Jet Lag.

Is defined by wikipedia as something:

"medically referred to as "desynchronosis," is a physiological condition which is a consequence of alterations to circadian rhythms; it is classified as one of the circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Jet lag results from rapid long-distance transmeridian (east-west or west-east) travel, as on a jet plane."

So basically, if one were to take a 10 day trip to Europe, going through 7 different time zones to get there, one would be really tired the next few days when one returns. It's as simple as that.

And right now, all I can think of is how tired I am. You know you're tired when you wake up at 11am and instead of changing into jeans and a t-shirt, you change into pajamas. That's what I did today. Haha. Apart from that, I got really hungry, texted people, and ordered food.

Texting people is slowly being assimilated back into my life, after the Europeans stripped it from me for 10 days. I couldnt believe it would be a dollar a text if I had sent or recieved any while there. It would have also cost 20 dollars per megabyte of data use, and 1.39 dollars per minutes used of talk time. Crazy huh? If Europe wasn't expensive enough, let's make the americans suffer more by taking away their technology while here!! Thats obviously what the queen says every night before going to bed. Ha.

Anyway, now I'm sitting on the couch, in my pajamas, waiting for the activity of the day to start...if there is even one to have. Oh well. I'm bored.

Time to go I guess. Europe kicked ass!
Matt Wofford

Blog for July 18, 2010

Today started off fairly well in Paris. We had our typical French meal. Our Typical French greetings and our typical French speaking bus driver. But something was different about today...we had free time!! And a lot of it!

Imbetween breakfast and lunch we had packed up everything and loaded into a secure room in the hotel. Then we all got on the metro rail to head to our meeting spot for today, which was the statue of saint michael in the middle of italian square. We were told to meet back at 2:30 so we could go get our stuff and get on the night train.

So I had in mind a few different things. I wanted to see the Pere lechaise cemetery, and/or the catacombs. First off because I wanted to see Jim Morrisons grave, and secondly because Mr.cole, the French teacher of the century, had recommended them.

I ended up tagging along with two people I didn't know, but they were from the other groups on the tour, so it's not like they were complete strangers, but that's pretty much how it felt. They were quite awkward and didn't like to talk...and that wasn't fun at all. But the good thing is we ended up seeing Moulin Rouge, sadly it was closed, but we stopped at the gift shop and it was awesome!

After we stopped there it was time for Pere Lechaise. I had seen countless slide show presentations in French class about this place, and I was stoked I would finally get to see it! When the subway stopped at the station to the cemetery, we got out and walked toward the entrance.

It was quite strange, the entire thing was surrounded by about a 25 foot wall that was all brick and grey. Almost like a castle, but with the sickest barbed wire ever. It wasn't even barbed wire, the top of this wall was lined with 10 inch spikes that were jagged and rusty, sure to stop anyone from grave robbing...or those people that go to cemeteries late at night that shouldn't be there...I don't know.

After we walked in we headed straight for a map...I looked for the name...and found it. James Morrison. He was marked at "CIRCLE 30". So I halfway memorized the map and headed that way. After about an hour of having no idea where I was in the cemetery, I finally saw it and the two people I was with (of whom I'm surprised kept up) were relieved. I took several pictures. The whole grave was surrounded by crowd control barriers, and also surrounded by a few of Jim's remaining fans. There were liquor bottles and beer surrounding the headstone. Many fresh roses and a few drawings and photographs of Jim, made by fans I assume. But after a little bit, we had to get back to Place d'Italie to eat lunch.

It was finally time to have a real European lunch. 3 courses and all. I tried to get Escargots, but sadly, no restaurants had them in the area the other two I was with wanted to eat. So I had duck salami as an appetizer, cow tongue and potatoes for the main course, and creme brûlée for dessert. It was really good, but the cow tongue wasn't the best meal I had. Ehhh.

