Jour 34: Interesting staircase at the Université de Bourgogne.
Okay, Thursday was better. Still a bit of a drag, mostly because it’s such a long day of classes. But better.
Golsa and I went for lunch with Nakyeong, another student in our class from South Korea! I haven’t really had a full conversation with Nakyeong yet, and it turned out that she’s pretty funny and nice. New friend!!!
I took a little catnap before our next class, and Nakyeong was nice enough to wake me up in time. Whew!!!
After class (and after this cool photo), I asked the OSU gang out for dinner, and nobody really seemed interested. I was literally JUST about to hit the “order” button on an UberEats order for pasta when Jarod texted me. So instead, we went out to Place Zola (one of the “Places” known throughout Dijon; you’ve already seen a couple in “Place de la République” and “Place Darcy”) We went to a restaurant we’ve been to before, that’s styled like a 60s epicerie! I swear, I get so much writing inspo in that restaurant, and the food is all Dijonnais... mmm.
Jour 33: Emilee, Golsa, and I doodled a bit after our test.
Unsurprising to nobody, I woke up and didn’t feel much better. I shut my blinds and reveled in my own scum, all of my luggage that had yet to be put away and the remainder of my noodles from the night before and my dead flowers leaning limp in their vase. I wax poetic at the worst of times. I ate the noodles.
But I still had to get to class, and that I did. And, again, unsurprisingly, seeing people actually improved my mental state! Imagine that! Emilee and Golsa are genuinely fun to hang out with, and the semi-childish antics of chaotically doodling in 15 colors on the same sheet of paper made me feel like a human being again.
I know these things about myself. I know my depression gets worse when I don’t get up, I know I get better when I shower and eat and see my friends. I know them; I’ve known them for years. But somehow it doesn’t make it any easier to pull myself out of my ruts when I fall into them. And I don’t know if that’s because I haven’t been to therapy in the last 4 years, or because I get stuck in endless cycles of depression, or because I don’t, can’t, have someone monitoring me 24/7 to regulate my mood. I don’t know. I doubt I’ll ever know. And it’s sort of terrifying and yet cathartic to bare this part of myself to the internet, because I know there have to be others out there working through the same struggles. And because one of the reasons I dedicated myself to making this blog as genuine and real as possible is because studyblr, and langblr, and whatever else you want to call it has always seemed like this crystalline, perfect image of what life was supposed to look like in academia. And I know for a fact that nobody on this planet has a life like that all the time, and I wanted to make it known that that was okay. That I love learning a language and traveling abroad and the whole nine yards just as much as everyone else, but I struggle, and I know you all struggle too, and it’s okay to talk about that. There are parts of your life between the sepia-tinted cafés and flower boxes and crisp outfits, and those parts are just as important to be seen and heard as everything that’s infinitely more photogenic.
Sorry for such a tangent. It’s something I’m very passionate about.
I cleaned my room. I made myself dinner. I called Joy and watched Young Royals with her. I got the motivation from seeing my friends, from getting dressed up and taking care of myself. It’s something I don’t do enough.
I hope that you all can work through the ugly parts of your lives, stumbling or dancing, because I’ll believe in you the whole time.
Jour 32: Early morn in Gare de Lyon, Paris... with my favorite friend, L’ourson.
Both Joy and I woke up early on Tuesday morning; I’d chosen the earliest train possible back to Dijon. She was so kind and willing to actually come with me to the metro and make sure I get on and knew where I was going. She was seriously the sweetest. I’m certain we’re going to remain friends. In fact, I’ve been texting her over the last few days!
The metro came pretty much as soon as we arrived, so after a quick hug, I got on and set off towards Gare de Lyon. I... think this is the first hug I’ve had since my parents hugged me in the airport in Cleveland, and I definitely needed it. What can I say, I’m kind of a hugger. I’m the friend that puts her head on everyone’s shoulders when we’re hanging out. But since I’ve only known all of my friends here for less than a month, I haven’t really... done any of that. There’s still a boundary there. So thank you, Joy, for making me very happy with a hug even if you didn’t realize it, lol.
Okay, so navigating the Paris metro alone kind of scared me. I’ve heard such horror stories about people getting things stolen, so I kept my eyes and hands tight on my bags. Luckily, “5:45 am on a Tuesday” is not a real prime time for the metro, so nothing was stolen, and I remembered all of the stop names I needed to and got exactly where I needed to be.
I sat around in Gare de Lyon for a while and ate my “breakfast,” which was the L’ourson I bought from the 24 hour store the night before. I’ve actually got a French friend that I’ve known for a couple of years now over the internet, and a while back she recommended these bear-shaped snack cakes to me, and I see why. They are very good, even if they’re technically... for children.
Eventually I boarded my train, only to immediately realize that a businessman with earbuds in was taking up both seats of the row I was supposed to be in. I sat in the row opposite to him and prayed the train would be empty enough that I wouldn’t have to ask him to move. I was lucky and didn’t.
And with that, I was leaving Paris, just about 10 hours after arriving. I saw some of the city’s premiere tourist attractions, including:
-Gare d’Est
-The Paris Metro (Free with woman wandering around the train screaming for us to give her money)
-A Lower-Middle Class Residential Quarter
-A Convenience Store
-Rats
-Joy’s Bed
-The Backs of My Eyelids
-Gare de Lyon
...........A pretty successful first visit to Paris, if I do say so myself.
(Needless to say, I’ll be returning to Paris at some point for an actual visit.)
I watched the sun rise over the Bourgogne countryside and did my classwork for the week, but the businessman and I were constantly fighting for the small amount of table space we had. Luckily, we were both pretty courteous, and it ended up working out.
The sun shined in my eyes as a beacon when I stepped onto the Dijon Gare platform, but I didn’t really feel the relief until I went home and collapsed into my bed. I took a shower (I felt horrid) and treated myself to another episode of Young Royals.... I thought I owed myself that.
I dragged myself to class eventually and learned that my professor had actually already told everyone of my plight, which was sort of funny. He gave me the work I missed and we continued with class; he even used me as an example sentence: “Tara est à deux doigts de mourir.” (”Tara is two toes from death;” I’m sure you can figure out the sense of the expression.)
And it was true. I kept accidentally falling asleep during class. I felt awful about it, because I wasn’t really trying to, either. I was just that exhausted. Golsa and I went for lunch after class, and I got to actually eat for the first time that day.
