It's places like the gym where I wish I were back in Tonga and lifting with my buddy James. We used to just kick back, make jokes, and push ourselves in lifting (even though that noob did everything in the wrong order... but that's another story). In Tonga, there were no vanity mirrors to watch yourself or some stupid mind numbing pop music playing in the background. Nope, it was simple. Weights were the remains of what people didn't or couldn't steal and whatever that weight, that's what you lift.
The gym in San Diego is crazy. By crazy, I mean there's a lot of crazy people in there. It simply creeps me the fuck out when I see some of these huge guys flexing in the mirror for 5 minutes after doing a single set. They're not just flexing a little, I literally saw one guy inches from the mirror as he flexed and looked at his arms. It looked like he was going to kiss himself. I swear some people are there more to look at themselves in the extra large mirrors instead of actually trying to work out. *Sigh* Sometimes I miss the simplicity of Tonga.
It's been about a year since I first landed in Tonga, but it's felt like a lifetime has passed since then. So much has happened. During that time, I've lived in Tonga, backpacked across Europe, and now I resettled back into the States into a job I like. I've gotten the opportunity to meet such great people and learn more about the world. I feel really lucky. I know it's not the new year yet, but it sure does feel like a new chapter has begun. I had a great past year and I'm really looking forward to the next.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Settling into San Diego
So I'm getting settled into San Diego and my new job. When I moved in, I had a sleeping bag, a guitar, and two backpacks. Now I'm fairly nestled in with a mattress, chair, desktop, and pillows! It's funny what my priority for things are. Before I bought the mattress or even a pillow, I bought rock climbing shoes, a chalk bag, and a new mountain bike.
I guess it's a weird mentality to buy things in that order, but ever since I got back from Europe and Tonga, I've been wanting to try new things. Ordinary sleep pales in comparison to riding up technical trails or conquering my fear of heights. When you've lived on an island where there's limited resources, it makes you appreciate everything we have here in the States. With so many things that we are lucky enough to experience, why let our brain and body atrophy?
Speaking of which, two of my cousins are far from letting their brains atrophy; yesterday they graduated from UCLA. Grats to them!!! :) After I met up with them, I realized that I haven't seen some of my family for a while; I guess I'm pretty bad at keeping in contact with people, even people as close as my own family. I'll try to work on that.
After dinner my mom gave me $100... for ice cream. I guess she knows me well! Woot! =)
$16 dollars of ice cream has been spent and 3 boxes of Mochi Ice Cream has already been consumed. Which flavor next? I think I'll pick up something that's new to me...
Expect to see more writing soon. I have lots to update now that I have my desktop back.
I guess it's a weird mentality to buy things in that order, but ever since I got back from Europe and Tonga, I've been wanting to try new things. Ordinary sleep pales in comparison to riding up technical trails or conquering my fear of heights. When you've lived on an island where there's limited resources, it makes you appreciate everything we have here in the States. With so many things that we are lucky enough to experience, why let our brain and body atrophy?
Speaking of which, two of my cousins are far from letting their brains atrophy; yesterday they graduated from UCLA. Grats to them!!! :) After I met up with them, I realized that I haven't seen some of my family for a while; I guess I'm pretty bad at keeping in contact with people, even people as close as my own family. I'll try to work on that.
After dinner my mom gave me $100... for ice cream. I guess she knows me well! Woot! =)
$16 dollars of ice cream has been spent and 3 boxes of Mochi Ice Cream has already been consumed. Which flavor next? I think I'll pick up something that's new to me...
Expect to see more writing soon. I have lots to update now that I have my desktop back.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Got a job!
I started work a couple days ago. I picked the much lower paying, but very interesting job over at Sony Online Entertainment. I like the people there a lot more than the other places I've been to. ROFLMAOBBQFriday!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Green Triangle C cannot be third in line!
For a lot of the jobs in IT, tests are given to determine one's technical aptitude. The position that I might be offered as software programmer for random phone company was certainly no exception. No worries I thought, I've always been pretty decent at taking tests.
