Food and Wine in Bordeaux

June 30, 2015

Kevin

I hope people enjoy the blog--I probably won't email from tomorrow until July 30, when I arrive at Melanie's (after 12 or so hours of train, train, metro, and train), so they'll have to deal with not having any updates for a long while. Don't worry; I'll be sure to keep a journal. [Merrill: Melanie was a foreign exchange student at Glenbrook North High School last year. She and Kevin became friends through the marching band. Melanie lives with her family in northeast France, near the German border.]

Also, tomorrow, I'll call to let you know that I'm on the farm, safe and sound. If I don't call you, either my phone broke and there aren't any phones anywhere, or something horribly wrong happened. (I'm assuming, though, I'll still be able to work at the farm, I'll still be alive, and everything'll be okay.)

Yesterday, I took the tram to one of the northern neighborhoods of Bordeaux to see a local wine brokerage-turned-museum, where I learned a lot about how wine is made and how it's been sold for the last 1200 years or so. At the end, I got my own personal tasting, as well! I definitely feel a lot more knowledgeable about wine--from the Bordeaux region and beyond.

Then, I took the tram (it's very helpful and inexpensive; I've paid maybe 3 euro over the last few days) over to the Beaux-Arts Museum, which had art from the last millennium or so, from the really old Christian works all the way to Picasso and some weird masks and geometric things I couldn't really understand from the last three decades. There's also a really nice garden separating the two sets of 500 years worth of art. Also, I figured out the ingredient for good art: a huge canvas (life-sized or larger), and a bigger, more obtrusive frame. Think about it, aside from the Mona Lisa, how many small good paintings do you actually remember? Sunday on the Grande Jatte? Water Lilies? Guernica? Yeah, all: NOT SMALL.

Afterwards, I stopped by the apartment, grabbed some of my snacks from my backpack, along with a book and a lot of water (It's been extremely hot here all week.), and went over to the Jardin Publique, a really beautiful botanic garden in one of the northern neighborhoods of Bordeaux, where I could read, eat, drink, and write a few post cards (I just sent them today; they're in god's hands now.). Later, I got some kebabs for dinner and ate in the Place de la Bourse, an intersection of two houses of government in downtown Bordeaux, a shallow water-pool like that in Millennium Park, the river (which is ALWAYS a disgusting shade of brown--not a fun part of this trip), and several gardens, before returning back.

Because my host is such a great chef, my first night, he brought back for me tortellini with duck meat, cheese, and vegetables; my second night, a personally crafted dish of ham, cheese, penne, vegetables, and spices; and I think tonight, chicken in a cream sauce, over linguini, vegetables, and dried tomatoes. Everything he makes is excellent, and he isn't charging me anything! I bought bread for the two of us to eat our late night dinner (which should be arriving soon!), like true Frenchmen.

Today, it was incredibly hot (105 degrees), so I spent most of the day in the apartment, checking my email, reading A LOT of the news, and saying my final goodbyes for the month, but I went out for about five hours, two of which were at a restaurant near the Place de la Bourse, for a four-course, 15.50 euro meal. It began with a never-ending plate of bread. Then, ham pate with greens and pickles. Then, salmon with a cream sauce over potatoes au gratin, with vegetables. Then, a "floating island," which I think is a ball of custard floating in a bowl of egg yolk/wine/something else. The waitress said it was traditional, and it was an excellent ending to one of my best meals so far!

Later, I walked across a few of the shops, since the sales were EXCELLENT. But, I didn't buy anything. Note: French shirts are so painfully without substance that it almost seems ironic to wear them, except people don't wear them ironically. I've seen several with undecipherable English phrases, even more focused on either California, LA, "San Fran," Tokyo, or Miami. Even one that said "According to the US Census Bureau, downtown Miami is one of the most dense urban areas of the United States." I thought it was a joke, and then the person next to me bought it. There was even one with a weird, techno-y drawing of several exotic fruits, along with a line at the bottom of the shirt in French: be sure to eat five servings of fruit each day! I almost bought it, as it was the most cheaply priced (6 euro), but the drawing of the fruits seemed really strange... I can live without it.

