Catching Up

The theatre where La Lecon
has performed for 53 years.

Wow. So… I’m sorry that I haven’t posted in over two weeks. I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth, I promise! Right now I’m in Florence, Italy, but let me start with my visit to Paris (for the second time!) with my program. We had a blast! The way that our program planned out the trip, we had one activity to attend everyday and the rest of the day free for exploring. We also had dinners all together (all 24 of us) at a restaurant where we were served a full three course meal. Those were delicious!

We arrived on Saturday in the late morning and checked into our three star hotel. I shared a room with two of my close friends but it was easy to jump around visiting my class mates throughout the rest of the building. The hotel served a small breakfast of croissants, cereal, yogurt and hard boiled eggs.

A hall of gold in
the opera house.

Our first planned activity was attending the play The Lesson (La Leçon) by Ionisco in a tiny theatre hidden between tourist shops and restaurants on a small side street of Paris. The play was interesting in content but it was preformed quite well. It was great to see since I would never have done that if I was visiting Paris on my own. Before the play we had dinner at an Indian restaurant. Before the meal, we were given a pitcher of this delicious yogurt drink to share per table of six. I don’t think I can explain how good this drink was. It was the consistency of sweetened condensed milk but had the best yogurt taste ever. At first I thought it was a specialty drink that we would only get about a glass of each, but soon they refilled the pitcher and I was overjoyed. It was better than the coconut and French vanilla ice cream we had for dessert.

The building of the opera
house was so ornate.

On Sunday we didn’t have any obligations until the afternoon when we were visiting the Muse d’Orsay. So, that morning I went with my two roommates to mass at the Cathedrale de Notre Dame. The service was wonderful! It was given in French and Latin. It was a special mass because along with the regular rituals, there was a group of Gregorian singers who sang and led the hymns. The entire experience was hauntingly beautiful. Spending the afternoon at the Muse d’Orsay was quite fun. In comparison to the Louvre, I found it to be more enjoyable. Mostly I contribute that to its smaller size and higher concentration (wow, did I really just use that term… a little love note to the bio I miss so much) of sculptures to paintings.  

Monday was fun. It began with a late start at 9am (yey sleeping in!) and after breakfast we took a tour of the Paris Opera House. That place is amazing! As we went through, I tried to imagine what it would be like to see a show there and what it would have been like to have seen a show when it was new. The entire place was gorgeous. There was a gigantic hall/room completely decked out in gold, the stairways were many different shades of marble, and it contained countless busts and sculptures. Because were we part of a tour, we got to go into the house of the theatre! It was a dream come true for a theatre lover like me. I couldn't believe that I was sitting in a seat where audience members had sat and watched operas and the Paris Ballet perform for years and years. So wonderful!

Pisa!

I think this picture
explains itself

Yesterday was a little crazy. Since our program's trip had ended, we all had to check out of the hotel and travel to our respective places for the rest of vacation. My plans are to travel in Italy for a few days. I'm with two guys who are also studying in Strasbourg with me, and we're having a good time. We overcame the challenge of getting to the airport where our plane was taking off (since it's a cheap airline, we have to leave from a small airport 50km out of the city) which consisted of walking, metro-taking, and bus riding. We made all transitions and destinations in good time and soon landed in Pisa. The three of us checked in to our hostel in Pisa and explored the little town that night. 

Pizza!

This morning we checked out of the hostel and went back out to see the town during the day. We visited the Leaning Tower(!) and found an alleyway pizzeria for lunch. I have officially only eaten pizza since I've been here. It's so much better than the greasy, cheese and sauce overloaded bread they try to pass as pizza in the States. And it's the cheapest, most filling thing that I've found to order (even with four or five different toppings).

The Duomo, a famous cathedral
in Florence

From lunch, we headed back to the Pisa airport and caught a bus to Florence. I fell asleep on the bus (a common theme for me in Europe), and we arrived shortly. So here we are! We checked in to our second Italian hostel and went out to wander around Florence. I am very excited to go out and see the city during the day tomorrow. There is a huge open-air tourist market just down the street from our hostel that I hope to strip bare... or at least create a crater sized hole in. À plus!

Strolling Between Countries

Bonjour à tous! Today was a fun, lazy finish to this weekend. It was lazy because I didn't do a lot, and it was fun because what I did do was go to Germany! The weather was beautiful; there was plenty of sun, few clouds, and a subtly cool breeze making it the best day we've had in a while.

The bridge in the Jardin
des Deux Rives.

