Sunday, November 16, 2008
The Family!
My parents are arriving this Sunday at 6:05 AM for a week and a half in France and Germany! I am so lucky!
Geneva
So this past weekend I got to visit the center of the world. Geneva is home to the United Nations, and almost every other world organization. The Jette d’Eau (jet of water), every single watch company, and some of the best chocolate in the world.
It was the first time I had traveled alone on the trains. Nothing exciting happened, on the way there or on the way back (at least not yet, I am still on the train back home). I was going to visit a childhood friend who I was involved in 4-H with.
It was nice to be with someone who was having a similar experience as I was. It was great to share stories, and relate on a level that I really can’t do with my other friends here. We stayed up till 2:30 AM just talking about our experiences, and adventures.
The first day, we had brunch with a couple friends, we all made some great food and just hung out. After that I got a tour of the city, which is about the same sixe as Rennes is. I bought some chocolate for my host mother, got me some stickers, and of course took as many pictures as I possibly could. That night we made some food, talked, and then went out to a nice bar and had a beer with some more friends. It was so much more relaxed and sophisticated then Rennes will ever be. Rennes is a student city and therefore very dirty, aggressive, straight forward, and basically drunk; which I hate. So it was a nice change.
That night we stayed up and watched Grey’s Anatomy online, which is one of my favorite shows that I haven’t had enough time to keep up with while being in France.
And then the next morning walked around some more, and then I hoped on a train to head back home! Over all, a very fun, and relaxing weekend. And I feel so lucky to of had a chance to go and visit the city and the country!
It was the first time I had traveled alone on the trains. Nothing exciting happened, on the way there or on the way back (at least not yet, I am still on the train back home). I was going to visit a childhood friend who I was involved in 4-H with.
It was nice to be with someone who was having a similar experience as I was. It was great to share stories, and relate on a level that I really can’t do with my other friends here. We stayed up till 2:30 AM just talking about our experiences, and adventures.
The first day, we had brunch with a couple friends, we all made some great food and just hung out. After that I got a tour of the city, which is about the same sixe as Rennes is. I bought some chocolate for my host mother, got me some stickers, and of course took as many pictures as I possibly could. That night we made some food, talked, and then went out to a nice bar and had a beer with some more friends. It was so much more relaxed and sophisticated then Rennes will ever be. Rennes is a student city and therefore very dirty, aggressive, straight forward, and basically drunk; which I hate. So it was a nice change.
That night we stayed up and watched Grey’s Anatomy online, which is one of my favorite shows that I haven’t had enough time to keep up with while being in France.
And then the next morning walked around some more, and then I hoped on a train to head back home! Over all, a very fun, and relaxing weekend. And I feel so lucky to of had a chance to go and visit the city and the country!
Teaching
My teaching internship has been going very well recently, I was observed by the Director of my program today. At the end of the class that he observed, he seemed very impressed. I hope that he was, I work just as hard on my teaching plans as I do on my homework for my French classes.
All my students are extremely nice and seem to know a lot. I run two English Clubs, and all of those students are very good too, they love to come and hang out and watch movies. I observe and assist in a few other classes as well, so all goes well with the teaching.
I have to take notes on all of the classes that I teach, assist in, or observe in. And since my dad was interested in my notes, I created a blog with them. It is kind of just boring stuff, but if you are interested in taking a look at it, here is the link: http://franceteacher.blogspot.com/
All my students are extremely nice and seem to know a lot. I run two English Clubs, and all of those students are very good too, they love to come and hang out and watch movies. I observe and assist in a few other classes as well, so all goes well with the teaching.
I have to take notes on all of the classes that I teach, assist in, or observe in. And since my dad was interested in my notes, I created a blog with them. It is kind of just boring stuff, but if you are interested in taking a look at it, here is the link: http://franceteacher.blogspot.com/
Kobenhavn
So this past weekend was a four-day weekend here in France. And I had to amazing opportunity to go visit a friend of mine who is studying in Copenhagen, Denmark for the semester. I left Friday night at about 5 and arrived the next day around noon. We visited most of the city within the 3 days that I was there, which was wonderful. But the thing that I enjoyed the most was hanging out with her American, Danish, and Norwegian friends. We had some late nights playing games, hanging out, talking, and just having a great time.
These activites are things that my friends and I do at home with each other, and I haven’t been able to do that here in France. Late nights aren’t really a possibility for me since the bus to my suburb stops around 8:30 each night. So this type of bonding and relationship had been missing from my life, and I felt very lucky to have a taste of it while visiting.
