The Tale of Katie and Super High Altitudes

I can't believe how long it's taken me to update!! Sorry!

It's now been over a month since we returned from Peru (just about 5 weeks), and it already feels like a dream.

We had a little bit of a misadventure right at the beginning -- I had made an appointment at the Aveda Institute to get my hair cut and to change back to a "normal" color (from the purple bangs I had last semester) for the day before our flight. We were flying out of Ft. Lauderdale and decided (after the appointment was made) to leave the day before and spend the night in Ft. Lauderdale with Molly's family. My appointment was in the morning, though, and we were planning on leaving in the early afternoon, and so I thought it would be fine. After all, how long could a simple cut and color take??

If you guessed 8 hours, you were right. Yes, I sat in a salon chair from 10am until nigh on 5pm. And I didn't get the color I really wanted, nor did I actually get the haircut because by the time the color was done, I pretty much just bolted out the door as fast as I can. Luckily we weren't on a SUPER tight schedule -- we ended up leaving around 6pm (instead of 2). And our flight wasn't until the following afternoon.

When we made it to Lima, we waited overnight in the airport for our flight to Cusco the next morning at 6am. (Note to self: next time, book a hostel.) We finally got into Cusco around 8am on Saturday morning after spending a sleepless night sitting on the airport floor and got checked into our hostel, which was a beautiful building -- an old mansion repurposed into a hostel. It had a lovely courtyard where we napped for a couple hours on beanbags before taking a quick walking tour of a local flea market.

Cusco is absolutely beautiful. I really loved all the architecture, but I'll be honest: the altitude and the hills KILLED me. Our hostel happened to be perched near the top of a pretty steep hill. I climbed up it that first day on our way back from the walking tour, and by the time we got to the hostel, my heartbeat felt like a hummingbird's. I vowed to not walk back up that hill again. Luckily, taxis were very cheap.

I slept for nearly 12 hours our first night in Cusco, so on Sunday I felt a bit better. We walked down to the main square where there was some sort of parade happening, and then we took a walking tour. Though the worst of the altitude sickness had worn off by then, the hills were still brutal and I very nearly didn't make it to the end of the tour. But Molly pushed me to keep going (she didn't want to get separated) and I'm glad she did. There was a cooking demonstration at the end where we got to try ceviche (a Peruvian specialty -- raw fish marinated in lemon juice) and a quinoa salad. Even though seafood usually makes me feel queasy, the ceviche was actually really good. Later that day, we walked down to the textile museum where they have an exhibit on the history & tradition of weaving in Peru and women who sit and weave right in the shop. They also have lots of exquisite pieces made by local women. I picked up some alpaca wool yarn spun by Peruvian women that I hope to turn into... something. A scarf maybe. That night, we tried alpaca meat for dinner (alpaca kabobs) and it was really good --  a little bit like lamb.

Celebration in the main square

 

Cathedral

Alpaca being fabulous

Alpaca got a haircut

Weaving

On Monday morning we took the train to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo). The train ride was so lovely. (I know, I'm super biased because I just adore train travel.) We paid a little extra money for our tickets to take the slower moving train with extra large windows, and it was well worth it. The route goes through the mountains and part of the Sacred Valley. I'm not sure what it is about mountain landscapes, but they always take my breath away.

We had decided to spend a night in Aguas Calientes instead of trying to cram the round trip journey from Cusco AND seeing Machu Picchu in one day, so once we arrived, we had time to relax in the smallest, most charming tourist trap you'll ever see. The town pretty much built itself around the tourism industry of Machu Picchu, so you really can't blame them for the host of places boasting pizza and spaghetti on their menu. In terms of hills, Aguas Calientes has Cusco beat by a mile. The whole city is built on the side of a mountain basically, so the train station is at the bottom and you walk up, up, up to get anywhere you want to go. There are also hot springs at the very tippy top edge of town (hence the name "Aguas Calientes" -- literally "Hot Waters"). We ventured up there in the afternoon and enjoyed a relaxing swim with mountain scenery before descending back into town to try another Peruvian specialty: roast guinea pig.



