technology is so neat

i was just chatting with my dad on skype through my computer. i've used it several times before, and i'm not one of those people who is like "wow internet," but it is very strange to be sitting in this random town in france surrounded by fields and cows chatting with my dad on my computer. ok, maybe i am one of those people who is like, "wow internet!" it has been nice to have a hotel room to myself the past few days, but i want to actually talk to people, so i am looking forward to a more social living experience.

I have found a food that I don't want to "conquer"...

...and its name is Boudin. Blood sausage in English. Unfortunately, I thought it was just regular sausage and was sorely sorely mistaken. For those of you who don't know what this is, gag with me:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_sausage
Yea, so I was starving, but ate like two bites of it because even looking at it made me want to gag. For those of you who know how enthusiastic I am about conquering new foods and old ones, you'll know how bad this must have been. I ate a lot of bread, and just sort of sat there, and the woman came over and asked if things were ok, and I just politely said I was finished, and she was like, "did you know what this was? (in French...actually, for all future quotations, they probably were in French unless otherwise noted)" I shook my head no. She sighed, felt bad, and brought me a free piece of chocolate cake. score, sort of.

this occured in the town of Auxerre, where I took a day trip today, but I am currently based out of Avallon. I had an amazing meal tonight in Avallon, though I was only 5 times as hungry as at lunch, so anything probably would have been good. But it was this fancy buffet, and also a salmon sopping in butter sauce. They serve salmon upside down here from how they do in the u.s. or maybe it is rightside up here. deep philosophical thoughts i'm having here over salmon.

auxerre was cute, but not particularly exciting. i head to vezelay tomorrow. it is supposed to be rainy for the next few days...i hope the weather report is wrong :(

anyway, i should probably finish up my writing early tonight so i can get a good night's sleep finally

un, deux, troyes!

i am writing from a funky cyber cafe/bar in troyes covered in film stills of american movies and strange decorations like a pinball machine, a lamp made out of a tree tunk, and 5 foot tall fake flower. i left paris this morning, and reached the city with ease (though I didn't know I had to stamp my ticket on the train, but when the conductor realized i wasn't french, he nodded and wrote "estrangere" on the back of my ticket, and then punched it. ah. ) i'm figuring stuff out, and actually conversing in french. unlike paris, even when people realize that my french is not amazing, there english is worse, so we continue to talk in french. this is exciting.
amongst many other things, i went to a museum of tools, and got a phone. if you want to call me, email me and i'll send you my number. sorry, but i probably won't call you because the minutes are painfully expensive when you don't have a real phone plan and have to buy them a la carte. anyway, i'm off to go check out some bars (rather early) because i'm still a bit jet lagged and have my first night of writing ahead of me!

CDG Airport--The Journey Stalled for a bit

So British Airways lost my darling backpack, and I sat in Charles de Gaulle airport from 10am to 8pm when my backpack finally arrived. It would have been really really terrible except that wonderful Amy, who is in Paris, and who is currently folding shirts next to me, spent all day with me at the airport. Highlights included sitting, groaning, taking walks through the different terminals, eating McDonalds, and watching a French romance novel circle round and round on the baggage picker upper thingy. Anyway, I am exhausted, and all in all the journey took 24 hours from leaving my house to leaving CDG. I leave for Troyes early tomorrow morning and am currently staying with Sarah Fishman's really nice cousins!!!

Anyway, ugh, don't fly British Airways if you have a half hour connection. You may make the flight (huffing and puffing), but your baggage won't.

JFK Airport-The Journey Begins

Hi all. Hopefully I'll keep up with this. I was not so good about it last year on the not so famous or infamous alizainparis.blogspot.com blog, but maybe I'll be better about this one. I am currently in JFK airport on their 7.95 wireless, but probably will be boarding soon. Anyway, hope everyone has a great summer and check up on this blog from time to time

Love,
Aliza