So I never exactly finished my Haiti
blog. I just have to end with, it was a tough experience, and I left
feeling more overwhelmed and powerless than I've ever felt in my
life. I'm not sure what the solution is, I'm just more confused then ever about aid in Haiti.
Now I'm in a hostel in Avignon, France.
Google it if you aren't familiar, it's absolutely gorgeous.
My journey here has taken about seven
weeks, since I've been back from Haiti. Since then I've seen a friend
get married, the Jersey shore, a Thai restaurant in Philly, plenty of
Ocean City, Maryland, the French Embassy in DC, a hipster garden
concert in Pittsburgh, numerous classrooms in Frederick County, and
then a whole week in Ireland to celebrate the birthday of the best
partner in crime I could ever ask for. We laid on the edge of the
Cliffs of Moher, tasted whiskey, and played off being 3rd
year students at Trinity College crashing a dance group wine
reception for 1st years. And then said goodbye, but only
for a couple months.
My trip to Avignon from Shannon,
Ireland, took almost as long as my trek from Washington to Shannon.
After a two hour delay in leaving Shannon, with the place packed with
American soldiers, I finally made it to Heathrow and almost missed my
flight because I'm ridiculous and took the 15 minute bus ride to the
wrong terminal. Got to Marseille and managed to get on the shuttle to
the train station despite the laughs from passers-by because one of
my suitcases was broken so I was basically dragging it along the
sidewalk. Had to walk in line for 45 minutes to buy a train ticket so
I missed the speedy TGV train to Avignon (34 minutes) so I had to
take the regional train which took almost 2 hours. Walked the half
mile to my hostel, which is amazing by the way. Checked in and went
and bought some juice. I love juice in France.
Today I spent almost ten hours walking
around what was most likely within a 1km radius in the center of
Avignon (I didn't even make it to the Palais des Papes – Google
it.) looking at apartments, figuring out banks, trying to find
someone to translate my birth certificate, and just talking with
these other two people in my program.
The best part of the day was coming
back to my hostel. Last night I was wrecked and anti-social. Tonight
I met an 18 year old au pair from New Zealand working in Lyon, an
early-thirties French engineer taking a break from life, and a 26
year old Ohio girl who studied anthropology and works for a bank in
DC, also taking a break from life. I'm glad to have company.
