Au Revior Europe. Hello States!

I've said my goodbyes and paid my dues.

There's nothing like ending your trip by watching the eiffel tower light up one last time and then enjoying a cafe au lait and gateux au chocolat while listening to an american brother and sister bicker. Was this God's way of saying "do you really want to go back there Nicole?"

The anwser is yes I do.

I ate my baguette, went to mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral, had a crepe, drank a Fanta, and finished the night with coffee and dessert.

My bags are packed. My route to the airport is planned. And at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow I will be on a plane heading back to the states. Two nights in Philadelphia to catch the GAH show and hang with the boy, and then back to St. Louis on Wednesday. On Wednesday the 18th at 5:35 p.m. I will officially be back in St. Louis.

Au Revior Europe. I will return soon.

See you all from St. Louis on Wednesday!

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

It is almost time for me to end my relationship with Europe. Only one day left.

I suppose this is the time in which I am suppose to reflect over my trip and talk about all the things I've learned. But I will spare you the "Lessons I Learned In Kindergarten" speal and instead sum up everything I have learned in one sentence:

In the words of Dorothy, I click my heels three times and say "There is no place like home."

I love to travel, and this will not be the last of the travel excursions for me, but it will always be nice in the end to go back to the one place that makes you feel like no where else in the world - your home: the one place that you feel comfortable in your shoes, where you can speak freely and everyone will understand you, where you can always count on someone to be around the corner if you need them, and where can walk through the street without a map in hand.

Tomorrow I will probably do all things French one last time: eat a baguette, drink a cafe au lait, picnic under the Eiffel Tower, etc... And I will think back on the all the people who have contributed to my trip and made it what it was: Margot, the first person I met in Paris and my tour guide;of course Eva, my travel buddy; Melanie, who couldn't stay awake; all the Sevette's - Martine, Eric, David, William, Robin, Lea and Lea, grandma and grandpa Sevette, and cousin Jeremy; the crazy German in Switzerland; Patrick, who put me up for 8 days in London; Everyone in Wales - Rike, Danie, Daf, Medea, Yann, Lena, Slavi, Vesna, Yeajing, Boylan and Anna; Eric, my fiance (!), in Greece and crazy British Bryan; Nora, Chris and Soph in Athens; Celeste and Helen in Budapest; Emily, from the train to Vienna, Liz in Vienna; Steffi in Germany; the California boys in Amsterdam; Andrew, the Fat Tire Tour Guide, as well as Lowie and the two girls from the tour group; and of course, LaShawn. And I am sure there are so many more people that I am forgetting about. Thank you to each of you for making my trip what it was - a trip to never be forgotten.

Okay, so maybe I didn't really save you from the speal. Oh, well. You read it anyway.

The Effiel Tower has just said good night and so must I - Good night all.

Digging Things Up From the Past

Catacombs on Friday the 13th anyone? I did. Here's a brief glimpse:

Those would be real live bones. CREEPY!

I've been staying with one of my old roommates from college for the last couple nights. We haven't seen each other since graduation. She moved to KC for law school, I was in St. Louis, life happens and we kind of lost touch. Then a couple days before leaving to come abroad one of our other roommates from college called me and said "are you going to see LaShawn while you're in Paris?" I was like "LaShawn's in Paris?" So, facebook to the rescue, we now have been able to spend a couple days in Paris together, catching up and hanging out like old times - her studying and me not so much.... Tonight we got to celebrate because LaShawn just landed her first law job today - Congrats LaShawn! Doesn't her degree sound so impressive: International Business Law and something to do with France too. We celebrated with a great Thai dinner. (I'm about done with the French food)

We also tackled the Louvre tonight - so impressive. I enjoyed it even more than I ever imagined. Probably helped that I had my own personal tour guide in LaShawn.

Insert from LaShawn: (she made me promise that I wouldn't delete it)

Thanks Nicole for dinner!!!! mmmm Thai fooood :)

Thanks LaShawn for putting me up for 4 nights. It's made my last days here even more memorable.

Love In An Elevator

Or, love FOR the elevator is probably more appropriate.

I started yesterday off with a little breakfast, checked out of my hostel and spent a little time on the net, before heading off to conquer Sacre Couer and Marmarte. I decided I was going to walk since I seemed to misplace my metro pass. (I should of known then it was a set-up for how the rest of the day would go.) I walked what seemed like 3 miles to my chosen destination, through a somewhat seedy area, only to discover when I got there that I didn't have my camera... (panic!)

Assuming that I left it sitting at the computer in the Internet Cafe at the hostel I proceeded to head back (by Metro this time) and recover it. But of course, it was no where to be found and no one had turned it in. So I sat and sulked a little, thought about crying (but didn't), and decided I was going to have to move on. I bought a disposable and headed back to Sacre Couer. I decided that maybe a little spirtual time in the church was what I needed. But spirtual it was not. Instead I watched as one by one the "moderator" of the church, kicked out any woman that walked in without her shoulders properly covered. Shouldn't we be welcoming everyone into the church? Ugh, I won't go there.

I enjoyed the rest of my time on Marmarte and decided that if I was going to be in Paris for 5 more days I was going to have to have a camera - and not just a disposable. So, I made my way to St. German Blvd and bought a Sony Cybershot. $170 euros later, I feel better.

