Day before going Home

As I sit here writing this, I can’t help but feel sad. Tomorrow I leave France after almost four months of the best experience I have ever had in my life. I have met so many amazing people and have had so many life changing experiences that I can’t even truly express how grateful I am that I have been able to go on this trip. I’m so grateful to my host mom for welcoming me into her family so openly and going far past what is expected of a “host mom”. I don’t see her as my “host mom” but as my French mom. She has been there with me for every bad day and okay day and always waiting up for me when I return from a weekend trip. She has been such a vital person in my life here in France.

I will also miss my host brother Paul who has openly accepted me. Though he is nicknamed Paul the Terrible, he really does have one of the biggest hearts of anyone I know. I know that I will forever cherish the colorings he has made me and the two Christmas cards. He has been just like a little brother to me. And I hope he is old enough to remember who I am. He has been a constant source of joy for me as I have never had a younger sibling. Though he can sometimes have a lot of energy, he has reminded me that every day is a day to cherish and make the best of.

I will not miss the showers here, or the constant need to preserve water or electricity. I have a new awareness of just how much of this we use and how we feel that it will be a resource that will last forever though it will not.

When I first came here I worried about my fluency level with French and fear that I wouldn’t assimilate into the culture. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I assimilated completely into my family and with their help have grown far more confident in speaking. I no longer have the fear of saying something incorrectly and ca switch between the languages much faster than I used to. My only fear now is that my English has taken a turn for the worst because of constantly speaking and writing in French.

I think that Franc is very similar to what I thought it would be. Even though I was never able to find Escargot and the French do not eat crazy and bizarre foods like I thought, there are occasions where I had to give an odd glance at what I was going to be eating. I also was worried about being mugged and though I was attemptedly pick pocketed I was smart in travelling and was always aware of stranger’s access to my personal items.

I am excited to go home as well. I know I will miss my french friends that I have made here and am a bit worried about keeping in contact with them, but with all the technology that we have now days, I think it will not be too difficult. I also worry about keeping in touch with my French Family. I really want to keep them involved in my life. I am excited to see my friends and family when I get home and to be able to share some of my experience with them. I worry about re-assimilating into life at home, but it will be better knowing that they are right there to support me.

Sad Speed Blogs

... because I don't want to dwell in the sad...

 

Monday:

Didn’t have class. Woke up t 12:30 . Started packing after breakfast. Went to school to go to tea place. Didnt study. Had to pee 6 times. Went to the cave. Met up with friends. Went to Pata Crepe. Had last friend dinner. Funny waiter. Really full. Very chocolatey ice cream. Funny faces. Broke the wall. Weird mood.

Tuesday:

Woke up. Started Packing. Went to History. Don’t really remember taking the test. Then went and walked around shopping. I had bad luck. Tred to find something to wear to church for before Christmas. Go really frustrated with myself. Saw myself in a full length mirror for the first time in 4 months. Wasn’t happy. Got frustrated and went home. Then forgot I had to buy picture frames for Madame and Pauls gifts. Went back out and bought them. Then when we came home we did a family Christmas and had my favorite chicken. I played with Paul a lot and he really enjoyed all of his gifts. Madame gave me a poster and Laurence gave me a horn heart which are now illegal. I don’t want to really elaborate but it was a really fun night. And I will always remember it. When we were done Madame and I drank some coke from our Pepsi glasses and reflected a bit. It was nice.

Wednesday:

Then the next day I slept in and then packed. I went to my translation final then stuck around the school to hang with my friends. We hung out in the cave until we went out to Coco Boheme. Sally and Sara didn’t want to buy anything so they were kicked out. It was kind of like okay bye. Then after that I stuck around with LaSia and talked. It was kind of nice to see her take on things. Then we left and said bye until tomorrow. I went home and finished packing and we had dinner and then Paul came up for the last time. He and I hung out and watched tv and played I’m giving you a hug and then tickling you. It was fun. Then he had to leave and it was sad. I later learned that he actually went back downstairs and cried for over an hour. We stayed up a bit later. I didn’t want to go to bed because then it would be over…. But eventually I had to. Paul was supposed to come up and say goodbye then next morning before school but he ended up being too sad.  

