It’s been 2 days since I came home in Shanghai. I am still in shock that I left London. I had a fair share of short trips outside of UK here and there and I would dread going “back” to London at the end of each trip. But now I left the city, how much London felt like home to me (not to say how much I took it for granted!) started to sink in. I’ve met a lot of people, left my mark and beheld many things I could only dream about. In the wise words of my much-missed Westminster neighbor, Celia, I’ve “done quite a lot” in a very short time. It was one heck of eventful semester but 5 months wasn’t enough. To talk about the very few regrets, I haven’t visited Stonehenge yet. But that would be a good excuse to come back. And I didn’t make too many British friends. Many whom I was close with were American, Japanese and Chinese. I am not complaining though, it was a valuable experience nonetheless to bond with these people. Also I haven’t gone to any of the extracurricular activities of the Uni (although I went to one guest speaker lecture). I will miss London dearly. I will miss how cosmopolitan this city is, how different centuries coexist in such proximity, how connected it is to other major European cities. And I will miss the semi-robotic public transport announcements reminding me to ” mind the gap.” I believe I will run into the adventurous bunch of people I met in the future in the most obscure corners of the world. And I also firmly believe that this will not be my last time visiting London. But until then… fare thee well ye jolly olde England! I await for the day we are reunited again! Thank you all for reading, following and commenting on my posts! You have been incredibly patient!! And to future study abroad students: bon voyage. Only YOU can stop yourself from embarking on a life-changing journey.
Author Archives: kyh5163
Best of Morocco pt. 3
Victoria and I dedicated our last two days of Morocco to day trips away from the city of Marrakech.
Day 4 was spent hiking the oasis-like Ourika Valley. Both Victoria and I had barely hiked before (maybe she has some more experience than I do) and quite unsurprisingly, I turned out to be a terrible hiker. I was so bad at following the trails that I had to be babysat all the way up AND down by the guide/riad host (plus random strangers. THANKS EVERYONE who had to pull me up that little cliff! I’m forever grateful) who accompanied us on our hike.
We made stops along the way to the Atlas Mountains: an Argan oil coorperative, a Berber home and one of many wobbly wooden bridges.
Argan oil is a Moroccan specialty and comes in many forms such as extra virgin oil for cooking, mixed with hazelnut paste for dipping bread, scented hair and skin oil, mud facial mask and bar soap. At the Berber home, I saw an elderly lady baking flat bread in a mud oven. The living room was furnished with low tables and countless cushions and carpets and a tea set sat on top of one of the tables.
There was a river running in the valley area which was flanked by semi-open-air restaurants whose tables perch right on the edge of the riverbanks. We had a Berber-style lunch by the river with lots of slow-cooked vegetables, couscous and fresh fruit.
Overall it was a very nice day and I’m pretty sure I’ve got to get a month’s worth of workout done in just one day.
On our last full day in Morocco, we visited Ouarzazate, which has served as a filming location to popular movies and television shows like Mummy, The Gladiator and Game of Thrones. I haven’t seen Game of Thrones yet (don’t panic. I will get to it, eventually) but even without seeing the show I was mesmerized by its magnificence: the tan mud-brick kasbahs and city walls stacked on top of each other, the cloudless azure sky and the lush green of palm trees. Everything about the place was so beautiful and flawless that every single photo I took came out like postcards.
After returning to the riad, we had a huge dinner prepared by the riad staff. The homemade tagine was great but it was way too big for two girls.
We had minor issues with payment thanks to Hotels.com and Babette’s (the French owner of the riad) inflexibility with credit cards. We ended up going to Djemaa El Fna and use a cash withdrawal machine to pay for the bill which caused Victoria’s card to be blocked by the bank. We had to go back to London stuck with the blocked card but with the help of my dorm neighbor, Victoria was able to get her card to work again.
I still miss Morocco to this day. It’s like a homesick except Morocco is not my home. I would totally love to go back again to buy a large earthware tagine for cooking and a soothing glass of fresh mint tea.
For the pictures, please go to http://krazzykitty.tumblr.com/#51147901164.
Location: London, UK
Best of Morocco in pictures pt. 2
Our Day 3 in Marrakech involved a bit more of walking around but it all paid off as we were greeted by serene courtyard gardens trimmed with orange trees in both Musee Dar Si Said and Bahia Palace.
The picture-perfect fountains gave a cool, refreshing finish on the tiled courtyards guarded by stray cats.