The test was like any other programming test. It covered basic programming logic to simple math skills. I was doing fine until a logic question hit me that caused me to slightly panick.
There were 5 objects that had to be arranged in order. The 5 objects were labeled A, B, C, D, E and each were assigned a unique color and some shape (2 circles, 2 triangles, and one square total)
I was fine with the logical portion of these questions and actually preferred them thanks to studying the "Power Score Logic Games Bible" when I was preparing for the LSAT. Anyways, these questions required a careful setup of the diagram, making some fairly simple inferences, and after which the questions were easily answerable.
The question asked to place the objects in order given a following rule set:
For example, Rule1: two circles cannot be next to each other.
Rule2: Blue Triangle cannot be the last one, etc.
When I read "Green Triangle" cannot be third, I started to worry. It wasn't the logic that confused me. I just didn't know which one was the green one? I think that one is brown? Wait, the last time I said something was brown, a friend had pointed out that my browns and reds were mixed up.
Hmm... not good. Oh wait, I think someone said my shirt is green! I placed my shirt against the test. Yes, they look similar! The looks that I might get from pressing my shirt up against the test might have people questioning my sanity, but at least my logic is solid. Green Triangle C cannot be third.
[Updated: I got an offer, but I declined. I don't really see myself working as a programmer for a phone company. There's gotta be more to life than this. I'm also not that desperate for a job... yet]
The test was like any other programming test. It covered basic programming logic to simple math skills. I was doing fine until a logic question hit me that caused me to slightly panick.
There were 5 objects that had to be arranged in order. The 5 objects were labeled A, B, C, D, E and each were assigned a unique color and some shape (2 circles, 2 triangles, and one square total)
I was fine with the logical portion of these questions and actually preferred them thanks to studying the "Power Score Logic Games Bible" when I was preparing for the LSAT. Anyways, these questions required a careful setup of the diagram, making some fairly simple inferences, and after which the questions were easily answerable.
The question asked to place the objects in order given a following rule set:
For example, Rule1: two circles cannot be next to each other.
Rule2: Blue Triangle cannot be the last one, etc.
When I read "Green Triangle" cannot be third, I started to worry. It wasn't the logic that confused me. I just didn't know which one was the green one? I think that one is brown? Wait, the last time I said something was brown, a friend had pointed out that my browns and reds were mixed up.
Hmm... not good. Oh wait, I think someone said my shirt is green! I placed my shirt against the test. Yes, they look similar! The looks that I might get from pressing my shirt up against the test might have people questioning my sanity, but at least my logic is solid. Green Triangle C cannot be third.
[Updated: I got an offer, but I declined. I don't really see myself working as a programmer for a phone company. There's gotta be more to life than this. I'm also not that desperate for a job... yet]
The Job Search
So reality is finally setting in; I've been back in the States for a few days. The last few dollars that I exchanged for Euros doesn't seem like such a great idea anymore. My money is running low; I need a job! Seeing as how Reedley was not the best place to find a job for someone with a Computer Engineering degree, I decided to take my cousin up on his offer to crash at his place in San Diego.
So off I went to San Diego with my one bag of possessions! After 6 hours of driving and arriving to a few LAN games of "Company of Heroes", I decided that I should start doing some work to justify 'moving' to San Diego. I typed up a quick resume and cover letter, posted them on monster.com, then promptly went back to playing more "Company of Heroes" before going to sleep.
I woke up the next day at the crack of 10:30 a.m. to the sound of a phone ringing. Hey! That phone sounds distinctly familiar... I think it's my phone. Being the lazy ass that I am, I ignored the call. A half hour later I decided to roll out of the futon to see who called. Oooh, I had a local call!
I called back to find that I had a month contract position from RandomCompany if I wanted, as long as I was ready to start the following day. My Peace Corps 'experience' must have stood out! Wow, I've never had jobs contact me back that quickly. Oh wait... what do I have to do?
Set up a computer center?! Are you serious?! I just did that!!! Ugh, that's irony. My first job offer in the States is for the same position as what I was doing in Tonga. Umm, let me think about it.
