It all began when Jetty missed the 6:15am train he needed to get on so he could get to Luxembourg City on Saturday morning. The one that he caught came in exactly five minutes after the chartered bus we were taking to the Loraine train station was supposed to leave. Did he have all of the tickets we needed?
of course.
Luckily, by acting like the desperate American tourists we were, we got the driver to hold the bus while Jetty and Chris (who had gone to meet him) sprinted through the station like madmen to where Zack and I were waiting.
And so began our Champagne adventures.
Reims is a beautiful city - small enough that i think we walked the whole thing in the time we spent there, but full of interesting places. We went and did the cathedral bit, and it really was gorgeous. The kings of France were crowned there and it's also the place where Joan of Arc recognized the dauphin even though he was in a disguise and there was an imposter in his place. We ended up going to mass on sunday too, in the Basilica of St. Remi. It was all in french, but hey, i have a pretty good idea of how it goes.
Of course we went on a champagne tour, complete with a free taste test of 3 different types of champagne which meant we were in heaven. The whole deal only cost 9 euro, and the process for making champagne is actually fascinating. there's so much work that goes into just one bottle, i'm a lot more appreciative of it now.
on saturday night, due to a closed indian restuarant that had a sign suggesting we try another indian restuarant that wasn't open, and a good conversation with the server at the restaurant we finally ended up at, we missed the cultural french comedy that we were planning to attend that evening. So, like any good americans, we bought a few six packs from the local grocery store and spent the night playing kings instead. good decision? absolutely.
i really loved traveling with the guys - i don't know when i last laughed so hard so often. they're not really good shopping buddies, but i guess they're actually helping me save money that way. haha. oh, and i learned how to play euker, which is pretty cool - zack also made the best king's rule ever, which is that everything you say must be ended with the words "in my butt". it's horribly immature, but honestly it can be hilarious. try it some time. you will laugh.
the crowing event of the weekend has to be the mile walk to the train station though. after one last drink at a portugese place down the street from our hostel, we trotted over the the 'K' bus that was supposed to take us to the train station. this was logical, as it had picked us up from the train station the day before.
so, the bus stops literally in the middle of nowhere, and we all look around and zack says "why are we even stopping here?". the bus driver then turns to us and goes "gare?" and we said yeah, we were going to the train station. he said that was our stop.
we asked where the train station was.
"There," he said, and pointed off into the impossibly flat, wide, expanse of distance that was nothing but a field where they were doing construction and (as we would later learn) a steep moat of muck around the train station.
to this statement, we simply responded "you've got to be kidding".
unfortunately, he wasn't.
so off we went, carrying bottles of champagne that we bought as gifts for people and dragging our luggage along.
honestly, it was hilarious. particularly when zack pulled out his knife and started going on about how someone was probably hiding in the bushes (he soon started singing the ABC song too). we were going to attempt to traverse the moat, and then go around the fence that was on the hill after that (it's a freaking train station people, do you really need a partial fence around it?) but it was too steep and deep to be able to get down and get back up again without serious issue.
at any rate, about 40 minutes later we finally arrived and were homeward bound.
all in all though, a fantastic weekend and a great adventure.
it's the things that go wrong that give you stories to tell.
love,
me
Monday, January 26, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
love, life and strasbourg
so in a fit of spontaneity i've decided to trot over to strasbourg, france this weekend. i had been planning to stay in town, but my new friend kristin found a hostel for 19 euro and honestly, i couldn't think of a single reason why not. we're leaving tomorrow morning and getting back sunday afternoon. i feel a definite need to take advantage of every opportunity i can.
after all, when in europe...
as such, my plans for the next few days are somewhat changed. i'm excited though - i think living and traveling here is a real chance to learn how to be independent and self reliant. i love my friends and family, but i also know that sometimes i depend on them too much. after all, you have to learn to stand on your own before you can truly offer all of yourself to be leaned on.
i don't know, i've been thinking a lot about relationships lately and i think it's really important to be fully functional and capable on your own before starting something. You don't have to be perfect of course, but if you depend too much on another person and they go away, you realize too late that you have no foundation separate from them - it's all so connected that you almost can't stand on your own.
in the words of marilyn monroe, "I have a whole superstructure and no foundation. but i'm working on the foundation."