And then I went back to my room for what I thought would be a “quick nap” before my next class... but by the time I woke up, it was starting in 3 minutes. Ugh. I supposed today was just a recovery day, anyway. I fell back asleep.
I had ramen for dinner, that I cooked in a bath of hot water from my sink. I didn’t feel like going out into the kitchen to use the hot plates. Sometimes, my mental state starts to deteriorate if I stay in “recovery mode” for too long. I feel like I’m wasting my time, but I can’t get the motivation to do anything differently. That’s what was starting to happen here.
Jour 31: Luxembourg is really beautiful... as long as you can escape.
After checking out of the hostel, I briefly talked to an Irish man at breakfast before heading out again. Today I stayed in the lower portion of the city, called the Grund. I seriously cannot stress enough how much Luxembourg looks like a fantasy setting. I spent the early morning walking along the Alzette river and admiring the scenery. Then, I looped back around to visit Neinmënster, an Abbey in the center of the city. They had an exhibition of a Luxembourgish sculptor, and I wandered around there for a while, then into an uninhabited event space. I honestly love just walking around places I’m not supposed to be in. It’s another little adventure.
I headed back down to the base of the Grund for an early lunch so I could make my train. They were, strangely, playing American 90′s Hip Hop in the restaurant, but I like 90s hip hop, so I was enjoying it. There was another guy there who also seemed to be enjoying himself; we ended up talking (because Tara talks to everyone, don’t you know?) He was a Luxembourgish stand up comedian that apparently was coming up with a set for that week! We somehow got on the topic of how Americans have to say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning in school, and he was so flabbergasted by that concept that he said he’d be putting it into his routine later that week. So, I guess to a small crowd in a Luxembourgish bar, I’m known.
He bought me a drink and offered to drive me back to my hostel to pick up my suitcase. At first I was hesitant, but it really was a long walk... I took him up on it. I’m a pretty good judge of character. Either way, I texted my best friend with everything I knew about the guy, the bar, his car, everything. Just in case.
We got back to the hostel and I said goodbye, then took one last stroll through a park before taking the bus to the train station.
This is where everything went downhill.
There was a huge crowd standing outside the station, and it was completely blocked off with police tape. I was very confused, so of course I googled “Luxembourg Actualités,” and- wow. Just wow.
The article said that apparently, while renovating the train station, they had discovered a dormant World War II bomb. What are the odds of that happening, seriously?! I’m not lying; Google “Luxembourg WWII Bomb” and it’ll come up! Either way, they’d cancelled all trains in the country, and there was no news about if or when they’d be running again. I was stuck in Luxembourg.
Do you remember when I said that me swapping my tickets back to Dijon for later ones was important? This is why. If I hadn’t done that, I would’ve left the country before this happened. And none of my crazy day after this point would’ve happened.
I called my best friend and she suggested I just ask around and see if anyone else was trying to get to France. I found one woman that was, but she had no idea what to do, either, besides try and wait for a bus.
I called my mom. It’s usually what I do when I have no idea what else to do. The first thing I said was “Only in Europe, Mom.” And then I explained. But I still really had no plan. But during my call with my mom, I noticed a girl staring at me the entire time. This wasn’t really uncommon when I speak English in public, but she was pretty intently staring at me. The second I hung up, she approached me. “You speak English?” she asked, in a sort of half-British accent. “Yeah, I’m American.” She scoffed with a smile, threw a hand in the air. “I couldn’t tell.”
I decided right then that I liked her.
Her name was Joy, and she was a Luxembourgish girl studying architecture in Paris. Her dad was British and American, so her first language was English. Meeting her felt like an oasis in the desert; she knew the country, we talked in English, and her French was better than mine. This was my ticket out of Luxembourg, I was sure of it.
After talking for a while, we decided to catch a bus to Bettembourg, another larger city in Luxembourg on the border to France. She hoped that we’d be far enough down from the bomb there that they’d let us take a train into France, because once we got into France, we wouldn’t have any issues getting to where each of us needed to go. But for whatever reason, that bus... stopped running while we were still in Luxembourg city. Luckily, it stopped at a place where there was another bus that ended in Thionville, which was in France! We took that bus to Thionville, and then from Thionville I looked for a train to Dijon... no luck. Our next best option for both of us was to head to Metz, and hope that because it was a larger city, there would be trains towards Dijon.
And then we got to Metz, and there was nothing. Not a single train for Dijon. It was already getting to be 18h at this point; we’d been trying to get home since 13h. But, along the way, we’d started to get pretty close. Joy was the closest in age to me out of everyone I met on this trip, and our personalities happened to mesh really well. We had similar interests and a seemingly endless pool of things to talk about. I trusted her intrinsically; I sort of had to if I wanted to get where I needed to go, but it was more than that. She seemed like the kind of person I’d be friends with back in the U.S, like I could’ve met her through a mutual friend or something and started talking to her like that. It also helped that she was a couple years younger than me, and similar in stature.
My options at this point were to get a room at a hostel in Metz for the night, or take Joy up on her offer to stay with her for a night in Paris and take the train from Paris to Dijon in the morning. I chose the latter.
But first, we had to get our tickets swapped out. I was given a number and told to wait. When my number was called I went up to the desk. I said, quite literally, four words: “J’étais en Luxembourg” (I was in Luxembourg). And IMMEDIATELY the woman started insisting to me that she didn’t speak English. I was so confused... I was speaking to her in French? But she kept insisting and insisting, saying I needed to talk to someone else if I spoke English. I was so flustered and just kept saying that I was speaking French until finally I guess she registered it? It was so strange.
Then, I tried to explain what had happened, but it was like she wasn’t even listening to me. She kept glaring at me, even as I explained as clearly as I could. Joy saw me struggling (and the woman being rude) and came over to help. As soon as she explained it, suddenly the woman listened. What the hell! But then for the rest of the interaction, the woman kept speaking to Joy instead of to me, even though it was my ticket. And she even hit my hand with my tickets when she handed them back to me! What was her problem, seriously?! I wasn’t even embarrassed, I was just mad! Like, I came to your country, I’m trying my absolute hardest to speak your language, and yet you refuse to listen to me and treat me like a child?! Seriously? That was the rudest person I’ve encountered in France to date. Sometimes people are a bit snippy, but this woman was outright rude. And her job was customer service!
