Tuesday our presentation went alright. It wasn't as long as the requirements said it should be, but we talked a lot during the discussion afterwards and I think the prof knew we knew what we were talking about.
The rest of the week was mostly classes. I didn't do much else. (Sorry I'm boring!)
Friday I slept in and skipped my class again (oops!) And then off to the mountain! The drive up was really pretty, we drove through small villages in the valleys and on the mountain. Snowboarding was an adventure... I couldn't really figure it out for a while. Apparently the problem ended up being that my bindings weren't tight enough so we tightened that up and it was much easier. I still fell on my butt a lot though. Ouch! I made it down 3 times without falling! I think I'll stick to skiing from now on...
Saturday I met Maia at the mall to check out this sushi place. It looked reasonably priced but ended up costing both of us at least 20€... Don't think we'll be going back there! They charge 3€ for the small bottle of water they bring you! I miss SushiLand... Then we went to the Médiathèque, which is really cool! We watched a guy watching Thriller for a few minutes and that was entertaining. They have lots of movies and music that you can sit down and watch or listen to while you're there, or you can buy a membership and check things out. (They have books too, of course). On the way home we got a few bottles of wine then invited some friends over to watch movies and drink wine. It really helped me forget how sore I was from the snowboarding!
Yesterday I met Konstantin to go to the train station because I needed to print out my ticket for tomorrow and he wanted to look at tickets for Paris today. Then we came back here so he could look online because he doesn't have internet at his apartment. We just goofed around on the internet and checked out music until he had to leave. I spent the night eating pasta and watching a French comedian, Gad Elmaleh (well, he's actually Moroccan). He's really hilarious! If you speak French...
Today I have to pack and get all my travelling plans in order, and tomorrow I leave bright and early to get to Oslo! I have to take the tram to the train station, then a train to catch a bus to catch my plane and then take a bus... eek! At least from there Warren will meet me and help me get to his place. I can't wait! I don't know how much I'll be on the internet but I'll try to keep you updated on my adventures.
Au revoir!
lundi 23 février 2009
lundi 16 février 2009
post-script
Well I'm not going to the climbing gym today or to the party on Friday, but that's fine, I'm going snowboarding instead! I'm really excited because I've never been before and it's really cheap!
I'll go to the gym over break (which starts next week!)
Hooray! :)
I'll go to the gym over break (which starts next week!)
Hooray! :)
L'Escalade
After my rock climbing class last Monday I decided to sign up for another class Thursday as well so I could climb at least twice a week. It's a nice break from my usual hum drum of classes.
Tuesday (or was it Wednesday?) night I went to a rock concert at Molodoi. None of my other friends ended up showing up, but I recognized a French guy, JP, from hanging out with Jessamy's friend, Lorrain, and his friends, so I hung out with him for a bit. The music was really loud and fun! If you want to look up the band, they have a Myspace. They're called Plus Guest.
Thursday was Jessamy's birthday! We went to a Moroccan couscous restaurant. It was delicious and filling :) Jessamy and I split the "duo Saharian" which had all different sorts of food to try, including kabobs, sausage, and other things I don't know how to describe... Afterwards we hung out at la Taverne Française with the French guys. They're pretty fun and say I speak the best french of the American group :)
Friday I slept in and skipped class (sh... it's not that big of a deal, I swear!) Then invited some people over in the evening since my host-mom was gone. We hung out and played "Trivial Pursuit: Passport au monde" with a natural French-speaker on each team so at least SOMEONE would understand what was going on :) We almost won! But not quite...
Saturday I went to Dubliner's to watch the rugby game. No one else from the group showed up, but it was okay, I like rugby enough to watch it alone :) France vs. Scotland and France won!!!! Hooray! Then I went home to get ready for the Opera, and my host-mom made rabbit for dinner so I had a little bit before I left. Not bad! As long as you don't think about what you're eating... and fluffy little bunny tails and floppy ears.... anyways...
The Opera was a recital of Nina Stemme, she sang Wagner and Rachmaninov and some other great artists that I don't remember.... but my favorite part was when she did an encore and sang two songs in French. I actually understood what she was saying! I hope I can go back to the Opera and maybe see something in French. I think it's so amazing what they can do with their voices!
