and scene

i am wearing a dress that when wet is probably see through, i have a long walk home and it looks like the heat showers are going to start any minute. this is not a metaphor.

its been hot here in clermont-ferrand the last few days. 80s to 90s, my body loves this, but the muggy feel in the air is a different animal. the air chokes me as i walk, sending gas and cigarette fumes into my throat and lungs. i crave water, the ocean, a river. i drink so much water lately, i dont even have to remind myself, im thirsty all the time.

chelsea and remys place feels cooler than out here on the streets, due to the small river in their backyard. there are two black swans that live in it with their two baby swans. chelsea and i watch them from the windows.

yesterday remy and chelsea planted their garden. i helped for a few hours then let them be, to decide on placement. my body aches today from gardening and yoga. walking to the internet cafe today felt like it took days. its a long walk, furthur lengthened by my slow pace today. i am reliant on communication these days but want so badly to just see you in person. i miss the conveniences i know and love. i miss water. the water in nice was amazing, i wish i were there again and could dunk my head in it, get rid of the pollution riding on my face.

when john-james and i were in the south of france, we decided we should probably go check out cannes, since the film festival was happening. so we took a train on our last day to cannes and were greatly disappointed. unless you are a somebody or know a somebody, its pretty boring. defeated and tired, we got on a train back to nice. along the way, we could see the clear blue water to our right. i am so thirsty and hot and tired, i started to complain about how i wished we could have spent the day swimming instead. what a waste. we could get off, we decided, but i stubbornly could not change gears in my head long enough to decide that, yes, why not. at the next stop he said, well i dont know about you but im getting off to go swimming. i beamed and we got off the train. we bought a huge bottled water and walked down to the water. people were packing up for the day, it was at least 5 by then. we soon realized that this stretch of beach, as far as we could see, was filled with beach restaurants, no open beaches to be found. so finally we settled on one, turned out to be the lost undesirable one we could have chosen. we couldnt sit in the comfortable lounge chairs since those were only for the afternoons so we sat in two white plastic chairs, bought a drink each so we could stay and changed into our suits. we laughed at the ridiculous nature of this situation, everyone packing up, us sitting in these uncomfortable chairs. when we were changed we both ran like children to the waters edge, only to find trash, lots of trash floating in the water, and realized why the guy had looked at us so strangely when we insisted we wanted to swim. so we laughed and went home.

photos anyone?

here are john-james photos of our trip, they are fantastic. i would post mine but cannot because chelsea's computer finally decided to die and the cyber cafe wont't let me download photos.

for j's photos, you need to click on each album on the left; for example: nice 1, nice 2, etc.

http://s649.photobucket.com/albums/uu213/johnjameslangdon/

i am back in clermont for the final leg of my journey. i return home the end of this month and cannot wait to be in the puget sound, see the northwest in summer and see all the people i love and miss.

worst time to blog.

blogging seems inappropriate at this hour, but seeing as i don't have much else to do...
its 4:48 am, a painful hour, still dark out. my stomach aches and i feel sick. theres no one awake in the hostel, save maybe a security person milling about. its too early to be awake. i'll tempted to sleep, hence why i blog. john-james took off on a plane from nice-paris, to get his connecting flight home. le sad.

i return to clermont-ferrand today. i'm happy to have this time with chels, as i know it will be a bit of time before we see each other again. ah life.

the deep homesickness has set in. i have too many amazing people in my life, being gone for any amount of time is painful, however equally rewarding it may be. i keep trying to decipher meaning behind my time over here. i know i have learned some about myself, learned what i like and do not, seen some beautiful places, learned who to travel with.........but........
yeah.

i am listening to quite possibly the worst music i have heard in my entire life. this hostel has a huge main room, which is currently pumping an awful tv channel's music, left on from hours ago. french music leaves something to be desired. english music played over here is the worst stuff we pump out. impressive really.

paris et nice

the south of france is everything that i thought it could be, plus a load of beauty right on top of that. we arrived this morning, took the night train from paris. john-james and i booked cots to sleep on, in order to make the night train more bearable, which was a fantastic idea as i slept the entire way. there were six beds in the small space, occupied by four european middle aged men, j, and myself. the ridiculously small amount of space in the compartment cracked me up... reminded me of the cruise dad, michelle, the kids, and i went on years ago... our shared family bedroom was so small, we continually hit our heads on bunks and wooden beams jetting out. we awarded points based on hit and pain. i believe chad won, drawing blood. atomatic win.

today we walked around nice and explored some. i can't quite describe how beautiful it is, but i'll say i have never in my life seen water as clear and blue as this. it doesn't quite feel like france here, not the france i know, its tropical, full of palms, terra cota roof tops and people who don't seem to be in a hurry to do anything. i love both paris and nice, but they seem to be in different states of mind. here its beach and sun and lounging. down by the water you see all kinds: tourists from numerous homelands, french women so tanned their skin looks like leather, young women fishing while their children play nearby. everyone is happy.

paris was perfect. it rained or was cloudy the entire time, the clouds lifted the last day we were there, which was pretty hilarious. we went to the andy warhol exhibit which i really enjoyed. i wore a mustache for the occasion. pictures to follow. i can't upload here at the hostel. our apartment in paris was perfection and i wish i could have just brought it home with me. sadly i could not. it had exposed beams, mauk wood tile (looked like pental, dad & michelle), simple modern cabinetry.

currently we're at the best hostel in france (it was voted that err something...). its quite the step down but the location, price, people and feel, cannot be beat. i would strongly recommend it, if anyone ever needs a good hostel in nice.

i am excited to go out tomorrow and explore the nearby towns. there are beautiful beaches we hope to go to, the beaches right here in nice are rocky.. .and when they say rocky they mean it. HUGE ROCKS. also, the cannes film festival is happening, so that might be worth checking out....
so much to do, such little time....

overall: i am having a wonderful time. i love it here.

i will upload photos the beginning of next week when i return to chelsea's.
xoxoxoxoxo.

chapter 3

tomorrow morning i take an early morning train up to paris and meet john-james at the station. (!!!!!) we'll stay in paris for about five days than take a train down to nice for the remainder of his time here.
i'm pretty stoked.

love to the homeland.
i'll be happy to come home at the end of the month, i miss the puget sound, summer in the northwest (nothing better, the blue scholars hit the nail on the head right there), my family and mon amies.
xo.

lets go to the woods!

chels, remy and i spent our may day in the french woods behind royat, the town bordering clermont-ferrand. the woods felt like a fairytale, as if a centaur or unicorn suddently would appear on the trail. the woods here are simple and pretty. our forests at home are daunting and huge. they just feel different, its difficult to explain. the three of us discussed the differences between french woods and forests in the states, while walking along the woods' path, searching for flowers.


photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ashleyraelanning/FlowerHunt#