Later, I walked to a huge statue/waterfall in Quinconces, which means that I have officially seen EVERYTHING in Bordeaux. I do not feel bad for taking an easy day in the 105-degree weather.

I think that's pretty much all with me. I hope this is a fine ending to this section of the blog, and that my readers aren't too disappointed. In a month, I can give you more material.

Bordeaux-bound

June 27, 2015
Kevin
At my host in Bordeaux. She's very nice, but I'm tired.

June 28, 2015
Kevin
Sorry about the lack of essay-like letters recently. I've been very tired/busy, and the free time at an apartment I've had has been pretty well dedicated to catching up on news (Bernie Sanders is ON FIRE, and gay people can marry now! I should leave the US more often.).

Anyway, this is the chef house! His girlfriend left this morning to see family, and he works from 9 until 0h30 everyday, and I'm patiently awaiting a dish of tortellini, duck meat, and various cheeses. 

My first host, Michael, appreciated [my host gift, matching dish towel and pot holder], but I'm not sure how regularly he'll use it (though, it was folded on his kitchen counter when I left!); my second host, Inti, was still furnishing his apartment, and we used the gifts the entire time I was there; the same with Damien in Marseille; and here, once the current towel is dirty, mine shall be deployed! I don't think most CouchSurfers do this--I've been getting the impression that most people who stay on CouchSurfing are very cheap; a lot of my hosts have complimented me on my not using their home as a free hostel.

Back to three days ago: Notre-Dame [in Marseille] was exactly what I expected it to be, but it gave a really great museum-like explanation of the history of Catholicism in France, which I thought was interesting. The views, as well, from the top of the Basilica--which is already situated atop a mountain overlooking the city--were beautiful, and seemingly endless.

Afterwards, I found--on accident--the Grand Synagogue of Marseille, after which I ate a chicken sandwich on a bagel, as an homage, on my way to the MuCEM, which I think, translated, is Marseille's Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations. The really cool thing about museums in this area is that they're LOADED with neolithic artifacts, like arrowheads, for example. That didn't really interest me at the MuCEM, but after another three museums in which full rooms were dedicated to showcasing their collections of thousands of stone tools, it hit me: If I were ever in the forest, I would NEVER be able to make the stone tools that people made for centuries. Imagine being situated in a forest, in which the only things surrounding you are trees, plants, rocks, dirt, and animals that may be either your predators or your prey; the idea of finding two rocks and magically figuring out how to break them so specifically as to carve other rocks overwhelms me. I think we don't give enough credit to the neolithic people. It's pretty simple to code cell phone applications if you have the world's information at your fingertips; to come up with a strategy, in the company of no one, to forge arrowheads from seemingly worthless materials seems like a much harder skill to develop, and a more admirable one, at that.

Aside from the neolithic artifacts at the MuCEM (AND Marseille's other history museum AND the history museum of Aquitaine in Bordeaux), there was a really great exhibit at the MuCEM that discussed how, or if, people of multiple religions and multiple levels of observance to religions traditions can cohabit, using the three Abrahamic religions as a focus. Not only did I learn a lot about each religion, and various figures throughout the last thousand or so years who've learned and studied much about two or three of them, but the structure of the exhibit was incredible! The exhibit was divided into sections, further divided by blocks of informative texts between sets of 10-12 photos, paintings, and drawings, with various scriptural quotes interspersed throughout the entire exhibit. It almost made ME want to work at a museum one day, to explore the methods of teaching information and guiding discussions that they use.

