Welcome to The Gambia

Statue at the airport

In Belgium I had to go through border police, since my flight was going to The Gambia. As I approached my terminal, I didn’t see Keyachtta and I figured we must have been on different flights. My smile had turned into a frown, until I saw a hand wave at me and it was Keyachtta, I was no longer alone. On the plane to Gambia, Keyachtta had an empty seat beside of her, so I was able to sit with her on the plane. The plane ride was a total of 6 hours and we were served a beef goulash dinner. I was actually able to sleep on the plane since I had been up most of the night before. We got to Gambia at about 3:15pm (local time) and it just looked hot outside. Although the plane was huge, because the airport didn’t have gates, we had to walk off of the plane and ride a bus to front door. Upon arriving in the airport the first thing you had to do was make it past border police, we had a little trouble since we didn’t know our local address. After

Welcome to The Gambia

calling up Seety, we got the address and were able to claim our luggage.  I had a few problems with one of my bags, so I had to go into the customs office to talk to them about the contents of my bag. I told them it was only snacks and showed them the snacks and I was free to go. Although, as it turns out, I had a bottle of wine that was given to me on my birthday that I completely forgot about. Luckily, I was able to get through customs though. As we were waiting for Seety people kept asking to help us push our carts of luggage, I knew they only wanted money so I kept refusing. Finally an older man took it from me and once we were at the car he asked me to give $5 from the heart. I’m not sure what Seety gave him, but he left us alone. Riding through Gambia was completely different from the U.S. There aren’t any speed limits or stop lights, so people were just driving crazy. We went to view Seety’s apartment and it was quite funny, because he had Americanized the place. He had a flat screen TV, a leather chair, a nice flat type stove, and a high-top marble kitchen table. We thought we would be staying with Seety, but he didn’t have electricity so we had to take cold showers to freshen up and then we headed out to look for a hotel. His friend Jerreh, found us a nice resort called “Lemon Creek” right near the beach. Upon our arrival the man asked for $1,700 for us to stay 30 days, with some tough negotiations, Jerrah got him to agree to $1000 for our entire stay, including breakfast! Personally, I thought he would have come down more, but they settled for that deal.

Our Hotel Resort

After getting our bags into the room, we ate dinner at the hotel. I had grilled chicken topped with pineapple and cheese; it was quite delicious. After dinner, I headed back up to the room and fell asleep shortly; I was quite tired from 28 hours of traveling to Africa. The next morning we woke up and went down to breakfast. Breakfast consisted of baguette, egg cooked to order, sausage, potatoes, yogurt, and

Our room with Mosquito nets

fresh mango. The mango was so fresh I couldn’t stop eating it. I wasn’t a huge fan of the sausage, or the juice that was from a native fruit of Africa. Instead I stuck with milk, even though I believe it was goat milk. After breakfast, we came back to the room for a nap before Seety was expected to get us. After our nap was over Seety had not arrived so we began to get dressed for the day. We met a maid of the hotel who said her sister could braid hair, so hopefully she will be able to braid my hair within the next few days. When Seety showed up, it was to tell us that he was going to see his mother and that he would be back in a 2 hours to pick us up. So we left out and a young man named Keemba asked to walk with us. He took us to a

Inside of the compound

compound, or a residential living space to see how the Gambians live and it was quite a humbling experience. There were children without shoes covered in dirt, but they still smiled and played. Each compound consisted of a man’s wives and their families. Keemba told us that each man is allowed to haveup to four wives in Gambia and all of the wives live within the same compound with a wall that separates them. The doors to each person’s home were open and it looked very dark inside. Most of the people keep their lights off to conserve energy, because electric bills are really expensive in the Gambia. We saw a lot of stray dogs and beauty salons through the compound. We even saw an internet café inside. Keemba took us to the center where there was an open outside market to buy different food items, clothing, and hair products. The flies and nets out there were overwhelming; at this point I was ready to go back to the hotel. The sun was really hot on my skin and I was feeling a little dehydrated. I also didn’t like being inside of the compound because the women were not

