Well, here I am back in Minnesota and it's a lovely negative 50 with the wind chill. Seriously, Minnesota? I feel like we're living in Greenland. I do love it though. I missed the snow and the cold just a little bit... Yes, I'm a real Minnesotan.
Being back in the United States so far has not been too much of a shock besides the transportation. I miss the tubes and the TGV very much. Everything here is so spread out and the houses seem huge. I also have gotten the chance to go back to St. Olaf which has been really great and interesting. First of all, it makes me feel a bit like an alum, coming back during class but not being in class. It really makes me appreciate my classes and being able to live in this picturesque community with all of my friends. I was looking at Emma's textbook for her Asian languages class and I was so jealous! It made me so glad that I have another year left at St. Olaf.
But back to Europe: France turned out to be a very mixed feeling sort of experience for me. Southern France (Lyon and Avignon) was much warmer in terms of temperature and the people there. Avignon actually felt a bit like Santa Fe. I just really enjoyed sitting outside, watching a few boys playing football (aka soccer) in the courtyard of the Palace of the Popes. Lyon had a similar laid-back sort of feeling. There was a really cool outdoor market that mom and I walked through and the view from the top of the hill was really spectacular.
Paris, on the other hand, was not as friendly. This, of course, seems to be true with most large cities, that they are not as friendly. I loved the Musée d’Orsay in Paris; it was my favorite place there. I got to see lots of impressionist and post-impressionist works. Also, mom and I went to lunch in the restaurant there and it was incredible, definitely the best meal of the trip.
As for wacky stories, mom already hinted at one. We did meet three twenty-something men on the train and they were pretty drunk and fairly friendly. One did a hand stand, his name may have been Pierre. I can’t remember. It was pretty weird, not gonna lie. The blond one spoke Croatian, though. That was pretty cool. Too bad mom told him in French that I spoke Croatian when she was trying to say that I wanted to speak Croatian. He started to say something to me but soon realized I had no idea what he was talking about. He was nice, though, less smarmy than hand stand guy and much more friendly than the third guy who didn’t speak English and basically opted out of the whole conversation.
There is so much more but this is so long already and I’m a bit tired. If I feel so inclined I may enter random stories onto the blog but I may not. Now that I’m back I can just tell you all about it!
Stay tuned for stories from Japan!
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