Later, I had tartared salmon for dinner (the only thing I've disliked this entire time), walked along the beach, and saw a super-small (15-20 people in the audience) play at a local comedy club. It was a two-person romantic comedy (all in French) about a couple vacationing in Marseille that discovers throughout the weekend just how much they hate each other's idiosyncrasies, and how they can, eventually, overcome that, too. I think I got about half of it; the other half was just too fast for me to catch on. But, for about three or four minutes the guy actually pulled me into the play, as one of the characters! It was one of the most stressful, fast-paced, and funny moments of my life! Stressful, because I couldn't make ANY mistakes, as to let them catch on that I don't actually know French; fast-paced, because for every single sentence they uttered, I had to quickly search my mind for an applicable response, and the activeness of that made the time seem to speed three- or four-fold; and funny, because they TOTALLY knew I was American, and in a mixture of helping me along, making fun of my lack of knowledge, and continuing the general vibe of the play, the actors were able to work with me, asking me fairly simple questions ("How much does the water cost?") and saving the fast, complex, multi-tense sentences for their talk with each other. It was quite an experience.

The next day, I saw the Marseille History Museum (60,000 years of history in three hours), ate a calamari lunch, and went to the beach, where I found a girl my age selling "artisan ice cream" with whom I could practice my French! Later, Damien came back from sailing early, and we ate pizza and had a beer by the sea just past sunset.

The next day, I learned just how much to trust others when receiving transport advice, and how to call audibles when I deem it appropriate. I left Damien's apartment with all of my things at 11:30 for a 1:18 train, walking about 10 minutes to a bus stop. (The previous day, the lady at the tourism office told me to take a certain bus to the Vieux Port, at which I would get off, find the next metro to the train station, and take that.) Lo and behold, the lady was wrong, and that line of buses wasn't running! So, at 11:55, I'd gotten back to the apartment, where (literally 15 meters away) there was a different bus heading DIRECTLY to the train station. I found it, thanked the driver, and got to the station just in time. No transfers, no multiple passes, no respect for the Marseille tourism office. Unfortunately, the train from Marseille to Bordeaux isn't yet high-speed, so it was about 6 hours long (compared to the 2.5 hours from Paris to Marseille which is also a longer route, distance-wise). It wasn't so bad, though; I had my own seat, I finished The Omnivore's Dilemma, and I began Dorian Gray. I'm now about a quarter of the way through that book.

When I arrived, my hostess (not the chef), took me to the apartment where I'm staying now, and she cooked me a nice meal of shrimp and pasta, before taking me out to downtown Bordeaux, where she felt obliged to borrow my memory card, take a hundred or so photos on her fancy new camera, and give me the memory card for access to all of them. For once, I didn't have to walk around taking photos.

Today, I got a few nice maps from the tourism office, visited the Aquitaine history museum, climbed a local cathedral's bell tower (300 steps and an amazing view!), had WONDERFUL fish soup, walked through the local botanic gardens, had a strange African beef dish that tasted really great but made my stomach hurt, and I will soon have a delicious pasta dish! 

I think that's all for now. On Wednesday, I go to the farm. 

No wonder he's tired

June 25, 2015
Kevin
Saw the Notre-Dame de la Guarde basilique, le Grand Synagogue de Marseille, le MuCEM, et a show at a really small theatre downtown, where I actually got called up on stage!

I'm back at the apartment now, very tired.

Welcome to Marseille!

June 24
Kevin
I'm in Marseille. Everybody's really helpful and nice. Having a problem opening the door, though, to leave the apartment (It's broken, and I forgot how he wanted me to use the tools.). 

45 minutes later:
Wow. That was scary.

I got to Damien's apartment at about 1:15 today, 15 minutes before he went to work. (He's a sailor.) So, he briefly showed me how to lock and unlock the ground-floor-apartment doors, but, when I tried to get out about an hour ago on my own, it didn't work (The door is broken, so the only way to get out would be by using pliers to pull something some way, and it was very hard.).

After calling him, where he couldn't really explain it via phone in English or French, I figured I'd just spend the day in his apartment, unsure of what my other options are. Then, there were three men, all with construction/plumbing/etc. equipment, and I asked them, without actually seeing any of the equipment, just that they were the only ones on the street (This was ALL in French!) to help me open the door from the outside. They struggled, and eventually asked for the keys. I was very hesitant (What a horrible thing to explain to Damien, if things went awry!!), but I gave them the keys. They proceeded to break apart the door handle, enter, and reassemble everything, fixing nearly everything on both sides. And, they waited for me to try opening and closing the door by myself two or three times before they left. I tried compensating them with money or chocolate biscuits I'd bought for the train ride, but they refused to accept anything. They just smiled, said "Bon courage," and went on with their day.