Tired and hungry I headed back to the hostel to use the internet and upon finishing up one of the staff asks me:

"Are you American?"
"Yes"
"Did you lose something?"
"My Camera!"
(pulls camera out of his draw)
"Are you frickin kidding?! I just bought a new one" (as I hold up my FNAC bag)

Figures, right?

So, new AND old camera in hand, I head to my new hostel for the night (couldn't get the same place booked for two nights). As I mentioned before, my luggage now successfully weighs more than me. And the metro I have to take has no elevator or escalator, only 5 flights of stairs to go down, then up, only to go back down again. REALLY not my day. Make it to the hotel, only to find that you have to climb a flight of stairs to get to the reception. What is with no elevators in France?

BUT, I do have my own private room with shower AND a TV, so I am in heaven. I walked to the supermarche, bought a bagette, some cheese, a bottle of wine and a chocolate tart and I was in for the night.

Only to wake in the morning with little bites on both my arms - BED BUGS!

But I'm not bitter. Not even upset really. Paris is just too cool to care about anything else.

I got up, took a TAXI to LaShawn's, got a Chi Tea Latte from Starbucks, bought a new metro pass and started the day anew: Centre Pompidou, Notre Dame and the Towers, Eglise on Ile Saint Louis, Muse D'Orsay, a stroll through the gardens at Hotel de Invalides, and dinner at a fantastic italian restaurant with fabulous vegetarian pizza.

And good news - bed bugs can't exist on an air mattress so I'm safe for the rest of my trip.

3 days!

From Fat Feet to Fat Tires

As I finish this trip up I am going to try to blog more and bring you all the fun details of my last week.

A week ago if someone asked me, "Nicole, how fabulous was Paris?" I probably would of anwsered, "Eh, it wasn't my favorite."

But, after one day, it is rising on the charts. Maybe it was because my first impression of Paris was after 36 hours of travel, exhausted, and cold and rainy, that I wasn't really all that excited to come back. Plus, I thought what am I going to do there for 6 whole days..... Well, I've been proved long.

I arrived yesterday and checked into my hostel, cleaned up and out I went. My plan, was to take the Fat Tire City Night Bike Tour. Now, as some of you may know, this was the company for which I orgionally had planned to work for, and how I planned to spend my summer in Paris. I was a little iffy to take the tour because it meant seeing what my summer could of been like, and I wasn't sure I wanted to go there, especially in my last week. But I did. And the tour was absolutely fabulous! I would recommend it to anyone who ever comes to Paris. Riding a bike through Paris, at sunset, is something out of a movie. And you finish the tour with a boat ride on the Seine, taking off as the Eiffel Tower "sparkles" for the first time of the night. And as I was sitting there on the boat, drinking wine and talking to our tour guide, Andrew, who just so happens to be from St. Louis (weird!), I realized something....

Things definetly happen for a reason, and life has a plan to it. Yes, working for Fat Tire probably would of been a blast, but had that worked out I probably wouldn't have seen all the places that I have, nor would I have met all the people that I have met. But more importantly, I would of probably left town before Eric and I were able to hash things out and I probably wouldn't be engaged right now. It's weird to think how close I was to having a completely different life rolled out before me.

Fat Tire Bike Company will probably never know what a significant role they have played in my life. Their rejection of my application lead me to the best 10 weeks of my life, and set me up for a future I am so excited to begin.

Alright, alright, none of you signed up to read about my theories on life paths, etc...

I will leave you this morning with the image of the Eiffel Tower shining at night.

And, if you can, try to picture 4 really horrible street dancers lip syncing to Michael Jackson's Billy Jean underneath the Tower. I watched in amazement for a good 15 minutes yesterday.

100 Kilos and Fat Feet

First sign that my trip is coming to a successful end: My luggage successfully weighs more than me at this point and my feet are swollen and covered with blisters.

Amsterdam was a successful trip. I would mark it as one of the cities that I would love to come back to and explore more extensively some day. Especially the outlying areas. The city is full of life and is like none other that I visted in Europe. And in truth, I think that Eva and I did a great job of picking cities that were each going to be unique and different from each other in our little mini excurion. Budapest was very Eastern Europe, with it's communist history. Vienna was a big romantic city feel, with excitement in the air for the coming Euro 2008 Championships being held in the midst of the city. Frieberg was a small rural town in Germany where you felt safe no matter how late you were out or where you were at. And Amsterdam was a party city, with sex, drugs and drinking laying around every corner.

And after a short stay with the Sevette's back in Beauvry, I am heading to my final destination before coming home - Paris. I will have a total of 6 days to dive into every crevious of Paris, and hopefully then some. Although I have a feeling that 6 days will only be enough to skim the top.

And before I go, there are a few things that I have forgotten to mention as I have been backpacking around the last 2 weeks. 1) I can add Octopus to the list of weird things I have eaten, and 2) first class trains have children swinging from luggage racks.

Okay, I feel better now. You are fully informed.

See you VERY SOON!

I just arrived in Amsterdam and all I have to say is "Holy Woah!"

I don't know if it's the kick off of the 2008 Euro Championships, the good weather, or just typical Amsterdam, but there are people EVERYWHERE!

