And the winner is....

What was the best part of my trip?!

Brace yourself here....

Bakersfield.

I know, I know, I even surprised myself on that one! Don't get me wrong, it was so great to see and do everything in all those cities, but hands down I had such a blast with Lisa, her family and brother's friends. Whoever said there's nothing to do in Bakersfield was so wrong. Instead of telling, I'll just post some photos from our crazy adventures.

No, your eyes do not deceive you. We actually opened a bottle of wine with a POWER DRILL.

Hello. Bonjour. Hola. 你好. Hej. Hallo. Yia sas. Aloha. Shalom. Zdravstvuyte.

Today I added a new feature. It's nothing really, but for some reason I discovered that I was really excited to see the results.

If you'll look over to the right-hand side of my blog, you'll notice the newest widget in my collection. Besides the sparkly Eiffel Tower, we have a counter of all the people who visit my blog. But more importantly, where you're all coming from!

And since you now know how obsessed I have become with travel, this is really, really exciting news. I didn't even know people in Turkey read my blog!

That being said, please drop me a line if you read! (Even if I can at times be super boring, repetitive, high school-ish, or even too sporty in my entries.)

So again, Hello! Bonjour! Hola! 你好! Hej! Hallo! Yia sas! Aloha! Shalom! Zdravstvuyte!

There, that's about as international and multi-lingual as I'm gonna get. Now it's back to watching French movies and listening to French and/or Spanish music. Maybe I'll pick back up on my Spanish podcasts again...

Already?!

The lack of any recent posts has been due to me living my life up over the course of the past 10 days. And for that I make no apologies.

Being home was amazing, but everything felt so rushed and crammed into an insufficient amount of time. Hmm, kind of like how I felt as soon as I had my visa, blinked, and then was suddenly in France back in late September.

Now here I stand, ready to go back tomorrow. Maybe that's why I'm still up past midnight; could I subconsciously be trying to cherish every last second in the United States?

However, I do have a lot to look forward to when I get back. As much as this whole teaching thing is weighing down on me, there are still lots of cultural goodies in my favor.

March brings two visitors from the 13-16th and then the 21st-31st. And as soon as I get back, March is not even one week away! Oh yeah, since I'm flying into Geneva tomorrow (technically Thursday, but who's counting?) I'll be with my dad for the rest of the week before getting back to work on Monday. I think for the first time in my life, we're going to be skiing in the Alps! That should be amazing -- regardless of how I fare on the slopes.

While April is not only my 23rd birthday -- wow, when did we all get so old?! -- it also brings the last school vacation of the academic year: SPRING BREAK. For half of the month of April, I will be soaking up the European sun, food and most likely booze in Spain and Germany, two countries I've never visited before!

May most likely will involve my mom taking another trip to visit my dad, leaving a weekend or two for me to see them! But the biggest deal for me, living in the South of France during this month is a no-brainer: THE INTERNATIONAL CANNES FILM FESTIVAL! I vow, right here, right now, to get into a theater and see at least one movie during the festival -- no matter how much I have to pay!

And June... I break my contract two weeks prematurely to come back home for my sister's college graduation from UC Santa Barbara. Pointless to go back to France really, so that's it. The end of my journey is in very clear sight.

But what will I be doing in June?

I feel a little bit better about my situation, because part of my time back home in California was spent researching all kinds of job opportunities. I actually found three jobs from online job boards and went ahead and applied, knowing full well that without any contacts, Internet-based job searches are futile.

But after a fabulous afternoon with Meghan, another opportunity to "apply" for a job presented itself. So, I've taken the first step and have been ensured that someone is actually going to look at my resume, furthermore it's the person who will be doing the hiring!

I hate getting too excited about things like this, because I always do and they usually don't work out for me. So fingers crossed :)

Even though I'm not ready to leave just yet, Goodbye California.

Oh what fun it is to ride....

Nope, not a one-horse open sleigh. The train. To Cannes.

Aujourd'hui Aimee and I hopped on our last regional train in the PACA region of Southern France. We took it two whole cities to the West where Cannes and all its glory awaited.

