Hiking in Librilla

I’m sure most erasmus students in Murcia have visited the tiny and deserted town of Librilla already but as always I’ve gotta be late to the party (plus I only arrived a month ago). But no ones bothered by the old town church or endless orange and lemon trees, everyone comes for the hike up the hills to see this amazing view of the lagoon. Then to go down to swim in the blue water.

Courtney, Nina and I got the 20 minute train to the town of Librilla yesterday; Courtney kept telling us empty this place was, but she was so wrong on this occasion. People filled the streets, cars beeped us out of the way and everyone and their daughter was out and about dressed in their best church wear. We headed towards the mountains, maybe getting a little bit lost on the way but we were pretty chilled. Eventually we reached the path that we knew was going where we wanted. We passed endless lemon trees; seriously Spain loves their lemons. I picked a few oranges from a tree and they were almost definitely the best oranges I’ve ever tasted, a watch dog barked us away and we carried on up the hill.

Detouring again, expecting to see water and just ending up with views of the town and a whole lot of rocks, we backtracked and finally ended up with a beautiful view. And a load of guys in trucks maybe a hundred meters away shouting ‘guapas’ at us. The descend to the water was definitely a lot more difficult than our ascend for the beaut view (and mini picnic of pizza crackers).

Jumping through long grass and avoiding massive dry bushes was easy in comparison to sliding a few feet onto our bums because of loose rocks. I landed weirdly on my ankle too and imagined dying there, with one yank and one South African in the middle of a quiet town in Spain, how tragic. But I was actually fine (dramatic thoughts). Somehow we made it down, all alive, to the water. I blew up my rubber ring (always totally at one with nature…), we stripped off and swam in the water crazy blue water. The ground is pure clay so it feels gross to go in at first but you get used to it. As it was time to get out I covered myself in clay because I’m all about that baby soft skin.

Getting out of our little lagoon area was actually pretty tough and the best way to do it was to just go go go without stopping even though the hill was mega steep. We were literally grabbing vines and prickly flowers to stop us from sliding all the way down.

I may or may not have braved the barking dog to ‘borrow’ some oranges and lemons on our way back into town. Cue fresh lemonade when we got home. Nina and I were absolutely knackered when we got in and our plans of a late night out were replaced with moaning about our aching muscles and bitching about wacky Eurovision entrants. Over 8 hours of walking and swimming had caught up with us.

Anyhow, such an amazing and surprisingly tiring day.

Mary x

p.s. see all the photos on my flickr hereeeee

Thoughts whilst in Madrid

Thank God I’m not comfortable with wasting my life away in the same place (I joke I joke. nothing wrong with staying put somewhere but I’m grateful I can wiggle out of my comfort zone once in a while). Going to Madrid was a bit of a gamble but worth taking as I had an unforgettable experience even though I went it alone. It was over a month ago and I’m annoyed with myself at not posting sooner but hey WHAT YA GUNA DO ABOUT IT.

I’d never been to Spain’s capital before and chose to go after my quick visit to Murcia because people (on the internet) favoured it over tourist-heavy Barcelona. I took a €15 coach and arrived to blue skies on Sunday 22nd February. I had almost given up hope of Couchsurfing and was looking into hostels because everyone I’d sent requests to was either out of town or lived too far out of town. Finally I got a notification telling me I’d been accepted by Alfredo, an IT consultant living in Villeverde Bajo, in the south of the city. Result. 

Before I went to Alfredo’s I planned to explore the south of the city. I found a train station with luggage lockers, left my rucksack there and went on my way. I walked for a few hours until I looked at my whatsapp (Alfredo had let me know he was home) and my watch and realised it was time to get going. Obviously, being the ditz that I am, I hadn’t noted down where I’d left my bag. And had very little knowledge of Madrid’s main stations. Luckily I retraced my steps and managed to find the right station after a few attempts and a wasted hour or two. This basically sums up my attitude/luck when travelling. I’m unorganised and usually daydreaming but everything’s always fine in the end.

Yeah yeah, I say this every time I go anywhere (apart from Frankfurt, I severely dislike Frankfurt), but I had an incredible time in Madrid. The days were cloudy but my eyes were feasted to charming buildings and the nights were all about the beer, tapas, gorgeous music, people and laughter.