The next job was for a tutoring position. I went to the interview quite ready to tackle almost any problem that was thrown my way! English? I did well on the LSAT. Teaching? I got my CBEST. Umm... Calculus II? Oh snap, I haven't taken that for a good 4 years at least and even then I only received a B. They want me to do what with an nth degree Taylor Polynomial of f(x)? Umm... sure... next?
As I was about to start reviewing my Calculus II, I got a call from randomGameCompany. Oooh, sweet! I got an interview with them! The interview was simple, followed the next day with another interview with same randomGameCompany that was really fun. I can't believe I just said that I had fun at an interview! Anyways, one comment was "Wow, you'll fit in here"... I take it that he meant it as a compliment! I'll hear back next week.
I also had heard from a phone company that wanted a software programmer and some random computer programmer company in Wisconsin. All of this was within 5 days! My resume and my school is fairly lame; I'm not an Ivy League graduate or even from a respectable University of California. It's just San Diego and a good economy right now!
I <3 San Diego, it's such an awesome place for broke IT students looking for jobs!
So off I went to San Diego with my one bag of possessions! After 6 hours of driving and arriving to a few LAN games of "Company of Heroes", I decided that I should start doing some work to justify 'moving' to San Diego. I typed up a quick resume and cover letter, posted them on monster.com, then promptly went back to playing more "Company of Heroes" before going to sleep.
I woke up the next day at the crack of 10:30 a.m. to the sound of a phone ringing. Hey! That phone sounds distinctly familiar... I think it's my phone. Being the lazy ass that I am, I ignored the call. A half hour later I decided to roll out of the futon to see who called. Oooh, I had a local call!
I called back to find that I had a month contract position from RandomCompany if I wanted, as long as I was ready to start the following day. My Peace Corps 'experience' must have stood out! Wow, I've never had jobs contact me back that quickly. Oh wait... what do I have to do?
Set up a computer center?! Are you serious?! I just did that!!! Ugh, that's irony. My first job offer in the States is for the same position as what I was doing in Tonga. Umm, let me think about it.
The next job was for a tutoring position. I went to the interview quite ready to tackle almost any problem that was thrown my way! English? I did well on the LSAT. Teaching? I got my CBEST. Umm... Calculus II? Oh snap, I haven't taken that for a good 4 years at least and even then I only received a B. They want me to do what with an nth degree Taylor Polynomial of f(x)? Umm... sure... next?
As I was about to start reviewing my Calculus II, I got a call from randomGameCompany. Oooh, sweet! I got an interview with them! The interview was simple, followed the next day with another interview with same randomGameCompany that was really fun. I can't believe I just said that I had fun at an interview! Anyways, one comment was "Wow, you'll fit in here"... I take it that he meant it as a compliment! I'll hear back next week.
I also had heard from a phone company that wanted a software programmer and some random computer programmer company in Wisconsin. All of this was within 5 days! My resume and my school is fairly lame; I'm not an Ivy League graduate or even from a respectable University of California. It's just San Diego and a good economy right now!
I <3 San Diego, it's such an awesome place for broke IT students looking for jobs!
Friday, March 30, 2007
The Email that Never Came
The Email that Never Came
So after "The Paris Train Incidient", we discovered that we forgot to tie up some loose ends. Before Adrienne hung up the phone on her parents at the Paris Train Station, she told them that she would call back in 15 minutes. Her plan was to call back at the hostel. At the hostel, we discovered that there were no phones that could dial out internationally. In our tired state, we ended up just eating and sleeping while her parents were still expecting a phone call.
We forgot to follow up. We also overslept our train to Milan, Italy and were already tackling our next problem of "Where do we want to go?". The person checking for available seats just looked at us with an incredulous stare each time TravelingPartner and I opened our mouths and sprouted out that we whimsically wanted to visit said country. The conversation went like this:
William: "We overslept our train to Milan, Italy. Is there any more available seats today for Milan?"
Train Employee: "Let me check... nope, not for today"
William: "How about to Italy in general?"
