…et Bienvenue!

I’m Eddie, and I’m a 31-year-old music teacher from New Jersey, USA. I have two cats, Lorelei and Morty, love to work out, and I have an unquenchable thirst for travel and adventure. I’m always looking for travel that is off-the-beaten-path, mixed with some “of-course-we-have-to-go-to-the-leaning-tower-of-Pisa” touristy activities.

Welcome to my blog! It’s great to have you here!

My travel bug started when I was in eighth grade. I remember sitting in my Spanish I class (which was a high school level course, I felt very important…!) and flipping through the pages of a seriously outdated text book. I landed on Unidad 5, Etapa 1 in McDougal Littell’s “¡En Español!” libro uno, and I froze. Pictured was a man in a red collared shirt sitting next to the iguana at Gaudi’s Parque Güell in Barcelona, España. Next to him was a girl with jet-black hair and a camera, snapping a quick photo of her friend. From that instant on, I knew that I needed to travel to this magical mosaic and feel the energy that jumped from the pages into the soul of a very curious 14-year-old.

I took language classes seriously throughout my time in high school and college, and kept my Spanish fresh by speaking with friends, listening to Juanes, and watching re-runs of Walter Mercado. I found language-learning to be such an incredibly fun challenge, and I always knew I would find my way to Europe at some point to finally see what life was all about across the Atlantic.

Fast-forward to the spring of 2023, and I book a week over my spring break with a very close friend to Paris and, you guessed it, Barcelona. I’ve always loved anything European, so France was a great way to start the adventure (and we’ll circle back to that in a minute, I realize that I’ve been speaking about Spanish for the past two paragraphs and this post’s title is in French…). Paris was (and is) such an incredible city, but I knew I had my eyes on the prize; getting to Spain to visit my mosaic-ed friend and to finally try out my Spanish.

The day arrived for our time at Parque Güell, and I was ready to PASS OUT. As cheesy as it seems, visiting Parque Güell was such a goal of mine, and it was finally becoming a reality after all of these years. I remember booking a fantastic tour, and at the end of the tour, our guide led us down the stone staircase to the iguana. To say I was over the moon was an understatement. The ear-to-ear smile truly shows just how elated I was to be checking off a life goal. I’ve been back to Barcelona since, and there is something so special and wonderful about that beach town; BCN will always have a piece of my heart.

Let’s jump back to France, though. Rewinding to our flight landing at an early 6:55AM, my travel buddy and I were exhausted as we stumbled down the stairs to baggage claim in Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Terminal 2. We claimed our luggage and made our way to the platform at ground level to hail a taxi. “Nous allons á l’hotel…L’adresse est…” I kept repeating in my head. “You can do this. You can do this. Say Bonjour and ask your questions.” We got our taxi rather quickly as it was still early in the morning, I opened the door and proudly said “Bonjour. Nous | allons à…” The taxi driver stopped me in my tracks. “Nous | allons, with a space? No. C’est nous allons, avec le “z” in between! You have to use the liaison! Repeat after me!” It was extremely early in the morning for a French lesson, but I did as our taxi driver said, and at the end of the ride into Paris’ city center, I had made a new friend and taken my first French class; another fire had just been ignited.

We now have a similar page-322-in-“¡En Español!” situation happening. A switch flipped on that chilly April morning in 2023 in the back of a taxi at CDG; learning and mastering French has to be on the horizon. Shortly after I got home, I registered with Lingoda.com, a language-learning website that is immersive and affordable, and after over 120 language-learning hours, I am confidently at the upper A2, emergent B1 level of French. It has been a journey (one that I know will never reach and end point!) but I have loved every moment of it.

The next trip I’m going to be taking is a 12-day holiday in the South of France, starting in Nice and ending in Marseille. I am scared, excited, terrified, and proud to say that I will be going on this trip solo. Stay tuned for photos, stories, and the general traveling shenanigans.

À la prochaine!

-Eddie