Near the German & Swiss borders

August 4, 2015
Kevin

At this point, it's about 4am here in Dublin (meaning 21 hours of being awake and close to 19 hours of travel thus far). I know I haven't written in a while, so I'll try and summarize everything from the last week staying with Melanie [French exchange student at Glenbrook North High School during Kevin's junior year].

I arrived on an afternoon to meet Melanie at the Colmar train station, after a BlaBlaCar from Paris to Strasbourg and a very last minute (yet not at all expensive) TGV to Colmar, and she took me home to re-meet her sister Mathilde and get to know her two friends visiting from Germany for the week.

After putting all of my things down, I joined them on a walking tour throughout a lot of downtown Colmar, which, like many of the towns there in the Alsace region, has strikingly German (and really nice!) architecture, a stark change from Paris and even more so from Dinan. Afterwards, Melanie, her mom, and I drove about half an hour east to the German border and another half hour to Freiburg, where I literally could not understand anything. The city looked really cool, but I've never been so lost in my life. (It's a good thing Melanie's fluent in German, as well.) After walking throughout the city, we met, at the bus station, Lena a girl who was a foreign exchange student in Melanie's group in one of the southern suburbs of Chicago. For the week, she'd stay with us as we traveled, as well.

When we came home, it was a little late, so the seven of us (Melanie, her mom, her sister, her sister's two German friends, Lena, and me) had a late dinner before going to bed. It was definitely a lot more adventurous than I'd imagined for my first day with them.

The next morning, Melanie, Lena, and I drove down to Basel, Switzerland (again, with no border patrol, it was so easy!) to pick up another past foreign exchange student, Vivian, from Taiwan. For the next five hours or so, we walked across nearly all of Basel, and I, once again, understood nothing. But, there was a sign at a small shop for half-priced (nearly expired) craft beers that I managed to make out, which made my dinner for the next three nights significantly better. After touring Basel, we returned to Colmar, where Vivian and Lena slept for a little while in the afternoon, as Melanie and I began preparations for the evening. She'd invited several friends and neighbors to come over for a mini-party, and she needed my help in cooking some German food that I can't pronounce (kind of like pizza, with only a doughy tortilla crust, sour cream, onions, and sliced ham). When they all came over, I had numerous people with whom I could practice my French, and it was a lot of fun.

The next day, we slept a little late (until about 10 or 11 AM), and then we all (Melanie, her mom and sister, her sister's two friends, Lena and Vivian, and me) drove to Strasbourg to traverse the city. We ended up staying there for nearly eight hours, spending an hour or so of that time at a local cafe which served exclusively organic and vegetarian food. (It was great, nonetheless.) At the end of our trip, we dropped off Mathilde's two friends at the bus stop, visited Melanie's grandmother in the suburbs, and journeyed back home to Colmar, two fewer.

The next day, because Mathilde had to get a visa to study in America (She'll be a foreign exchange student in Austin.), her family decided to make it a grand trip to Paris. Her dad drove her, Melanie, Lena, Vivian, and I to Paris, where we walked along the Jardin des Tuileries for a few hours while Mathilde got her visa, and later to a village nearby called Barbizon, where we stayed at a small hotel for the night. In the village, we walked to a nice restaurant, where I was very close to eating lamb brain (I just couldn't do it.), and instead just settled with normal lamb meat, and creme brulee for dessert.

The next day, we traveled to Chateaubleau, a royal castle for the French elite, where we toured for about three hours. At the end of the tour, there was a small orchestra performance of students in American conservatories (Julliard, Oberlin, etc.) next to the gift shop, and I got to sit in the front row! After walking around the castle, we had a picnic in a nearby garden, before beginning our drive back to Colmar. On the way, we stopped in a small medieval town called Langres, but otherwise, we just continued on until Colmar, where we arrived at about 9 at night. Then, more of that German pizza-like food that's really good.

The next morning, it was Melanie's mom's turn to take us traveling (minus Mathilde, who'd gone early that day to Germany, to stay with her friends), For about two hours, we drove to Gerardmer, where we hiked a little, had a small picnic, and met the family of one of Melanie's friends. Afterwards, her friend took us to the center part of town, where we walked around a lot, before paddling in a boat on the lake (pictures should be coming soon.). Then, we went back to her friend's house for a barbecue, which lasted until about 11 PM. Then, we drove to a local bed and breakfast, where we all showered and went to bed very quickly.