Days before I had arrived, the entire town had set up for Christmas. All the stores windows had their displays all ready. The incredible department stores were decked out on all 4 floors with Christmas joy. And it all made me think of home and everything that I was missing. The tree lighting on the Common in Union, Thanksgiving with the family, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Nation Dog Show, all of the Christmas hype, the first snow, and the excitement that comes with this time of year. It makes me sad, but I also feel so lucky to be living in France and traveling around the continent.
When I got back from Copenhagen, I was talking with a friend of mine, and she said that the homesickness was hitting the entire group at this point. Everyone was a little sad that they wouldn’t be home for Thanksgiving, and family events around this time of year. Also this is when all of the college students head home for the Holidays.
It is hard, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, and I can’t wait to celebrate it.
These activites are things that my friends and I do at home with each other, and I haven’t been able to do that here in France. Late nights aren’t really a possibility for me since the bus to my suburb stops around 8:30 each night. So this type of bonding and relationship had been missing from my life, and I felt very lucky to have a taste of it while visiting.
Days before I had arrived, the entire town had set up for Christmas. All the stores windows had their displays all ready. The incredible department stores were decked out on all 4 floors with Christmas joy. And it all made me think of home and everything that I was missing. The tree lighting on the Common in Union, Thanksgiving with the family, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Nation Dog Show, all of the Christmas hype, the first snow, and the excitement that comes with this time of year. It makes me sad, but I also feel so lucky to be living in France and traveling around the continent.
When I got back from Copenhagen, I was talking with a friend of mine, and she said that the homesickness was hitting the entire group at this point. Everyone was a little sad that they wouldn’t be home for Thanksgiving, and family events around this time of year. Also this is when all of the college students head home for the Holidays.
It is hard, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, and I can’t wait to celebrate it.
Wednesdays
So the main course that I take at school is called Etude de la Langue (Study of the Languge for the non-French speakers). And since my university is like high school, where you go to the same classes with the same people all week, I have this class with the same people. We have this class 3 times a week, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Now Monday, the class is usually sleepy from the weekend, and not exactly in the swing of French. Tuesday the class is normal, we are attentive, but still a little timid. However, Wednesday is a totally different story.
We get a little crazy/restless. We seem to have had enough of the same class for the entire week and just want to break out of the shell. We get really excited and rowdy. Our teacher, Mme Paillette, just eats it up. We yell out answers, say silly things, and just have a great time.
By this point in the year, we know that Wednesday is coming. And we all know what happens on Wednesdays, and so when something weird or crazy happens, we all just look at each other and say “C’est mercridi!” (It’s Wednesday!).
We get a little crazy/restless. We seem to have had enough of the same class for the entire week and just want to break out of the shell. We get really excited and rowdy. Our teacher, Mme Paillette, just eats it up. We yell out answers, say silly things, and just have a great time.
By this point in the year, we know that Wednesday is coming. And we all know what happens on Wednesdays, and so when something weird or crazy happens, we all just look at each other and say “C’est mercridi!” (It’s Wednesday!).
VACATION!
Oh my goodness, it has been nearly a month since my last blog update! How the time flies while you gallivant through Europe! While I was gone, I visited 5 countries, 8 cities, and have been having an amazing time! So, my first vacation! I traveled to 4 countries (including France), with 3 girls from my program, Mary (Ohio), Karah (Indiana), Stephanie (New Hampshire). It started Saturday the 25th of October, when we met at the train station in Rennes. We train to Paris, and then took a night train to Munich. Spent the day hanging out in Munich, we had an amazing Bavarian Breakfast, consisting of beer, pretzels, and white veal sausages. We visited the Nymphenburg Palace in the afternoon. Overall, Munich was a great city; it was a little closed down since it was a Sunday.
The next morning we trained to Salzburg, home of my favorite movie, The Sound of Music. The city was one of the highlights for me, it is gently nestled into the alps, which surround the city on almost all sides. It was a great city to just walk around and hang out. The first day that we were there we checked into our swanky hotel (25 Euros a night, about $30, but it was a big deal because we got a PRIVATE room), and decided to look around the city for the day. We ate some lunch and then headed up to Nonnberg Abby, where the real Maria von Trapp spent some of her earlier days. We then decided to keep walking up, and we found the Salzburg Fortress. Which is the castle-looking thing that you see in ALL of the photos of Salzburg. It has bigger then we had expected, and we spent the entire afternoon gazing over the city, and onward to the Alps. It was probably one of the most beautiful things that I had seen in my life, just sitting there on a wall of the fortress, looking out onto what looking like the most powerful mountains in the world, the Alps.