Afterwards we went out for Donner Kebab, which is like the fast food here, except just that it's cheap and fast, it's not prepackaged and frozen like American fast food . It's just like hot sandwiches and wraps and stuff. Very yummy :)
Sunday Sam, Allison, and I went to le Salon des Vins, which is just like a GIANT room filled from end to end with wine vendors and you get to try whatever you want! We don't know much about wine or wine tasting, but we enjoyed ourselves well enough :) I found a delicious wine called Cent Visages, but when I came back to buy it they were all out, but I bought a different wine from the same people to bring to people back home. Hopefully next time I go wine-tasting I can bring an expert along with me to tell me what to do!
Not much exciting after that, I came home and worked on a presentation for tomorrow. Sam & I are presenting William James to our World Philosophy class, but it has to be 40 minutes long so it's kind of intimidating... We'll get through it though.
I had rock climbing class today, and am going to check out a gym with Ashton today. There's a party at this gym (it's called Roc n Stock) Friday and I want to go check it out and make sure I can get there okay before I try to go to the party Friday. Basically all I want to do these days is go climbing. I can't wait till it's nice outside and I can get on some real rocks!
It snowed today! But didn't stick at all. I was hoping it would snow enough for class to be cancelled but alas, that is not so. It was pretty though!
Well, I still have some more research to do to make this presentation 40 minutes long so I better get to it.
À bientôt!
Tuesday (or was it Wednesday?) night I went to a rock concert at Molodoi. None of my other friends ended up showing up, but I recognized a French guy, JP, from hanging out with Jessamy's friend, Lorrain, and his friends, so I hung out with him for a bit. The music was really loud and fun! If you want to look up the band, they have a Myspace. They're called Plus Guest.
Thursday was Jessamy's birthday! We went to a Moroccan couscous restaurant. It was delicious and filling :) Jessamy and I split the "duo Saharian" which had all different sorts of food to try, including kabobs, sausage, and other things I don't know how to describe... Afterwards we hung out at la Taverne Française with the French guys. They're pretty fun and say I speak the best french of the American group :)
Friday I slept in and skipped class (sh... it's not that big of a deal, I swear!) Then invited some people over in the evening since my host-mom was gone. We hung out and played "Trivial Pursuit: Passport au monde" with a natural French-speaker on each team so at least SOMEONE would understand what was going on :) We almost won! But not quite...
Saturday I went to Dubliner's to watch the rugby game. No one else from the group showed up, but it was okay, I like rugby enough to watch it alone :) France vs. Scotland and France won!!!! Hooray! Then I went home to get ready for the Opera, and my host-mom made rabbit for dinner so I had a little bit before I left. Not bad! As long as you don't think about what you're eating... and fluffy little bunny tails and floppy ears.... anyways...
The Opera was a recital of Nina Stemme, she sang Wagner and Rachmaninov and some other great artists that I don't remember.... but my favorite part was when she did an encore and sang two songs in French. I actually understood what she was saying! I hope I can go back to the Opera and maybe see something in French. I think it's so amazing what they can do with their voices!
Afterwards we went out for Donner Kebab, which is like the fast food here, except just that it's cheap and fast, it's not prepackaged and frozen like American fast food . It's just like hot sandwiches and wraps and stuff. Very yummy :)
Sunday Sam, Allison, and I went to le Salon des Vins, which is just like a GIANT room filled from end to end with wine vendors and you get to try whatever you want! We don't know much about wine or wine tasting, but we enjoyed ourselves well enough :) I found a delicious wine called Cent Visages, but when I came back to buy it they were all out, but I bought a different wine from the same people to bring to people back home. Hopefully next time I go wine-tasting I can bring an expert along with me to tell me what to do!
Not much exciting after that, I came home and worked on a presentation for tomorrow. Sam & I are presenting William James to our World Philosophy class, but it has to be 40 minutes long so it's kind of intimidating... We'll get through it though.
I had rock climbing class today, and am going to check out a gym with Ashton today. There's a party at this gym (it's called Roc n Stock) Friday and I want to go check it out and make sure I can get there okay before I try to go to the party Friday. Basically all I want to do these days is go climbing. I can't wait till it's nice outside and I can get on some real rocks!
It snowed today! But didn't stick at all. I was hoping it would snow enough for class to be cancelled but alas, that is not so. It was pretty though!
Well, I still have some more research to do to make this presentation 40 minutes long so I better get to it.
À bientôt!
mardi 10 février 2009
Trop des tartes flambées!
Last Thursday I went to a dégustation des tartes flambées (tasting of tartes flambées). Tartes flambées are kind of the Alsacian form of pizza, but don't call it pizza or they'll get pissed! It's on a thin bread with cheese and usually ham and onions, but there were also some with mushrooms. And for dessert we had chocolate tarte flambées or apples and cinnamon tarte flambées!