The next morning, we hiked along one of the mountains in the area for two or three hours before meeting Melanie's friends at the beach for a swim in the afternoon. It was quite a paradisical final day in France. Late in the afternoon, we began our drive back to Colmar, where we played French music and I read French books, so as to put me in the right mood for my Haverford French Placement Test, which I took right after getting home. Apparently, my eight months of learning really have amounted to something! I'm not completely sure where I'll place, but I have a strong feeling I'll skip straight to Semester 3 or 4, whatever that means. After my test, we had a final dinner, and quite a few drinks for my final night in France, before going to bed.

Since this morning (8 AM on August 4), I've packed, eaten breakfast, driven to Gare Colmar ["gare" = train station], taken the train to Gare Strasbourg, taken the train to Charles de Gaulle airport, taken a plane to Dublin, and waited (A LOT). In about 4.5 hours, I'll be on a plane to Toronto. (Although, I'm really hoping it's oversold. My flight here was oversold, but the next one wasn't until 1 PM, and they, Aer Lingus, wouldn't rearrange my Air Canada tickets, so I couldn't stay the night at CDG for 250 Euros. I'm thinking, I've already been travelling for practically a day, what more do I have to lose in terms of a few hours for several hundred dollars?)

I think, when I arrive at home, I'll be very tired. But, before I go to Haverford, here are the things I've been thinking about eating: a Real Urban Barbecue three meat combo, a double-hamburger from Five Guys, a chocolate fudge brownie milkshake from Steak 'n' Shake (during their happy hour), and orange chicken from Mandar Inn. Those are all foods I just can't really have here, and they're excellent.

Hidden Gems in Paris

July 26, 2015
Kevin

Friday evening I went to a Jazz Club in the Marais, where I was, at first, an audience member of three or four people total, and they were actually really great (female singer, bassist, pianist, drummer), so the small audience made it all the better. Even before the concert, I got to talk with the singer for a few minutes! After about an hour and a half of their performance, there was a bit of a break, followed by a "jam session" with mostly the same musicians and a few here and there from the audience. (At this point, the audience was about 20 people. I guess people in Paris just like showing up late to things.) At the end, I even sang with them, "It Don't Mean a Thing," which was one of the scariest moments of my life--unlike playing for tourists on a popular street of Bordeaux, these people knew exactly what a good or bad musician sounded like, and the pressure definitely mounted. Luckily, everyone was incredibly kind and complimented me a lot!

That night, I found, on the Metro, a sign for a musical instrument museum, something NO TRAVEL ADVISOR EVER said anything about for Paris, so I dropped my plans for visiting art museums and spent six hours yesterday at the music museum. It was amazing. It was also in an area of Paris (Porte de Pantin--I have several photos.) that's off in the northeast corner, far away from everything, yet incredibly nice. I'm really glad I found it before heading out. Afterwards, I went to a picnic and then an Armenian bar with some friends, before heading home for the evening.

http://www.travelsignposts.com/Paris/sightseeing/musee-de-la-musique

This morning, I spent nearly an hour and a half researching the schedule and locations for the Tour de France, and I think I found the best viewing spot in Paris. It's on the southwest corner of Paris, nearly impossible to get to by Metro, and thus, tourists probably won't be flooding that area--they'll wait in the Tuileries Garden or Champs-Elysees, while I'll be very close to the cyclists. After they finish where I am, though, I can probably just take a Metro to Pont Alexandre III and see the rest of the race in a more popular area, as well! I'm well prepared for this.

Beforehand, since I'm going to arrive at Mairie d'Issy in about four hours, I'm going to a linguistics museum (once again, never even heard of) this afternoon. This'll be a really cool way to spend my last day in Paris.

Having Fun in Bretagne

July 19, 2015

Merrill: I just transferred $ to your card. Can you treat the Allains to a lunch or dessert out at a restaurant or cafe?

Kevin: Will do

July 21, 2015

Kevin: Ah, I tried, but Evelyne is very stubborn and doesn't want me to treat them to dinner. I'll see what I can do.

Merrill: Maybe take them out for dessert? or go to the village and buy a pie? 

