My comically tragic end of 2008

I set off at the end of December 2008 for an exciting trip across Europe. It was going to be incredible, a whirlwind through Paris, the Christmas festivals in Strasbourg, Zurich, Munich, and finally New Years in Berlin.

It was supposed to be my own version of backpacking where I would get to see the parts of Europe I have not seen. A break from my daily grind in Japan. A time when I could be a tourist and when I wasn't expected to know the language. A time when I could be a foreigner but not be noticed until I opened my mouth.

So, on December 20th, I set off for my European adventure. I was going to experience the beauty and romance of France, the amazing festivals at Christmastime in Europe, and the history and beer of Germany.

Fate, however, seemed to have different plans for me.

This is my story, and if he were alive, I defy even Shakespeare to come up with such a tragic comedy.

Paris (December 20-22)
I arrived in Paris without much trouble. It was a 2 hour train ride followed by a flight to Amsterdam and then another flight to Paris. All in all it took about 20 hours. I actually met up with a fellow JET on his way to Europe and a couple of other foreigners going there too. It turned into a pretty interesting conversation in which I learned that most of the people who move to Japan are huge geeks. I was discussing how I sometimes have difficulty with my Japanese accent and the guy across from me said something along the lines of...

"Oh I totally know what you mean, but my Japanese accent is way better than my Klingon accent though..."

At first I thought he was kidding. But, he wasn't.

Then on the tram the Klingon guy looked at this other girl and was like
"Oh that's a great necklace...Is that elvish I see?"
"Oh yeah. It's from the Lord of the Rings"
--The guy then pulls out his own necklace, which is the exact same ring.
In unison "One ring to rule them all..."

Seriously. I nearly died.
So 12 hours and 5 movies later I arrived in Amsterdam, grabbed Starbucks with my non-crazy JET friend. Eventually jumped on a plane to Paris and met my friend Allison at Charles de Gaulle. I didn't have a lot of energy and was a bit jet lagged so we went to our hostel (after getting lost on the way) and grabbed some cheese and bread and wine.

Though I have to say, Paris has this image of being really romantic and beautiful, but it was really kinda dirty and gross. The subways were full of trash and graffiti, and they smelled bad. Turns out Japan has spoiled me. Once we got into downtown Paris though, it began to look like the nice city I expected.

The next morning we got up early and went sightseeing in Paris.
First we went to Versailles, which was beautiful, except that the Parisians had decided to put a really horrible modern art display up in Versailles. So when we walked into each room there were these hideous pieces of "art." In the old bedroom of Marie Antoinette there was a plastic lobster hanging from the ceiling. At the end of the hall of mirrors there was a giant metallic blue balloon. It was ridiculous.

We headed back into Paris and grabbed panini's and walked along the Seine to Notre Dame. As expected, it was absolutely beautiful. I remember hating being dragged to the cathedrals in England when I was a kid, but now that I am older I can look at them and appreciate how much effort went into the creation of these buildings. I believe Notre Dame took about 200 years to complete.

Then we walked to The Louvre. We didn't really go in because it's so huge and we only had 1 full day in Paris so we used the free bathrooms (because in Europe they make you pay to pee....)and walked around the courtyard. Apparently The Louvre was Napoleon's "castle." Why anyone would need that much space to live in, I dunno. But it was really impressive. I don't mind that we didn't go inside mostly because I have heard that it is somewhat overrated. Also it looked so big I don't think we would have ever gotten through it.

After The Louvre we visited the tallest building in Paris where we could get a view of the whole city. It was really beautiful. It was just getting dark but we could see the Eiffel Tower, the Arc du Triomphe, the Louvre, Notre Dame, etc. from above.

After we left the giant building we went to the Eiffel Tower which was lit up with blue lights and yellow stars to look like the EU flag. It was impressive, but certainly not my favorite part of Paris. After grabbing some hot chocolate we walked over to the Champs Elysee and Arc du Triomphe. Seriously, how people in Paris can drive around there without getting into a million accidents, I have no idea. That is a scary street.

The next day we walked around Paris for a bit before heading to the station to go to Strasbourg.

Up til now, it has probably sounded like a great vacation. Well, the first 2 and a half days were great.

