There's A Baguette in My Purse! (said like Woody from ToyStory)

La Cathedrale de Notre Dame (well, part of it).

Salut! The last few days have been wonderful! I feel so at home in Strasbourg that I can’t believe it’s only been four days since I arrived. Where to begin…

On Saturday, we met with our program coordinator a few blocks from my house in the morning for a briefing on the city, manners for living with a host family and on what to expect our first day on campus at IIEF (Institut International d'Études Françaises) in the University of Strasbourg. We played ice breakers with the students from Lewis and Clark, went through our packet of useful things (including a map of Strasbourg and a bar of chocolate) and ate lunch before heading out on a tour of the city. We located the building our classes would be in, walked past the bank where we would soon have international accounts and learned how to use the bus/tram system to get downtown. **Funny story/side note: the trams and buses have been on strike for the last few days. This mostly means that they run very irregularly during the day and stop completely early in the evening. Luckily, I haven’t had any trouble getting where I need to be, but there are a few students who live out of the city area who are finding the strike a bit of a pain. ** After the tour, most of us bought French cell phones (check out those language skills!) and made it home in time for dinner.

One of the beautiful stained
glass windows in the cathedral.

Later that night, a few of us went back to the center of town to do some exploring. The city is so different and gorgeous at night! The cathedrals and old buildings are lit and the roads are less crowded so the streets seem hauntingly wise and almost alive.

Sunday was our day off. My roommate and I along with one of the guys from upstairs found the best path from our apartment to IIEF in the morning and from there headed downtown. We bought Döners for lunch and sat outside watching the few passersby as we ate (this is kind of what they look like: http://lunchtime-in-california-daphnes-greek-cafe.2582090.n2.nabble.com/file/n2582090/doner+kebab.png ). We walked into the center of town and my roommate and I climbed to the top of the Cathedrale de Notre Dame (yes, there is also one in Paris, but I haven’t made it to that one yet). The climb was pretty long. It consisted of climbing up circular concrete stairs for about 15 minutes with only a few small windows every few steps, but it was more than worth it! The view from the roof was incredible. I could see miles and miles of city rooftops and streets as well as the distant country and mountains (not sure which ones yet. I’m working on figuring that out). I am definitely going back up again.

Through one of the stairway windows.

Yesterday, we all took our language placement test at 8:30am. After a 35 minute walk to campus and only being in a foreign city for two days before that, being up that early puts on in little mood for being tested. But it went well, despite my grumblings. We also opened our back accounts! It was against my training to sign all the papers for the account without knowing a word of what they said. I had to simply put my trust in the K program and the French banks on that one. So far so good right? ;)

After the days obligations were out of the way, a couple friends and I had a small picnic in the park across from my house. The day was perfect (sunny, warm but not hot, and with only a few clouds in the sky) and so was our snack, Brie cheese, a larger baguette and some red wine. What more could you want!

Sadly the weather did not stay. Today was rainy on and off all day. I headed to my first stage class (pronounced STAHzge) with my hair still slightly wet from my shower. My host mom didn’t hesitate to scold me for leaving the house without drying it saying that I would catch cold, I guess that’s why they call them “host MOMs”. Anyway, the humidity of the rain left my hair with a curly puffball-like appearance that I didn’t notice until returning home for dinner at the end of the day. It was quite a sight (Sorry, I don’t have any pictures). Classes today went well besides. The stage class was quite enjoyable; I didn’t even notice that it was three hours long. It was mostly review of language concepts. The classes in the afternoon were pretty neat. One was a fairly basic intro to literature and the other was on Alsacian history. The gentleman who taught the history class was so fun and animated I couldn’t stop watching him. It was like a really good story, going on for two hours straight. I hope he teaches us again.

Strasbourg from the top of the cathedral

The plan for tomorrow is to go on a boat tour of Strasbourg after our morning stage class. I’m excited! Pictures to come! I should probably charge my camera! À plus!