sometimes you have to go back to square one and rebuild from there. make something a little stronger and a little more durable; something that you love. because cliche as it sounds, it really is important to love yourself, and to feel like you deserve love.
well that's my little relationship blather. as if i'm such an expert. ha.
hugs from luxembourg (and soon-to-be strasbourg).
love,
me
after all, when in europe...
as such, my plans for the next few days are somewhat changed. i'm excited though - i think living and traveling here is a real chance to learn how to be independent and self reliant. i love my friends and family, but i also know that sometimes i depend on them too much. after all, you have to learn to stand on your own before you can truly offer all of yourself to be leaned on.
i don't know, i've been thinking a lot about relationships lately and i think it's really important to be fully functional and capable on your own before starting something. You don't have to be perfect of course, but if you depend too much on another person and they go away, you realize too late that you have no foundation separate from them - it's all so connected that you almost can't stand on your own.
in the words of marilyn monroe, "I have a whole superstructure and no foundation. but i'm working on the foundation."
sometimes you have to go back to square one and rebuild from there. make something a little stronger and a little more durable; something that you love. because cliche as it sounds, it really is important to love yourself, and to feel like you deserve love.
well that's my little relationship blather. as if i'm such an expert. ha.
hugs from luxembourg (and soon-to-be strasbourg).
love,
me
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
dear home...
I miss a lot of things about you. i'm getting ready to go out into the city with my friends, but there are parts of you i wish i could take with me - there are a lot of parts of you that i have taken with me.
but i wish there was more snow so i could count the footprints, i wish sometimes that my stupid glove still smelled like beer. i wish there was someone to dance to miley cyrus with me even though we all know it probably isn't cool.
home isn't really the place, home is the people.
but i have new places to go, and new people to meet. and maybe it's all a little fast-paced, but sometimes you can't let yourself stop moving for too long. there needs to be a place to go. people to see, things to do, laughter to be had. otherwise you might just let that little bit of sadness drag you down.
love,
me
but i wish there was more snow so i could count the footprints, i wish sometimes that my stupid glove still smelled like beer. i wish there was someone to dance to miley cyrus with me even though we all know it probably isn't cool.
home isn't really the place, home is the people.
but i have new places to go, and new people to meet. and maybe it's all a little fast-paced, but sometimes you can't let yourself stop moving for too long. there needs to be a place to go. people to see, things to do, laughter to be had. otherwise you might just let that little bit of sadness drag you down.
love,
me
Monday, January 12, 2009
breathing
it's pretty much impossible to get any downtime around here. time for a deep, calming breath.
not that i would want to be sitting around - in fact i'm putting in extra effort to make sure i do as little of that as possible. although watching american dad and family guy in german on mtv is pretty freaking hilarious.
anywho, today was our first day of classes :-) my literary theory and cinema class seems fantastic, and we're watching love actually, paris je t'aime, amelie, the davinci code, and a lot of other movies that seem great. even my two hour french course doesn't seem like it will be too bad - the professor is really entertaining, and she's taking class a lot slower than my french 101 prof ever did. unfortunately, i did have an hour and a half long history class in a room with broken heat.
fun? not exactly. i'm sure at some point when i can actually feel my hands i'll have an easier time listening to the lecture.
i went out to dinner tonight with some people and made new friends. yay! haha. we went to a pizza place close to the chateau - me, chris, jetty, jen, cathleen, megan, zack, monica ... goodness there were a lot of us. i may be forgetting a few. i'm really excited to get to know everyone better though, i feel like i could really be close with them. i also ventured to try an irish coffee when we went out for gelato afterwards. funny thing about that...i thought it was just coffee with a hint of whiskey, but it's really more like "do you want some coffee with your whiskey?". i couldn't even finish it, as i wasn't looking for an early monday evening drunkfest, but it was quite good.
things have been a little stressful over the past couple days, that much is for sure. i've already spent one night in luxembourg city due to a somewhat entertaining mix-up with train platforms (mostly a result of my inability to read numbers), and getting everything organized as far as school and travel is concerned and keeping in touch with everyone at home is just... a lot. i'm working on it though.
i miss you all terribly, and i wish you were here.
