Last night in Europe - random thoughts
1. Being sick while travelling SUCKS. Being sick the last full day before returning home REALLY SUCKS. If I had been sick a week ago, I would have slept in, taken it easy, etc. Today? I have a full list of last-minute shopping to do, and trying to be productive while your head is swirling REALLY FUCKING SUCKS. I realized half way though the day, after not wanting to admit it for a while, that I was really miserable. So I went back to the hostel and napped, which helped, then left again and bought my last three presents in an amazingly productive hour!!!!!!!
2. Confidence is everything in Paris. My first week here I was so insecure - nervous because it was my first time in Europe, felt very awkward in my limited French, kept getting crazily lost down all the little frikken streets and alleys, just very overwhelmed and reeling. The past two days back in Paris, everything is so different, so much easier! I feel much more confident about traveling obviously after 6 weeks of it. I have realized that I know way more French than I thought I did (more on that next). And I HAVEN'T GOTTEN LOST ONCE THIS TIME!!!!!!!!! And I have been wandering a lot - I'm just using my map more, checking where I am against it and not letting myself panic and freak out when I don't know where I am, knowing that I can always ask someone if need be (something which wasn't an attractive option before, since I would have to struggle in my French).
3. It's SO CRAZY that I had to go to Europe to appreciate how much French I know. In Canada, I've gone to a couple of 5-week French immersion courses in Quebec and m y reading French is pretty strong, but I feel like I don't know much and thus feel very awkward and am very cautious and slow while speaking. I know TONNES of people who know a hell of a lot less French than I do, and they sound so much better when the speak the French they do know. It's kind of silly, and I knew that, and it just frustrated me all the more. Then in Paris it just made it worse ---- most people were very impatient and would interrupt me or not repeat what they said or not speak slowly. They would brush me off and refuse to try to explain in English when, after struggling valiently, I would ask hopefully "Parlez-vous anglais?" It just made me feel more insecure and like my French sucks and angry at at the rude impatient Parisiens.
THEN I went to the Netherlands and Germany. And experienced what it REALLY feels like to not understand ANYTHING. It was a strange, off-putting experience. It was actually easier in a practical way, as most people in the Netherlands spoke English and many in Germany did too, and very few had any kind of huffy, snotty attitude about my lack of Dutch/German. But it was just interesting to be in a museum and desperately want to know what an exhibit is about or what an object is, and be so excited to see a French translation! And read it and understand it. And in Germany I met a woman at my hostel from France who knew less English than I knew French, so we spoke in French and went around together for a day. My French was better at the beginning and at the end, and got so-so in the middle when I was starving and getting tired of concentrating so hard on speaking another language, but it was good to practice before coming back to Paris!
And then the last two days in Paris, my French has been fine. I understand what people are saying for the most part, and I can express my ideas decently, and I don't feel nearly so unsure or awkward. Something else I perfected in Germany is coming in handy too - I realize that I can understand what people mean (for the most part) even if I don't know what they are saying. I'm not sure if everyone can do this if they try, or if my empathy (I can read people well) comes in handy here, but it's cool. So many times people would speak German and I would respond in English, and we would communicate even though we didn't know what the other was saying. Of course, there still were misunderstandings (like the Bratwurst woman who glaringly spread mustard across my hot dog).
But in Paris, that combined with my French, it's been great! And even though I am sick today and have been pretty miserable, it was neat to use my French when I was irritable and impatient - a true test of my skills! At the supermarket, the cashier charged me twice the price of something, and I was telling her so in French. She didn't understand and said "C'est bon?" indicating the way expensive price on the cash register. I replied, "C'est *pas* bon." Thankfully another worker there spoke English and explained to her that she charged me for the wrong thing. And that's another thing - using so much unapologetic English in Holland/Germany makes me feel more comfortable combining French and English. I will try in French, but explain in English if I can't in French and not apologize, French huffiness be damned!
5. I HATE European phones. Can anyone explain them to me???? To use any phone, you need to buy a 5 euro minimum phone card just to call locally, which is ridiculous and expensive when you're only in a country for a week. Then you have to buy a 5 euro phone card to call internationally, which is to be expected, but do you hit 0 before the number or not, or something else??? Different things have worked for me on different phones, and many phones have just not worked for me at all. For instance...
Tonight I wanted to call a friend, so I tried the hostel phone a few times with my two different phone cards - the one ca friend gave me didn't work and the one I bought for 7.5 euros a month ago and used once for literally 5 minutes is EXPIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It only lasts 30 days from the day you activate that. I never knew those cards did that. :( I am pissed, as I was going to give it away and at least feel good that it would be used. But now that was a REALLY EXPENSIVE 5 minute phone call!!!!!!!!!!
I asked the hostel guy why my friend's card didn't work and he said those kinds of phone cards don't work on their phone and I'd have to try a public phone. So I go out in the cold again (after going out in the cold earlier to log on only to find that the internet place was closing - i am logging on at the more expensive hostel now) and find a public phone. My friend's card STILL doesn't work. Grr. So, in short, I HATE EUROPEAN PHONES AND DON'T GET THEM AT ALL!!!
6. There is a LOT of security in Paris. I noticed this when I was here last time and didn't see security like this at the other places I've been. I've seen local police officers, but not army guys in riot gear which hugs frikken machine guns. Sheesh! That makes me nervous to be here -- what the heck do they think is going to happen? When I was here last time, someone told me that they think Paris is a potential terrorist target. But after finding out what's going on in the Netherlands, I wonder if that has made them heighten secuity at all. (A month ago, a Dutch novelist (I think) was murdered by an Islamic terrorist and I was told that police found a long list of other prominent Dutch people that terrorists were targetting next, and that these people are literally sleeping in different places every night, in hiding, etc....) I haven't seen anything about this in the news, not that I've been watching/reading a lot of it. I wonder if it's being covered by the international press? I would be surprised if it wasn't!