This afternoon my roommate and I biked to the Jardin des Deux Rives which is seated along the Rhin river that separates France and Germany. We locked up our bikes in France and walked across the bridge, switching countries. It was as simple as that. No one was checking passports or anything.
It was a pretty abrupt change when we got to Germany. We went from hearing French, to German. Even the surrounding houses looked very different. We found a patch of grass in the sun and sat for an hour or so, doing homework, knitting, or enjoying the rays. Hunger overtook us and we decided to walk around look for a restaurant that was open. As we searched, we realized that we were in Germany. People speak German in Germany, not French. Or even English for that matter! Uh oh. I don't know about you, but I don't even know how to say "I can't speak German" in German. We've been use to finding our limits with French and being able to ask (in French) if someone could speak English, but looking for a French speaker seemed a little counterintuitive.

A German street.

Luckily, we found a sandwich shop that was open which had a sigh out front reading "ici, on parle francais" (here we speak French). We could not have been more excited to know that someone could speak the language we've been struggling with everyday. Our food was yummy, and not too different from the sandwiches we've often had for lunch, and we made our way back into France and on our way home. It was funny heading back. The way to the park seemed mostly uphill so we were excited to have an easier way home. Sadly, going down slight declines into the wind isn't as gratifying as one would expect. But we made it home only slightly winded and were able to mirror our lazy mornings.
T'was a good 10.10.10! À plus!

Finding my Place

I cannot get over how wonderful this city is. Who ever said Paris is the "city of love" never lived in Strasbourg; it's small, but the university and history give it so much diversity, you never get bored.
Yesterday was nice because it was Friday, giving me only three hours of class in the morning and the entire afternoon to enjoy. I went out to lunch at a Mediterranean place with a couple friends and we ended up talking for a couple hours about science and history and their connections through the natural human tendency to organize. This led into a conversation about religion and we lost track of ourselves. Friday night was a fun evening out on the town with fun people.

My attempt to show off the flowers
on the webcam in my dark room.

Today was fantastic! I slept in, as should be done on weekends, and went to my favorite knit shop for my ICRP in the afternoon. When I go on Saturdays, I attend a class that changes its theme every week; this week's theme was crochet. So, I learned how to make crocheted flowers that are going to be connected and filled in with other yarn. It was so much fun! There were four other women learning at the shop with me. We were seated around a table in the back of the shop and the teacher walked around answering any questions we had.
As we were working and chatting (some more than others), I realized from my history of spending time in knit shops, that there are the same types of people required in a group to make it fun. They could be looked at kind of like the "stock characters" found in written literature or in plays. My incomplete list of knitting characters is as follows:

• The Knowledgeable One: This person knows a lot about practically any given topic, especially the one at hand, and offers help to others. She can be the teacher, but not necessarily, and shares her wisdom openly. Her facts are often diluted by interesting stories about how she attained her information.
• The Learner: This person asks the most questions and is often a step or two behind the group. Usually sitting next to the Knowledgeable One, she helps keep the pace balanced by slowing her down by asking for help. She is not necessarily slow though, just in need of as much info as possible on each step before moving on.
• The Quiet Wit: This is the character who sits in the corner, observing the group and silently measuring the dynamics. She keeps to herself, listening to and following instructions easily. But at just the right moment, she can say a perfectly calculated comment that sends the entire group into fits of laughter, lightening the mood for those having technical (or lingual) difficulties.

  

  The Strasbourg Cathedral
  in autumn.

By the end of the class, I was very comfortable with crocheting and listening to the French terms. I also got really good at reading the pattern and diagrams. If you ever want me to teach you how to crochet, you will have to deal with mostly French terminology, that's what I know. After class, I bought the hook I had been working with and two balls of beautiful yarn!! Some of my friends surprised me by showing up at the shop and we went out and got crêpes. Mine had Alsatian white asparagus with ham and cheese inside. Mmmmmm! As we headed home through town, there were many street performers playing music (guitar, violin, drums) and one large group was a band dressed up in festive clothing with dancers and the lot. Europeans sure know how to have fun. À plus!

