Back on Track
It’s been a little over a year since my last blog post, and for that, I apologize. A lot has happened, so I'll break it up between a few different posts as best I can. We’ll start with the rest of the fall semester up until Christmas. I took a trip to Nice France, a weekend trip to London, and had a Halloween excursion to Agrabah (which was very well received by the large Indian demographic in our class). Speaking of, our class is probably 30% Indian, and most of them are still trying to figure out the concept of personal space. For many, it’s a completely foreign concept to them on almost every level. They interrupt you and just start shouting when they want to talk. If there are ten open urinals they'll take the one right next to you and try to have a conversation. Showering regularly isn’t a priority for them, and they are shameless in their questions and comments. They tell women they need to lose weight. They ask if the medicine you are taking is for an STD. They call out all of the girls who cover up acne with makeup. It’s like a watching a kid interact with an amputee for the first time; most of the time they are asking out of curiosity, but it always comes off as insulting. There have been a couple of "code red" situations where women have just lost it, which has been pure gold on an entertainment level. Most of the Indian’s are starting to recognize when they need to give people space, which is a shame, because watching their interactions spiral out of control was a huge source of enjoyment in the classroom.
Moving on, the first trip on the list was Nice. Nice was unreal. The water is the bluest I’ve ever seen, and they don’t hate Americans like the Parisians do. The food was awesome, the wine was dirt cheap, and the weather was perfect. All the beaches were topless, and it wasn’t old ladies, there were some high quality knockers bouncing down the shoreline. We did some touristy stuff, but mainly just strolled the shoreline, drank cheap wine, and slept on the beach. They only have one bar in the entire city that stays open past ten, which was awesome but really tough to find. Big EDM seen.. weird, but at the end of the day a bar is a bar.
One night, we took the train up to Monaco, which basically looked like the set of a Bond movie. We walked along the formula 1 track, went down to the harbor and saw all of the massive yachts, and ended up in the casino (Pictured Right). We won 1000 euros at the roulette table and treated ourselves to a seafood dinner overlooking the harbor. I think I’ve come to accept that my luck always balances out, so places like casinos really cause a lot of internal conflict. If I had millions of dollars I would probably gamble all the time, and I would lose it all. So right now I’m riding high, but we’ll get to the other end of the seesaw by the end of the post.
I’ll wait to post pictures of Katie’s (Helen to the infidels) wedding venue, until I write a post about the wedding, but I will say there is a medieval knight in the foyer. I had to rent a car to get to the venue which was an issue on basically every level. Enterprise rent a car may give you the tools to be your own boss, but they completely screw you over. I rented a standard 4 door car which sounds simple enough, but after I paid, they told me they only had manual cars available. I can’t drive stick. Luckily one of the girls who agreed to come could. She was really pissed about it. The entire reason she agreed to come to the venue was because I said I would pay for her tour of a vineyard and buy her a bottle of wine after the tasting, but now that she couldn’t drink, there was really nothing enticing her to go. I also a vaguely promised that we would get to taste the dinner menu for the wedding, which never happened and just fueled her hatred for me.
On a side note, being able to drive stick is not nearly as emasculating as your parents would have you to believe. I think we all grew up with the notion that the inability to drive stick directly correlated with erectile dysfunction. With the wine flowing, and the scenery so gorgeous, driving is a chore in France. So with that, I tossed her the keys and we set off on our two hour journey. The venue was great; spiral staircases, indoor plumbing, you get the idea.
I stayed true to my word and took them to a vineyard, took a tour, and a brief wine tasting. I bought three bottles for the road as reparations for making her drive. When we got back to Nice and tried to return the car, a “brand ambassador” told me I did 1000 dollars of damage to the car and, that there was no way I could contest the charge. There wasn’t a scratch on the car, and I brought it back the same condition I received it. I fought with them for half an hour, but they were completely ridiculous. They kept my security deposit of $250, and said they were charging an additional $800 to the card on file. I told them what they were doing was illegal and threw in some WWII references of French cowardice for good measure. In the end, I basically just had to bend over and take it. When I talked to the locals, they said this was a common scam that they do to Americans, because it costs more to fly back and fight this in court than it does to pay the fine. There was nothing I could do about the $250, but I canceled my credit card and told them to deny any further charges.
I stayed true to my word and took them to a vineyard, took a tour, and a brief wine tasting. I bought three bottles for the road as reparations for making her drive. When we got back to Nice and tried to return the car, a “brand ambassador” told me I did 1000 dollars of damage to the car and, that there was no way I could contest the charge. There wasn’t a scratch on the car, and I brought it back the same condition I received it. I fought with them for half an hour, but they were completely ridiculous. They kept my security deposit of $250, and said they were charging an additional $800 to the card on file. I told them what they were doing was illegal and threw in some WWII references of French cowardice for good measure. In the end, I basically just had to bend over and take it. When I talked to the locals, they said this was a common scam that they do to Americans, because it costs more to fly back and fight this in court than it does to pay the fine. There was nothing I could do about the $250, but I canceled my credit card and told them to deny any further charges.
I cooled down a little once I was able to cancel the card, but then I realized I was in a foreign country with no money and still had a day left in Nice. We woke up and drank on the beach all day and my friends from school kindly paid for my lunch and dinner. Then we got an email saying “all French airports are going on strike”. I almost lost it after hearing that, but in all honesty it wasn’t that bad, an extra day in Nice laying on a topless beach is heaven for most people.
Song of the week: Rocks off, Rolling Stones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lNP-x94-SE
Song of the week: Rocks off, Rolling Stones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lNP-x94-SE
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