I couldn’t stop ooh-ing and aah-ing at the eye-pleasing symmetry of the arches, doors, boxes and porcelain works and the bursts of colors in lamps and carpets.
Henna Caf� was totally worth the trek up north from Koutoubia Mosque. We both got a 100-dirham free-hand design on one arm for a total of 200. We were sat on the rooftop terrace with a cold glass of water (we ran out of cash for ordering anything else) and Huda the henna artist was very patient with us. Getting hennas here is a bit pricey but the proceeds go to local charitable causes. I highly recommend this place because unlike other places (especially Djemaa), Henna Caf� is very peaceful and they explain how to properly take care of the henna paste for the next few days.
Mine lasted for about 2 and a half weeks due to excessive hand washing but Victoria’s lasted a tad bit longer than mine.
Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll enjoy my last few posts (I will post another with the remaining Morocco pictures and then a reflection on my study abroad experience).
Link to Henna Caf� website: www.hennacafemarrkech.com
For the pictures, see http://krazzykitty.tumblr.com/#51143901014
Location: London, UK
Marrakech Day 1 & 2
On April 26 at 3:30pm, Victoria and I left my dorm to Heathrow via tube.
We were initially scheduled to arrive at Marrakech Menara Airport around 10:20 that evening but our flights were delayed and by the time we got out of the last plane it was close to midnight and the airport was nearly deserted.
Luckily, we ran into a lone backpacker from China who was camping out at Menara for the night for his morning flight. He was kind enough to negotiate a price with the predatory cab drivers outside with us. Turns out he is also a study abroad student in Paris, so Victoria, who is also studying abroad in the suburb of Paris, ended up exchanging contact information with him.
The taxi ride wasn’t too long but because of the extremely narrow alleyways the driver couldn’t drive us all the way to the doorstep of our riad – a traditional Moroccan/Maghrebi style B&B. He dropped us off at a small square/parking lot and pointed at an abstract direction and told us to “go straight and you’ll find it.”
The alleyways were badly lit, compared to those of big cities like London, Tokyo and Shanghai. They seemed to stretch and meander way beyond our limited eyesight.
The next thing we know, a bunch of local young fellas emerged. They are (probably) unlicensed, self-described “guides”, surrounding us, cackling, and nudging, exchanging knowing gazes among each other. Two of them “volunteered” to show us the way to Riad Zayane Atlas, even after we refused and tried to ignore them, frolicking around us.
One of the “guides,” a man in early 30s was not happy about how we didn’t smile back to them as much as they would have liked. They did take us to our riad, after all, and after arguing a while they begrudgingly settled for a single dirham bill. It wasn’t a long walk at all from the parking lot in fact, the only reason we “hired” them was because it was just dark and we weren’t familiar with the area.
One of the hosts, whose name I cannot recall, a man in his late 50s, responded to the doorbell in his pajamas. He was slightly surprised at our late arrival but was patient with us while Victoria explained the situation. Because he doesn’t speak English, all of the conversations we had with him had to be in French so I could only understand his words through other people. He told Victoria the riad was not expecting us until the next day but we showed our copy of the reservation confirmation email. He retreated to the office and came back downstairs saying it was Hotels.com through which we booked the accommodation that messed the dates up. He offered his(?) bedroom for us to sleep in for the night and promised us that he will have a room on the second floor ready in the next morning.
The first night, as well as the following few nights, I had trouble sleeping. But I wasn’t surprised because I’m just the kind of person who goes insomniac when overly excited. At about 5 in the morning, I heard the morning prayers. It brought to my mind the memories of Turkey. At the same time I realized there are only 3 hours until the breakfast is served.
With my adrenaline being pumped inside me at the maximum level, I rose from bed and enjoyed the breakfast thoroughly. The riad served us freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee, warm pastries and bread with sweetened butter and apricot jam. Half way through breakfast, mint tea made a grand entrance. Unlike other dishes which were brought by Fatima the chef and other female housekeepers, mint tea was always brought by a male host – serving tea to guests is considered an art form and is a traditionally masculine task in Morocco. According to internet sources, the base for mint tea is gunpowder green tea, alternatively known as Zhu cha in Chinese meaning “pearl tea”, which is imported from China. To produce foam on top, the tea is poured from a tiny metal teapot into delicately painted glasses at a distance.