For those of you that know me, you'll know that I hate eating anything off a bone and I'm not particularly fond of eating meat that looks like the animal it came from. (Chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs = fine; chicken nuggets shaped like chickens = less so.) When the waiter set the guinea pig on our table -- front paws and back legs splayed out with feet and claws attached, head complete with one beady eye (not sure what happened to the other one) and teeth -- I wasn't sure I'd be able to actually eat anything.

Roast guinea pig

But I braved it and picked gingerly at a hind quarter with my fork. The fork proved entirely ineffective, so I eventually picked it up and tried to eat it like the waiter had suggested. Honestly, it was pretty good -- the skin tasted like bacon and the meat itself tasted like a cross between chicken and frog. We both ended up refusing to eat the head, so I guess we'll never know if it was served with brains still inside. (Anyone braver than us who can share?)

On Tuesday, we got the first bus out to Machu Picchu at 5:30am -- making it up the mountain by 6. I had decided on Monday to try to take diamox for altitude sickness (I was still pretty tired and not very hungry on Sunday) just to see how bad the side effects were (they were minimal), so I took them again Tuesday to combat any possible altitude sickness while we were there (and again on Wednesday in Cusco).

Before we left, I had bought a Machu Picchu guidebook, written by people who had actually worked as archaeologists on the site -- Molly and I both read it before departing as the reviews on Amazon had suggested. So we started by following the route in the book -- heading up to the guard tower for "the most amazing first view of the city". The first view? Honestly: unimpressive. But this was largely due to the fact that there were thick clouds still blanketing the mountain so you could maybe see about 20 feet down and that was about it.

We sat around for a bit (I had already tripped on the stairs on the way up) to try to wait for the clouds to dissipate a little bit. They did, but only minimally, so we finally decided to head down into the city, figuring that we could always climb back up afterward if we wanted.

I let Molly take the guidebook and lead us around while I took photos. The entire thing was just incredible. I won't go step-by-step through our visit, but I'll just say that I am 1. in awe of the Inca people and 2. pretty proud of myself for making it DOWN some of the most terrifying staircases in existence (Hello, my name is Katie and I'm TERRIFIED of heights) as well as UP those very same staircases and all the way back up to the guard tower.

By the time we finished exploring the city, I honestly thought it was going to take everything I had just to make it back to the exit, let alone all the way back up to the guard tower for the "quintessential view" of Machu Picchu. But we sort of accidentally ended up on a one-way path up there and before I knew it, we were so close that I decided that I would kick myself if I didn't. I told Molly to go ahead (I was moving pretty slowly) and that I'd meet her at the top. And I did!

Llamas are the most adorable animals (other than my kittens, of course)

In hindsight, taking a vacation to one of the most physically demanding places at what is probably the low-point in my physical health was a pretty bad decision, but I made it! And I'm super proud of myself for doing so. I would like to get fit and maybe return to Peru later in life so that I can actually hike the Inca trail and climb Hyuana Picchu. 

After climbing to the guard tower, we decided to head back down to Aguas Calientes to do a load of laundry before catching the train back to Cusco.

Since our train back to Cusco was mostly after sunset, there were no spectacular views on the way back, but the crew put on a little fashion show for us to model the alpaca wool garments they sold. When we got back to Cusco, we headed back to the same hostel that we had stayed in before.

Back in Cusco, and feeling a LOT better thanks to diamox, we were able to do a bit more -- we went to the San Francisco Monastery to see the catacombs (small, but creepy), the cathedral, and the Monastery of Saint Domingo as well as taking a cheap bus tour up to Sacsayhuaman (pronounced a bit like "sexy woman"). If we had had time, I think Sacsayhuaman would have been interesting (it was another Inca site), but as it was, we only had about a 5 minute stop where we could take pictures from a distance.

View from the top of the bus

Cusco from above

Sacsayhuaman

The next day, we flew back to Lima early in the morning (even though our flight was a bit delayed). We checked into the hostel and relaxed for a couple hours before heading out to get lunch and books (me for my soon-to-be-born niece and her for her recently-born nephew). Then Molly wanted to walk into the center of the city. We were staying in an area of Lima called Miraflores which is almost like a suburb of the city. It was about a 3 hour walk, but it was straight down this beautiful boulevard lined with trees and benches. By the time we got to the center of town, we stopped to relax in a park before heading toward the main square where we looked around and got a taxi back to the hotel.