It was a University event so there were lots of people but I didn't know anyone when I got there. But I very soon made some new friends :) I met Hudson from Brazil, Angelica also from Brazil, Mateo from Colombia, Stella from China, and Konstantin from Germany. They were all very friendly and fun! What's interesting is that most exchange students speak English much better than French so we tried to keep up conversation in French but spoke English a lot. We got absolutely stuffed from tartes flambées and then walked around near the cathedral a bit. I hung out with Mateo and Konstantin the rest of the night.
The next day (Friday) I had class at 8:30. Ick. But that went by relatively quickly and then I had a meeting with Beth to make sure I was taking enough classes, etc. Everything was fine there and we just hung out and talked for a while about the abroad experience and random things like psychology and religion (she also majored in Psychology in college!) I met up with Mateo, Konstantin, Ashton, and Sean (Ashton and Sean are in my group, Ashton's from De Pauw, but still part of the "LC" group) for lunch and we had more tartes flambées! After that Mateo, Konstantin and I were a little tired of tartes flambées and we were joking that we couldn't eat anymore, at least for the rest of the day, haha!
Then when I got my home my host mom had gotten back, along with her boyfriend, Wolfgang, his son Yannis, and Yannis' girlfriend, Valentine. Before dinner we had champagne and guess what... more tartes flambées! I managed to eat a little bit more :)
Saturday evening I hung out with friends... I don't remember doing much else during the day. Saturday we went to the Dubliner's and watched some rugby games! That was really fun, except France lost to Ireland :( Then we went to Jessamy's French friend, Lorrain's, friend's house and hung out with some vrais français! We played some games and tried to converse in franglais :)
Sunday I slept in the met up with Konstantin to watch more rugby. It's a fun game to watch! Most of the LC group is getting together next Saturday since it's Valentine's Day and we're all alone and we'll probably watch a rugby game and go to the opera, how culturally diverse of us :) Anyways, after the game we just walked around the town until I had dinner. That was pretty much the end of my night.
Monday I had my first rock climbing class! Alla ( a girl from the LC group) was there too so it was nice to have someone I knew there. I went with the beginners and we learned how to tie ropes etc. and then we got to climb. The beginner routes were a little too easy and my balaying partner (the say assurer instead of balay in french) kept saying I was going too fast. But I signed up for another class on Thursday so I can get right to the challenging stuff next time! After class I got my opera ticket and exchanged some money that Dad & Barb sent me for my birthday. (pst, Dad, do you know if checks expire? Because depositing that check from here is super complicated and I was just going to wait till I get back to the States)
Anyways, today I got up at a heinous hour, went to class at 8 and had eight hours of classes... I almost fell asleep a couple times in one!
So that's where I am now. Dinner is soon :) I'm excited for another rock climbing class on Thursday and Jessamy's birthday! We're going to a Pizzeria.
Hope all is well with all of you! Sorry to those of you whose e-mails I haven't responded to, I've been busy trying to get my travelling plans in order and it's a little frustrating and time-consuming but I'll get to it when I have my plans all put together.
Bisous!
It was a University event so there were lots of people but I didn't know anyone when I got there. But I very soon made some new friends :) I met Hudson from Brazil, Angelica also from Brazil, Mateo from Colombia, Stella from China, and Konstantin from Germany. They were all very friendly and fun! What's interesting is that most exchange students speak English much better than French so we tried to keep up conversation in French but spoke English a lot. We got absolutely stuffed from tartes flambées and then walked around near the cathedral a bit. I hung out with Mateo and Konstantin the rest of the night.
The next day (Friday) I had class at 8:30. Ick. But that went by relatively quickly and then I had a meeting with Beth to make sure I was taking enough classes, etc. Everything was fine there and we just hung out and talked for a while about the abroad experience and random things like psychology and religion (she also majored in Psychology in college!) I met up with Mateo, Konstantin, Ashton, and Sean (Ashton and Sean are in my group, Ashton's from De Pauw, but still part of the "LC" group) for lunch and we had more tartes flambées! After that Mateo, Konstantin and I were a little tired of tartes flambées and we were joking that we couldn't eat anymore, at least for the rest of the day, haha!
