Monday, October 26, 2009

Rain vs. Snow

Heya MATES!
Look at me.. 2 blogs in just about one week.. how good am i... :)
So for the past few days I have been debating with myself the topic of rain vs. Snow- Which one do I prefer. Let me tell you that its not at all that easy of a decision as both sides have fairly good arguments.
It has been raining quite a bit since I got back from my 3 week vacation with mimi and it is also somewhat cold. I hear the people from Valdor yelling right now saying Yeah well at least you don't have to shovel your driveway this morning.... and nope I don't.... but the weather is just so different here. The rain is just SO COLD. SOOOO COLD!!!! and if I remember what It was like in december 2 years ago, its about to get colder. There normally isint a lot of snow but this is where I began to wonder if I would like better snow or rain.

I LOVE walking in the rain. I think it is totally relaxing and very amusing.... but wet... no matter what happens you're wet. If its warm and windy.. you're wet.... if its cold.. well you're wet and most likely pissed off because well.. really no one likes to be wet and cold its just not fun.

When it snows........ well thats a totally different story. When it snows most likely its gonna be cold..... when its windy and snowy ah man thats a drag!! such a drag!! I hate it.. I HATE IT... !!! when you step outside and the first breath of fresh air that you inhale just hurts because its so cold..... or sitting down in a car that is not yet heated up... AHHHHHH AWFULLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just want to get inside as soon as possible... BUT at least you are not wet... damp maybe... but not wet. Walking outside(especially at night) when its not too cold and its snowing big, huge beautiful snowflakes... is just AMAZING. You bundle up with a scarf, a hat, mittens and a good jacket and there is nothing better. And once again you don't get wet. Wow how amazing it is. However... well when it snows then you have to shovel.. which means having to wake up early to dig out your car.. or in sisters case.. waking up at 3 :45 am to go find a parking that is not inside the mall parking lot... SNOWSTORMS... well... not that I would know as i do not have a car.. but I can just imagine that it SUX!

So really the decision is kind of hard...... because I hate the cold... and I hate being wet.. especially with cold freezing rain.....

Well after debating with myself for a while... I came to the conclusion that I enjoy better snow. I rather walk in the snow then get wet in the rain. Im sure if i had a car I would probably think otherwise, but for now this is my decision. I hate all the rain in Paris and i dont think i would mind a nice little snowfall.

But with this said, I was thinking of coming home early as I am very broke, but when I saw the pictures that my aunt sent me of all the snow, I decided I would tough it out and skip the cold quebec winter this year. I deserve it... haha! So i will put on my raincoat and enjoy the cold cold rain and light snowfall of Paris!! :)
Hope everyone is ok!!
Phil i wanna se pictures of your house when its all done!!!!!
Bisous to all!!!
Gen

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Alright Alright! Part DEUX!

