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
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