The trip was a while ago now but I’m still going to share some things I thought of while there. Can’t wait to look back on this list when I’m 90 and think how ridiculously unorganised and naive I was.

Thoughts during my first visit to Madrid;

1- What is this Ale-Hop shop and why doesn’t it exist everywhere and why don’t I own all of these cheap ‘accessories, gifts and décor’ items!?

2- Why don’t I own a motorbike or have a boyfriend with a motorbike *changes Tinder description ‘motorbike owners only plz*. (My CS hosts car was in for an MOT so we just went cruising round the city on his motorbike. He said he could tell I was an experienced passenger ((lol I aint)) and new I was an adrenaline junkie so thought he’d go faster than he normally would with passengers. The wind was crazy and the roads were hectic at times but it was up there with one of the best things I’ve ever done. We went through cobbled streets, past cathedrals, huge government buildings and a bloomin palace! You don’t experience moments like that, for free, if you stay in a hotel.)

3- Why don’t I live in Madrid, this place seems to have the best of everything

4- Zaras here are prettier than most churches (is that blasphemy?)

5- Every girl here looks so fab and glamorous, why am I not you?

6- seriously, how do girls here look so effortlessly stunning

7- guys are even more beautiful.

8 – there must be something in the water. give me all the water

9- aw guys are so friendly here. I’ve just been called beautiful 3 times in the past hour.

10- oh no, quite a few are major creeps. Stares all round

11- I wonder why it’s totally acceptable to scream  ‘MAMA’ down the road. full on screaming.

12- why is this deep friend fish stick I’m eating and how unhealthy is it?

13- why am I standing up at the restaurant. Where are all the chairs?!

14- couchsurfing parties are expected to be totally lame and awkward, lets not get our hopes up

15- oh no, this couchsurfing party is promising. We’ve come to a lively club, free drinks all round and a fun group

16- eurgh, this german couple we’re hanging out with are way too wannabe quirky for my liking. Put down your pikachu rucksack and stop dancing like you’re in a cheesy 50’s movie.

17- roof bars are my new favourite thing! Not new favourite, they’ve always been up there in the top 5 but this place is amazing. I’ve watched the sun set and eaten 3 different types of pizza; life doesn’t get much better

18- should we go to this kizomba party? sounds like it could be cool, something different. *watches video of instructor on YouTube* yeah sorry, we’re not coming. nope.

19- why is this woman in a flamenco dress lip syncing and aggressively dancing towards me?

20- wearing sunglasses and a coat together isn’t just acceptable, it’s expected.

21- the little dogs are even cuter than ones in Paris, plus there’s a lot less poop lying around the streets

22- the only way to describe this palace and gardens is ‘freakin majestic’

23- there seems to be news reporters, police and ambulances everywhere. Non-stop drama

24- I may have found my favourite place to run. River, hills, views and pretty flowers. a 12 mile run seemed to fly by without me realising

25- whats that loud noise and rumbling feeling. *gets back to hosts house 10 minutes later* ‘did you feel the earthquake?! It’s on the news!’

26-  the wind is so strong I genuienly think theres a hurricane happening too

27- I am surrounded by the worst dressed Disney characters I’ve ever seen. Why do they keep taking their heads off and why are they here. THIS IS NOT DISNEY LAND

28- I’m an unstoppable, bad ass, confident, solo traveller. I don’t need no one. Look at me totally sussing this all out on my own. I’m a total boss

29- oh no wait, I’m lost

30- found my way again. Its 11pm, I’m in a foreign country, I don’t speak the language, I’m tired, hungry and pretty poor but I’ve still managed to navigate my way to this random house on the outskirts of Madrid without internet or the full address. I’m allowed to be proud of myself

31- why is my couchsurfing host the friendliest person in the whole world *feeling lucky and content* & I have my own room, bathroom and roof terrace!