 

Amidst All of the Lasts

This was a mini-day because I woke up at 4 to take Cassidy to the airport. We woke up and put clothes on before going out the door to go meet the bus. It was pretty quiet this morning and we didn’t run into any weirdoes like sometimes happens in the very early morning here as people stay out really late/early sometimes drinking. We were good though so after getting to the bus and putting her stuff in we climbed aboard and then were off. I listened to my iPod I think most of the way. We were just kind of quiet as it was morning and I was sad to see her go.

When we got there it was still a pretty quiet atmosphere and I noticed that the airport had a lot of Christmas lights set up which were really pretty. When we got to the international Hall we learned her flight was put into the National hall of the airport so we had to walk a bit to get to the right check in place. She checked in no problem and I noticed she was over 50 lbs but they didn’t seem to care. So that is cool. I hope they don’t care for me either… But we shall see. Hers were also checked all the way through. So that is good info. Then she sat with me for a bit and I said Bye before she went off into the security line. I bought a bit of internet after she was all the way through and out of sight. Then I sat there for about an hour and twenty for her to take off just to be sure that she wasn’t stuck there.

I Skyped my parents and that was nice to pass the time a bit. I do really miss them. And home so I guess that makes this whole thing a little bit easier. Then once her flight had left I said bye to my parents and got back on the bus to Aix. On the way home I couldn’t help thinking about my last times. The last time on the bus, leaving the airport towards Aix, last few days, last dinner with my friend later that day, last last last. But then amidst all of that I had a first. I saw my first sunrise over Aix. I had never been awake early enough for the sunrise. I hadn’t ever seen it here. Or not only here but in Europe I don’t think. I had always been sleeping during the sunrise. It was beautiful. And it came at a perfect time because it reminded me that this isn’t a last. It’s a first. My first trip to Europe successfully. My first experience completely on my own. It was a good reminder. It’s not the end just another beginning.

Then I got on the bus and was walking home when I saw Will in front of me so I ran ahead to catch up with him just before my turn to go home and I jumped up next to him and freaked him out like I often do because he lives near me so we are constantly following each other around. I love doing it every time. He was on his way to the history final. Win for taking it Wednesday! Then while I was talking to him Madame walked past and said Hi and see you later. It was kind of a fun encounter. Then I went home and came into my room and put my pajamas back on and went to sleep. I was exhausted emotionally and physically. Then I would sleep for about 5 more hours and wake up to my second day within the day.

On top of the World, or at least Paris

 

Today we woke up and decided that we wanted to visit the Sacre-Coeur cathedral that I wanted to see when I was here last time but didn't have the chance to. So then we got all of our stuff together because we had to leave the hotel. We put all our stuff away and suited up for the day and then headed out. As it happened our bags were really heavy and were going to be the bane of our existence for the rest of the day. We got on a metro and then soon got on another to reach the Sacre-Coeur.

We got off the metro with the rest of the people in the world and headed upstairs. When we got up, we had to go through a really crowded street full of people who were selling us stuff and the like. I really hate those streets. It had been closed to cars and because of that the souvenir shops had shoved all of their stands into the middle of the streets in order to force people to look at them. It was stroller city and tons of people just standing in the middle of the flow of traffic which was really annoying. I hated that street. Then we went up on these like little tram things to the top of the hill to the church because our bags were so heavy we didn't want to take the million stairs to the top. When we got there it had a pretty incredible view of the city.

After we took some pictures, we went up some more stairs to get into the church. Again people were selling Eiffel towers and these little wooden trains with names on them and such right where everyone was trying to walk, so you had to watch your step which was really annoying but they get your attention so it works for them. I just hate getting heckled to buy stuff. I guess I am like my parents like that. Whenever they buy cars if they are heckled or passed off they walk away. They also just bought a new car so dad's Altima is mine when I get home which is nice! Yay! I am very happy. But anyways we punched our way into the church. (Hahaha auto correct on iPod too strong!) pushed*.

Inside because it was Sunday they were having a service. I don't know why I thought it would be any different but there were a ton of people looking at the church as well. It was a very beautiful church but I would say less so than Notre Dame. I really liked Notre Dame I decided. This church was more brightly out and also had fewer windows. It was cool because the ceiling was nicely done as well but because the service was going on I didn't get as good of a look at it. We finished looking at the inside of it and decided to go outside and have some water and figure out our next plan. We decided to try and see if there was someplace to leave our bags if we did the dome tour for a fee Euros. There wasn't and with 300 stairs we decided there was no way. We pretty much decided then that we were a bit done with the church and the people so we would go get lunch on our way to the tower of Montparnasse. Cassidy suggested getting it at a restaurant she saw just after the stop on the road on the way up. I said, I would way rather get lunch anywhere but here. We decided we would pop up at the next station that we needed to transfer at and get lunch there. We walked back down the crowded road and now some street guys were doing a thing where they had three things and would mix them up and for like twenty or fifty Euros if you guessed which was the one with the white bottom you could double your money. Easy enough when no one cheats. So people were doing it and losing crap tons of money. I knew someone was cheating but I figured if you were stupid enough to play this game with random street peddlers you didn't know, you deserved to lose a bunch of money. They were making bank off of the stupid tourists. I rolled my eyes and we went into the metro.

