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Katie W., a law student at Washington University in St. Louis, has written in with some of her travel stories. Here is her first story:
"As a native (and exclusive) English-speaker, I was ever so appreciative of the advice "Everyone in Europe speaks English". This had held pretty much true in Paris, Barcelona, Rome, and train stops along the way. So I hadn't needed much forethought thus far in my journeys, meeting people and finding hostels along the way. But then I got adventurous and decided to go with a girl Kristen I met in Rome to Sardinia and Corsica, islands in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy and France. With no reservations, no maps (and Let's Go didn't really cover these areas), huge bags, and no ability to speak the localized French-Italian dialects, we were stuck. We hadn't realized (because we were overcome with European summer adventurousness) that these were big hotspots for rich tourists from Paris, and uh, other places in Europe. Hotels were either full or US $400 a night, and we weren't in walking distance of anything. Somehow we rented a car, with Kristen's license (mine was expired) and my credit card, which we then slept in that night. The next day, in Corsica, I spoke terrible French to a nice rich French lady who picked us up and led us to the beach. It didn't matter; her English was better. Later Kristen and got in a fight about something - she slept in the doorway of a store; I slept at the edge of a cliff. We made up the next day and decided to leave the island for Nice...but by the time we got our stuff (which she had stashed behind a shed, through some thorn bushes off the side of the road) the earliest boat out was the next morning. That night, we slept behind a boathouse with our bags as pillows and towels as blankets. Long story short, by the time we got to Amsterdam two days later, it was the first time either of us had slept in a bed in a week. I have no regrets about the experience, but with a little forethought it could have been much more comfortable."
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