Traveling Again

This summer has been full of travels.

I spent most of June and July in LA, took a week-long trip to Milwaukee, and now am spending three weeks on the East Coast. I've mostly been in New York, but I made a trip to Wilkes-Barre, PA to go to a family reunion (with dozens of third cousins of Ukrainian descent who were completely unaware of my existence, just as I was unaware of theirs). Then I went to New Jersey to see family, and we made a day trip to Philadelphia. In a couple of weeks, I'm off to Paris, where I'll be working as an au pair for several months.

Hopefully my French will improve!

A Day in Venice

Not that Venice.

the travel itch

Where, of all the places you have never been, do you want to go to most?

India

Where do you most want to go back to?

The Netherlands. Also, I’d like to explore more of the little cities in the South of France (Beaulieu-sur-mer, ville-franche sur mer)

Favourite City?

Absolutely New York. I'm coming back!!!

Least favourite city?

Brussels.

Do you speak other languages?

I speak French, hope to be fluent one day. I can say a few words in a smattering of other languages.

Best airport?

Schipol. Lovely airport to sleep in (comfortable couches, quiet, stores open early). Heathrow is nice too.

Worst airport?

Charleroi in Belgium. Sleeping here was not pleasant...

Best travel tips?

Always pack light. You really only need one pair of jeans for a short trip, one pair of shoes (that you can walk in but that look nice) plus flipflops for the shower if you’re staying in a hostel. A small hand towel suffices to dry yourself off, no need to lug around a regular-sized one. Shampoo can serve as soap. An excellent map can make all the difference in a trip, so invest! Don’t eat out for every meal while traveling but buy fresh bread, cheese and fruit at grocery stores or markets and enjoy a picnic in a park, then enjoy one really great meal per day at a restaurant or cafe. Always learn how to say “hello,” “thank you,” and “excuse me” in the local language.

Do your research before you leave. This applies to pretty much everything--where you're staying, transportation, things to do. it’s much more satisfying to discover really interesting, unusual things to do in a city in advance than to wander aimlessly with the maddening tourist throng and end up where everyone else ends up because you didn’t prepare. But leave plenty of room open for improvisation--sometimes it's fun to get lost.

TAKE IT EASY. Be active, see things, plan things, but you don’t have to move at a frantic pace. Each day is so much more enjoyable when you've gotten a full night's sleep and spend sufficient time relaxing.

Some of my fondest travelling memories involve conversations with locals that in several cases have led to lasting interactions or even friendship. Travelling alone has many advantages, but it’s important to stay open to meeting people on your journey.

Things to Look Forward To

-Lunch with a certain someone in 2 days

-Yosemite in 1 month

-Graduation in 4 months

-Israel soon thereafter,

-And then my adult life will begin.

Remembrances, Remonstrances

I've gotten to see so many wonderful places in the past few months. I'll summarize here:

In the Netherlands:

• Utrecht. My favorite city in the Netherlands, and I'm so glad I studied abroad here. It's the perfect city in so many respects: size (not too big, not too small), availability of cultural events, architecture, central location within the country. Highlights of my time here include: the Netherlands Film Festival in September, the Holland Animation Film Festival, Morning Benders concert at Tivoli (cool concert venue with two locations, this was at the smaller one). Afterward my friend and I got into conversation with the bassist, we ended up hanging out with the band all night! There are also some really cool cafes, restaurants and bars in Utrecht. I had a great Indonesian rijsttafel at Blauw, and Cafe Belgie and de Bastaard theatercafe are two great bars.
• Amsterdam. I love Amsterdam, just not so much the areas right around Dom Square, which are overrun by the maddening tourist throng. I love just exploring and walking around, it's a large city but most of the museums and "things to see" are concentrated in a very walkable area.
• Den Haag. I've been three times! The Mauritshuis is now one of my favorite museums--it's small, feels more like a house, and features "The Girl with a Pearl Earring," plus lots of other very wonderful and notable pieces like Vermeer's "View of Delft." Also in the Hague is Panorama Mesdag, a 19th century panorama painting of the seaside resort Scheveningen. Oh yeah, and one of my favorite clothing stores, COS, is in the Hague (only location in the Netherlands). Key detail, I know.
• Leiden. Cool city, not too big, not too small.
• Delft. You can walk past where Vermeer's house was, and I had a delicious piece of helva when I was there...I obviously remember the most crucial details. It was raining the day I went.
• Rotterdam. Not so interesting, it has a much more modern vibe than other Dutch cities and feels pretty industrial. We went to the Boijmans van Beuningen museum (modern art) then stumbled upon this weird art gallery opening where a foot fetishist positioned my feet as I was talking to someone and then took a picture. Great.
• Arnhem. There was a music festival going on the day we went, and everyone was singing carols together in this music hall. Cultural activities are very accessible in this wonderful land.