32- these ruins are pretty darn cool. I feel like I’m in a Will Smith movie

33- I don’t need any clothes. Must stop shopping

34- just a few pieces can’t hurt; theres a sale on so it doesn’t really count

35- I can’t fit half of my stuff in my tiny bag and I need to leave for the airport asap rocky

36- lets wear ALL MY CLOTHES. So many layers that I can barely get my oversized coat on

37- airport food is the most overpriced poop. I’m so done with this. I’ve spent all my money and have no souvenirs. But I want a sandwich.

I arrived back home in Paris with 2 euros to my name but some of the best memories and friends for life. Spain was gorgeous and Madrid was the perfect remedy to any problem I’d experienced in the previous few weeks. So much love and gratitude to anyone I met, stayed with or chatted to over a very reasonably priced beer. Until next time.

Adios

Maz, beso

Christmas in Vienna – Photo diary

The Seventy Fifth

Calling all English speakers in Paris! Plus anyone who loves creative articles, pretty illustrations, arty photographs, clever poems and generally a good read.

The Seventy Fifth is a new zine (oh yes I have linked a definition for you out of touch folk) created by some very talented and hard working friends of mine for like minded guys and gals in Paris. It’s been put together by au pairs and expats and the first edition focuses on the theme of ‘isolation’. Definitely a state felt by all in a foreign country at some point. Anyway, I’ll shut up and you can read and judge for yourself! I hope you enjoy it, you’ll find a little illustration by me a few pages in, opposite ‘The Complexities of Expatriatism’, which is hilarious (and so relatable) by the way!

Click here to have a flick through issue 1 – then come back if you want to see more….

If you’d like to receive issue 2 (the theme is LOVE, ooh la laaaa) and help support this fun and creative project please pledge a few quid to the kickstarter page. If I happen to have any millionaire readers on this blog then a huge pledge wouldn’t be so bad 😉

Follow the zine on;

Facebook. 

Instagram.

Twitter.

Tumblr.

Phew, that’s all for now. Big up Evie, Carys and Briana for making it look so fab.

Mary

biz.

Weekend warriors

I’ve had such a fun, busy week. I’m finally catching up with everyone after the Christmas break, spending too much money and eating (and maybe drinking) more than I should. Januarys not so blue!

 I’ve started to notice the crazy houses in our little suburban town. Theres so much dramatic architecture around Paris but even when I just take a 5 minute walk I see some crazy and beautiful houses. House envy on every corner.

We (Judit, Bethany, Camilla, Yasmin & Susanna) went out on Thursday night to celebrate the end of exams (which I didn’t do because I don’t go to uni but I can’t miss out on the celebrations can I?!) to a club called Le Duplex, right by the Arc De Triomphe. We all had a pretty fun night; the music was mainly pop and house from what I can remember. I have a thing against the techno music that the french love so anywhere that plays music you can actually sing and dance along to is a winner for me. And I find it jokes when they throw in a random ‘Alors on danse’ or other french song and everyone goes crazy. Plus free entrance and not crazy overpriced drinks = happy gals!

5:30am

There was a creepy dancer who politely pushed me off his podium then wanted me to touch his abs. Which I wasn’t too excited by. Look at my face for proof.

I managed to pick up a few copies of Charlie Hebdo as I arrived at Saint Lazare station at 6am as the newsagents were opening. There was already a queue, lots of pompous people giving their opinion of the magazine and a limit of only buying 5. I hope this and the fact that eBay have reportedly disallowed them to be sold stops people making obscene amounts of money from selling them on. I saw a copy go for £100,000!

On Friday night Judit, Bethany, Yasmin and I had a chilled out evening watching ‘In her Shoes’, a cheesy rom com with Cameron Diaz and some other randomers. It’s a decent film but way too emotional for my liking; like why are they trying to upset me, I just wanted to see an easy flick. Don’t get deep with us and kill off characters?!

I was back in Olympiades again on Saturday morning to run with Judit (see my previous post!). We went shopping with the others in the afternoon in Chatelet. The forum des halles shopping centre is so much bigger than I realised, after only seeing one half of it the other times I’ve been. We probably spent more time trying to find each other than actually shopping. I somehow managed to buy a h&m jacket that I totally needed because you know, having 7 other jackets in Paris and more at home just isn’t enough is it…?

diets are going well.