But we got the tickets swapped, and then we had a short break before the train to Paris, so we found a place to eat a quick dinner and ate. At the café, they were playing “Ella, elle l’a” by France Gall on the radio. I got SO EXCITED. I love France Gall, and Babacar is my favorite album of hers by far; I must’ve listened to that album probably 50+ times since finding it last year. I love hearing the music I actually listen to on the radio!!! I love music so much!
Back in the train station, I had to type a very lengthy text to my professor explaining what had happened since I’d be missing the first part of my classes the next day in order to get back into Dijon. I even linked the news article about the incident in case he didn’t believe me; it was pretty farfetched, after all. Luckily, he said it was fine to come in late and not to worry about it, and he hoped I rested well in Paris.
On the train, Joy and I ended up watching an episode of a Netflix series that she’d been telling me about called Young Royals. And when I tell you I love this show.... IT’S SO GOOD! I highly recommend it.
We immediately got on the metro back towards Joy’s apartment once getting into Paris. After buying some snacks at a 24 hour store (Can you imagine that! A 24 hour store! They literally don’t exist in Dijon; even the tabacs close after 23h or midnight! I’ve been missing 24 hour stores since leaving the U.S. for my midnight munchies.) we headed up to her place, where we promptly changed into pajamas, readied the snacks, and settled in for one last episode of Young Royals before bed. Within about 9 hours of meeting Joy, we went from complete strangers to sharing a bed and watching TV shows together. I honestly feel like that’s as good of a basis for a friendship as any.
But after that, we went to bed; my train left very early in the morning, and I needed to be up and at em for it! Here’s to hoping that whenever you find yourself in trouble, you make a new friend!
Jour 30: View out of part of the Casemates du Bock, Luxembourg.
I left Strasbourg early in the morning to try and get to Luxembourg, but as I was eating my breakfast in the train station, I noticed that..... my train had been canceled. This hasn’t happened yet, so I decided my only option was to go to where they sold the tickets in the station and talk to somebody.
This was nerve-wracking because I have always just bought my tickets over the internet to avoid having to try and explain myself to someone in person. When I got in there and explained, the woman hastily told me that I should take a bus that was running in about 20 minutes to Saverne, a small city. She told me that the same ticket would work, but I honestly didn’t believe her. A train ticket for a bus? But I followed her instructions, and found out that plenty of people on the bus had also been on the same train! So I was actually in the right place.
From Saverne, there was a train leaving for Nancy (a bigger city) pretty much as soon as we arrived; I talked to a man at the train station who told me that from Nancy I could definitely get to Luxembourg. Well, I’d been relying on the word and kindness of strangers the entire trip... I might as well have relied on him. And the guy was actually super nice in that he called the train conductor and had them actually hold up the train for about two minutes so me and a couple of other passengers could board! Just like in the U.S, the people in the smaller cities are always so kind.
The other two passengers had been travelling with me since Strasbourg; it was a mother and her young daughter, Ava. I talked with them the entire train ride, and actually these were the first French friends I made the entire trip! Ava was very cute and she loved to sing, and I learned that lots of French children’s songs are the same as English ones but with different lyrics, like Jingle Bells and Old MacDonald. I ended up teaching her You Are My Sunshine. Her mom told me that they were trying to get to a birthday party, but because of the train situation, they’d just missed the party and spent the entire day on the train and then would have to return home. That... is so awful. I felt so bad for them.
Because I was getting into Luxembourg at around 15h, I ended up just cancelling and rebooking my train tickets back to Dijon; I would leave in the afternoon instead of the morning so I could spend more time in Luxembourg. This is very important. You’ll see why tomorrow.
From Nancy, I ended up parting ways with Ava and her mom and getting on the train to Luxembourg, which was uneventful, except I could’ve sworn that there was blood on my window. Those high speed trains aren’t screwing around, I guess; I felt bad for the poor bird.
From the Luxembourg train station I searched for the bus that would take me to my hostel, but realized there was strangely nowhere for me to buy a ticket; I found a bus driver and asked him, and he told me that public transit in Luxembourg is free! Cool!
When I went to check in to the hostel, I told the man my name and he immediately asked if I was Irish. I said “No, but my family is!” And then from then on we spoke an absolutely wonderful Franglais. I love Franglais, I already loved Luxembourg. He said it was funny that I was American with an Irish last name but spoke French.
Wow. Luxembourg is. CRAZY. I wasn’t planning on going outside of the capital city, but it was enough. The city is split into a part that’s up on a huge hill and another part that’s below the hill. I climbed up the hill after putting my stuff in the hostel, and let me tell you, it was not easy. At the top, I climbed around for a while in the outer parts of the casemates du Bock, which you can see here. They’re a series of defensive tunnels built directly into the hill, and they’re cool as hell. I guess they had a majority of them closed for the moment, but I was super impressed with even the section I got to walk around. Again, Tara’s Climbing Urge was satisfied.
I found a tabac-esque store and bought a candy bar to feed myself, a sticker of course, and, would you believe it, a music box of “La Marseillaise,” France’s national anthem! I said yesterday I collect music boxes, and this was definitely a worthy addition. They had Germany and the UK and some others, but interestingly, no Luxembourg. Huh.
I was really impressed with the cashier once I realized what she was doing. Luxembourg is really a completely multilingual country; the cashier was waiting for the customer to say “Hello” to her in their language and then she would finish the rest of the transaction in that language. The man in front of me said “Hello” in German, so she did the transaction in German; I said “Bonjour” so she did the transaction in French; the woman behind me said “Hello” so she did the transaction in English. Sorry, I know I get excited about the stupidest things, but I really was excited about that.
After eating my candy bar, I wandered into the main “tourist” area of the city, toured a church, then somehow managed to walk all the way back to the train station. It was getting cold, and I hadn’t made any friends that day... I was getting kind of lonely. I called my best friend and talked to her for a while as I walked back to the touristy part of the city, found a restaurant, and went inside.
I was seated but immediately noticed the men next to me speaking English; it was only another few seconds before they invited me to sit with them. They pegged me as American right away; I asked if they were Australian, and they all shook their heads and gave me a hard time. Yup, they were Kiwi. I felt bad but they told me it was really common.