On Friday, we took a taxi into the city center and did a bit of church hopping -- we went to the cathedral and a monastery. We also found a little literary museum. In the early evening, we took yet another taxi (Lima is HUGE -- much bigger than I expected) out to Hard Rock Cafe, which happened to be in a giant mall where we found a fantastic bookstore and bought yet more books. Then we got a taxi back to Miraflores where we went to Larco Mar which is a mall (another one, I know!) that is set into the cliffside. We ate at a restaurant there for Molly's birthday (which was Saturday) and we were right in front of a window looking out over the ocean.

Center of the main square

The monastery

The coast at night from our dinner table

On Saturday, we basically walked along the cliffs all day -- we went down to Barranco, then made our way through several of the cliffside parks and stopped to watch some parasailing before heading back to our hostel to pick up our luggage and head to the airport.

Since we got back, life has been a bit of a blur. I got a bad cold almost immediately upon our return to Tallahassee (at least it held off until I was at home), and then spent a week trying to clean and organize my apartment while packing for MI. I made the 19-hour drive to Michigan and spent a wonderful week and a half with my parents and family -- we went to the zoo, IKEA (where I got my very first piece of IKEA furniture), and to my brother and sister-in-law's baby shower. Finally I drove home to Tallahassee where I had less than a week to get my apartment in order and pack for France.

Yesterday morning, I took the bus from Tallahassee to Orlando and spent the night near the airport and now I'm waiting to board the first of my 3 flights on my way to France -- first to Toronto, then to Frankfurt, then finally to Marseille. I'll have about a week in the Provence region before I head up to Paris for the month of July and then once the students go home, I'll be spending about a week and a half exploring Lille, Luxembourg, and Belgium.

Exciting News: An Update About Life

Last I wrote, I was just settling into my apartment in Tallahassee. By now I have survived nearly two semesters here (~6 weeks left in the current semester). And I love it. I really love this city, and I love my apartment, love the campus, love the weather.

Tallahassee now feels like home. In August, I adopted a beautiful little fur-baby named Penny. She is the absolute sweetest cat. Then in October, I adopted another kitten named Pepper. She is quite the handful. But she's sweet when she's not bouncing off the walls and getting into trouble.

Penny is so cute!

She's just the sweetest.

She gets into all sorts of trouble.

Pepper is adorable when she's cuddling

It's now just the beginning of Spring Break -- I've got tons of work to do, but it'll be nice to have a week off from going to classes and teaching. Honestly, all I can think about is planning for this summer.

In May, a couple other TAs and I will be going to Peru for a week. Planning is still in the early stages as of now (only just bought the plane tickets a few hours ago), but the general plan is to hit Lima, Cusco, and Machu Picchu.

Then, in June I'll be leaving for Europe again -- I got a post as the program assistant for the study abroad program in Paris. Basically, I get an all-expenses-paid trip to Paris. And I'm taking advantage of my time over there to go a bit early and come back a bit later -- the initial plan is to travel around Provence (Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Avignon) before Paris, then to travel around north-eastern France, Luxembourg, and the Walloon region of Belgium (Lille, Luxembourg City, and flying out of Brussels). I actually got the news back in October, but was waiting to get confirmation that we had gotten enough participants and were actually going before I announced anything.

I'll also be visiting Michigan near the end of May to spend some time with my family, and then again in September for a Super Special Event for my best friend, Vanessa.

It's hard to believe I'm nearly halfway finished with my Masters. But this time next year, I'll be finishing up my thesis and preparing for comps and graduation. I'm hoping to be able to some research to that end while I'm in Paris -- make use of the libraries and archives of museums, but we'll see what I can work out.

I should be updating again in May about our trip to Peru. And then again over the summer while I'm in Europe.

Until then, DFTBA.

"That's How You Know You've Really Got a Home... You Just Miss It."

So I was catching up on my American shows this week, when Once Upon a Time punched me square in the heart -- "That's how you know you've really got a home. When you leave it there's this feeling you can't shake; you just miss it."

