Well, let me start out of saying: Happy Thanksgiving!! I am thankful to be here in France. Alright, now that the obligatory Thanksgiving post is out of the way, let's get down to business.
Wednesday was normal. I had climbing--which was awesome! Thursday. That's today. Hm, Thursday. Overall? Today was alright. I woke up and went to school were I'm pretty sure I failed a grammar exam. That's a bummer. But, I honestly can say I studied by butt off for that thing so I couldn't have done anything more--ce qui passe, passe (what happens, happens).
More importantly? Do you, dear reader--however few there are of you--see these glorious pictures of cake? An older lady from the church I go to in Chambery made that for me! I went to her house today and she gave me cake. Win! Let's see . . . after that? Oh yeah, I ate a bunch of ice-cream with that cake because it's Thanksgiving and I'm
thankful for desserts. Then, as per usual on Thursday, I had Judo. But for some reason, maybe it was because I hadn't seen my friends in that class for awhile, I was just super psyched to see them! And, it felt great to grapple again. I have my bruises back on my body and I can proudly say I have earned these mat burns and bruises. Why? Because I gave my all in Judo today. I even fought with two guys and I WON. Disclaimer to my parents: I know that this is not very feminine but I'll do my hair nice tomorrow to make up for it. And? It felt awesome to win against those guys. I felt myself sweating and I knew that I would win that match because I had failed my grammar test and I wasn't going to lose this, too. Anyway, I needed to work off that cake and ice cream.
Well, that's it for today. It doesn't seem like I did I lot today but I promise I've been running around all day. I hope everyone had a lovely Jour De Grace (Thanksgiving). What's more, I hope you all ate to your hearts--and stomachs--content! Vous me manquez et bonne nuit!
Sorry, I know it's been a few days since I've blogged but I really just have nothing new to report. I have a massive test on Thursday and I've been studying all day--it hasn't helped much seeing as how I've (literally) failed every practice exam I've taken. Um, let's see . . . Christmas is in one month! Also--in much sadder news-- I only have one month left in Chambery:( I'm going to miss this place. Alright, well, here's my story for the post.
On Sunday, as I was walking back from church, I decided to duck in a buy some supplies to make "vin chaud". As I was checking out, the cashier look at me and said "you're not 18". I then realized I had no way of proving that I was, in fact, older than 18 since I had no form of I.D. on me. Therefore, simply looked at her and said "I'm 20". She looked at me in disbelief but rank up the wine anyway. Oh, France.
Well, that's it! Short and sweet. Bonne nuit a tous et toutes!
It's been snowing for 2 days straight. But I don't mind--except for how cold the rooms are. On the plus side? Snow ball fights!! The picture is of Fang Fang and me in snow at the uni campus.
Story time: I just walked into the kitchen and the first thing Sandra--the housemate--says is: "wow, you don't look good--are you tired?". Ha, thanks, girl. I've woken up the past few nights during my REM cycle so sleep has been a bit hard but I didn't realize I looked so bad!
On a side note, I still haven't found housing for Spring 2014 semester. I have one month left . . . as of right now? I am homeless. It's a great feeling but! Isn't this what college life is all about? Not knowing your next step and doing life as it comes along? --that's what I am telling myself. I know I'll figure out something, I hope, j'espere.
Oh, and I have another test next Thursday. It's a grammar test--yikes! Time to study! Bye all! Bisous bisous!
Oh my goodness: today (Wednesday the 20th of November, 2013) has been insane and it's not yet 13:00! Let me just go through today and you'll see why.
5:25 am: I wake up because I had a crazy dream about a giant centipede. That sounds silly. In my dream it was much more frightening.
6:30 am: My alarm goes off to wake up for school and so I do.
8:00 am: I'm walking to class IN THE SNOW! That's right folks, the first snowfall of the year for Chambery has occurred!!
8:02 am: I realize I am wearing my Toms--which are a cloth shoe--and my feet quickly become soaked.
8:26 am: I arrive at class with numb feet but overjoyed at the arrival of snow. I go to my class and take off my shoes and place them on the heater to dry. I then pull out my plastic chair and sit down only to jump off the chair in .05 seconds. Seriously you guys, Usain Bolt could not have jumped up faster. Since my feet were numb, I didn't realize that my big right toe was underneath one of the feet of my chairs. Thus, when I sat down, I sat down on my big toe and let me tell you, all these baguettes and cheese I've been eating? Yeah, I could feel it then.
