The Day of Minor (Major) Panic Attacks

Alright, I have a confession to make. Tuesday after a really really fun conversation club, Alison, Caitlin and I broke the code of Americans studying in France.....and ate at Subway for dinner. But it was SOO good! And there were cookies!! It was nice to have something familiar. Tuesday was kind of a day of familiarity, both with subway and with the AMAZING care package I got from home, full of boxes of Goldfish, red vines, chocolate, note pads, and a really really adorable stuffed Eeyore. Yay!

This morning after my European Union class I got online to double and triple check the timing for my upcoming voyage. What I found was both terrifying and mystifying. I had, instead of booking my flight from Paris to Copenhagen, booked it from Paris straight to Oslo. Okay, I thought, I can handle this. I, still fairly calmly, canceled my boat reservation from Copenhagen to Oslo. At this point I decided to go through every reservation and just make sure everything was in order....and I'm glad I did. I discovered that both my Oslo hotel and my train from Oslo to Bergen were booked for the wrong days. I was completely mystified by this. I triple checked my calender and made sure that it said the right day when I made the reservations. This continued to baffle me after I got home for the night. I took a quick look at the calender I'd made myself two weeks ago to see what time tomorrow's Halloween party is, and realized my mistake. When I made the calender, I somehow pushed all of the dates backwards by a day. AAAAH!! The panic was really setting in. I sent a slightly hysterical message to my friend Chelsea who I'm meeting in Bergen, Norway, then started taking deep breaths. There would be a way to fix this, I knew there would. I started skimming the Rick Steve's website looking for aid or inspiration, and the latter struck. It is called "Norway in a Nutshell", and it is, I think, going to be the highlight of my trip. It is a combination train/bus/boat/tram trip across the "backbone" of Norway, through the fjords and mountains. I AM SO EXCITED. The even better news is, once I canceled my old reservations and made new hostel reservations for the two nights in Oslo, I ended up still saving money, even with the boats cancellation fee. YAY!! Here is the official, triple checked, not going to change, set in stone (hah I shouldn't say that) plan:

Tuesday: Classes then travel!
8:45 train from Nantes to Paris
Check into Woodstock Hostel overnight

Wednesday: Oslo
5:30 Hop on metro to Charles de Gaulle (or take a taxi, I'll ask the hostel people which is better)
7:00 Flight from Paris to Copenhagen
9:55 Flight from Copenhagen to Oslo
11:00 arrive Oslo
Check into Anker Hostel (recommended by Rick Steves) for two nights

Thursday: More Oslo
Take all afternoon Wednesday and all day Thursday to tour Oslo, including Folkemuseum!

Friday: Norway in a Nutshell Tour
8:11 Train from Oslo to Myrdal
1:00 Tram from Myrdal to Flam
3:10 Boat from Flam to Gudvangen
4:55 Bus from Guvangen to Voss
5:53 Train from Voss to Bergen
Arrive Bergen 7:05pm - Meet Chelsea!!
And maybe still that night, visit the floibanen tram that goes up the mountain!

Saturday: Bergen!
Spend all day bugging Chelsea, seeing her University and Bergen!

Sunday:
9:15 Flight from Bergen to Copenhagen
10:55 Flight form Copenhagen to Paris
1:15 Arrive Paris
3:00 Train from Paris to Nantes
Arrive Nantes 5:07

I really am feeling a lot more comfortable about this plan. The only trick is I need to make reservations for the first portion of the Norway in a Nutshell tour, but the rest is all taken care of. I'm sorry if this blog stresses anybody out, I promise I really can take care of myself. Norway is a very, very safe country, I'll make sure to keep my passport and money safe, and I'll take lots of pictures. This is me, trying to be an adult. I made some mistakes, but now I've fixed them and came up with a plan that I like even better. I'm a lot less rushed, and have more time to see more of what I want. Not that I didn't want to see Copenhagen, but I feel like Norway is more of where my focus was.

In case you're still worried, here are a couple quotes from Rick Steves (the tour guide superman whose Paris book was absolutely wonderful):
1. Norwegians are talented linguists. In Norway, the language barrier is just a speed bump. I speak only English and of all the places I've worked (shooting TV shows, leading tour groups, and researching guidebooks), communicating in Norway has been a breeze. Because Norwegians generally shift to English without missing a beat, it's tough to pick up any Norwegian. Still, it's important (and fun) to learn a few polite words.

2. While there are fine tours, Norway is so well-organized and uncrowded that it's one of the easiest places in Europe to tour on your own. If you're inclined to explore Norway independently, do it.

He also has a really neat quote from an article talking about Norwegian heritage.
"Thoughtful travel shows us where we came from and who we are. It reminds us that we share this planet with six billion equally precious people. While much international travel exaggerates the differences between Us and Them, I've spent my adult life teaching travel "through the back door"...traveling like a temporary local, eager to try out new ways of living and to come home with a broader perspective — as a citizen of the planet."

Alright off of that subject. I've gotten two of the three midterms I've taken back. The EU midterm went....it wasn't great but it was better than I expected. The grammar midterm though...that went a lot worse than I'd thought. I'm going to make an appointment with her to sit down and go over it, but she wants us to correct the mistakes ourselves and bring them back to class on Friday. I definitely will. I already looked at it, and most of the errors were rules I thought went one way but actually were different, so hopefully once I know the rules down pat, and can recite them in a high stress situation, I'll be good. I only have one other midterm, and that will be for Atlantic World. That's not until after break though, so I'll worry about it then. Today our class took a field trip, we went up to the highest point in the city, looked at some murals dedicated to the Acadiens of Canada, and had class outdoors. It was quite nice, and I know now how to get to the Jules Verne museum and the planetarium, both of which Alison and I (and whoever else decides to tag along) are going to on Friday. Friday's have officially been dedicated as our museum days.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day too. I've only got one class (yay!!) but after I go running I'm going to sit down and redo my test. That's not the exciting part though. Tomorrow night IES is hosting a Halloween Party! I'm kind of bummed that my host family can't come, my mom is out of town and my dad works late, but it'll still be fun. Plus, I'm going to come as a wizard, which will lead perfectly into...........the release of the LAST HARRY POTTER BOOK....in FRENCH!! I'm really excited. We're all going to go to a bookstore for the big party, and it will be fabulous. I'm really excited (see picture if you don't believe me!)