I finally left the restaurant and met up with the rest of my group, who only wanted to shop, which is why I went with the other people in the first place, and talked to them for a while. Apparently, wherever they were while eating, someone felt like going to the bathroom right behind them. In the restaurant. The French are very unpredictable. Haha.

So we got back to the hotel after Stuart (tour guide) met up with us and took us down to the hotel, we got our things, and headed to the train station for my first experience with "the night train". And incase you're wondering, yes, it's a train that travels only at night.

It reminded me a lot of the train in the Harry potter movies. The set up was very similar to that at least. We had 6 people in an 8 by 7 foot room. 3 beds or chairs on either side, depending on your mood. But of course the food car was 20 cars from us. Which was a long walk...so I only made it down once before passing out in the bed for the night.

So that was my July 18th and so far I've been asked about 70000000 times "what's your favorite place so far?!" and I can't tell you people enough, it's all very nice. Europe has been one of the best experiences ever. So yeah. That's my answer.

I'm also kinda in suspense to see how many texts/phonemessages I get when I turn texting back on once I get back in the states. I don't know why that's so interesting to me...but whatever.

There isn't wifi anywhere, I'm on the bus to Rome right now (yes I'm late in writing this, but gimme a break, ive been dipped into every cultural staple of Europe in less than 2 weeks. I get tired at night and don't always finish the blog.) and maybe they will have wifi in that hotel. Hopefully.

Anyway, I guess that's it for July 18th. Ciao!

Matt Wofford

Blog for July 21, 2010

It's over. Today's the last time I'll spend a night in Europe. For this trip at least. I have hope of returning, because apparently throwing a coin into the famous fountain that was the trevvi, (spelling?) ensures that you will return to Rome. Hopefully since I threw two I expanded it to all of Europe, because there is still so much to see.

Today we went straight into Rome at 8:45 in the morning and went to the coliseum. We took a tour with our Italian guide. I forget her name...but she did really good. We later went to the roman forum, and then the Vatican. Afterward, we stopped out at a nice restaurant with no a/c. Boo. It was super burning up. Just like the rest of the day. Rome apparently has no concept of cool. Oh well. It was still pretty awesome.

One thing that bothers me is the driving and traffic. In Rome, what I seemed to observe is that if there is a spot where a car or moped can fit through, it's usually done. But the thing is, everyone seems to be fine with it! It almost scares me, but the other cool thing is that you can cross the road anywhere you want. So that's a nice little perk.

So after dinner, we went out on the Rome by night tour. We saw the trevvi fountain, and the pantheon, and the first church dedicated to the virgin Mary. So that was prettycool. Street performers are really good here.

But now I'm back at the hotel blogging my last blog for Europe. Maybe since I'm in the habit I can keep this going.

I have to wake up in about 5 hours, so I'm gonna go. Good night everyone!
Good bye Europe!

Matt Wofford

Btw, I sent out a whole crap load of postcards. Everyone that sent me your address should be getting one if you haven't already. Anyway...bye!

Blog for July 20, 2010

As you can probably guess, our day in Florence started off rather early and slow today. We had to bring our stuff down and eat breakfast. Afterwards we brought our stuff to the bus and got on for the ride to Assissi! (wrong spelling most likely)

Anyway, after we were on the bus for two hours we stopped at an italian rest stop, actually, an Italian Shell station. I forgot to take a picture, but the word they used for it was really cool. I also had the best cup of cappuccino ever. I had to have another as soon as possible. Then I bought water and went back out to the bus. It was cool though because you had to buy the drink first and take the reciept to get the drink. Reciept first, then beverage. It was weird but I liked it.

We were back on the bus then we got to Assissi and got off to look around and find the basilica of saint franceso, again, spelling is not the best with Italian, sorry. I got some more real pizza and real gelato. I was quite full. Then I headed back to the bus with the rest of the group.

I'm rooming with Fernando tonight, at this super cool hotel. Brooke is my new best friend apparently, which she didn't know legally binds her to a contract that will be mentioned later. On a better note, the couch I'm sitting on right now is comfy.