Even though yesterday and today were the ugliest weather days here -- my lame over-used joke was, "What is this, the first day of winter or something?" -- I think they were two of the most eventful. I was a little apprehensive about taking the 12:24 p.m. train to Cannes because that meant we'd arrive in the middle of the day. Meaning everything is closed for lunch. However, since it is almost Christmas, every store will be open all day long throughout the weekend, even on Sundays shocking I know, so Frenchies can get in their last-minute shopping. Either way, we were happy campers because we had plenty to do during the lunch hour.

One of the best finds today was the Marche de Noel in Cannes. It was probably the largest I've seen thus far, and we were super close to actually seeing a living creche, or nativity scene. We got inside the building and beheld the French stable with real, live animals, when the booming God-like announcer got in one sentence in French. Something like, "Over 2,000 years ago, God promised to send down a son to forgive all of man's sins." And then the speakers went out. Let there be SILENCE! Technical difficulties exist even in French, who woulda thought??

But the best part of the young weekend happened last night. I finally used the last of my 180 euro gift certificate at Le Brulot in Antibes with Natalie, Kathy and Aimee. After that was done we went down the street a bit more to this Absinthe Bar near the downtown market area. Although I think absinthe tastes like butt and smells like sweaty old man -- super appetizing isn't it? -- the place was a riot! I think it's sort of mandatory to wear stupid 19th century fashionable hats while drinking to the green fairy, which sadly no longer exists. So we got to play the whole bohemian lifestyle thing for a few small hours. I can't really say much more, so take a look at my pictures :)

Limencello shots after dinner. This is what we got when I asked for the bill.
Posters along the walls of the Absinthe Bar.
Check out our AWESOME hats!
Sadly they no longer set fire to the glasses. Apparently water works just as well.
This was probably round 2 of 5 of Musical Hats.

And tomorrow we hit the train for two weeks of non-stop travel across two different countries! Happy Holidays to everyone back at home :) Check back in after New Year's when I'll post stories and pictures from our NYE 2008 adventures on the Champs Elysees!

Thank GOD I'm missing "Black Friday"

Alright, I'm sitting at my desk, listening to LIVE 105 on iTunes, eating an ENGLISH MUFFIN and drinking French chai tea -- so not the same, don't bother with it -- thinking about how I've made it to this point. Here I am, in France, with a group of friends established enough to celebrate a traditional American Thanksgiving!

Needless to say, last night was a trip. And now after looking at pictures, I've fully decided that the SECOND my leftovers are gone, I'm going crazy into a diet and not cheating any of the days. I also should get back into running when I'm no longer sick. Seriously, I've gained so much weight here :( This always happens to me.

But back to Thanksgiving. It was amazing! Everyone brought something typical to what we're used to in the States. The only thing missing was the pumpkin pie because it's a bit difficult to find here :( So instead we got our fill with pumpkin soup and had to make do with an apple and a pecan pie. Fine, I guess.... hehe.

I got to play hostess, which I guess is totally in my genes after watching my mom every year on Christmas and for all the other dinner parties she hosts. So, my first Thanksgiving and I didn't mess anything up!! Actually, the nice part about cooking and playing playing hostess serving drinks is that I didn't have to sit at the table and eat mindlessly in the middle of conversations awaiting the actual meal. So, I guess that's a good thing. Um, and I think I accidentally invited everyone to California next year, haha. Kidding :)

During the dinner, we went around the table and said what we're thankful for -- in French and English! Mine was probably the shortest and most to the point, because I was the last one to go.

"I'm thankful for my family for supporting me to come here, the close friends I've made here, and all the wonderful food and drink we have tonight!"

Now that I think of it, I'm also REALLY thankful I'm not in the U.S. near any single mall today.

My roommate showed up and actually made an effort, which made me happy, but towards the end of the night she started doing the whole passive-aggressive thing again. As she went off to her room to sleep, she mentioned in passing, "Oh you guys don't have to be quiet, but Monique, I'm having three friends stay over for the weekend. They're leaving on Sunday. Good night."