8:27 am: I look down at my big right toe and I see blood, a blood blister, and a bruise forming under my nail.
8:28 am: I search for a band-aid yet to no avail. It's okay because it doesn't hurt too bad so I just let the throbbing go and then class starts!
8:32 am: My teacher asks me why I'm not wearing shoes which then leads the whole class to look inquisitively at me while I stutter.
9: 20 am: I realize I really need to use the restroom because I drank a lot of coffee this morning but I still have 40 minutes till our break. I decide, fully believing at the time that it was the correct choice, to wait till the break to use the toilette.
10:20 am: Our class break is 20 minutes overdue but since our class is having a heated debate about homosexual parents right to adopt children, our class break has passed us by. I am forced to get up in the midst of this debate and leave--however, it looks like I am raging out of the class because I was too emotional disturbed by the topic....great. Hahaha!
11:30 am: Class is over. Yay!
12:00 pm: I arrive home and decide that I will make some homemade hot chocolate. I heat up the milk. I then heat up the chocolate and meanwhile decide to check my email. A bit later, I hear a crack and smell smoke. The bowl in which I had placed the chocolate had broken into easily over two dozen tiny pieces in the microwave and the chocolate was smoking and burning. You know what?, I tell myself, this is okay. I clean up the mess and go on to make a successful (and delicious) cup of hot chocolate.
12:12 pm: I check my French university email account and realize that a French girl-- with whom I did a via ferrata expedition-- had emailed me over a month wanting to be friends. Of course I emailed her back apologizing for my stupidity in regards to my French email account. I hope she replies and wants to be friends still!
Well, there you go. I've caught you up to date with this day in my life. The most bummer thing is that I can't go to climbing today because of my toe. It's bruised and yucky looking. And, I can't go to climbing because in climbing, for those of you who don't know, you use your toes a bit to climb and I really don't want to put any more pressure and weight on my big toe than necessary.
But! All in all? I still judge that today is awesome. Why? Well, why not? I have so many things to be thankful for. I hope your day goes well dear reader!
As I wrote "A Mundane Week" for the title, I realize that this week won't be mundane because I'm in France. However, the entire week calls for a mixture of rain/snow so the weather won't be pretty. But, c'est la vie. Today is nothing special except to mark the 5 week count down until uni (university) is over. You know how on grey days you want to curl up with a warm drink and read all day? Well, since that's how the weather is every day, I really can't use the excuse "oh, but it's a rainy grey day" to do nothing because that's just how it is here. Pity. Alright, I must head off to classes.
Bahh, I just got done with classes that went straight starting at 11:30 and ending at 17:00. It was not enjoyable. Also, here's my story for the post: I'm too scared to ask my land lady to use her oven so Sandra always pretends that she needs the oven and asks Madame for me. Today was no exception. Except for the fact that Sandra went to class and Madame is "keeping Sandra's food" for her below and I can't ask for it because then I would have to awkwardly explain that it's actually my food and that I am a massive wimp. Which obviously isn't an option. Oh well, on the plus? I've discovered that I really enjoy The Arctic Monkeys as a band.
I hope everyone has a jolly splendid day! (If you read that in a British accent it sounds much cooler). Bye all! Bisous bisous from France!
Alright, well this blog post starts on Friday. I had a test and a presentation in class. Update: both went as well as possible. I bribed the class to like my presentation with chocolate cookies so of course it was good. What was exciting though was the fact that a girl in my class (Fang Fang) invited me to her apartment after class. She cooked traditional Chinese for me--it was delicious! The coolest part was though just talking to her. She's around my age but she's spent years traveling. She's been all over northern Europe, Tibet, and Cambodia and her plan for after she's done with France is to visit Southern America (like Chile, Brazil, etc.). The craziest thing? Most people say things like that but this girl will do these things. Also awesome? She literally hitch-hikes her way around. She's cool.
Well, after dinner with Fang Fang, I went out and met up with Alex the Scot, Malcom the Hipster, and my house mates to just chill at the local Bar de la Boule. I tried a Gin&Tonic and felt so grown up (even though I dumped much more soda into the drink than there is suppose to be so really the drink was mostly lime flavored soda...oh well!). I ended up getting home around 12am and into bed around 1am only to wake up at 5am to head off to Turin, Italy! All the below photos are of my adventure that I had today in Turin:) Ready?