love,
me
not that i would want to be sitting around - in fact i'm putting in extra effort to make sure i do as little of that as possible. although watching american dad and family guy in german on mtv is pretty freaking hilarious.
anywho, today was our first day of classes :-) my literary theory and cinema class seems fantastic, and we're watching love actually, paris je t'aime, amelie, the davinci code, and a lot of other movies that seem great. even my two hour french course doesn't seem like it will be too bad - the professor is really entertaining, and she's taking class a lot slower than my french 101 prof ever did. unfortunately, i did have an hour and a half long history class in a room with broken heat.
fun? not exactly. i'm sure at some point when i can actually feel my hands i'll have an easier time listening to the lecture.
i went out to dinner tonight with some people and made new friends. yay! haha. we went to a pizza place close to the chateau - me, chris, jetty, jen, cathleen, megan, zack, monica ... goodness there were a lot of us. i may be forgetting a few. i'm really excited to get to know everyone better though, i feel like i could really be close with them. i also ventured to try an irish coffee when we went out for gelato afterwards. funny thing about that...i thought it was just coffee with a hint of whiskey, but it's really more like "do you want some coffee with your whiskey?". i couldn't even finish it, as i wasn't looking for an early monday evening drunkfest, but it was quite good.
things have been a little stressful over the past couple days, that much is for sure. i've already spent one night in luxembourg city due to a somewhat entertaining mix-up with train platforms (mostly a result of my inability to read numbers), and getting everything organized as far as school and travel is concerned and keeping in touch with everyone at home is just... a lot. i'm working on it though.
i miss you all terribly, and i wish you were here.
love,
me
Friday, January 9, 2009
falling in love
I think i love Europe. Well, let me rephrase that - i know i love europe, i'm just loving it more every second. Everything here continues to be spectacular (if rather cold). Yesterday was the first day of orientation where we were introduced to the dean and given several shpiels about life at the chateau and in luxembourg. I have to say the dean is an adorable old man. He's from Germany originally, and he just gets so excited and passionate talking about the chateau that you feel like you're watching an 8 year old boy on christmas morning. it's very contagious, though he also has a habit of hitting the nearest table as hard as he can with his fist anytime someone gets the answer to a question right. it's quite startling, and i think it will take everyone a bit to get used to that. the food there is fantastic though, and i managed to successfully comandeer dinner for myself from our lunch of steak-kebabs, pease and carrots, french fries and fresh salad. yes, i was in heaven.
we went on a tour of lux city yesterday as well as the american and german WWII cemetaries - absolutely beautiful. it was interesting to see the differences in architecture and whatnot. after the tour some people took the bus back to differdange, but you could just stay in the city if you wanted so my friend chris and i voted on that. it's really great to have him here, i call him my own personal sunshine because he will, without fail, put me in a good mood. he can also keep me calm when i get a little manic/freaked out, which is fantastic, particularly because we're in a strange country 4,000 miles away from home.
it was a little strange, to be left alone in a foreign city by the people who are technically "in charge" of us. i really loved the way they just said 'well, have fun,' and went on their way. the independence is wonderful, if a little unnerving. chris and i found a cool place for dinner called "Banana's", where the walls were all covered in music memorabilia from bands like the beatles, the rolling stones and madonna. our waiter spoke no english so we successfully ordered in french, and i had my first (well, first two) luxembourg beers. DELICIOUS.
afterwards i found my way back to noertzange with no problem at all, which made me pretty proud. all chris had to do was direct me to the right bus and i was set from there to the train station, home, etc. i think i can get the hang of the train thing.
anywho, now here i sit in our apartment, watching the hills in french and realizing that no matter what language he's speaking, spencer pratt is still a douche. some things will never change.
tonight i'm meeting up with chris and a few other people in the city to check out the bars down in the grund where a lot of students hang out. i'm pretty excited about it - but then again, there isn't much i'm not excited about here.
love,
me
we went on a tour of lux city yesterday as well as the american and german WWII cemetaries - absolutely beautiful. it was interesting to see the differences in architecture and whatnot. after the tour some people took the bus back to differdange, but you could just stay in the city if you wanted so my friend chris and i voted on that. it's really great to have him here, i call him my own personal sunshine because he will, without fail, put me in a good mood. he can also keep me calm when i get a little manic/freaked out, which is fantastic, particularly because we're in a strange country 4,000 miles away from home.