Saturday night was my chance to finally see Amrita and catch up. We drank gross wine at Le Perchoir, the cutest rooftop bar in Paris. You get an amazing view of the Sacre Coeur and theres fairy lights, comfy sofas and fires to help you forget that it’s actually like 2 degrees up there. Unluckily for us we had an overly PDA couple going for it on the sofa opposite to us.

We did the horrible 10 minute walk to La Bellevilloise. We always meet some strange characters on this road and we’re always hating life because it’s the steepest hill in the world. 

Once we actually got there we had a wicked night. Even if we had to deal with even more awful PDA in there as well. When will people learn eh?

On the metro in the morning I made friends with a guy with the cutest puppy ever! I managed to get a good 10 minutes of cuddles before the owner gave me a can of juice and his business card. Which I accidentally threw away. Ha oops, not the biggest loss.

I’m now listening to Sia’s album ‘1000 forms of fear’, I’d forgotten how much I love it. And I also want a big cage like the one she uses for the elastic heart video, would be so cool for photos!

I’m excited for next week, I have nothing solid planned but maybe bowling and hopefully get a pizza in town. Praying the forecast of snow is a wrong because I don’t have the energy to deal with cold weather!

Mary x

Christmas and NYE travels 2014

If you don’t follow me on twitter or we aren’t friends on facebook then you might not know I went for a little adventure over the Christmas holidays. I had a great time interailing and couchsurfing and met loads of lovely, funny people. I left Paris on 20th December; I got the train to Vienna in Austria. It was a long journey and I had a bit of trouble actually getting my first train. The thing with interailing is that some trains require a reservation as well as your standard ticket. Of course I didn’t realise this and faced having to buy a whole new ticket for that leg of the journey, a ticket costing around €200 for one way!!! I obviously was in no position to pay that so the woman at the desk said my last hope was to speak to the train manager who might be able to give me a last minute reservation. Luckily he was super friendly and gave me a reservation for €20 instead 🙂

I was in Vienna with mum, dad, G and my cousins Bo and Li and aunty and uncle. And their adorable dog Thomas 🙂 We had a lovely traditional Christmas and there were even real candles and sparklers on the tree. They’re not exactly safety conscious in Austria… We went to a Christmas market, baked cookies, played on the Wii, went out for a meal and did all the usual Christmassy stuff. My uncle Bernd took me for a ride on his motorbike (with heated seats, sat nav and a radio. very fancy) round the city and up the mountains.

I then went to Budapest, Hungary on Boxing Day. It’s such a beautiful city and I can’t wait to visit again when I have more time. I met up with 4 different couchsurfers and saw lots of the city. Next stop was Bratislava, Slovakia. There was heavy snow and lots of delayed trains and buses but my hosts apartment was so nice so I didn’t stress for long. We stayed in for a drink because we couldn’t face leaving the warmth. I learnt some Slovakian words and spent the day seeing the pretty buildings before giving up and going to the shopping centre because the light snow was literally turning into a blizzard. I then travelled to Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I’d planned to go to Prague or Krakow but I was running out of time. More train delays, cancellations and very nearly getting run over by a van before I reached Nina’s apartment. 4th country to see each other in less than a year; I’d say we’re pretty international buddies by now. I saw Georgie, her bf Chad, their friend Moniek and her bf Matthieu the next morning. We explored for a while; everything in Amsterdam is very in your face. The next day I saw Yasmin and 3 of her friends from uni. We had a long but fun day and welcomed in the new year. I’ll upload all of my photos from this trip so you can get more of an idea of what we got up to. 🙂

I made a little video of parts of my trip^^. Now planning my next trip (and also saving money as I am broke)

happy new year by the way!