Strasbourg (December 22-24)

On the train to Strasbourg, I began to feel a little sick. I didn't think too much of it, but I felt really awful by the time we arrived. I was running a bit of a fever and just wanted to go the hostel. Allison wanted to go to the Christmas market so I spent a bit of time there with her til I couldn't take it anymore. So we grabbed some dinner. However, I couldn't really stomach anything so we ended up having to shove half a pizza in my purse (because they don't do doggy bags in Europe). We went back to the hostel and I went straight to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling really sick. I'll spare everyone the details but it wasn't pretty and I spent most of the night on the floor of the hostel bathroom...also not pretty.

When I got up to take a shower I got really dizzy. My vision kinda went all tunnel-like and black and I had to lie down on the floor of the shower. Seriously. Gross. Living in Japan apparently has made it difficult for me to handle certain Western foods....or it was food poisoning....

I wasn't going to let it ruin our vacation so after I felt a little better we got up and went to breakfast. Though I still got really dizzy and couldn't eat anything, we went out to see the city. Strasbourg has a really incredible cathedral created out of sandstone. It was much more intricate than Notre Dame and really impressive. Though, I was most excited about the free bathrooms just around the corner...

We decided to take the river cruise around the city since I wasn't feeling well and it was cold out. For me it was a bit difficult being stuck in a boat for over an hour while sick, but it ended up being pretty interesting. We learned a lot about the history of Strasbourg (located in the Alsace region) and the European Union (which has all it's main Parliaments, etc. in Strasbourg).

We also wandered around the Christmas markets that are famous in Strasbourg. There were different stalls selling food and hot wine, Christmas ornaments, and all kinds of trinkets. I couldn't really enjoy it because I felt so sick but it would have been really fun.

Strasbourg is actually just on the edge of the border between France and Germany, separated by the Rhine. So Allison and I thought we should walk from France to Germany and take pictures as we stood on either side of the border. We walked across the bridge and took some pictures standing over the line, half in France and half in Germany. We wandered around the little town of Kehl, Germany but nothing was going on so we decided to head back after stopping at Woolworth's to get some shampoo.

We ran to the bus stop to catch a bus back into Strasbourg, but the bus driver drove off just as we went running up (jerk). So we waited around for the next bus. 20 minutes and 2 scheduled, but not yet arrived, buses later we were still waiting...a lot of other people were waiting too. The bus finally arrived and we were all rushing to get on. I was feeling like I was going to get sick again so I just wanted to get on the bus. It was really bad.

We got back into Strasbourg and stopped by a grocery store to get some dinner to cook back at the hostel. As we paid, I reached into my purse....

and my wallet wasn't there.

Yup, 2 days before Christmas, on a packed bus between France and Germany, while I tried not to get sick all over everyone, my wallet was stolen.

So there I was, at a grocery store in France with absolutely no cash, no identification, no credit cards...nothing.

My insides froze. I had no idea what to do. Hoping I had left it at the store in Germany we got back on the bus to ask if they had found my wallet.

They hadn't (-_-)

So then the woman at the store told us to go to the police department down the street. We walked down the empty streets and finally found the police department. But the door wouldn't open, so we knocked and after a buzzer, the door opened. The cop who answered the door didn't speak English. He also didn't speak French. He definitely didn't speak Japanese. So he called a different cop. This guy understood some English, but didn't really speak it.


So we sat in his office, me still feeling sick, and told him the story. I think what happened was that as we waited in line to board the bus, these 2 punk kids cut between me and Allison. Then, when I noticed and moved behind them, they turned and followed us onto the center entrance to the bus. I noticed them suddenly turn and get off the bus before we took off, but only thought it was weird, and didn't think that they might have stolen my wallet. We kept having to repeat bits of the story to the cop. After about an hour we finally had a police report, in German. I had to sign it, but considering I was in Germany and not Thailand I figured it would be ok to sign something I couldn't read.

I actually was extremely calm throughout the ordeal. I was more upset at myself for being so stupid to put all my money in my wallet, along with important cards I wasn't using and carry it around Europe. I know better...Plus I really really liked that wallet. But they didn't get my passport which was right next to my wallet. Had I lost my passport, I might not have been able to get back into Japan. The thieves took my foreign residency card as well.

