I found out that I'll be staying in Miramont for the rest of the month, so I took that as an opportunity to plan the next leg of my journey. I need to be in Modigliana, Italy the first week of September to start my WWOOFing adventure. I bought a train ticket to Milan from Paris, and then will take Italian transportation (train/bus) to my final destination.
I'm pretty excited for this train journey. It's about 7 1/2 hours, and leaves the Gare de Lyon at 6:30am. It travels through rural France before crossing the Alps. We pass through a crazy long tunnel before hitting Italy. You can read more about the journey here. (seat61.com is a great resource for train travel in Europe)
I've been trying to get some local traveling in, too. Last week I took a quick trip to Bordeaux with Bubbles, my bunkmate. We were dropped off at the closest station and shortly found out that our train had been canceled and that the next one wasn't coming for two hours.
The station didn't have Wi-Fi, it was a Sunday evening, and the only restaurant open in Marmande was a Caribbean Cafe. We stopped to get the code, bought a couple of drinks (aka espresso for me, virgin pina colada for her) and bummed around there for a little while. We finally boarded our train after 10pm, and arrived in Bordeaux a little before 11. We checked into an Airbnb for the night and started our next day pretty early.
Our day in Bordeaux consisted of buying pastries, doing some shopping, and looking for public bathrooms (near impossible). I discovered the beauty of Hema, a Dutch store similar to Target. Toothbrush for 75 cents! Muesli for 2 euro! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip. For lunch we ate at a noodle shop similar to Chipotle, where you pick the type of noodles/rice, the proteins, the add-ins, and the sauce. Pretty good, especially after wandering around for so long trying to find something reasonably priced and delicious. Other highlights included the classic cathedral visit, ice cream, and free Wi-Fi by the Apple Store so I could latergram all my photos. We took the train back to Marmande at 4:30pm and picked up a couple of new counselors on the way.
The day before Bordeaux we stopped in Marmande at Decathlon, one of the most magical places I've experienced so far. Think REI, but with ridiculously low prices. My newest acquisition is a small backpack I purchased for 2.95 euro, and is already being put to good use:
At the beginning of August we got a huge group of new counselors. Several from France, a French speaker from Benin, and a handful of new Americans- one from Denver, one from Omaha (who went to the University of Kansas) and one from Appleton, Wisconsin. Midwest represent. The former Jayhawk is my new running buddy, so I'm staying motivated in the mornings. Most of the counselors are veterans from other AmVil camps, and bring a ton of new energy and different ideas to the camp. I'm really happy to have them here.
We have three days left with these kids, and then the last group comes on Tuesday.
This group is really smart and into camp. They're a lot of fun, and I've developed some great relationships with them. I have a perpetual shoulder tapping contest with one kid. Every time he would catch me tapping his should he would say "I view you!" However, I subbed for his ESL class yesterday while the normal counselor was off. Now, he says "I SAW you!" Victory.
It has been abnormally rainy this session, so on my days off I've spent a lot time reading and sleeping. Last Saturday I took a hike after lunch and found a tree full of plums. I of course loaded my pockets to bring them back to camp.
Today is my last day off this session, and I hope it clears up enough in the afternoon so I can go for a walk. Otherwise, another counselor and I are headed into town for dinner to check out the African Restaurant. Will report back :)
I'm pretty excited for this train journey. It's about 7 1/2 hours, and leaves the Gare de Lyon at 6:30am. It travels through rural France before crossing the Alps. We pass through a crazy long tunnel before hitting Italy. You can read more about the journey here. (seat61.com is a great resource for train travel in Europe)
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| Not a bad time to wait for a train |
The station didn't have Wi-Fi, it was a Sunday evening, and the only restaurant open in Marmande was a Caribbean Cafe. We stopped to get the code, bought a couple of drinks (aka espresso for me, virgin pina colada for her) and bummed around there for a little while. We finally boarded our train after 10pm, and arrived in Bordeaux a little before 11. We checked into an Airbnb for the night and started our next day pretty early.
Our day in Bordeaux consisted of buying pastries, doing some shopping, and looking for public bathrooms (near impossible). I discovered the beauty of Hema, a Dutch store similar to Target. Toothbrush for 75 cents! Muesli for 2 euro! Definitely one of the highlights of our trip. For lunch we ate at a noodle shop similar to Chipotle, where you pick the type of noodles/rice, the proteins, the add-ins, and the sauce. Pretty good, especially after wandering around for so long trying to find something reasonably priced and delicious. Other highlights included the classic cathedral visit, ice cream, and free Wi-Fi by the Apple Store so I could latergram all my photos. We took the train back to Marmande at 4:30pm and picked up a couple of new counselors on the way.
The day before Bordeaux we stopped in Marmande at Decathlon, one of the most magical places I've experienced so far. Think REI, but with ridiculously low prices. My newest acquisition is a small backpack I purchased for 2.95 euro, and is already being put to good use:
 |
| On the way back from Bordeaux |
At the beginning of August we got a huge group of new counselors. Several from France, a French speaker from Benin, and a handful of new Americans- one from Denver, one from Omaha (who went to the University of Kansas) and one from Appleton, Wisconsin. Midwest represent. The former Jayhawk is my new running buddy, so I'm staying motivated in the mornings. Most of the counselors are veterans from other AmVil camps, and bring a ton of new energy and different ideas to the camp. I'm really happy to have them here.
We have three days left with these kids, and then the last group comes on Tuesday.
This group is really smart and into camp. They're a lot of fun, and I've developed some great relationships with them. I have a perpetual shoulder tapping contest with one kid. Every time he would catch me tapping his should he would say "I view you!" However, I subbed for his ESL class yesterday while the normal counselor was off. Now, he says "I SAW you!" Victory.
It has been abnormally rainy this session, so on my days off I've spent a lot time reading and sleeping. Last Saturday I took a hike after lunch and found a tree full of plums. I of course loaded my pockets to bring them back to camp.
Today is my last day off this session, and I hope it clears up enough in the afternoon so I can go for a walk. Otherwise, another counselor and I are headed into town for dinner to check out the African Restaurant. Will report back :)
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