Sunday, December 16, 2007

Restless

I feel like I'm wasting my time here. One of my main reasons for coming here to France, for doing this program, was to have the opportunity to travel, and that just hasn't happened. I've been to Soissons, the town where I live, I spent a weekend in Amiens, a day in Laon, half a day in Chauny, a couple of hours in Saint Quentin, and I've been to Paris a lot. That's it. I'm happy I've been to those places, but I really want to travel. I already wasted Toussaint (although there were reasons for that). My family is coming for winter vacation (only a week left now!!!) and while I'm so excited to see them, I think we're just staying in Paris. I've been there already. Then my plan is to go to Lyon for New Year's, maybe to Dijon after that. I had thought about going to see my friend Joanna in Prague but plane tickets are expensive. I need to go places! Not other places in France, I want to go to other countries. And I'm running out of time. After this break I only have two more, and I have huge list of places I want to see. I guess I just have to prioritize now. Part of the problem is that I have so little free time during the week that by the time it's vacation and I want to go somewhere it's super expensive and I haven't made any plans. Bravo to me.

I've started breaking up my list of places to go into weekend vs need longer to be there. So here's my list of places needing more time, not in any order:

London (could be a couple of weekend trips)
Italy (Rome, Florence, Venice (although canals may be too dirty))
Greece (Athens, Peloponnesus sites, an island or two) (also possible to do in summer with parents and Dad's coworkers (half of them are Greek))
Vienna, Salzburg, and Budapest
Prague
Ireland
Scotland
Scandinavia (cruise in the summer?)
Spain (although this could be dumped because there are other places I would rather go)

Anyone interested?

2 comments:

J said...

I know what you mean! I want to travel too! I'm just so lazy with planning trips, and I can't seem to find the time or people to travel with (and I will not travel alone - too boring!)

I really want to do trips to Berlin, Prague & Budapest; Slovenia & Croatia; and Scotland & Scandinavia. I've already been to England, Italy, Austria, Ireland, & Spain so I don't know if I want spend money going back to places I've already been. Not sure if I'm interested in Greece, but then again, it will probably be the only warm place for the February vacation... Ooh, and in France, I really want to go to Strasbourg and Rennes. Lyon is only a 1.5 hour drive/2 hour train from here, so maybe I could meet up with you there sometime?

In any case, keep me posted about your travel plans. I really want to travel again in 2008! I haven't been anywhere in like 6 months and I'm going crazy. Though I usually fly out of Geneva since it's 45 minutes from here; I imagine you fly out of Paris. But we could meet up somewhere!

shannon said...

I love London! Definitely want to go there again! Italy is on my "Must See" list. My friend studied in Rome, and she said it was amazing. I also would really like to go to Greece (and I know Lauren wants to as well) and Ireland. Ooh! And Scotland. Was that on your list? My other "OMG! I must go there!" place is Tunisia. I am going to kick myself if I don't go there while I'm here. But that is definitely not somewhere where I want to go alone.

What are your thoughts for the February vacation? I know some of the Noyon assistants are heading to Rome for a few days then. Apparently, there's really cheap flights. Plus, Venice would be amazing then as it's Carnival (does it have an e at the end?) time, so it should be amazing! Though that's something that would have to be decided asap because hotels will be booked up fast if not already. Let me what you're thinking!