Little Gambians

welcoming, they wouldn’t smile at us they just stared. One set of women referred to us as “touba” or white people. The natives have a habit of speaking about you in their language after they are introduced to you, it can become quite annoying. After leaving the compound we came back to the hotel to take a nap and wait for Seety. After waiting for about 3 hours we decided to get up and go get some food, because we could wait no longer. Keemba walked with us to a restaurant not too far from the hotel where we ordered “Chicken Afra.” I thought it was going to be barbeque but it was chopped up chicken

Interesting sign

cooked in onions and a garlic sauce. It was the most disgusting meal that I’ve ever had, but the fried potatoes were pretty good. At dinner, Keemba bought us a Youki, a Gambian soda, and it was pretty good. After dinner we walked to convenient store and bought some Pringles to snack on for the night. We came back to the room and found “Bad Boys” on TV. It was nice to watch an American movie in an foreign country. After the movie I fell asleep shortly. As for today, we I think I have written enough already, so I will update you all later.

Au Revoir Paris!!

My travels to Paris have finally come to a close. My last few days in Paris didn't go as smooth as I had hoped. Saturday morning at breakfast my hostess informed me that I had to leave her apartment by 12pm on Sunday, however my shuttle to the airport wasn't scheduled to pick me up until 5pm. She told me I couldn't even keep my luggage there and that the metro rented out lockers and maybe I could do that. As a young traveler from a foreign country and who only speaks enough French to get by, I was a little terrified, upset, and worried. I knew I couldn't walk around Paris for 5 hours with my entire luggage that was just impossible. I went to the nearest metro station to ask the lockers and the person on duty informed me that keeping luggage was not one of their services. So my hostess had lied to me which was a bit frustrating. I decided to try to enjoy my last day in Paris as best as possible. I started out by visiting the Grand Palace and the Small Grand Palace. They were beautiful on the outside, but they weren't allowing entry on the inside of the buildings. After leaving the Grand Palace I headed across the street to L'Hotel de Invalides.

Napoleon's Tomb

Now, some of the sites that I wanted to see in Paris were simply because my high school French teacher talked so highly of them. Maybe I should have considered other reasons in behind why I wanted to visit some of the sites. For instance, the Hotel of Invalides, I should have considered that it was a burial tomb and Armory and that I have a strong distaste for death, violence, and war. Therefore, I was completely bored. I was so excited to see the exit to the building, for a minute I felt as if I was trapped in some type of maze. Seeing the tomb of Napoleon was cool, I guess it will make for a great conversation piece if I'm ever talking about tomb's of Kings that I've visited :/ Oh and seeing the steel Armor of knights, I guess that could be pretty cool. After leaving the armory, I decided to head to

Outside of Notre Dame

Notre-Dame since it was only one train stop away. When I got there I had just barely missed an ordination ceremony, which was a bit of a bummer. I wasn't able to go inside of Notre-Dame right away; they asked all visitors to come back in two hours to allow them to clean-up. There were a lot of souvenir shops on this block and since I hadn't bought my family members anything yet, I took the opportunity to look around. I found a few cheap stores and was able to get nearly everyone something; I hope I didn't forget anyone. Since my stay in Paris, I hadn't had the chance to eat at a nice restaurant, so I thought I would take the opportunity to eat while I was waiting for the cathedral to open. I got pulled until a Greek Restaurant by a man on the street. I decided to go ahead and eat there, but maybe it was a bad decision. I ordered the Salmon Dinner with fruit salad for dessert. My appetizer looked as if they had dumped three different colored sauces on a plate. I don’t exactly know what it was, but I tasted all 3 of them and didn’t like them.  During my meal the hostess kept coming by to flirt with me. He asked me to meet him for wine after his shift and I gladly declined. Then he walked by, grabbed my forehead and kissed me. Now I know it is normal in the French culture to kiss from cheek-to-cheek as a greeting, but to just kiss someone's forehead is just too much.

