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| San Sebastián, Spain |
I’ve been working more hours this semester, heavily stacked to
Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday, and have been a bit more serious about Spanish
classes this semester since I finally found teachers that I like (and actually
learn from). So the time has really gone by quickly. I’ve filled a lot of
weekends with travel, as per usual, and have made it to a lot of cool places –
I got to spend a few (rainy and windy, but exciting) days in San Sebastián
where I got a real language shock going out with Raquel and her very kind
friends, but I learned a huge amount and had a delicious variety of pintxos – I
still dream about the bolas de queso!
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| Budos, France |
I also finally made it to Bordeaux with Lacie, Ryan, Anna, and Jack
and we spent a fantastic weekend doing winery tours (meeting a very kind old
French lady, her terrified dog, and her charming cat) and seeing the centre-ville,
after the Gilet Jaunes had left it anyway. I discovered the Bordeaux wine is
indeed actually all it’s hyped up to be, and we all bought bottles of Graves
and Sauternes that were actually incredible.
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| Santa Cruz, California |
For my 10-day February break, I made the intrepid voyage all the
way to San Francisco which seemed insane beforehand and even more so in
retrospect to hang out with Thomas, Cory, and Jason and to have a little return
to the Pacific. Unfortunately on Day #2, we all got sick with the flu, which
was a truly horrible experience – I hadn’t felt that sick for a very long time,
I could barely move and was pretty much bedridden with a 103.5-degree fever for
three days straight. When the fever finally broke I was stuck with a hacking
cough that came with me all the way back to Europe (making the 11.5-hour plane
ride pretty hellish), essentially limiting the tourism that I was hoping to do
both in the US and after. As it was, in California I managed to see San Jose
and Santa Cruz before getting sick, which was nice, and had a nice time walking
along the beach for those days that I was healthy or recovering, but I
completely missed out on San Francisco and on the Santa Cruz surfing. In
Germany, where I landed, I completely missed out on Frankfurt because of
illness and jetlag, and managed a couple hours of walking through the old town
of Heidelberg the next day (which was very pleasant), but that was it. I had a
long trip back by bus and train to Rennes, and then spent the next week slowly
recovering while teaching. I feel normal now, but it was pretty unfortunate
that I flew 6000 miles each way just to catch the flu. Regardless, it was nice
to see my friends, and sick or not, I appreciated it.
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| Heidelberg, Germany |
Last week I felt well enough to pick traveling back up, and took a
fantastic trip to the Loire Valley to see the chateaux, again with Lacie, Ryan,
and Anna, and with the lovely addition of Luka, Danielle, Alex, and Jorn (who
rented a car to be able to join us!). We ironically missed out on Chenonceau
which is probably the most famous of the Loire castles, but did a good job of
hitting up Chambord, Cheverny, Blois, and Amboise, where I was surprised but
impressed to find the one and only Leonardo da Vinci’s chapel and tomb. It was
a great experience to be able to see so much architecture and countryside with
cool people, I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity.
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| Chambord, France |
For now, I’m trying to optimize the rest of my time in Rennes –
I’ll be taking another few trips to Paris and even as far out as Dijon and
Besançon if all goes well. I’m hoping to make it to Lausanne to see Harsh and
Alberto who I met way back in London (like, 20 blog entries ago), which should
be a great reunion. And finally, I’m planning on spending several weeks in
Nerja, Spain to get some Spanish immersion in April/May.
Cheers as always!
Rennes, France; 14 March 2019.
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