There was also one Frenchman, Laurent, among them. I had dinner with them for the night, and when everyone went to the bathroom, Laurent and I talked to each other in French. Which was nice. Gosh, I’m getting so confident! He told me my French was actually very very passable. Like, to the point that when I was first ordering my food, he’d thought that I was French. Woo!!!
We ended up going to a bar styled like a speakeasy, which was very funny because I’ve never heard of a speakeasy bar in the U.S. even though the entire concept of speakeasy’s is exclusively American. We had a very good conversation there; I was glad I found some friends. By the time we left, it was 1:30 in the morning! Luckily, Luxembourg has essentially no crime; I walked all the way back down the hill to my hostel and didn’t see another person the entire time. It was very peaceful, and it was the safest I’ve ever felt in a city at night.
That’s it for this first day in Luxembourg, but... just you wait for day 2.
Jour 29: View of the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg from one of the cathédrale’s spires.
Okay, okay. It’s been a LONG time since I updated. But I think after hearing about my absolutely INSANE weekend, you’ll start to see why.
After getting there just in time for the hostel breakfast, I headed out to Strasbourg’s main attraction, the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Strasbourg. ...I’m starting to realize that basically every big French church is named the “Notre Dame” of their city. In the U.S, there are a lot of churches called “Our Lady,” but they’re all “Our Lady OF” something different: “Our Lady of the Saints,” “Our Lady of Perpetual Help,” “Our Lady of Good Council,” et cetera. French people, apparently, are not this creative and instead just name one church/cathedral/basilica per city “Our Lady of [city name].” I think they need to step it up.
Anyway, this is a huge gothic church, one of the oldest and biggest in France, and one of the things they offer is that you can pay to climb one of the spires and see the whole city from the roof! It was definitely worth the cost and the stairs for the view, and then I took this photo on the way back down. A great start to my morning!
I went inside the church after that: the cathedral’s other big draw is its huge astronomical and astrological clock. It still works, to this day: it shows you what astrological house each planet is in. And while I absolutely LOVED it, I honestly didn’t know that the Catholic church was okay with astrology at one point! But they must’ve been! How cool.
I bought my obligatory sticker after that and then went to the Palais Rohan, another big attraction of the city. The Palais has a whopping three museums inside! Unfortunately, only two were open: the Decorative Arts museum and the Archaeological Museum. I toured both and loved both! The Decorative Arts museum had lots of dishware on display as well as showing what the rooms would’ve looked like when a prince actually lived there. WOW. I’m currently writing a fantasy piece based off of France in the 17th and 18th centuries, and I took SO many photos of the decor as inspiration. I really liked getting a sense for how people lived and what the rooms looked like. The Archaeological Museum was also REALLY COOL, with lots of stuff about the Gauls and Romans. For example, did you know that the Gauls had a system of under-floor heating powered by a coal furnace? Or that they buried their dead warriors in their chariots? IS THAT NOT THE COOLEST THING YOU’VE EVER HEARD?
After that, I wandered over to yet another museum, this one dedicated entirely to the Cathédrale Notre Dame. I was the ONLY person in there, which I actually didn’t mind. There were plenty of really interesting religious artifacts people crafted over the centuries, like golden crowns of thorns, panels of stained glass, baptismal fonts, and recreations of the tomb of Jesus. There was even a room where they showed you how the cathedral went from plan on paper to wooden mockup to an actual building!
It was getting almost too late for lunch and I was getting hungry, so I wandered into the nearby bustling street. There was a man there who had a giant mechanical punchcard music box! He had a bunch of famous French folk songs and would run them through the box and sing. If you don’t know, I collect music boxes, so this was really really exciting to me! I ended up giving him a lot of money... but only because I wanted to. I heard someone behind me speaking American English, and turned around to see a dad and his son watching the show, too! I wandered over to the dad and talked to him for a while. He told me his name was Brian and that he and his wife were American but lived and worked in Germany. They were planning on moving back to the U.S. soon, and he didn’t sound too happy about it, but he also said he was getting bored living in a small German town, too. His son kept coming back and begging for more change to give to the man with the music box but he eventually ran out of money, so I started giving the kid whatever spare change I had.
Eventually I headed out and found a restaurant that looked nice and inquired about a table for one. They told me it would be about a ten minute wait. Two women then asked about a table and got told the same thing, so they came out to wait with me. I turned around and asked them, “Vous attendez aussi ?” (You’re waiting too?) And they both threw their hands up and said “Sorry, we don’t actually speak French!” It turned out that they were German! Strasbourg is right on the border of Germany, so I suppose it’s pretty common.
We ended up being seated right next to each other, and decided just to have lunch together. It was super nice. Their names were Virginia and Lara, and they were coworkers, friends, and cousins, which I suppose is why they laughed and said it was “complicated” when I asked how they knew each other. They were travelling companions, mostly; they tended to take their vacations together and go places because they were on the same page about what they liked to do. I remember before I left my dad telling me about how nice it is to find a travelling companion; he had a friend who he went to Ireland with, and he said it was the best way to travel.
Apparently Lara and Virginia had been planning a vacation to the U.S. for quite some time when COVID hit and ruined their plans. But they mentioned they were going later this year, and I’m excited for them! Lara seemed to be very infatuated with the U.S. but had never been; it’s very funny to see the inverse of the reason I wanted to come to Europe.
They let me know that they lived outside of Nuremburg and invited me to stay with them there if I wanted! I think I’ll take them up on it; I wanted to go to Germany anyway!
I wandered for a while along the Ill River for a while before arriving in Petite France, a colorfully painted quarter of the city. I went through a covered bridge across the river and perused the buildings before starting back towards the hostel. I ended up stopping in a vintage thrift store I’d seen on my way into the city in the morning and bought a blouse and a pair of suspenders. I... cannot be helped when it comes to thrifting and vintage fashion, I’m such a sucker for it.
When I got back to the room, one of the other girls in there was just arriving back, too! She’d seemed nice when we’d originally talked, and now she invited me to get drinks with her and her friend in the hostel bar later that night. I obliged; after a nap and my dinner reservation.
I’d gotten a reservation at what was supposedly one of the best Alsacien restaurants in the city, Le Tire-Bouchon. I went in, sat down and ate. The food was good, but this German dad kept staring at me the entire meal... it was kind of intimidating.
