Woke up around 9, body was not happy with me. I sat out with Henrich my sweedish friend while the other one was passed out and sleeping in. The cleaning staff couldn’t even wake him. Quite the night. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I stumbled upon a girl from the czech republic. We took a ferry to Jesus and got to see a beautiful view of lisbon since it is across the river. The jesus statue is the same as the one in rio however it came second. They looked the same to me, but I prefer the one in rio. Emma (my czech friend ) and I walked up and down and all around the city. We had some nice chats about education, she goes to school at the Sorbonne in Paris which is impressive considering she never spoke any French ahead of time. After walking around we stopped into the park for a nice relaxing evening, boy do the inclines really work out your muscles. At the park there was a performance happening where there was a man playing guitar along to a muted movie, rather intriguing. I loved Lisbon, the people were great and I did not feel unsafe at all. That evening I ended up going to dinner with some americans for cali and a girl happened to join us because she saw we looked familiar from the hostel, after chatting a while we realized we were all roommates at the hostel but had not yet seen each other in the room. Rather ironic that we all end up together eating dinner. We then went for a fado tour, which is the local music that is performed at bars and restaurants. It was interesting to say the least. My favorite part was this old lady who sang and danced around. Towards the end it was more improve, it is a type of music used to express emotion. Then we decide to continue on with the evening and go to a going away party for one of the hostel workers friends. We end up staying at the hostel because we didn’t want to venture out far when it was already late , so we end up hanging out with some of the staff till 5 am. Traveling is not made for sleep I guess.
Archive for » June, 2010 «
After having a rough time deciding where to go in Paris and feeling rather worried about my solo travels a little old french grandma and her 2 twin granddaughters were able to spin things in a positive way. I was waiting to check in at the airport and they happened to be standing front of me. The little girls kept staring at orville my stuffed cow and laughing. We didn’t really exchange words much in line just a few laughs. Once we were past security and in the waiting room the grandma spotted me and came and said we will stay together in french and she sat right next to me. I asked them if the girls were twins and we began to chat. They did not speak any english so it was a good chance to practice my french. We ended up talking the whole way on the airplane and the girls took pictures of me with every type of electronic that they had, camera, mp3 player, DS, it was rather bizarre. They waited for me after they got off and I helped them get their luggage. They have family in portugal so once we were outside their family helped me find my way to the bus I needed and gave me her email in case I needed anything. She today just emailed me back, offering to show me around. I wish I could stay longer. It didn’t take me long to find the hostel and things were great once I arrived. I met some crazy americans fresh out of highschool, explaining to everyone what a guido was and all kind of other ridiculous things. Oh you got to love those Americans. I ended up going out with them and some sweedish guys. It was a good time, most of the kids were under 18 though, not cool! We ended up hanging out in the center eating chips, those Sweedish love their chips(said with a sweedish accent sounds like shieps). Then some drunk cali girl came to chat and she was yelling at some guy in the street calling him a coke head. Soon after she drops her phone and he steels it and runs in the metro station. The sweeds come to the rescue and we get her phone back. What a night!
So the journey from the JFK to CDG was an interesting one. The guy on the plane next to me first off was an Irish man in is mid-sixties with an i-phone. These two things did not seem to work well it was funny watching him use it, and believe me I am not tech savy myself so I really have no room to judge. Then out of curiosity I wanted to see why he was so eagerly staring at his phone. I soon find out he was waiting for a text. It was not your normal text though, this sixty some year old man was sexting!! I had to turn away before I started laughing uncontrollably. We went the whole flight with out speaking which was a sad 5 hrs. I fell asleep for maybe an hour out of the flight. By the time we arrived in Dublin it was 5 am local time and the airport was already jammed packed. We had to go through customs and security again before catching my connecting flight. Which unfortunately meant that Dr Pepper that I was trying to ration through out my whole trip gotten thrown away 
I had to sit on the floor at the airport while I waited for my connecting flight and little irish kids were running and screaming all around me. I wish I had that energy right now. After boarding I was able to get about another hrs worth of sleep. I arrived in Paris with out any problems customs was very quick and my luggage was ready by the time I got down to baggage claim. By now I am exhausted with little sleep and being only 9 am. I sit down and try to ponder what to do next. After about an hour of thinking through my options I decide to get a hotel so I can catch up on my sleep with out being harassed. You don’t want to start your trip with a rough start. I end up booking one on my phone. Now I just need to find it. I eventually call the desk and have to try to use my french for directions. I understood for the most part what she said, at least the stop I had to get off at. So I catch the train and end up getting on the express one that passes right past my stop. Now I am feeling frazzled and super sleepy. I end up deciding I will just go back to the airport and try to either get a hotel on spot and cancel my reservations or just sleep there, because the stop I was supposed to get off looked kinda sketch anyways. While we pass my stop and I look at it closer I decide I need to stop being a baby and just try to find it . So once I arrive at the airport once again I get back on the train.. Third time is always a charm. I get off and after about 10 to 15 mins of walking around I find my hotel. My back is feeling super strong after lugging around that backpack for so long. I have slept most of my day and still feel rather tired. I went out for a little adventure and found a patisserie so I bought a baguette for dinner with some ham from the mini mart next door. The hotel is located near one of the stadiums used in the 1998 world cup, kinda neat. Other than that today has not been much of an adventure. I think I really need to work on this traveling alone thing.
Day 1 of the adventure began with a road trip to East Chatham NY. Of course I would begin any trip with a part in the car 
My-genius-self, forgot all my credit cards, license and debit card back at home and did not realize until I went to get gas in pa. Thankfully, I had $13 and parents that love me enough to meet me. After 2 hours of mishap I was able to get back on track. I have never been to upstate New York, so in a way it is part of the trip. I am thoroughly impressed by the natural beauty of this state. The mountains and the scenery has been amazing. I have not been able to do much exploring considering I got a late start, and my flight leaves soon. I am excited to return to the area and do a little adventure after my trip. I have been blessed with a great host family and welcomed with an awesome home cooked meal and Dr. Pepper (That is someone who knows the key to my heart) followed by some nice chatting. It is finally hitting me that I am leaving the country and the nerves are kicking in. I am sure it will be great but I can’t help the nerves.