Ok.... all my german kids are all served and getting ready to go back to Germany...
So yeah Athens.... I enjoyed it even though it was freaky at night and not what I expected. I dont think i was as disappointed as Mylene because she had been wanting to go there for so long... I guess her expectations were higher than mine. Our hostel was an absolute dump though. It was located right in the center which is the only positive thing. It was a 10 minute walk from the main square... which had a HUGE flea market and a lot of restaurants. You could also get a nice view of the Parthenon!
The window from our hostel would not close and our room was infested with mosquitos. The first night I could barley sleep because I was getting picked all night long. I had huge bites. My sister had quite a bit herself. The last night we did not sleep AT ALL... we tried... but I was so itchy that I turned on the light to find out that my sister was also wide awake.. so we decided to just stay up as we had to wake up at 5:30 anyways to catch our ferry to Santorini. The only good thing was the friendly staff!!!! The walls were falling apart abd the shower was moldy! MMmmMm Lovely!!
Santorini was living in a dream. It was BEAUTIFUL! It was everything I expected from greek islands and even MORE! The white typical greek houses with the flowers and the blue doors.
Our hostel consisted of 2 bedrooms with beds in each room a kitchen, a tv, an amazing bathroom. The hostel in itself had a pool a bar, the possibility to watch DVD's in your room, and a 2 minute walk from the beach.. and all that for 12 euro per person per night. It was a joke!!!!! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!
We rented 4 wheelers and rode around the island, we spent time at the beach, we hiked up an active volcano, we swam in a hot spring, we rode on a boat, saw the most beautiful sunset ever, we relaxed, we tanned, we ate amazing food... I drank a pina colda on the beach... really?? how truly truly amazing!!!! Exactly what we needed to end our vacation. The staff at the hostel was phenomenal... helped make the experience even better!!!!!!!!! The only bad thing about Greece in general is there's a lot of stray dogs.. and that just breaks MY HEART!! it was so sad. Each time we saw one mimi and I were telling each other... no wait... he belongs to this person... oh he is just waiting here because his owner is over there.. you know... the kind of thing to make us feel better... because wow did we feel bad.
I would recommend this to EVERYONE! EVVEEERRYOOONNNEEE!! it is so relaxing and so good!! I would definitely.. and WILL definitely go back!!
Im sure that the majority of you who are reading this blog have access to facebook.. so if you are curious I posted a whole bunch of pictures for every place I visited. GO TAKE THE LOOOOOK!
So all in all it was an amazing adventure.. another one that i will remember for as long as i live.
It was great to see my sister and I was really sad to see her go!!!! Luckily my friend gilles was there to keep me company!!!!
SO GO GO!! GO LOOK AT MY PICTURES!!
Hope all is well.....
and i will TRY to keep this more up to date.. just like i keep promising but never do....
Much love to all
Hope everyone is well!!
Hope the snow hold up back in canada!! haha!!
Here it is cold.. but still no snow...!!! Hopefully there wont be ANY!! I WANT A WARM WINTER!!!

Alright Alright!

So.... just when I was about to GIVE UP this blog because I am so far behind and just the thought of catching up gives me a head ache ..... my aunty Madeleine told me not to as she enjoys reading it. She told me it didn't matter if I didn't write a lot or if I just post some pictures... so I figured.. alright ALRIGHT!!!!

It is currently 7:15 am and I am at work. For those of you who don't know I am still working at the Peace and Love and could NOT be happier. I work 3 night shifts a week from 2 am to 9 am... I work 2 bar shifts from 6pm to 2 am and 1 day shift from 9 am to 6 pm. It is so much fun. Not only is it a cool place to hang out but to work. I enjoy Meeting people fom all around the world. Lately there seem to be a lot of Australians, Canadians and Americans which is fun. I have developped an interests for Australia and Australians because I cant believe just how laid back an fun they ALL are and they have a pretty cool (sexy) accent. Maybe a future trip? I think so. I mean I already have my Travel book to Australia. Maybe in a year or so once I get back to Montreal and start working again.
Anyways, I think that if it weren't for this hostel I would probably be out of Paris by now. Paris is really beautiful... amazingly beautiful but its too big and too busy for me. I can't get use to this lifestyle, actually I don't want to be part of this lifestyle. Definitely don't want to become a Parisian! haha! If I ever told anyone that my dream was to go to Paris, marry a french guy and live in Paris for the rest of my life... well... that is no longer true... But either way it is still the best experience of my life and I am happy!

I have a new roomate! His name is Phil and he is from Philadelphia... whats up with me and Philly huh? He was staying at the hostel and was looking for a roomate and since Joey was leaving soon I told him WHY NOT! He is very cool. Super friendly and helpful! I was lucky to have such wonderful roomates. He just got his french citizenship so i guess he is now French also. He lived in Singapore for a while which I think is pretty amazing. He is also a very good cook! Yay!!! :)