The candle I lit for my grandfather

Did I mention he was old? It was quite disgusting, so I decide to eat my Salmon dinner and leave. After I left the restaurant enough time had passed for me to go into the cathedral. The line to get in was ridiculous but luckily it move pretty rapidly. Inside of the cathedral was beautiful, I kept thinking of the movie “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” Outside you could see the gargoyles on the sides of the buildings. Inside of the cathedral there were murals of Jesus’ resurrection and many confessional booths. I lit a candle of prayer for my great-grandfather, Mr. William Foggie. There were also take-away candles for guests to take home. At first I thought people were stealing them, because the sign said 5€, but then I read the small print and it said to just give an offering from the heart. I gave a donation from the wallet or what I had and I took two, one for me and one for my grandmother.  After leaving the cathedral, I wanted to take a walk down the Champs-Elysee, one the most famous avenues in Paris. There were so many people shopping, but it was nice to see the ridiculously expensive stores such as Louis Vuitton and Chanel. I walked up to the Arc de Triomphe and asked a couple if they would take a picture of me.

Arc de Triomphe

I saw a lot of people begging for money on the avenue.

A begging woman

Young girls were dressed up like nuns, on their hands and knees praying with a cup for change in front of them. I bought a pair of shoes while I was out and on the walk back to the metro I spent my last 4€ on a sugar crepe and a can of coke.  From here I headed to the Eiffel Tower to spend my last night in Paris with my favorite site.  By the time my metro reached the Tower it was lit up and really pretty. I was able to get a great picture in front of the tower. There were a lot of people sitting out on the lawn and since I didn’t have anywhere else to go I sat out there for a while also. As I was trying to get a picture of myself a group of girls asked me if they could help me.

The girls from LSU

They turned out to be students studying abroad from LSU. It was great to meet and talk to some young American girls for a while. While we were talking, the Eiffel Tower began its light show and we all just paused in amazement.

The tower all the lit-up

After the light show I headed back to the room since it was so late. The next morning I woke up to pack since I would be leaving very soon. My hostess came in to apologize to me for ruining my stay in Paris and she offered to keep my luggage until 4:30p, so that I could stay in Paris a little while longer. This was quite frustrating, because now I was back to trying to contact my shuttle company. I emailed them to change my time, but I never heard back from them so I went for my last few hours. My shuttle picked me up at 2pm and I was off to the airport. Once again the driving was the absolute worst. I got to the airport around 4pm, so I had 5 hours to wait on my flight. I bought two pieces of bread and some milk and then I purchased an internet connection for $15! I texted online while I waited and the time went by pretty fast. When I got to Germany the airport was massive and empty. It was scary at first, but I walked around until I found a people. My layover was 8 hours and over night, so I tried to stay up, but eventually I went to sleep, but I kept my belongings attached to me. My next flight was to Brussels, Belgium where I would meet Keyachtta, finally!         

The Light show at the Eiffel tower

A day of sight-seeing

The Famous "Mona Lisa

Last night was my first night staying in my room. My hostess seems a bit impersonal. For breakfast she knocked on the the door 3 times and walked away. When I looked out the door, my breakfast was sitting on the stove in the kitchen. My breakfast included a baguette, a croissant, some type of jelly, strawberries, a peach, and orange juice. I only ate the croissant and drank the juice because the strawberries had an odd taste and the peach was a little old. After breakfast I showered and decided to get an early start to the day. I went out to look at the shoes store in my new district, but once I again I didn't find anything. After a failed trip of shopping, I went to Bastille to try to find the place where Marie-Antionette was beheaded, but I couldn't find it. Maybe I will try again tomorrow. After leaving Bastille, I headed to the Louvre Museum. It was much larger than I thought. i spent 4 hours walking around the museum, but I saw priceless pieces such as the Mona Lisa, the Grand Sphinx, Napoleon's Apartments, and the Hammurabi Code.

The Grand Sphinx

I tried to see the most famous pieces of art and still took me four hours. I could feel my feet throbbing and my back was beginning to hurt. After leaving the Louvre I went to the Garden's of the Royal Palace and took a few minutes to recuperate.  I decided to head back to my district for lunch after I was done resting, since lunch would be much cheaper on that side of the city.

