Alsace Adventures

Yesterday the group went on a “discovering Alsace” excursion.  After meeting up early in the morning (“early” being 9 AM) we took a 45 minute bus ride out to Rosheim, which is a small medieval town with a famous 12^th century Romanesque church.  Personally, I LOVE looking at churches and cathedrals; I find it all so interesting.  This one was a bit bizarre, having statues of gargoyles eating men, columns with babies’ heads on them, etc.  Interestingly enough, I learned that the decorative arches carved on the walls around the perimeter of the church is actually Jewish decoration, as part of the deal between the Jews and the church when the Jews helped finance the restoration of the church (kinda embarrassing, right?).  Rosheim is a dangerous place; the streets are narrow and one of the group members literally got run over by a biker, ouch!!  So after THAT altercation, we visited another church at Obernai, which was about 45 minutes away, before stopping for a pre-planned, full-course meal (OMG IT WAS *SO* DELICIOUS....but more on that later; I have a feeling I will have an entire post series on the food I’ve had so far).

The more fun part of the day was yet to come!  Our meal was followed by a guided tour of Haut-Koenigsbourg, which is a Franco-German medieval reconstructed “chateau-fort.”  My favorite part of the tour was the weapons room, which housed all of the different kinds of gruesome-looking blades and spikey things you can imagine.  I was really itching to try them out Deadliest-Warrior style, but something tells me that’s probably looked down upon during tours, so I resisted.

The coolest part of the day was definitely the wine tasting experience (I felt so sophisticated, oh la la).  Unlike in the states, the wine-business is a very personal thing here.  Vineyards and secret recipes are passed down only through families, and have been preserved for generations.  We were lucky enough to visit one man’s personal cellar (where there were wine barrels bigger than SUVs, no joke) and sample some of his most famous wines (there is an exact art to this, something about looking-swirling-smelling-tasting, but don’t ask me, I felt like such a phoney-baloney whiffing my little wine glass).  I’m no wine connoisseur, but it was a lot of fun all the same (but boyyyy did I need to use the restroom when we got back to Strasbourg!)

In the evening, since most of us don’t have our weekend dinners with our host families included in the price of the trip, we all met up at this local Italian place for dinner (our waiters were VERY Italian; I heard one of them singing “I wanna rock and roll all night” in an extremely Italian accent as I was leaving).  My friend Erin and I went and bought to-die-for icecream (literally, I bought one cone, and when I asked how many flavors I was allowed to have in one cone, the reply was “as many as you want,” so I ordered EVERY SINGLE TYPE OF CHOCOLATE they had for my one icecream cone! Win=me).  We sat by the cathedral to eat, but the cathedral became surrounded by this fleet of caped people with white masks (kinda like the Phantom of the Opera) who literally ran around swirling their capes in the air and hooting like owls....yeahhhh I have no idea either.  To make matters even more bizarre, one of them came running up, herding a piglet on a leash!!! I was terrified they were going to make some sort of pig sacrifice, but no, I think it was just a group of really strange people.

Hurdling the Language Barrier

Over the past several days, I've become more and more comfortable speaking the language here.  And I've also found that others often speak my language, in the most unexpected situations!!

On Friday evening after dinner a few of us decided to head over to "le Palais de la Musique et des Congres" to watch "l'orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg," whose tickets were relatively inexpensive, since we have student discount cards.  Although the concert was short (about an hour), it was phenomenal.  It was a good size orchestra that played pieces I didn't recognize; however, as anyone who listens to music will tell you, there is no language barrier in classical music!  It was really nice to watch and listen, and the coolest part (aside from the tympani player who was crazy awesome) was the french horn soloist who went for 10 minutes at a time by himself!  Never heard such an elaborate solo on that instrument before.

On the subject of music and language, later that evening we went out to a French "discotheque" (dance club).  It was interesting, to say the least.  I think that French dance clubs are based more on drinking than dancing; there was less risky dancing and more just jumping around in a big mob (actually, the night life here in general is centered more around bars than dancing, since the drinking age is so low).  But anyways, what was funny was that they played a lot of popular American music, like what we would listen to in the weight room (here and at home in College Park).  These French people love our music!  Britney Spears came on (wooo there you go, Ash and Danielle) and everyone went just about crazy; it was really funny.  And afterwards, we were approached by these three Canadian girls, who were SO relieved that someone they found FINALLY spoke English.  Admittedly they were pretty tipsy so they were probably a little overdramatic (just, a *tad* :P), but it was amusing nonetheless to unexpectedly find so much English in a French club.