I just came back from a 3 week Euro-trip with my sister. GOD WAS IT SO NICE TO SEE HER!
We started off in Brugge, Belgium (2 nights), Brussels, Belgium (1 night), Cologne, Germany (2 nights), Munich Germany (2 night), Krakow Poland (3 nights), Athens, Greece (3 nights) and then Santorini Greece (4 nights) IT WAS AMAZING!!
First of all Brugge... THUMBS UP! I would recommend it to ANYONE! Its gorgeous!! A little Medieval town with cobblestone steets and brick houses, amazing architecture topped off with lovely canals!! So so soooo cute!!!! One problem though IT HAS TOO MANY CHOCOLATE STORES! They are EVERWHERE!!! Loved it loved it LOVED IT!
Brussels... was... not at all interesting. Alot of people visiting the hostel had told me theres wasnt much to see... which I now understand. I am glad that I went because its the capital of Europe... but I wouldnt go again... So MOM.. you didn't miss much by only seeing the train station. Other than the peeing family (Boy, Girl and now dog (which we didnt see)) there really wasnt anything else. The waffles were out of this world amazing but not good enough to make me wanna go back.
Cologne. I Loved it. Mylene didn't enjoy it as much as I did but I thought it was nice. Friendly little german village. Not much too see but interesting nonetheless. A big cathedral is pretty much the only thing to see and it was a 3 min walk from our hostel so that was perfect. I enjoyed it and would go again. i dont know if I would recommend it to anyone but I liked it.

Munich STRIKES AGAIN! AMAZING!!! Granted it WAS oktoberfest.... but still!!! So we were staying at this really fancy hotel which was a 10 min walk to the site. It was BEYOND my expectations. It was SO HUGE! I was expecting little white tents holding about 100 people. Not MASSIVE cabins holding up to 10 000 people. The atmosphere in those tents was beyond words. People standing up on the tables, singing, Prosting their beers holding each other. Perfect. Thinking about it still gives me goosebumps. We met up with some peopl that were staying at my hostel the night before we left for our trip. One of the guys, Ben was able to get 2 people in a tent with him (because he knew someone who worked there) and instead of choosing his friends because he was with other people, he chose me and my sister. I am still thankful for that. It was so generous of him. So we got in the tent and there we also met up with a friend, Bernhard, who we met last time we were in Munich. It was all so much fun!!! I actually had pains on my hand from hold that 1L of beer...... or the 6L of beer I had that night.... ouch... The thing with Oktoberfest is if you dont go early, you dont get in a tent. You can try and sneak in somehow but still its difficult and really I dont want to start drinking at 7 am.. but if you are not there by that time you probably wont get the chance to get in.... and if you are in a tent and you are not drinking, they kick you out and if you are too drunk then they kick you out... haha so really we were lucky to get in in the afternoon. It was AMAZING! I want to go back every year!!! Also to see Bernhard. He was so nice!! It was great tos ee him again!! We had kept in touch for about 2 years since our last trip. So it was nice, he even let us stay at his house for our last night. Wonderful, wonderful guy! Thanks again Bernhard!
Krakow Poland was also a lot of fun.... I had been looking forward to that for a very long time. Auchwitz is really what I wanted to see. And it was so... interesting. I had been reading about it for so long that it was great to be able to see it with my own eyes. It is hard to describe how I felt once I was in there but it was a great experience. Walking into the different buildings, gas chambers, the museum containing all the hair that was shaved off from the people, all the suitcases, the hair brushes, the shoes..... ahhh... it was something.
The hostel we were staying was was what made krakow so amazing. It was a small apt that was turned into a hostel. There was a tiny living room where mingling was so easy. The people staying there at the same time were so much fun!!!!! I had the best time. If peace and love is my fav hostel, Mosquito is definitely my second favorite hostel!!! I would definitely go there again. The food is also VERY amazing!.. mmmm pierogies... oh wow. And it was also so cheap!! Wow it was cheap! We ate at fancy restaurants for nothing almost!!!! Krakow is also very nice. Very old. Very friendly place.. it felt home-y.... really it did! Iw ould go back to Poland in a heartbeat!
Athens was good yet still disappointing. The ancient greek-y stuff were beautiful but the rest of the city was quite ghettoish actually. Mimi and I went for a walk and we did not feel comfortable at all! We were afraid!!!! The parthenon is impressive though despite being under construction. Very very impressive. All of the columns is really what I think off when I think of ancient greece.
Oups will finish this later.. i have tomake hot chocolate for my group of german kids....