Transportation

"I read; I travel; I become" - Derek Walcott 

If anyone knows me, they know my inability to travel without a bad case of motion sickness. This motion sickness has been known to strike unexpectedly - more often than not in a moving vehicle in the middle of the interstate (i.e. early morning taxi ride to Charles-De-Gaulle during rush hour traffic, friends and family roadtrip from Lille to Bruges, on the way down to the barn drinking coffee on an empty stomach). 

So it goes without saying that here in France I don't have a car, but must rely on public transportation - walking, biking, buses, trains. 

Trains - I've mastered: 1 generic-name Dramamine, a stick of gum and my playlist on shuffle. 

Buses - I have yet to try: the bus system is confusing and thoroughly lacking for when and where I need to go. 

Biking - I've survived: rented a bike for 12€ today with the intent of biking to the local/close-by/its-only-less-than-3km-away-now-that-we-are-in-town cidery Le Père Jules. What wasn't taken into account were several things: 1) I haven't ridden a bike for more than 15 mins in like forever and 2) sure 3km is nothing, except its all uphill and on crazy French country roads where people drive a gazillion km/h with no bike lane. 

Walking - Not only have I mastered this art, but it is now my go-to mode of transportation for in Lisieux. Yes, it might mean I get wet when it rains, or that it takes me twice as long to get there, but it also means I won't be a moving target on a bike nor throwing up on fellow Lexoviens and students. 

To relate back to the quote at the beginning of this post, finally got around to getting more books to read since I finished Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl my first few days here. So now it's time for some reading in french - a travel novel about wine country and The Great Gatsby (I figured since it is my favorite novel hands down, I should probably read it in french).