Also, what made it so easy was knowing that I could contact my parents and they would help me. It was such a relief to know that if I called them they would wire me money so I could make it home to Japan. I lost a lot of money but I learned some very valuable lessons.

1. Don't get to complacent. Just because Japan is fairly safe, I can't just assume everywhere is. Even though it seems lame, you should always separate your money and not carry anything you don't need while traveling.

2. I am extremely lucky. I lost almost $1000 worth of currency but was still able to enjoy the rest of my trip because I have a family with the means and inclination to help when I get into trouble.

3. With great parents and Western Union, you can get money sent from America to Europe overnight, even on Christmas Eve.

It was one of the first times that I have experienced the meanness of people. I can only hope, though this probably isn't what happened, that the people who stole my wallet used the money they found to buy Christmas presents or food for their families. I feel less bad about losing the money that way.

I emailed my supervisor and he took care of shutting down my Japanese ATM card and I got the rest of my accounts closed as well. But starting tomorrow I have to get all those things again, including my health insurance card and my foreign resident card.

Then there was another night on the bathroom floor.... as if my night wasn't bad enough.

So on December 24th I set off for Zurich, Switzerland, still sick, and with a much lighter purse.

Zurich, Switzerland (December 24-26)

So, Allison and I had done some research before our trip and had found that they speak French and German in Switzerland, so we figured with Allison's French and the fact that most people speak SOME English, we would be ok.

We arrived in Zurich at what appeared to be an abandoned train station. We walked in and began to look for the ticket machines so we could make our way to our hostel. The ticket machines were all in German and didn't have an English button so we figured we could just buy a ticket within Zone 1 and be ok. So we put in a few Euros and...clank clank...they were returned. So we tried again...clank clank...they were returned. We tried again (we obviously weren't getting it)...clank clank...they were returned.

Apparently Switzerland uses the Swiss Franc, not the Euro.

So we try to find someone but can't find anyone. So we jump on a train to ask and the woman tells us we found the right train but couldn't buy a ticket on it. She also told us a currency exchange was open down the street.

So we went off to find the currency exchange. When we found the exchange place we tried to get in but the door was locked. It was Christmas Eve and they had closed 5 minutes earlier and they refused to open the door (Merry Christmas, huh?) Luckily Allison had her ATM card and she took some money out so we could make it to the hostel.

This was where I really found out about how nice people can be (a nice change)...
We needed to get directions to our hostel and we found this really great station attendant who spoke German, French and English and he got us the right tickets and told us how to get there.

When we got off the tram the driver must have known we were tourists because of our suitcases and he stepped out and pointed us in the right direction.

Then when we passed an intersection the taxi driver across the street pointed us in the right direction.

The next day was Christmas. We spent the morning walking around and taking in the scenery of the Alps and the cathedrals. We made our way to the Grossmunster Cathedral and it turned out they were holding a Christmas concert. Now, German is a really ugly language, but when it is used in Christmas songs in a cathedral in Zurich, it can actually be pretty beautiful. Plus, I was FINALLY starting to feel better.

It was a weird Christmas, being the first I spent without my family. It didn't really feel like Christmas, though being in Zurich was beautiful.

The next day we caught the train to Munich (oh yay, back to Germany, the land of thieves).

Munich, Germany (December 26-29)

Just as I was getting better, Allison started getting really sick. On our first night we didn't get out much cuz it was late and Allison was feeling really poorly. By about 11pm she felt like she needed a doctor. She had been getting over a sinus infection but now it was getting worse. In the morning she really needed to go to the doctor. So instead of going on the free walking tour, I took her to the doctor.

She got her meds and decided to go back to sleep but I wanted to go and see the sights of Munich so I went on the free walking tour alone. These tours are really interesting because you take about 3 hours and walk around the monuments and buildings and learn all about the history. It was really interesting to be in Munich and learn about its history. I mean, I walked the streets where Hitler carried out the Beer Putsch and orchestrated Krystal Nacht. I saw buildings that were spared during the bombing in WWII just so the Allies could find Munich. We also got to go to a Munich pub serving traditional Bavarian stew.