Train Employee: "Let me check..."
Adrienne: "I've already been to Italy. Can we go somewhere else?"
William: "How about Bern, Switzerland?"
Train Employee: "Let me check... fully booked for today"
William: "You want to go to Barcelona?"
Adrienne: "Sure!"
William: "What about Barcelona, Spain?"
Train Employee: "Um... let me check... none available today"
Adrienne: "What about Vienna, Austria?"
Train Employee: "Let me check... yep, I can get you two to the next train in an hour and a half, but it leaves from another station"
William and Adrienne look at each other.
William: "Perfect, we'll take it!"
We asked for trains to Bern, Switzerland all the way to Barcelona, Spain. and ended up just going to Vienna, Austria. It was pretty hilarious at that point; we were so accustomed to going wherever the train would take us that it was beginning to be fairly routine. Paris was also starting to get very expensive so we just wanted to get the hell out of there.
While we were contemplating where to go, Adrienne's parents were still concerned about the welfare of their daughter. Before we left, Adrienne had left her parents the contact information to reach my parents in cases of dire emergencies. This situation neatly filed under the "Dire Emergency" category.
Last they knew, their beautiful daughter was in a foreign country where she did not know the local language and had no place to stay. They knew that it was nightfall, we had little cash, businesses were closed, and we had never been to that part of Paris before. I was also a mysterious person who they've never met and who only knew their daughter through Peace Corps.
So Adrienne's parents called my parents. Little did they know of me and my reclusiveness. The call did not alleviate their concerns, but only frustrated them more. From what I've asked around, here's what happened:
AP = Adrienne's Parents
MP = My parents
MC = My cousin
Adrienne's Parents call up my house.
Ring Ring!
My parents pick up the phone.
My parents: "Hello?"
AP: "Hi, is this William Liu's parents?"
MP: "Yes. William's not here right now, he's in Europe somewhere."
AP: "Yes, I know. This is Adrienne's mother. William is traveling with my daughter."
MP: "Yes, William is in Europe."
AP: "Yes. The last I heard from them, they had no place to stay, they were in a train station they've never been, they didn't have much cash, and they said they would call me back in 15 minutes, but I haven't heard from them in a couple days. I've emailed them and I haven't gotten a response. It's not like my daughter to ask for help, and then stop all communication. When was the last time you heard from William?"
MP: "William's in Europe, he'll be back later. Don't worry, William always finds a way out of sticky situations"
AP: "..."
MP: "Do you want to talk to his cousin? She knows computers, they might have contacted each other."
AP: "Umm... Yes please"
My parents pass phone over to my 16 year old cousin.
My cousin: "Hi"
AP: "Hi, when was the last time you heard from William?"
MC: "Last week"
AP: "Do you know where he is and if he's ok?"
MC: "Yeah, he's in Europe. He'll be back later."
AP: "Have you talked to him recently?"
MC: "No, but he always manages to get by. Don't worry"
Adrienne's Parents repeat our dire situation.
MC replies back "No worries, they'll be fine."
AP: "........."
AP: "Ok, thank you. Bye"
MC: "Ok, Bye!"
Adrienne received an email from her parents and her friends. I received not even a single email! Let's not go into further details about that...
[Updated] It's been a few days since I've been back and during a dinner my mom casually said, "Oh, while you were gone, someone called for you. It was someone's mom. They wanted to know where you were."
I laughed.
So after "The Paris Train Incidient", we discovered that we forgot to tie up some loose ends. Before Adrienne hung up the phone on her parents at the Paris Train Station, she told them that she would call back in 15 minutes. Her plan was to call back at the hostel. At the hostel, we discovered that there were no phones that could dial out internationally. In our tired state, we ended up just eating and sleeping while her parents were still expecting a phone call.
We forgot to follow up. We also overslept our train to Milan, Italy and were already tackling our next problem of "Where do we want to go?". The person checking for available seats just looked at us with an incredulous stare each time TravelingPartner and I opened our mouths and sprouted out that we whimsically wanted to visit said country. The conversation went like this:
William: "We overslept our train to Milan, Italy. Is there any more available seats today for Milan?"