Outside of the Louvre's pyramid

I stopped at a street corner to use their Wi-Fi to check my emails, and while reading an email a black Parisian man walked by and spat on me. I was so disgusted and mortified. My head was down and when I felt the spit hit me, I thought to myself is it raining. I looked up and he was running across the road. It took a lot out of me not to curse him out, but I had to realize I was in a foreign country and that could be quite dangerous. However, I can't understand what would posses a person to spit on someone who isn't bothering them and that aren't familiar. I do wish I could have spat back on him and then spray his eyes with mace, but oh well I guess. After coming back to the room and washing my face 3 times. I rested up for a while before I went out and got lunch. I ate a chicken  sandwich and I even had a crepe to go along with it. It was a little sweet for my taste, but nonetheless it is a favorite among Parisian's.

The Gardens of Luxembourg

Since it was still daylight outside, I headed to the Gardens of Luxembourg to look around. It was very beautiful, but unfortunately they wouldn't allow tourist into the castle.

Outside in the Gardens

As I was leaving the gardens a man grabbed me to take a picture with him. It scared me at first and I tried to reach for my mace, but he didn't mean any harm, he just wanted to have a picture I guess. After leaving the gardens, I went to Concorde Place. It was nearly dark by the time I got there because I got a little mixed on the metro due to one of the stations being closed for the summer. I was able to get a few good pictures before it got too dark, but there was a carnival taking place on the lawn. I walked around out there for a little while until it started getting late. I wanted to go by the Eiffel Tower, but it was already 11pm and I figured it was a little late to be walking the streets of Paris by myself. Tomorrow I plan to do a little ore sight-seeing. Hopefully, I can take a cruise on the Seine river and visit the rest of my top attractions. Until tomorrow, au revoir!

   

L'Opera House

Charles Garnier's Opera House

Me at The Opera House

This morning I woke up and had breakfast as usual, but after breakfast I went back to sleep for a while. After waking up I realized that I was supposed to move-in with my new hostess and I had missed her for the morning. I decided to go out on the city until it was time for me to move. I rode the metro to l'Opera to exchange more currency and to see the Opera House. The currency rates were great, but the downside was the flat rate of commission. After getting currency I decided to go visit the Opera House. In high school the Phantom of the Opera was one of my favorite movies and I was super excited to visit Charles Garnier's Opera House.

The Double helix Staircase

The building's architecture was amazing. There were famous composer's names engraved in gold on the front of the building.  the inside of the building was breath-taking.

The beautiful gold room

There was a gold room, ceiling paintings, and many statues. The movie doesn't do the the Opera House Justice, it is a must-see in Paris. I was able to get a few pictures on the inside of the building. I found the Phantom of the Opera's booth and I took a picture in front of it.

The Phantom of the Opera's Booth

Unfortunately, unless you are present for a show you aren't allowed inside of the actual amphitheater, but I could see the dancers practicing for their upcoming show.

After leaving the Opera House I shopped around a little bit more, before returning back to my room. While shopping I begin to get frustrated with the people. For days I have been pushed and bumped and it's something I'm not use to. Today while I was in footlocker, a sales person pushed me so hard I almost fell. Well that was the last straw, I started cursing at him, until I realized that he didn't understand a word I was saying.

Amphitheater Entrance

The culture is different here, people don't say excuse me, they just push you and step all over you; it's quite rude for a person who is accustomed to "southern hospitality." Once I did return, I was a little sad to have to leave Maya's apartment. I took two of my bags on the metro ride at first and it was a bit of a struggle. I have learned that when you travel you must pack light. It was a 40-min metro ride to my new place and once I arrived I wasn't so sure that I liked it. The apartment building looked very old and my new room was completely different from my previous room. Maya's apartment had a modern style to it  and this apartment has a more antique taste. I was a little scared at first and when I sat down on the bed, I begin to cry. I told myself I was ready to go home.