So, you see those mountains? Yeah, those surround Turin. Pretty gorgeous! The first few hours that I was there I spent it exploring the massive outdoor market they have. It was awesome because the food section was huge. The above left picture is of me at a water fountain! I know it's silly, but these fountains are adorable. The photo directly to the left is...oh, I forget...but probably a government bulding.
Alright, so the photo to the right here is of a gate that protects an art gallery. I took this photo (besides the obvious fact that it's pretty) because it reminds me of Versailles--because of the style and color. So, after the market, I walked around for a few hours and tried to see everything. One of the coolest things I got to see was an old bridge from Roman times. Sadly though, not much of the bridge was surviving. Alright, so, what was the highlight of Turin? I got to eat Italian food: pizza, cannoli, gelato and pastries! So yummy but man I feel unhealthy now. And even more so because we got stuck in a traffic jam on the way back for an hour and I got stressed and ate--and for those of you who know me, when I stress it? It's a frightening and unhealthy act. Anyway, I just got back from Italy now and it's 10pm and since I didn't much sleep last night, it's time to chill and then sleep! I'm sure I'm forgetting something but oh well. Bonne nuit a tous!
Bonjour! Today was just a typical day in France--except for the fact that it is becoming markedly colder. Let's see . . . I went for a run today (it sucked) but hey! That's okay because my other runs this week were fantastic. Err, what else . . . oh, I have a test tomorrow in my grammar course. Not excited for that. And nervous. We'll see how I do! I also have a presentation due tomorrow so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that as well. Oh, and a Chinese friend of mine here (her name is Fang Fang) invited me to her place tomorrow to have a lunch/dinner after course! I'm super excited. Why? Because this girl is awesome. Fang Fang also wants to go a movie theater (well, really it's more just like a room that shows movies in some dilapidated building) and we're thinking about next Wednesday going so yay for friends!
Alright, I know you've all awaited in eager anticipation for what my story will be today and here it is: the story of a French teacher who was unpleasantly surprised. And, before you tell me how lame this is (and fair warning: it is a lame story) you can stop reading the blog here and I will have no hurt feelings--I mean, I won't even know so feel free! Here is the background information you need to know: My school building has two bathrooms. One of which is designated solely for teachers (there are less than 10 teachers) and one of which is for students and teachers (there are over hundred students). You probably already see a problem...but let me continue. There happens to be this one teacher I take for a pronunciation course who is, hmmm, shall we say she is a bit mean? She's not encouraging (in fact, she made a girl cry) and she's super freaky about her teacher's bathroom. So, one time, there was a really long time for the student bathroom and class was about to start so people started using both bathrooms. I ended up using the teacher's one and right as I come out, who is there to (and I kid you not) in a very loud voice scold me as if I had robbed her of her inheritance? This pronunciation teacher. This has happened to several students. So, today, the sign that clearly states that the teacher's bathroom is solely for teachers (it says this in French, English, and Chinese) conveniently went missing and this teacher had a freak out (but please notice that none of the other teachers went off their rocker). She just "couldn't understand why someone would rip down the sign?!" and several students enjoyed her display of craziness. Although there will be, without doubt, a new sign up tomorrow, today the bathrooms signalized equality and freedom for all. It was a great day for students in Building 14, Campus of Jacob-Bellecompte, Chambery, France.
That is all. Tonight, I'll be studying and eating. Have a great night y'all!
Hey all! I don't have much to tell you about today. Classes were normal. I have a presentation due on Friday and the girl I'm working with hasn't done her part yet so I'm starting to freak out just a bit...trying not to worry too much though. Let's see, I also went running today. It was 45F and perfect weather. I decided to have an adventure run and just explore places I didn't know. I'm so glad I did, too, because I ran upon an amazing place with trails and a mini-waterfall-kind-of-thing. It's hard to explain but it was really lovely.