Mary x

Mary’s Project – 2014

Hey did you hear the news?! Its a whole new year! In no way is this post a brag or ‘oooh look how exciting my life is’ because that’s lame. I’ve posted quite a lot this year but there lots I’ve missed out. I love the idea of looking back on my blog when I’m old and boring and cringing at what I used to get up to. So here’s my (some of what was missed on the blog) year review. Happy new year to everyone 🙂 10 gold stars to you if you read the whole post…

2014 was welcomed with my sister and her/our friends (yes we share friends cos we’re totes mature) in a crowded club in London, a group of creepy looking men told us the drinks were on them so we proceeded to the dancefloor, drinks in hand. Next thing we knew the bartender is snatching them off us and we’re laughing uncontrollably and not embarrassed like we should be. Don’t remember how I got home but I woke up on Zoe’s sofa feeling great. I went to Cambridge for Sara’s 21st birthday and had such a good time, apart from the vomit bit (not mine). The following days were spent cramming driving lessons with my instructor Geoff and practices with dad. Mum told me that if I didn’t pass my test I wasn’t allowed to go to Cape Town (already booked). So 5 days before I flew to SA I passed first time.

I packed a huge suitcase, left Mum, dad, G and Peachy and flew to Dubai then Cape Town all alone. Callum and I hadn’t actually arranged where we meeting at the airport but luckily he got there as I arrived. Dirk and his girlfriend Danielle drove us to Edgemead, our home for the next 4ish days. There was a swimming pool so I was happy. Our next home was Bothasig, like the ghetto version of Edgemead. I ate dairy milk top deck, fudge and fanta pineapple almost everyday and worked hard on my tan. I saw old friends at penthouse and generally had an amazing time. The hottest day of the year was spent at the reggae jam in Langa, 42 degrees C. I met Thami and Nomveliso and fell in love with the township. We saw Jeremy Loops and loads of reggae bands. I went back to volunteer at the kindergarten for a little bit, conditions were a lot different to what I had seen before but I loved teaching the little ones dances, nursery rhymes, colours and numbers. I got 2 jobs in the space of a week and worked in a photography studio and kept myself  busy as an entertainer at kids parties. Callum and I made the most of the self timer on my camera and saw the most beautiful beaches, parks and ice skated with the professionals…

I took a week out to see everyone at Otjikondo and it felt like I’d never left. But it was extremely strange not to have Fran by my side. After the few days I stopped in Windhoek, I drank cocktails on a roof bar and took a 24 hour coach back to Cape Town, sitting next to the same girl, Nina, I had sat with on my way. Back in the motherland Nina hired a car and we created new dramas everyday; locking the keys inside, breaking down in the middle of nowhere and getting stuck on the steepest hill in the world. I imagined that would be the place we’d die! We made friends with beach dogs and checked out surfers all day long. A trip to Cape Point was beautiful.

I was the next one to hire a car. I don’t know how to sum up the stresses we had, but we survived and had some wicked days covered in monkeys and beaching it. I saw friends of friends and navigated my way through the madness of the city with no map, no GPS and very little experience and maybe a bit too much ambition. I had dinner with Gilly, Arnold and Oliver and was so happy to see part of my Otjikondo family so close to this new home in South Africa. I drove to the airport and Callum and I met his mum and step dad Bill. More beach days, numerous pizzas and countless tap waters with ice, a straw and no lemon. We showed mum and Bill around and they provided hours upon hours of laughter. We all went to improv classes with some great people and saw a few shows. I went to a helicopter session and enjoyed it more than I expected. Driving to Addo Elephant Park was so memorable; we stopped off at Knysna and saw wild dolphins just as we were standing on the beach. At the elephant park there were all the safari animals and every time we saw an elephant we were speechless. Reversing from a herd wasn’t the best idea (in hindsight) but thrilling in the moment. We made light photos by our little cabins and Callum fell sick and was unintentionally hilarious. Trish and I got hair braids; hers stayed in for a week or two, mine is still in my hair almost 8 months later. We bid mum and Bill farewell as they continued on to Asia.

I went to study a short course at Cape Town School of Photography. It reconfirmed a lot of what I already knew but I got my passion for photography back and met some lovely guys and gals. We spent our last day at the waterfront snapping away. On my way home from class one evening I tried on some outfits in the boutique near penthouse, the shop owners asked me to photograph their new line in exchange for some clothes, an offer I unfortunately never got to carry out. I was also invited to a fashion show at the Grand Daddy Hotel to photograph and chat to the models and designers. Although its not that big of a deal to most people I was pretty proud of myself; I went alone without knowing anyone and was shooting a new style. I spent 1 last night at penthouse and boarded another 24 hour coach to Namibia. The journey was disrupted and I had to make the decision to head to Europe. I had one of the worst days of my life in Windhoek, tirelessly googling solutions and making my way to a few high commissions and embassies.

