Metz

I’ve been here a month now. And I haven’t seen lots of France or Europe. But I’ve seen enough to make me happy. I’ve walked around Nancy a bit, I know some of the city and could probably navigate to most places that are important. And I’ve been to Bambiderstroff (It’s a tiny town near Germany). And I’ve driven through the places in between.


My first other “Big City Experience” other then Nancy was going to Mets last weekend. For my English-Speaking readers Metz is pounced a lot like mess. It’s close to Nancy and lucky for me my boyfriend has a friend who lives there and he was nice enough to walk us around the city. I took lots of pictures (what’s new right?). And it was pretty.


As an American I had a preconceived image of France and what it should look like. It all came from films and pictures and what I learned while in French class. So it’s weird to be in France and have everything live up to my standards. Metz is one of those cities in France that is totally French. And yes I am aware how “American” and probably stupid that statement makes me sound… but I’ll live with it. I just wanted to walk around and stare at everything. I compromised by taking 138 pictures…


We started the visit by going to Centre Pompidou. It’s a modern art museum, if you know the name it’s because there’s one in Paris too and the building is well known.

Then it was off to the city and walking around.

One of the last places we saw was this cathedral. The only cathedral I’ve ever seen is St. Patrick’s in New York. Which is nothing compared to this one. It was huge and so cool looking.

The only thing I kept thinking about as we walked toward it was how it was sectioned off from the houses around it…

Apparently it wasn’t. There was no gap the house was built right onto the side of the cathedral.


After our walk it was clearly time for a pint. And after our pints it was KFC for dinner. When I text one of my friends about my day she said “I was like wow she had such an authentic French European day… until KFC” and I had to laugh with her. Even though it was tasty it was still odd to think I was eating “American” fast food in another country. But the KFC did top off the perfect day trip!
 
Cheers,

Of Birthdays and Badgers

I never expected to find myself in this predicament on my 21st birthday… I’m in a country where I’m already legal to drink.



If you had told me last year that I would be in this predicament I would have laughed in you face. You see this time last year I was still a normal student at Kean. It had never occurred to me to study abroad. I hadn’t received that fateful letter yet…


And when I did receive that fateful letter I threw it out.


Lucky for me my mum pulled it out of the trash and was like “Hey you should go abroad next semester.”


I think I seriously thought about it for a whole day before I made up my mind. And then I got my ass on the stick and applied since the deadline was less then 2 weeks away.


But I obviously finished it. And I went to Ireland. And I ended up here.


In Nancy France for my 21st birthday.


I’d envisioned my 21st a lot different when I thought about it last year. I thought I’d have a weekend liked my older brother Spencer. He and our mum went to Atlantic City to celebrate. I too was promised a weekend in AC to celebrate. It looks like my weekend is on hold for a few months though.


So what am I doing for my birthday weekend? I’m going to Paris and spending the night. Crazy right? This time last year I still had that bucket list in my head of where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do. And this year… I’ve been a lot of places, seen things I thought I’d never see and now I’m going to Paris! PARIS! It still feels unreal to me. My whole birthday was unreal and perfect.

I didn’t do anything stereotypical for a 21st… then again I’ve never been one to abide by stereotypes so it made me happy I had the perfect birthday. My boyfriend made us breakfast before he went to class. I got to chill out and write while he was off learning. And that night instead of going out for drinks we stayed in. I drank my Guinness out of a Starbucks mug and we watched How I Meat Your Mother and Big Bang Theory. Very collegey and fun.

I’m looking forward to going to Paris and taking a bijillion pictures! And then you’ll get to hear all about it!

Cheers,

And what about Badgers? It’s a cool word.

I Haven’t Been Myself Lately

Paris is calling to me… and I’ve talked my boyfriend into to going with me this weekend. We leave Sunday morning and come back to Nancy Monday afternoon. Perfect right?

Then Friday we leave for Spain. It’s a mini Ireland reunion. I’m meeting up with my friends from last semester at my friend’s place in Murcia Spain. Then from there I’m taking a tour of Spain.

Or at least that was the plan…

Till my bank decided I wasn’t myself.

So my account got locked and I couldn’t by tickets around Spain. And thus a clown operation ensued.

Lucky for me my mum was going to the bank that morning anyway and she ended up getting it sorted. My debit card I have is now void. They issued me a new one and my mum was going to send it to me… but it turns out that one didn’t work. So she had to go back to the bank and get another one.

That one worked. And she’s overnighting it to me so I’ll be back to normal Friday. But that still left me with no cash…

So I had to call the TD branch when I was at an ATM and they were able to open my account for a few minutes for me to get cash. Then my old card was really dead.