Train Employee: "Let me check... nope, not for today"
William: "How about to Italy in general?"
Train Employee: "Let me check..."
Adrienne: "I've already been to Italy. Can we go somewhere else?"
William: "How about Bern, Switzerland?"
Train Employee: "Let me check... fully booked for today"
William: "You want to go to Barcelona?"
Adrienne: "Sure!"
William: "What about Barcelona, Spain?"
Train Employee: "Um... let me check... none available today"
Adrienne: "What about Vienna, Austria?"
Train Employee: "Let me check... yep, I can get you two to the next train in an hour and a half, but it leaves from another station"
William and Adrienne look at each other.
William: "Perfect, we'll take it!"
We asked for trains to Bern, Switzerland all the way to Barcelona, Spain. and ended up just going to Vienna, Austria. It was pretty hilarious at that point; we were so accustomed to going wherever the train would take us that it was beginning to be fairly routine. Paris was also starting to get very expensive so we just wanted to get the hell out of there.
While we were contemplating where to go, Adrienne's parents were still concerned about the welfare of their daughter. Before we left, Adrienne had left her parents the contact information to reach my parents in cases of dire emergencies. This situation neatly filed under the "Dire Emergency" category.
Last they knew, their beautiful daughter was in a foreign country where she did not know the local language and had no place to stay. They knew that it was nightfall, we had little cash, businesses were closed, and we had never been to that part of Paris before. I was also a mysterious person who they've never met and who only knew their daughter through Peace Corps.
So Adrienne's parents called my parents. Little did they know of me and my reclusiveness. The call did not alleviate their concerns, but only frustrated them more. From what I've asked around, here's what happened:
AP = Adrienne's Parents
MP = My parents
MC = My cousin
Adrienne's Parents call up my house.
Ring Ring!
My parents pick up the phone.
My parents: "Hello?"
AP: "Hi, is this William Liu's parents?"
MP: "Yes. William's not here right now, he's in Europe somewhere."
AP: "Yes, I know. This is Adrienne's mother. William is traveling with my daughter."
MP: "Yes, William is in Europe."
AP: "Yes. The last I heard from them, they had no place to stay, they were in a train station they've never been, they didn't have much cash, and they said they would call me back in 15 minutes, but I haven't heard from them in a couple days. I've emailed them and I haven't gotten a response. It's not like my daughter to ask for help, and then stop all communication. When was the last time you heard from William?"
MP: "William's in Europe, he'll be back later. Don't worry, William always finds a way out of sticky situations"
AP: "..."
MP: "Do you want to talk to his cousin? She knows computers, they might have contacted each other."
AP: "Umm... Yes please"
My parents pass phone over to my 16 year old cousin.
My cousin: "Hi"
AP: "Hi, when was the last time you heard from William?"
MC: "Last week"
AP: "Do you know where he is and if he's ok?"
MC: "Yeah, he's in Europe. He'll be back later."
AP: "Have you talked to him recently?"
MC: "No, but he always manages to get by. Don't worry"
Adrienne's Parents repeat our dire situation.
MC replies back "No worries, they'll be fine."
AP: "........."
AP: "Ok, thank you. Bye"
MC: "Ok, Bye!"
Adrienne received an email from her parents and her friends. I received not even a single email! Let's not go into further details about that...
[Updated] It's been a few days since I've been back and during a dinner my mom casually said, "Oh, while you were gone, someone called for you. It was someone's mom. They wanted to know where you were."
I laughed.
The Paris Train Station Incident
The Paris Train Station Incident
Almost all of our traveling was done by train due to Europe's highly efficient and relatively cheap public transportation system. With a magical ticket called the "Eurail pass", we were able to travel with ease from country to country. While this was another way to cut cost and maximize our time (sleep on the train ride so we don't have to pay for a hotel), as we found out, traveling from country to country doesn't necessarily mean a place to stay in each country (Read: The Night at Bruges Train Station). This was the case once again after we finished our day trip to Lyon, France.