Oh Christ, what does that mean? Since we were up since 1 a.m. I have a feeling I'm going to be getting it back in the next two days...

Whatever, it was worth it! Thanksgiving is such an important holiday. If I can't spend it with my family, I'm going to at least do something else worthwhile.

It was just kind of hard to get up this morning ;) Thank God I don't have class until 1:30 p.m. today, because I'm hurting bad right now.

Oh and P.S. now there's NOTHING standing in my way of getting ready for Christmas!!!!

...38 More Days Until France BANS Indoor Smoking! :)

Merde's hitting the fan

I didn't feel like swearing in English. So I'm not.

Anyways, Day 2 (or 3, I'm not sure) of me being sick has progressed significantly. Not in a good direction. Last night my stomach and intestinal tract seemed to be all messed up and I again couldn't sleep another night. So instead I stayed up watching Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice -- again -- and it seems that I'm now all caught up. I've even seen this week's episodes that y'all don't have yet in the States! I also washed all of our dishes last night. But today my throat's bugging me, I sound like a boy and my nose is super runny. At least I woke up two hours earlier than yesterday...

Oh and my roommate apologized for being a bitch. Still doesn't change the fact that she was, but we kind of had a bit of a talk and from now on out she's going to be napping in her own bedroom when I'm home. Take that! And she's paying me for toilet paper this time, because I've bought it the last three times. So that's a bit of good progress.

Another merde-y situation: SNCF -- Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer, in short, rail systems -- is striking an eighth day. And while 400 of 700 TGV (high-speed) trains are running throughout the country, there are "les boycotts," I'm not even kidding, the news report actually used that word, and people are setting fire to some of the cables. Excellent. And it's raining today! Stoppppp.

Crappy situation No. 29,475,629: I have to work tomorrow!!!! On Thanksgiving :( However, I usually have Wednesdays off, so today Sarah and I are going to Carrefour to do all of our pre-Thanksgiving dinner shopping and preparations.

Here's how the menu's going to look (8 people total):

-Apéritifs: Cranberry kir to be eaten with olives, bread, cheese and spinach-artichoke dip

-Green salad and bread/butter

-Pumpkin and chestnut soup

-Mashed potatoes and gravy

-Orange-zest green beans with honey and walnuts

-TURKEY and stuffing, however no one has an oven large enough, so it's going to be pre-made. Let's see how that one goes...

-Cranberry sauce (2 euros a pop at the grocery store, it better be worth it)

-Apple, Pecan and/or Pumpkin PIES


-Mulled wine and cider slash coffee.

And of course, lots and lots of wine and champagne throughout the evening.

I totally can't wait for this! It's going to be so fun celebrating my second un-important holiday to this "foreign" country.

Visible progress!

Day five or six of my diet (sans tricher -- without cheating, no it's not continuous, I haven't cheated during 5 of the last 8 or 9 days).

I am now down to 58 kilos, when once I was at 61!!! That means I've dropped over six lbs! However, I'm going to keep cheating all weekend and then obviously next Thursday.

Only one or two more kilos to go and then I'm happy and fitting nicely into my clothes again :)

And since I'm on the subject of Thursday, I think I'm going to have a six- or seven-person potluck style Thanksgiving at my apartment next week. My mom and I were looking up fun recipes online all day yesterday, so I'm very, very excited about this prospect.

Like I've already said, Carrefour has cranberry sauce and I already have pumpkin soup ready to prepare. I think I'm going to give it some French flair and make some kind of autumn tarte, like of the pumpkin, apple or nut varieties.

Check out some of these recipes I'm looking at:

• Paula Deen's pumpkin cakes (AKA, let's add a pound of BUTTA to that)
• Pear Tart, from the tartelette blog
• Caramelized Nut Tart
• Apple Galette
• Apple Walnut Torte
• Caramel Nut Tart
  

And WHOA on Barry Bonds. The greatest thing about that article on MLB.com is now Dublin, Calif.'s shout out as "that jail cell to hold Bond's former trainer" for three months. Yep, I grew up in that city! We're now famous thanks to MLB.com -- questionable fame albeit, but I'll take it. He's an asshole and deserves whatever punishment he gets. I'm glad someone's finally cracking down on the rampant "under the table" use of illegal substances in the MLB.

