Arles

Today was the start of our Contiki tour! So, a very early start. We were so stressed about making on time at 7:00am. So stressed we were actually 30 minutes early. But it went very smoothly, and there were 14 of us getting on and 36 some people already with the group. It is certainly weird joining a group who has been together and partied for 8 days. But the couch is crazy nice! And we are super high up on the couch, so the views are nicer, and it's a lot easier to see out. On the bus, after passing out and slobbering over myself... oops, we played "speed dating," where we just swapped seats and talked to each other for 2 minutes each. We ended up doing it for just over an hour. Honestly, it is quite a nice crowd. Everyone is super nice and here just to make friends, so talking around is easy. On the way up, a total drive of 8 hours... we stopped at this small French town. It looked like they were stuck in time for sure. We had just about 45 minutes to walk around and see the town. This town was built by the Romans, so they actually had a mini colosseum! We were told it was paid to get in, and we wouldn't have enough time. Which is a bummer, but I just decided to see if we could get in because it looked empty. I took Ethan and this other guy we met and just walked right in. The lady at the desk didn't say anything, and it just worked. So we got to see inside and even the view from the top. Which was awesome. You could see so far in every direction. It did just get me excited for the Rome colosseum! We continued driving, and we got to the hostel at around 7 with a free dinner at 8. (Free in the sense we already paid for it). So we showered up and reset for the evening. In Spain and now France, I really noticed how slow service is. I swear the people need nap breaks or something. Because the food and even just a couple of scoops of ice cream took forever. I do feel bad because it was only two people service the whole crowd, and the kitchen was upstairs. They were sweating, just running up and down those stairs. The food was OK, ahah. I got beef stew and mash potatoes. When the contiki guide was asking what we wanted, she just said beef, so I got excited thinking steak. But it was stew. It wasn't bad, but the mashed potatoes were a soup, really. And some of the guys had some whiskey with me, which was pretty good. One was a smokey one that only I really liked. I should have taken a picture for my dad. For desert, there were two options, and I got the tiramisu; it ended up being basically all cream. But we did get to go out afterward. Went to Wayne's bar. A little place with live music. And tables they let you stand on. And wow, it made me feel really tall. As you can see in the photo, my neck turned 90 degrees. But it was a lot of fun, the band was really good and everyone was into it but holy I was sweating the whole time. And I couldn't easily cool off with a beer or drink because the drinks were 9€... after a while, we just walked back with some of the boys and played ping pong, which was great. Then hit the sheets.Read more