It was approaching late evening when we returned to Paris and Adrienne reminded me that we had no place to stay for the night. Argh, I forgot about that! I think the adventure of traveling is sometimes ruined by trivial questions like "Where are we going to stay for the night? Where are we going to eat?" Not only do you have to answer those questions, but they're reoccurring questions that keep coming back night after night or every 4-6 hours.
This was another one of those nights that I forgot to pay attention to those pesky questions. Normally we would reserve a place to stay a whole 12 to 24 hours in advance. Today was not one of those days. We needed a place to stay at that exact moment, but couldn't find any help to locate a hostel. There was no one to ask for accommodations and no Internet access around. We were tired, hungry, and we had all our belongings with us. It looked like we were carrying so little, but it began to weigh exponentially heavier as time pressed on. Businesses had closed, including the restrooms, and even the train station looked like it was about to close soon. It was a depressing situation.
Adrienne looked around and started a desperate plan. She had the look of a caged animal trying whatever was necessary to impede the fate of sleeping at another train station. She probably remembered her near death experience in the Bruges Train Station and used that as fuel to help us find a place to stay. She came up with an elaborate plan of calling her parents in the United States in order to give them an update on our sad predicament, hoping that they could locate a nearby hostel online.
Unlike Adrienne, who was coordinating her complex plan that involved communication across 3000+ miles and relaying information from the super information highway, I had a much simpler plan. I walked outside the train station and poked around.
To be honest, at that moment, even though it was 10 p.m., we had no place to sleep, we didn't eat in the last 6 hours, and there was a group of hobos forming at the base of the train station, I only had one thing that preoccupied everything; I needed to pee.
Fueled by my urge to relieve myself, I hastily moved out while Adrienne stayed inside the train station to rest. She must have thought that I was looking valiantly for a nearby hostel. I was mainly searching outside the train station to look for a place to pee. I can't believe the restrooms were closed! How cruel are the French to close restrooms?! As my bladder began to fill and verge on the point of exploding, I started hating France and its stupid design!
Why couldn't they put a dark alley here or there? Who needs a restaurant there when it could be a nice dark alley?! While normally any sane traveler would dread approaching any dark alley, I was running around looking for one. I thought about asking people, but that would be slightly awkward even for me. "Excuse me sir, can you point me to a nice dark alley? I'm friendly, I promise I won't mug you!"
In my search, I finally found a hotel! I went inside to inquire about the price. We were desperate, but we were also very poor. 70 Euros a night for two people?! You've got to be kidding me! I thanked the concierge and walked out. I visited 3 more hotels before I found out that hotels within the vicinity ranged from 70 to 100 Euros per night, which seemed normal, but still much outside our price range. Still too stubborn, I continued on my quest to find a reasonably priced sleeping accommodation when I walked around a corner only to see our luck change.
Not more than half a block away I saw my miracle flashing before my eyes in a bright neon orange sign clearing stating "HOSTEL". Woot! We're saved! I asked inside and the price was approximately 35 Euros for two people with breakfast included. We had to hurry though, they only had one room left, they didn't accept credit cards, I didn't have enough cash on me, and there was no bank open.
I made it back to the train station and found Adrienne still on the phone. She had reached a snag in her complex plan. Apparently, she didn't expect her parents to put her on hold. Adrienne was pissed off that her family had put her on hold when she was calling halfways across the world (though in all fairness, it was her sibling's birthday and they were bringing out the cake).
The news of finding a hostel made her beam with happiness. She hung up the phone and we left for the hostel. We ended up having to combine our cash in order to barely have enough to pay for the night. We were paying the last couple Euros by scrounging up some of the .20 Euro coins that we had in our pockets.
We later found an ATM and were able to get some cash for dinner.
P.S. I was finally able to pee. Best. Piss. Ever.
