Goodbye Jack, :( ...Bonjour Paris!

Hitchiking...

Hmmm...hitchiking...

Well, I've done it now. From Amsterdam to Paris: " cars and approximately &- hours (a unusual amount of traffic, so I am told). I am in Paris now.

Despite my previous desire to remain in Amsterdam, I decided it had a bit to much in the way of sex, drugs, and pink-frosted donuts for my taste...I am not a big partier, and I did not appreciate James the super-rasta on the top bunk batting at my covers all night and continually climbing down onto my bed to ask if I wanted a joint. At first I was a bit scared of what was going on... then I learned he had taken some ecstacy and could not sleep. I finally asked him if he wanted my bed. He stared at me a minute and then started to fall asleep on top of my left leg. That's when I moved to the otehr side of the room to sleep underneath Jack's bunk. James muttered something along the lines of, "thank you" and I watched for the next 1/2 hour as he would curl up like a cat and then frantically get up and move to the top bunk, and then repeat the process and moveback down to the bottom...what a night.

I did manage to acquire a minimum of sleep however, and this coupled with the soup from the night before did my throat quite a bit of good. The next morning (I had thought of several possibilities in the long sections of the previous night, when sleep was stolen from me) I had virtually made up my mind to find a road south and either hitch-hike or walk until I found something of interest, but just before check out, Gentleman-Jack (for so he will be hencefiorth knighted by me, proving himself the most gallant of gentleman) stopped me in the hall to enquire what my plans were after all. I told him, but he suggested that I try to sneak on the bus he was on and go to Marseille with him for the grape-picking. He had on more than one occasion (in the 32 hours of our acquantance) proved himself a friend and it was strong in my intuition that he could be trusted, so I said, why not. We spent the rest of the morning getting to know eachother better, but as the time got closer to the great attempt to sneak onto the bus without paying, we both became rather hesitant. I did not wish to get in trouble and preffered as well to keep my honor intact, though there was no possible way I could afford to pay for the ticket myself. He assured me that he had done it many times before and the worst that could befall me was to get kicked back off, but he felt some trepidation none the less, not wishing to get me into a tight spot. We formulated many plans and shared some food, which he kindly bougt for me, without my even asking, but to no avail. He said he would not leave me stranded, but was terrified when I told him my intentions of hitch-hiking were serious. I said he should come with me, as I did not wish to leqve the sqfety of his company and it would be a grand adventure. In the end, he waited with me by the side of the road, until a couple pulled over to give me a ride, just in time for him to run back to the station and catch his bus to Marseille.

I Spent the rest of my night holding my sign "Towards FRANCE, Dank U" and speaking incredible volumes in broken German, English, French, and a minimal amount of some Dutch and Turkish I have acquired in the past 2 days. Never a dull moment...


And today, I am in Paris...a bit faster than I thought, but health dictates where I go now. My choices: to wander/walk/hitch-hike all over France and perhaps Spain, camping where I can, until I meet my friends in Poitier in Octobre, or I can move right on to Marseille, and try to find Jack again, or learn to pick grapes on my own... if only we had exchanged e-mail. It saddens me to think I may never see such a good friend again, when we had only said hello, but that is the way of this life it seems to me-- the friends you make are fast and firm, but the world is always moving, and you must with it go...