All it took was a single sip for me to fall head over heels in love with Morocco’s favorite beverage. I’ve done a few quick “research” on mint tea before I embarked on the trip and I had very high hopes for the tea and every glass I had never disappointed!
Being from China and all, to say I am a huge tea lover is a mere understatement. Growing up, I have always enjoyed good tea and tasting teas from different countries is one of my favorite things to do when I’m on trips.
Ok, enough with tea now.
We were told that we still have a couple hours until after the previous guests leave and the room is cleared. So we decided to take a stroll down the street and see where we’d end up.
And voila! Before we know it, we were at the famed Djemaa el Fna!! And it was just as crazy as our forerunners have told us. Donkeys carrying baskets and people, horse-drawn carriages, and early-bird merchants – water sellers, orange juice stalls, henna artists, cafes – were already there, trying to earn some extra dirhams from confused tourists.
We went to explore some of the souks. The merchants, mostly teenage to middle-aged men, came off as slightly pushy. They were actually more aggressive than the Shanghai merchants! It wasn’t just once or twice that I got my arm pulled. Most young female tourists were heckled from dawn to dust and the fact that Victoria and I are both of Chinese descent didn’t help either. Instead we got A LOT more attention than others. From time to time we got called names – racially specific names, Gangnam Style references, the randomest combinations of Japanese words they could think of and something to do with having flowers in the hair (because while I was out and about in Marrakech I wore a flower in my hair). There were also unofficial “guides” here and there but not everyone of them wanted us to pay.
Then we walked toward the tallest building, the minaret of La Koutoubia Mosque until we were at the edge of a busy intersection. We took a couple of pictures of the mosque with the azure sky on the background and since it was close to noon, we decided to buy us each a large bottle of water and go back to our riad.
After we returned to the riad, we were greeted by Kamal, the other manager-slash-guide, who cordially invited us to rest at the sitting area on the first floor while the staff finished up clearing our new room upstairs. Kamal, to my delight, speaks English so that was the first time in about 48 hours I had long conversations with anyone other than Victoria.
He sat with us and gave us a map of the city and explained how things work in the riad and beyond. He also made suggestions for our one-day excursions and offered to accompany us to a hike up the nearly Atlas Mountains, which we gladly accepted. He assured us that he will contact a tourist agency to take us to Ouarzazate, which is one of many scenic filming locations for The Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia and Game of Thrones, on our fifth evening. We then arranged a dinner to be had at the riad on our last day. He also recommended us to dine on a balcony table at Caf� de France and watch the sun set on Djemaa El Fna.
We did – we went early to the restaurant and sat all the way up on the third floor which gave us a spectacular panoramic view of Djemaa and Koutoubia.
The food was great. We both ordered two-course dinners. I had a plate of beef tagine with roasted almonds and prunes and Victoria had a plate of couscous with chicken (I think) and vegetables. Thanks to the cone-shaped earthenware it was cooked and served in (the dish’s name tagine also refers to the multi-tasking pot/container), the beef I had was among the most tenderly cooked and juicy. The broth was spiced with perfection without being oily. The beef-and-prune combo sounded odd at first but they went along very well together. The almonds added a fragrant touch to the dish.
Victoria’s couscous was tasty too. Even the veggies were heavenly. It made really me want to learn how to cook tagine dishes (that’s how Moroccan parents get their kids to eat their veggies, I suppose!). For desserts, we both had sliced fresh oranges with cinnamon sprinkled on top.
The sun didn’t set until nearly 8 in the evening but once it disappeared, the entire square lit up with candles, bare light bulbs, candles, Maghrebi lanterns and unparalleled enthusiasm of its merchants and street performers. Food stall workers yelled, snake charmers blew oboes and dancers sang. It was amazing. We could see that Djemaa El Fna truly is the heart of Marrakech and its energy the blood. We could almost hear its strong pulse.
Overall, It was a day we felt quite in touch with the local lifestyle and got to know a little bit about Marrakech before our adventures that followed.
For pictures, follow the link here: http://krazzykitty.tumblr.com/#50172773939
Location: London, UK
Victoria hits London Town!
Now that I’m done with all of my course work for the semester, I shall dedicate more of my time to uploading pictures of and blogging about a few recent adventures of mine.
Sorry for the delay, as always.
So before leaving for Morocco, as I have mentioned in the previous entry, I took Victoria on a one-day tour of London. I will not say that I am the best tour guide in the world but Victoria seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself which was GREAT. She gave me excuses to ogle marvel at archaeological treasures of British Museum and pose for pictures at Trafalgar Square and do other touristy things.