Internationally, it's too much to record everything I saw. So I'll just note one impression for each city.

• Pisa, Italy. It was very, very hot. I remember sitting on a bench in the sun eating an astoundingly delicious cone of stracciatella gelato.
• Corniglia--Cinque Terre, Italy. Lying on a rock in the Ligurian Sea. I found a tiny crack of shade in which to read, spent a couple hours napping, dipping my feet in the water, and watching the people.
• Ventimiglia, Italy. City right near the French border, as much French spoken on the street as Italian. I was here for literally 20 minutes, but it made a favorable impression on me so why not add it to the list? I had (yet again...) an astoundingly delicious cone of stracciatella gelato. And (yet again) this was the most memorable aspect of my visit. I vividly recall standing at an unmanned gelato counter for a few minutes, knowing that I had to rush back to the train station soon. I began to feel desperate--what if the gelato server never arrived? Finally a French family joined me at the counter. We exchanged exasperated glances--this Italian incompetence! The father yelled impatiently, "Est-ce qu'il y a quelqu'un pour la glace?" Finally, the serving girl came and bestowed upon me the aforementioned treat.
• Nice, France. Meeting the guy mentioned in an earlier post. Giving him a kiss on the cheek by means of a goodbye.
• Monte Carlo, Monaco. Not such a fan of this place. Taking a nap in the cactus garden even though this was probably really socially inappropriate.
• Brussels, Belgium. Again, did not like this city. The main square is impressive, but most of the city was not so great, and the raw oder of eggs occasionally pervaded the air.
• Bruges, Belgium. A fairytale town, a la: "It's a fairytale town, isn't it? How's a fairytale town not somebody's fucking thing?"
• Frankfurt, Germany
• Berlin, Germany
• Brno, Czech Republic. I spent one of the days with an American guy and a Czech businessman who my Czech friend Marketa tutors in English. The encounter was random, but interesting. We spent the day driving around in his Mercedes, then visited the site of the battle of Austerlitz. Then we culminated our day with a hot Czech lunch at one of the gas stations he owns. I also got to hang out with Marketa's friends while in Brno. That was cool, a real insight into Czech culture!
• Prague, Czech Republic. Mulled wine, beef goulash, heard the Czech Philharmonic play, I think the pianist winked at me (but he probably didn't).
• PARIS, France. Too much to say! I went with my Hungarian friend Flora, we had espresso and baguette for breakfast every morning. I went to a writing workshop at Shakespeare & Co. Outside of the bookstore, we ran into this guy Flora knew from Budapest. The next day, we met up him at the Jardin des Plantes, he was eating a chocolate bar. On a different day, Flora and I saw a very interesting looking fellow at this speciality coffee shop near Ile Saint-Louis. He wore round spectacles and a grey hat and had a red beard. He was immersed in his reading. Then we saw him again at Shakespeare & Co., turns out he works there! That was cool. But yeah, Paris was amazing, la la la.

Most people are other people

I'm leaving Utrecht a week from Thursday to go to Israel. I'll be coming back for a couple days in January, but those will be dedicated to packing. Then it's back to the states, and I'll immediately be immersed in classes, job interviews, blah blah.

I'll miss the friends I've made here. They're from all over the world--I mostly hang out with a Hungarian girl, who studies film and likes good music, and writes down everything in her agenda. She's so organized, but it's cool, not neurotic. We went to Paris together, hopefully we'll travel together even after this semester is over. I want to visit her in Budapest, and she wants to come to the US and we'll take a road trip.

I also hang out with a group of French people who go to university in Lyon. One of them, Clemence, is hysterically funny, the way she words things is great. For example, we had a paper due for our feminism class, and she was talking about how she wrote a bunch of crap just hours before it was due, she even forgot to translate one quote back into English from French so it will be completely incomprehensible to the professor. She concluded her story by saying emphatically..."It was a big shit."

She's dating a Dutch guy who works at a bike shop, we call him "the biker shop."

I also hang out with people from Barcelona including an attractive fellow who plays soccer professionally in addition to taking classes, a bunch of rowdy Australian people who had a "no pants" party last week, a girl from Dublin who is also studying English literature, a very interesting Dutch girl who reads a lot and thinks a lot and seems much more mature than 21, and of course the other Americans.

People here are so interesting and inspiring.

A picture from Paris, pretty incongruous with this post, but that's okay:

Vandaag/Today

I'm back from an adventure in the Czech Republic! Will post pictures once I get film developed.

Today I:

-Had my first taste of olliebollen, possibly the most delicious thing I've ever eaten.

-Read "A Room of One's Own" for my feminism class.

-Popped into a few interesting-looking vintage shops that I always bike past but never go in.

-Took a stroll along some of the quieter streets of Utrecht. The still, silent canals, the cobblestones, and and the neat, stepgabled houses still seem so new and wonderful to me. I love Utrecht!