A Traveler's Best Friend
Dear Constant Readers,
The highlight of this past week was a little trot Dylon and I took to
Dylon went to
To those who recall what I said about how much I love 8-hour long flights, particularly night flights, the same applies here for trainrides of that duration. At least in a plane though, you always know where your seat is, there is the possibility of a movie, and conditions normally keep people from blabbing into their cellphones when you to get something that passes as sleep. Also, there are luggage compartments which keep your backpack from falling down and landing on your head after you moments finally obtain that sleep.
It made for an interesting night, but all said and down, we reached Marsaille relatively in one peace, albeit exhausted. As soon as we got there we decided that buying return tickets would be in order (we didn't, or weren't able to, buy round-trip tickets before we left) and my skills in French were put to the test after about six years of hibernation. The first conversation involved trying to obtain the aforementioned tickets, which was kind of a pain. The attempt was a bit of a bust. She listed off some options for a return route and Dylon said "What'd she say?" "I don't know, something about Brussells and Sunday." Dylon that that was funny as hell, and when I looked a bit perplexed at this, he said, "C'mon man, we gotta laugh at this or we're gonna shoot ourselves in the head later."
Through trying though, I did get some of it back, and we even obtained a ticket back, although it was much more pricey than I had been expecting...in fact the whole trip was a bit more expensive than I had anticipiated, mostly because of that damned ticket. Anyway though, after getting some cheap McDonald's breakfast and finding directions to our hotel in an internet cafe, we made it safely there (this time I was more successful while asking a French pharmacist where the street of the hotel was) and we got a nap before setting out to see the city.
By the time we set out though, it was dark, so we decided to get some dinner, and see the rest of what we could on Saturday. We ended up choosing a restaurant that consisted mostly of seafood. I'd never had clams or mussels, so it was an experience for me. The food was a bit shocking, some of it was I wasn't sure what I was supposed to eat and what I wasn't. If you crack open an raw crab, for example, you find an orangish material that looks exactly like mashed up carrots. I told myself that's exactly what it was when I bit into it. I don't think I got everything hollowed out of its shell, but I didn't feel particularly sorry about that, and there was plenty more to eat anyway.
Another
After watching a German movie dubbed into French, Dylon and I both fell asleep in our beds, still quite exhausted from the travel.
The next day was more of a sight-seeing. We walked along part of the coast line in the city, and took a boat ride out on the water, and also saw the Isle d'If, the prison-island, from "The Count of Monte Cristo." It was mostly a quite day though soon enough we were back in the train station awaiting to go home. I guess I can tell I'm learning German well when I can't wait to get back to the comforts of a language I know.
Since I knew what to expect of a night train, I was prepared for a more restful trip. I knew where my seat was, and I secured my blunt backpack to so it wouldn't victimize my head while I was resting. Luckily, I even had a whole two seats to myself. Pretty decent, huh? What could go wrong?
The flu, that's what! I got ill, ill, ILL. I'll spare you the details, but it made for the trip back to Luxemburg somewhat of a nausating Hell. I couldn't figure out what it was. The train wasn't a very smooth ride, but I've never been prone to motion sickness. I could have been food-poisoning, but most of what I ate Dylon had also ordered one of. In the end it didn't really matter, though. We arrived in Luxemburg and I had to find a restroom quickly. It cost 1.10 Euros to use the public facilities, and I laid a twenty on the man's desk because I knew I didn't have enough time to count change. He kind of looked at it a bit quizzically and asked what I needed. I pointed to a picture of a toilet, and then promptly threw up on this desk, and he understandably freaked out a bit and decided maybe I didn't have to pay right away after all.
I made it back to
The rest of the day was rather feverish and very sleep-deprived. I sent Katrin a text telling her I needed her help, and that evening she came buy and I explained everything as best I could, and then she went to the store and bought me some stuff that I use digest without turning into mush.
But there is one thing that she couldn't find, and that's because it doesn't exist in
Katrin checked in on me from time to time and spent time asking me how the trip was, since I was completely bedridden for 90% of the day. I wasn't completely feverish, but enough to have confused thoughts such as while looking at my dorm ceiling and recalling the first day I got here, thinking "This is
Eventually I did get some rest, and by
So anyway, I hope all of you are doing well, and I hope this note finds you well. I'd love to hear back from anyone who wants to respond.
Sincerely,
Tristan
2 Comments:
you enjoying studying abroad as much as you sound like you do on your blog?
Wow, your trip sounds amazing so far Tristan. I've always wanted to travel around the Mediterranean; the culture there just fascinates me.
I agree with you on your comment about fate. I think for the most part, it's good to have a skeptical outlook on recent new age "things".
Also, the whole bit about the wine is quite a bummer. Red wine makes a horrendous stain.
Well hopefully life after high school has treated you as well as what your trip hasC made it out to be. Check out my blog if you get a chance. http://Chadzero.blogspot.com/
Good Luck,
Chad
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