So, let's get to the real topic at hand: the food pictures. I figured I haven't posted really any photos of food so here are some! The one on the bottom right is of eggplant parmesan with pasta that I made for dinner tonight--so good! The bottom left is the tomato thing I talked about before--also to die for. And the above photo? That my dear friends is a scrumptious chocolate pastry from Barcelona! Yumyum. And the middle photo on the right? That's called a Spanish omlette. It's a bread thing with potatoes and that really is a horrible description of it. Here, allow me attempt to describe it again. Take two: it is like when the clouds part on a rainy, cloudy, and cold day and sliver of sun peaks through and turns the whole day around.
Well, that's my blog for today! I hope your at least semi-enjoyed it (and if you didn't like it, well, it's not like I held a gun to your head and forced you to read it so whatever). I'm tired so it's time to get ready for bed and then relax and bit before hitting the sack! I sincerely hope that all is well with you:) Bonne nuit!
Bonjour a tous! I want to first say that I am sorry it has taken me so long to blog again. This past weekend (8/11-10/11), I went to Barcelona (as pictured on the left) to visit my friend Matt! Craziest thing about Barcelona? I was wearing shorts! The weather, as you can tell from the photos, was absolutely gorgeous. I got into Barcelona around 17:00 on Nov. 8th and immediately started seeing some sights. However, it night quickly fell and we returned to Matt's residence building where I promptly fell down an entire flight of stairs managing to bruise my left leg in an ugly way. Worst part of me falling? A group of random people saw it and they probably
assumed that I was drunk (which would at least be an excuse but I don't even have that!). That night I saw the Arc de Triomph (it's the picture on the right) that imitates France's famous Arc (and I personally like France's Arc much more--go France!). Later, we met up with some of Matt's friends and went out to a bar where you pour your own drinks, not to mention you receive free popcorn. Heyoh! It was pretty cool because it was super chill and you could just relax and listen to the hubbub of Spanish being spoken while thinking your quiet thoughts in English. And that night? I stayed out until around 4 am. That's right, I'm a big girl now! Not really, I was exhausted the next morning because I woke up at 6:30 thinking I had school. But at least I got an early start on sight-seeing the second day! The photo of the market was actually shows one of my favorite things--a massive indoor/outdoor market in Barcelona. It was just amazing to see fresh fruit, veggies, meat, and fish and
that doesn't even begin to cover all the chocolate and candy there, too! So the second day (Nov. 9th) was just a complete exploration of Barcelona by foot. Something that I've noticed is that everyone in Barcelona is beautiful, even the ugly. I'm not joking. We all know that some people are just naturally physically beautiful, right? Well, imagine seeing that in every person. Got that pictured? Okay, then welcome to Barcelona: Land of The Beautiful. Later that night we went out to a bar and heard a live beat-boxer. This guy was incredible. I've never heard someone do that before and I can honestly now say that it is a true talent. Well, after the bar and chilling, I went to bed and the next morning (Nov. 10th) it was time to catch my flight back to France. But here's the catch: I missed my bus stop for the airport. Oh, that's right, I missed my stop. So what did I do you ask? I asked the bus driver to pull over on the side of the road (which he kindly did) and I ran, hopped, and jumped over rails, roads and small bushes for 1.5 miles to make it back to the airport in time for my flight. I eventually got
back into Lyon (which is pictured on the left) only to realize that I had a 5 hour wait to catch a bus to take me back to Chambery. Therefore, I did a very natural thing: I stress ate a lot of chocolate while ease-dropping on conversations. One of the more interesting conversations I over-heard
was between two older couples. The wives were talking politics while the husbands were gabbing about the new Thor movies and Marvel Comic movies in general. I also met a guy who has traveled the world and just got offered a professorship and is returning to Lyon for the job (to give you an idea of how cool this guy was? He had visited Asia, Russia, Central America, Brazil, Argentina, Europe and had just moved from living in Venice where he worked for the Russian government). Alright, I finally get home on Sunday at 19:30 and I shower in order to go to bed only to discover that I actually was going out with my house-mates to a local place in order to meet up with some people. We ended up leaving Melodie (which is were we were at) to go wake up Matt (because if you remember, he woke me up one time at an insane hour so I wanted to return the favor). But it turned out he was still up--at 2am, too!--so us girls and Matt, Alex, and Craig (those three guys live together) all stayed up talking until 4am and by 5am I crawled into bed. However, I had promised Matt earlier that I would go into Lyon with him on Monday, Nov. 11th (even though I went to bed at 5am on Monday night!). So, it is now Monday night and I've returned from my adventure in Old Lyon (the panoramic photo and
the three of the churches are all things I visited today). And although I am now beyond tired, I'm glad I explored Lyon today because one of the cathedrals that I visited (it's the one on the right--the picture of an inside of a church) is easily one of the most beautiful churches I have ever seen. The inside was covered in vibrant colors, gold, mosaics and old stone work.
