If Chuck Norris were a drink he would be...

Steaming hot espresso. The first thing I drank in Paris, and I don't even like coffee/espresso/caffeine. My brother, however, thinks French coffee to be quite a worthy endeavor and made demands against the safety of my continued existence conditional upon the consumption of French coffee. So, I drank it (somewhat) happily. The espresso took a sweeping Chuck Norris roundhouse to my brain and cleared away the jet-lag, for awhile... At midnight I fell asleep in the car on the way back from the Eiffel Tower... 7 times. Even time I managed to nearly damage my pretty face in the tiny dashboard of the quaint smart car I would jolt back to life for 90 seconds. I got home and fell into bed. Best. Sleep. Ever.

Into the Depths of Paris

First off; Iù, typing on q French keyboqrd: This is ,uch hqrder thqn it ,ight see,: The letters qre ,essed up: In fqct; qll the chqrqcters qre ,essed up::: Even &;é qnd ":
Translated from French keyboard speak: First off, I'm typing on a French keyboard. This is much harder than it might seem. The letters are messed up. In fact, all the characters are messed up... Even 1,2 and 3.

That being said.... I have uploaded some pictures and will tell the stories in my next install,ent.

Turn the frustration to 11.

European Prep Work

In less than one week I will be leaving the States for the first time. Strapped to my back, I'll carry my life for about 3 weeks as I pass through Paris, Rome, Florence, Lucerne(Switzerland) and Paris(again). Oh yeah, how about a day trip to Tuscanny to drink wine?! Hiking in Switzerland?! Shenanigans in Paris?! I think 'yes'.

Throughout the journey I will blog from each wi-fi enabled McDo, hostel or cafe. The antics will be crazy traveling with some engineers(until I get back to Paris) and mathematicians(stay tuned for TandemTerror in Switzerland when we put two men on one perfectly good bike).

As of now I have a plane ticket to Paris and back, a smattering of French, five empty boxes on a railpass(Italy, France and Switzerland), nowhere to stay in Rome, one backpack and a tiny iPod for blogging! And a serious need of vacation. Engineering isn't always faeries and unicorns, kids( just somewhere after 3am).

My railpass arrived just today. Tomorrow I still have a final in Polymer Chemistry, but the trip almost feels real. Let's just say I don't officially graduate until I pass all my finals.