here. The vibe will be different. But that is what life is like, right? Readjustment and continuation.

    A bientot!