Yesterday a group of us rented bikes and biked over the border into Kehl, Germany.  Once again, the language changed, and interestingly enough we found that more people spoke English than French there (well, of course most people spoke German, but in that category I'm about as useless as a potato).  Kehl was nice, although we didn't have too much time to explore.  We sat down and ate a nice lunch (potatoes, sausage, and sauerkraut of course) followed by this OMG-AMAZING (and cheap) icecream (mine was truffle and coffee flavored, need I say more?) and shopped around a bit before heading back.  Then in the evening we ate at an Irish Pub (they served gorgonzala burgers there and we were all craving red meat) where of course, all of the waitresses spoke English.  We watched the ManU vs. Barcelona soccer game inside the pub (those Europeans are fo' serious about their soccer), which was all in English.  So the past two days, the English language has been following us everywhere!  Lucky for me, I get plenty of practice speaking French at the appartment I'm living in, since my host family only speaks French.  Also, at INSA, where I intern, everyone speaks French, and we even get to eat in the student cafeteria (where of course, no one is really speaking English at all!)  So it's still a good mix.

Right now I'm about to head out for a group trip- we're going wine tasting, oh la la!  Hopefully I can post more pictures later!

Becky

Getting Around Town

Traffic here is very interesting.  First of all, all of the cars are super-mini.  It’s actually kinda funny; a punch-buggy looks normal size here!  Even the trucks are mini (they’re cute-looking, actually). I think it’s because unlike in the states, where we built many of our cities to fit our cars, historic European cities existed long before the invention of cars, so people had to fit their cars to the roads, which are all relatively narrow.  However, Strasbourg is fairly modern compared to a lot of other French cities.  Their major roads are paved or stone-tiled rather than cobblestone, and there are a lot of traffic lights.

There’s a superb tram system that runs throughout the city all day every day.  Again, unlike in NYC, these trams must be above ground (no way would city architects risk digging huge tunnels underground here).  Picture something a little more chic than a metro, but riding above-ground on a rail system like in San Francisco.  I am totally impressed by them; they are super-quiet, very smooth, extremely clean, and can stop on a dime (pedestrians walk right in front of these).  They don’t go very fast, like a metro does.  They probably go about as fast as the cars here go, or even slower.

The feel I get from the city is similar to when I was in Boston.  It’s very much bustling during the day, but traffic is surprisingly calm.  Cars allow pedestrians and bikers to cross the street in the middle of traffic, and people bike EVERYWHERE.  Biking has been so convenient this past week; it’s so easy to get from one end of the city to the other within 10 or 15 minutes (provided it doesn’t rain, like yesterday, gahhhh).  But the amount of bikes here is astounding.  Everyone goes around on bikes to get places- women going to markets with baguettes stuck in the front baskets, men in suits and ties going to work, little kids going to school, girls in flowy skirts just biking around.  There seem to be very few rules about where you can park your bike, because often when I go to a shopping area or somewhere fairly popular, ALL of the bike racks are completely full and people resort to chaining their bikes to garbage cans, trees, fences, parts of monuments, etc.  I like walking or biking everywhere, as opposed to taking the bus, because the city is so pretty and holds so many hidden surprises that I would have definitely missed had I been flying by on a bus or in a car.

The car companies here are also different.  I recognize Volkswagon and Renault, and there’s this other lion one that Madame taught us but I can’t remember the name.  AND Mercedes-Benz here is so popular and not a big deal; all of the trash trucks are Mercedes-Benz!!

Animal update: yesterday on a whim a couple of us stopped into a Musée Zoologique (basically a museum of natural history where they do taxidermy and such).  It was actually really cool; even though it was this tiny converted building on a street corner, they had a lot more exotic animals than I expected, like a giraffe, polar bears, toucans, and these massive crabs.  Also, there were a handful of local artists there, sketching the stuffed foxes and deer- they're drawings were SO cool. (I’m gonna skip over talking about the bug section here, because it was SO GROSSSSSS ewwwwww).  On the subject of gross animals, the other night we were sitting by the river at night, I think someone had purchased one of the cheaper white wines from Monoprix, a chain grocery store, and all of us were just going to chat by the river.  All of a sudden, this GINORMOUS WATER RAT starts climbing out of the water towards us, sniffing.  Of course we all screamed, this thing was MASSIVE (bigger than a chipotle burrito, I'll tell you that).  But a couple of local French teens nearby just laughed; apparently it happens all the time because people aliken them to squirrels in the US, feed them bread, and think of them as “cute.”  UGH I don’t even want to think about it…