Alright world, well, that's about all that's going on with me. Oh, a funny tid-bit, I went out on Thursday (Nov. 7th, the day I left for Barcelona) to catch up with some girls from my classes but here's the story: I ordered a beer but the three Asian girls I was out with all ordered tequila shots! I was shocked but never more so when the girls took the shots and then had no reactions because, according to them, "the tequila tasted like water". My reaction? Utter shock. What do the Chinese drink that makes tequila taste like water?! But that's the only thing they drank so it's not like anyone got indecent. Okay, that really is all I can think of now to tell you. I hope your day goes well! Bisous bisous!
The next three days call for rain. That's a bit of a bummer but I suppose it happens. A plus is that I've discovered a great station on 8tracks that plays worship music and it has several tracks so I don't have to try to search for new music every 20 min--it's nice. Another plus is that I leave for Barcelona to visit a friend this Friday! I just need to get through 3 more days of classes then *poof* I'll be in Espange! Since I don't have much going on in my life right now, I'll tell you a story so sit back and relax.
A few weeks ago, I was going out at night to catch up with some friends. As I'm walking on my way to the designated rendezvous point I happen to see a very elderly couple. The wife appears to be having some trouble walking. But the sweetest thing is that her husband is giving her his best efforts at stabilizing her and helping her walk. "Awww, that's really precious that they've been married for so long and he still cares so much about her", I thought to myself. However, upon closer inspection, and as the elderly couple drew closer, the truth slowly dawned upon me. No, this woman was not having trouble walking due to her age. Oh yes, that's right dear reader, this women was having issues standing up straight because she was flat out drunk (not to mention the husband was a bit soused as well). The two were stumbling home, drunk as skunks, at 9 pm on the weekend. Oh well. At least they were efficient and got trashed early on in the night so that they can go home and get a good nights rest!
Well, that's all I have for you. I hope everyone is doing well!
P.s: I've discovered a new favorite type of food. You cut up slices of fresh tomatoes, put mozzarella cheese on top, then sprinkle with olive oil and basil. Yuummm.
Hey everyone! So I've been absent for awhile but for good reason: I've been traveling in Switzerland and Germany with my housemate Sandra. The below photos are of Geneva, Switz (those are the photos until the green light) and Berlin, Warberg, and Braunschweig, Germany (these are the rest of the photos). Alright, you guys ready? Warning: this will be a long blog post--don't feel compelled to read it all. Let's get started!
Day One: Took a train to Geneva in the morning and on the train Sandra and I met up (completely randomly) with Matt and Alex (both Americans who come from Sandra's and my university). So the four of us hung out for the day visiting Geneva and having fun. The right top photo is a famous fountain in lake Geneva and the top left photo is me just chilling at Lake Geneva. Haha!! How cool is that? The white building is an ancient church in Geneva--to give you an idea of how old Geneva is, the town was founded around this church in 400 B.C.(whhhaaaaa???--crazy old). This church was destroyed and re-built every single time and each time they added new things while keeping as much as the old as possible. So that tour of the old city took quite a few hours and afterwards we toured a bit more but decided to rent a paddle boat and go out on Lake Geneva! The picture of the rainbow and the other one of Sandra and I are when we were out on the paddle boat on Lake Geneva. That's still so funny to me when I type the word 'Geneva'. I mean, how insane is it that I get to visit these amazing places? Pretty great. The weather was gorgeous during my vacation. Alright, so of course, since I was in Switzerland, I tried some Swiss chocolate. I visited a tiny little Chocolatier tucked away by the lake and bought some sinfully delicious chocolate.