That night, we went to a super market for dinner. We got some cheese, beer, bread, chocolate, oranges, milk, and some yogurt. It was really nice at this point, just to hang out in the room and relax a little, which we hadn’t had time to do yet. The next morning we got up bright and early so that we could us the ‘hop on, hop off’ tour in Salzburg. A hop on-hop off tour is basically a tour bus, but there are stops that you can get on and off all along the route. And since there are busses funning all day, you can just hop on the next bus that comes to the stop that you are at. This is not the kind of thing that I usually enjoying doing, but because there are a lot of attractions that are outside of Salzburg, it was the best option for us.
We went to the Stiegl Beer Factory; Stiegl is the beer of Salzburg. We visited the new museum, had a beer tasting, and even helped make a batch of Christmas Beer! It was a blast because there was NO ONE in any of the museum, and we just got to look around at our own pace, take lots of goofy pictures, and just have a good ole time. Plus, I picked up some Christmas presents there… After that we got to see the places where they filmed the Sound of Music, and a palace/garden that was beautiful. After a very cold afternoon, we went to a traditional Salzburg restaurant for dinner, where I had beer (no surprise) and an excellent sausage dish. It had 3 types of sausage and friend onions throughout; and of course for desert, a little apple strudel to top it all off.
We spent the night in Salzburg again, and then got on the train to Vienna the next morning. But before we left, I went and took lots of pictures at the garden where they had filmed most of the song Do-Re-Me in the Sound of Music. It was great to see all of the cool places that are in the movies, and I definetly will be going back to Salzburg some day.
When we arrived in Vienna, we checked into our hostel, and then decided to go downtown and check things out. That first day, we walked around in the Museum District, and visited the Royal Treasury of the Hapsburgs Empire. When we got out, it was dark outside, so we walked around downtown for about an hour and the decided to go find something to eat. We found a restaurant near our hostel and ate so…interesting… food there. We were all very tired after traveling all morning, and sort of crashed in the hotel room that night.
Before we went to bed, we all picked something that we wanted to do the next morning: Mary- Royal Apartments, Karah- Museum of Natural History, Stephanie- The Sissy Museum, and me- The Spanish Riding School, home of the Lippizaner Stallions. The next morning we got up bright and early, and we did the Apartments, the Sissy Museum, and the Spanish Riding School, all before lunch. Then we did the Museum of Natural History (MNH) in the afternoon, which was amazing. The MNH was HUGE, and really amazing because most of the animals there were at least 100 years old. The museum was founded in the late 1800’s (I think), and everything is SUPER old. That evening on the way to the train station we had a little adventure, and here’s how it goes.
We started out at the hostel with directions to the train station; it was really simple, just get on this S-Bahn (tram) and it would take us right there. We had allotted about an hour to get there, even though they said it would only take 15-20 minutes. So we walk to the tram station and get right on the tram that we need. It was a little odd because the tram didn’t start moving until about 10 minutes after we had boarded, but we did think anything of it. About 10 minutes into the journey, the tram suddenly comes to a screeching halt, and the driver immediately jumps out and runs towards the back of the tram. I thought that we had hit a person or an animal, and a minute later we feel the tram being moved backwards. At this point you can feel the tension in the tram because almost all of the people on the tram are trying to get to the train station. Another minute goes by and the driver gets back into the tram and says something in German over the speakers. Instantly that entire tram just deflates, like they had just been told the world was going to end. People are screaming, and then suddenly EVERYONE runs off of the tram and starts to walk up the street. Since we had NO idea what was going on, we resorted to ask if any one spoke English who could tell us what was going on. Luckily a woman was happy to help us, she said that the tram and gone onto the wrong track and that everyone was walking to the next stop to pick up the next tram. Of course at this point we had about 20 minutes to get to our train. We run to the next stop with all of the other passengers, and hop on the next tram. Luckily, we made it in time for the train. But if we had missed that train to Venice, we would not have been able to complete our trip because it would have messed up the train to Milan, and then the train to Nice as well.
So we make it onto the train, and are on our way to Venice where we will get another train to Milan, and then yet another to Nice. When we arrive in Venice it is 2:30 in the morning, and we have to change train stations, so we decide to take a taxi. When we get to Santa Lucia, we discover that it isn’t open yet, and won’t be open for another hour and a half. So we decided to plop ourselves down in front of the doors with some homeless people about 500 feet away from us. There was also a nice looking Italian woman who struck up conversation with us about 45 minutes into the wait. She didn’t speak English, but because French is so close to Italian we understood (for the most part), what she was saying. She told us about the homeless people around us who were yelling; she said that they were fighting about drugs… great! That made us fell REALLY safe. And then she told us about how stupid the train stations in Italy were because they don’t open until 4:30 in the morning. Needless to say, it was an experience, and by the end of it we were freezing and were VERY happy to get inside where it was a little bit warmer.