I’ll be myself again Friday and hopefully they won’t think it suspicious of me to book flights, hostels, and trains around Spain. If they do… well I’ll be stuck in Spain without money and I can think of things that would be worse.

My Europe Adventure just keeps getting better and better with the outlandish situations. I wonder what’ll happen next…….


Cheers,

Finding Home

When I couldn’t get my visa to go to London this fall I was pretty devastated. I’d been calling London my home since I got accepted in April. So I suddenly found myself homeless. I could always go back to New Jersey but when I’d left Ireland I didn’t feel like I was going home. And all summer I felt like a guest in the house… which is weird since my home has always been where my family is for 20 years, essentially my entire life. So now I’m faced with this hurtle.


I Skyped my mum after finding out I couldn’t get my visa outside that states. She told me that in order for me to be happy I had to find my home.


My home…


It makes sense. I’ve out grown my old home. I’m a young adult now, not a teenager. My parents won’t accept me coming home after school and living with them again. I’d be disappointed in myself if I did. America really doesn’t feel like my home anymore. After my 4 months in Ireland it was so hard going back to New Jersey and my old life.


I’d fallen in love with walking everywhere. With eating food that’s not as processed. With being so close to so many cool places. With everything that Europe is. I would really like to stay here… maybe not forever but for a long time. I’d like to out grow Europe just as I out grew America. I want to fully live one chapter of my life so I can close it without regrets and open a new one.


So where is my home?


I don’t have any place that is my permanent residence right now. The only thing that comes close is my boyfriends place in Nancy, France. I’ve been either here or at his parents place since I arrived in Europe. But I feel like a burden… so it’s not my home. And every time I try to picture myself somewhere else, at a friend’s place, in some city… it doesn’t feel like home.


It’s just now as I truly ponder this question “Where is my home?” that I can come up with a sort of answer.


I will make my home be where ever I travel. I have my backpack to carry belongings.


Why can’t my home be everywhere?


Why can’t I pack my bag hop a plane or train or bus leave one place only to arrive at another and be at home?

Cheers,

Wish List

I’ve got time on my hands now so what to do? Where to go?


1) Paris, France
2) Prague, Czech Republic
3) Murcia, Spain
4) The Black Forest, Germany
5) Switzerland
6) Carinthia, Austria
7) Vienna, Austria
8) Oslo, Norway
9) Copenhagen, Denmark
10) Venice, Italy
11) Highlands of Scotland
12) Amsterdam, Holland
13) Madrid, Spain
14) Barcelona, Spain
15) Berlin, Germany
16) Florence, Italy
17) Iceland
18) Brussels, Belgium


Will I get to all these places? Maybe not… I’m not too worried if I don’t. if I see even a fraction of them I’ll be abundantly happy. I’m guaranteed to see the first 3, I have friends that live in 2 and 3 and my boyfriend and I are going to Paris by train this weekend. After my birthday I’m going to start traveling… and I’m already itching to see Europe! I can’t wait for new adventures to unfold for me.


Cheers,

My Escape

It seems life truly does have a purpose for us all and weather we like it or not we’ve got to fulfill it. You can fight it but life will keep throwing you curve balls till you get the message. I should have been paying more attention because I’ve been hit by a lot of curve balls lately and only now did I realize perhaps the path I was on wasn’t the best for me. So I’m going to take a vacation from life. I’m going to escape the norm.


When most kids say they’re taking a semester off it means a couple things, but most of the time it means they’re not going back. I feel like a bit of a loser saying I’m taking a semester off but alas I don’t have much of a choice. I can’t get my visa stamped in a foreign country and there is no way I’m taking an $800 and 8 hour flight home to get one stamp and repeat the process to get back in less then a week. So what to do with my life?


I could wallow in despair. Blame people for my mistakes. Hate everything. Go home with my tail between my legs.


OR


I could shrug off my failures and take advantage of the situation. I’m in Europe. There are 50 countries to visit. Thousands of years of history to explore. And friends to see. Why should I go home?


True I miss my family… a bit. But I talked it all over with my parents and they have no issue in supporting me and my world travels. So I’m going for it. I’m going to see places I used to day dream about!


This means when I get back to school next semester and get bogged down in school for the next few years I won’t feel trapped. I plan on doing years of living in this short time. And I’m going to look around at schools… I may stay with my choice of London… or I may find a cooler school somewhere else. I’m American but I don’t have to go to school there and I sure as hell don’t have to act like your typical American.


So my escape starts now…





Cheers,