So this just might be it for my Euroblog! Tomorrow, the 27 of July, in the wee wee wee hours of the morning, Claudia, her father, and I are driving down to their camping ground near Rome. I will seldom be around computers there, and when I will be, they will be internet-free, so... August 6 I am home! Gimme a couple days to recover from jet lag and I will get some more pictures up on the computer for all who care to see. Otherwise, I'm pretty much done with this. I look forward to seeing you ALL when I get back! Thanks so much for faithfully reading.
Cheers, and lots of love from overseas,
Kris

oops
heres the link for photos
flickr.com/photos/98594434@N00/

Hello, hello! I am back in Italy now. My gmail account didnt work the last time I was here, but it did today, but... just in case, if anyone would like to reach me, email me at my hotmail account. Gmail gives me problems in Italy. However, I was very glad to see that the my Italian teacher from Dawson sent me her regards from Italy! (Grazie, Signora Barreca! Ci parliamo quando torno a casa, e Le scrivero un messaggio quando ho piu tempo!) I spent the past hour putting photos from my camera onto flickr.com, so follow the link from my previous post if you would like to view the old photos.
So, updates...
Kaja, my dearest German friend, made me cry yesterday evening when we left her. Claudia and I boarded the train and kaja chased after it. She walk with the train as it started off, and then she ran ... I thought people only did that in the movies. I didnt realize how much I had missed her these past 3 years until I left her. I did enjoy my time with her, though, and I told her I will likely see her next year if my plans follow through to study in Florence.
On Friday night, Kaja had to work. She works at a discotheque in Cologne, so we went with her and had free entrance, along with free drinks. Woo!! German people dance funny, but we had a great time. I cant imagine I dance that well either, so i guess I didnt feel out of place, other than being one of the very few non blondes. Cologne is a lovely city. We didnt do any sightseeing which is absolutely fine with me. We chilled, mostly, and it was well deserved, for we were always tired during the whole trip. So it is over.
I love Claudias town. Everyone is so close. In one day, we saw her grandmother four times, her aunt thrice, and her uncle twice. Three meals were cooked for us by her grandmother who, by the way, is an AMAZING cook. Its so nice how she goes out of her way to make me vegan food. So the vegetarianism is finally over and the veganism restarts! We went for a bike ride tonight, Claudia and I, and I drove some ghetto bike... The handlebars shook and the brakes were SO loud. it freaked me out, I being a health/safety freak and there were no helmets to wear. That, and people in Italy supposedly believe that wearing a seatbelt in the backseat is not necessary. haha out of habit, when I first got here a the beginning of July, I put the seatbelt on and theyd actually tel me NOT to put it on!! hahaha ... Which reminds me of another thing: when Italy won the semifinal game and we drove around with the flag, Clayudias mother suggested we take the broken car that they do not use, so this way if we got into an accident, it wouldnt matter. HAHAHAHHA italians are crazy. I love it.
This whole time I was counting down the days to return home. I feel so at home here, though, that now it seems I dont want to leave. The days are passing so velocemente... Fast! Jesus! I am losing my english!! I cant wait for school, hahahaha...
So, out of all the things that were different between home and Europe, here is a list of what stands out:
1-paying to pee. What the hell! peeing is human necessity!! If I gota go, I gota go!! If my pockets are empty, sorry buddy, I gota go!
2-Speaking of peeing, there are MANY different ways to flush toilets here. Buttons on the floor to step on, levers to turn, buttons to push...
3-Convenient corner stores that have FRUIT stands! I am almost positive that I will seek these out in vain when I get home.
4- Stores are closed on Sunday. Mostly.
5-the metros are most convenient. And its easy to ride for free. In Germany, we didnt pay once for the metro. Kaja was sneaky and said we just stand by the machine at which to pay on the metro, and keep an eye out for the guy who checks tickets and if we see him coming, we ... (fare finta??...)... gaaah... we start buyign the ticket. hah!!
6- Hmm... The rest escapes me.
Til next time! Hope everyone is well! Ci parliamo!

