Super-Duper Wacky n' Tacky Euro Adventure

Oh, I just had the most frantic dash to Gare du Nord after I was a little too lackadaisical with my packing and left just 45 minutes before my train left for me to cross town and with some really heavy bags. I don’t understand it. I just sent 10 kilos of winter clothes home (and it cost me too!) but my bags are still making me feel similar to a donkey in rural Mexico. Speaking of Mexico, I’ve seen so many Mexican jerseys hopping on to this exact train, and I haven’t really heard a word of French yet! I hope at least some of them stick around in Berlin with me to watch the game on the big screen.

Quick note about this train: It’s not a couchette. They are upright seats – six of them in a cabin that usually sleeps four – and there are none of the usual amenities I’ve come to expect (water, ear plugs, napkins). Oh the poor student’s life! Well, I can’t really complain at all since I got the ticket for the absolutely ridiculous price of 25 euro. Damn, I thought I might have the whole cabin to myself, but a French couple just walked in three minutes before the train leaves!

So Darren is in China. Yeah, I know I was supposed to meet up with him right away when I got in Berlin, but it just seems right in line with what Darren might do: just up and take a trip to China. Luckily he’ll be back by tomorrow night to begin the football festivities. It’s also good because I still have four pesky pages left on my human rights paper! I’ve been so bogged down with these stupid papers, but I guess I always have that good experience of writing forty-five freaking pages in a quarter! Whatever happened to the whole “abroad isn’t like on campus” mentality? Never trust the French to ever adopt an American mentality. The upside is I’m pretty sure the GPA will benefit from the work. I especially enjoyed my Econ class, and I’m a little disappointed that our teacher isn’t a teacher at Stanford (he’s from Sciences-Po). I would def choose him as my advisor in a second Actually, I haven’t even met my real advisor. I should set up a meeting with her when I get back to Stanford. I am supposed to be graduating soon after all (no, never!!!).

Alright, I’m waaaaay to bushed to write a longer entry than this. Special thanks to Tim and his amazing central-Paris apartment for making me so tired. The ‘gualle de bois’ has been worth it.

So the nachtung train wasn’t the beauty-sleep express, but I suppose it did the trick…for now. I got into zoogarten (that’s not the actual name, but rather what I prefer to call it) station at exactly 8:05am. These are the times when the added conveniences of overnight trains begin to not seem that nice. It’s before 11am right now and I am finding myself drinking my first coffee of the day. There will probably be more, and this weekend doesn’t have much of a big sleeping aspect attached to it. I might have gotten more sleep, but my lonely cabin (the couple left shortly after) was bombarded by a couple teenagers from Paris that were looking to chill and smoke certain substances without their cabin mates freaking out. I told them it was cool to crash the party and invited them in. After I got done with my IHT and they finished their sandwiched and chips we got to talking for awhile and had one of those great international conversations that you can only have on a train in Europe. In Brussels we picked up a Dutch character who added in to the fun. Five hours of sleep later and I got in to Berlin. I took a lovely walk from zoogarten to Potserdam Platz where I am now writing this entry. This area of town is ultra modern and cool and will probably be my main hand out area to chill with folks as we watch the games on the big screen this weekend.

In a distinct contrast to last night on the train, there seem to only be Swedish jerseys allowed in this city. I think that game is tomorrow or today, but either way, the fans are out in force. I like that most Europeans can get here for super cheap, and they seem to be bringing the whole family too. If I remember correctly, they’re playing Korea. That’s what it would seem as that’s the only other jerseys I’ve seen mixed in with the expected German and Brazilian affairs (how in the world are there so many Brazilian fans everywhere?).

Well I’m bushed and my paper, for some reason, doesn’t seem to be writing itself. Bummer. Gotta get to work.

but that's ok with me! The summer is most definitely welcome as it looks to get around 89 degrees (OMG!) in Paris today. Ok, I here the snikering from all the way over in Texas, but keep in mind that air conditioning is not so common here. Especially in my really warm room where I'm writing this right now.

Just got done with my one and only final and turned in the ten-pager for that class. That would leave slightly less than four pages on the total countdown to be turned in Thursday. Looks like I have most of Thursday to bum around in Berlin before Darren gets back into town, so I'm thinking a nice bier, snitzel (or maybe a wurst), and a conclusion could make a good Thursday activity before the football matches start later in the day.

Almost outta here! Train leaves tomorrow at 8pm.