The next morning Allison was feeling better so we took the tour to the Dachau Memorial. It was the kind of event you look forward to but feel weird about looking forward to. I was excited to experience the history but of course very aware of the weight and importance of this location in history. I was really impressed with how well it was preserved and organized. It was an extremely moving and emotional day, the kind of day where things you have studied suddenly become real.

After Dachau we went to dinner at a traditional Munich beer house. We had no idea what we were doing. We walked into a giant room full of huge tables. We sat ourselves next to a couple of middle age German men who actually helped us order because we didn't know how to get the attention of the waiters or order beer. I got myself a stein of the dark beer (^-^) Now that I was feeling better I was up for a liter all to myself. We couldn't read the menu so I randomly chose a menu item, as I was feeling a tad adventurous. Plus who could resist ordering something called

Weiner Art ???

It turned out to be just regular wiener schnizel and potato salad. But it was amazing and amusing.

At dinner Allison started to feel a bit dizzy but said it might be a side effect of the meds she was taking.

The next day we took a bit more of a tour of Munich. I showed Allison what she missed on the walking tour. Allison realized the meds she was taking she had taken a few years ago and had similar side effects so her doctor had told her to quit taking them. She decided to wait til later to take them again.

And then we went off to Berlin.

Berlin, Germany (December 29-January 1)

We took a 6 hour train ride to Berlin. It was about 9 pm when we got there so we just went to the hostel. We checked in and went upstairs to get some sleep so we could get an early start the next day. Just when things had started looking up for our vacation, Allison took her pill again....

Almost immediately she started shaking and hyperventilating. I had no idea what to do so I got her downstairs and had the hostel workers call a cab. I ran upstairs to get Allison's shoes and coat along with her purse and the meds she was taking.

The cab showed up and got us to the hospital but no one was inside. Allison couldn't breathe so I had to run around yelling to get some help. So there I was in a German hospital with a friend who couldn't breathe and I had no idea how to get her help.

This is when I first really felt EXTREMELY grateful that I was raised in an English speaking country, because at most hospitals at least someone speaks SOME English. I was able to get the receptionist to help.

I had no idea what was going on and basically just tried to keep Allison calm while they took some blood for tests. We ended up being there from about 10pm to 2am but they didn't really do anything for her, but I think it was because of the language barrier. I'm not sure they really understood what was wrong with her, which was the scariest part.

The next morning Allison was feeling better so we went on the walking tour of Berlin. They took us to the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, the memorial to the Jewish victims of the Final Solution, Checkpoint Charlie, the Berlin Dome, etc. It was really awesome to get to see Berlin. I took a Cold War class during my last semester of college and was always really interested in Berlin's role. During the tour we met a couple of new people, Jen and Tom from Australia and Stevie who was on her way back to the states from Siberia, where she had been teaching English. It was really impressive to meet some people with a lot of traveling experience.

Berlin was absolutely freezing. I had two pairs of socks on but couldn't feel my toes. So we decided to take refuge in a pub. However, we weren't near any pubs at the end of the tour and all we found was this bar called Palm Beach with sand all over the floor. It was kind of amazing.

The next morning Allison and I decided to do some final sight seeing. I wanted to see Checkpoint Charlie again because it had a great exhibit about the Cold War. It was cold out so we dropped into a coffee shop but they wouldn't take my 100 euro bill (I guess I'm used to Japan where using a 10,000 yen bill), and I was running low on cash anyway with my stolen wallet. Why a place won't take real money I have no idea.

We were supposed to meet up with Jen, Tom, and Stevie but everyone got busy and only Tom showed up. We tried to go to the Reichstag but it was about to close and the line was really long so we went ahead and went to the East Side Gallery. This is a long part of the wall that has been preserved and decorated. It was really kind of eerie to be standing by a wall that once separated two sides of a city for decades. It was also really eerie because you could still see the leftover differences between the two sides of the city.

It was only about 7:30 when we were done and we didn't want to go to the Brandenburg Gate until a bit later. Apparently I have gotten really old and the idea of staying out all night on New Years Eve in the cold did not sound like much fun. I was exhausted from being sick and traveling for 2 weeks. Tom, who was only 19 decided to go on the pub crawl (Stephen, I know that if you read this you will be super disappointed in me) but the trip had really wiped us out so Allison and I decided to just go see the fireworks and head back to our hostel. We grabbed some Indian food and made our way to the Gate. On the train over we met these 3 Americans on a college class trip and sort of just joined their group. It was nice to have more than just 2 people and through them we met some German guys. Though apparently I have been living in Japan for too long because every girl thought they were gorgeous except me....