Well the next metro stop happened to be stop Pigalle which if anyone knows is in district 9. Which is the red light district. We didn't know that until we got off and saw within the one block radius three sex shops and a building for an erotica show. Oh okay. We decided we were hungry so we walked away from those and towards a restaurant. We went in and it felt really similar to a diner. We both got drinks and food and were very happy. Lunch was a really good turning point for our day because we got to put our bags down and give our backs a rest and because it was only like 1 the place was practically empty and so we were happy. It wasn't sleazy there but Cassidy looked up the area in her Paris guide book it pretty much said yeah don't hang around here too long. It is the sleaziest neighborhood of Paris. But apparently the Moulin Rouge was not too far away. So we decided to see that.

We took the metro down one more stop so we wouldn't have to walk/ carry our bags. It was right there at the stop so we didn't have to feel creeped out walking around that neighborhood. I have never seen the movie Moulin Rouge so I didn't really know anything about it. But I took a picture and Cassidy told me the apartment in the movie was across the street so I took a picture of that too. I don't really know why I was there other than "hey it's a famous thing, let's go." So then after I ran into a souvenir shop next to it to find a gift they didn't have a size for at another one, we left for to the tower. After one subway change and about 20 minutes later we arrived at the tower. We were on our walk towards it when we saw a bank so we jaywalked (which we think is illegal here) to get to it across the street. 

We got money and then crossed the street again (legally this time) to go to the tower. We were a bit worried when we asked the security bag check lady if there was any place to leave our bags. She said no and then I had to ask the scary question of whether we could take them up with us. She said we could. So we bought our tickets and then when we got to her she asked if we would be back down within an hour and we said yeah we would probably be. Then she offered to let us put our bags in a broom closet close to her for the hour because she wasn’t leaving until then. We very graciously accept and then after many thank yous went on our way! We stopped off at the bathroom and then headed up. On the elevator this time they had a little video which said you could also go up three more flights to the top of the building where there was an observation deck. I had done the same tour with Grace last time I had been in France and I hadn’t known about that so I was excited to do that. When we got up we were thirsty so I got a coffee and Cassidy got an Orangina and we sat at the little café and looked out over all of Paris. It was definitely one of my favorite parts of both trips to Paris if not my favorite part each time. I really liked being able to see it all. It was really humbling as Cassidy said. Then we went up to the top floor and took pictures and looked out. The sun was starting to think about setting so it was cool. I’d like to go back and be up there at sunset. I bet it is really cool. I think it really was my favorite part of the trip. It’s so cool to see everything. And I like it better than being on top of the Eiffel Tower because you get to see Paris WITH the Eiffel Tower.

Then after a bit we headed back down and grabbed our stuff before walking over to the Cemetery Montparnasse which we had seen from the tower and Cassidy had looked in her book to see which people she knew that were buried there. She found about four and I didn’t think I knew any of them until she told me that it was Charles Baudelaire who wrote my favorite French poem which I translated on here a few weeks ago about the put the sugar in the coffee and the milk in the coffee and stirring the café au lait etc. I was excited to see that one then. We walked around and saw the ones she wanted to see and then sat for a bit and figured out where we were going to take the metro to get to our train station to go home.
 

We got to the train station pretty fast and we were really happy to have a relatively empty metro train over. When we got there we decided to get hot chocolates so while Cassidy guarded our table I ran in and bought us two hot chocolates and a strawberry cheesecake to share. I think it was a good little goodbye to Paris treat. We sat and talked and killed time and then when we were done, we threw out our plate and then bought some sandwiches for the train ride home. We got on our train with no problems and had an easy train ride home. I spent a lot of time thinking about how soon I am leaving… And what I am coming back to. I’m just worried because I know it will be different from what I have now become used to that it is going to be a rough reverse culture shock. I know I will miss a lot of things about here. And that makes me sad and scares me. But I guess I know I will have support close by to help me get through it. And hot showers. So that is a good thing… But I know it is going to be hard. And not thinking about it isn’t making it any better.