Well if that isn't the story of my life. All week I've been reflecting on what it means to have a home, and where my homes are (and how fortunate I've been to be able to make myself a few different homes).

As I packed up my apartment, bit by little bit, I felt equal parts relief and sadness. Honestly, even though this year as flown by SO fast, and even though there were so many things that I didn't get to do while I've been here, I am ready to go back to Michigan. I feel like I've learned a lot this year, and maybe I've grown a lot too (and found some things that I need to grow a bit more in). It was a wonderful year. Wonderful, exhilarating, lonely and terrible all at the same time. I think most wonderful things are. You need the bad things to highlight the good; you need to learn your limits and to do that you're probably going to overstep them and it's going to suck (Geneva, I'm looking at you). Unlike 2 years ago, I'm ready to move on. I've got a new adventure waiting for me.

But leaving Dax was also incredibly sad. My little studio is the first home that I could call MINE. Sure, I've got a home in Michigan (which has less to do with the place, and more to do with the people). I've also got a home in Orléans. But the place I rest my head in Michigan is not mine -- it belongs to my parents. (Luckily they're pretty cool about letting me decorate my room and stuff, but it's still not really *mine*.) And the home I've got in Orléans belongs to my host family, not to me. Sure, I had dorm rooms at Central, but they were always shared. A compromise -- "I'll bring the futon if you get a TV".  But my studio in Dax was mine. My very first apartment; my very first home all to myself.

Honestly, I was not very excited about my apartment when I got to Dax. I don't know if I mentioned this in an earlier blog post, but the first thing I did when I moved in was cry. I walked in, set my stuff down, faked smiles for the woman settling me in. When she left, I took one look around and started crying. My studio was NOTHING like what I had envisioned myself in. It was more a dorm than an apartment. I was 4000 miles from anyone I knew. I was completely and utterly and inescapably alone. And I cried for a good 10 minutes before picking myself up and getting stuff done.

I was not really happy about moving into the Résidence. It was so far from the center of town, I thought. Not charming. Not typically French. But at the end of the year, I don't think I could have made a better decision. The people who work at the résidence were unfailingly kind and welcoming -- right down to my very last minutes in Dax. Tuesday night there wasn't the typical atélier cuisine because they were showing the residents how to declare their income (for tax purposes). But when I asked about it, they decided to throw together a little dinner in my honor afterward. So Tuesday night I had a wonderful dinner with some of the workers and other residents. Wednesday, Alain drove me to the train station so that I wouldn't have to take the bus with all my luggage.

This year has been a lesson in life not meeting expectations, but turning out pretty awesome anyway. Having had friends who have done the TAPIF program, I thought I had a pretty good idea of how this year would go: I would have super motivated classes, I would spend the year eating baguettes and cheese, I would meet people who would become friends for life, I would live in a super chic little apartment and wake up to the smell of baking bread, etc etc. Life, I thought, was going to be GREAT.

Well, turns out none of that happened (okay, I DID eat a lot of baguettes and cheese). With the exception of a few of my younger classes, my students couldn't have cared less about learning English (some of them were pretty awesome anyway, some of them were little horrors about it).  Instead of really meeting people here (other than a few of the professors I worked with), I became closer with people back home.

Mostly this year has taught me to avoid expectations. (Or lower them, at the very least.) It's been a lesson of learning that I don't have control over everything (case in point: France's airline workers decided to go on strike today, so my flight to Dublin is delayed). It's been learning that being alone doesn't necessarily mean being lonely, and that being lonely is okay. It's been coping with big life decisions and doing what's best for me even when it hurts. Learning to let people go. Getting closer to people I love.

There's a part of me that doesn't want to come back to the States yet. Many of the other assistants are still here, traveling around the continent and generally having a blast. There are so many places that I still want to see (the blessing and curse of traveling -- the more you see, the more you realize there is to see). There's a part of me that wants to drop off my baggage in Michigan, stay for a few days to hug my parents and watch my mom graduate and then pack up my backpack and keep going.