My new room

In that moment, if I could have booked a flight back home I would have. I decided to get myself together before leaving back out to get the rest of my thing's from Maya's place. When I arrived back, I was quite sad and I tried to linger around for a while before forcing myself to leave. My second trip on the metro was a little easier with just one bag. When I got back to my new room, I decided to explore the area. To my surprise I actually like it! There are a lot of shoe stores and clothing stores, so I may just wake up and go shopping on the streets of Bastille. After walking I decided to get a baguette sandwich, a pastry, and drink before returning back to my room. It's crazy that every time I order food, the cashier assumes I want Coca-cola because I am American. Most of the time I want something else, but I just take Coke to keep it simple for both parties. I had made it back to my room and I am hoping to get some sleep because it is already 11pm here. I have a lot of sights left to see for my last few days in Paris, so I need to get an early start. Until tomorrow, au revior!    

Joyeaux Anniversaire à moi!!!

My breakfast spread

This morning I thought I would start off my golden birthday by having an early breakfast at 8am this morning. After breakfast the plan was to hit the ground running off to the sales, but I was so full after breakfast I went right back to sleep. I woke up and thought I would venture out to the sales. My hostess Maya walked me down to the street market first because it was a little cold and rainy and I had on open-toe sandals. I was able to find some cute knock-off sneakers for about 5 euros, which worked to walk around in the rain. I went to the l'Opera first, which houses the Galleries of Lafayette, Paris' most famous department store, spanning over 5 floors of shopping. The sales were a great value, but in comparison to American prices, they were still a little expensive, so I didn't buy anything.

The Galleries

The Eiffel Tower

However, it was nice to see the crowds of people going mad over Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Chloe, and every other couture label you can think of! The ceiling of the Galleries were just beautiful! After the leaving the Galleries, I went to rue de Rivoli, to view their sales. After walking around I had lunch at McDonald's. The food was quite similar, with a few minor differences in taste and a major difference in price. In the US I usually pay around $4.50 and today I payed 6 euros, which is roughly $8.75. After lunch I walked around a little more before heading back to the room. I decided I would visit the Eiffel Tower for my Golden Birthday, so once I was well-rested I headed out to find the world famous tower. As I approached the tower my eyes begin to fill with tears and before I knew it I was crying. I had dreamed of visiting the Eiffel Tower for nearly 8 years and my dreams had come true, on my birthday! It was quite a wait to climb the tower, I waited for a total 40 minutes before entering. It was scary to look at how far up we had traveled and I was terrified to go up to the very top of the Eiffel Tower, then I thought about how this was a chance of a lifetime and I decided to go all the way to the top.

The second floor of the Eiffel Tower

I just had to do it!

A long way from home!!!

The City of Paris

The top was a long way up and it was very cold, but it was well worth it! From the top of the tower you could see all of Paris, it was simply breath-taking! After I came down from the tower I decided to wait for 20 minutes so that I could see the Tower light up at the top of the hour. Unfortunately, right before the lights came on my camera died. I still stayed to watch the beautiful lights. I wanted to walk on the Champs-Elysee, but it was getting dark, so I decided to head back towards the metro. On the way I ran into street peddlers who were selling tour de Eiffel souvenirs. After intense bargaining I bought a few from him and he even gave me one for free!! On the metro I ran into a lot of intoxicated men and teenagers. One man decided he would sing for the entire underground, another played his violin while collecting coins from others (apparently music on the metro isn't uncommon).

Looking over the Arc de Triomphe

Once I got back to my room my hostess and her daughter Mia had prepared a dinner of meatballs, pizza, baguettes, legumes, fried potatoes, and red wine. We did a cheers for my birthday and they gave me a special bottle of wine to take with me. After dinner Mia fixed ice cream for everyone and then we took a "family" picture since I will be leaving them tomorrow. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and I can only hope my next hostess will be as great as Maya has been to me. Tomorrow is quite a busy day with my moving to another room! Until tomorrow, au revior!  

