Monday, May 31, 2010

31.5.2010: Paris needs to work on its greetings

Blog 5/31/10
(started etwas 3:20pm, on train to Hamburg)

Paris is terrible as saying hello and saying goodbye. Everything in the middle was just fine.
Really.

So a European adventure isn't complete until you lose money, get stuck in a city, late for your next train and overall, nothing ever goes as planned.

I'm on the train from Frankfurt to Hamburg now.... Finally.

I don't know, should I be sad my little traveling experience is over, or be relieved that I will know where I will be sleeping for the next couple of months.

Definitely there was good and bad about the first leg of my trip.

I should have made myself get up and do something sooner. Instead of basically sleeping for two days.... That was a waste of perfectly good time. But at the same time, I'm glad that I gave myself some time to try to get over jet-leg. I just didn't have all that time to begin with.

There is so much that I wish I had done differently. Of course, next time I will do it better. And you better believe that there will be a next time. (Hopefully before I'm 26 so that I can still enjoy all the deals you get up until that age!)

I will plan more time in each city. Like Köln, I would have loved to see more than just the church (though it definitely is the main attraction). I would actually make it to Bonn. And believe it or not, I would like to go back to Paris, under the right circumstances of course.

As for right now, I hope I get a long weekend sometime soon. I still have two days left on my Eurail pass and that would be perfect to go to Normandy coast. But I'm not sure what my schedule is going to look like, so we'll see.


Okay. I got off on a tangent. I was going to tell you all about my last night(s) in Paris.

I had planned to go to Versailles and the Normandy coast. Ah, well...

My last blog left off talking about my new roommates coming in and out. I talked to quite a few of them- you know, where they're from, where they're going, how long is their trips, etc., etc., etc. There were sisters from Holland, a student from London, a couple from Quebec (I was quite supposed how many Canadians I ran into on this trip). Then there was a couple from Florida that I ran into- Matt and Amy.

We ended up going to the Eiffel Tower together that night to watch the "light show." It runs for five minutes at the top of the hour. Although we were trying to make it to the eleven o'clock show, we missed it by only a few minutes. But after it was all said and done, we all agreed, seeing the Eiffel Tower lit up was awesome, but the light show was kinda lame. Ah well, live and learn; watch and see.

Then we raced back to the Metro; since it was so late we were worried about not catching the last one. But even with making a couple wrong turns, taking the line in the wrong direction, we still made it back to the hostel with relatively little trouble.

Since I ended up going with Matt and Amy to the light show, I did not end up getting to the train station to reserve my spot on the train from Paris to Frankfurt in time... Big mistake....

The next morning I got up at a decent time, and since I still hadn't decided what I was going to do, I just headed to the Gare de l'est. By that time I was tired of carrying my stuff around (taking luggage on the Metro is not the easiest thing to do....), and decided to just go back to Frankfurt to keep my reservation at Frankfurt Hostel for that night. Well.... there were no spaces, no seats, no standing room, nothing on any train to Germany on Sunday. Nothing at all.... Paris just didn't want to accept that our relationship was coming to an end.

So I had to figure out what to do. I ended up going back and forth between the hostel and the train station multiple times.... I was so tired I decided to choose the first hostel or hotel that Google had brought up for places near the Gare de l'est (there are multiple train stations into Paris, and of course, the one the train to/from Frankfurt is the farthest one from the hostel I had originally stayed in). Oh, did I forget to mention that the Young and Happy hostel, where I was staying, was booked solid for that night? And by this time I had already come to learn that I had misplaced over 100 Euros?

I knew I brought along my credit/debit cards for a very good reason.

Well, two actually- I needed a place to stay Sunday night, and I would like my stuff back once I had gotten to the Frankfurt airport. Those were no small bills.... (And now I'm über glad that I kept cash on me since I needed food to eat tonight and tomorrow.... I'm not sure when my first payday will be, but we'll get to that a little bit later....)

Back to the missing money for a bit.... I had left about 200 Euros in my backpack during the week (which was locked shut and locked to the bed) in a small pocket inside. Well, when I went to count my money again, there was only about 40 Euros left.... I know I took out a 50 (I really don't think I spent all that much)... If someone had stolen it, wouldn't they taken it all? I'm still hoping it's amongst my stuff.

Now back to the chronological story.

Last night (Sunday night), I stayed in a hotel across the street from the train station. Took best bath/shower I had taken that week. Ate McDonalds. Complained about their horrible wi-fi connection. Posted back-logged blog entries, updated Facebook. Talked to Kristen, talked to parents (very happy family to hear from me). Went to bed by midnight. Got up at 5 am (sehr früh!), grabbed something to eat in station (un croissant et un Coke Zero). Sat in my reserved seat for four hours to Frankfurt. Went to airport, got stuff, called boss (so he would know I was finally coming), ate a Magnum Brownie McFlurry. Got on train to Hamburg, lots of stuff to carry (now I have my large luggage bag). Stood for awhile. Then found a place to put everything and a place to sit. Slept. Oh yeah, and had an earache all the way from Frankfurt to Hamburg because the train went through so many tunnels.

And now I'm here. I'm here. I'm here.

This is what it's all about. My internship in Germany.

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