Ahoy! I am now in Germany. Guess where... at my friend Kaja's house!! Yes, after I feared I would not be seeing her due to our not being able to get a hold of each other trhough email, she finally called me and she picked usup at the train station in Koln yesterday evening.
We spent the last few days in Amsterdam. I didnt like it at all when we first arrived. It was odd, because all of the other places we visited, I spoke the native language, and so I felt like I somehow belonged. However, Dutch being the native language of Amsterdam, I immediately felt an odd sense of not belonging. Anyway, this feeling passed the first night, when we went to a friendly neighbourhood coffeeshop. This is one thing I must address: as most know, the Netherlands is quite the tolerant and liberal countrz. This being so, prostitution is legal, as i the selling of socalled soft drugs by authoriyed dealers. (forgive me!!! on this German keyboard, the y and the z have switched places!!!) So... Cafes will onlz sell coffee; however, coffee shops sell coffee AND have a weed menu. No joke. I have pictures to prove it. ASo this was quie the interestzing experience!!! Anyway, in Amsterdam, a heat wave rolled through, and we were stuck in the middle of it. Imagine that-- we realiyed that out of 18 travel days, we hadnt felt one dro of rain! We have been SWEATING this eENTIRE trip!!!! Gaaaaaaaaaaah!!! anyway, we made a friend in Amsterdam. His name was Yu and was from Toronto. He was swell. We hung out with him and started a 3 night ritual whee we went to this bar by our hostel and ordered their coffee and apple pie for 3 euros deal. Goood times...
Last night we got to Koln. We chilled with Kaja and it was SO LOVELZ to see her!!!(For those who do not know, by the way, Kaja is a friend who came to Canada in my lat year of hgh school, for 6 months, and we have kept in touch since). Herfamily is lovely. Her mom totally went out of her way to cook us a meal yesterday and breakfast was ready when we woke. A beautiful house she has, and while sit here typing, I am looking out onto a plain in her backyard. HGreenn, sunny... lovely.
That is all.
Fare well!!

ok ! I have some pictures up on flickr.com
flickr.com/photos/98594434@N00/
i hope it works
otherwise, try looking me up under madame_tragedie
i also tried doing youtube videos but i dont think it worked

Look who has pictures!!!! Because of our former hostel\s lack of space for us tonight, we had to change locations for our last night in Paris. Whereas at our last hostel, we were situated 10 minute\s walk from the Eiffel Tower, we are now ten minute\s walk from Moulin Rouge, and about 20 from Montmartre. I didnt find the Moulin Rouger impressive, by the way. But Montrmatre was gorgeous.
Anyway, so we switched from a DISGUSTING, and disorganized hostel to a .... HOTEL!!!! We didnt even realize it when it booked it because it was as cheap as a hostel. We should have been smarter than that cause, well, it is called Hotel Darcet. haha... anyway, so we walk in with our backpacks and were sweating cause its mad hot outside ===forgive the lack of accents and sloppy typing; some genius switched a bunch of the keys here, so im typing where the keys USUALLy are=== anyway, so the room was not ready for us when we arrived, so we carried our tired asses to Montmartre... When we returned our room was readay. Yeah... WE HAVE OUR OWN ROOM! WITH OUR OWN SHOWER! AND IT\S CLEAN!! THERE S A BLOW DRIER IN THE BATHRROM!!! THE TOILET IS CLEAN! THEY SUPPLIED TOWELS AND SOAP!! WE HAVE OUR OWN BEDS ==WELL CLAUDIA AND I SAHRE ONE=== NONO THIS CAPS LOCK IS INTENTIONAL!!!!!!!!!! Oh man.... I feel like the kids in Lord of the Flies, where they slowly become uncivilised and dont notice a thing. Well, we started getting used to the nastiness of hostels... until we got us a ONE STAR HOTEL! Booyah! 5 stars my ass! I can do 1 star ANY DAY, AFter dealing with the nasty shit in hostels.
siiiigh
I have a video link of us freaking out, by the way.
We cancelled most of our Germany trip. My darling friend kaja has not been responding to my messages which means we have no place to stay which mean I will not see her, which means it will be more thna 3 years we dont see each other, which means today I am a very sad girl and whoever mentions her to me gets a swift beating, or a sad face, to say the least.
Tonight is our Ultimate Paris night, because we are making sue to eat all of the trademark Parisian foods. We already each had half a baguette. We will have crepes. And I already had a croissant, which was absolutely delightful. I also bought a raisin baguette which was stale. gaaaah....
ok ill be back to post a link for pics and videos
tomorrow is amsterdam
adios...