I love Marseille!

I think, now, after such a stressful hour or so, I'm going to head to the beach, relax, and pick up a nice, easy dinner, before returning to the apartment (which I can now open!).

Quite an afternoon.

(Also, just another thing: here, nearly everyone has warned me about pickpockets. That sounds like a bad thing, in theory, but a really comforting one in that EVERYONE is warning me. It's a nice place. Like southern Illinois. Or Ketchikan.)

About 8 hours later:

After that afternoon mishap (Damien has yet to arrive back from work, but I hope he's impressed with the new door handle!), I still had a relatively exciting--and comparatively MUCH less stressful--day. I took an hour or so to change, apply sunscreen, drink water, eat a snack, and relax before going to the beach, Plage des Catalans, literally 100 metres away. There, I waded in the water, spoke French to a few natives around my age, and read a little bit (I'm determined to finish my book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, by the time I arrive on the farm!). Upon my return at around 17h30/18h, I took a shower, changed into nicer clothes, and began my stroll to Le Vieux Port, where I eventually found a French/Italian restaurant selling everything at 20% off (I love Happy Hour!), making the meal SIGNIFICANTLY less expensive than the surrounding diners.

After my leisurely dinner, I found a few off-the-beaten-path hiking trails, including one leading me to the Palais du Pharo, the Marseille government building, which looks EXACTLY like the hotel from The Grand Budapest Hotel. I could watch the sunset over the harbor(s), and it was a really lovely spot! A great backdrop before my return here.

Damien's apartment is really nice--and large, given its prime location. On the bottom floor, I'm sleeping in the "living room," adjacent to the kitchen and the bathroom, while he's in the loft. I have more space here than in my last two hosts' apartments combined! (Reason 1 why I like Marseille SO MUCH MORE than Paris).

Marseille seems to be everything that Paris isn't:

While Paris is known for its pickpocketing, that's probably happened in Marseille only once; now, everyone warns everyone about it, just to be careful.

In Paris, the only natural water isn't even safe for birds to glide upon; in Marseille, I can literally wade anywhere, and if it weren't saltwater, I could probably drink it, too.

No one ever greets anyone else in Paris (You could sit right next to someone on the Metro for 10 minutes and not say a single word.), but in Marseille, everyone talks to everyone. On the bus ride to the apartment from Le Vieux Port, an elderly lady and a mother and daughter talked to me the entire way (in French), and after I got off, the lady walked with me the three blocks from the stop, just to make sure I found the place! Not to mention, strangers literally fixed the door handle for me and refused payment. During dinner, a mother encouraged her seven-year-old to talk to me in English, so he could better practice. Only on my sunset hike, where most people were organized in couples, and it seems to be a nationwide tradition to ALWAYS ignore couples and let them do LITERALLY WHATEVER THEY WANT (In the Luxembourg Garden in Paris, as I walked to the pond, there was a couple of teens making out; when I left, two hours later, they were still kissing!).

Tomorrow, I think I'll probably see a few museums, as well as, potentially, a comedy club. That will be the ultimate test of my French fluency.

(Oh, and the mussels I had the other night were excellent. Regardless of what the food is--even olives--if it's created in France, it's probably wonderful.)

More Museums, Metro and Musique

June 23, 2015
Kevin
Yesterday, the day after Fete de la Musique, was a relaxed one for me. I started off by waking up at about noon, after going to sleep VERY late. 

Then, I took the Metro to the Tuilleries gardens, where I had lunch before visiting the Musee de l'Orangerie. That was a WONDERFUL museum. Very small, it managed to fit in two elipsical rooms wall-papered with Monet's Water Lilies, along with several works from Picasso, Matisse, and numerous other artists (that I actually knew!). There was also a mini-theatre, where I watched a 45-minute documentary on the Water Lilies, as a process and as a permanent exhibit.

