Back "Home" in Rouen, but still a bit homesick
Quick update before I go to bed, briefly summarizing my vacation so far:
-Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Paris! I couch-surfed with a Parisian friend, Maialen, but because I'd contacted her at the last minute she was quite busy so I was mostly alone during the day except for lunches. She took a while responding to my texts, you see, because she was busy with classes, so though I tried to give her a week's warning of my intentions it ended up being less than three days, and what with her exams, previous plans, etc., etc.... I understand that she was busy, but it's a bit lonely, you know? Still, I met up with one of the Irish assistants for Saturday afternoon, and of course I got to explore the lovely city of Paris (though it is scary big) and it's amazing museums, so can't really complain! Will post (many) pictures later.
-Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Lyon! A much more comfortably-small and friendlier city than Paris. My hostel/hotel was a bit pricier than I was hoping for, at 55 euro or so a night, but lovely and safe for what I paid for! Also, conveniently close to the train station and the metro, which is a bonus. I got to explore quite a bit of the older area of town, saw the views and the remains of the roman ampitheatres, several museums, etc. Still, wandering around museums and a city alone does, well, get lonely after a while. And, well, I don't like eating in restaurants alone, so I get things "to go" a lot and eat as I read in a public spot, which is fine, but, like I said, lonely.
See, originally, I was going to go all the way South to Nice to meet a Canadian friend from the Fort who's studying in Italy, but he doesn't have the same vacations as we do in France, and he has several midterms this week, so he sent me a message only a day or two before I left for Paris cancelling, and I didn't really feel like spending twice as much on a place to stay and being alone in Nice too... Though I'm sure it's lovely, even at this time of year! So I've headed back up to Normandy and my apartment.
Now, my plans have changed: there's a Scottish assistant, Christie, who's coming back to town tomorrow (she has the luxury of cheaper and faster air travel to get to visit her family), and we're going to do some daytrips out from here. We're thinking Strasbourg, Caen, perhaps even Bayeux and Mont St. Michele. (I'll make a blog post check list, I think, of the places I want to visit here.) So tomorrow I won't be so lonely, I think! And next week I've been invited for dinner by a coworker, and some of us assistants are going together to a fondue place in Rouen that someone's run across, and of course my main teacher, Claudine, and I are organizing a pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner for two weekends from now (oh, and I found and bought sweet potatoes! Which are apparently called "patates douces", "soft [archaic word for] potatoes" in French)... so I have stuff planned with other people, but my roommate is working in Paris for the vacation and I'm feeling all alone at the moment...
So, long story short, I need something happy to distract me. I keep running across Hallowe'en links on twitter and facebook, and that's making me miss Canada even more. Please send me links to cute/cheerful/hilarious pictures or videos or something. I need cheering up, just for the next half day or so.
Anyway, I promise that I'll be more upbeat in my next post. I seriously am enjoying myself here! It's just, you know, little things. You'll be inundated with history and scenic pictures soon, I promise. You won't be able to escape.
-Friday, Saturday, Sunday: Paris! I couch-surfed with a Parisian friend, Maialen, but because I'd contacted her at the last minute she was quite busy so I was mostly alone during the day except for lunches. She took a while responding to my texts, you see, because she was busy with classes, so though I tried to give her a week's warning of my intentions it ended up being less than three days, and what with her exams, previous plans, etc., etc.... I understand that she was busy, but it's a bit lonely, you know? Still, I met up with one of the Irish assistants for Saturday afternoon, and of course I got to explore the lovely city of Paris (though it is scary big) and it's amazing museums, so can't really complain! Will post (many) pictures later.
-Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Lyon! A much more comfortably-small and friendlier city than Paris. My hostel/hotel was a bit pricier than I was hoping for, at 55 euro or so a night, but lovely and safe for what I paid for! Also, conveniently close to the train station and the metro, which is a bonus. I got to explore quite a bit of the older area of town, saw the views and the remains of the roman ampitheatres, several museums, etc. Still, wandering around museums and a city alone does, well, get lonely after a while. And, well, I don't like eating in restaurants alone, so I get things "to go" a lot and eat as I read in a public spot, which is fine, but, like I said, lonely.
See, originally, I was going to go all the way South to Nice to meet a Canadian friend from the Fort who's studying in Italy, but he doesn't have the same vacations as we do in France, and he has several midterms this week, so he sent me a message only a day or two before I left for Paris cancelling, and I didn't really feel like spending twice as much on a place to stay and being alone in Nice too... Though I'm sure it's lovely, even at this time of year! So I've headed back up to Normandy and my apartment.
Now, my plans have changed: there's a Scottish assistant, Christie, who's coming back to town tomorrow (she has the luxury of cheaper and faster air travel to get to visit her family), and we're going to do some daytrips out from here. We're thinking Strasbourg, Caen, perhaps even Bayeux and Mont St. Michele. (I'll make a blog post check list, I think, of the places I want to visit here.) So tomorrow I won't be so lonely, I think! And next week I've been invited for dinner by a coworker, and some of us assistants are going together to a fondue place in Rouen that someone's run across, and of course my main teacher, Claudine, and I are organizing a pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner for two weekends from now (oh, and I found and bought sweet potatoes! Which are apparently called "patates douces", "soft [archaic word for] potatoes" in French)... so I have stuff planned with other people, but my roommate is working in Paris for the vacation and I'm feeling all alone at the moment...
So, long story short, I need something happy to distract me. I keep running across Hallowe'en links on twitter and facebook, and that's making me miss Canada even more. Please send me links to cute/cheerful/hilarious pictures or videos or something. I need cheering up, just for the next half day or so.
Anyway, I promise that I'll be more upbeat in my next post. I seriously am enjoying myself here! It's just, you know, little things. You'll be inundated with history and scenic pictures soon, I promise. You won't be able to escape.