Afterwards, I met up with my new friends in the hostel bar. The girl in my room was named Priyanka and her friend was Sanjay. I quickly learned that they were both originally from India but lived and worked in Munich. They were definitely good people to drink with, very engaging and funny to listen to, plus they shared spicy Indian sweets with me. The way to my heart is definitely my stomach. And they invited me to Munich, too! I guess I’m obliged to visit Germany now.
After a fun evening, I went back up to my room and settled down for the night. What a great day! Who knew travelling on your own could be so fun? If you ever travel alone, I wish you
Jour 28: My first time in a hostel... I’m so impressed!
I ran into Golsa on the tram to class this morning, which I suppose isn’t too surprising considering we’re in the same class and live in the same place, lol. We managed to make it on time, woohoo!
Fridays are always fun because we only have one class. I was still starving by the end of it, though, (consequence of no breakfast) so I was glad when the group decided to head for the university dining hall. It was Emilee, Golsa, and me.
We encountered some other students from the other levels in line with us at the dining hall. Notably I talked a while to Yerim, a Korean student I’ve interacted with before and who has always been super super nice. I was talking about my weekend plans because I’m excited and she was too! I asked her what she was doing over the weekend and she went down a list: “homework, cleaning my room, cooking...” Yup. I get it. That’s gonna be me next weekend.
A minor panic ensued when Golsa realized she didn’t have her bank card and thought she’d lost it! While she was searching, I paid for her lunch. I’m finally even for her paying for me last week! We had a nice lunch, despite the looming threat of Golsa’s card being gone. I told her to check her room when we got back and text me when she found it, because I was worried, too.
On the way back, we actually talked a lot about Iran’s relationship to English. She wanted to hear me pronounce certain words because she had trouble distinguishing them. Persian apparently doesn’t have the same /æ/ sound like in English, so it’s hard for her to pronounce the difference between “snack” and “snake.” She was also telling me about how Iranians generally like Hollywood movies better than ones produced in Iran. I just thought it was interesting; I wouldn’t have expected that second part.
We got back, and I had a while before my train was set to depart. Soon enough, Golsa texted me that she found her card! Woohoo! And then I packed up and left!
I bought some cookies for dinner. Dinner of champions, I know, but this train was from 17h-20h so there really wasn’t any time to get actual dinner. I love listening to people in the train station playing music on the piano; I heard such hits as “Lacrimosa” from Mozart’s Requiem in D minor K.626, Giorno’s Theme, the Mario Bros Theme, and more. Very entertaining.
So I was assigned a seat number in the train, but while I was boarding, I could not for the life of me find the seat numbers. It was terrifying, honestly, so I just decided to choose a seat next to a nice-looking lady in the car I was supposed to be in. I picked the window seat for the view, but it quickly got dark and so I couldn’t see anything. I was also horrified that I’d somehow gotten on the wrong train! Every train I’ve taken in the past has been a regional TER train instead of the more well-known TGV trains. And the TER trains (At least the Bourgogne-Franche-Compté ones) tell you every stop on the line on the SNCF app/on the overhead display! This train was not doing that; it wasn’t until we stopped in nearby Besançon that I put together that it was the right train.
See, Besançon is pretty much due east of Dijon, and close to the eastern border of France. Strasbourg is also on the eastern border, but much further north. The final destination of the train was Metz, a city that’s north and west. So by stopping in Besançon, I figured out that it meant we’d be travelling up the eastern border, stopping in Strasbourg along the way, and then finally going back west to get to Metz. French geography knowledge has a use!! Woo!
The ride was uneventful; nobody even checked my ticket. Which was a good thing, because I didn’t figure out where the seat numbers were until I was getting off! Yup, a tiny little display on the post between the seats. I was looking above like on an airplane. Ugh.
I quickly oriented myself and bought a 3 day tramway pass. I’m only here for twoish days, but I didn’t want to have to buy another one. But when I got on the tram... there just... wasn’t anywhere to use the pass. Nowhere, no machines to use it at or anything. Okay, so why did I buy that...?
I liked the weird music they’d play on the trams when announcing each station. It really felt like I was here and it was 1999. Very charming.
I got off of the tram and walked a couple blocks to my hostel. While checking in I of course had to spell my last name, and since I have a pretty long and complicated last name, I had practiced a ton of times on the train... but it hadn’t seemed to matter. I still messed it up. Curse French “e” for sounding like English “a.” The receptionist still understood me, though.
For never staying at a hostel, this place was super. Duper. Nice. So clean and modern with a full bar/kitchen in the lobby? Wow. And for less than $25 USD a night! It even has a place I can lock up some stuff with my room key!! It’s not big enough to hold my laptop, though, so I’ll have to carry that with me.
After a little break, I went down to the restaurant/bar while they were still open... turns out I could get a real dinner after all! Apparently Strasbourg is known for their tartes, so I had a vegetable tarte. It was warm and filling and just what I needed. I also got a Moscow Mule, which is something I tend to order if it’s on the menu just because I like the drink a lot.
I sat at the bar for a while but didn’t really get a chance to talk to anyone, which was sad. I kept making eye contact with the guy next to me, and he eventually waved as he left. I left shortly after, then gathered my stuff to settle in for the night.
The hostel has communal showers which was completely fine, especially since they were way cleaner than the communal showers in my dorm from sophomore year at OSU. However, the shower had 2 notable problems:
1. The water would turn off seemingly randomly every 3-10 seconds (And it wasn’t because it was a water saving shower; my shower in my room in Dijon is water-saving and this was not that)
2. The bathroom lights were activated by motion sensors... and the showers were not in the range of the motion sensors.
So, after about 3 minute in the shower, I had to continue my shower in complete darkness and with random spurts of water. Lol.
But it was ok! I didn’t mind much. I don’t get very easily annoyed by stuff like that. I eventually turned in for the night!
Jour 27: Only one stamp on my visas page (besides my student visa, of course)... Hope to get more!
Thursdays are always such a drag. I have a whopping six hours of class on Thursdays, split up by a deliciously long two hour lunch break. If there’s one thing I appreciate in France, it’s the length of the lunch breaks.
Today’s lunch was very pleasant, mostly because I shared it with a whole ton of classmates. I believe there were 5 of us eating together, which was so fun. I’m really starting to get to know and become friends with a lot of people in my program. I was scared that I’d only have the friends who also came from OSU, but that’s definitely not the case! Everyone is so friendly, all the time. I really appreciate it.