The fireworks were absolutely amazing. It was a huge display that went on for almost 15 minutes. On top of that, all the drunk people around us were shooting off fireworks themselves, which of course was not the most fun. Drunk people shooting off bottle rockets and firecrackers in a huge crowd....

When the main show ended we all decided to head back to the station...It was surreal. It was a huge crowd of people pushing and shoving as firecrackers and fireworks went off all around us. It was like being in a war movie. Berlin, in the dark, huge crowds of people, tons of trash, explosions all around us.

When we got to the station people were throwing firecrackers down the stairs so we had to find a way in without getting our arms blown off. Someone even set a firecracker off on the crowded train platform. The train was like Tokyo rush hour. We were packed in, trying not to accidentally grab someone someplace inappropriate, on our way home in a strange city.

We made it home and the next day we were making our way back to Paris.

January 1st Berlin to Paris

We spent the morning in line at the Reichstag, but still couldn't get in. So we just went straight to the airport.

We got to the airport and checked in without too much trouble. I had to check my bag because small European airlines are apparently really strict about bag size...but other than that, no problem.

Then, things took a turn for the worse. As we were sitting waiting for our plane to board Allison began to get sick again. All of a sudden she said she was getting dizzy again. She had stopped taking her meds, but was having the symptoms again...

I hoped it would pass, but it just kept getting worse. I was afraid we weren't going to make it on the plane. She was shaking and having trouble breathing. She was nauseous as well. I just kept trying to keep her calm, because we had to get on that plane. If we didn't get on the plane we wouldn't make it to Paris, and if we didn't get to Paris I wouldn't be able to get home to Japan the next day. Plus Allison speaks French and has French health insurance, so I wanted to get her back.

She somehow made it through the flight. But when we got off the plane she got even worse. I grabbed our bags, but she couldn't really handle getting on the metro to get to our hostel, so we decided to wait a while. But she still wasn't getting better. She laid down but still couldn't stop shaking and was still really dizzy. Suddenly she said she needed to get to a hospital....

But she speaks French, not me.....

So how the hell do you get to a hospital from Orly Airport in Paris???

I tried to find someone, but couldn't, so I just went to Information. Luckily I can ask "Do you speak English" in French and was able to tell the woman my friend needed a doctor. So they called an ambulance for her. As she tried to tell them what was wrong with her I had to explain to the cop what happened.

They took her to the little "hospital" like thing attached to the airport.

It got really scary at this point (as if it wasn't already scary being in a hospital in a foreign country for the 3rd time and not knowing what was happening to my friend).

She started writhing on the hospital bed as if she was in intense pain but she couldn't explain what was going on. All she could say was that it felt like she was losing consciousness and had to move to stay aware. The doctors were practically ignoring her, telling her she was just having a panic attack. I kept running to get her a nurse, and it was kinda difficult because I don't speak French....lots of "pardon" and the accidental "sumimasen" and just gesturing. Until finally an English speaking doctor showed up.

We were saved....

Or so I thought....

He talked to us and got her history, but then he handed her a little pill and told her it would calm her down.

She asked what it was and he just said it would calm her down. She just wanted to know what it was, having a lot of allergies and also having studied medicine, and he wouldn't tell her. Instead, he started yelling at her....

"I'm the doctor. If you don't want to listen that's fine. I have other emergencies and I don't need to waste my time here. I have other things I have to do. I speak English, I am a doctor, so just take the pill."

And then he walked away.....

WTF.

Allison was freaking out and crying and wouldn't take the pill and all the nurses were in her face trying to force her to take it. Finally the doctor came back and convinced Allison to take the pill. He said she would get sent to the main hospital in an ambulance if she calmed down.

She did calm down, but at one point she just started saying my name over and over and over and over but never answered when I talked to her. Her eyes weren't focusing and she couldn't talk. I ran to get the doctor but they didn't believe anything was wrong because she could answer their questions. She gained some clarity and was telling me that she had been saying my name because she couldn't remember who I was at one point.