Afterwards, while I had hoped to walk around more of central Paris, it was storming incredibly hard. So, I found a nice stationary boat on the Seine that functioned as both a bar and a pizza restaurant. I warmed up, tried my first French coffee, had an Italian-made pizza (I talked to the cook with my minimal Italian.), and later tried a drink called the Diabolo. It's peach-flavored grenadine, lemonade, and ice cubes. But, the word for "ice cubes" is the same as the word for "ice cream" in French; needless to say, after the waiter had given me my diabolo, I was pretty disappointed. (Nevertheless, regardless of the absence of ice cream, it was excellent.)

Later that evening, the sun shone once again, and I took the Metro over to Place de Clichy, near Inti's apartment. On the way between the Metro stop and his place, I found that there was a concert going on; I entered; and, it turned out, it was a HUGE Afro-French Catholic service, with a keyboard, three singers on microphones, two guitarists, and a drummer, along with about 50 people in the audience. After studying in school the spread of the AME, along with the diffusion of culture (especially Afro- culture) in the years since the Colombian Exchange, and the way that Catholicism has permeated various races and classes, it was an incredible sight to see. After about five minutes of looking in, though, one of the ushers walked up to me, greeted me, and invited me to join in. So, I figured, why not? They were singing some poppy-choral version of "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands," but about Jesus and all in French. A lot of really cool things all at once. After that selection, I politely excused myself, explaining that I'd needed to pack my things, and I returned to Inti's place, where I helped to clean up dishes and pack up my things. While I figured we would just go to sleep then, he decided it would be the perfect time for crepes, and now, I can make crepes very well, with nutella, chocolate, or eggs and vegetables. This'll be a good skill at HC, along with my baguette-baking.

Today, I moved back into Michael's place for the day, took the Metro (I think the pay-station was broken, so it was free!) to Musee d'Orsay, and stayed there probably until close to 4 PM. Then, I grabbed a sandwich from a local cafe and an orange from an inexpensive vendor and had a late lunch in the Luxembourg Gardens, after which I read for a little while, as people were sailing ships still in the pond. Later, I got a dinner of mussels, and I walked back for a fairly early night back here at Michael's.

Tomorrow, I leave for Marseille!

Fete de la Musique

June 21, 2015
Kevin
I was just reading, not so much about perennial care, but that agro-scientists are beginning to engineer plants that are both perennial and develop seeds (so we can use the seeds for food, unlike the plants that we can't eat). That's about all I can speak to for that. 

I didn't make it to the top of the Tour Eiffel. To be honest, it was so metallic and industrial--up close, it wasn't nearly as pretty as I imagined it would be; I think that seeing it from a distance, or at least in the night with the lights on, is probably nicer than spending all of that time up close and personal with it. That being said, I walked across the entire park, and I've also found a few good places to see the city that don't require 10 million stairs or a $50 elevator pass, like the entrance to le basilique de sacre-coeur.

I definitely loved Versailles. To be honest, though, what worried me was that, after all of the art, I was beginning to feel nearly desensitized to it; it was just another set of brilliantly painted portraits and walls across another castle/mansion/fortress. I think having major jet-lag was probably a key part of that, though. I really loved the gardens, though. I got the full-ticket option, so I got to walk across all of the gardens, including those of le demain de marie antoinette--another 3 km2 of space.

I didn't actually go to Rive Gauche. I thought I would, since that's what my train ticket was for, but I really much rathered eat dinner in Versailles (the city) and walk my way back to the main versailles train station. Asking everyone for directions in French was also very helpful.

Dinner with Maelys TOTALLY changed my view that everyone at Haverford is super weird. She's neither a Pokemon trainer nor a Magic: The Gathering fanatic, and she seems really cool. We'd planned only to meet from 21h30 to 22h15, but we ended up staying until close to 22h45! She's super friendly, amiable, and funny, and we had a lot to talk about. I told her that, after working in the bakery [at the farm], I can supply her baguettes at Haverford. Speaking of which, they are amazing, and I DEFINITELY plan to learn to make them a la ferme, donc I can do some baking at HC. I can no longer imagine life without baguettes; it'd be like life without Pandora or hard-cover books.

