Almost the end.

Well, I've come to the end of my YouEsseAye travels.

It was great,
it was emotional,
it was depressing,
it was uplifiting,
it was... interesting.

It was inspirational.
I want to paint and I wrote my first poem since I left here last December. Wow.

A year ago, I never thought that I would love this place so much, that I'd come back. If you would have asked me a year ago what I would be doing in July 2010, I would have probably concocted some vague answer that included Spain or France. I would have never guessed I would have embarked on this crazy crazy trip of insanity that gave me a lot of clear-mindedness. Perhaps, it was even cheaper than therapy! Perhaps, it would have been cheaper to just hire a shrink. Anyway,
Some stand-out moments;

• arriving to NYC from London in business class, seeing the big apple from above with the lights glittering
• many good dinners with good friends (during the whole 6 weeks)
• turning 21 in NY/NJ
• The Barking Dog cafe
• getting asked for my ID when buying alcohol (though no-one asked on my actual birthday!!)
• sitting on the side of the road in Jersey at 3am on my birthday after the car broke down
• looking for a mechanic at 7am in heels and a white cocktail dress
• fighting my way to LaGuardia
• smelling eucalyptus in california
• frozen yoghurt in Stanford
• pretty Berkeley
• the sheer amount of pick-up lines recieved while walking around the Mission district of San Francisco.
• spending the night at the SFO airport, on a couch at subway, finding a pill and a penny on the ground. not eating either pill nor penny.
• 2 memorable hours in Texas
• seemingly endless midnight talks
• very unfortunate soccor games (involving Australia and France.)
• finally getting Ceviche again. God, I missed it.
• passing customs into Canada
• passing customs into the USA
• Cristal Monee Hall playing the Montreal Jazz Festival
• Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
• Dad's Tuna Bagels, Montreal.
• watching jeopardy and drinking wine in montreal
• Ben and Jerry's icecream
• finding my way around Paterson, NJ on my own
• JUST making the bus for Baltimore when I thought I missed it
• 4th of July fireworks
• airconditioning
• walking around Baltimore port

well, thats all I could think of off the top of my head.

I'm glad to be going back to France. Very glad. I'm counting the hours until I arrive in Lyon.

And, although I've decided not to come back for a while, I will miss this country. It's an enigma. There's still so much to see/do/discover here.

But I will be back. I know I will. America, you can't get rid of me that easily.

Oreos and Milo.

What kind of country is this?!!

OK, so I understand they have one of the best healthcare and education systems in the world. (Kudos to America for catching up with health care reform though - I was very happy to read about that this morning)

And I get that the cheese is fantastic. And the wine. And the bread. And the language is beautiful and the culture is rich. I get that.

And I've made peace with the fact that they don't have timtams or cherry ripes. (almost)

And I'm slowly coming to terms with the French ignorance towards Milo... very slowly.

HOWEVER, where are all the oreos?!

I have been craving oreos like a mad woman (don't worry, unless I'm going to be the new Mary, I'm not pregnant). I don't know why but I have been longing for the dark chocolatey goodness for the last few days and have spent ridiculous amount (1 Euro) on a packet of 6 tiny oreo cookies.

I wanted a big box. I wanted 48 cookies. I wanted to sit and watch crappy sitcoms all day while munching normal-sized oreos, not these French cornflake-sized oreos, totally undoing all my good work and recent weightloss, and drinking milk out of the carton. I would have to spend 10 euros for that. That's $15! to get the equivalent of a regular box of oreos.

Now, I admit that oreos and I have always had a bit of a one-sided relationship. When I start with one, I can't end with only 6. There has to be more, MORE! That puny little pack of oreos left me so unsatisfied.... quite tragic.

In 68 days, I will be in America, though. In 68 days, after I land at JFK, I will buy myself a huge, industrial sized box of oreos and munch away.

Or, even just an American medium-sized box should keep me fed for about a week.

San Fransisco Dreaming

In just a few months, I will be flying into San Fransisco. I've never been before.

I'm looking forward to visiting the City Lights book store... the cradle of the beat poets. It will be a pilgrimage.

I don't know why that popped into my head.

Perhaps the European winter is getting to me. I havent budged from this huge arm chair but to refill my hot cup of tea. As much as I love sitting by the fire place with the soft glow of the lamp and the alps visible from the city, I think my bones are begining to crave some vitamin D, and my brain is responding with thoughts of California.

soon enough, I'll be counting down until the first snow. It's almost Spring!!! (can you believe how quickly winter is over?!)

xx a

The long, torturous trip to NYC

Well, I am here in NY and I love it. However, I am so screwed up that I would love anything that is not a plane, or a helicopter or hot air balloon. Anyway, I am glad to be on solid ground. So, lets start from the beginning.

I woke up at 3am today, which was really yesterday, because today is tomorrow. (It makes sense, ok?!) and headed to Adelaide Airport, and yet another surprise, EVERYONE was there!!! I was floored. Thanks to everyone who made the hideously early journey to the airport to see me off. I was sobbing quite a while into my melb flght. In melb, I spoke to the wonderous Amelia for quite a while, as the bloody Syndey and Aukland flights kept getting announced over the PA. However, no amount of annoying PA stuff would save me from the inevitable - a Qantas fuck-up!

My flight was an hr and a half delayed, and as I only had an hr and a half in LA --- I thought I'd miss my flight to NYC. However, since there were about 20 people on the same transfer, they waited for us. (how lovely). No matter how lovely it was, or how nice the new A380 Airbuses are, with individual touchscreens, new bathrooms and skycams, 14.30 hrs on a plane is torture. Especially because I felt sick, had the window seat so had to keep pushing past the two lovely californian ladies next to me (one of whom had the worlds cutest kids!) and Qantas didnt feed us for ages, I thought I would pass out!!! And, all the novelty of the new plane fades quickly especially when the jerk infront of you reclines his chair so you can barely eat your mushy, chalk-tasting vegetarian meal (and yet breakfast was lke rocks... go figure!)

But, I finally made it and had to quickly go through customs (no probs), get my luggage and check in again. It was rush, rush, rush with a 27kg suitcase, a 10kg backpack and a book-filled handbag. I was sweating like crazing in humid Los Angeles. While flying into LA though, I found it so ugly!! But it was so nice to see something that wasnt black and water (even though we flew over the Christmas Islands and Hawaii, it was night and who would see them/care anyway, it's all ocean). I only slept for like 2 hours on that blasted flight.

The flight to NY was wonderful though! Even though I was at the very back on the plane. The views over California, Nevada and Arizona are just amazing - deserts, canyons and mountain ranges. I had some amazing photo ops.

And New York!!! MY GOD! I love it. I was in the bus with my mouth gaping open, it's just like in the movies. It's amazing. Except the people are actually nice. And everyone in America is SO BLOODY HOT! Its like an insanely disproportionate amount of hot people in NY.

I was lucky enough to miss the first bus I could get, so there was amazing views as the city lit up through the fog. The skyline is amazing. Total tourist; mouth gaping like an empty thearte stage. Grand Central Station is also just breath taking. There is a reason they call it GRAND. And on the subway, I constantly had someone to help with my luggage, at the hostel the guys helped me get my shit upstairs. But now, I am so so so HUNGRY.

Peace, guys.

-A