Looks like it's going to be a good end to our mini trip within the trip.

Gotta go. Canal ride awaits.

To Travel, or Not To Travel, That Is the Question

Today I will bring you the travel blog that got postponed due to the engagement....

Ah, travel days.

A good portion of this trip is about travelling.... Oh, really? you say. Who would of thought.... Yes, it's true. Throughout this trip I have spent complete days at a time going from train station to train station and sometimes even an airport in between. And there are times when this really tests my patience. Like in London for example, when I had to take the train into the city, wait in two different lines to have them tell me I was in the wrong place, then take the tube to the right train station, wait in another line, take another train to the airport, and then have my plane delayed for an hour and half.

And then there are days like today, where there were absolutely no complications but still it was 8 hours of being on a train, which is exhausting.

Those would be the parts that I hate.

But there are parts to the travel days that I have come to love - the people watching and the amazing sites and views.

The airports usually provide for the best people watching. They are usually filled with families where the parents seem so stressed out and the kids are beyond excitement because vacations, or holidays, are a time when you (as a child) get to eat things you wouldn't ordinarily. Vacations for me as a child meant chocolate pop-tarts and fudge dipped oreos. For the kids sitting next to me in the Luton airport it was potato chips and skittles. And it's always dad who gets the pleasure of presenting this surprise to the kids and mom who watches in dismay.

And all complications with travel delays disappear when you fly over the Swiss alps and try to decipher between what is the top of the snow capped mountains and what is a cloud. Or when you come into Greece as the sun is setting and you try to figure out what is land and what is water. Or, when like today, you ride through the countryside of Austria and Germany and sing (to yourself), "The Hills are Alive With the Sound of Music..." and picture the Van Tramp family marching through the very hills to escape the German army.

So, I guess I would say that I have more of a love relationship than a hate relationship with travel days. Or at least until the next time someone throws themselves in front of my train to committ suicide and delays if for an hour (yes, actually happened in Paris). Till then, travel is pretty fabulous.

Right now I am in Frieberg, Germany, after having spent 2 nights in Vienna, Austria. Both cities have offered fabulous accommodations, provided by people whom I had met in Wales. Tomorrow we explore Frieberg, the Black Forest, and maybe some shopping.

Saturday - Amsterdam!

World Domination Anyone?

I am staying in a really cool hostel in Budapest called the Aborgional Hostel. The hostel is basically an old flat that has been converted, so it feels pretty much like we're all staying in an apartment. There are quite a few of us here, most from Australia, Canada, the US and the UK (English speaking countries), and we have taken up late nights playing the Game of the Risk. As a child, and throughout most of my life, I didn't really have any interest in the game. It always looked like a game for boys, with soliders, war ships, etc... blasting all over the game box. But I have been proven wrong.

If you aren't familiar with the game, if basically goes like this: Everyone is dealt a set of countries and one at a time you place you men (soliders) in your assigned countries. Once all men have been placed you start battling and trying to conquer each other's territories. First person to conquer the world wins. I find this the most appropriate game to play given the situation - 20 people staying in a hostel, each from different countries, battling it out for world domiation. You find that everyone always seems to be somewhat partial to their home country. At one point tonight I had completely conquered Europe. I found it very symbolic. But then I slowly started being taken over, and eventually lost the entire continent.... I choose not to see the symbolism in that.

But it's not all "risk" here in Budapest. I have spent some time strolling through the city centre and fashion district, walking along the Daunbe River, hanging out on Margrit Island, and taking the worse the bus tour ever possible. At one point the (audio recorded) guide said, "And today Budpaest has abolished the death penalty. Why do you think that is? Your guess is as good as mine, but I think its safe to say that its probably because you can't take it back once it's already been done... but, anyways..."

1) yes, the audio recorded guide actually said "so anyways" and 2) really? do you really think that's why they abolished the death penalty? I have a feeling there was probably a little more thought that was put into than that. But that's just my guess...

but anyways....

Eva gets here tomorrow and the real sight seeing begins at that point. Till then it's more Risk, and less tour buses.

night.

Forget Greek Mythology, I've got a Greek Fairytale

So, sometimes things in life happen, plans change. Take this blog for example. I had planned to blog last Friday when I arrived in Athens about travel days and my love/hate relationship with them. But instead life intervined, things happened, and now I feel inclined to tell you, one week later, about how I went to Greece and ended up with a ring on my finger.... !!!!!!

That's right. I'M ENGAGED!!!! Total shock right? Yeah, me too! That's because Eric (my fiance!), did an absolutely amazing job of surprising me. So here's the story....

Last Friday I set out to Athens, Greece, where I was to meet up with my best friend Katie. Katie wasn't going to arrive till Saturday so I stayed a night in a hostel outside of Athens and then went back to the airport in the morning to meet Katie. Then the two of us were to head off to conquer Greece - girl style. Only "Katie" turned out to be Eric! I think the exact words out of my mouth when I saw him walk through the arrival gates were, (mouth gaping open) "NO WAY!" and then ran and jumped on him - literally. Then Eric proceeded to drop to one knee and propose in the middle of the airport.