Kevin: Okay, I'll try. Even the gift I gave them (two large containers of cookies) she found a way to sneak back into my bag when I wasn't home. They're a tricky couple.

July 23, 2015

Kevin

This week in Dinan was really nice! After visiting St. Malo, Dinard and a few towns in between, I mainly stayed in Dinan for the rest of my time. In the house, there was a pool; a garden with lots of fresh, ripe fruits; and internet and TV, for watching French movies and TV shows (often with French subtitles to help) during the evenings. Possibly most importantly, though: I had my own bathroom, my own shower, and my own bedroom; with the Allains, I felt like a king.

On Sunday (I think Sunday? It may have been Saturday.), there was a huge festival for Kiwanis International at the river adjacent to the walled city within Dinan, featuring numerous jouets nautiques, all of which I’d never imagined to even be games, so I’ll try to explain them now:

• The main events were a version of polo, but on row boats (“Water Polo” definitely gives the wrong impression.), on which there would be eight rowers, for on each side, and, at the back of the boat, an elevated, upward-angled plank would host the final member of the team, the one with a huge rod. Two of these boats would come from opposite ends of the river, approaching one another, and would slow down, side-by-side. At the point where the boats would nearly touch sides, the rowers lifted their oars from the water, and the each “fighter” (one at the end of each boat) would use their rods to knock the other into the water. There was some score involved, but I don’t think anyone—including the people from Dinan—understood it. Regardless, this would happen nearly every 10 minutes. (It took a little while to get teams, representing their coastal towns, on and off of the boats.)
• In between the matches were smaller games of raft races, in which two of the rowers from every team in the above game would take to a raft with their oars and race across the river and back. Once again, these games were one team against another. I was really surprised because most people in the audience seemed a tad bored during the larger games, but during these raft races, I heard several screaming women (cheering on their husbands or brothers—there were only about five women out of the 100-some competing) and even more air horns, as opposed to a relative calmness during the larger games.
• In addition, and I’m not even sure how this can even qualify as a jouet nautique, there was a beauty competition for transvestite men, one representing each coastal town taking part in the festival. I’m not sure who won, or how that was determined, but they were dancing by the judges’ booth nearly the entire day.

Later on in the week, I walked all over the town several times; with its medieval architecture, including stone streets, stone buildings, and even stone poles at the edges of streets (to keep cars from parking on the sidewalk, a phenomena that occurs quite frequently here), nearly every step was like walking hundreds of years back in time.

In particular, I walked to the top of the Tour de l'Horloge [clock tower], where I could see nearly all of Dinan, along with several towns and cities on the outskirts of the area; throughout the local basilica, with its wonderful stain-glass windows (I’ve been noticing that a lot of these basilicas have opportunities to buy candles—I think as indulgences?—for several euros; it seems a tad sketchy, but I think that extra money is what pays for all of the upkeep.); in and around the local school, which was hosting a grandiose exposition of local artists’ work; throughout l'Eglise Saint-Malo, which was surprisingly a lot larger and nicer than the local basilica; across several of the shopping areas, both for tourists (selling tee shirts and cookies) and for locals (selling pretty much everything else); and throughout the local castle, which had its own museum, dungeons, and cannon-ball-sized holes at the top. Throughout many of the lower rooms, you could find a few tables holding four or five cannonballs that weren’t glued down or tied down or even guarded, which I thought would be a security issue, until I tried picking one up: the ball, about half of the size of a bowling ball, weighs nearly 100 pounds. If someone were to actually carry one up four flights of stairs just to drop off the side of the castle, I’d say he deserves the extra fun for all of that hard work.

Just outside of the castle is a really large botanical garden, with both several different types of flowers and numerous exotic birds, in little caged huts scattered across the grounds, and a small grazing ground for two goats and a donkey. It was a cool place.

In addition, I met one person who lives in Dinan who, when I told her I was from the suburbs of Chicago, told me all about her foreign exchange there (I think to Marian Catholic High School—still a long while away), and was all the more excited to find an actual Illinoisan in the town of Dinan, where there are pretty much exclusively Dinanais citizens and Parisian, British, Dutch, German, and Italian tourists. To date, she is the second person I’ve met on my trip and the first person I’ve met in France who has eaten a Horseshoe. Still remembering how that to-go box stunk up our car when we went there [Springfield, Illinois], I’m a tad unsure of whether that’s a good thing or not.

