My adventures in Rouen

Well, I'm finally on my own and it hit me that I was really on my own for the next two months when I boarded the train from Paris St. Lazare to Rouen, France. That was a whole mess in itself. The kiosk wouldn't print out my tickets so I had to stand in line to have someone help me and it was a miracle that I made my train.

When I arrived in Rouen I sat down outside the train station for a while just to take it in and I met a few spanish guys that were asking me directions in english and they were hilarious because of how nice and how happy they were that they found someone who speaks english. I took a taxi from the station to the hostel because it would have been an incredibly long walk and I was not feeling anymore walking. Taxi drivers are insane in France. They drive wildly and all over, granted I have never been in a taxi anywhere else so I've only had experience with these drivers. I arrived at my hostel and checked in and got settled in to my super classy room(sarcasm). It's actually decent though, it has a bed, my own bathroom with shower, and a satellite tv. Although it's only French channels so I ended up watching criminal minds dubbed in French last night.

I was feeling a little lonely being somewhere on my own, but that changed when I was in the lobby on my computer when a man named Maher started talking to me. He asked me something in French and I replied with the typical 'Je ne parle pas bien français, parlez-vous englais?' (I don't speak French well, do you speak english?) He replied that he did, but not very well, which wasn't true at all. He is an incredibly nice person from Tunisia who is working here in Rouen at the Technology center/university as a mechanical engineer. He was telling me all the sites to see and everything that I should do. He even bought me coffee and we chatted for a good two hours about where we were both from and what we are studying. Words cannot even convey the kindness he showed me. He was talking about the recent bombings in Libya of the US embassy that killed a US agent and he apologized for his people and explained that they are not all like that. I couldn't even believe how kind and respectful he was. After our chat I went to bed and didn't expect to see him again.

I awoke this morning without any agenda and wasn't sure of what I would be doing so I went to the lobby to go on the internet and Maher was there. He ended up taking me around town since he had a car and showed me the downtown area and the beautiful sites of Rouen. We stopped at a cafe for coffee and I paid which he did not enjoy at all. He claimed that he has to pay for everything since I am the visitor and new comer to the town. He showed me the university he works at and the good places to eat. We then passed this van that he told me was where the women offer 'sexy time' to men who need it on campus. It was hilarious because of how he said it. English is his third language. His first is Arabic, then French, and then English. He kept apologizing for his bad english, but it was ridiculous since he spoke almost perfect english the entire time I was with him.

Rouen is a beautiful place with extremely friendly people. I went to a bakery last night trying to find anything to eat and they woman who worked there, and most likely owned it, spoke no english. So I basically told her I was very hungry in french, (j'ai tres faim) and she made me this GIGANTIC sandwich. I'm not even kidding when I say it was probably a foot and a half long. It had chicken, tomatoes, deviled eggs, lettuce, mayo, and just a whole assortment of crazy things. She was hilarious.

Now I'm just back in the hostel, probably going to get another one of those sandwiches and then I'll hang out here for the rest of the night. Tomorrow I plan on going to the national museum of education. It's a large museum with collections from as far back as the 1600's all about the French education system. I love it here, but I cannot wait till I return to Paris on Sunday. It was such a crazy change going from that large of a city, to such a smaller area. I will try and update more, but who knows when I will have time to write!

Au revoir mes amis!

Bonjour à Paris!

Paris, Je t'aime. I abosuletly love Paris. The people, the wine, the food. It's all incredible. The flight over was awful. It was turbulent and it was an 8 hour flight, but it was worth it to come here. I'll give you a play-by-play of everthing I have done so far.

Thursday 9/6
-Arrived at CDG airport in Paris. It was very quiet and a strange airport. We went through customs and got on the bus, which was terrifying because the driver was crazy, and arrived at our hostel.
-We got to our hostel, unpacked, and rested for a bit before we went out for lunch at the patisserie(sandwich shop). The sandwiches were incredibly good.
-We ate lunch in Luxembourg Gardens and Smiley and I went for a walk after eating around the gardens and it is absolutely gorgeous. There is a fountain in the middle surrounded by a long grass area filled with trees in three rows. It's hard to describe, but it's beautiful.
-We then relaxed for most of the evening, but soon enough we decided we went to get food and started on our journey for food. It ended up being Smiley, our friend Sean, and I walking around Paris going to the Eiffel Tower and getting lost for three hours instead of finding any food. It was awful, but we made it back to our hostel before midnight so that was a plus.