After lunch, we had, of course, three more hours of class. The room was huge but other than that practically identical to how my classrooms looked in high school. Everyone was chatting amongst themselves, laughing, and sitting with their friends before class started (it was a bigger class because it’s a combination between the top 3 levels of the program, instead of just my normal class size of 11-14). It felt like high school, but in a good way. I actually had a pretty pleasant high school experience, but I know that isn’t the case for everyone.
In some ways, a lot of aspects of this program feel like high school. Even the dining halls are set up like high school cafeterias. But on the other hand, I have more autonomy than I do in Columbus owing to the excellent public transit. Because I don’t own a car in the US, it’s really difficult to get anywhere. But here, I have complete autonomy to just... go where I want, when I want. It’s really nice and freeing, but because of how similar my university life here is to an American high school, it feels like a different form of adulthood than the one I’m used to. Different freedoms and different restrictions.
For dinner I just had some leftover rice mixed with soy sauce, sriracha, and honey. This is really similar to a dinner I used to get back in my first year at OSU in those dining halls. I had an “unlimited” plan for my meals, but only at three dining halls, and only one of those was anywhere close to my dorm. So I ended up getting really really sick of the food there, to the point where I started eating almost exclusively just rice + sriracha + soy sauce.
I lost a lot of weight that year, to nobody’s surprise.
But don’t malnourish yourself like I did! I know you can find something yummy and good to eat!!!
I went to class, then I came home. A couple members of the OSU crew were talking the day before about all these solo trips they had planned, and it really got me inspired... but I had no idea where I wanted to go. This weekend should be really free for me, so I wanted to find something for a bigger trip!
About halfway through my search, I gave up and went to make myself dinner! So fun with the ingredients I bought at the Asian market! I had vegetable stir fry with oyster sauce and sriracha over basmati rice. Yummm!!!!
Anyway, I decided on two locations: Strasbourg and Luxembourg!!! It’s a big trip to be taking on my own, but I was really inspired by Elianna doing Brussels on her own. Nobody else in my immediate group ever seemed too interested in Luxembourg, but it’s somewhere I’ve really wanted to go for a long time. The country, while small, is really beautiful and has lots of hiking trails and wonderful scenery. I also really like their language learning: their classes are taught in German, French, or Luxembourgish, depending on their level in school. That’s so cool to me! It’s a cool, multilingual little place, and I’m excited to visit for even just a day.
It was really late by the time I got my hostels and train tickets booked, so I went to bed and prayed I wouldn’t be too tired in the morning.
Sometimes, you have to go your own way! Don’t be scared; there will always be people willing to help!
Today started with me nearly being late for class! I missed my stop and had to walk from the next one! I was in the process of writing something and just got too absorbed. Oops... but I made it!!
I do a lot of shortform fiction writing in my free time. I really feel like it’s something I’m good at, and confident, to boot. In fact, I’d say it’s pretty much the one skill I have where there isn’t Imposter Syndrome involved.
Anyway, after class, Emilee and I went out for lunch. We found a nice place where the formule du midi was 13 euros! What a steal! French restaurants/brasseries run a bit differently, in that while you can order just a main dish (plat), it’s pretty standard to get multiple courses. These courses are sometimes organized into formules; a lot of times they’ll give you 2 or 3 options for each course that you can mix and match, and it’s cheaper to order a formule than to order from the larger menu for each course. It’s how I’ve been saving money while eating out. While this formule du midi (lunch formule) only was one option (chicken for plat, apple pie for dessert), it was really great.
The radio station they had on in the brasserie was super fun. It was playing French and English music, but... older English music. The kind of English music I actually like! When we were checking out, they were playing “Down Under” by Men at Work, and the waiter was singing, and I joined in... and we smiled at each other before I left. It was such a fun interaction.
After lunch, we went to the manga shop I visited earlier in the month so Emilee could look around. After that, we went to my main stop: the Asian market!
I’ve really been struggling to cook with the supplies I had, especially without some of my usual staples like basmati rice, sriracha, and Chinese five spice. It may sound kind of odd that Asian food is what I’m most comfortable cooking considering I’m... pretty much the pastiest person on the planet, but I just am familiar with a lot of the ingredients and know how to build a good flavor profile that way. My dad is the one who taught me how to cook, and he really likes Asian food, too. Plus, I loooove spicy food, and France has no spice in anything I eat, ever! I was so excited to get sriracha so I could add spice to my dishes easily.
I went back home after that, though I had an... interesting encounter. See, I was really happy with my outfit for the day. I thought I looked really nice and coordinated. It’s a different, more risqué look than what I usually go for, but I was feeling really confident for the first time in a long time. But as I was walking home, a man on the street kept trying to catch my attention... and then he started following me. I was really close to calling my best friend just to talk to someone during it. Luckily, he went away after a little bit once he saw that I was just completely ignoring him, as if he wasn’t saying anything. I’m convinced it happened because of my outfit.
After a little nap at home (lol), I decided to join Jarod, Eva, Alex, and Elianna (the OSU crew!) for pizza so we could all share travel stories from the weekend! Jarod and I went to Auxerre, Eva and Alex went to Geneva, and Elianna went to Brussels! It was really fun hearing everyone’s stories.
When we were walking back (it was dark now), another man on the street tried to catch my attention! I’m sensing a trend! I was glad I had all of my friends there, though, because nothing happened. I’m going to have to start being very conscious of what I’m wearing, and when, and where. It sucks that this is a reality, but that’s just the world we live in, sadly. I still love my outfit, though! I’ll definitely be wearing it out, as long as it’s daytime!
Jour 24: Memorizing my chosen formule de politesse.
Gah, Mondays! Why do I always waste them?! I have the entire day off and yet I just stay in my room and do nothing!
Yup, did nothing all day, until the late evening, when I got my homework for the week done. You can see part of it here: we’re learning how to write formal letters and one of the things French people always do is end letters with these elaborate “formules de politesse.” Think “Sincerely” but way more convoluted. We were told to pick one from a list and memorize it by heart, so that’s what I’m doing here. I suppose I now end all my letters with “Receive, Madame, Monsieur, my sincere salutations.”
