Je Ne Parle Pas Francais *VIDEO*

So… where did I leave off??

MMmmkkk. Patrick bought us the train tickets, I think there were about 3 or 4 different trains we had to take. We stopped in Brussels for sure, and Paris as well. As I said previously, we arrived in Paris late, it was somewhere around 10PM. We stopped and ate some Chinese (Patrick was apparently craving it), and then hopped on a TRAM to the Eiffel tower.

I bought some souvenirs, had a crepe (mmmm) and took some pictures. It was very beautiful, yet I suppose a bit cliché, or perhaps commercialized, or maybe.. yknow what I mean. It was pretty but .. not as pretty as Marseille.. Marseille was literally breath-taking.

Ok I will come back to that in a moment. In Paris we --walked on the Avenue des champs Elysees (famous shopping street known for expensive designer shops), strolled along next to the Louvre, saw cars buzzing around the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile, and stopped for a beer or two. Actually at one bar we went to, we ordered 2 beers. The waiter came back and set them down with the bill, 23.50 EUROS!!! OMG!! For 2 fricken beers?!! WOW! Yeah that’s like 34 US dollars!! LMAO.. its great..

So basically we just walked around all night and never slept. I was pretty tired by morning… so we went to the train station and began the next part of our journey to Marseille. I was able to catch maybe an hour or so of sleep.. The train ride was really beautiful from what my droopy eyes could make out.

Marseille--

It gave me chills; one of the best parts was standing on the Notre Dame de la Garde. It’s a beautiful church which overlooks the city. The view was amazing and I really must say my camera could not capture its essence. The warm French sun, sparkling water, Mediterranean breeze, sound of various languages all around.. all while surrounded by amazing architecture and buildings dating back to 600BC!!!
Not only the view and surroundings were interesting, so were the people as well.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to engage in conversation with every person I met. In France not everyone can speak English. Apparently they are known for that. From what I gather they are very proud of their culture and not interested in speaking English fluently, nor catering to those who can only speak English. As opposed to being in the Netherlands.

However, I did enjoy some conversation with Patrick’s friend Ali. When I first met him I was surprised at how hard it was to understand him, because he didn’t know much English (by the end of my trip.. in only a couple of days.. it seemed that he had greatly improved, but maybe it was just me). It was slow and painstaking, he asked his brother to translate words often… But he was very passionate and interesting.. he is an actor and really into the theatre scene. He enjoyed talking about different cultures and asked me a lot of questions about being American, what I thought of Europe and really had some unique ideas and things to share. I’m so glad that I met him and he really made my trip so much more interesting…

It was priceless to have the opportunity to talk to an interesting and intelligent person who wanted to exchange information about culture, and even had a passion for it. Marseille is actually a really big melting pot, with many immigrants from Italy, Spain, Morocco, Vietnam and Cambodia among others. Still though, everyone spoke French and very little English at all. It was difficult to communicate but I was speaking a bit of French by the end of my trip. Mostly just Bonjour, and Merci. Hehe.. But I did learn the line ‘je ne parle pas francais’ as well :p

Ali and Sliman are brothers, as well as gracious hosts and good friends. I think they were excited to show us around their city, and really wanted to ensure we saw the best parts. They took us to a delicious café and I got a really yummy salad as well as tried some awesome Crème Brule. Sliman showed us the ‘monkey face’ a rock formation which, at night, REALLY DOES look like a monkey face!! It was cool..

Patrick and I had plans to go to Château d'If, but when we arrived to the boat they informed us there are no boats going there on Mondays, go figure. So instead we went to the island of Frioul. We had mussels and FRENCH fries (REAL ones) at a small restaurant on the island and watched the sparkling water, I felt so relaxed.

Then we walked to the beach and drank wine and talked about various cultures and places. We waded in the water…. and collected some rocks.. Are you still with me? Sounds amazing, right? Don’t be jealous.. come see me! We can go back! Pretty soon I’ll be a pro at traveling.. I mean.. I traveled all the way back from Marseille, France to Groningen, Holland-- BY MYSELF! How awesome.. wow.. I’m still in shock and can hardly believe it myself.


Patrick was trying to get on the plane and actually somehow made it through security after initially being denied. But when we got to the gate, they stopped him and I had to go on alone. I was a bit scared, but remembered how we traveled there so knew I would find my way back.. well I hoped anyway.. (hehe)

It was great, I loved it. I feel so alive and .. I dunno if I’ll ever want this to end! Right now, I’m thinking of perhaps applying for an internship after I graduate. I’ve been considering Great Britain, Denmark, Sweden, or Germany (If I can speak it well enough by that time). I suppose this is a bit far in advance though, so I will play it by ear and see what happens.

Ok well believe it or not, I could have written like.. 10 more pages about my trip, but at least I highlighted the most amazing parts. I have a paper to write over the week ahead and a German lesson in a bit.. I should really hit the books my blog-loving friends..

Next week there is a small chance I will be in Hannover, Germany for my bday with my friend Matthias. I’m not sure yet and will let you all know as soon as we decide. If not, I hope to have a bday party at Winschoterdiep – the international student house. I have some good friends there and know it will be great either way.

Till the next adventure

~NetherJen~

P.S. I was going to up load a video with this post. Unfortunately its taking a long time to upload. But its REALLY SWEET!! Seriously you will LOVE IT!! So make sure you come back tomorrow to check it out!
Ciao~

HERE YOU GO!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_Pe00Tx9vk