Eventually we got to the TGV station and got on our bus home. I realized I was going to get a lot of trips out of my 2 euro 24 hour pass because I am going to go with Cassidy back to the Airport, and then back in the morning. That will be fun… not. But it is important. When we got back to Aix we talked to Madame for a bit before going to our room so she could sleep. We stayed up until about 12 talking and blogging and heating-padding. I was glad to be up and spending my last bit of time with her. I was hoping to talk to Thad but he wasn’t ever on. So then eventually I went to sleep and Cassidy did the same so that we could wake up in four hours to go catch the bus to the airport.

Versailles and the Sparkles

So today we woke up and after poking around in our room for a bit and having oranges and apple sauce, we took a train to Versailles. We bought our ticket there but then realized that we would be leaving the metro system to get on the train system and our little metro passes wouldn’t work so we ended up paying twice for the tickets. But they were only like six bucks so it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was a pretty long ride from both the metro to the train and also the train to Versailles. It is about a 40 minute ride out from Paris and is its own town. I learned in my history class that it used to take 3 days on horseback to get to Versailles. Then with the invention of trains it took three hours, and now with the newer trains it takes about 45 minutes. Wow the industrialization has changed the world!

I listened to my iPod for most of the ride. It was kind of nice to just have some refection time. I feel like during my trip here I have been doing a lot of go go go and not enough of sit and think. Especially when I have been traveling so much. When we got to Versailles we walked towards he Chateau which was a few blocks down. We passed a few really cool building like one which I think was the hotel de ville because the words equality and Fraternity were on it which along with another word which is slipping my mind, are the three words of the motto of France.  We walked past a souvenir shop which had cheap postcards so I made a note to stop there on the way back. We walked to the castle and because we had already bought tickets on line we didn’t have to wait in line which was really nice. Though it was weird because we didn’t have actual tickets as we hadn’t been able to access the site to print them but when we showed our paper to the very nice lady, she printed them for us and we were good to go. It was nice having pre-purchased them. Then we walked in and took pictures at the big golden gate before going to visit the little Madame’s apartments. They were pretty cool but we did find them a bit smaller than the apartments we would see later. It was interesting to see each style as not all of them were done at the same time or lived in obviously by the same noble lady They were cool but we were more interested in the grand apartments.

The Grand Apartments were the quarters of the Kings and Queens. It was a very lavish set of rooms. We looked at the Apartments du Roi which are the kings’ apartments first where we saw the big dining room and little dining room as well as the kings’ bedroom which took 25 years to restore. It was very lavish and heavily gold and deep red colored. It was very gorgeous but I found it a bit less lavish than the Napoleon Apartments in the Louvre just because the rooms didn’t have as many tables or were nearly as homey. In the bedroom, there was simply a big bed and then some small stools. It was a quite plain room. I am not sure though if that is because they have since moved those things to another museum or if they were lost during the revolution, or whether it was just the style to not have very many things in your rooms. One of the things that I really liked about all of the rooms that we visited was that they had huge fireplaces. They used wood as the source of heat during this time but because of that every room was required to have a nice big fireplace. We also visited the Hercules ballroom which houses the largest one piece of canvas hand painted ceiling in the entire world. It was really beautiful. I didn’t know that bit of information until Cassidy told me. I just thought it was really pretty.

Then after that we visited the Hall of Mirrors which was right next to the Kings apartments. It was really beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Opera Garnier in Paris because of its gold and extravagance. I think I counted over 20 big glass chandeliers. I thought they were really beautiful. I was a bit surprised that it didn’t have more mirrors though for being named the hall of mirrors. It also had a very beautiful view out of the windows to the vast garden below and in the distance, the forest ground for hunting. Versailles was originally made as a hunting cabin and then from there developed into a palace, but hunting and the gardens have always remained a large part of the purpose of the palace because that was its initial purpose.

Next we visited the Queens Apartments which were in a separate wing. The King and Queen obviously couldn’t share apartments and needed their own rooms in separate wings of the palace. I think that I like those apartments more than the Kings because they were more unique and there were details from each of the queens that had lived there because each queen would hire her own designer to change it to fit her. I thought it was cool because it was more of a patchwork of styles. The colors were a lot less comber than the Kings apartments and had more of a womanly touch, which I appreciated.