Water and Birds

Two things have been on my mind a lot since I've arrived: water and birds.  Strange, right?  Allow me to explain (disclaimer: about to ramble)

Sooo, for some reason, it seems to me that the French view their water very strangely.  First of all, it is my understanding that utilities are very expensive in the city.  Thus, showering goes like this: instead of having a showerhead to stand under, there is a detachable shower head that you hold, but nowhere to mount it.  To save time and water, you're supposed to alternate soaping/lathering with rinsing, turning off the water when you're using the soap.  Thus, each morning, I've found that it's easiest to shampoo standing OUTSIDE the tub with my head leaning over it.  It's quite an ordeal.  And no, this was not me being clever; I was crouching pathetically under the low-to-the-ground shower head for quite some time before mentioning something to one of the other French students, who then told me the alternating soaping/rinsing strategy.  Who knew? 

Also, drinking water here is pretty rare.  More often they drink wine with their meal, so throughout the day I am SO dehydrated.  My host mom bought large bottles of mineral water, but at the rate that I drink (especially with running), I'd cost her $$$ if I drank it all the time.  Therefore, the sink tap and I have become great friends, of late.  Is it safe to drink?  Dunno, but it's better than dying of thirst, right?

Last comment on water: it is legal here to swim in the fountains, and there are fancy fountains EVERYWHERE.  So guess what's on my agenda tomorrow? :)

Onto bird commentary:  There are three types of birds in particular that have made my stay here thus far very interesting.  The first kind I encountered were storks, "les cigonnes", which is some sort of official bird of Strasbourg.  Let me tell you, they are GINORMOUS.  I mean, HUGE.  Their nests are incredible, and they just stroll around the walkways of the park, like nbd.  I wonder if they bring big babies...

Also, the pigeons here are really prevalent.  Unlike the stupid pigeons at home, these pigeons are pretty ballsy as far as city birds go.   My host mother is so cute; she showed me her balcony off of her kitchen the other day, and all these pigeons were resting on the ledge, staring at her.  The tiny little old lady (with big glasses, are you picturing this?) went over, "shoo! shoo! shoo!" scowling and waving them off.  Alas, they sat there defiantly.  And, may I add, they're quite fat.

Finally, the parrot.  Parrots in Strasbourg? you might ask.  Well, the only one I encounter is the one that lives in the landlord's window.  Every morning and afternoon when I go to unlock/lock my bike (which has been incredibly convenient thus far, btw), the bird whistles at me and then asks me questions in French.  No joke!  He'll say, "Ca va?  Tout est bien?"  Too funny!!

Okay, that's enough about random birds and water.  If you don't like my commentary, well....I guess you should unsubscribe to my blog then! :)

Becky

Running

For the past couple of days I've gotten up early (6 AMish) to run around the city before it wakes up.  I love it; in my opinion, the best way to discover a place and orient yourself is to run around.  Yesterday I spent most of my day traveling back and forth between INSA, the Strasbourg engineering school, the Syracuse Center, and my host family's apartment, so I feel that I've gotten to know the city pretty well.  You never know what you'll find that early in the morning.  Just by turning corners I stumbled upon the massive city Synagogue, the town's Little Italy and Little Switzerland, a modeling photo session, and a zoo in the park by the European Council.  It's true here that everything is incredibly laid back- even at 8 or 9 in the morning, most shops aren't open, and except for the tram and a few bikers, the streets are empty and quiet.  Even the animals are sleepy- when I ran by the zoo at 7:30, when the sun had long been up, the rooster just started to crow :)

The city is not that big; I ran from one end to the other in about 15-20 minutes.  But hidden within the city are all of these very picturesque, very romantic winding roads that are SO fun to explore.  Lucky for me I live by the river so thus far I am able to keep track of where I am, no matter where I go.

Coach, if you're reading this :) you'll be happy to know that one of the other engineering students in my program is a D1 volleyball player. Yesterday she and I rented bicycles for the month (SO much easier to get around town, just gotta watch out for those little old ladies walking across the street), and wandered over to the university district, where we found this little run-down "centre sportif" (student gym) where one can "faire de la musculation" (lift weights).  So now I have a lifting partner!  L'orangerie park, while very flat, also offers some nice gravelish trails and some grassy spots.

Something to add to the oddities that I've noticed and have come to like:
The people here clean their streets every morning.  Like, a little truck comes around and sprays water all over the sidewalk, all across town.  Funny, right?

My host family (famille d'accueil- literally, "welcome family") is so incredibly accomodating.  The wife is an excellent cook and always prepares these elaborate hot dishes and soup every night for dinner.  It is funny relating to them- I mentioned "Haireee Pot-air!" and they got so excited!  This sunday is the French mother's day; I'm thinking of buying something small for the host mom.