I took her to the Sherlock Holmes statue at Baker Street tube station, Trafalgar Square and National Gallery, British Museum, IceBar, Hamleys toy store and Covent Garden. There were a million other things I wanted to show her but we only had half a day.
Fortunately we were greeted by a clear, blue sky that day. We even sat outside British Museum while eating our hotdogs.
IceBar was such a unique experience! For most bar-loving folks, this may or may not be the first time you feel like you want to leave the place after 30 minutes because heck, it is MINUS 5 degrees Celsius (that’s 23 degrees Farenheit for you Americans!) inside and everything is frozen–including the chairs, tables and glasses. I was literally freezing my butt off and my fingers turned red after 40 minutes in the sub-zero temperature.
At Covent Garden we had the loveliest Indian food for dinner at Masala Zone. The Chicken curry was warm and nice after IceBar, the dip-and-naan-bread combo is always heavenly and the mango lassi was beyond awesome.
Showing Victoria around felt different from visiting these places on my own. She left a lot of decision-making to me sightseeing-wise because London is a foreign place to her and I didn’t want to disappoint. I wanted her to see London the way as close as I see it, I hoped she’d like London as much as I do. I wanted to show her the very best of this city. And I’ve only had 4 months to get to know “the best” of London. It was a bit like being put on test.
But I think this was a good practice for me. As I expect some more showing around in the future, I was inspired to make a decision that I will rediscover my hometown Shanghai, do a touristy thing or two. I will go to the very museums I’ve avoided all these years because they are touristy. Maybe I’ll join a walking tour of the Jewish quarter, or the Bund.
Thanks again for reading!
The pictures of IceBar are posted on my Tumblr page here: http://krazzykitty.tumblr.com/#50024363793
My next few posts will also feature links to the photos of Morocco on my Tumblr page, so stay tuned!!
P.S. Here’s how IceBar works, if you by any chance are in London and want to give it a go (:
Go to IceBar London’s website (http://www.belowzerolondon.com/icebar-make-a-booking.html) and make a reservation. Every group is given a 40-45 minute time slot during which they can enjoy the free first drinks and looking like a bunch of Blue Little Riding Hoods-esque weirdos.
Show up to the reception at least 15 minutes early on the day for which your party is booked.
Receive a ticket at the reception and get bundled up with the cloak/cape and the built-in gloves (the downside is, they are regular ski gloves NOT tech gloves, you’ll have to put them on and off several times as you attempt to snap pictures).
The first drink is included in the ticket price. Just give the bartender the ticket when ordering and you’re all set!
Location: London, UK
Count down to Marrakech!!!
With a little blurb on Facebook in the morning saying my friend Victoria has tagged me in her status update about our upcoming trip to Marrakesh, did I realize that today is April 23, whooping two days before Victoria hits London Town and three days before we land in Morocco!! It’s going to be extremely action-packed 6 days, walking around in meandering souks and trekking in sand dunes!
This very thought alone gives me shivers! You have no idea how psyched I am to be visiting Marrakech. I even read a book about Marrakech–Hideous Kinky by Esther Freud (she is a great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud).
So far I have packed 4 T-shirts, 2 pairs of harem pants (I’m happy to travel to a place where not getting out of harem pants ever is perfectly justified!), one pair of jeans, 2 maxi dresses, one set of swimsuit, one pair of beach sandals, one pair of nude flats, a bunch of towels, one set of pajamas, one pair of Converse sneakers, 2 bottles of sunblock and one pair of sunglasses. I may also squeeze a black mini dress and a blazer for an outing at a casino but I’m afraid the dress will be too risqu� (it is a one-shoulder dress, not too tight but hits well above the knees). Or just forgo the said outfit altogether and stick to one of the long dresses.
I still haven’t finished packing but I’m pretty positive all of these can fit into a duffel bag but the bag will be so snag that it will not have much room for anything I end up buying there. So I’m contemplating moving my items into a suitcase instead to make room for souvenirs. But there is one problem: the suitcase is HUGE. When I’m standing up the suitcase hits a little below my hips (I’m 5 ft 4 in tall).
If anyone has been to Marrakech or anywhere else in Morocco, do you have any tips/advice on what to pack? Your help is greatly appreciated (:
Pictures will be posted on my Tumblr page (www.krazzykitty.tumblr.com).