While waiting for the ambulance I just kept her talking. But as she was talking she would lose track of what she was saying.

Finally the ambulance showed up...and as she was getting up to go to the stretcher, they asked her how she was going to pay.

She asked if they would take a card.... no
She asked if they could bill her....no
They would only take cash...up front.

Now I only had 200 euros left from what my parents had wired me so I couldn't pay for her. They made her go up to find an ATM so she could pay. Then they finally took her to the hospital.

The paramedics were total jerks and were up in the front listening to the radio and eating chips and chatting up in the front, barely listening to Allison.

We went up this winding back road to get to the hospital and all I could think was that if someone were actually dying, they would be dead before they got there.

We got to the hospital and they got Allison out of the back of the ambulance and I grabbed the bags as one of the paramedics signed her in. But they just left her sitting in the doorway in the cold. I tried to get them to move her but they wouldn't understand me. Finally a doctor came out, and THANK GOD he spoke English almost fluently.

They got her in and started doing tests. I couldn't follow so I had to go into the waiting room.

We arrived at midnight and by 7 am I still hadn't heard anything. Though I had eaten my dinner out of a vending machine, fallen asleep for about half an hour only to snore once really loudly and wake myself up (in a crowded waiting room, next to the sleeping homeless guy).

Finally a new doctor came out (as there had been a shift change), and said "Marguerite? Marguerite"

I figured that was me so I went up and said "Allison?"

He went off in French and I was like.... ummmm do you speak English.....

he didn't. No one there did anymore.

This guy, however, was SO super nice and made sure I understood what was going on. He wanted me to call Allison's father.....

OMG. What on earth was I going to say? It was here that it finally started to get to me. I held back tears and went to get the phone number from Allison.

The phone wouldn't work. They couldn't call internationally.

So I helped Allison call her supervisor and some friends. It was 7 am and I had a 1 pm flight out of Charles de Gaulle.... but I couldn't leave her until I knew she had someone else coming. I mean, she was about to get sent in for a CAT scan....

But I couldn't miss my flight either. I had no credit card so if I missed it I wouldn't be able to get home. I had no idea what to do and I was freaking out. I have never wanted my mother more. I just didn't want to be the adult in this situation. I couldn't let Allison see me get upset, but the doctor guy kept seeing it. He was so sweet and kept trying to reassure me that everything was ok.

After the CAT scan Allison found out her friend was coming and she said she was going to be ok so I could go to the airport. She gave me the metro map but I had no idea how to get to the metro station from where we were and I don't speak French. Thankfully she asked the nice doctor guy to give me directions. He drew me a really detailed map and then walked me over til all I had to do was walk straight. He gave me a big hug and then did the French kiss on the cheek thing, it was so sweet. He was just so helpful and really help restore my faith in the niceness of people.

So I got to the airport without a problem. When I got on the plane I was so exhausted I didn't wanna deal with the people sitting next to me, even though they were a nice Japanese couple, so I let them assume I was French (seeing as I was on Air France the flight was full of French and Japanese people).

However, when it was time for us to get our meals the Japanese flight attendant spoke French to me, so I had to say, in Japanese, "Sorry I don't speak French, but I do speak English and Japanese so...."

And the woman next to me literally screamed. She was so shocked. It was hilarious. If I hadn't been so stressed I would have laughed.

But I made it home and slept for about 2 days straight.

So that was my European "vacation"
1. Food poisoning
2. Getting my wallet stolen 2 days before Christmas while I had food poisoning.
3. My friend goes to the hospital in Munich
4. She goes to the emergency room in Berlin
5. She goes to the emergency room in Paris

The trip was not a complete waste. We did have a lot of fun when we weren't nearly dying. And I learned a lot.

1. People can be really awful.
2. People can be really sweet. They'll help you to your hostel and help you at a hospital even if you don't speak the same language.
3. I learned what my ALT friends who don't speak any Japanese go through on a daily basis.
4. I learned how to get to the hospital in Germany and France


So, 2008 which did not begin under the best of circumstances, ended with a bout of food poisoning and hospital visits. 2009 began in a Paris hospital.

But, it can only get better from here :)
Happy New Year everyone!!!!