Travel bug? Maybe...

This last week was pretty low key, though I was fine with that--I have had tests and papers scattered all around the last few weeks, and have more in the coming weeks. I can't complain though because I only have 5 weeks of actual school left, and plenty of vacation time throughout, but the end is definitely in sight which is definitely more bitter than sweet for me. Next weekend I will be visiting Anduze, France with my exchange group, and I am pretty excited because with just a little bit of Googling I can already tell it's going to be a really gorgeous city. My final exchange group trip will be at the end of April when we go to Arles and Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer-- I'm excited for that trip because the description mentioned the possibility of horseback riding!

Trips, trips, and more trips. I love that I can fill my time with seeing new places and I have especially come to enjoy the smaller cities that have less of a tourist-vibe to them. That said, trip planning has really been the biggest stress for me at this point because I am doing a lot of it and it can take a bit of time. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT complaining because I much prefer traveling than writing essays or studying for tests, but it definitely takes a lot of effort to plan a bigger trip thoroughly. I have definitely caught a bit of the travel bug, but depending on how complicated the trip is we have a love/hate relationship. Day trips are my favorite-- quick and simple and you don't really need much of a plan! I will be doing MANY more of these throughout these (last :'( ) 9 weeks! Planning my trip to Toulouse and Bordeaux was really simple and we really just needed to figure out a few small details and decide how much we were willing to spend on transportation and housing. A 6 day trip? No big deal.


Now, for the 25 day trip that I have coming up beginning May 15-- that's a different story. First step was to figure out where we wanted to go, easy enough. The second was to decide in what order and to choose days. Pretty straightforward. Then comes transportation and hotels which take much more thought and attention to detail. When it came to choosing hotels, I didn't have HIGH expectations for them. I mean, come on, I am only 21 years old, there's no way I could afford a perfect hotel. I had three expectations out of any hotel I would consider staying at: cleanliness, relatively inexpensive, and in a decent (and safe) location. I used my new favorite hotel search site to find good hotel options (booking.com), and was sure to look at all the maps, prices, reviews and amenities. After a lot of work, I found plenty for each city to have as options. I know, it sounds super over-done, but I am DEFINITELY not the only one of my friends here that has put a ton of time and effort into figuring out their long trips for when school is out. I had hotels picked a while ago, and was set with those.

The biggest pain was trying to figure out what the best way to travel would be, though I already knew it would be by train, I wasn't sure if the Eurail pass would be the better option than just individually purchased tickets. When I started planning it was not. I started looking at things long enough ago that I would have received major discounts had I booked then and there, but I was unable to book at the time and now they are all at normal rates. Now that we have pursued the Eurail idea, and actually understand the process (I really, really hope we do-- tips anyone?), it is definitely the better option as prices have drastically risen for point to point trips. We put our order in for the Eurail pass today, and I am going to the train station tomorrow to see if I can reserve tickets without the pass on me (2/3 times I've asked someone there if I could, I was told it was possible). Coordinating train times can be crazy, which is definitely why I prefer the direct trains, though they tend to be a bit more expensive. Fingers crossed, when I go in tomorrow they will just let me reserve the tickets I want so I can finish reserving the hotels!

It's definitely in my nature to want to get these big things done ahead of time and I am glad that's the case-- planning this out last second would have been an absolute nightmare. At this point, though, I think we have come up with a really good plan, though a few things may be added and adjusted. So, because I don't have any new and exciting pictures to share with you today-- I'll break down our trip itinerary a bit instead!

Paris (Hotel is just off the Seine and down the street from the Eiffel Tower!) May 15th-18th

London May 18th-22nd

Montpellier May 22nd-25th

Barcelona May 25th-28th

Montpellier (with day trips!) May 28th-June 1st

Strasbourg June 1st-3rd

Munich (day trips here too!) June 3rd-7th

Paris June 7th-8th

Chicago June 8th-Mid August

Things I've learned:

• Hotels with bathrooms that have bathtubs and not showers tend to be more expensive. Good thing I prefer showers!
• I always knew that in French "bibliotheque" means library, I never knew that "librairie" means bookstore. Just another faux-ami!
• As I think I've mentioned before, Montpellier is home to a number of VERY young homeless (almost nomadic) people, and almost all of them have dogs. Supposedly, the reasoning behind this is that the police won't arrest or hassle them if they have dogs. Why? Because they're afraid of the population of stray dogs would rise and would cause more issues. No idea if this is true, but definitely an interesting idea.
• What is "Joutes"? French jousting with a twist-- it's on a boat! According to my Civi du Sud teacher, it is a summer time sport and competition in cities around France, like Sete. Tons of people come to watch, and sometimes they even have winter versions of this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDQMxNcJ4Yc&feature=related  
•  Montpellier is ranked 40 out of 45 "Places to go in 2012" by the New York Times! I heard about this a while ago, but was unable to find the correct article until now. They also declared that we have Europe's "sexiest" tram-line, and I completely agree. This city is totally unique, with such a great mix of new and old architecture. Plus, we're on the Mediterranean, you just can't beat that. Needless to say, I am very proud of my French "home" city! http://travel.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/travel/45-places-to-go-in-2012.html?pagewanted=all