Tomorrow we go to Rome and the Vatican city to see the Sistine chapel and some other roman landmarks.

As for tonight I am done writing.
So...uhh...
Ciao!

Blog for July 19, 2010

You know when some people say that they are tired because they wake up and haven't stopped moving since? Well today I woke up moving already. Literally. Like, 80 miles per hour I think. I honestly don't know but I needed a good opening that had to do with the night train. Hah. Anyway, yeah...my nose started plugging up in the middle of the night, so sleeping was rather difficult, but was accomplished none the less. I was woken up to Greg saying to everyone that we have 45 minutes to get ready and get off the train. The thing was, we only have 10 minutes to get everything and everyone off the train. We got all the luggage next to the exit door and my friend and I were drafted to unload the train. As soon as it stopped I jumped out and we got everyones stuff off in 1 minute and 34 seconds. And luckily everyone got off before the train headed for Rome.

It was after all this commotion it hit me that we were in Italy. It was a pretty good feeling. The town seemed so much...nicer than Paris. Don't get me wrong, I love Paris, but our hotel (just like while we were in London) was out in some ghetto that was 45 minutes away from the city. But now that we're in italy, our hotel is actually inside a city!! I can actually walk to go get food rather than have to take the metro. Yay!!!

So after we got into the city from the train we got on the bus and headed straight for downtown Florence, Italy. Which was realllly cool. The first thing we did was go to a leather shop and learn about real Italian leather and how to tell what's real and what's not. We were taught several things about how it's treated and how it's dryed and stuff like that.

Afterwards, we took a walking tour of the city, and something surprised me about it. We were walking down a little street and then I realized...we were walking down a street! Not on a sidewalk next to a street, but in the street! What the heck?! I later learned that driving laws to Italians are a lot like the parsley that some restaurants put on your plate. The laws make no sense why they should be there, so the Italian people just ignore them. That's the same with a lot of rules. The cops are really just there to make sure Gucci isn't being counterfeited on the street rather than why the vendor was set up in the middle of the street anyway.

Something else in that city was really cool. The cathedral. I forget the official name, but it's just plain huge. But somehow it hides in the city so well. Seeing that was like...when you don't realize how tall something is until you're falling off of it. The feeling I got when looking at it almost made my stomach fall out of my butt. It was so awesome!

Ah anyway...after the walking tour, I went to lunch with some friends and had real pizza!! Like the real stuff!! It was literally the best pizza I had ever had. And it wasn't just a slice. Each person that got a pizza, got a pizza. But I swear I could have eaten three. Even the coke tasted royally good! I was in heaven! Then...we walked down the boulevard to a gelateria! Gelato! Real Italian gelato! It was amazing. By far the best food experience on the trip. On any trip, rather.

So after all that we actually went down to our hotel. I had a different roomate this time, but he was from another group and didn't have the best grasp of English. Luckily, my other friends on the trip had an extra bed in their penthouse of a hotel room, so I got to stay with them.

We had a really good dinner of pasta, turkey and cake. Then everyone pretty much either crashed or went out. Some people did both in the reverse order. But I stayed in our room most of the night and went out around midnight looking for gelato and got lost. Ha. It would have been better if I had a map that was in English. But I couldn't read the street signs because some streets simply didn't have any. But we made it back finally, and went to bed, I fell asleep before I could finish the blog from two days ago.

I'm still on the bus to Rome. So now I'm gonna put on my iPod and relax. My thumbs deserve it.

Ciao!
Matt Wofford

Blog for July 17th

July 17
The reason I'm not posting this the actual night of of the day is because the day didn't end til around 4:30am this morning. But you'll learn about that soon enough. As for now, a recap of yesterday.