Pictures of Lake Geneva
I'm going to be honest with you, dear Internet, the picture on the left of the awesome looking statue-ish/thing? I know it's suppose to be a memory to some war person but that's it. I just really liked the style. But that's just it. The fact that I can walk around the city and stumble across stunning monuments like this? Awesome. Alright, so my day is quickly (too quickly) passing and the four of us--if you remember it's Sandra, Alex, Matt, and I in Geneva--decided to go to a stupid expense restaurant and order something. Well, we did just that. We went to a restaurant on the lake and can you guess what the cost of a bottle of wine was? 1,500 chf. Whattt??? So,
naturally, at this expensive restaurant I ordered a chocolate milkshake which cost 9chf. However, it was a wickedly yummy milkshake. The picture of me on the right with wine was at dinner. Because there were four of us (two girls and two guys) everyone kept thinking we were on a double date. Several people thought that so they kept offering us roses to buy. The photo below (the one of the mirror and post-it notes) was actually taken in a bathroom. It was an awesome bathroom
because everywhere people posted post-it notes and also there was a foosball table!! All of this IN A BATHROOM. Cool. The below photos (the one of the green light and of me with an apple) are super simple to explain. The green light was at a lighthouse in Geneva and the green light blinked out over Lake Geneva which reminded me of the Great Gatsby (any fans out there??). The photo of me with an apple was taken because it is at 4am. We had to wake up super early to take a train to catch a flight to Berlin.
Day Two: Thus begins day two of the trip! Since Sandra and I had to wake up at 4am, we tried to get some sleep the night before but to no avail. Thus, our day in Berlin was fueled by coffee. Let me just say, I had no clue how big Berlin is! I though that we would be able to walk around it. That fantasy was quickly popped. Due to the fact that Berlin is so big, we took the metro system. Because of the metro system, we got very lost for several hours. Haha, it didn't help that I don't speak or understand German! However, we managed to have a fabulous second day of vacation in Berlin. We visited the East Side Gallery (the Berlin Wall) and the picture of me to the right is of me at the Wall! The photo of me sitting at the river is also in Berlin. The East Side Gallery was simply stunning to visit. One of the coolest things (besides all the graffiti and the symbolism of the Wall itself) was that on the back side there was an exposition of all the walls that still exist today in the world which separate people solely for political reasons. Also, another really awesome thing that Berlin (and Germany
in general does) is that they have little bronze plates in the ground which represent the place where people (a lot of Jews) lived and were killed during WWII. I was extremely impressed how Germany really does embrace their history, in regards to WWII. So many nation ignore what happened yet Germany--while not overly dwelling on the horror--acknowledges and honors the memory of the victims. Alright, enough serious talk! While walking, we grew a bit tired as the coffee began to fade away so we took a break by a park beside the Berlin Wall. It seemed like a harmless idea but oh how wrong
I was. Why you ask? Let me explain. We sat down and a few minutes later a man sat
down beside us (seemingly harmless enough). A few minutes later, he kicks aside some leave and pulls out a bag a weed. Not a minute later he starts dealing weed with us sitting (I am not exaggerating) directly beside him. When he wasn't dealing weed, we actually struck up a conversation with him. I learned about his life (he was adopted by Canadian missionaries as a young child from Africa but eventually left and now has several ideas about religion in general). The funniest part was that when someone came up and bought pot from him, since we were talking to him, the drug-seekers actually came and shook our hand while purchasing their drugs. No one can say life doesn't have a sense of humor! I talked to this man for about 30 minutes about his life and religion and then Sandra and I left to finish exploring Berlin. Alright, the above photo of me pointing to the ground (I'm wearing my glasses) is a photo of me standing on the approximate place of TN! After Berlin, Sandra and I traveled to Warburg and a neighboring village had this map so obviously I had to stand on it and represent Tennessee! The above photo on the right (the one of the bottle with animals in it) is a funny story. So, after being awake for almost 24+ hours, we arrive in Warburg--which was our home-base while traveling in Germany. We stayed with a family in which Sandra knew one of the sons. Anywise, back to the story! We arrive at the host family's house (who live on the grounds of a castle!) and the dad insists on having us try a display of beer, sausages, bread, etc. ( the photo of the beer below are the ones we tried that night--so so so good! I learned a bit about the differences, the quality standard that exists in Germany, etc.). But then he shows us a bottle of alcohol from China that has a
dead snake, scorpion, and other assorted dead animals. Ewwwww. But cool. Well, eventually I get to sleep and shower.