And that’s not even the most ridiculous one. You can seriously end letters with “I pray you’ll receive, Sir/Madame, my most distinguished sentiments.” What?! That’s so ridiculous! And this is literally just for, like, a normal letter from the bank or something!
It was fairly late after that but I was starving so I went into the kitchen to make some sort of... something. Just root vegetables and spices in a pan, lol. While I was in there, I met three Tunisian guys who are here to study music; they’re in a band together! They were very fun to joke around with!! They prodded and laughed at my accent, though, which did not feel good. But I hope we can be friends! I’m not a person that’s easily offended over anything except subjects I’m really sensitive about, like my accent.
It’s important to learn to be able to roll with the punches, even if they hurt a bit!
Jour 23: The two pastries I got from a patisserie in Auxerre: a Coumarine and a Céleste!
Sunday was much slower. Apparently the policy at our hotel was that we clean the rooms afterwards; and I’m not talking just “make sure there’s nothing gross left anywhere.” We were told by the signs to pull the sheets off, fold them, fold blankets, empty our trash, and clean the shower. It... it honestly made me wonder if the sheets were washed between guests.
We decided to grab breakfast at a boulangerie/patisserie that we’d noticed had been super popular with a line out the door the day before. Once we stepped inside we realized why: they had every kind of bread, cake, pastry, and tart you could think of. I literally was a kid in a candy shop; I had to limit myself to the two pastries you see here and then my pain au chocolat for breakfast!
We waited around in the Auxerre train station for a while until the train came; for this trip, we had one corresponding train, so we took the train from Auxerre up one single stop, got off, and then got on another train. I was carrying my pastries in my little box the entire time, of course.
After returning to Dijon after a fairly uneventful train ride (I slept), it really did feel comforting to know the city so well again. I really love Dijon now.
I essentially just lounged for the rest of the day. I made a dinner from the sparse things I had in my room, and then I ate one of my pastries. Wow! So good!
Jour 22: Still from a video I took; MAGENTA live in concert.
Jarod and I met early in the morning; we weren’t risking missing the train after what had happened during our group trip to Lyon. We chose to meet with enough time so we could go find a boulangerie in Dijon’s Centre Ville and eat breakfast.
I got two pain au chocolat and a café au lait, which is turning out to be my typical boulangerie order. It’s just filling enough to get me going!
The bathroom in the boulangerie was... kind of weird, though. The toilet didn’t have a seat, the sink was extremely small and narrow, and the mirror was so low that I could only see my torso in it. There was also a sign that said “Please spray down the toilet and wipe it off with this spray after using it,” so I guess I was expected to also clean the bathroom for them? I did it. And then there wasn’t hand soap, so I used the same spray to wash my hands.
I asked Jarod for hand sanitizer as soon as I left.
We made the train to Auxerre with ease; while we were taking the trip, Jarod played his Spanish and Italian playlists as a soundtrack. Wow, Italian music is so goooood! I love music from all around the world, but I’ve never tried Italian music! I asked for his playlist so I can start listening on my own.
We arrived in Auxerre and quickly realized that because it was a much smaller town, there really wasn’t an easy method of public transit. Both of us have definitely gotten spoiled from being in France for three weeks and taking public transit everywhere; this was the situation in essentially every single American city.
We walked for about twenty minutes before arriving at our hotel. The staff had sent me an email with two codes for the hotel doors: a “park code” and a “house code.” We were standing at an exterior door, but I thought it led into the building and that the park was attached through the back, so I kept trying the “house code.” It got me absolutely nowhere. After about 20 minutes, I tried calling, but nobody answered. It was just about then when a little old lady and what I could only assume to be her grandson came through the door.... the conversation with her was so weird.
Me: “The code doesn’t work...”
Her: “Oh, there is no code! You’re staying at [Hotel Name], right?”
Me: “...Yes?”
Her: “Just go in! Have a nice day!”
Well, that was all fine and well, but we were scared that the door wouldn’t be open when we returned back to the hotel at 1 am after our concert!! And that time, there definitely wouldn’t be a little old lady to help us.
It was only once we stepped inside that we realized what had happened. The hotel was literally situated inside a public park; the door we were trying to open was the door to the park, and we had to walk a bit to get to the hotel. I’d been using the wrong code.
The hotel situation was very strange. We entered, and there was absolutely no signs of life besides two pairs of shoes that were left on the rack. The place was simply abandoned. I reread the email and realized it said that there wouldn’t be anyone to greet us on the weekends... we arrived earlier than check-in, but we wanted to leave our bags somewhere secure. Unfortunately that didn’t seem possible. We essentially found the most deserted part of the hotel (more of a multi-room B&B than anything) and left them there, and I wrote a note with my name and a request not to touch our stuff! Jarod was a bit hesitant, but this really did not seem like the kind of place where people would steal our stuff.
We walked out of the hotel and explored the public park for a bit; it was nice, and likely even prettier in the spring. We wandered down into Auxerre’s Centre Ville for lunch after that.
We found a nice restaurant and sat down; the staff was very kind. And lunch was wonderful! Since Auxerre is still in Bourgogne, the menu had a lot of Bourgogne specialties. I like a lot of the Bourgogne food, so I wasn’t complaining. We even got to talking to the other patrons at neighboring tables, and they even said Goodbye to us when they left! Jarod ended up paying for my lunch because I’d covered his portion of the hotel cost.
We did some light shopping after that; it was the first time I’ve ever been in a Monoprix, which I can only describe as... Target? Like there’s a clothing section, a homegoods section, and a grocery section.
We returned to the hotel and hung out for a while after that. Still nobody to check us in, so we just went up to our room and made ourselves at home. The hotel’s setup was weird, though, in that you couldn’t lock the doors from the outside, only the inside. Essentially, people could get into our room while we weren’t there. But we were in our room and didn’t think to lock the door, and then as we were hanging out we could hear the door to the room slowly open... and then close... Both of us were too stunned to move at first, and then Jarod immediately went to lock the door.
We left for the concert soon, but apparently it had still been way too early, as the doors didn’t open for another half-hour. So we just waited for a while.
Once the doors opened, we just vibed in the bar area for a bit. I had a weird encounter with the bartender. The menu said “Rhum Coca/Orange,” so I tried to order that: Rhum with Coke and Orange. But the bartender explained that I needed to pick either Coke or Orange juice, not both. And I nodded, and right as I was about to choose, she explained it again in English. ...Why? But I ordered what I wanted, and she went off to make it.