it was a little strange, to be left alone in a foreign city by the people who are technically "in charge" of us. i really loved the way they just said 'well, have fun,' and went on their way. the independence is wonderful, if a little unnerving. chris and i found a cool place for dinner called "Banana's", where the walls were all covered in music memorabilia from bands like the beatles, the rolling stones and madonna. our waiter spoke no english so we successfully ordered in french, and i had my first (well, first two) luxembourg beers. DELICIOUS.
afterwards i found my way back to noertzange with no problem at all, which made me pretty proud. all chris had to do was direct me to the right bus and i was set from there to the train station, home, etc. i think i can get the hang of the train thing.
anywho, now here i sit in our apartment, watching the hills in french and realizing that no matter what language he's speaking, spencer pratt is still a douche. some things will never change.
tonight i'm meeting up with chris and a few other people in the city to check out the bars down in the grund where a lot of students hang out. i'm pretty excited about it - but then again, there isn't much i'm not excited about here.
love,
me
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
International traveler extraordinaire!
I am now an officially successful international traveler. Safe and cozy in my apartment in Noertzange (20 minutes from lux city, 20 from miami's chateau) i can now take a moment to thank God for nice european people who help pathetic-looking american girls with their luggage. In particular a french boy i had a wonderful conversation with on the train, sadly we bid each other adieu with no name exchange, and he disappeared into the crowd. i will never forget you wonderful french boy. *sigh*.
it's europe, things are supposed to be dramatic and tragic.
anywho, this apartment is nicer than i ever could have imagined. nicer than anything i've seen at miami at least, very homey :-) it's really like living in a house, except food magically appears for you in the fridge and there's a woman downstairs who will give you a shiatsu massage. fantastic. there's also a movie theatre nearby that plays films in english, which is nice because i still want to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Also, apparently Brussels is a hub for Hassidic Jews. There must have been at least 50 of them waiting to get their passports checked, and they all seemed to know each other. Quite a sight.
So all is well, Luxembourg is wonderful, and orientation starts tomorrow. I wish my besties were here, but aside from that i couldn't ask for more.
love,
me
it's europe, things are supposed to be dramatic and tragic.
anywho, this apartment is nicer than i ever could have imagined. nicer than anything i've seen at miami at least, very homey :-) it's really like living in a house, except food magically appears for you in the fridge and there's a woman downstairs who will give you a shiatsu massage. fantastic. there's also a movie theatre nearby that plays films in english, which is nice because i still want to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Also, apparently Brussels is a hub for Hassidic Jews. There must have been at least 50 of them waiting to get their passports checked, and they all seemed to know each other. Quite a sight.
So all is well, Luxembourg is wonderful, and orientation starts tomorrow. I wish my besties were here, but aside from that i couldn't ask for more.
love,
me
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Ready, set, go.
So, eight loads of laundry, two suitcases (weighing a total of 87 lbs.) one carry-on, too many converter chords to count and a ridiculously giant coat and i'm finally packed for Luxembourg. If I can just say ... oy. I leave in two days and it still doesn't seem like I'm actually going away. New country, new language, new experiences, new everything. On the one hand I absolutely can't wait to go - this is one of the big reasons I decided to go to Miami, and it's pretty much the chance of a lifetime. 4 months of studying abroad in a chateau while traveling the better part of a hemisphere. But on the other hand, I'm really going to miss my friends and my family. Can't everyone just come with me? That would be awesome.
At any rate, I've now started this blog so I can do my best to keep people updated on my travels and shenanigans. Because trust me, there will be shenanigans. 48 hours from now I'll be on a plane to Lux ... well, almost anyway. More like I'll be sitting in the Newark airport waiting to board said plane. But nonetheless! Prepare to expect the unexpected and find the impossible to be possible - time to take on Europe.
Love,
me
At any rate, I've now started this blog so I can do my best to keep people updated on my travels and shenanigans. Because trust me, there will be shenanigans. 48 hours from now I'll be on a plane to Lux ... well, almost anyway. More like I'll be sitting in the Newark airport waiting to board said plane. But nonetheless! Prepare to expect the unexpected and find the impossible to be possible - time to take on Europe.
Love,
me
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