[The Horseshoe is an open-faced sandwich originating from Springfield, Illinois. It consists of thick-sliced toasted bread, most often Texas toast, a hamburger patty, French fries, and a "secret" cheese sauce. Common replacements for the hamburger patty include ham, deep fried pork tenderloin, grilled or fried chicken breast, and fried fish fillets.

en.wikipedia.org]

Today, I spent the morning in Rennes, walking around the university and exploring the library, before taking another car to Paris, where I think I’m staying until July 27. (Melanie told me I’d have to come either the 26th or the 27th, so I figured I’d stay the extra day, take a short train to one of the towns neighboring Paris, and watch the Tour de France where it’s a lot less crowded.) My plans for Paris are somewhat unstructured, but I’m assuming I’ll still find a lot to do. Then, I’ll either find a car to Strasbourg and a short train to Colmar, or just a train to Colmar (I’ve become quite good at finding the best deals while I’m here.), where I’ll meet Melanie and spend my last week.

In Midnight in Paris, they go to Monet’s mansion, where they see the real life waterlilies, as well as many of his works; I’ve been trying to find the name of that place for the last week or so, but I can’t even find it in the guidebook. I want to see if I can go there before Monday.

I think that’s all for me. It’s a little strange to think that in just less than two weeks, I’ll already be home, and in just over a month, I’ll already be at Haverford.

So, I think as happy as I am to stay here for the next two weeks learning French, visiting museums, and seeing so much history, I’ll still very much enjoy spending my last three weeks of the summer relaxing and spending time with family and friends.

Later...

Train Plans

Strasbourg -- Charles de Gaulle, Aug. 4:

My old ticket was 2nd class, 75 euro. I just exchanged it for a 55 euro, 1st class ticket.

I'm finally high class!

Waxing Philosophical

July 18, 2015
Kevin

I haven't yet taken many photos of Dinan, only a few of St. Malo when Marilyne took me there. I'll get in the Dinan photos when Marilyne leaves tomorrow, as I'll mostly be on my own for day-plans. I plan to upload my photos of the last week or so today.

I'm in Dinan until July 23, when I leave to Paris for two days, and I leave Paris for Strasbourg on the 25th. Ideally, there will be no more massive schedule changes there, and I'll stay there, as planned, until I leave France. But, I'm prepared for changes, especially since it's usually free, far enough in advance (two days); I've learned that life's just going to throw them my way. I learned that the Tour de France is in Paris on the 26th; I wonder if it's worthwhile to stay and see it?

But, for now, I'm happy just relaxing in Dinan. There's a lot to see (even walking down the neighborhood is incredibly beautiful), and having a bed and a room and a pool and a shower and food and pretty perpetual bathroom access is wonderful.

For most of the time here in the home, though, I'm either eating with the family or talking with them or both, and there are a few ideas I've come to realize (or come to realize were a lot more complex than I'd first imagined).

Organic Food

On the farm, I became pretty used to just believing that eating organic food is better than all else. After all, nearly every input into the foods we eat (pesticides, water, compost, fertilizer, etc.) both affects its nutritional content and its taste, so by giving our foods only the best of inputs, we really do get the best quality of food. After all, even the crab-apples, which we ate at nearly every big meal, tasted like candy, and words cannot describe how amazing those eggs were. Nevertheless, most of my meals on the farm were either bread with jam or butter; couscous, vegetables, and salad; or some sort of combination of those two. Sometimes, when I ate with one of the families, I'd have chicken with bread and cheese, but otherwise, I became a vegetarian (unfortunately). This prompted a new idea: as much as I love organic food, I think I care more about having a healthy variety of foods (including lots of meat), because the mere diversity of inputs into my own digestion would probably be better than the best of inputs from only a few agricultural sectors. (Even eggs were only available two of the seven days.) 

I do say "probably," though, because I'm not a scientist, I practically failed biology, and our (humankind's) knowledge of foods and diets and what is best for us has constantly changed throughout the last 120 years, and what may seem horrible for us (e.g. carbohydrates) may be the only source of energy for our brains. (Maybe it isn't carbohydrates, but something else, instead. Or, maybe, our brains rely on a variety of inputs, but we're still unsure of what they are.) I'm fully aware that I have to take all of my gastronomical contemplations and conclusions with caution, when it comes to what's good for us. Regardless, assuming that a varied diet is good for us, as people, I still wasn't fully satisfied with giving up my hopes for organic food altogether; there has to be some balance, some way to get a variety of food that's all organic (or something), that tastes good, too. 