Uh oh....

For those of you who remember my last trip to France.... I am a bar-glass klepto. That's right. When we had our going away dinner at the end of the summer program in Nice two years ago, I stole my French shot glass and now it's nestled away safely at home. That is, if another large earthquake hasn't knocked it off my shelf again.

Then last night -- gotta love free Tuesday nights because I have the middle of the week off! -- we went to Natalie's boy's going away party in Old Antibes. First of all, I wish he was going away every weekend! The kid got so drunk that he just decided he would start buying rounds of drinks for anyone who remotely knew Natalie. Meaning, I had four free drinks. Tally off another night of me not having to pay for either food or drinks! Oh and the word food reminded me, we got tasty little tapas appetizers with our drinks, which also reminds me that Kathy and I attempted to make -- and successfully pulled it off -- paella which I bought from the local grocery store. It was easy and delicious and only cost about 3-4 Euros. So I'll definitely be doing that again! Anyways, I guess the drink of choice for everyone all night long was screwdrivers and they came in these adorable little Absolut glasses.


...Which are now sitting on my desk, thank you very much.

I know I kind of sound like an out-of-control mess right now, but believe me, that's so far from the truth. This is only the third or fourth time in nearly two months that I've been to a bar or club out here.

But while we were out, I randomly "checked my phone," to make it less obvious what I was really doing with my purse when I realized I had a new texto! Can we guess from who...? That's right, Ludo.

So I'm going to officially say it for the first time. After a little back-and-forth text conversation last night, I think I'm starting to get a crush. Uh oh. Either way, he offered to let me tag along the next Sunday when they go rock climbing, which sounds super exciting to me!

The night ended by walking back with Kathy to her place in Juan-les-Pins, because she lives much closer to the downtown area than I do and it's smarter to walk the night streets in pairs. Obviously after four drinks I was feeling a little unlike myself, to put it nicely. But I noticed that in that moment I was having the hardest time speaking English, NOT because I had been drinking, but because I realized that I was almost completely thinking in French!

Wow, that's a big change from what I've usually been like here and it's certainly a welcomed one. I could get used to this talking and thinking in (American) French all the time!

Curious about my "date"?

I'm going to start off by saying tonight falls under my list of top 10 best nights in my life! Nothing spectacular happened, but it was just one of those nights when everything seemed to be going right and was carefree and totally fun.

It started out with me waiting in the main center square in the dark, getting hit on by a man missing two teeth. I'm probably going to take what he said with a grain of salt, but it was definitely the most vulgar attempt I've received over here -- and trust me, there have been a few. The translation is as follows: "I just wanted to tell you that you're fucking charming." Ok, not so bad, but interesting nonetheless...

Anyways Ludo finally showed up, I'm guessing he's of Italian origins but has lived in Lyon his whole life with his parents, and took me somewhere to chat. He wants to brush up on his English because he's going to an international master's school in Newcastle, England to study renewable energy in the field of solar power. Yikes, I can barely say that in English and it's my native language.

Anyways, he took me to his favorite bar in Antibes and paid for my coffee -- weak, I know I should have gotten something more exciting but it was cold! We talked for a good hour, mostly in French because he grew very tired of speaking in English. However, I was starting to struggle with thinking in French the entire time, but it came out to be a neat mix.

Then he looks at his watch and asks if I want to go to his friend's house, where there'd be a party that's kind of like a barbecue, but not. I think the word he was looking for was a "potluck." But it happened to be the neatest grouping of people I've ever been around.