After that, we decided that we were starving so we went and found a little café sort of place in another part of the chateau. We both got café au lait and a sandwich. Cassidy also got a brownie and I got a chocolate muffin. The bread on the sandwich was VERY chewy so it made our jaws hurt to eat it but other than that, it was very good. I really enjoyed my muffin but it still had the muffin taste, unlike some muffins which just taste like cake without frosting. I like those the best because I don’t really like frosting very much. Cassidy really liked her brownie.

Then after that we went and walked around the garden a bit. It was really cold and Cassidy had thought it would be warmer so she hadn’t brought her heavier coat so we weren’t really into walking around a whole bunch. But we did go out and there were two swans in one of the fountains. It had been turned off because of the cold, but it was still pretty cool. I really liked looking out over the gardens and looking out down towards the big pond like pool. It was really pretty. On the ma it showed that there were a lot of fountains and little garden areas, but because it was winter time all of the fountains were shut off and half frozen, and then also the trees and leaves and such were all dead. We didn’t feel like there was that much to see in the gardens while we were there because of the time of year. I would really like to go back during the spring or summer and spend an afternoon walking around and seeing all of the beautiful gardens and flowers and fountains. We also saw that you could rent bikes or go-carts so that you could see more, but with it being so cold we decided against it. But this was definitely somewhere I would not mind coming back to.

Then it got to be about two so we decided to get a move on and headed out town. We were headed back towards the train station when we stopped and got postcards. I got 10 like normal because they are cool and I think that postcards are a cool way to remember a place I was because they take way better pictures than I do and can get some nicer angles. Later this evening I was telling Dad that I wanted a like book that had sleeves to put my post cards in and he said okay for like 25 or a hundred? And I was like ummm… Probably more like 130? I have a lot of postcards. I get 10 from everywhere I go usually. So I have quite a lot. I think they are a relatively cheap souvenir and they will be an easy thing to take to show people when they ask how my trip was. Though I guess I should get a smaller group of pictures together for when people want to see MY pictures… That will be tough. It’s hard to take 9,000 pictures and then pick just some to show… That will be a challenge for another day. I think that everyone should just read my blog don’t you? ;-) There is a ton more explanation and it will remember more things than I will!

I also bought some other things at the shop which I can’t reveal because some of them are Christmas Presents. I have ALMOST finished buying for everyone. I will be done once I get back to Aix because I have some things that I want to buy there and I know where to get them but I know what they are and who for, so then it will be easy to get everything done. I also don’t have finals on Monday; I just have to wake up early and take Cassidy to the Airport and make sure that she gets on her flight. SO I will be up super early and chilling at the airport for quite a while tomorrow. Boring. But oh well. That’s what friends are for right? But while at that shop I found a little bottle of perfume that I liked and looks really cute (I just tried to spell it qute, English is too hard!). I think it was a good little purchase for me. But the problem with buying stuff at this shop was that then I had to pack it around all day. It wasn’t heavy, but I didn’t bring my bigger bag with me so it was carrying around plastic bags which wasn’t very fun. 

We took the same train back to Paris but got off a few stops earlier at the Eiffel tower stop. We started walking in the direction of it and away from the other Tourists which Cassidy was like a bit freaked that we weren’t going to the right way, but I told her to trust me. When we got around the next corner there it was! She was kind of unimpressed. And was like wow it is a lot browner than I thought it would be. I said the same thing. Why is it so photo shopped in all of its pictures to look super silver/gray but then in reality is brown? Why did anyone pick brown to paint it anyways?  But she was a bit unimpressed with it. We walked out a little farther and got pictures with it, but then decided to go get dinner and wait for it to get dark. It was only about 4:30 when we sat down. It felt kind of late so we ordered for dinner, but then once the food got there we realized that wait a second, we aren’t even hungry. We just ate like three hours ago. Well this was kind of a waste. We ate what we could and then decided that we just weren’t going to be able to eat a lot more. We got water as well and I decided that I had been dehydrated lately so I decided next time we found a store I was going to buy a water. The waiter was a nice guy though and wasn’t a jerk and didn’t charge us water and bring us the bottled stuff. Thanks waiter guy! Then we left after Cassidy barely touched her pasta and I ate my burger but left all the fries. Cassidy had picked at them a bit but they were pretty much all still there.