Eric: "I've got a question to ask. It's an important one."
Me: "What's that?"
Eric: "Do you have plans for the rest of your life?"
Me: "No, not yet."
Eric: "Want some?"

And of course, I said YES. Everything comes full circle. (That was exactly the way Eric asked me out for the first time, only replace "the rest of your life" with "Saturday night".)

And that was just in the first 5 minutes of Eric arriving in Greece. We then spent the next 5 days in Greece, just the two of us. Who could ask for everything better? It's almost as if we are doing things backwards - taking the honeymoon before the wedding. But we deserved it. :)

We spent two days in Athens, doing the Athens thing - Acropolis, Pantheon, street markets.... and then off to the quiet secluded island of Agistri where we layed on the beach, explored the island, ate lots of greek food, played with Greek cats, and did a whole lot of nothing. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

So, that's my (short) version, of how I went to Greece and got engaged. But before saying goodbye I have to give props to Ms. Katie Simpher, who for the past 2 plus months had been feeding me emails about how excited she was to meet up with me with Greece - asking me about what she should pack, how much to bring, places we could stay at, etc, etc.... I totally bought into it. You are amazing girl and I love you.

And, lastly, I am sorry that many of you are finding out about all this through a blog. I wish I could call each of you personally, but international phone calls are ridiculous. I promise that I will have all the juicy details when I get home.

So now Eric is gone, on his way back to the states, and I am in Budapest, Hungry, missing him like crazy. It's weird how much life can change in two short months. If someone would have told me this was where I was going to be three months ago I would have never believed them. And I couldn't be happier.

And, oh yeah, I cut all my hair off when I was in London.

Love,
Nicole (soon to be Enger)

Nos Da Cymru.

(Good night Wales)

Hi all. Long time no chat. I've missed you!

I am back in London and recovering from what I think is some sort of virus/cold thing. It got me the last 2 days in Wales - sore throat, body aches, chills, etc... I think it was body telling me I need to slow down for a few days (but who really has time to slow down - there are things to see, people to meet!) I decided to listen to my body though and forego the trip up to Scotland and just come back to London and chill for a few days. Since there was no internet in Wales, I have a lot of catching up to do!

There is so much to talk about from the Wales trip that I thought the best/most fun way to go about it was through a picography (is that a word? If not, I just invented it.)

So, here you go....

This is home: The Camarthan Youth Center in Glanaman, Wales.

This was the main room where we spent most of our time: eating and preparing meals, playing cards, watching movies, and playing pool and ping pong.

This would be the city center (and only street) of Ammanford, Wales, the closest "town" to Glanaman and where we would go to use the internet and shop for groceries.


We laid about 5,768,4957,485,047,000 acres of turf. Okay, that might be an exaggeration. This was pretty typical work that we did. We were working with the rangers at the Camarthenshire County Council helping to keep Wales green, like these hills:

The rolling hills of Wales.


Cutting and slashing over grown path ways. This was the only day that it rained, but everyone kept their spirits high. Its hard to complain when you look out over the view of where you are working.


Europe Day at the Botanical Gardens of Wales. There were 170 students, representing 22 schools in Wales that attended. We helped in the cultural tent, letting students ask us questions about our countries and where we were from.


I built this bridge. Pretty impressive huh?

School visit. We lead a Q&A session about our respective countries with 3,4, and 5 year students in the local school in Glanaman. Everytime I would say that I was from the US all the kids would go "ohhh!" and get so excited. It was adorable.
Clockwise from the bottom right: Lina (Quebec, Canada), Bo Yeon (South Korea), Medea (Georgia), me (USA), Slavi (Slovenia), Danie (Austria), Yae Jing (South Korea).

Global Day at the youth center. This was the big event that we were working on over the two weeks. About 200 kids attended with activities such as origami making, face painting, writing in Georgian and Korean, Williow Wish Flags, Paper Laterns, Belly Dancing, Slovenian Folk Dancing, African Drum Workshops, and food from all over the globe.

It wasn't all work though.... There was plenty of play too!

Picnics.

Walking on the beach.

Much of the coastal areas of Wales are located on deep inlets from the ocean. During high tide the water receeds out of the bays and leaves the beach extending on for miles and miles. It is absolutely gorgeous, and unlike the picture of the youth center above, this picture doesn't do the view justice.

Visiting castles. This was my favorite castle.

It was quite windy on the beach....

Playing Cricket on the beach. I was a natural. :)

Friday night karaoke, what else? You should hear Last Christmas sung with 6 different accents.

Slovenian Folk Dancing!! We loved it!

France had kittens, Wales had puppies. This is a 2 week old yellow lab puppy.

Free time usually consisted of Musical Chairs at some point. It was a group favorite.

We did A LOT of hiking - and often got lost, but usually ended up seeing some of the best sites that way.

SHEEP! Need I say more.

That concludes the picography. There were a few things that I wasn't able to capture in photos that were true highlights of the trip. Such as, you ask? Well.... teaching American Baseball to a group of International students was probably the highlight of last week. Who knew baseball was so complicated! When they started running around the bases for a second time (passing through home and going back to first) I pretty much had to just let them. I mean, why not? It makes sense right? In the end I made them all lovers of baseball and that is all that really matters.