She came back and handed it to me and said “Six Euros,” but held six fingers up as if I couldn’t understand what she’d said. I know I’ve been self-conscious about my French, but I was getting really fed up at this point! She then explained to me something, in English, that had also been written on the menu so I already knew it! Once she finished, I kind of snapped; my tone wasn’t rude, but I said “Je comprends le français !”
I knew she probably meant no malintent, but I’ve just really been getting sick of being patronized. I was proud of myself for standing up for myself even in this small way.
The concert, which is what we came to Auxerre for, was amazing. I hadn’t heard of either the opening act or the main group before Jarod had brought them up, but I really liked it. The opening act was a electronic duo of two women called Komorebi; they both had very nice voices, and I think I actually liked them more than the main act. I bought a postcard directly from the lead singer to put on my wall! The main act was an electronic group called MAGENTA, and while I liked them less, I still liked the music. It was very fun music to dance to; I really let loose and danced my heart out! The lead singer also had a really good stage presence.
After the concert, we went to the only place still open: the Burger King across the street. There was some confusion with the table placards, but we got it all figured out and settled in for a nice easy meal. We were basically forced out at closing since we’d taken too long, though... oops.
After a return to the hotel, we called it a night!
Jour 21: The flowers I bought myself to decorate my room.
After my only class for the day, a huge group of my classmates and I went to lunch in the university restaurant. I’m making so many friends now!!
I went grocery shopping after lunch. I was out of produce, and even though I wouldn’t be here on Saturday, I needed groceries for, you know... living. Because the store is closed on Sunday!
I also stopped in the flower shop I went to during my first week to get fresh flowers. I remember being very nervous about it the first time I’d done so, because I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I’ve really gained so much confidence since then.
When I was checking out, the girl at the counter asked me what the occasion for the flowers was. I said, “Oh, they’re mine. For my room.” No occasion, I just like flowers.
Character development! A non-awkward conversation with the florist!
You can see one of my tattoos in today’s photo. I have four, and they all mean something special to me. This one is red clover, one of my favorite plants ever. Its metaphysical properties allow it to imbue spaces with positive energy! Besides that, it is a very strong nitrogen-fixing crop, meaning that it is a really good and natural fertilizer for other crops! It’s been used as such in agriculture for a very long time. I’m also really Irish by heritage, and Ireland is known by their clover. For all these reasons, I wanted a tattoo of red clover. I like to think it also imbues my life with positive energy.
I got back to my room and mostly just lounged around and packed for the trip on Saturday!
Jour 20: Two photos for today, a new profile picture and a new banner <3
Thursdays are busy for me, with 6 hours of classes. After my first three, Golsa and I started to go to lunch... only for me to realize I had forgotten my wallet. Luckily, she was very nice about it, and offered to pay for me. Looks like I’ll be paying next week.
We started off with trying to go to the campus restaurant, only for the line to extend well into the parking lot. There were probably around 100 students in line. We went to the other campus restaurant, but... it was apparently closed for maintenance this week!
McDonald’s it was.
The line at McDonald’s was also long, but we were both very hungry and willing to wait by that point. While we were waiting, I got to teach Golsa about the American tradition of “humming the Jeopardy theme while waiting for something that’s taking too long.” It’s always interesting, because these are the kind of cultural points that people don’t think about, and that they don’t teach you in a textbook.
Following lunch, we had our last 3 hours of classes. I’ve started to notice that I greet/wave to more and more people in my program every day... I love how many friends I’ve made already! Everyone is so cool!
After class finally finished, I took the bottom photo while waiting for the tram. Since I arrived, I’ve been looking for a new banner photo with the same “feeling” as my old one, which I took of a crosswalk on Ohio State campus. Just normal people, going about their normal lives in the place I live. This was the perfect opportunity.
And, as if by magic, I managed to also secure a new profile picture on the same day by coincidence! My very good friend @before-everything-changed follows my blog, and she said that she wanted to “rectify the fact that I never take photos of myself for the blog.” So she drew me in my favorite outfit in one of my previous daily photos. It was so kind and unexpected, I’ll definitely be using it as my new PFP. Thank you so much <3 Go follow her!!!
I returned to the dorms for a while, and then Eva, Jarod, and I met up for dinner. We wanted to try an Italian place we’d seen, so we went in. The owner was the one who greeted us, and Jarod actually also knows Italian, so he said “Grazie” when we were helped. It seemed to catch the owner off-guard.
What happened next was sort of unexplainable. Watching a conversation play out in a romance language that you don’t know, but knowing another romance language enough that you know exactly what they’re saying feels very strange. The owner switched to Italian from French and said, “You know Italian?” and Jarod said “Yes, just a bit.” (Which is very modest, he definitely knows more than “a bit.”)
The restaurant was nearly empty when we were seated, and we were at an awkward position where we could kind of see into the area where the waiters hung out between orders. At one point, I swore I heard them talking to each other, and they said something along the lines of “They speak English, but they also speak good French.” I swear! But apparently I was the only one who heard it.
It still gave me an ego boost.
The food was to die for, of course. Italian food always makes me ascend. And then, after we paid and went to leave, Jarod had another conversation with the owner. I couldn’t follow this one as well, but he told us what had been said later.
Jarod: “Goodnight!”
Owner: “Ah, yes! Goodnight! We’ll see you next time!”
I think we’re obliged to come back now. Well, I don’t mind. The food was spectacular.
Today was fairly uneventful; I went to class, and then afterwards I met up with Jarod to discuss our plans in Auxerre. We booked a hotel (since none of the trains are still running by the time the concert will be over) and bought our train tickets. And then we ended up just hanging out and talking for a few more hours. I can never stop a conversation once I get one started.
Afterwards I went to grab some food from MyWok, the Asian fast food-type place I tried the other week and liked. I took this photo on the walk to the tram stop; it was just barely spritzing and the streetlights reflected off of the tiny raindrops really nicely. When I got off of the tram, I noticed that there was an actual ramen restaurant next door, but the man inside told me it was fully booked for the night. No big deal; I just got my takeout and went back home.
The most interesting thing about today was planning for Auxerre. Sometimes, the planning for a trip is half the fun! If you’re planning anything right now, I wish you