Then we got out and Cassidy was like do we really have to stay around here until the next hour and I was like yes. The Eiffel tower sparkles on the hour for about two or three minutes and it is cool to see so I made her wait. I went into a few other tourist shops until I realized Cassidy really hated them. Then we found a pastry shop so we went in and I got a Buchette de Noel which is a Christmas log. It is like a chocolate cake rolled up sort of like hostess rolls but all chocolate. It was really good but really hard to eat because they didn’t give me a fork. Oops. So I made do. It was really good and I am glad I bought it but it probably didn’t help me start eating better… It’s just too hard to think about it in France. I will worry about it when I get home…And after Christmas. I do miss the gym though which is something that I didn’t think I would miss. But I miss it.

 

Then after that we walked around a bit more before deciding to duck into a café to get warm until the hour. I got a tea and Cassidy got a hot chocolate. My tea was SUPER hot. I was under time constraints though so I just opened the top and stirred it a lot to get it to cool down. But then we got ready to leave and Cassidy thought she lost one of her new leather gloves but it had been zipped into her coat so it was all good. We walked back over to the Eiffel tower which Cassidy liked much more at night. I think it is way cooler at night. We found a little bench with a spectacular view of the tower. And as we were sitting there Cassidy was like, “does it noticeable sparkle?” And I was like uhh yeah you will notice. Then it started and she was more impressed. We took pictures and ogled at it for a while before starting off in the direction of the metro to go over to the Champs Elysee and the Arc de Triumphe. We walked under the tower and when we went out the other side Cassidy noticed that is had Nelson Mandela’s name and years on it. I thought that was kind of cool. It also had some lights shining out from it. I think that is a cool thing for France to have done.

 

We walked down to the metro stop and then got on to go to the Champs Elysee. We got off on the Champs-Elysee stop which spit us off at the center of the road no at the far end by the arc. We decided that was better than transferring trains again. So then we got up from the stairs of the Metro and we like ohhh goodness gracious. There were SOOO many people. The Champs Elysee is famous for being a huge road with a ton of really high-class shops on it which we sure as heck didn’t want to pay for. So we just walked down it. There were lots of lights which looked like hula hoops and then lot s of the shops had decorated some more for Christmas. There were just so many people that for Cassidy and I who don’t like large crowds it was a little too overwhelming. We both don’t like Malls because of the people and noise and this was exactly that. It was so many people and slow people and people pushing you and no order or direction and it was just far too chaotic for us. It was too much so we were just like let’s get our pictures in front of the Arc and then get the heck out of here!!! We eventually got to the top. This was a feat in itself. And when we got there we got our pictures. Cassidy’s was a bit hard to get because a police car stopped like RIGHT in front of where we were taking pictures and then just stayed there. So then we had to move to get a good picture.

Then we said great let’s find the closest Metro and leave. We went down a passage which ended up not being it and then I consolidated my bags because one was breaking and then turned around. We got on the metro which was crowded and then transferred to our 5 line which had our hotel on it. It was less crowded and we got seats which was nice because our feet hurt! We eventually got back to our hotel and were so happy to be in a quiet and not full of people place. On the way back from our metro there were some weird guys who were on playing music and doing a little weird dance thing which isn’t too terribly uncommon on the metro. But then when they walked around the metro car I noticed that on was wearing tear away pants. And sure enough soon their shirts were off and they were walking around in just pants. And then the ants came off and they like were hanging onto the poles upside down. I was not really in the mood but other people on the metro thought it was funny. I was kind of over it plus I had known it was going to happen before it did so the surprise factor was lost. Yay theater background!

 But when we got back to the hotel we were happy to be there. I took a shower and we chilled. Cassidy uploaded pictures onto facebook and we were chilling and taking until we figured out that we were both pretty hungry at this point so we debated on vending machine or finding a grocery store. Either way we needed snackies. We decided on the vending machine so we wouldn’t have to put clothes back on. But when we got down to the vending machine it didn’t have any decent food. So we went back up to our room and changed and grumbled about it before going down the street to a little convenience store where we bought PMS cookies and toasted bread and cheese which was garlic and herb. Cassidy knew what it was. I got a sunny D which ended up being kind of gross and Cassidy got a berry juice which was also weird. But we ate our cheese and bread and cookies and talked. This adventure was because we were “totes hungry” Then eventually after a couple more hours we were tired enough to go to sleep for our next day!