The weekend before I flew was spent at Otjikondo again and I finally met Chelcie (and Ottilie for the second time). Goodbyes were hard but it was nice to have some proper closure. I met 2 swedish guys in Windhoek who were on the same flight as me, we were a bit slow to get to the airport and managed to be the last ones to board the plane, after our final Windhoek lager. As we flew over Nigeria I saw a  lightning storm and wanted to wake everyone up to show them. It is without a doubt one of the best sites I’ve ever witnessed.

I landed in Frankfurt to a heavy case of culture shock. I spent the next 2 days sulking and hungry because I couldn’t justify €10 for a Mcdonalds… The cheapest thing to keep me entertained was hair dye so I spent my last evening in Frankfurt going blonde. I chatted to Nina and thought the best decision was to go and see her in Berlin. I was the last one on the coach (bit of a ritual now) and didn’t even realise where Berlin was in relation to Frankfurt. Berlin was so cool and I was pretty happy to see nina so spontaneously. I then saw Georgie in South-ish France, I worked harder on my tan, played water volleyball, rescued a baby bird and cycled to the beach. I said bye to her tiny cabin house and got the train to Paris to see Callum. I can clearly remember this as another one of the worst days of my life. It was Sunday and the hotel Callum had booked was no where near paris. I had no phone or internet and everywhere was deserted and there were train strikes. After hours of sitting on the side of the road waiting for non existent buses I finally reached Chilly Mazarin, where we were staying for 1 night. We went out for mussels. The next day I was covered in huge red itchy lumps. I’d had an allergic reaction that got more itchy the hotter I was, unluckily it was one of the hottest weekends of the year. We went from chilly Mazarin to Noisy Le Sec, into a crazy open house that was run by a psycho Chinese guy who couldn’t speak English or french and had anger issues. His wife shouted at us down the phone before we gave up trying to be nice and fled the scene. The weekend was great, despite my constant need to stop and scratch and Callum had made me a video montage with goodbyes from everyone in South Africa which may have made me shed a tear or two..

A cramped coach journey home welcomed us to Victoria station where dad greeted me with open arms and questions over my bright blonde hair. Welwyn Garden City hadn’t changed and summer just seemed to resume as if I’d never been away. I found it hard to have proper conversations with random girls and guys at parties that started with ‘omg you went to Africa, was there monkeys everywhere?’.

I desperately wanted to get back on the road, just like everyone feels after travelling.

It was pretty cool to be reunited with my friends again though. I still managed to really enjoy my summer; working, catching up with everyone I’d missed and enjoying the fact that my sisters wardrobe was now technically mine. Fran surprised me by coming down from Leeds. That was so so so good and sneaky of her and my mum! We saw a bloodied goat at the farm with Mollie and were temporarily traumatised. I took Fran into London where we shopped and went to a mini festival in Camden. I turned 20 and saw almost all of my favourite people and went out in London to celebrate. Camping, more birthdays, weddings, BBQs, seeing Laura Mvula at the BBC proms and a trip to Birmingham completed the summer.

By August I’d got a job in Paris! Travel bug fed and working with kids, tick tick. I left Hertfordshire once again for a suburb just north of Paris, a new home, family and job. Au pairing was difficult at first, I don’t blame the kids for not warming to me straight away but I couldn’t really complain as my host family were so welcoming and made me feel at home pretty quickly. Gradually the kids have become a lot more cooperative and very friendly despite the occasional drama!  Everyone back home fretted that I’d have no friends and be mega lonely but it was the same situation to starting university (or what I imagine it to be). All au pairs, expats and erasmus students were in the same position. The first few weeks were so sociable and I must’ve met hundreds of girls and guys working, studying or just visiting Paris. I then got into a routine, something I hadn’t really had since Otjikondo. Tefl, work, drinks in central paris, picnics every weekend (always with peach wine), dinner parties and movie nights.