We got on our train at 7:30, and landed in Milan in time to grab a quick bite, and then catch our train to Nice. And after 24 hours of travel, we got to Nice, where it was dark, raining, cold, and generally not what we had been looking forward to. At that point we were tired, cold, wet, and hungry. And instantly said that we didn’t want to stay in Nice any longer then we had to. So we decided to change our tickets from Sunday afternoon, to Saturday evening. Which was perfect because we saved money and got back to Rennes at a reasonable hour on Sunday, instead of midnight, which was what our original train was.
Nice was abosolutely heaven on Saturday though. It was November 1st, 75 degrees, people swimming and tanning. I got ice cream for lunch at a place that I had been when I visited Nice in April. It seemed to be a nice reminder of home and my life back home. I took lots of pictures here, and just walked around in the warmth. It was a perfect end to a wonderful vacation.
The next morning we trained to Salzburg, home of my favorite movie, The Sound of Music. The city was one of the highlights for me, it is gently nestled into the alps, which surround the city on almost all sides. It was a great city to just walk around and hang out. The first day that we were there we checked into our swanky hotel (25 Euros a night, about $30, but it was a big deal because we got a PRIVATE room), and decided to look around the city for the day. We ate some lunch and then headed up to Nonnberg Abby, where the real Maria von Trapp spent some of her earlier days. We then decided to keep walking up, and we found the Salzburg Fortress. Which is the castle-looking thing that you see in ALL of the photos of Salzburg. It has bigger then we had expected, and we spent the entire afternoon gazing over the city, and onward to the Alps. It was probably one of the most beautiful things that I had seen in my life, just sitting there on a wall of the fortress, looking out onto what looking like the most powerful mountains in the world, the Alps.
That night, we went to a super market for dinner. We got some cheese, beer, bread, chocolate, oranges, milk, and some yogurt. It was really nice at this point, just to hang out in the room and relax a little, which we hadn’t had time to do yet. The next morning we got up bright and early so that we could us the ‘hop on, hop off’ tour in Salzburg. A hop on-hop off tour is basically a tour bus, but there are stops that you can get on and off all along the route. And since there are busses funning all day, you can just hop on the next bus that comes to the stop that you are at. This is not the kind of thing that I usually enjoying doing, but because there are a lot of attractions that are outside of Salzburg, it was the best option for us.
We went to the Stiegl Beer Factory; Stiegl is the beer of Salzburg. We visited the new museum, had a beer tasting, and even helped make a batch of Christmas Beer! It was a blast because there was NO ONE in any of the museum, and we just got to look around at our own pace, take lots of goofy pictures, and just have a good ole time. Plus, I picked up some Christmas presents there… After that we got to see the places where they filmed the Sound of Music, and a palace/garden that was beautiful. After a very cold afternoon, we went to a traditional Salzburg restaurant for dinner, where I had beer (no surprise) and an excellent sausage dish. It had 3 types of sausage and friend onions throughout; and of course for desert, a little apple strudel to top it all off.
We spent the night in Salzburg again, and then got on the train to Vienna the next morning. But before we left, I went and took lots of pictures at the garden where they had filmed most of the song Do-Re-Me in the Sound of Music. It was great to see all of the cool places that are in the movies, and I definetly will be going back to Salzburg some day.
When we arrived in Vienna, we checked into our hostel, and then decided to go downtown and check things out. That first day, we walked around in the Museum District, and visited the Royal Treasury of the Hapsburgs Empire. When we got out, it was dark outside, so we walked around downtown for about an hour and the decided to go find something to eat. We found a restaurant near our hostel and ate so…interesting… food there. We were all very tired after traveling all morning, and sort of crashed in the hotel room that night.
Before we went to bed, we all picked something that we wanted to do the next morning: Mary- Royal Apartments, Karah- Museum of Natural History, Stephanie- The Sissy Museum, and me- The Spanish Riding School, home of the Lippizaner Stallions. The next morning we got up bright and early, and we did the Apartments, the Sissy Museum, and the Spanish Riding School, all before lunch. Then we did the Museum of Natural History (MNH) in the afternoon, which was amazing. The MNH was HUGE, and really amazing because most of the animals there were at least 100 years old. The museum was founded in the late 1800’s (I think), and everything is SUPER old. That evening on the way to the train station we had a little adventure, and here’s how it goes.