The Day in which I Volunteered to be Tortured

Salut! This post is going to start out with some knitting lingo, just as a heads-up for those of you who will have no idea what I'm talking about, not care, or both (but read it anyway because it's so cool!). Today was my first day in the knit shop "working" on my ICRP. The owner of the shop (known henceforth as 'Madame') had a sheet of English-French knitting abbreviations that she had printed for me to help with my learning and communication. I spent the following hour looking through Rowan magazines (she has them all the way back! At least, I looked through number 7 and she had quite a few older looking ones) and translating patterns. I also did some of my own studying by looking through a book of knitting techniques that had chapters on yarns and needles and stitching. We chatted a bit about knitting: projects I've done, how long I've been knitting/learning French and so on. At one point Madame was trouble-shooting a coworker's project that had too many stitches and I had to sit on my hands to keep from jumping in and trying to help with broken French-knitting. I was invited to come early on Saturday to hang out before the class that I'll sit in on starts. I'm going to learn to crochet!

The entry way in the Council
of Europe building.

This afternoon, us K kids had a field trip to the fancy building across the street from my house known as the Council of Europe. To those who do not know what the Council of Europe does, shame on you! I've known all about it since we had a class on it... last week. In truth, the CoE is a collaborative board with members from 47 countries in Europe (the 27 that are members of the European Union and 20 others) and was created to share and think up ways for strong democracies to thrive in the countries of Europe. It has more recently become, to quote the member of the CoE who spoke to us today, "the European guard-dog from human rights". During our visit, we were able to sit in on a debate and voting on the topic of child abuse in Europe and the start of a session on the Ukrainian governmental system.

Before we sat in on the council, we listened to a member of the staff explain the history of the CoE and some of the reasons for its creation. At one point, she asked for a volunteer to help her demonstrate some of the types of punishment that had been deemed illegal by the council at one point in history. Since no one was offering to go up, I volunteered and Zena took my camera and filmed a bit.
It started out with a skit where I'm Irish and was being accused of a wrongdoing. I denied having anything to do with it, and my torture ensued. ;)
Not much planned for the rest of this week. Just classes as scheduled and whatnot. Hopefully something fun and exciting will happen so I'll have an entertaining post for you all. À plus!

Weekend in Paris

Bonjour! As the title of this post states, I just got back from spending my last couples days in Paris. It was so much fun! I went with a small group of my friends from the States (some of whom are living in another area of France) and we visited many of the most popular tourist spots. I took photos like the ones I've seen in travel magazines and ate food like I'd never eat again!

The train station (gare) from which
we arrived in and departed from Paris.

We arrived in Paris on Friday afternoon and walked around town, between train stations until we were all together and able to head to where we were going to stay for the nights there. The place was wonderful! We had bed space enough for everyone, a small kitchen for preparing food and a dining/living area. But the best part was, there was an American style shower!! That was the first thing on my mind once we got there. So clean... =) After going out and buying groceries, we made dinner and stayed in for the night catching up with each other.

Notre Dame!

Saturday was full of touristy activities. We visited the Cathdrale de Notre Dame, the Louvre and the Arc de Triomphe all in one day. Thankfully, we had purchased RER day tickets (the RER is practically equivalent to the Chicago "L" or a metro) so getting around town was a little faster and less demanding on the feet. But it didn't save them completely. When we got back that evening, I had to soak my feet in the bathtub to get them to stop complaining. You'd think that having been a dancer, my feet would have a little more endurance. I think they're out of shape.
Sunday was great as well! We started out the morning eating the leftovers to clean out the fridge and then headed to the RER. Our first stop after stowing our bags at respective train stations was the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. That's the largest cemetery in Paris where many, many artists are buried. We found Oscar Wilde, Edith Piaf, Jim Morrison and Chopin among others. After a couple hours, we went to a cafe (French!) nearby and ate lunch. Our waiter was very fun; he chatted with us as he walked by and once when we were taking a picture, he tried to show up in the background looking quite silly.

The Louvre. So much more beautiful
than I had imagined it.

The Eiffel Tower was the last place on our list for the beautiful day. Seeing all these places in person was quite amazing, and the Eiffel Tower was no less. There were quite a few people mulling about, but we got in line to go all the way to the top! While waiting in line, we were approached by a French news caster asking if we were Americans and if one of us could answer a few questions. Lauren rose to the occasion and talked to her about being an American in Europe after the travel warnings.
After about an hour in lines and elevators, we made it to the summit! The whole of Paris was spread out around us in its white stone glory. Amazing. We were at the top of the Eiffel Tower!! At this moment, I decided to call my US home and brag about my weekend. How many people can say they've gotten a call from the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France?
While at the top, we all realized that we had trains to catch within the hour. Oops! Running down the streets of Paris from the ET and racing through RER stops, we quickly said our see-you-laters and exchanged kisses (a habit picked up by all while in France). The three of us who were bound for Strasbourg created a strategy while on the RER to our luggage station (our bags were at a station one RER stop away from where our train was leaving).