Day Three: The next morning we're off--but not before a delicious breakfast which is depicted in the below photo! The family really treated us splendidly, if you don't believe me just ask yourself who else gets a beer tasting and a breakfast like this?? Georg (Sandra's German friend) showed us around that day. The coolest thing (hands down) from that day is getting to see the Iron Curtain.
I've posted a picture of the Iron Curtain below (it's the one with the white wall). Fun fact: did you know that the Iron wall had 60,000 land mines, 6,000 guard dogs, car barricades, several fences--not just this one--, a clean dirt path so that the soldiers could see any footprints, and so much more just to keep East and West Germany apart? It's scary how efficient people can be sometimes. The rest of the day we explored Braunschweig--which are what the photos below are of.
As you can see from these photos, Braunschweig is an absolutely beautiful town. The town itself is over 1,000+ years old. The streets were mainly cobble stones (of course the main streets were paved but that is it). One of the funniest things (and maybe this is a bit sadistic) but watching women walking on the cobble stone roads in high heels? Priceless. Also, something which I enjoyed was the different style of architecture. I had always heard that Germany was famous
for their houses and buildings that had wood built into the outside but hearing about it and seeing it are two very different things. Also, knowing that some of these building have been here for hundreds upon hundreds of years? It's breathtaking. The photo of the candles in the church is here because the walls and the ceiling of this church were painted in the ancient days. Talk about stunning. This church was one of the prettiest (I really shouldn't use the word pretty but I am at a loss of how to accurately describe this building) things I've seen. So, we're on the third day of vacation and I've already seen so much. But the adventuring continues and I keep seeing buildings that blow my mind. The picture of the locks was
something that I saw a lot in Germany. I have no clue what it represents (if it does symbolize anything even) but I kept seeing it so I figured that I should take a photo. So I get back to the family I'm staying with on this vacation (shout out to the Link family for letting me stay with them!--you all are amazingly generous!) and, after a delicious home cooked Germany dinner, the dad asks me what I want to drink tonight. Thinking that he was kidding, I laughed but no. He shortly brought out some wine and oh my gosh, let me tell you how good that white wine was. I am studying in France and I've visited Bordeaux (the nation and city of wine for crying out loud!) but that German wine was the best I have ever tasted. The dad offered me a bottle of it but I had to decline because I didn't have a checked bag to pack it in for the return flight. Let me tell you though, I was extremely
tempted to somehow buy a new suitcase just so I could take this wine back with me.
Day Four: I woke up a bit early and took a walk in Warburg. This area of Germany is big on harvesting sugar beets. So, the photo on the right of what looks like a mound of dirt is actually a heap of sugar beets waiting to be processed by a local factory. It's not really anything super fascinating but it's just interesting because it's a part of the German culture in Warburg and it's cool to see how proud they are of it. Well, day four was mostly exploring so I saw a lot of cool things but I won't bore you with explanations.
Day Five: Time to go back to Berlin! Sandra and I had decided to go back early to Berlin because there was so much we didn't get to see. Therefore, in order to maximize our time, we hopped on a bus tour and saw some wicked sites. Just to name a few: Checkpoint Charley, the Holocaust Memorial, and Victory Tower. Well, after the bus tour we had to attempt to navigate the terrifying monster also known as the Berlin metro system. We got on the metro and handled it pretty well if I do say so myself! We got to the Berlin airport and caught our 9 pm flight back to Geneva. Side note: the picture of me with the beer was at a cute local bar in Braunschweig on Halloween night. Alright! Time to move onto day six of the adventures!
Day Six: We arrive in Geneva safe and sound only to discover that the French trains were on strike on the weekend so we couldn't catch a train back to Chambery! We ended up sleeping in the Geneva airport and caught a ride out of the airport thanks to Blabla Car (which is basically an online site where you can organize hitching rides with random people and pay them a bit of money in return) the next day. Well folks, that was my vacation! So much happened that I don't think it's possible to explain it all in this blog post. Oh, real quick, let me explain the above right photo of the weird looking line: it's the degree and angle from Berlin to Paris and was given to Germany by the French government.
Well, I hope that this blog post (albeit long) wasn't mind numbingly dull. If so, it's not like I was forcing you to read it so why did you? But good job in finishing it and reward yourself with some chocolate! Okay, I have to go to school tomorrow so I need to be getting to bed! Good night world:)