So, that completes my time in Wales and part 2 of my trip. Part three begins on Friday when I head to Greece and start the backpacking portion of my trip. I only have a little over three weeks left in Europe.

Now is for resting. Or maybe eating. I'm pretty hungry.

"Patrick, what do you have in the fridge..."

Wales of Fun

Ah, yes, finally a computer.

I arrived in Wales last Tuesday, after a hell of a time in London. Thank you Patrick for putting up with my tourist tendencies and taking me out for a night of british pints.

Wales is absolutely green. Lots and lots and lots of green, and it wonderful. I am volunteering for the Camarthan County Council. There were 5 other volunteers that arrived on Tuesday as well, and one more that arrived today. Along with the 4 leaders that makes 10 of total, and I am the only one that speaks English as my first language. Its pretty amazing really. The countries that are all represented are Canada, Austria, Germany, Wales, SOuth Korea, Georgia (the country), France, Slovenia and Uganda.

As far as work goes, Ive spent 2 of the last 6 days laying turf in some of the parks (keeping Wales green), but the rest of the time we have spent visiting all the nearby beaches, laying in the sun and walking around castles and hiking through the country side. And can I tell you that I love sheep! There are sheep everywhere and you can just walk through the pastures with them.

And I dont know what anyone was talking about when they said it was going to be rainy and gross in wales, because it has yet to rain. Its been absolultely gorgeous and I am getting a nice little tan.

So, I have to run now because the only internet access we have is at the library in town, so I have limited time to use the computers and I still have to figure out where i am going next on my trip. Hope everyone is doing well.

Happy early birthday to Kristin!

London Bridge isn't falling anytime soon.

Ah, London. How I do love thee.

I arrived in London with no problems on Friday and immediately I was in love with the city for no other reason than they speak English. I immediately felt so much more at ease and relaxed because I knew i could ask questions, get directions, and easily navigate my way through the city.

After a short catching up with Patrick, whom I am staying with, I rushed off to the Royal Opera House's production of Sleeping Beauty. My seats were absoluetly horrible (basically looking straight down on the stage from the furtherest seat on the side and only a partial view of the actual stage) but seeing the ballet and being in the Royal Opera House was probably the highlight of my trip so far. I sat like a little kid, leaning forward resting my head on the ledge of the balcony staring down at the performance. I still can't really believe that I was there.

So, with the English speaking and the Royal Opera House on it's side, London is rating pretty high. And as I have spent the last two days exploring practically every major tourist area of London, I have decided that I really love London. It's a modern city packed with history and tradition. And there is so much art and culture to take in. I am so glad that I have 3 full days to explore, but really you could live here for a year and still not do everything there is to do in London.

The last two days have I have conquered Notting Hill (and reenacting scences from the movie as I walked by the key gardens, the travel book shop, etc... ), Portabello Market, Kensington Garden, Buckinham Palace, Westminister Abbey, Parliment and Big Ben, London Bridge, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Southbank, Picadilly Circus, Regents Street and SoHo.

Today I head to the National Gallery to take in some art and then hopefully to Regents Park for a picnic, and maybe a tour of tower bridge if time permits. (last night was a pretty late night with many pints consumed, so we'll see how long i last).

See you all from Wales on Tuesday.

Au Revoir France

Well, my time in France has come to an end. Tomorrow morning I leave for London.

After all the excitement in Switzerland it was nice to just come back to Beuvry and spend my last week here just hanging around the town. I spent an afternoon in Arras, took in some French Cinema, went to the Bric Brac market, discovered a great little teahouse/bar called the Quiltie Quiltie (pronounced kitty kitty), and had my first european McDonalds experience (hopefully to be my last). Oh, and I can also add cow tongue to the list of weird things I have eaten.

It is bittersweet to be leaving Beuvry and my new host family. I have truely enjoyed my time in France and being a part of the Sevette family. And although the teaching portion of things didn't go quite as had hoped, I still learned a lot from the experience.

Eric, Martine, David, William, Robin and Lea: Thank you for welcoming me into you home and into your family. There is an amazing spirit and energy in your family that I am so happy to have been a part of, even if only for a short period of time. I will miss Robin's smile, Lea's sass, William's sarcasim, David's constant questions, Martine's cooking and Eric's patience. I won't miss that song (your know which one) playing on repeat for hours! :) I will see you all in June before I head back to the States.

And so know the second part of my journey begins - 4 days in London and then off to Wales for two weeks.

Bonne niut. (good night)

When in Switzerland, yodel.

And, it's a boy and two girls.....

So, this is going to be like two posts in one because there is alot to talk about.

Part 1: Switzerland

After a train ride from hell (which included a suicide committed in front of my train which delayed my train an hour, causing me to miss my connecting train), and 10 hours of travel I made it Interlaken Switzerland Tuesday night and suddenly none of the travel mess mattered because the Swiss Alps are breathtaking.

Coming into Interlaken by train was absolutely gorgeous. The train snakes around the mountains like a rollercoaster, and the occasional sheep or cow right outside your window reminds you that people and things actually live here.