The view of Paris from the summit
of the Eiffel  Tower.

MacKenzie held purses so that when Liz and I found the lockers, we wouldn't have to wait for them to go through security, and Liz and I booked it through the entire station without and with two backpacks, jackets and a duffel. We found MacKenzie back at the RER stop and had a small chance to catch our breath before it arrived at Gare de l'Est. To make a long story short (too late!), we made it to our train with 5 minutes to spare and found our seats. The ride home was much more low key, I pretended to study while napping most of the way and we chatted a bit with a French student who was sitting across the isle from us. She spoke a little English and we spoke a little French so between the four of us, we had some interesting conversations.
Back in Strasbourg, Liz's host mom was a sweetheart and met her at the station. She offered to take Kenzie and I home too so we all had fun on the drive sharing travel stories and learning how to properly say "Louvre" [LOO-vre]. À plus!

A Little of My Geeky Side

Hey all! Today was awesome! There's nothing like starting off your day with a little success. You know, just to keep in your back pocket, for when you fall off your bike or something.

A rose in the vineyard.

But yes, the rumors are true. I got the ICRP (Integrative Cultural Research Project) that I've been dreaming about! The plan is that I will be going to a French knit shop for an average of four hours a week and experiencing an aspect of everyday French culture in the process. To make this wonderful experience possible, I had to go out and create it. My program coordinator didn't express much confidence in my idea of working at a knit shop when I proposed it at our meetings, mostly since "no one has done that before", so I went out with fairly low expectations. BUT, I found out that showing up is the most important part. I could have called it quits when I agreed to a plan B (working at a market at 6am on Wednesdays), or when I was turned down from the first shop I visited, but no! I went to Elle Tricote ("She Knits") from the directions given to me by the clerk from the first shop and learned my lesson. The worst that could happen was that they could say "No, sorry. And I have no idea who else you could go to. And you smell bad."

The bookbinder who we visited
on Saturday after hiking.

Elle Tricote is perfect. They have gorgeous yarns of all types and shades, some of which I recognize, in a lovely shop. They even have Rowan magazines! And, get this! The lady who knits the sample items that are on display around the shop, her name is Mireille too! It was meant to be. All they'd need is a cat in the back room and a dance studio around the corner and I think I'd have a cardiac arrest. From the half hour I talked with the ladies there, I am planning on going to a class-group meeting like event on Saturday afternoons as well as whenever I have time during the week (but not on Mondays because "no one comes in on Mondays" and I wouldn't be able to practice my speaking as well). The reason I ended up chatting with her for so long is because she started quizzing me on my knowledge of knitting, from types of fibers to company names to the names for how they're wound. I spit out many English terms that simply sounded off refracting off the soft, French hanks and skeins on the shelves; my homework is cutout for me.
Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the shop yet, my mind was elsewhere. But if you like, you can look at the tiny images on their web site: http://www.elletricote.com/ (I'm at the Strasbourg location. And the woman I talked to is the owner; her picture is there).
The rest of my day today was a tad blurred by my extreme giddiness and pride of being one of the first people on my program to go out and find their ICRP. I became 'The One Who Did' and a motivational speaker upon my return to campus. When I emailed our program coordinator and told her about my achievement, she said she was "impressed" and "proud". Does anyone else usually find their ICRP?
Anywho, I think I tooted my own horn enough in this post. Good thing my room is fairly dull so as to not damage my ever expanding ego. But hey, I improved my 'getting-guts-up' time from 30 minutes to 30 seconds in this process. Oh! And the Paris trip is a go.
-A what?
-Ago.
-You already went?
-No, I'm leaving on Friday morning.
-Ohhh.
-À plus!

Alsace: Hundreds of Years in 10cl

Wow. What a weekend. I'm getting tired just thinking about it! Let me catch you up.

On the viewing deck.

Friday was awesome. My entire program skipped their classes for the day and went on our first excursion. Our first stop was an Alsace Memorial museum where we took a guided tour (in French) and had some time to hang out. The museum had a large covered terrace like area in front that had a fantastic view of the surrounding mountains and villages. Because the far end of the deck was lined with a glass barrier, it was almost as if we could simply walk off the edge and fall into the picturesque landscape. The weather was a little brisk because we were at a higher altitude so the light wind passing through added a pinch to the reality of looking at French countryside. It was hard to leave.

A small fraction of
the chateau.