Thrown in this tiny two-room flat overlooking the entire Cape of Antibes -- breathtaking views -- were over 10 French citizens, the homeowner's brother and his Spanish fiancée, a Bulgarian friend from the international master's program, and someone's Greek cousin who was neither big, nor fat. Oh yeah and me, "la petite Transatlantique," as they liked to call me, aka the sole non-EU member. Each person brought something exceptionally tasty and that means I officially abandoned my diet for the weekend. I'll have to dive back in headfirst tomorrow...

Anyways, no more stalling. Here's what I ate:

Quiche Lorraine, French bread and sausage, provençal olives, pasta and ratatouille -- like the movie, someone explained to me in English. Yes I know what ratatouille is. Jessica Sanborn, if you're reading this start laughing hysterically right now, because the next item on my plate was a taste of MOUSSAKA (which is basically eggplant with lamb and cheese on top) and boy was it delicious, Greek salad with feta cheese, tarte tatin -- it's probably the closest thing the French have to apple pie -- bottles of wine and cider, and finally Chinese pastries with a soy-coconut nougat filling.

I don't know where I put all that food, but dang it was good.

Then we spent the next three hours talking, joking and playing a type of taboo-charades game. So not only do I struggle through the language -- though I wasn't alone in this international gathering -- but I don't know French pop culture, so I basically could only answer two questions that were catered towards me and my knowledge of American personalities.

As for the speaking part, Ludo said his goal was to get me to speak French the entire time. And I did! I also was quite proud because I understood close to everything being said.... not including the 30 minutes in the middle of the meal when I realized four drinks was too much and calmed down for a bit. I was told by many of the guys there that I had traces of an accent, but not an American one. Oh and "not to generalize," (that's always a good start to a sentence) but they said I was the best French-speaking American they'd ever met, because "Americans are lazy when it comes to languages." Big plus for my confidence! However, I think they were just being nice, because I think my accent and speaking capacities are still subpar. Though, I was told on multiple occasions NOT to ever lose my American accent, because that's all part of my charm. Again, that's the eighth time someone's called me charming over here! What is it with you Frenchies??

But the most exciting part was speaking -- in French -- with a very attractive French boy who studied abroad in Texas about Californian politics and beer pong. Yes in that order. We even held a mini demonstration of cider pong for those not in the know. Talk about strange; I never thought I'd be playing beer cider pong in France.

Well the night certainly went well, seeing as how I ate that much and didn't pay a cent. I was invited to come back again and Ludo told me to call him soon so we could go out to have some one-on-one time and sortir again. I think it's just to practice speaking, but I still haven't quite figured out his intentions.

But I'm not complaining!!

Back and Forth

Today started off fairly well.

I woke up to my family calling me, which guys, I would even get up at 6 a.m. for -- actually I was up at 6:45 to see if you were on Skype and I kept myself busy until 7:25, when I slept for another hour until you called :)

Then I got severely lost looking for the post office and HAD to stop at the only place around, the boulangerie, to ask for directions. Since I was already there and had been walking for 30 minutes, I figured I'd give in and buy a pain au chocolat. Mom, Dad and Aimee, look this one up on Google Images it's called a tressée aux pépites de chocolat -- a chocolate braided pastry! I know you were making fun of me for eating all kinds of junk this morning, but actually, it's the first sugar-added food I've eaten in four days! I'm allowed to indulge once in a while...

Anyways, when I came back my roommate and I actually had another conversation! It's funny, sometimes she scares me, and sometimes I think she's actually kind of sweet. But maybe that's only because she was on her way out for the entire day. We get along really well when we both have things to keep us busy.

Since she was out of the house, I rolled up my sleeves and cleaned the entire apartment since we switch off every weekend. Actually it was kind of fun -- GASP -- because I got to blast the radio and have a good time with it. And now here I am, fully showered and fed. Perhaps I'll watch another Grey's Anatomy or Private Practice episode on my computer.