And, my current thought is this: if I prioritize a healthy variety of food, my second priority needs to be either that it's locally produced (for taste) or of good nutritional quality. (If the soil or whatever near me is bad, I don't feel so horrible about buying imported bananas.) I think that's what a lot of people here believe, too; at any market, be it a small shop in the city or a supermarket in the suburbs, nearly every fruit is from France or Spain, and a lot of it looks really good. They also have eggs and beef and pork and lamb 24/7. It may not be the best for the environment (although, it could be!), but they get excellent food. (The possibly organic, definitely local fruits here taste like candy.) The only sacrifice: while they eat a variety of foods, they don't wholeheartedly contradict the natural calendar of foods; apples aren't too common right now, and we just have to deal. 

I'm not sure how realistic all of my thoughts are about food right now, given that I'm not sure how much money I'm willing to spend in the US (where there really isn't diversified agriculture, like France) for food, and I think I'm still going to eat with my meal plan at Haverford College. Regardless, I firmly believe that contemplating the food we eat will come in handy, somehow, some day.

Politics

To any liberal in America, France seems to be the next step forward, as if Bernie Sanders were to have already won ten years ago and put forth his entire agenda with raging success: there's free college, free healthcare, gay marriage, no gun ownership, and a reasonable campaign finance system. (They obviously have exceptions, like for hunting.) So, in France, people just don't even have to deal with talking about all of that. But, what that means is that they have new battles to fight, facing ideas I've never even thought of before my trip here. 

One example: on my first full day in Paris, I found a rally in front of the Palais du Justice saying that people shouldn't be allowed to pay surrogate parents. That's a big deal here. A lot of couples that can't have children have decided to pay another woman to have their child for them (now that gay marriage is legal, it's become a lot more pressing), and these people were arguing that, because the child would never know its mother, and there's a financial transaction involved, that, ethically, cannot be allowed in such an advanced society. On the other side, I began to think that families may value the child being of their own genetics and may see that as more important to the child's well-being than the child not knowing the woman who birthed them. I'm not sure how many scientific studies there have been on this issue, which makes it all, more or less, a legislative guessing game as to what is best. At the end of the day, though, this 1) may be an issue we'll have to deal with, too, in a few years; and 2) goes beyond our American standardized two-party system: would outlawing this process be more conservative or liberal? Why? What would people even call it? I'm just not sure.

Moreover, in my month here, I've been talking with people about their last president, Nicolas Sarkozy, whom nearly every one of my hosts dubbed a racist. (Apparently, his relationship with Carla Bruni has been destroying her domestic success as a musician, as well, which may show how popular this belief is.) I asked around for a good explanation about how a racist could actually be elected president (even you, Donald Trump.), and what made him really that way? The rough answer: much the same with hard-line conservatives, he doesn't like immigration, because it takes away from domestic jobs, so he wants to stop it all. A little harsh, but not necessarily racist, right? 

But, the discussion goes deeper: in France, there's universal healthcare, which seems to make sense to most people. (Basic healthcare should be a human right; rich people shouldn't be the only ones taken care of, if they develop cancer or diabetes.) It grows more complicated when clandestine immigrants get free healthcare, as well, without putting much into the system. (The same goes for documented immigrants with very low salaries.) The question becomes: how much should the average French citizen be charged in taxes, in order to pay for a flood of people in need of healthcare? It'd almost be like saying that because food and water and homes should be basic human rights, the US should increase its human aid spending 100-fold. Maybe. 

Moreover, if we don't want to increase the actual taxes of French citizens, how much can the richest of the rich actually be taxed? Should economic freedom mean a potentially unlimited income? Should someone, in such a developed country, even be allowed to be a trillionaire, a 500-billionaire, or even a 10-billionaire? It's easy to say that we should be allowed infinite income, because we can somehow relate to those people, even though a salary of less than $20,000 per year is a lot more realistic than one at the other end of the spectrum. Even if we were to say yes to all immigration and take all of the funding that had previously been put towards check-points, deportations, etc., towards universities and small businesses, would the potential for newer markets and greater economic efficiency (ideally leading to new jobs for educated people) counterweight the drag of having so many more people? I'm not sure of my answers to a lot of these questions, and I take secret joy in America's comparative lack in progressiveness, because I don't have to worry about these issues when voting, but they will be the existential questions of my time, I'm sure. The new Great Gatsby will not only strike down the conception of the American Dream, but fight to redefine it altogether. And, I'm not sure to where any of that may lead.