Eva arrived in Interlaken about an hour after me and we kept the night pretty calm with some dinner and a drink at our hostel. Wednesday was spent hiking all day. We took a train from Interlaken to Lauterburren and then hiked to Stechelberg, where we took the cable car up to Murren and then hiked to Gimmelwald and back. It is hard to explain the veiws that we saw, but I have neer seen anything like it - Lake Tahoe has nothing on the Swiss Alps. At one point we just stood and watched one avalanche after another fall from high up in the mountains.

Wednesday night we went for cheese fondu. We kept the tradition alive by eating at a place where we are obviously the minority. Who knew the asians loved fondu so much? Then we hit some of the local bars for a couple drinks. With the price of one drink being 10 swiss franks, the drinks were kept to a minimal. Quick fun fact: Did you know that the minimum wage in Switzerland is 20 Swiss Franks an hour?! (the frank is almost equivalent to the american doller).

Okay, so I know you are all dying to know what extreme adeventure Eva and I chose to do while in Switzerland. Well.... dunt duh da duh....

PARAGLIDING!

Canyoning was actually our sport of choice but there was too much rain lately and the canyons had too much water in them, so the trip was cancelled. So, paragliding it was. And it was beautiful. You are basically flying amongst the moutians - it is sky diving without the freefall (and the $600 price tag).

After our morning view of the moutains from the air we decided to rent motor scooters and ride around Lake Brientz. It was a beautiful day and the lake absolutely sparkled.

This is Eva on her scooter going up into the mountains.

And this was the view in my rearview mirror.

Part 2: Kittens!

So, I think I mentioned before that the family I am living with has two cats. Well, the day after I arrived they found out one of the cats, was pregnant. Since then, everyday I tell the cat to have her babies, and on Thursday night she did! So, there are 3 two-day old kittens here that I get to play with. They are so tiny. They cant even walk yet.

Anybody want a French kitten?!

Brussels.... check!

Next stop - Switzerland.

Highlights from Brussels included the Pavillion of Temporary Happiness (a temporary exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the World's Fair in Brussels), a street market, and finding English television at the hotel - and FRIENDS no less!

Brussels is a city full of history, but we never really found any of it, as it is probaly the worse city ever for tourists. We set out the first day, map in hand, and within 5 minutes we were lost. We continued to be lost for pretty much the entire trip. Thank God for the Metro system which could usually save us and get us back on track. We did manage to find the Grand Palace, Mannequin Pis, The Museum of Musical Instruments (which closed 1 minute before we arrived), the Atomium, several parks and the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas.

We also succesfully managed to eat about 2 tons of chocolate, belgian waffles, and three types of Belgian beer.

Wednesday I head to Switzerland for a day of adventre sports. Yet to be decided if canyoning, hangliding, parasailing, or river rafting will be our adventure of choice. Stay tuned to find out which adventure is next to be checked! off my list.

P.s. I am glad everyone back home is safe following the earthquakes over the weekend. I'm thinking about you.

Not much new from the last time I posted.....

I conquered Bruges, Belgium in one day. It is a beauiful city, but you will never know it because my camera died about 30 minutes after arriving - UGH. The real highlight of the trip was walking through the small alleys of the town listening to my "smurfperm" playlist on my ipod (seemed appropriate as The Smurfs creator was from Belgium) and eating frites (fries) with curry ketchup followed by Ferraro Roche ice cream from DaVinci's ice cream cafe.

I have finished my second book since the start of this trip. It is so nice to have time to read again.

Tomorrow I head to Brussels for the weekend with Eva. Cant wait to spend more than one day exploring a new city. Look out belgium waffles, chocolate, and plenty of belgium beer!

Today I bake a gooey butter cake and make a run up to the train station to look into buying a rail pass, as it seems I will be making a trip to switzerland next week, followed by another trip to Brussels for a music festival at the end of month.

Home Away From Home

So, I thought I would post a few phots of where exactly it is that I am living....

This would be my bedroom. And I did find an english version of the first installment of the chronicles of narnia on the bok shelf and I have already read it.

This is the view out my window. If you notice, there is a little strem that runs right across the street.

This is the backyard of the Sevette's house. And yes that is an inclosed pool. It is still too cold for me to get in, but Lea and Robin have been a couple times. Hopefully before I leave it will be warm enough.

And this is the house. As you can tell, it is actually two houses that they have combined into one home. This is a pretty typical house for the north of France. The second window from the left on the second floor is my window.

There is currently a movie out here in France that is a huge deal called, "Bienvenue Chez Les Chtis". If you happen to see that it is playing anywhere in the Lou and have an hour to kill, check it out. The movie is shot in and is about the town that I live in. They are talking about doing a remake of it in America using a town in Texas.

Tomorrow: Bruges, Belgium.

Let's Talk Food

Those of you that know me fairly well would probably say that I am a pretty picky eater. As a child (and by child I mean 18) I was known for my white plate at Thanksgiving - turkey, potatoes and bread. Over the last couple years I have learned to venture out, and I have been surprised by many foods that I have come to love. As I embarked on this journey I told myself that I would keep an open mind to food and would try anything at least once.

With this being said....

If I was a diabetic I would be in a coma right now, but my digestive system would be the healthiest it's ever been, and I surely would never fear another yeast infection (not that I've ever had one...).

