Europe Day 5

Day 5 is Europe was much slower than the other days, which was a welcome change. We woke up in Lourdes and, for breakfast (brunch) I ate a full plate of French tapas which, according to these people, is an assortment of cheese and meat. This is the same thing I plan to offer my Romanian friend in exchange for helping me load my "valuables" into the truck before I head off to Pittsburgh.

We then began the ceremonial taking too much time in the souvenir shops, and this time my strategy was airtight. I was to find a chair in each and every tourist shop and occupy it until I heard an irritated "come on we're leaving" from any member of my party. The first shop had no stool or chair, but we were not in there very long because there was this one woman who kept hovering over my mom expecting her to decide quickly what she wanted to buy and vomit up sales for the shop. I didn't quite notice that, because I was too busy reacting to the bitch who tutted when I brushed one of her glass cases (empty glass cases) in her tiny aisles, and then when I apologized, she had the dirtiest look on her face and shook her head. I left, promptly. My mom joined me later and I found out that she wanted to "only look at things" in the shop after she was hovered over, but all the same she didn't actually leave the shop outright.

The next shop had a sofa on which to sit, which was a very good thing indeed because we were there for literally 40 minutes. Many euros were spent overall on souvenirs in Lourdes. Having to see the grotto in pouring rain was very uncomfortable, because I completely forgot to pack a rain jacket.

At some point in Lourdes, we wanted to go and see some caves, so I figured well, this is an excellent time for me to try out the little I know of manual transmission driving. It was going quite well, until we got to this massive hill and I floored the car unnecessarily while holding on to the clutch, and that precipitated this funny smell from the engine. We stopped on a hill after encountering this smell, and then upon popping the hood we noticed a light smoke. Everybody started the customary freakout based on complete lack of knowledge of how a car, let alone a manual car, actually works. There should really be seminars for this sort of thing. After determining, mostly by guesswork, that it was safe to drive, we drove it home and then to the nearest mechanic, who did not speak a word of English. I did not get the meaning of the word "embrillage" and I still haven't found it, but rest assured that I will look it up soon enough.

I realized on day 5 that I need to start being more relaxed about things in general. I can't metaphorically put all my eggs in one basket for a week's vacation time every 3 months in residency, because what happens if the week is lousy? Then am I to be angry for the subsequent 3 months? It doesn't make sense. Also, my sister explained to me that this was probably the last vacation we would have as a family, so I should try to take whatever little joy there is to be had out of that whenever possible. My sister is enjoying the vacation a lot more than I am. Perhaps she is the more patient one. It's more likely that I'm the one who actively avoids situations such as the one I'm currently in. I hear Barrie is nice this time of year.