But there's another part of me (the old-lady part, I think) that craves going home. I'm not as young as I once was (23 and SO OLD) -- my knees can't take the walking they used to (I swear I walked like 20 miles a day in Rome; now I do like 10 and am completely dead), living out of a backpack is less appealing, I get tired more, I'm learning to appreciate solo travel AND traveling with people (HOLLA to the best travel buddies: Vanessa and Melissa). Mostly I just want a solid home base. It's nice to come home to MY bed to sleep. As much as I dream about taking off and backpacking for a year or two, I'm not sure I could handle it. At least not yet. Maybe in a few years.

I think I'm ready for my next adventure. Or at least, I'm ready for a bit of calm before the storm. I've got two months to cuddle up with my mom and my cats and my puppy. Two months to pack up my life. Two months to brush up on some basic French grammar (irregular verbs WHY). And then it's on to Tallahassee.

It's time to make myself a new home. (And how fitting that it's Tallahassee -- the city two of my favorite characters from Once Upon a Time wanted to call home.)

The Stuff of Legend

Right after Vanessa left on Monday morning, I met up with my friend, Melissa (from OU), and we flew from Paris to Manchester, and then caught a train over to Cardiff. The countryside was spectacular, and I'm actually really glad that we couldn't get a direct flight from Paris to Cardiff. It was too much fun staring out the windows. (We got in pretty late Monday night, so we headed right to the hostel and got some shuteye.)

On our first day in Cardiff, we went to the National Museum in Cardiff -- a wonderful combination of natural history and art. First we wandered around the natural history part before taking a quick guided art tour. While wandering around, I noticed a familiar staircase....

From "Vincent and the Doctor" (Doctor Who) -- my favorite episode

After the art tour, we got to take a behind-the-scenes archaeology tour where we were led to the basement of the museum and even got to handle tools as old as 400,000 years!

The front of the National Museum

The architecture in Cardiff is absolutely gorgeous

We turned in a bit early on Tuesday so that we could plan for the next couple days (and also get a nice spot of afternoon tea in the hostel common room).

I really need to get myself a fancy tea service

Wednesday morning, I headed off to Cardiff Bay to see the Doctor Who Experience, which was amazing -- part interactive show, part museum. I had quite a bit of fun here, and then met Melissa for lunch.

Outside the experience, waiting for it to open

TARDIS on the bay!

Costume of Professor River Song (I hope I get to wear outfits this cool as a professor)

The costume of the First Doctor

The Second Doctor

The Third Doctor

The Fourth Doctor

The Fifth Doctor

The Sixth Doctor

The Seventh Doctor

The Eighth Doctor

The Ninth Doctor

The Tenth Doctor

The Eleventh Doctor's Costumes

In the TARDIS

Fighting off some Daleks

Protecting my TARDIS

Falling out into the time vortex

Cyberman

Whole bunch of daleks

Weeping angel (and cherubs)

Rose's Outfit from the 50th Anniversary

With the 3 TARDIS'

While I was experiencing Doctor Who, Melissa went to an open air museum, and then we met up in the bay for lunch before heading back into the city to see the castle.

Millennium Center on the bay

Gorgeous red brick church

Chilling in front of the bay

The original keep

The medieval castle that was added around the original keep

A most exquisite fireplace

Fables and fairy tales illustrated on the wall of the kids' playroom

The banquet hall

The fireplace in the banquet hall

A pretty spiffy bathroom

Rooftop garden

LIBRARY

The "nut" in the monkey's mouth is actually a button that would ring the bell for the butler downstairs

Mr. Peacock showing off

(Now he's sulking because the female peacock ignored him & his fabulous plumage)

This was one cranky owl -- but so adorable

A little kestrel

HEDWIG

We got to see this guy eating his dinner

Inside the keep

On top of the keep, overlooking Cardiff

The Welsh flag flying from the keep

We accidentally stumbled on a little WWII museum underneath the wall surrounding the keep (a place that was used as a bomb shelter). All of a sudden, a siren went off, and there was the sound of dropping bombs. Scared me half to death before I realized it was just a recording.

The next day, we hopped a train to Newport, where we caught a bus to Caerleon (pronounced "Kay - lee - on" apparently). Caerleon is the site of some ancient roman baths, the remains of a roman barracks, and the remains of an amphitheater. There's also a pretty sweet museum (and it's all free -- hooray!). The coolest thing about Caerleon, though, is that it is, according to historians, one of the potential sites of King Arthur's Court (like legit and for real). So that is SO AMAZING.