Let me explain: I mentioned earlier that the French love chocolate for breakfast. And this still holds true. But I have taken to forego the chocolate for breakfast and just hold off for the brioche with Nutella for a mid day snack. In turn, my breakfast consists of toast with an assortment of jams, some english breakfast tea, and the occassional bowl of musilx that only has a few choice chocolate chips.

So what I haven't mentioned yet is that the french love SUGAR. Heaps and heaps of sugar. I have watched one by one each of the Sevettes pour mounds of sugar into their yogart. And let me tell you that we have yogart with every meal. Both lunch and dinner is followed by yogart - in as many varities as you could ever imagine.

The lactose intolerant would have no place in this home.

But, to move on from the sweets and to the part about how I said I would eat anything at least once while on this trip, let me tell you that tonight I ate a whole artichoke. When you go to the fresh foods section of the grocer and there are whole artichokes with all the leaves, that is what I ate. When asked if I wanted artichoke I said "sure, i've never had it prepared this way, I'l try it",but I did not expect to have the whole thing placed on my plate for only me to eat. But it was, and I ate it all. Wasnt too bad, but in the future I think I will share with others at the table.

To add to my list of things I have tried for the first time while being here:

Snails,
Beets,
mushrooms on pizza,
So many cheeses that I could never even begin to name them all, but most stink to high heaven,
and although I hate to admit it, I have eaten a variety of fruits.

Yes, fruit. When faced with the grocer at the open market handing me his homegrowon product that he was so proud of and telling me, in french, that he wanted me to taste it, and me not knowing how to politely tell him I dont eat fruit, I crumbled and ate it. I had a piece of orange, half a kiwi, and some mandarin oranges. And yes, I actually liked both the kiwi and the mandarin oranges.

Now, will I continue to eat all these things when I return back to the states, I dont know. I fear that they will not be as good as they are here and I don't want to taint the experience I had of them when I was in Fance.

But, I will continue to try things, and just pray that when I leave here that I will not go into sugar withdraw.

Disclaimer: please note that when I refer to "the french" I am pretty much referring to the Sevette's as they are my only source for this study.

Look out St. Louis....

... France is beating you on the race to become "green"!

Going "green", or becoming ecologically aware, is quite prevalent in France. Recently plastic bags have been banned from all shopping stores. This morning when we went to the Carrefore (the Walmart of France) we had to bring our own canvas bags to carry our groceries in. You will also find that many containers are bio-friendly and organic foods are plenty.

Here at the Sevette home being eco-friendly is a way of life. Lights are not used during the day - only sunlight from the windows. And you better be sure that if you do use a light in a room that you turn it off when you leave that room. I made the mistake of using my light in my room when getting ready the other morning, instead of opening my blinds, and I was reminded that sunlight is better for the environment, and of course the pocketbook.

When buying toothpaste this morning, Martine promptly informed me that my toothpaste selection was not good for the environment because the box that my toothpaste was packaged in was unnecessary, and why would I buy that if I could purchase a tube that came without packaging. So, of course, I promptly put my packaged toothpaste back on the self and bought the eco-friendly one, never mind the horrid taste it might have.... I know I am going to feel better about myself every time I brush my teeth.

As we continued to walk through the store Martine informed me of all the ways to be environmently conscience when shopping, all the way down to the tampax she buys. And I won't go into detail, but did you know that there are reusable ones? I'm not sure I can jump on that train.

Martine also buys only fair trade products when possible as well.

Now this might be available in the US too and I just don't know about it yet (I do live in St. Louis), but in France you can now buy cars that run on natural gas. The Sevette's are shopping for one. They are also looking into solar panelling for their home. I'm telling you, with as trendy as "green" is right now, this family is hip! I mean they even wash their clothes with a nut! Yes, a nut. From Indonisa. The nut apparently has soap inside it. CRAZY!

Now, I believe that the Sevette's are a bit of the extreme here in France, but I find it refreshing to know that American's are not the only ones working to better the environment. I have a long way to go before I am as hip as the Sevette's, but I am now much more aware of my purchases and how they effect the world I live in. This is certainly something that I was not expecting to get from my trip to France.

The Universal Language of ... bowling?

Yes, this is France.

Yes, the french bowl, and yes, I went Bowling in France. Bowling is apparently quite new to the french and as you can see from the photo they are quite Americanized (is that a word?). Actually, everything inside is in English - except for language spoken by everyone in it.

William and I also played a round of pool, or a version of it rather. It was nice to do something familiar, and it turns out that i'm no better a pool player in France than I am in America. Oh, well.

And it turns out that global warming is happening everywhere, not just in St. Louis - who would of thought? It's April and it snowed the other night. Big huge snow flakes. It was kind of surreal. This is apparently not the norm for France at this time of year - even for the North of France. The pool that is sitting in the back yard is usually open by now.

Unfortunately, I think I am starting to come down with a cold, as I am sneezing every 5 minutes. Good thing I packed the airborn.

Okay, Robin is patiently waiting for me to go play badmiton (?)with him. Thats all for now. More later.

Home Sweet Home

I have been in Beuvry now for 3 days living with the Sevette family - Eric, Martine, David -21, William-19, Robin-17 and Lea-14. Beuvry is a VERY small quiet town with many charms. It is situated about 7 km from Bethune and one hour from Lille. It is located in the Nord pas da Calais region.