And, I'd say that I prefer wine to beer, but I had a lot of different wines and beers today at Fete de la Musique; I'm not really convinced I know what I like just yet. I'll probably just need to try a lot of styles to get a good sense of my tastes.

Speaking of which, today was Fete de la Musique. Last night, Inti returned at about 2;30, and we both slept late, since nothing's open on Sunday morning. Then, we went to a small store, and we had a lunch of a baguette and goat cheese, red wine, a mix of tomatoes, onions, ham, and pesto, and beans. Afterwards, he took me to a park near Gare de L'est, where we had a picnic with 10 or so of his friends. There were musicians in a few places at the beginning of the afternoon, but from about 19h on, there were bands and guitarists and singers everywhere! I saw a lot, and I took a few photos and videos. I even saw a free concert for one of France's biggest up-and-coming bands, Skip the Youth. There, I met several French teens my own age, so we talked for a long while. Afterwards, I took the metro to Pont Neuf, where Inti and his friends and I played guitar with several other people, all just gathered around throughout the park to continue the night with a lot of music and drinking (After I realized I couldn't walk as easily as before, I stopped drinking probably close to 20h. And, now, Inti's with his friends (the one's I'd met and befriended), and I'm staying in his apartment, just so I can get some good sleep before tomorrow--possibly the day for musee d'orsay or some other really cool thing downtown.

For coffee and tea, I've had a few coffees here and there, and one of the French teens told me about Frere Mariage tea; I'll need to check it out--they said it was France's best.

Do you have any other recommendations for Paris? I'll have tomorrow, Tuesday, and very little of Wednesday, and that'll be all of my time here. Otherwise, I'll just continue using the guidebook and getting advice here and there. I may also go to Luxembourg. I LOVED that neighborhood. And, I met some really nice teens there, too! Maybe, I just might see them, or other ones, again!

Staying in Montmartre

June 20, 2015
Kevin

Today, I moved to my new host's place. He's definitely much more absent than my first one, which is good in that I get a room to myself after such a long day, but bad because there's not much conversation (more like a hotel, here).

After I moved in, I walked across Le Place de Clichy to go to the Montmartre Cemetery, see a lot of the new art in the center, tour the Salvador Dali museum, eat dinner in the central bar/restaurant area, and spend the evening at Sacre-Coeur Basilica. The museum was incredibly interesting and informative; the dinner (three courses for 13.50) was excellent--house salad, boeuf bourguignon with penne, and gelato; and there was a lot of music near Sacre-Coeur, so it made the evening really nice. Even better, the man and woman with whom I was sitting got engaged right there! He also bought me my first legal beer (a Heineken--not very good), and we spent the evening talking throughout the impromptu concert.

Now, I'm back in the apartment (I'm not really sure if Inti, my host, is coming back tonight... He seemed very excited about his date this evening.), uploading some of the photos, relaxing, taking a small dose of ibuprofen (It's SOOOOO hilly here!), and possibly going to sleep (fairly) early.

Tourist in Paris

June 19, 2015
Kevin
Still a few days left, so I'll actually go in Notre Dame, rather than just passing by, and I plan to spend a lot of time in Montmartre and Montparnasse.

I did actually go through the Louvre. I arrived first in line, saw the Mona Lisa before everyone else, and spent about four hours there total. It's remarkable just the amount of art that they all have, nearly desensitizing after a while. I REALLY liked seeing the actual Code of Hammurabi!

Tomorrow is fete de la musique, a HUGE city-wide music festival, during which musicians play at nearly every street corner. I'm very excited for that.

My host is very, very hospitable, and helpful, as well. He's made me breakfast every day, given me helpful advice about certain monuments and how to use the metro. Also, he's SO smart. We've had a lot of conversations, about everything from Israel, to organic food, to Parisian history. Kind of forceful in his tone, but definitely lighthearted. Tomorrow, though, I'm staying with someone else for a few days, so I'll have to let you know how he is.