Almost all of our traveling was done by train due to Europe's highly efficient and relatively cheap public transportation system. With a magical ticket called the "Eurail pass", we were able to travel with ease from country to country. While this was another way to cut cost and maximize our time (sleep on the train ride so we don't have to pay for a hotel), as we found out, traveling from country to country doesn't necessarily mean a place to stay in each country (Read: The Night at Bruges Train Station). This was the case once again after we finished our day trip to Lyon, France.
It was approaching late evening when we returned to Paris and Adrienne reminded me that we had no place to stay for the night. Argh, I forgot about that! I think the adventure of traveling is sometimes ruined by trivial questions like "Where are we going to stay for the night? Where are we going to eat?" Not only do you have to answer those questions, but they're reoccurring questions that keep coming back night after night or every 4-6 hours.
This was another one of those nights that I forgot to pay attention to those pesky questions. Normally we would reserve a place to stay a whole 12 to 24 hours in advance. Today was not one of those days. We needed a place to stay at that exact moment, but couldn't find any help to locate a hostel. There was no one to ask for accommodations and no Internet access around. We were tired, hungry, and we had all our belongings with us. It looked like we were carrying so little, but it began to weigh exponentially heavier as time pressed on. Businesses had closed, including the restrooms, and even the train station looked like it was about to close soon. It was a depressing situation.
Adrienne looked around and started a desperate plan. She had the look of a caged animal trying whatever was necessary to impede the fate of sleeping at another train station. She probably remembered her near death experience in the Bruges Train Station and used that as fuel to help us find a place to stay. She came up with an elaborate plan of calling her parents in the United States in order to give them an update on our sad predicament, hoping that they could locate a nearby hostel online.
Unlike Adrienne, who was coordinating her complex plan that involved communication across 3000+ miles and relaying information from the super information highway, I had a much simpler plan. I walked outside the train station and poked around.
To be honest, at that moment, even though it was 10 p.m., we had no place to sleep, we didn't eat in the last 6 hours, and there was a group of hobos forming at the base of the train station, I only had one thing that preoccupied everything; I needed to pee.
Fueled by my urge to relieve myself, I hastily moved out while Adrienne stayed inside the train station to rest. She must have thought that I was looking valiantly for a nearby hostel. I was mainly searching outside the train station to look for a place to pee. I can't believe the restrooms were closed! How cruel are the French to close restrooms?! As my bladder began to fill and verge on the point of exploding, I started hating France and its stupid design!
Why couldn't they put a dark alley here or there? Who needs a restaurant there when it could be a nice dark alley?! While normally any sane traveler would dread approaching any dark alley, I was running around looking for one. I thought about asking people, but that would be slightly awkward even for me. "Excuse me sir, can you point me to a nice dark alley? I'm friendly, I promise I won't mug you!"
In my search, I finally found a hotel! I went inside to inquire about the price. We were desperate, but we were also very poor. 70 Euros a night for two people?! You've got to be kidding me! I thanked the concierge and walked out. I visited 3 more hotels before I found out that hotels within the vicinity ranged from 70 to 100 Euros per night, which seemed normal, but still much outside our price range. Still too stubborn, I continued on my quest to find a reasonably priced sleeping accommodation when I walked around a corner only to see our luck change.
Not more than half a block away I saw my miracle flashing before my eyes in a bright neon orange sign clearing stating "HOSTEL". Woot! We're saved! I asked inside and the price was approximately 35 Euros for two people with breakfast included. We had to hurry though, they only had one room left, they didn't accept credit cards, I didn't have enough cash on me, and there was no bank open.
I made it back to the train station and found Adrienne still on the phone. She had reached a snag in her complex plan. Apparently, she didn't expect her parents to put her on hold. Adrienne was pissed off that her family had put her on hold when she was calling halfways across the world (though in all fairness, it was her sibling's birthday and they were bringing out the cake).
The news of finding a hostel made her beam with happiness. She hung up the phone and we left for the hostel. We ended up having to combine our cash in order to barely have enough to pay for the night. We were paying the last couple Euros by scrounging up some of the .20 Euro coins that we had in our pockets.
We later found an ATM and were able to get some cash for dinner.
P.S. I was finally able to pee. Best. Piss. Ever.
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