Sunday, August 31, 2014

France, Germany, and Finally Holland


Shortly after the big MacNichol family shin-dig in Connecticut, Charlie and I found ourselves at the Boston airport and Paris bound! I flew Turkish airlines and was pleasantly surprised to receive a small flight kit consisting of warm socks, an eye cover, earplugs and lip balm along with other helpful flight items (in coach!!).  I also discovered the amazingly delicious mouthwatering delicacy that is Turkish Delight (seriously, get yourself some…like now.) and although I slept through both meals I briefly noted the trays held something that resembled pig slop much less than I was expecting…why can’t airlines in the US serve decent food?! WHY?!
Anywho, after 2 long flights and a crowded layover in Istanbul, Charlie and I arrived in Paris, France. Of course it was late at night and the cab driver spoke only French, but a short game of charades, a cab ride, and 45 euros later I arrived where I was supposed to be in one frazzled piece. Whew!!
            Thanks to Airbnb I had booked a nice apartment semi-near the center with easy subway access in a cute French neighborhood. The owner is a young man with his small terrier, Karu.  Charlie and Karu became very good friends and even shared their toys…adorable. 
            Is there truly anything else to do in Paris besides eat?! Judging by the variety of shops I think not…every other store is packed to the gills with pastries or cheese or sausage or bread or a mix of all of the above. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining because it’s fun to see all the variety but it does seem like a lot….
Charlie and I spent our days wandering the city streets and looking at all the famous landmarks I had heard so much about. We visited Notre Dame where Charlie chased pigeons, the Eiffel Tower where we picnicked on the lawn, The Louvre Museum, the shopping districts, the art district, the antique flea markets, dined in tiny street side cafes (where I accidently ate pate…yuck!), ate gelato, and enjoyed the fine weather. I also found a great park around the corner from my apartment where I joined hundreds of other runners every morning (working off the previous day’s cheese and wine!), and my host even invited me to a picnic with his friends one evening, which was wonderful. It was lightly raining so we set up under a large bridge down by the river about 3 blocks from Notre Dame. I soon discovered that in French the term “picnic” was actually code for bags of snack food and lots and lots of red wine. I met quite a few interesting people and although the weather wasn’t perfect fun was had all around. So thank you Remi, for teaching me that sometimes you just need to drink wine from plastic cups under a bridge in Paris to realize how wonderful the world really can be!! 
            Something else I noted about Paris (and perhaps all of France but I can’t say for sure) is that there are many African immigrants living in the city; or at least more so than I have noticed in other places around the globe. Colorful African clothing juts out between the drab/earthy western shades and deep unidentifiable languages combine with the surrounding French to create this captivating melody mixing low and high octaves. It is quite lovely and I spent much time eaves dropping in public places.
Also thanks to the highly publicized image of Paris Hilton and her tiny Chihuahua strolling the streets of Paris I expected to see little Charlie’s everywhere, but that wasn’t the case at all!! Where ever we went (which was EVERYWHERE because dogs seem to be allowed in almost all venues except supermarkets) people still gasped and remarked on the cute tiny dog! I was so surprised! Looks like maybe Mr. Charlie-Pants is truly one of a kind after all! 
            Paris is an interesting place to say the least. It is romantic and artsy and beautiful which makes it ideal for touring couples, inspiring artists, and architecture students but I, being none of those things, found is not exactly the place for a lone girl and her dog.  It was lovely to see all the famous buildings and get a taste of world renowned French cuisine, but to be honest Paris is too expensive for anyone remotely on a budget to fully take advantage of all there is to offer. Thanks Paris, but I doubt Ill be back. Sorry.
            After four days in Paris, Charlie and I said goodbye to Remi and Karu and boarded a 6-hour train to Lingen, Germany to visit my dear friend Georg.  Some of you may remember Georg from my India adventures a few months ago. We had a fine reunion for a few days at his parents home where we explored and ate and chatted and even went swimming one evening in the local pool where we relived our childhood years by taking on the available waterslide! Georg’s Mom prepared wonderful home cooked food and although my German is nonexistent, Georg was an excellent translator. 
           After only two days of German fun he drove me the hour and a half to Groningen, Holland where I will spend the next 6ish months at Hanze University. It was so nice to catch up and see where you live, thanks Georg!! Xoxo
Upon arriving in my new city, I almost immediately fell in love. It is very green with parks and bikes and dogs and wildlife everywhere. It has a population of about 200,000 people, 30% of which are students due to the three large universities here. The average age of someone here is just 36 so I’d say it’s a pretty young city.
For the first two weeks I am staying with a fabulous couple in a neighborhood near my school. It has easy access to the countryside a grocery store up the street and even has a pond and dog walk in the back where Charlie and I regularly see ducks, hedgehogs, pigeons, geese, and even the occasional jumping fish. Charlie is in absolute heaven! While staying here my hosts are kind enough to lend me a bike to get around, which is just the bees knees and it takes less than ten minutes to bike to school. One of my hosts was even kind enough to bike downtown with me to show me around and educate me on Dutch biking etiquette. Thanks Linda!!! 
            I find the city center to be adorable with lots of great shops and restaurants which I intend to try as soon as possible! Also every Saturday in the main square there is huge Farmers Market! Well you know me, I wasn’t going to miss out on that! I had a memorable morning of strolling the stalls, which have literally everything you could ever want from fruit and veggies to meat and fish to spices, dried goods, cheeses, breads, antipasti, flowers, crafts, popcorn, sweets, licorice and the list goes on. After exhausting my senses and buying a weeks worth of veggies, I sat on a nearby bench and ate the sweetest orange I’ve ever had in my life and watched people scurry by with grocery bags overflowing with the mornings bounty.  I thought to myself, “Yes, this indeed is a fine place!”   
            Friday was Welcoming Day at the university and it gave me the first taste of what is to come. I was able to get a lot of my questions answered and met many other international students from all over the world (USA, China, France, Romania, Germany, Rwanda, and Latvia just to name a few!). I was able to join the campus gym, talk to my advisor, walk around the building where I will have class, and even chat with the housing department about finding a more permanent place to live. All in all I would say it was a success! Classes starts Monday and I will finally meet all the other members of my program including our professors and get my first look at my new schedule! It seems quite surreal that I am actually here after talking about it for so long, and I am ready to get to work (I think…)! Wish me luck!
I hope everyone’s summers are winding down peacefully and all is well! Please email me and fill me in on your exciting lives so I can keep in the loop! Love to all! xoxo