Location: London, UK
Bollywood fun at Alchemy
Yesterday my friend Fatima and I attended a free dance workshop–and then a filming session for a movie scene!–called Bollywood Big Dance, which is part of Alchemy.
Alchemy is a month-long celebration of London’s rich Desi/South Asian cultural heritage–Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Sri Lankan. Every year in April for the past 4 years, Southbank Centre and the surrounding area are filled with food stalls selling fragrant chai and fits-every-dietary-need curry, henna booths, rows upon rows of embroidered saris and shalwar khameez ensembles, interactive exhibitions, talks, workshops, screening, catwalk shows and concerts.
We decided to go learn some Bollywood dance moves because WHY NOT? From the moment I heard of this dance workshop, I KNEW I had to go. It’s been too long since my last belly dance class with Claudia and I was so tired of staring at computer screens for final projects.
It turned out to be a great, much-needed full-body workout (my both legs are still sore from squatting and bouncing)! I got to dance in the rain for the first time and miraculously didn’t get sick afterwards. WOO! Plus, over the course of practicing and filming, we made new friends.
We can’t wait until 21st to go back and see how the movie turned out!!!!
For pictures, see http://krazzykitty.tumblr.com/#47901297586
Location: London, UK
Quay Hanna: Challenging Prejudice
This past Thursday, I attended a guest speech session entitled “Challenging Prejudice” by Quay Hanna. Hanna is the author of Bus America: Revelation of a Redneck (full bio on http://quayhanna.com/about/).
I knew Hanna was an American, but I was not aware until he introduced himself THAT HE WAS FROM LANCASTER, PA (okay, he said Strasburg but close enough right?).
Hanna talked about his racially ignorant childhood, redneck-y adolescence, “reverse midlife crisis,” struggles for job-hunting and how a string of bus rides changed his life forever.
His take-home message were simple:
1) Do something nice for someone someday – Hanna said this was something an old lady said to him when she gave him batteries for his Walkman. Speaking out against prejudice and racism in his own community is what he believes to be “something nice.”
2) Think about why you have certain people AND TALK TO THEM – He talked about the power of language in maintaining hierarchy and keeping groups apart. Dehumanization and use of derogatory slurs rob humanity away from people.
3) Be a bus rider – On a bus, everyone is equal. There are no first-class cabins. “All seats are equally filthy and there is nowhere to hide.” You might make a friend or two. Who knows?
Not only that he is from Middle-of-nowhere, Pennsylvania, he did somehow remind me of Penn State’s Professor Sam Richards: his friendly manner, the Quay Club (which is like the high school version of the SOC119 discussion group), his passion for fighting stereotypes and building rapport.
It was refreshing to have someone talk to me in American accent in a while! Every time he used a typically American (Pennsylvanian?) slang, I would go “yes!” in my head.
P.S. For the duration of the 3.5-hour speaker session, light refreshments and beverages including wine were served, to which I’ve somewhat gotten used to, but I was weirded out by a young man who was visibly intoxicated. Everyone else seemed to behave normally but this man. Not that he did anything disruptive but he was barely walking straight and smelled like a waddling bottle of wine while he ranted how Hanna’s speech doesn’t make any sense at all to him.
Location: London, UK
Edinburgh pictures!!
I’m sorry that I’m SO late on pictures but here they are. Enjoy!!!
King’s Cross station
Budget Backpackers hostel reception
Our room
Hostel from the outside
Cute little shops near the hostel
Ciao Roma with my bellas! Their ice cream was heavenly! <3
Arthur’s Seat
From Arthur’s Seat
Arthur’s Seat mountain top
Bagpipe player
Edinburgh Castle
These spook-tacular night tours are not for the frail-minded!
Location: London, UK
Edinburgh & Paris weekend trips, plus everything in between!
For the 10am (I think) train, Amber and I arrived at King’s Cross railway station early and (un-)fortunate enough that we were standing on the wrong side of the information boards. As we were standing there waiting for the rest of our group, we spotted the infamous Platform 9 and � minus a huge queue! We took advantage of the opportunity to take photographs of ourselves with the trolley stuck in a thick brick wall.
To say that our train ride was interesting is an understatement. The group of 4 men who sat on the table seats adjacent to us were very entertaining. Not sure if that was intentional though. At first they were playing cards–SpongeBob cards. At one point, they all emerged from a restroom wearing funny masks and animal onesies and just sit there and enjoy the rest of the train ride!
