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