A weekend in Milan, 4 days in Zurich, a weekend home and a day in Brighton, a few days in Ireland and another weekend home including a quick trip to Nottingham all before Christmas holidays meant I wasn’t sat still for too long. I surprised Rhiana for her 21st birthday and it was the best thing ever to see her reaction to me turning up in Boots. I returned home very hungover and saw Charlie and her bump for her baby shower. We played pin the sperm on the egg and decorated baby grows, we’re all a little bit too excited for the little boy to arrive and to be aunties! And I’m so excited to see Charlie be a mummy.

Paris was lively before Christmas and there was lots to be done; a meeting for a zine project, visitors, lots of running, Christmas shopping and seeing a circus musical with Lucie the evening before I took the train to Vienna to see my family for Christmas. I then interailed and couchsurfed in Budapest, Bratislava and Amsterdam. The plan was to also go to Prague but time wasn’t on my side. I honestly had an unforgettable 2 weeks and would do it over and over if I could.

The year was mad and its flown by (doesn’t everyone say this every year? Where are we getting our concept of time from?!) and there was barely a boring day. There have been some major lows in the past 12 months; times when I’ve just wanted to click my fingers and land back in my own bed in welwyn and watch crap tv but when I put things into perspective I’ve been very lucky and the majority of it has been more than awesome. I’ve been in 11 different countries (12 if you include England) and spent hours upon hours in train stations and airports but I’m happy to be traveling as much as possible at the moment. Who has time to sit still!?

If you’ve been in my life at any point in the past year then thank you! I’ve met a lot of cool guys and gals and very few idiots (yay!). And my year would’ve been poop without you.

big uuuup, 2015

Mary x

Travel Thursdays

Most Thursdays I don’t technically start work until 5:15pm so I have most of the day to explore. My inventive name of  ‘Travel Thursdays’ is to motivate me to see some places outside of Paris each Thursday. Last week I ventured off to Saint Germain en Laye. I didn’t really have a real reason to go but had heard a few people mention it so thought ‘why the heeeelll not?’.

 It took me over an hour because train delays follow me wherever I go but I think it should’ve taken about 25 minutes. There’s loads of history regarding the town; James II, Henry IV and Napoleon had some lols there but I’m not guna bore you with facts. Wikipedia will tell you all you need to know!

The gardens were really pretty and the shops in the centre of town were crazy expensive. I’d definitely go back if I was rich or if it was rrreeeaaallly sunny and I wanted a picnic with some fab scenery.

Mary

bisous

Major FOMO – 7th October 2014

Surfers on Table View beach.

FOMO – fear of missing out.

I hate to say it but right now I have the worst case of FOMO. Or just plain travel envy. Everyone seems to be having a wicked time in either Cape Town or Namibia or wherever else in the world and I’m just feeling so sorry for myself and thinking how much my life sucks. Here, in Paris. Oh wait, it relly doesn’t suck. It only sucks because I focus on other people’s exciting plans when I’m feeling a bit crap after a long day of chasing 3 year olds and ironing desgner clothes that I’d never be able to afford and trying to run errands in the pouring rain. All the while it seems like the rest of the world is having a fabulous time in exotic locations eating amazing foods and having the best social life – I full on blame social media. It’s been said a million trillion times but you do only see the best 1% of peoples lives on social media; it’s very rarely a true reflection of their actual lives. So why am I still feeling down about missing out? I think part of it is because of the way I left Cape Town back in June. I never got to say goodbye to very close friends and places that I’d fallen in love with and maybe I just want to be there to get closure. Or maybe I wanna jam on the beach in 40°C weather and go to reggae concerts and drink Savannas in Langa…

So to get over my FOMO I’m trying to plan summer 2015. I don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow but I’m making actual plans for July onwards, lol my weird ways of thinking eh.

I will be TEFL qualified so hoping to start a new job in September (fingers crossed for the perfect job in Rio De Janeiro) but want to fill my summer with some memories from Africa if I can. Or should I just forget Africa for a while and go some place new? Or heaven forbid, do I go to England for the summer?!!?

Feel free to help me figure out my life. Or should I just chill out about future plans and enjoy my time in Paris..? Yeah I should probs do that.

My bad. Ignore my ramblings.