We started out at the hostel with directions to the train station; it was really simple, just get on this S-Bahn (tram) and it would take us right there. We had allotted about an hour to get there, even though they said it would only take 15-20 minutes. So we walk to the tram station and get right on the tram that we need. It was a little odd because the tram didn’t start moving until about 10 minutes after we had boarded, but we did think anything of it. About 10 minutes into the journey, the tram suddenly comes to a screeching halt, and the driver immediately jumps out and runs towards the back of the tram. I thought that we had hit a person or an animal, and a minute later we feel the tram being moved backwards. At this point you can feel the tension in the tram because almost all of the people on the tram are trying to get to the train station. Another minute goes by and the driver gets back into the tram and says something in German over the speakers. Instantly that entire tram just deflates, like they had just been told the world was going to end. People are screaming, and then suddenly EVERYONE runs off of the tram and starts to walk up the street. Since we had NO idea what was going on, we resorted to ask if any one spoke English who could tell us what was going on. Luckily a woman was happy to help us, she said that the tram and gone onto the wrong track and that everyone was walking to the next stop to pick up the next tram. Of course at this point we had about 20 minutes to get to our train. We run to the next stop with all of the other passengers, and hop on the next tram. Luckily, we made it in time for the train. But if we had missed that train to Venice, we would not have been able to complete our trip because it would have messed up the train to Milan, and then the train to Nice as well.
So we make it onto the train, and are on our way to Venice where we will get another train to Milan, and then yet another to Nice. When we arrive in Venice it is 2:30 in the morning, and we have to change train stations, so we decide to take a taxi. When we get to Santa Lucia, we discover that it isn’t open yet, and won’t be open for another hour and a half. So we decided to plop ourselves down in front of the doors with some homeless people about 500 feet away from us. There was also a nice looking Italian woman who struck up conversation with us about 45 minutes into the wait. She didn’t speak English, but because French is so close to Italian we understood (for the most part), what she was saying. She told us about the homeless people around us who were yelling; she said that they were fighting about drugs… great! That made us fell REALLY safe. And then she told us about how stupid the train stations in Italy were because they don’t open until 4:30 in the morning. Needless to say, it was an experience, and by the end of it we were freezing and were VERY happy to get inside where it was a little bit warmer.
We got on our train at 7:30, and landed in Milan in time to grab a quick bite, and then catch our train to Nice. And after 24 hours of travel, we got to Nice, where it was dark, raining, cold, and generally not what we had been looking forward to. At that point we were tired, cold, wet, and hungry. And instantly said that we didn’t want to stay in Nice any longer then we had to. So we decided to change our tickets from Sunday afternoon, to Saturday evening. Which was perfect because we saved money and got back to Rennes at a reasonable hour on Sunday, instead of midnight, which was what our original train was.
Nice was abosolutely heaven on Saturday though. It was November 1st, 75 degrees, people swimming and tanning. I got ice cream for lunch at a place that I had been when I visited Nice in April. It seemed to be a nice reminder of home and my life back home. I took lots of pictures here, and just walked around in the warmth. It was a perfect end to a wonderful vacation.
Vacation Plans
10/16/08
So, as some of you already know, I have a week vacation starting Saturday the 25th. A friend of mine and I worked for hours to plan a perfect trip. Only to discover, that there might be a chance that we wouldn’t get to do any of it because of limited space for Eurail Pass holders (which is what I am). Devistated, we quickly ran to the ticket both to see what we could salvage of our perfectly planned vacation. And for the most part, we were successful in getting what we wanted. Not exactly but close enough.
So the final itinerary is as follows, Munich→ Salzburg → Vienna → Nice, with a short 2 hour stop in Venice. I have my backpack, my tickets, hostel reservations are on there way, and wonderful people to travel with. And when I get back, I will share all of my wonderful stories from all my wonderful adventures, running around Europe.
So, as some of you already know, I have a week vacation starting Saturday the 25th. A friend of mine and I worked for hours to plan a perfect trip. Only to discover, that there might be a chance that we wouldn’t get to do any of it because of limited space for Eurail Pass holders (which is what I am). Devistated, we quickly ran to the ticket both to see what we could salvage of our perfectly planned vacation. And for the most part, we were successful in getting what we wanted. Not exactly but close enough.
So the final itinerary is as follows, Munich→ Salzburg → Vienna → Nice, with a short 2 hour stop in Venice. I have my backpack, my tickets, hostel reservations are on there way, and wonderful people to travel with. And when I get back, I will share all of my wonderful stories from all my wonderful adventures, running around Europe.
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