We woke up at around 7:10am and went to eat a breakfast of cornflakes and French bread. There was also a very tasty drink that was almost like orange juice, but wasn't. It was like orange juice, and the sweetest tasting fruit ever met and had a baby. It's great. In-fact, I'm enjoying a cup now as I type. But this blog is about yesterday, so let's move on.

After breakfast we headed down to the bus and everyone, all 50 of us, loaded in. We headed around Paris with our French based tour guide. She took us to many of the major monuments in Paris, including l'arc de triumph, which I believe is my favorite monument. But my absolute favorite will have to be the Eiffel tower, in fact, the tower and I had a bit of a bonding experience, but I'll discuss that more later. As for the tour, it ended at around 11h30 and the Versailles tour group broke off from the rest and we headed off to the lovely city of Versailles and the palace.

When we arrived, we were all issued a "whisper". These things were a brilliant idea. What would happen was, the tour group would get a receiver necklace and the guide got a transmitter necklace. She would talk into a mic, and we would hear her in our right ear...even if it meant sometimes that wasn't the most opportune thing at the time to be hearing.

One thing I don't like about this trip is that I totally fit the stereotype for American tourist and there's nothing I can do to help that. Even with my knowledge of the French language, I'll never get to use it if I am constantly with a heard of homo sapiens that are all wearing the same backpack. Let's just say we get scoffed at a lot. Anyway, moving on.

After Versailles and some adventures around that area to try to find something good to eat, we headed back to a pizzeria for dinner. Even though Italy isn't until tomorrow, we get lasagna here...in France. But I won't complain because that was the best lasagna I have ever had. Ever.

Then, the entire group except for two people and myself went to a Paris by night tour. Now there are a few reasons I didn't go on that little excursion, and they follow. One, it cost 35 euros to go on the tour, and those things aren't cheap at all. Two, I'm not much of a sightseeer, it gets boring really quickly...especially from the seat of a bus. And finally, the last reason is because I really wanted to go to the Eiffel tower, and that wasn't going to happen if the three of us stuck with the group. So we ventured off alone into the unknown land of Paris.

We first got on the metropolitan rail lines to go to a station called Bir-Hakeim, which was 11 stops from our current position, but it was fun none the less. We headed off the train and walked over to the tower. The amount of people willing to sell you things surrounding the monument astounded me. There must have been at least 100 sales men that were around under there, and I think they each approached us twice. After waiting in the queue for about 2 and a half hours, we finally made it onto the elevator to go to the tower. Take in mind, we got there at 7:30, and didn't get back to the hotel until the next morning at 1:20am. Anyway, so we made it up to the first level...then took some pictures...and waited in another line. A line that took forever, but was definitely faster than the first one. Then we finally made it on the elevator and "got European" with the other locals and tourists that boarded the lift with us. Getting European means not having any personal space and being able to squeeze yourself into places and positions you never thought possible. But once we finally made it off the tower...which was an amazing experience, by the way....we headed back to the RER station that would take us back to the hotel. Unfortunately...no one reminded us that the RER closes at midnight...and we got off the tower at 12:25am. So we kept walking...looking for another station...but we passed a cafe and I was hungry. So I partook in the great food that was offered, and talked about the situation with the other two in the group.

We ended up going to a Metropolitan station, which runs until 2am and after much debating on which line we were supposed to board, we finally made it on one that would take us to a taxi station. Some folks in the subway recommended this instead of trying to find a bus that would take us back. After we made it back to the hotel, the adventure had only just begun.

My two roommates were waiting in the room when I got back. Not sleeping and not wanting to do so. So having the same attitude, I helped us decide what to do.

We watched some YouTube, got to walk around the hotel a bit, talked to other people in our group, and then did like the funniest thing ever. Which is too hot for blogspot! Well, not really, but you'll have to see the video, which should be on YouTube within the month.

I'm on the subway now, but I think I have to wait til we get to Italy to post this...which will be on Monday, but they might not have wifi. Hopefully they do.

Peace
Matt Wofford

PS they didn't