I'm not sure how my answers to the above questions and my conceptions of life in France will change or bring new questions into mind, but there is a world of opportunity in discovering new issues to talk about. Perhaps, we, as a nation, really can let marriage equality, universal healthcare, and an end to flying Confederate flags slide, and we can begin to discuss some of these greater (or at least newer) questions.

The Medieval Town of Dinan

July 17, 2015
Kevin
Dinan is wonderful! It's a small town de les moyenne ages [middle ages], with stone buildings, sidewalks, and streets, and everything looks so beautiful! I arrived yesterday in the evening and walked from the inside of the walled city about 20 minutes to the Allain house. I'll have to take lots of photos, because this is all so incredible: there's a pool, a lot of art (by Evelyne!), and I not only have my own bed, but my own room! These are my best accommodations so far by far, and I'm very happy about it all.

Merrill
Here is a map of Dinan, France. It's on the northern coast of Brittany, the arm of France that extends west into the Atlantic Ocean. Above the Rance River, 22 km south of the coast, Dinan contains many medieval timbered houses, 18th-century granite buildings, a Gothic bridge, a 15th-century Tour de l’Horloge (clock tower) and 11th century town walls. The granite Château (castle) de la Duchesse Anne dates from the 1300-1400's. Kevin is visiting the cousins of my brother-in-law Bob Allain, whose parents were born in France.

Kevin

Last night, I went for a swim in the pool (after which, for the first time, I actually felt clean!), ate dinner with the family, and slept for 12 hours. After spending time with the GBN crew [French students from Kevin's high school] (and seeing more things per day than I'd ever imagined), it was very nice to sleep for an incredibly long time. Even when I woke up, I could tell my body still wanted more sleep.

This morning, I woke up, showered, and found Marilyne at the first floor. To my surprise, she had our entire day planned out--all I had to do was come for the ride! We started off driving to a bakery in Dinan, where we tried some traditional Bretagne foods (various combinations of dough, butter, and sugar); then, we drove to St. Malo, a coastal city, where we had a food of which I'm still not sure the title, but I took a photo, and it was amazing; afterwards, we drove to Dinard, another coastal city, and just walked around the city and the beaches without eating anything. (While Dinan, somewhat, and St. Malo, more, are tourist cities for British people, Parisians flood Dinard in the summer, and the prices skyrocket.) After our three-city adventure, she took me to her apartment in a nearby town, where we ate crepes, and, while she took a sieste [afternoon nap], I watched a French movie (with French subtitles), and slept a little as well.

Later, we arrived back at her parents' house, where I met Cyril and his girlfriend, and we ate lots of grilled meat and toast with various sea foods, and drank lots of wine and cider.

It's been a lot!

About my French: now, especially since the Allains nearly exclusively speak French (I think the only English I heard was when Marilyne mentioned Little Miss Sunshine, and she said the name of the movie.), I can understand about 75% of the conversations. (With the subtitles in French, I have a very good understanding of the movie I watched, if that's a better litmus test.) When there's lots of wine at dinner, though, I generally just stop listening then, and give myself a break.

Soon, I'll publish more photos on Facebook, especially of Dinan. I didn't take many more of Paris, since there's only so much in Paris that's new at every repetition, but Dinan is beautiful! Outside of my bedroom window, for example, I can see the expansive backyard, the neighborhood houses, several hills, farms, and lots of trees! It's a healthy mixture of history, "suburban" life, and the countryside, and it's all so aesthetically incredible.

Museums, Jazz and Friends from Home

July 15, 2015
Kevin
Hey, so, I'm staying in Dinan from July 16 until the 23rd. It's a small city in the northern coast of France, in Bretagne. I'll be with the Allain family (cousins of my Uncle Bob).

