Broke girls on vacation: Strasbourg, France
One of the best parts about TAPIF (Teaching Assistant’s Program in France), besides the baguettes and sharing my culture, is the travel privileges. Travelling on a budget has become my life and reason for existence. Hop across France with 50 euros? Challenge accepted.
Our latest travels brought us to Strasbourg, a city in Eastern France with buildings so beautiful I could weep. After standing and staring at La Basilique for what felt like an interminable moment we decided to take a break and visit the other parts of what quickly became my favourite French city (sorry Paris).
The bus ride to Strasbourg was a few hours of my life I’d gladly want to regain. Apart from the uncomfortable seats and the woman behind us who was snoring her way to the very gates of heaven, it was an uneventful journey. (Big up Flixbus)
Being woefully broke on vacation limits your food options in a very serious way and forces you to be creative and very repetitive with your meals.
We discovered a new found love for Subway. It’s funny how many things you fall in love with when being short on funds limits you to a few options. The Tajita 5 euro menu will always be on the shortlist of my European loves. It was good the first time we had it but to be fair it was just as good the 6th time we had it as well. Kudos to Subway
The most memorable part of Strasbourg (besides searching for the Homme de fer and being unable to find him) was meeting upon a street musician who took me across the North Atlantic with his music.
There we were, 4 homesick Jamaican girls walking alone the cobble stone streets in North Eastern France when we heard the unmistakable chords of a Bob Marley so Unable to walk another step further just a few moments before, a remarkable surge of energy led us to a corner of a street where a guy with an open guitar case and a guitar was singing No Woman No Cry and in perfect English, to boot. So we allf angirled and screamed and told him we were from Jamaica, at which he offered to dedicate his next two songs to us and allowed us to choose one. fangirls
Day made. Life made.
There, I discovered that German sounded hella sexy when a man was singing, it and found my new found love for German reggae.
I don’t think anything beats seeing parts of your country in places you’d never imagined they’d be. Hearing people who only know 3 words in English singing a reggae song word for word and to the beat is a moment I live for.
More than anything, these few days in Eastern France were memorable because I got to fulfill a dream I never imagined possible with 3 beautiful young women I never once imagined I’d be so in love with.
For Shanice, Demara and Renee, thanks for making those few days perfect.
-xoxo