St. Louis

Last weekend I took the amtrak down to St. Louis.  I didn't know that amtrak has wifi- I was able to work the entire ride down, which was really nice!  A good friend met me at the train station, and we caught up over lunch, and wandered through Forest Park and the art museum until my roommate came to get me.  

The next day my roommate and I got to the arch about an hour after it had opened.  We waited for half an hour to get through security, and another half an hour to get through the ticket line.  By that time, the first ride up to the top of the arch was after 1pm.  We wandered the museum in the bottom of the arch, and then went across the street to the old courthouse.  It's the building where Dred Scott's case was tried, which is kind of interesting.  There is a St. Louis history museum inside.  

When we finally got up to the top of the arch, we spent about twenty minutes leaning over the sides looking out at the city and taking pictures.  Then we went back down again.  It was a lot of waiting for a short time up there, but I'm very glad that we went.  I think it's important to be a tourist sometimes.  

We went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for lunch, and it was wonderful.  We were both starving, since it was after 3, but it was worth the wait.  I love food.  After lunch we walked to the City Museum, which was incredible.  There were tons of little kids there, which surprised me.  If I was a parent I would never take a child there.  There are way too many places to lose it.  As fun as it was, it would have been much more fun if we hadn't been digesting and dying of heat.  We'll just have to go back another time when we're able to climb around!

Sometimes the sun does come out in Marseille

Rainy day in Marseille

It rained Saturday.  All day.  Despite that, we spent most of the day outside, wandering the city.  

 The Cathedral was definitely a lot different from the cathedrals that I've seen in Spain.  There were electric lights, for one thing.

Of course we found the music.

Welcome to Marseille

Observations on the importance of travel preparation

This past weekend a friend and I went to France.  

I don't speak French.

For some reason, it didn't occur to me that this would be a huge problem.  I took French for 3 years ages ago, and made no effort to retain what I learned; in reality, I hated French for the entirety of those years.  Still, I figured that if I reviewed a little before we left it wouldn't be too hard to get by.  Plus, France is close to Spain, so some people probably would speak Spanish, and the internet said that most people in the town we went to spoke English.

False.  Barely anyone spoke English, and I didn't encounter any Spanish speakers at all.  I guess I've been spoiled by the places that I have travelled; I've travelled quite a bit throughout Spain and a bit in Great Britain; even in Portugal everyone that we encountered spoke either English or Spanish.  

I really don't want to perpetuate the stereotype of the stupid American who travels and expects to hear English everywhere, but I know that it was my own fault for making stupid mistakes when it came to preparing for this trip.  So, it only makes sense that I think about the lesson that I learned!

How to prepare for a short trip to where you don't speak the language:

1. Prepare ahead of time.  As in, not two hours before the flight.  Give yourself enough time to actually retain some of the information you're looking up.

2. Listen to the phrases out loud.  Being able to read a useful phrase, being able to say it, and being able to understand it when it is said to you are three completely different skills.  Practice each of them before leaving.

3. If you write down useful questions, make sure to research possible answers.  Being able to ask "Where am I?" is not very useful if you don't know basic directions. 

4. Numbers. Similar to number 3, "How much" won't get you very far if you don't understand numbers.

5. Learn basic verbs.  I didn't think to look up the infinitives of basic verbs that we use all the time here.  If I went back I would be sure to know things like to be, to have, and to go, in addition to phrases.

6. Situational phrases.  Airport parts, general signs, bathrooms.  All important.  

It seems like a lot of work to prepare to go somewhere where you don't know the language.  Despite what I've just said, I actually did do some leg work ahead of time; most of it was only halfway useful, though. I think that this comes down to knowing what you need to be prepared.  If I were to be going somewhere for more than a weekend I would probably invest in a pocket dictionary, and actually really make an effort to learn before hand.  It would be worth the time and effort to not feel completely useless for days.  

Málaga: el Alcazar

In the middle of downtown Málaga there's what appears, from the ground, to be some sort of stone ruin.  There's a brick path to follow to get in to it; this leads to an office where you have to pay to get in.  We almost turned back, but I'm so glad that we didn't, for two reasons.  First, admission was 60 cents with a student id.  Second, we got to see what was probably the coolest structure that I've been in in Spain.  Inside the alcazar we found beautiful gardins, balconies overlooking the city, and  a palace.  The path inside keeps going up and up, and from the top we could see all of Malaga to one side, and mountains and the sea to the other.  It was gorgeous.

It was hot and sunny, but there was a cool sea breeze rolling in.  All of Malaga smells incredible, from some sort of floral tree; it smelled even better inside the alcazar.  As if things couldn't get any better, from the top of where we climbed to we could hear the music from the processions.  Sure, I'll take a band concert from the top of a tower.