Since I left the farm, I stayed with my old hosts in Bordeaux for a few days, mainly spending a lot of the (really hot) days figuring out my new plans, finding transportation options, and ensuring that I'll have places to stay wherever I go. In the evenings, though, I explored several of some of the smaller neighborhoods, as well as even finding a restaurant with a jazz combo performing for three hours (which meant a basic appetizer, a lot of water, and three hours of listening to jazz and reading)! Additionally, each night, I ate gourmet pasta hand-delivered for free by my host, as we'd watch some French movies and some American TV. (He really likes Weeds.) So, my time in Bordeaux was both a really nice transition to regular society again (I could shower every day without instantly becoming dirty, for example.), and a nice place for me to explore, listen to great music, and relax, while still absorbing a new culture.

On Saturday, I used BlaBlaCar to ride-share with someone all the way from Bordeaux to Paris (about a 5-7-hour drive, it seemed), during which I slept a lot, I read a little, and I listened to the driver lecture, in French, about systematic privilege for nearly 45 minutes, to no responses whatsoever from the three other people in the car. It was a tad strange, but I could speak French during the ride, and it was about half of the price of a normal train ticket, which was very nice.

When I arrived in Paris, I met Sushi, my host and friend from Fete de la Musique, when my host then took me to meet all of his friends in an afternoon picnic, and she guided me to her apartment, where we split lunch, I planned a few of the museums I'd want to see, and I could take a moment to rest. (Traveling so much is hard!) Later on, we both went to the market to buy some cider, wine, and sandwiches, and we ate dinner listening to nearby swing music on the Seine.

The next day, I slept a little late and then visited the Carnavalet Museum, about the history--through art and stories--of Paris, and the Petit Palais, an art museum, both for free! I found a site that lets me know which museums in Paris are free on various days, and it definitely made for a fun, free learning experience. After visiting the Petit Palais, it started to rain, so I went back to Sushi's place, and we took the Metro together to her friend's apartment, for a small party to spend the Sunday evening.

On Monday, the only free museums were for Perfume and the Paris equivalent to the DMV, so I strolled across Rive Gauche and the Notre-Dame area for about two to three hours, having breakfast and lunch in the process and listening to a lot of jazz along the way. Afterwards, I walked through a bit of Le Marais and visited the Jewish History Museum, a museum that took about three hours to get through altogether; apparently, they've been here for quite a lot of time, and not everyone has always liked them. Afterwards, I walked along the Seine until I could find some good food, and I had dinner there. Later on, I went over to a really great jazz bar near the Pantheon, with a two-guitar-one-bass combo that was probably one of the best I've ever seen.

The next day was the first of two days I spent with the GBN [Glenbrook North High School] French field trip to Paris. I'd been corresponding with the teacher throughout the summer about my trip to France, and when I found out that we'd have two days in Paris together, before they leave for home and I leave for Dinan, she immediately invited me to tag along with the group! It was definitely incredible to, after a month of not seeing anyone I know, tour the city with some of my high school friends, and for a surprisingly low cost, too! I met them at about 9AM, after which we all traveled to see the Bastille Day Parade, where both the French and Mexican national armies marched, then tour the Marais neighborhood, where we stopped for lunch, then ate ice cream by Notre Dame, then went to a really nice restaurant near the Eiffel Tower (I got the group rate and saved A LOT of money!), then danced at the Firemen's Ball, and then watched fireworks from the Bir-Hakeim Bridge. Afterwards, while their hotel was right there, I needed to walk across about half of Paris just to find a Metro that wasn't completely clogged with people (and a 50-minute wait just to get inside!), and I managed to get to my place around 2AM for a few hours of sleep.

This morning, I met them in the Luxembourg Gardens, to learn Petanque, the national game for old, competitive men, walk through the catacombs--full of six million skulls and several thousand stone placards glorifying death; it was a weird place--and eat lunch and walk around the Latin Quarter. Later, while they were on a private boat cruise, I had dinner near the Eiffel Tower and met them afterwards to climb the Eiffel Tower! Afterwards, I said my goodbyes to friends from Northbrook. Although I'm SO tired, these two days have definitely been some of my favorites; to be able to communicate with people clearly and hang out with people my own age is a nice change!

I think, over the last three nights, I'll have a combined 15-16 hours of sleep. So, I'm going to go to sleep now and pack very early tomorrow morning for Dinan.

Any questions?