I'm speaking French A LOT. I've stayed away from most of my maps, in order to force myself to talk to as many people as possible in French, and it's definitely been helpful. Even Americans are going up to me, asking if I speak English!

So far, for food, I've had oatmeal for breakfast, various types of sandwiches for lunch, and I had a cool Tunisian dish today. Waiting to find some inexpensive cafes...

I'm tired. How is life at home?

A traveller's accommodations

Merrill

At Kevin's first mention of "host," I thought I should explain. Until he arrives at the farm, he is "couchsurfing" his way around France. Couchsurfing???

"We envision a world made better by travel and travel made richer by connection. Couchsurfers share their lives with the people they encounter, fostering cultural exchange and mutual respect." (www.couchsurfing.com) People offer their spare room, couch or air mattress to "friends they haven't yet met," and travellers look through host profiles and references to find people they may want to stay with. Both travellers and hosts rate one another, raising the confidence level on both sides. 

Son David tried this in South America this winter, when he traveled through Suriname, French Guiana and Brazil, and he had a great experience. Kevin, who never met a stranger, thought this would be a fine (and cheap) way to enrich his French experience. (Hostels were his backup plan in case the hosting didn't work out.) Before he left, Kevin had his hosts lined up for Paris, Marseilles and Bordeaux and learned a little bit about them through their profiles. A compact sleeping bag and some host gifts, and he was ready!

Chicago --> Toronto --> Dublin --> Paris

June 16 in the wee hours of the morning...
Merrill
I was trying to get at least a few hours of sleep before taking Kevin to the airport at 4am for his first flight to Toronto when he woke me up to tell me his flight was cancelled. We'd just been drenched in the Chicago area, and the rains were headed toward Toronto. After a long telephone wait with Air Canada, Kevin was finally booked on a United flight that would still get him into Toronto in time for his next leg to Dublin. The delay was a blessing in disguise; his belongings were still scattered around and he was still packing. Of course! Why would he start getting ready ahead of time?

June 17, 2015
Kevin
I've arrived in Dublin, and I just checked in for my Aer Lingus flight at 6:30 tonight. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to check my bag, but I left both my suitcase and my ukulele case at the Left Luggage station, and I'm off (with just my fleece, windbreaker, and backpack) to Trinity College, and perhaps, the Dublin Castle, as well!(I also have a bus schedule and map of the area, so I don't assume I'll have any problems here.)

Later that day...Everything logistically is totally fine. I saw WAY more than I'd originally planned to see in Dublin, and I'm at the gate for my flight to CDG. (I'll email you when I get to my host's apartment in Paris tonight.) I have to say, though, Ireland is a lot drearier than I'd always imagined. The one time I saw the sun, I was inside.

Arrival in Paris...I landed about three hours ago, and I'm finally at my host's place ("Michael-in-Paris"). People here are very helpful.

June 18, 2015
Kevin
I've definitely seen a lot so far. Today, I walked probably close to 30 km total. Louvre --> Arc de Triumph --> Tour Eiffel --> UNESCO --> Jardin de Luxembourg --> a few of the colleges --> a protest across from the Supreme Court --> back to the apartment. I also got quite lost along the way.

Very tired. Physically, and I also need to sleep. Tomorrow: Versailles, and dinner/ice cream with a girl going to Haverford next year (an incoming freshman) who lives in Paris. 

Welcome to Kevin's WOOF Adventure

This is actually Kevin's mom creating a blog on his behalf because he is too busy immersing himself into the French experience. So, I am trying this method to share his updates!

First, what is WOOF? It's "Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms." Kevin's cousin Galen spent a college summer in France on WOOF, making cheese, and this intrigued Kevin more than staying at home and working before starting college himself.

July 1-30 will find him on a farm near Mussidan, about 100 km east of Bordeaux and 25 km north of Bergerac, in the province of Aquitaine, the southwest corner of France.

Until then, he has been "couchsurfing" in Paris, Marseilles and Bordeaux. I will try to share his updates as he sends them. Feel free to comment with questions, and I will pass those on. Amuse-toi bien!