Really, I'm just trying to pass some time until tonight, when I have my "date." I only use the quotes because in French, we use the same word for date/meeting/appointment. I've never met him face-to-face but we've spoken on the phone about three times. I have no idea what we're going to do, but I DO know that I'll definitely get a long chance to practice my spoken French!! And perhaps this will open many new doors to French friends, who knows? If nothing else, he has a car, so I don't have to walk home all alone in the dark tonight. Now that I think of it, we're actually meeting his friends -- one of whom is seeing an American girl in my program, thus how this meeting came about -- later on in the night to possibly get in a big group outing.

Either way, I'm going in with an open mind. I have something to do tonight!! And tomorrow I'm off for what will probably be my biggest meal here yet... at Jean-Claude's house in Toulon, where I'll get to see my 97 year-old great-aunt for the first time in two years. In one weekend, I'm probably going to speak more French than I have in almost a month-and-a-half here :)

Rock you like a hurricane

Five beers after we left the Pyramid Alehouse last night, Tyler and I decided to take a "sober up" lap around downtown Walnut Creek before I had to drive home, because neither of us were fit to drive the five miles back to Alamo.

On our way through the streets -- at 10:30 p.m., we got started pretty early -- and past the Century Theaters, we heard terrible music coming from this really shady looking bar in the middle of some side street. The bar was Tiki Tom's and a large banner written in Guitar Hero font announced that every Wednesday is a WIPEOUT WEDNESDAY sponsored by Red Bull.

At first, we were a bit apprehensive, but who am I kidding, slightly buzzed and decided right on the spot to check it out. I should have known it was going to be a good time when the bouncer stared at my I.D. for an entire minute, before making me smile and then held my card up to my face for another minute.

I suppose I barely got in because for some reason he wasn't buying that my I.D. was real. Once we decided this was going to be a good choice and settled on some drinks -- Tyler, your's was DEFINITELY pink... ok maybe orange :) -- one of the waitresses asked if we wanted to sign up for the Guitar Hero tournament. That meant the two of us were pitted against each other for the first of, I want to say, four brackets. He actually did really well for a.) being drunk and b.) never having played before. I think our scores came out to like 89 and 86% of the notes hit in that round. So that's a personal first, playing Guitar Hero a few drinks deep into the night!

Since I won, my name was placed into the next bracket against the very same bouncer who didn't believe I was 22 years old. He asked if I'd played before and I responded (falsely) that this was about my fourth time and he decided we were probably even in skills.

So not true. I kicked his ass in The Allmand Brothers' Jessica. I want to say he hit maybe 60% of his notes and after one practice in two months, I was back on track. (You know, the more I think about this, before Guitar Hero came around, I'm pretty sure that podium in the front of the bar used to hold screeching-drunks trying their hands at karaoke.)

After winning the next bracket, I was told I'd meet Aaron in the championship round. Praying and hoping that he wouldn't royally embarrass me, Aaron apparently hasn't played any higher than Medium. And he's pretty damn expert at the Medium level. His friends had a $100 bet going that I'd work him and supposedly when he first saw me playing, he wagered that "blondie" would make it to the final.

So I get up on the stage, shake his hand and his friends call out "Yo, dude who's that blondie chick you were talking about?" and he points to me saying, "Right here, bro." I'm really not that good, but with a few drinks flowing, I felt pretty damn good during that moment. With me on Easy and him on Medium, I'm certain that Aaron LET me beat him at Monkey Wrench. It was something ridiculous like 97 to 94%. Riding my wave of confidence, I decided to challenge the same waitress who asked if we wanted to play. The same girl who claims to play Expert level in the privacy of her own home. She absolutely cleaned up when we played Lynyrd Skynyrd's Freebird, I want to say 140,000 points to oh about 60,000. Time to go home :) And mission complete because both of us sobered right up enough to drive back to Alamo and Hayward.

Long story even longer... just kidding, short... I walked away from Tiki Tom's as the Wipeout Wednesday Red Bull Guitar Hero champ that night. Oh yeah, and we stayed until sometime around 1 a.m. The night definitely became exponentially more random and exciting!

My prize? An entire 24-pack of Red Bull. What the hell am I going to do with that?

Anyone want to come back with me next Wednesday?!

...9 JOURS!!! (I'm finally down to the single-digits!)