Merrill

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Change of Plans

Wednesday July 8, 2015
Kevin
The organic farming cooperative, Unisvert 2 t'Air (based off of an obscure French pun about being close to the environment), has about 12 constant members, with a rotating schedule of anywhere between 2 and 10 WWOOFers. They do everything from running an escargotier, to raising chickens, to managing numerous vegetable gardens, to baking bread once a week for the local market, to maintaining a fruit tree in downtown St. Gery for the nearby town's populace. Nevertheless, for a cooperative, everything is surprisingly independent; most of the members do their one job (at which they rarely allow an apprentice-WWOOFer) and contribute their specific food, and they stay in their spread-out cabins, otherwise. Unfortunately (or fortunately), it meant several hours each day of me, by myself, reading, playing or listening to music. So, while it was certainly a nice break from the busy pace of traveling across the country, and the people there were extraordinarily considerate, I didn't think I could really gain anything from staying there any longer.

Click here to see where the farm is on the map: https://www.google.fr/maps/place/La+Contie,+24400+Saint-G%C3%A9ry/@44.9803565,0.336349,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x12aacae0196eea23:0xa066519d2f6e4e0?hl=en

One observation I made about the farm was that the people there are exceptionally content living how they do, with internet once a week after a 10km drive to another town and with spending a few hours each day working and several hours each day either sleeping, playing cards, or reading. For me, it was rather intellectually stifling to not constantly expose myself to new ideas and to read the most recent news, and spend so much time on my own, but for them it's just another step in fostering mindfulness.

Also, the people at the farm, even many of the WWOOFers, didn't want to become international musicians, senate majority leaders, or Editors in Chief of The New York Times. They just wanted to live and smile and eat really good food and occasionally go out to see music. Most of them haven't even been to college; they spent a few years after high school backpacking across Europe or Asia or South America and then settled on the farm after realizing that the thing they loved most was centering their lives around food. I'm not sure if I envy that contentedness (or, complacency?), but it was such a pleasant shock to [Chicago] North Shore perception that everyone wants to go to college and get a good job and marry and have kids and die; a lot of people are just playing everything by ear, and they love it.

I'll still miss the two or three late nights of playing guitar by the light of a full moon and a few scented candles with one of the families, but, as Jack Kerouac wrote, "The beauty of things must be that they end." I'll move on, explore, and find equally wonderful--temporary--experiences out here.

Last night, my final night, I was able to join three of the farmers in another farming cooperative about 30km away for a "free jazz" concert of a saxophonist, guitarist, and drummer who could not have POSSIBLY played more loudly for their audience of 20 people (THE WORST MUSIC I'VE EVER HEARD IN MY LIFE. THE SAXOPHONIST KNEW FOUR NOTES AND THEY ALL WERE EITHER INCREDIBLY HIGH OR INCREDIBLY LOW.). After the music, the "concert" turned into more or less a hick party, with no one wearing shoes and everyone drinking a LOT of beer. While the six-hour adventure was a lot of fun, my head definitely hurt a little bit this morning.

Today, upon arriving in Bordeaux, I switched around a few of my train tickets, ate an INCREDIBLE meal at a local restaurant (15 Euro for an appetizer buffet of salmon, ham, egg salad, potatoes au gratin, watermelon, and beets--not having eaten in 15 hours made that appetizer a three-plate endeavor--a main dish of grilled trout, potatoes, and green beans, and a delicious and large creme brulee dessert. I think I'm a master at finding these deals here.). Afterwards, I didn't really feel like walking across town all too much today (The 70km I've walked/ran/biked over the last week has definitely tired me out.), so I returned to the apartment with a hefty doggie bag, grabbed my ukulele and a few coins, and went busking in central Bordeaux! That experience 1) was a lot of fun; 2) made me a lot more confident about performing in front of people; 3) gave me such a greater respect for street performers--it's hard to put yourself in front of people ignorant of any of their judgements, with the exception of a few people who tip; 4) paid for my bread tonight--to go along with the free gourmet pasta (I love my host!)--and covered me for the next time I'll need to use cash. I could see myself doing that again; if I'm going to play music to relax, I might as well get paid for it and make a few people's days better.

I'll be sure to upload photos soon, either today or tomorrow. I slept for about five hours last night, so I'm getting back on a relatively normal schedule.