Maya, me, and Mia.. "My Parisian family"

"La Fete de Musique"

street view of Montparnasse

This morning I woke up to a beautiful French Breakfast Spread. It included Apple and Banana Granola cereal, a hot croissant, cheese, 3 different types of jam, a baguette, orange juice, and yogurt. It was quite delicious, in fact I went back to sleep for 3 hours after eating all of that food. Once I woke up my hostess and I walked down the shopping center, which was about a 15 minute walk. I walked past the tower of Montparnasse and it was way taller than I imagined. After my hostess showed me how to use the metro, she took off in another direction. I toured the area a little more and ate lunch before heading back to my room. While I was out I did manage to witness two scam artists scam a young woman out of a few euros. I was happy that ignored the male when he tried to stop me. After my lessons on the metro I decided to stop being afraid and just ride the metro. I couldn't believe how easy it was to navigate around the metro's system. The metro was a little warm on the inside, but it felt 10 times safer than riding in a car. When I arrived at the 3rd arrondissement I walked around and listened to the different artists. There were people dancing in the streets to the music and there were also people just playing their own music in the middle of the street. There was one band that I found myself migrating towards the sounds of the beat alone. They sounded like a drumline and their beats were wonderful. I heard a few American classics, including Sweet Home Alabama. There was jazz, rock, African, Pop, classical, R&B, rap, country, soul, nearly every type of music that you could possibly imagine and I enjoyed every bit of it. I watched the children dance, the older couples hug one another as they danced in the streets of Paris. There was something about the music on every corner that just made you move. It was liberating to see all the different cultures sharing their common love for music. I noticed people of various age groups, sexualities, ethnicities and religions dancing to the same rhythms. It was simple amazing. I walked down la rue Rivoli and found a lot of different shops and boutiques. Most of them were closed and preparing for the biggest sale of the year tomorrow. While walking I found a H&M and a Footlocker, I think I will go back tomorrow to view the sales. I rode the metro back and on one of the stop I guy walked on and played the Accordian. I took a picture of him and he tried to charge me 2 euros for the photo, I just politely told him "no thanks." Rather than getting off at the metro station I started at I decided to catch another concert a few blocks away, unfortunately once the concert was over I was a little confused about where I was. I found a street map and realized I was headed in the wrong direction and after walking for 25 minutes, I was finally back at my room. I am quite tired from all the walking, but tomorrow I am preparing for even more. It's officially my birthday in Paris and I plan to spend it tomorrow with the Eiffel Tower and other attractions. Until tomorrow, au revior!

The Drumline

The crowd dancing to the beats

Sweet Home Alabama

The Accordian player on the metro

A night view of the Eiffel Tower on my walk home

My arrival

I have arrived in Paris and I have already witnessed the beauty of the Eiffel Tower. I only seen it in passing and it brought me to tears so I can only imagine how it will be to actually visit it. Once I got in I was a little tired so I couldn't tour around, instead I took a nap and walked around the surrounding streets of my hotel. I wanted to familiarize myself with the area before I take off tomorrow. Adjusting to the 6 hour time difference is a little difficult. I found that shopping with the euro is a lot more expensive than shopping with the US dollar. I gave the currency exchange people $100 and they gave me back 57 euros. Thus far I have already spent 10 euros and all I've had is a hotdog and juice. The most dangerous part of the trip thus far are the drivers. My hostess told me that Paris had some of the best drivers in the world, but that definitely isn't true! Driving from the airport I nearly died 10 times!!! Small cars cut off larger cars to merge on the interstates and freeways, people were changing lanes underneath a dark tunnel bridge, and my driver talked on the phone the entire time. A lot of the cars around here have dents and damage on the front and back ends of their cars and I can definitely see why.  We had one guy on a motorcycle cut us off and then he stuck up his middle finger, sign language really is worldwide. The traffic was horrible, I could never drive in Paris. My hotel was only 25 miles away from the airport, but it took a total of two hours with the heavy traffic, needless to say I was regretting not using the restroom before leaving the airport. Tomorrow is the world Music festival or fete de la musique. Most of the concerts aren't until the evening so maybe i will tour around all morning. Until tomorrow, au revior!!!!

KOuntdown to Paris

Only 12 days left until I leave for Paris...