Warning: Complaint Post

A street in Colmar, France.

This last week has been really hard for me. Because of some problems with my host mom, my roommate and I are moving to different host families on Tuesday. Dealing with the situation and trying to figure out the best solution with our program coordinator while worrying about our host mom finding out has taken a toll on me. I'm glad to be moving, but the whole thing is stressful. We are getting nervous for how our host mom will react when she's told about us leaving. Our coordinator is confident that we'll be fine, we just hate awkward confrontations.

With that whole fiasco and the fact that classes are winding up towards exams, I'm wishing I could just be home. Missing Thanksgiving this year almost killed me. Thanksgiving is a big thing in my family; we all get together and share the time and delicious food as a celebration of just that: being together. Being gone has made me realize how much the holiday means to me and has also kicked off a pretty intense bout of seasonal depression. No need to worry about me though, I know how to deal with it. And working at the knit shop forces me to get out on the weekends instead of sitting on my butt watching movies.

Ducks in Colmar on a program excursion.

I have gotten to the point here in Strasbourg where I've started "living" here instead of simply being a visitor. My schedule has set in and the magic of the trip is lost. The hardest part of "living" here is the fact that I have a schedule and things that I have to do, but none of it is specifically what I want to do. At K, I take classes that interest me (biology, theatre, history...) but here, I have to take the classes that are planned into the program. I'm getting sick of EU politics, comparing my culture with France's, and reading random passages in French class that have nothing to do with anything at all. I want to dissect something! I want to spend way too many hours copying notes in Dow (science building). I want to memorize the Latin name of 50 different species and bore my friends with their genetic/evolutionary history. I want my major back!

At least I know it will end. I didn't have a lapse of sanity and transfer to a political science school where I will have to study this and only this for the rest of my life. I only have one more week of classes, and two weeks of exams followed by a week for writing a paper and three weeks of travel (two with my family!). Then I'm homeward bound to see the people I love and work off the extra lbs that Europe has added to my figure. I can see the light!

On a positive note, it snowed yesterday! Lots and lots of beautifully huge flakes, and they've forecast more this weekend! Snow makes the cold 100% worth it. Now, I'm off to brave the cold and the weekend crowds to hang out at the knit shop before working on a presentation for class next week. Wish me luck! À plus!

Humdrum Autumn

Ginkgo and Oak leaves mixing
on the pathways of the park.

Hello to all you adoring fans! I would like to apologize for my lack of cool and interesting activities which leads to few blog posts. The past few weeks here have been filled with monotonous classes and cold, rainy weather. I have still been able to enjoy myself for the most part. Since returning from Italy I have appreciated the ability to communicate so much more, even with my meager French skills. It's similar to the fact that one feels more American when they leave the States; I realize how much French I understand when surrounded by Italian (of which I know very little).

My socks! (and me being lazy
on my bed).

One of my latest accomplishments was knitting a pair of socks last week. The project only took me the week (another sign of how uneventful it was). It's exciting though because I hadn't gotten myself to finish a sock before coming to France. Personally, I think it has to do with working at the knit shop twice a week and with the fact that the other excellent knitter on my program just happens to live in the next room. It was really funny when we found that we have knitting as a mutual passion. We have had continuous projects going our entire stay and have gotten many of the other girls on our program knitting as well. The other international students must think that Americans knit like crazy!
My classes for the most part have been going well. I say "for the most part" because I have lately found myself growing quite bored with them. The language classes are the same most days; we read aloud from our text book, work on exercises and listen to lectures on grammar. I am becoming a huge fan of the 10 week quarters at K. Semesters are so long! It's almost over though. Only three more weeks of classes and one of exams! Then I'm off to Paris to meet my family!! I bought my ticket from Strasbourg to Paris just the other day so it's official, but still hard to believe. And so exciting! À plus!

A Trip to Remember

Salut! I think that I have finally caught up on my sleep from traveling and am now back to classes at the university. The week off really helps make school less repetitive. But we have six more weeks to live through, so we'll see how long that lasts...

