Quickest recap ever. Location: Prague!

I know it's been forever since I posted so I just wanted to give a quick recap (this might be incoherent).

In the past two weeks I've celebrated 2 birthdays (not just mine- also Hal's), taken 4 midterms and shown dad and Erik all around Paris. It's been absolute insanity- half miserable and half super fun. There are quite a few things I want to post about, but I just arrived in Prague and I'm so hungry. Sometime in the future I'll write a post about Hal's birthday dinner out and another post about dad's visit... For now, here's the deal for the next few days:

Wednesday, October 26th- Friday, October 28th Prague!

We're staying in a great hostel on Wenscelas Square. It's much nicer than I expected and even though we didn't pay for an ensuite bathroom, it's literally one step to a single person bathroom across the hall. So far it doesn't seem like a ton of other people are here but it may be because everyone's out having fun. Hopefully tonight we'll meet some new friends. We took EasyJet here from Paris and it was actually really easy and really great. The one hour flight went by quickly and we got here to the hostel without any problems.

Friday we take the train to Berlin so Friday, October 28th- Tuesday (bright and early at 9 AM), November 1st we'll be there, staying in another hostel.

Okay off to eat and explore! As I mentioned, I'll do my best to keep updating... Hal brought his computer so I'm on email too.

Love,
Anj

P.S. Czech is the craziest language! Now all my email buttons and everything has been translated... We're struggling a little bit, but at least everyone important speaks English.

Food, wine, repeat. Location: Bordeaux.

This weekend CIEE took us to Bordeaux! It was super fun and a great vacation away from the city (an odd idea, isn't it? a vacation away from Paris). The trip was fully included and planned in every sense so for the most part, it was stress free. Just as in orientation, I definitely got frustrated with constantly traveling in a large group, but it was nice to do cool things without thinking about the cost. 

We took the TGV high speed train to Bordeaux Friday afternoon at 2 PM and from the moment we arrived all I did was eat and drink. Every meal we had included 3 very rich, very delicious courses (appetizer, main course, dessert) and every meal we had included bottles and bottles of incredible wine. The first evening we got there we went on a night bus tour of the city. Bordeaux is actually a lot more  cosmopolitan than I expected and I really liked what I saw of it. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to wander around on our own, so I'd love to go back some day and spend more time there. 

Saturday we went to Saint Emilion, a ridiculously old town about an hour away from Bordeaux famous for its intense wine production. We saw catacombs there and visited a winery for a tour and tasting. 

 The town of Saint-Emilion.

 Me and Caroline.

Me and Hal at the winery.

Last night we had free time after dinner so Hal, Lizzie, Tyler and I went to the carnival in town and some bars. It was really nice to enjoy a fun night in a new place with cool people. That sounds so silly and simple, but it was great to do something so stress-free. 

This morning we woke up (too early) and went to a food and antiques market in Bordeaux. Again, we didn't have a lot of time there... like I said, lots of reasons to go back!

The marché. 

I'm not sure if I've written about my program before, but if I haven't, some information is necessary in order to understand my experience here. CIEE is kind of a bullshit program. The staff for the most part is sweet and helpful, but the difference in effectiveness between CIEE and Tufts in Madrid is striking. For example, I've already met with the director of Tufts in Madrid to discuss what kind of host family I want, what kind of cultural activities I am looking for and what kind of nonprofit I would like to volunteer at. When I'm in Madrid, my program will specifically direct me to art classes, yoga classes, dance classes and anything else that I might be interested in as well as reimburse me for all costs. CIEE on the other hand, has one volunteer opportunity that I'm not interested in, and has been totally unhelpful in facilitating my search for dance classes. You get what you pay for clearly because CIEE is definitely a cheaper program. So that's the framework I'm dealing with. Then, there are the students in the program... a whole other story. I swear, CIEE draws the weirdest people that go to American colleges. I wish I could describe some of them for your amusement, but I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt over the internet and honestly I wouldn't be able to do them justice anyway. Hal, our friends and I have all experienced numerous out-of-body moments when spending time with these people where we ask ourselves, "who are you people? where the hell am I?" Most of the time it's pretty hilarious and then there are times when it's embarrassing and frustrating. All of that said, this weekend was still pretty fun.

October is the craziest month... this week is about to be soo busy with my birthday then Hal's birthday and dad arriving. Then next week I have 3 midterms in 3 days then the following week I go to Prague and Berlin! I'll do my best to keep updating about all my adventures...

Love,
Anj

Homesickness. Location: Paris.

This is a subject that I hesitate to write about because often dwelling on it makes it worse. I also would never want to worry anyone, but it is a part of the study abroad experience so I figure it deserves a little attention.

This was the first weekend since I've been here in Paris that I got fairly homesick. I've been sick recently and frustrated at some of the people on my program and generally, when things aren't going quite right, homesickness is an obvious side effect. I missed my family a lot this weekend especially when I realized how long it will be before I see them again. I also missed Tufts and my dance company and being in really great sociology classes and being involved in some sort of service work and the Bay Area and Mexican food and New York and the Brooklyn DA's Office and dim sum and chicken corn soup and my friends from Tufts and my friends from home and my cats and my car...

Homesickness for me has changed so much since I first left Mill Valley for Medford. In a way it has gotten easier as I'm more and more used to being away from people and places and things that I love. And in a way, it's just gotten more complicated because now there are more people and places and things that I love so there's a lot more to miss. There were points this weekend when I felt so frustrated with it that I was really questioning whether or not I want to go to Spain next semester. It's hard not seeing my family every 6 weeks and it's hard to feel so disconnected from the Tufts community. In the same way, though, I know I picked these experiences for this year for really good reasons. I also know that these feelings are a part of my lifestyle that I have to get used to. Unless I plan on staying in one place forever and never challenging myself or being independent, I'm always going to be a little homesick. In a few months when I leave Paris, I know I'm going to miss it here too. I'll miss my host family and the friends I met here and the delicious food and my favorite bar and café. It's inevitable. The best I can do is reflect on it and then make myself some of my grandmother's chicken curry. Having people I love around helps too.

Hal and my friend Lizzie at my place last night for chicken curry and cucumber raita. 

Tonight, my host family is making moules frites for dinner and they invited Hal to join us again. It's been a long day of classes and now I have a bunch of work, so it'll be a really great treat. Off to do some reading now...

Love,

Anj