That's all for now. I only have 10 minutes of intenet yet! I will be back on next in Canada, wo!!!!!!!
2. Confidence is everything in Paris. My first week here I was so insecure - nervous because it was my first time in Europe, felt very awkward in my limited French, kept getting crazily lost down all the little frikken streets and alleys, just very overwhelmed and reeling. The past two days back in Paris, everything is so different, so much easier! I feel much more confident about traveling obviously after 6 weeks of it. I have realized that I know way more French than I thought I did (more on that next). And I HAVEN'T GOTTEN LOST ONCE THIS TIME!!!!!!!!! And I have been wandering a lot - I'm just using my map more, checking where I am against it and not letting myself panic and freak out when I don't know where I am, knowing that I can always ask someone if need be (something which wasn't an attractive option before, since I would have to struggle in my French).
3. It's SO CRAZY that I had to go to Europe to appreciate how much French I know. In Canada, I've gone to a couple of 5-week French immersion courses in Quebec and m y reading French is pretty strong, but I feel like I don't know much and thus feel very awkward and am very cautious and slow while speaking. I know TONNES of people who know a hell of a lot less French than I do, and they sound so much better when the speak the French they do know. It's kind of silly, and I knew that, and it just frustrated me all the more. Then in Paris it just made it worse ---- most people were very impatient and would interrupt me or not repeat what they said or not speak slowly. They would brush me off and refuse to try to explain in English when, after struggling valiently, I would ask hopefully "Parlez-vous anglais?" It just made me feel more insecure and like my French sucks and angry at at the rude impatient Parisiens.
THEN I went to the Netherlands and Germany. And experienced what it REALLY feels like to not understand ANYTHING. It was a strange, off-putting experience. It was actually easier in a practical way, as most people in the Netherlands spoke English and many in Germany did too, and very few had any kind of huffy, snotty attitude about my lack of Dutch/German. But it was just interesting to be in a museum and desperately want to know what an exhibit is about or what an object is, and be so excited to see a French translation! And read it and understand it. And in Germany I met a woman at my hostel from France who knew less English than I knew French, so we spoke in French and went around together for a day. My French was better at the beginning and at the end, and got so-so in the middle when I was starving and getting tired of concentrating so hard on speaking another language, but it was good to practice before coming back to Paris!
And then the last two days in Paris, my French has been fine. I understand what people are saying for the most part, and I can express my ideas decently, and I don't feel nearly so unsure or awkward. Something else I perfected in Germany is coming in handy too - I realize that I can understand what people mean (for the most part) even if I don't know what they are saying. I'm not sure if everyone can do this if they try, or if my empathy (I can read people well) comes in handy here, but it's cool. So many times people would speak German and I would respond in English, and we would communicate even though we didn't know what the other was saying. Of course, there still were misunderstandings (like the Bratwurst woman who glaringly spread mustard across my hot dog).
But in Paris, that combined with my French, it's been great! And even though I am sick today and have been pretty miserable, it was neat to use my French when I was irritable and impatient - a true test of my skills! At the supermarket, the cashier charged me twice the price of something, and I was telling her so in French. She didn't understand and said "C'est bon?" indicating the way expensive price on the cash register. I replied, "C'est *pas* bon." Thankfully another worker there spoke English and explained to her that she charged me for the wrong thing. And that's another thing - using so much unapologetic English in Holland/Germany makes me feel more comfortable combining French and English. I will try in French, but explain in English if I can't in French and not apologize, French huffiness be damned!
5. I HATE European phones. Can anyone explain them to me???? To use any phone, you need to buy a 5 euro minimum phone card just to call locally, which is ridiculous and expensive when you're only in a country for a week. Then you have to buy a 5 euro phone card to call internationally, which is to be expected, but do you hit 0 before the number or not, or something else??? Different things have worked for me on different phones, and many phones have just not worked for me at all. For instance...
Tonight I wanted to call a friend, so I tried the hostel phone a few times with my two different phone cards - the one ca friend gave me didn't work and the one I bought for 7.5 euros a month ago and used once for literally 5 minutes is EXPIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It only lasts 30 days from the day you activate that. I never knew those cards did that. :( I am pissed, as I was going to give it away and at least feel good that it would be used. But now that was a REALLY EXPENSIVE 5 minute phone call!!!!!!!!!!
I asked the hostel guy why my friend's card didn't work and he said those kinds of phone cards don't work on their phone and I'd have to try a public phone. So I go out in the cold again (after going out in the cold earlier to log on only to find that the internet place was closing - i am logging on at the more expensive hostel now) and find a public phone. My friend's card STILL doesn't work. Grr. So, in short, I HATE EUROPEAN PHONES AND DON'T GET THEM AT ALL!!!
6. There is a LOT of security in Paris. I noticed this when I was here last time and didn't see security like this at the other places I've been. I've seen local police officers, but not army guys in riot gear which hugs frikken machine guns. Sheesh! That makes me nervous to be here -- what the heck do they think is going to happen? When I was here last time, someone told me that they think Paris is a potential terrorist target. But after finding out what's going on in the Netherlands, I wonder if that has made them heighten secuity at all. (A month ago, a Dutch novelist (I think) was murdered by an Islamic terrorist and I was told that police found a long list of other prominent Dutch people that terrorists were targetting next, and that these people are literally sleeping in different places every night, in hiding, etc....) I haven't seen anything about this in the news, not that I've been watching/reading a lot of it. I wonder if it's being covered by the international press? I would be surprised if it wasn't!
That's all for now. I only have 10 minutes of intenet yet! I will be back on next in Canada, wo!!!!!!!