The Duomo 

On a different note, I last left off in Florence. What a city! There was a completely different life in Florence than we saw in Pisa. Both are tourist destinations, but Florence had so much more to offer and it's a bigger city in general which resulted in a more lively, and better lit area. There were countless churches filled with beautiful pieces of artwork and sculptures around every corner. Sadly, many of the churches and museums didn't allow picture taking inside. But that's okay! I still took ended up with over 600 photos on my camera by the end of the trip, so I think there was plenty of documentation going on.

Strawberry Gelato!

On Thursday, we (me and my friends Nick and Stevie) got a late start from the hostel (we slept in until 10ish) but spent the entire day wandering around the city. We explored many of the beautiful churches including the Duomo Santa Maria del Fiore (duomo = cathedral). That thing it huge! There is an entire plaza around it that constituted the centre of town. We ate many a gelato in that plaza. That was actually one of the rules we came up with while in Italy; everyday, we must have some gelato (Italian ice cream for those who aren't familiar with this heavenly dessert). Another rule that we devised after eating a delicious lunch of pizza, is that we were only going to eat at restaurants situated in alleyways. Those were the best ground rules of any trip I've been on.
Friday was a wonderful day. The sun was shining, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and we spent the entire afternoon in a gigantic garden on the outskirts of Florence! I seriously could not have found better travel buddies if I tried. It was Nick's idea to check out the gardens and he had wanted to go since we received the city map from our hostel. They were fabulous! There were areas of forest with dirt paths and open grassy hills as well as large fountains, all with interesting sculptures scattered throughout.

My new friend

I met a cat while we were there! When I first saw it, it was crossing the path in front of us (don't worry, it was a tortie, not black). It didn't respond when I first started calling to it, but I was persistent and it warmed up to me and slowly made it's way over. I was so happy to have some cat contact! I knelt on the path and got to pet it for a few minutes before some other people came by and my cat continued on it's way. Soon after the day was christened "The Best Day in Florence". And we had only made it half way through our trip.
The afternoon in the gardens continued with hiking through woods, sitting by fountains and laying in the sun and we finished it off with going through a museum that was connected to it for a little while. After leaving we spent the rest of the day looking around, talking to street vendors and hanging out at our favorite night spot, the Dublin Pub. It became our favorite because their TV always had a game of soccer on and they had a dart board in the back. Many a game of darts was lost by yours truly at that very board.
One night we had a very uniquely Italian experience there. It was a night that there were two Italian soccer teams playing against each other on the TV. The pub was filled with Italians watching intently and getting quite worked up over the goals made by their team (or lack there of). It was quite obvious to us foreigners who the members of each fan base were. At some points in time, I was vividly reminded of Americans watching the Super Bowl in the states. The viewers would get worked up over a play and start yelling at the TV. Even though I couldn't understand exactly what they were saying, I knew they were coaching  the players from hundreds of miles away.

Nick, me and Stevie on a terrace
in the Boboli Gardens

Saturday was overcast and chilly so we spent the day in the Uffizi Museum. I went in thinking "Oh, this is a large, popular art museum in Italy. This will be neat." Little did I know how many amazing pieces are actually there. Including the Birth of Venus!! My mind was blown. Sadly, pictures weren't allowed in the museum. But that didn't stop me from taking one of the main hallway!

A main hall in the Uffizi

Sunday was my return day home. And by return day, I mean it. There were a good 12 hours of straight travel in there. So after a bus to Pisa, a plane to Paris, metro, metro, a train to Strasbourg and a bus home, I was down for the count. Not to toot my own horn (but to toot my own horn), I was pretty proud of myself by the end of the day. I was on my own when I navigated the Paris metro to get to the train station and for catching a later train since I had missed the one for which I had a ticket. I even made some small talk with some other English speaking students who I met on the metro. And it was only slightly awkward! Two thumbs up. I will never be intimidated by public transportation again! Take that Chicago L!

Fall is here in Strasbourg!

The next day was spent at home, catching up on sleep and uploading pictures. This week we've been back in classes *grumbe grumble* but the week off has taken the repetitive edge off my schedule. At least for the time being that is. Tomorrow our program has another excursion planned. From what I've heard, we're visiting a church and a museum in another Alsatian town and then going out to dinner. Mmmm, food. À plus!