It was first time I stayed at a hostel but it wasn’t as nasty as I expected it to be. The hostel provided clean bed linens but no towels. The cabinets and shower room floor were somewhat questionable but everything else was okay. I stayed for 2 nights with 3 other girls. It was actually fun to sleep on bunk beds! It made me think of the days when my sister and I used to sleep on our own bunk bed.
The place is called Budget Backpackers with a donkey logo. It is very conveniently located. All the major attractions, including many of the spooky tours, Arthur’s Seat, Camera Obscura and Edinburgh Castle were IN WALKING DISTANCE. We literally walked to ALL of these places (although we didn’t visit Camera Obscura).
We arrived on Friday evening and right after the check-in, Fatima, Amber and I walked around the area and ate late lunch/early dinner. Then we came back we all took a nap until around 6 by which time Randal arrived. We were supposed to go to a free pub crawl organized by the hostel staff but since we had time, we went to Ciao Roma, an Italian restaurant, for a nice frozen treat before going to pubs. I ended up going to only 2 pubs though, because I did not bring my passport with me to the trip as I did not plan to drink.
The next morning, we climbed to the top of Arthur’s Seat, the volcano near the hostel. That day we were blessed with sunshine and we had too much fun picture-taking and ended up not going to Gilmerton’s Cove which was about 15 minutes away from Edinburgh on a bus.
After the mountain climbing, I joined Team Goldsmiths for a hike up the stairs to the magnificent Edinburgh Castle while the girls I went mountain climbing with were passed out in the hostel room.
I enjoyed the Castle visit very much. While it may not be considered conventionally ‘fun’ to take a walk in a centuries-old castle, but I found it fascinating. I personally like historical sites in general, especially ancient buildings and ruins. I don’t know if my dad (who is an architect) has to do with my fondness with old buildings at all but those are the things we love to talk about.
Then at 6 we met up with the rest of CIEE gang for a group dinner. During dinner somebody mentioned going to a haunted tour. My “roommates” wanted to go so we (I was VERY reluctant) decided to join others for a spooky night out. Our first choice–allegedly the scariest of all–were all booked so we got tickets from another tour, the Mercat Hidden & Haunted Tour. The guide was pretty awesome, and the tour was, um, bearable. I’m usually not a haunted-anything person so I was relieved that it wasn’t too intense. But some people were disappointed that it wasn’t scary enough.
On the way back, Amber insisted on going to a nightclub and we complied. We had a few drinks and danced for a while. Then outside of the nightclub were a bunch of canopied tricycle taxis, just like the ones in Shanghai. But my Americanos found them very amusing and wanted to get on one even though our hostel was literally 2 seconds away. I initially backed out, thinking it was overpriced. In Shanghai, you could hop on them for a fraction of the cost you would be asked to pay in Edinburgh. I told the driver that for me that kind of vehicles are nothing new. But the driver said it would be the same price for the two people as three. I hopped on. The ride was brief but the driver indeed did his best to impress me.
On Sunday we left Scotland for London at noon. I slept better on the train back. It was a lot of walking in just 2 days so I wasn’t surprised.
As much as I’d like to transition smoothly into my Paris trip but I thought it would be better to bring us back to the night before I left and the days that followed my Edinburgh trip leading up to Paris briefly.
As I said a few paragraphs ago, I did not take my passport with me to Edinburgh. I tucked it away in the safe in my dorm room along with my laptop.
When I returned on Sunday, the safe refused to open. I swear I never changed my pass code but it kept telling me I was using the wrong code. I complained at the housing office and they said they’d look for the key.
The next day, I went to the office again. They told me they were still looking for the key.
Tuesday they promised they’d check up on my safe regardless around 5 in the afternoon. No one came.
Wednesday I told them I needed my passport back immediately for my upcoming Paris trip.
Thursday the dorm staff filed a formal complaints on my behalf.
Thursday aka. the day I was scheduled to leave London, the handymen from the company which manufactured my safe came in the morning. They were able to open the safe after 15+ minutes.
I took a bus to Paris from Victoria Coach Station. The coach station was a few minutes walk from Victoria tube station. I wasn’t aware of this until I asked someone who was working in the tube station kiosk.