Mary

(bisous)

‘But what does it represent?!’ – La Nuit Blanche – 4th October 2014

I’d promised myself that I would save money in October, meaning no clothes shopping, no online shopping and no McDonalds. Hey guess what? I was 4 days into the month and caved. I’d left the house to run errands (so grown up) and needed WiFi to find out who and where I was meeting people that night so thought I’d blag some internet and lunch at the same time. My tablet wouldn’t connect so that kinda defeated the point

I met Yasmin and Judit by Parc de Luxembourg and we had a little picnic by a statue of a naked child(?!) and were joined by Bethany and Aina. We saw too much PDA, too many awkward selfies and then we all kissed a girl witha drawn on beard who was on her hen do.  Yeah i don’t know what that was about either…Our plan was to go to La Nuit Blanche but like everyone else I’d spoken to, we had no idea where to go. We got some drinks and sat by the Seine (classic Parisian ‘no sure what we’re doing so let’s sit here’ thing to do) before heading to Montparnasse to meet the YEP group. As we got there it started to rain, it was super windy and we had no idea where we were meeting the group. Bethany and I stayed out in the rain with her ironic Little Miss Sunshine umbrella as the others waited inside. There were hundreds of people around, apparently La Nuit Blanche is a big deal in Paris?!

La Nuit Blanche – described by Time Out Paris

‘A free annual dusk ‘til dawn arts festival that holds the entire city in its thrall’

Basically it’s a 12 hour event where loads of museums and galleries are open all night and street performers make the most of all the generous tourists and the locals use it as a great excuse to get drunk.

We finally met up with about 25 other people from YEP and got the metro to Hotel De Ville, I watched hundreds of massive helium balloons being lit up and wave around. Matita met us and we watched the balloons, not really knowing what that was about…

We abandoned a queue for some exhibition and wandered over to the Notre Dame. We came across a group of street performers/dancers that we’d seen twice before in Paris. They may or may not have a beautiful dancer from America in the group and someone in our group may or may not have asked if he had a girlfriend. It turns out he does soooooo that’s his loss I guess! We didn’t really know what art to go and see so we ended up in a bar in the Latin Quarter called The Latin Corner (ooop I see what you did there bar) on Rue De La Huchette. Read the reviews, they are hilarious. We saw more skin than we were expecting and saw some very awkward ‘performances’ from the bar staff.

The girls headed home and Matita and I were the last ones standing; we met Matita’s friend Amrita and chose to see 1 more ‘arty thing’ before leaving. There was this big wooden structure thing by Pantheon; it wasn’t too exciting but hundreds of people were crowded around looking interested. It was cold and rainy but we decided to brave a queue to go into the Sainte-Geneviève library. Inside the beautiful building a huge pile of crumpled paper and crowds of people folding and screwing up big pieces of paper and adding to this weird pile thing going on. We joined in and heard a security man tell a couple that ‘this wasn’t a place to spend ages folding and to just throw the paper on the pile and leave’ – lol what, it was meant to be an evening to appreciate art, not just hurry along. We didn’t know what this installation was about but I read up on it and found this written by the artist, Iran Qureshi, “I was marked by suicide bombings in my country, says the artist, I wanted to show that we could all together, build something with the flowers of blood, which is also the symbol of life , hope, beauty are there anyway.” – which is fab but there was nothing around at the actual place telling you what it was about!

My journey home was a bit unexpected; we’d checked that my metro was still running and it said that I’d be fine even after 2am. When I changed lines I found out my line was in fact not running 😦 I managed to get to St Lazare and thought I could always walk from there if there were no more trains running. As I walked through the station I saw a girl unconscious on the floor surrounded by confused looking train staff 😦 Luckily an ambulance arrived as I was leaving the station. I couldn’t find a train going my way so had a nosy at the bus stop. All buses had been replaced with coaches and I managed to be the last person to get on the only one at the station and it was going to my town, oh yeeeah! I got the last seat and got home in like 15 minutes (definitely beats walking for 45mins in the rain). Loving living in a place where you can get home at 2am with no need for taxis.

Not sure what I made of La Nuit Blanche; it was different and free so I guess I can’t really complain!

Mary

(bisous)

p.s. sorry for how poop my photos are, it was cold, wet and I didn’t have my DSLR on me