My french is prooving way rustier than I ever imagined and communicating with the family has been quit rough, but we are managing. Martine, David and William have a pretty good concept of the english language, but Robin, Eric and Lea have very little so often William and David have to do some translating.

In the three days that I have been here I have already gotten to see a lot. Yesterday William took me into Lille where we walked around and toured some of the great sites - The Museum de Beaux Arts, a couple large churches, and this really cool old building with a courtyard that had really old french books for sale. (I apologize i dont know the names to these places - William didnt know what many were either). Cobblestone streets and streetside cafes were a plenty. I had a gasfrey - a waffle coated in sugar and dipped in chocolate - it was fantastic!

I have ridden the train many times throughout France already and one thing for sure - the french love graffiti. It is everywhere and on everything. And as beautiful as France is, it is also very dirty. For granted I am residing in one of the more poor areas, but there is much trash along the railways and many smells not to be recognized.

I have had many french food experiences already as well. Apparently the french love chocolate for breakfast - which at first i thought was fantastic but i have already had my fill of chocolate to last me a year. And yes, I have already had snails, or escargot, and it was actually quite good. On the other hand, the plate of beets I ate for lunch the other day was not so good. I think I will pass on that one next time. I rode into town with Martine to go to the frozen foods store - yes it is a market of only frozen foods - and what did they have, but of course, Ben and Jerrys Ice Cream!

Today is gross and rainy - pretty normal for the north - so we have spent most of the day indoors. David just left for a week in Paris to visit his girlfriend and William leaves on the 9th for Spain, so my two translators are going to be gone! That makes me a little nervous. :) Martine, Robin and Lea are going to be on Holiday for the next two weeks (similar to spring break) so they will be home during the day. I hope to get out more this next week. I hope to make it up to Brussels one day and possibly spend a day on the coastal beaches. I also hope to meet up with Eva in Paris for a cooking class at some point and we plan on taking a weekend to go to Provence. So much to do!

Tomorrow is Robin's birthday party so I will get to meet some of the extended family. I am looking forward to that.

I guess that is it for now. I miss everyone back home. Oh, and by the way, keyboards in France are not the same as in America. The letters are all in different places and they don't have some puncuations, so typing these blogs is very diffacult!

So there are two girls, that are with me, Eva and Melanie, while I am training in Paris, as well as Margeaux, who is from the organization and is kind of our tour guide. Eva is from Sanata Barbara, CA and is a recent graduate from Berkeley and Melanie is from Melbourne, Austraila and I'm not really sure what she does... Margeaux is 22, recentally finished university and this is her first job, and if you didn't know she was born in France you would never guess it. She speaks great English, and does it with an Austrailan accent (she spent a year in Austraila). She absolutely hates France and the French people, so she has an amazing perspective and I find it wildly amusing that she is our "tour guide."

A messy, gross day. Rained - more like spitted - for most of the day. Saw the eiffel tower and went up. I think it's more impressive actually from the bottom.

Melanie managed to fall asleep while stopping for chocolat chaud (hot chocolate), while on the metro and again while at dinner. It's quite amazing. At dinner she actually hit her head on the table.

My first major accomplishment - I went to the pharmacie on my OWN and purchased allergy meds speaking French. (My family apparently has two cats, so I figured I better stock up)

My train is at 12:20 tomorrow to head to Beuvry.

Happy belated birthday Colleen!!! Hope it was the best!

And a shot out to Yadi and Pujols for their homers in the first two games of the season - even though Pujols's will never count in the record books. GO CARDS! Let's win this one!

Arrive

I have arrived and I am EXHAUSTED. It's offically been 32 hours since I have done any sleeping. The plane didn't seem to lend itself to sleeping. So I am keeping this short. But know that I am well and safe.

Today's sight seeing consisted of:

A riverboat ride on the Seine.
Walking around the outside of the Louvre.
Walking up Champs de Lyse (and yes I am butchering the spelling of all these things - get over it, it's late!)
Making a quick stop inside Virgin Records.
And the Arc de Triomphe.

First major obersavation: The French love their dogs! Everyone has them and they are everywhere - even in the metro, riverboat rides and all the cafes. Being a dog lover myself I found this fantastic! I think I'm going to go watch the amazing video of Bel that is on my camera right now. :)

Bonsoir.

Nicole (accent over the i) has a blog.

Yes, I am that important.

This is my attempt to stay in touch with everyone while I embark on this 10 week journey across the rough terrain of Europe. Or, for lack of better explanation, to keep my parents happy so that they have proof that I am alive and well.

I would like to start this first post by saying THANK YOU to everyone that has been incredibly supportive in making this decision and leap into the unknown. My parents especially, who have been nothing but supportive, when deep down I know they are worried about me and wish I would just stay right here in the STL where they can have a close watch over me. I love ya both to the end of the earth and just know that if you had not raised me to be a strong independent woman I never would have had the courage to even do this - so in some ways it's your fault - JUST KIDDING. :)

All that's left that's keeping me here is a day of shopping and mani's with Kiley, a date with my boy, a wedding, and a kickball game. And then I am off.

So, if you are interested in knowing what's going on, stop by from time to time and I will try to make it as interesting as possible.

I land in Paris on April 1.

Let the journey begin!