There are screens in the entrance of the coach station on which I’d find my itinerary and I would just go to the designated gate and look for a check-in desk for my bus carrier (I took Euroline which was the cheapest option I could find). The whole procedure was similar to checking in for a plane flight minus tossing the luggage part but the station itself was more chaotic.
The bus driver stopped a few times for bathroom breaks, immigration inspection and a ferry ride. The passengers and the bus would hop on the same ferry but on different floors.
And as soon as the ferry is done crossing the Channel, the passengers get back on the original bus and continue on their journey.
I arrived in Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport on Friday morning at 7:20. My Penn State friend Victoria came to pick me up. We rode a train to her dorm which was in suburbs of Paris.
We caught up on each other’s stories since Winter Break and then I took a nap in her room while Victoria left for her morning classes.
Around 11am, Victoria’s neighbor barged into the room where the sink is (two rooms share one shower room and the shower is located in between the rooms, so her neighbors come in from the shower-room door quite often). His voice woke me up and I got up and checked in on what has happened and he assured me he wasn’t aware I was there and that his name is Felix who lives a few doors down. Felix kindly invited me to dine with “the rest of the boys” to which I politely declined because I was supposed to have lunch with Victoria. But I did come out to say hi to my friend’s fellow residents, who happen to be all male.
After Victoria came back, she took me to the cafeteria which “does not open that often.” Diners could choose one side, one entree and up to two desserts but I was already full with one dessert.
Then we got back and took a walk in a park with Felix and his friend Chris who is visiting from Germany. We went back when it started raining and went back out for a nice dinner later.
On Saturday morning, Victoria, Felix, Chris and I took a train to Paris and visited Notre Dame de Paris. I really liked how intricately it was built. It was quite overwhelming to think of how much energy, calculation and planning had gone into every single detail to make this exquisite building a reality. And needless to say the engineers back in the days didn’t have cranes to lift those stones up!
But Victoria and I ran into walls on another church. Turns out pretty much any tourist attraction in Paris requires visitors to show their passports in order to earn eligibility to enter (a passport alone does not guarantee free entry).
Bummed, Victoria and I went separate ways from the boys. We went to a crepe place to have our breakfast! But I think it was one of the best decisions we’ve made. We ate our crispy crepes right by the Seine. It was surprisingly peaceful down the bridge despite being so close to busy streets.
We walked around for a while afterwards before popping into an Indian restaurant called Safran for lunch. We both had the same 3-course meal which consisted of tomato-based chicken curry which I really adored! The wait staff gave each of us a packet of free bindis after the meal and one of them blurted out “Arigato!” to which we giggled (I’m technically Japanese on the paperwork but I’d identify more with being Shanghainese/Chinese, and Victoria is Chinese American). The bindis were such a pleasant surprise though. I’m looking forward to sporting them in my future performances with the Penn State Belly Dance Club 🙂
Then Victoria and I went to Sacre Coeur. The white of the basilica against the azure sky was truly marvelous. Outside of Sacre Coeur were tourist “bracelet” scams, marathon runners and portrait/caricature artists.
As the sky was darkening, we took the metro to Tour Eiffel and on the way to the iconic tower, we stumbled upon the Japanese Cultural Centre in Paris (Maison de la culture du Japon a Paris). There was a special exhibition documenting the 2011 earthquake, its aftermath and journey to recovery. It was actually funny that all of the sudden our positions are reversed in which I was the one who could understand what was going on while Victoria became clueless in the middle of Paris.
Somehow on the way from Sacre Coeur and Tour Eiffel, Victoria’s favorite circle scarf went missing and we could not find it. So we turned to Champs Elysees for a scarf hunting. Plus it was right on the way to Arc de Triumphe.
We tried unsuccessfully to go to the rooftop terrace at Gallery Lafayette to see the beautiful city lights but the store’s shutters went down as we were about to cross the street. We gave up and waited for Magnus, a friend of Victoria’s, for dinner and call it a day.
On my last day, we went to Musee du Louvre. The place was HUGE but I’m happy I got to see Mona Lisa, Nike of Samothrace, Venus de Milo and the Code of Hammurabi in person. Bear with me, but for a history/archaeology/museum junkie like me, it is such a powerful experience to go and see the actual things that you read in books standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU.
Overall it was a very productive weekend in Paris! I feel so accomplished in squeezing so many landmarks in 3 days 🙂 Many many thanks to Victoria and friends who showed me around 😀
Pictures to follow soon! Promise!!!!
Location: London, UK