Our next destination was the Château de Haut Koenigsbourg even higher on another mountain. The bus ride was an adventure in itself; the road wound back and forth across one side of the mountain and it often seemed that at any moment the tall, awkward and quickly moving bus would careen off the ledge called a road and never be heard of again. But we made it (unless you never hear from me again, than search the mountains of northern France for a bus of lost and hungry Americans).
Despite the entertaining bus ride, everyone was feeling a little lazy as we got off the bus into the cold, rainy weather at the top. We hadn't seen anything but trees and the lack of trees (depending on what direction the bus was going at that moment) so excitement ensued immediately when we reached the top of the path and saw the castle walls. It was amazing! Just being there and walking around inside felt like a time-warp. And the fog/clouds throughout the courtyard and outer areas made it seem as if just around the corner you'd run into someone dressed in full Renaissance garb. I wouldn't have objected to having some myself; those castles are drafty!

Me, in the grand courtyard.

The guide at the château was really good. He spoke completely in French (of course) but he was fun to listen to because he was very animated and would make comments about people in our group and on our knowledge of history (or lack there of). We had a little extra time after the tour to look around the château on our own and attempt to find hiding places that would allow us to stay. Sadly, we weren't able to find any nooks far enough off the tour path to avoid discovery so we were herded back on the bus towards dinner.

Our last stop for the day was in the little town of Kaysersberg where we ate dinner at Restaurant au Lion d'Or (The Golden Lion). It was a delicious meal of Quiche Lorraine, battered chicken with green beans and tomatoes, and a small chocolate cake with English cream for dessert. All with Pinot Noir wine on the side. To my disappointment (and to the dismay of my reputation as a tourist), I forgot to take out my camera out at dinner. Thought I will vouch for it's deliciousness. The remainder of the day was spent going home, either by bus or bike (yes! I finally rented a bike!).
On Saturday, I spent the afternoon walking through vineyards. Yeah, I know you don't want to hear about such a stereotypically French thing to do, but you'll just have to suffer. When I agreed to go wine tasting with my friend MacKenzie and her host mom, I didn't realize that I signed up to roam the countryside for over 6 hours, but man, I wouldn't have changed a thing. We arrived in a little French town about half an hour outside of Strasbourg and I was very excited. One, because I was spending the entire afternoon with one of my best friends, and two, because this is a little French town we're talking about! And I mean, who wouldn't be excited to have the chance to walk through French vineyards with a French guide who lives down the street?

Me, yet again, with miles
of vineyards in the background

It wasn't until about an hour in that I was told that in order to provide the best sun exposure, grapes are always planted on hills. Oh my goodness.
My legs fell off and had to be reattached. Twice. But it was worth it! The day was wonderful (chilly, and overcast with a little rain in the beginning) and the grapes were so good! Since the hike was literally through the vineyards, it was easy to pull off a few grapes here and there and taste them. Kenzie and I were able to narrow down to our favorite types of grapes and later matched them to the wines we were sampling. The best follow up to a walk through miles of grapes is wine made from them! So far, my favorite all around was the Pinot Gris, made from a green grape with purple tints on the skin. The last wine we tasted was a vendanges tardive. It was served last because of how sweet it is. They are made from grapes harvested very late in the season, allowing their sugar to concentrate and creating a fabulous dessert wine. They can be made from almost any type of grape as long as they are harvested about the time after the first frost. See how much I learned! *grins proudly like a small child*

Gewurztraminer grapes.
One of my favorites!

The people on the hike as well as the gentleman who served the wine seemed to enjoy chatting with us two "mademoiselles americaine". They asked us a lot about where we lived, how we were liking France and such. They also had fun picking our brains on the history of Alsace, which was a lot of picking with little reward. We learned about a doctor from Alsace who traveled to Africa and opened lots of medical centers as well as about a famous race car driver born here who has won some grands titles. The gentleman at the winery spent lot of time explaining the types of wines and how they're made and even translated what he could into English for us. It was a grand time!

Pinot Blanc. Sweet,
but also quite good.

There was one point when our guide asked us if there is wine where we live. Kenzie and I looked at each other and said that yes, there is though it's not at all as good in comparison to the wine here. We also pointed out that technically, we're not allowed to drink it in the US. He gave us the same 'that's-funny-wait-you're-not-kidding-how-surprising-you're-already-an-adult' expression that my host mom and other's have given. We just grin and compliment the wine again.

Today was a lazy day spent cleaning my room and watching Serenity with my friend Alana. A much needed break since the last couple of days were so adventure-full. There's a rumor going around that next weekend there will be a trip to Paris... I'll keep you posted! À plus!