Greetings from Paris! Yesterday was Bastille day and there were fireworks in the park by the Eiffel Tower. They were lovely. Usually I do not care for fireworks, though these were quite special: the fireworks were choregraphed to Mozart's symphonies! I've never seen anything like it. It was absolutely lovely. Before they started, Claudia and \i went to get a crepe. mmmmmm... byebye vegan for Europe... :( oh well, life will resume as \i left it when I return in 3 weeks! Today we will go catch a film... thhis morning I went for a jog by theEifeel Tower. (sorry my typing is poor--tthese are metal keys!!) what else... this hostel is DIRTY! and they are sooooo disorganized. Each night we have been here, they make us change rooms. First night, room 20. last night 25. tonight 17. it's quite a nuisance becayse we always have to repakc our stuff. *sigh*... We washed our clothing for the second tie and wwere successful, along with thehelp of a very nice Frenchman.
People are awesome here. \i feel more at home here than anywhere else we havevisted. I can see myself living or studying here. mmmmmmm and the croissantssssss
all right
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMMYCAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! je t'aimme, je t'aime, et tu me manques!!!
cheers
xox

yo yo yo
Last day in Madrid today. We leave for a freakish 13 hour trip at 19.00 and will arrive at 08.00 something tomorrow... Haaaardcore. Im looking forward to Paris. We actually might knock off our London leg of the trip because we know it is very expensive there, and this trip is costing much already, and, well, to be honest, were not really interested anymore in seeing England. I think the time Gill and I spent there at the airports has left a bad taste in our mouths. So, English is pretty much officially out. Instead, we may add an extra day to Paris, move our Amsterdam reservation forward, visit Kaja in Germany around the 20th or 21st instead of the 24th or so, and then we will spend several extra days in Italy and, *ahem Mommy* we will visit your town.
Weve had to budget like crazy. At this point, we eat the free breakfast that is provided by the hostel, and then we survive on baked goods such as croissants, and fruits and nuts and coffee during the day. We have one meal--at night. We have fit in quite well here as we tended to spend the day outside and then be so tired that we´d return to the hostel for the requisite Spanish siesta and then eat at 22.00 . There is a freaky deaky health freak restaurant near our hostel that I wanted to try out, so I went there yesterday, but reservations were required. So, instead, I ate at an ASIAN RESTAURANT just steps away. I had veggie dumplings and veggie spring rolls. SO GOOD!!! Ahhh, how strange it is to say that Asian food reminds me of home ;) hehe... anyway, so thats pretty much it. The architecture is lovely, but nothing I have seen so far was more frightening or impressive than the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. The Duomo in Italy was quite beautiful as well. Anyhoo, people wait to use the computer.
25 days til my return :P (can you tell I miss home? haha) Anyway, Im feeling bette than I felt since my last entry. Ciao a tutti!

Hello from Spain... Madrid to be precise. We arrived yesterday from Barcelona. It was ok. There were way too many tourists! Our hostel was situated just off La Rambla, a main artery of the city. The street performers were hilarious. I can say, without exaggeration, that Claudia and I were kissed by Death one night. haha... One of the street performers was dressed as Death and took a picture with us and then he kissed us on the cheek. good times. We ate out too many times, so we have learned to budget now. We spent way too much money there. The hostel was pretty nice. The people were very friendly! I ddn t get to `practice my spansh at all there because everyone spoke English>! So here I practice, except my Spanish failed me today and I am a little discouraged. I always get mixed up with the words 'front' and 'back' (delante and detras)... Sooo.... today at the laundromat, yeah... instead of putting detergent in the front box, i put it in the back... which was the place for liquid detergent... and the nstructions wee clearly indicated on he board IN EBNGLISH too... except for the front back par, but the spanish instructions confused me. anyway, so we washed our clothes with water. lol whatever at least they dont smell and... well, thats how they did it in the old days, right>! haha... Im growing very homesick. but maybe it´s just a passing emotion. i feel like ive had enough and i still have 3 weeks lfeft!! Well see how the rest of the trip goes... Spain is nice, but I felt really at home when we stopped in Montpellier, France for one night.
Ahhh blessed Quebec...
Were thinking of shortening our stay in some places, just cause we realized (rather, Gill ad I) that were crappy tourists and dont really care to see anything. Im fed up of walking around getting places. i just wana chill, in another country, and do like I do at home. I miss working out. I miss chilling with my dog and reading books.
Oh, so emo!
oh well. i stay cnnected at night by falling aslleep listening to juliana theory.çanywayç
i hope to write again soon!!
take care, all of you, and Ill keep you updated. I have a feeling Ill be happier in Paris. ¨SMILES!!!!