Some flowers that were growing outside in the garden of the museum

a 10 minute bus ride and we're already this far out from the city, and it was awesome

The amphitheater -- it looks pretty small, but was actually HUGE

Don't mind me, just climbing into some of the ruins.

In the middle of the amphitheater

To give you an idea of the size (that little dot down there is me)

The barracks

This side of the barracks was for the centurions -- you can tell because of the different layout of their rooms compared to the other soldiers

In the baths, trying on some roman gear (I'm SO ready for battle)

It was really dark and therefore hard to get photos of the ruins of the baths themselves, but they were pretty impressive

As we were walking around, we found this little courtyard called "Ffwrwm" (Welsh for "a seat" and derived from the Latin "forum") which has got a bunch of little crafty type shops as well as some cafés. It's also got a bunch of stuff representing King Arthur.

A giant Welsh love spoon

Arthur fighting Mordred

Athur's Throne

There's just some statues in a field and I'm not sure why...

It's pretty cool, though.

After returning from Caerleon, we spent the afternoon in the shops making fun of the 90s that have apparently decided to make a comeback in British fashion (seriously -- crop tops, scrunchies, plaid shirts tied around the waist). Then we went over to Pettigrew Tea Rooms for afternoon tea and it was AMAZING.

The most British invention to ever British -- the travel tea kettle

90s fashion here to save the day

Delicious lemon and lavender cake

Traditional Welsh cakes

Lavender earl grey tea

(the type of tea they used -- I almost bought some, but figured I'd search in the US when I get home)

 After tea, we headed out to a pub for dinner, and then went back to the hostel to taste the local beer -- Brains.

Dragon doing Thriller

Brains -- it was SO good

We left early on Friday morning, taking the train back to Manchester, then flying into Paris. My train back to Dax was pretty late in the evening (at 10 to 10pm), so I met up with a friend who happened to be in town. It was great to see Stacie since I hadn't seen her since we studied together 2 years ago at Orléans -- we caught up over a drink and then she headed off to meet the friend she was staying with. I wandered over to the Centre Georges Pompidou to take in the Paris skyline one more time, and then I walked down to Notre Dame to say my final farewells since I don't know when I'll be returning to her.

I took the overnight train from Paris to Dax, but this time I got an actual bed instead of the reclining seats and managed to get a pretty good night's sleep, all things considered. Finally rolled into my apartment, exhausted, at about 8am.

The last week (since I got back from Cardiff) has flown by. I had my very last two days at the middle school which passed really well. My very last class even nearly made me cry -- one of the students made enough little American flags for the whole class, so they all came in smiling and waving their American flags. THEN, they had made me a giant card, which the whole class had signed. AND THEN, about half the class got up and presented me with little handmade notes and cards. All in all, it made for an incredibly sweet send-off, and I'm hoping to keep in touch with the students via a special "assistant" email account I made just for them.

Thursday morning I hopped on the train and headed to Orléans to visit my host family. It was a wonderful few days filled mostly with game playing. I also got to meet their current host student, who is a really sweet American girl who grew up in the Ukraine. We spent quite a bit of time talking together. I can't believe how big the girls have gotten! Philou has just started learning how to read in French, and so she read me a story on Saturday morning (or rather, most of a story; about 3/4 through, she went "I'm TIRED of reading" so I finished reading the story to her). We played quite a bit of Rumikub as well, and it was just really wonderful to see them all again.

Now I'm back in Dax for about 10 days before I ship back to the US. I am currently frantically trying to pack and clean my apartment. Also upload as many photos as possible to the blog since, as of tomorrow, I will have to cut off my internet line (which means basically no internet in my apartment).

For those of you who don't know, I will be moving to Florida this summer to start my graduate studies at Florida State University. (I've got just enough time to get my France stuff unpacked and pack up my entire life at home in MI basically, then I've got to move down to the Sunshine State).


That's pretty much all for now. I'll probably try to do a "Year-In-Review" post or something en route back to the US, or when I get back. Until next time, DFTBA.