Friday 9/7
-We woke up and went to our morning meeting class and talked about the events and assignments we had to do for the rest of the stay in Paris.
-After the meeting we took the Paris Metro to Sacre Coeur and walked to the top of the stairs. The view was incredible from the top. Smiley and I walked inside the church and when we walked inside the Nuns were singing and it was like something out of a movie. It was just a fun experience. The church was awesome, but it was very busy so we went outside to sit with the rest of the group. After The group met up we took the metro to an open air market in Bourse which was an interesting experience.
-The market was smaller than I thought it would be, but it was still pretty cool. I ended up just buying an apple for lunch because I wasn't too hungry.
-After the market my friends Smiley, Sean, and I went to the grocery store to grab some snacks and went back to the hostel to hang out. I bought Nutella, wine(My first alcohol purchase) and bread.
-We stayed back in our room until we met up as a group on the terrace for our evening get together before dinner. Dinner was at 'La Geuze' and I had chicken and fries which was alright, but not the best.
-After dinner we just hung out around the hostel because we didnt want to go out and get lost again because we were still pissed from the night before.

Saturday 9/8
-We had our typical morning meeting and then we all split up as a group because we had partners for a Market project which we were supposed to go with our partners to the market. Everyone else did theirs, but mine was on Sunday so I took a long nap instead. The jetlag is a rough new experience for me.
- After I woke up from the nap we all met on the terrace and we then went to get gelato and ended up going to the bars. It was Sean, Smiley, Brittany, D.J., and I. We ended up going to a bar called 'Cup Rouge' and 'The Student Bar'. I got a beer at the first place and a mojito at the next and the mojito was awful.
-We made our way back to the hostel and passed out.

Sunday 9/9
-This morning was my markey day and I was with my friend Phil. We went to the Raspail fresh market and I bought a croissant with butter, and a pastry with chocolate in the middle of it. I also bought a bottle of wine that was independently made from this vendor. He grew the grapes and did all the work that wine making requires and it was incredible. That wine is by far the best wine I have had in France so far and I have had a lot of wine here. haha. With each person I told them 'Je ne parle pas bien francais, mais je voudrais....' which means I don't speak good french, but I would like.... and with each person they stopped me and said "No you speak good French!' It was awesome.
 -For dinner my friends Brittany, D.J, Kristi, and I went to a chinese restaraunt right around the corner from our hostel. It was so good. I loved it and food was actually cheap too.

That's about all we have done so far. I'm currently sitting on the terrace watching the Eiffel Tower twinkle every hour with the rest of the River Falls group.

I absolutely love Paris. It has such life and charm that it's unbelievable. The stereotype about the French being rude is ridiculous. I haven't encountered a single rude French person. They are all nice and very friendly. The food is good, the wine is good. Life is good. France is beautiful and I'll upload pictures soon enough.

Tomorrow my friends and I are going to Pere Lachaise which is the famous french cemetary with jim morrison buried in it. Sorry for the crappy grammar. My Ipad is freaking out and I'm scared this is about to erase everything. Au revoir mes amis!

Today's the day

All the waiting, all the packing, and all the planning has finally brought me to this day. I'm currently sitting in my kitchen waiting for my dad to come home and drive me to the airport. I am packed and ready to go, but yet it still doesn't seem real to me. I'm about to go on one hell of a journey and I can't even begin to imagine the things I will eat, see, drink, and do. Here's to taking those chances and having fun! Thanks to all the family and friends who are wishing me well on this trip. I'll try to come back, but if I fall in love with France then I might not ever come back. :) Merci and au revoir mes amis!

P.S if you want to contact me since I won't have a phone you can get at me via these ways:

Email: alexander.swenson@my.uwrf.edu or alexanderswenson10@gmail.com

Skype: alex.swenson.331

Or just plain old Facebook will work. 

Thanks! :)