My internship is a bit daunting.  I have a slight advantage because I'm the only student in my part of the program who can speak French, but even still....they want me to research this project of a 3D recreation of a medieval theater that was created using AutoCAD after taking laser photos of the remains of the theater....most of the AutoCAD drawing has been completed and there's even this whole 50 page report that was made that I'm supposed to read...but it's all in French.  Anyways, I need to complete this computer programming (in French), add texture to the hundreds of small parts that comprise this huge drawing (in French), and then translate it to another computer program, "Rhino" (in FRENCH!!!). AHHHH

Me and Emily!

The blog doesn't let me post more than one photo at a time, so go to my facebook for more pics!

Strasbourg Trash Truck

View from My Room

I spy....Emily Schumm

Today I saw Emily Schumm!

We met up for lunch (she joined our group for lunch at Le Tire Bouchon downtown and then for a tour of the city). Crazy, right?

Updates:
Everything here is miniature.  Unlike busy cities in the US, Strasbourg is incredibly historic and very culturally diverse (it was passed back and forth between German and French reign up until the 2nd World War).  There's a whole slew of embassies ("consulats") here so there are world flags everywhere, which is kinda cool.  Anyways, roads are narrow, the shops are quaint (yet very stylish and busy), and cars are TINY.  I feel like I'm in a movie.  It's all very, very pretty.

My host family is SO nice.  They are an older couple, in their 70s/80s, who have been hosting kids since 1994!  They like reading, hiking, and listening to classical music and the Beatles :)  Madame is an excellent cook (yesterday we had this make-your-own fondue thing, this morning for breakfast was croissants et la fruit fraiche, and tonight we had vegetable soup and crepes).  They live right in the middle of downtown by the river, so my room has an amazing view of the water, and everything is within walking distance, which is great. 

Today after I ran around town to get a feel for where everything was (I found a McDonalds!), the group met up for lunch (where I saw Emily) and took a short tour before heading back to the center to go over logistics.  Tomorrow I start my internship, yikes!

Go look at my facebook for more photos!

Becky

Arrival!

Wooo! Local time is 6:18 AM, just arrived in the Frankfurt airport and am now waiting for my connecting bus to Strasbourg.  This sounds silly, since I supposedly read the entire itinerary before leaving, but it totally didn't occur to me that to get to France I would be going through GERMANY.  Therefore when we landed I was like, "crap, I don't speak any German!!"  :)  Thusfar everyone has been extremely helpful; there is even an entire group from College Park here en route to an honors college trip to Croatia- pretty fun stuff, right? Side note: internet at the airport is like 5 euros an hour, geez, but I HAD to update y'all and call home, right? Right :).....aaaaand check facebook of course. hehe

Up next: arriving to Strasbourg, and figuring out how the heck I get to the Syracuse center.  Wish me luck!

********
Local time: 2:44 PM. Woooo I'm tired.  After getting off the plane and figuring out how to take a bus into the city, I then had to take a second bus through the city and then ask several people for directions (en francais) about how to get to the Syracuse Center.  Lucky for me, I found it and there were already two other girls from the program waiting there.  We met up with a third girl and had lunch at this little cafe called "Chez Patrick", where we met this really nice NY/Parisian war vet who told us the ins and outs of the city.  After taking a long walk through the l'Orangerie gardens, we are crashing now in our jet-lagged, full-bellied glory at the (super-cool) center. Later we get to meet our host families, yikes!

Becky

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow's the big day....got my itinerary all set, bags all packed....almost :)

In other news, I learned the names of the family I'm living with... the Gosselins.  Hope they don't have 8 kids!

Begin the Countdown!

Hi everyone!!

In just a few short weeks I'll be heading to Strasbourg, which is a city in NE France on the border of Germany (for those of you who are geographically challenged, much like myself...)  Anyways, SO EXCITED.  I have an internship at INSA through Syracuse University...I don't know exactly WHAT I'll be doing, but I do know it's a MechE internship IN France for 5 weeks and that I'll be staying with a host family, so I can't wait!  As of now I just have to finish out the semester here before I spend a few quick days at home, and then hop on a plane and head over to Strasbourg.  Lot's of preparations still, but the countdown is definitely on!

Please feel free to follow me (via my BLOG, stalkers...) during my 5 week (plus 1 extra free week in Paris!) experience!  I'll try to post updates, videos, and pictures of what I'll be doing :)

Becky