Friday, August 22, 2014

Final Days of Summer


            My word, where did I leave off?! So much has happened in the past 6 weeks I can hardly remember! Ahhh yes, I believe last time we spoke I was in the middle of what I refer to as Apricot Madness!! Not long after Jason left Patrick came back for a second visit (I guess he just didn’t get enough mountain air the first time!).  With his expert pitting help we finished canning the rest of the apricots. Over 100 jars in total consisting of 3 different varieties of apricots (spiced, jammed, and chutney). Whew! Jumping straight from one enormous project to the next, no sooner had we canned everything we were moving the last of the furniture out of Mom’s old house and officially handed over the keys July 30th! Yahoo! The movers were awesome and the house is officially SOLD! Way to go Mama! 
The following weekend while Mom enjoyed some peace of mind, Patrick and I loaded the car and headed to Stanley again! We attended the Stanley Soiree with my Aunt and Uncle where we enjoyed delicious food and listened to a great live auction take place where people competed for high end prizes such as beach houses in Mexico and rafting trip in Morocco! The following day we took a nice rafting trip down the river, where our guide turned out to be an old high school colleague of mine! What a surprise! He did a marvelous job and we spent a few hours floating along, catching up, enjoying the sunshine, and were met at the pull out with warm homemade oatmeal cookies! Thanks so much Ian and the whole crew at the River Company! What a blast!! 
            Upon returning to McCall we filled our days with swimming in Payette Lake, hiking to Grassy Mountain Lake, attending Taste of McCall, bonfire cooking, visiting the annual wooden boat show, and making soap.  We were very busy little people! In between all this I was able to meet my dear friend Kyler for lunch and see his new motorcycle (Oh my!) and meet my friend Weston from Texas for an afternoon of paddle boarding. After I had drug poor Patrick to every corner of McCall huckleberry picking, strawberry picking, and attending all above events I was very sad to see him leave town (more so that he I bet! ;). Farewell my beloved activity buddy!
            After his departure I managed to squeeze in a few more outdoor adventures before heading overseas. My new friend Samuel and I camped a night at Chinook Campground before heading out early the next morning for Loon Lake. It was a perfect day and we had a great hike. Sadly for Mr. Charlie, we underestimated the total distance of the treck and Charlie had to be carried (for the first time ever!) after 10 ½ miles. He was so tired and dirty I could barley recognize the little guy! Thanks Samuel for being such a fabulous hiking buddy and helping to carry Mr. Charlie Pants!
            The following Sunday Mom and I took the dogs and the kayaks out for one last cruise up the river and I hosted a small farewell BBQ for all my friends in town which was great! It was so nice to see everyone and say goodbye (again). Thank you all so much for coming out!!! Then on Monday the packing got serious… Bags were loaded and weighed, Charlie got stressed, I got panicked, and just like that we were on our way! Mom drove us to the airport where I caught the plane to Hartford, CT for my cousin Ross’ wedding that weekend.  I got to spend a few days prior to the ceremony with my Grandparents and brother catching up and relaxing which was fab, and of course the wedding itself was a huge success!! It was a nice day, with good food, fun ceremony, great company, and we all danced the night away! Congratulations to the best couple ever! 

            After the festivities I spent 3 days with my Aunt in Boston just kicking around with her before Charlie and I boarded our next flight to Paris! It was so wonderful to see everyone and I cannot wait to see how everything goes! Ta-ta for now! xoxo