Then when I got my home my host mom had gotten back, along with her boyfriend, Wolfgang, his son Yannis, and Yannis' girlfriend, Valentine. Before dinner we had champagne and guess what... more tartes flambées! I managed to eat a little bit more :)
Saturday evening I hung out with friends... I don't remember doing much else during the day. Saturday we went to the Dubliner's and watched some rugby games! That was really fun, except France lost to Ireland :( Then we went to Jessamy's French friend, Lorrain's, friend's house and hung out with some vrais français! We played some games and tried to converse in franglais :)
Sunday I slept in the met up with Konstantin to watch more rugby. It's a fun game to watch! Most of the LC group is getting together next Saturday since it's Valentine's Day and we're all alone and we'll probably watch a rugby game and go to the opera, how culturally diverse of us :) Anyways, after the game we just walked around the town until I had dinner. That was pretty much the end of my night.
Monday I had my first rock climbing class! Alla ( a girl from the LC group) was there too so it was nice to have someone I knew there. I went with the beginners and we learned how to tie ropes etc. and then we got to climb. The beginner routes were a little too easy and my balaying partner (the say assurer instead of balay in french) kept saying I was going too fast. But I signed up for another class on Thursday so I can get right to the challenging stuff next time! After class I got my opera ticket and exchanged some money that Dad & Barb sent me for my birthday. (pst, Dad, do you know if checks expire? Because depositing that check from here is super complicated and I was just going to wait till I get back to the States)
Anyways, today I got up at a heinous hour, went to class at 8 and had eight hours of classes... I almost fell asleep a couple times in one!
So that's where I am now. Dinner is soon :) I'm excited for another rock climbing class on Thursday and Jessamy's birthday! We're going to a Pizzeria.
Hope all is well with all of you! Sorry to those of you whose e-mails I haven't responded to, I've been busy trying to get my travelling plans in order and it's a little frustrating and time-consuming but I'll get to it when I have my plans all put together.
Bisous!
mercredi 4 février 2009
J'ai 21 ans!
Merci for all the birthday wishes! I had a great time :) My actually birthday I spent relaxing in bed because I stayed up late having fun the night before. I also got the most wonderful birthday package in the mail from home!
Yesterday I had eight hours of class... Though not too bad. Our leader, Beth, had a little birthday get-together for me at her apartment between classes. I still have some of the yummy cake in the fridge! I'm glad to be in class, learning new things and keeping my brain entertained.
Some of the students and professors were on strike again today. I believe it's about some reforms the government is making concerning University finances. There's a new law changing how the state pays for schooling an requiring schools to become more financially independent. Because of this the three universities in Strasbourg joined together to form one University of Strasbourg. For some reason people don't like this... I'll try to learn more about it.
So today some of my friends and I went to a Faculté class for the first time. When the teacher arrived she said that she's on strike but is required to be there so she said she was physically there but wouldn't be teaching so we could just talk about whatever we want. So we talked about the States for a while and since she's from Italy she told us about school in Italy and Canada since she taught there. It was very interesting and I can't wait to get the actual class started next week. It's the sociology of cities or something like that...
After we left I realized 5€ fell out of my pocket and I couldn't find it so I get upset about that... then the coffee machine at my money... but I tried to forget about all that because other than that I was having a really great day.
So I came home, watched a couple episodes of 24 and then made dinner! I made pasta and some chicken I started marinating last night. It was really good! Except that I marinated it in soy sauce and some other things so it was kind of salty but I just added sweet chili sauce and it was good :) I was happy to make up my own sauce without a recipe and have it turn out okay :)
I'm not quite sure when my host mom is getting back but I hope soon because I've run out of cooking ideas... at least anything I can make with what's left in the fridge.
I was thinking about the strikes lately and had some interesting ideas. Well the French love to go on strike and it happens all the time. I learned in my culture class they basically go on strike when the government tries to make any kind of reform. But if that's the case wouldn't it start to lose it's power? If the government knows everyone's going to strike no matter what then it won't matter because maybe they're just striking for the sake of striking? The government may just come to ignore it because it's meaningless. I don't know, just my thoughts and impressions, if any people that know a bit more about France and French culture have any responses please let me know :)
On another note I'm getting really excited about climbing! I did a lot of research last night and found some good climbing spots nearby, now I just have to figure out how to get there. I also found out where the gym where my class is so I can make it there next Monday. I hope I can make some new friends and get some great climbs in!
But now it's cake time :) A bientôt!
Yesterday I had eight hours of class... Though not too bad. Our leader, Beth, had a little birthday get-together for me at her apartment between classes. I still have some of the yummy cake in the fridge! I'm glad to be in class, learning new things and keeping my brain entertained.
Some of the students and professors were on strike again today. I believe it's about some reforms the government is making concerning University finances. There's a new law changing how the state pays for schooling an requiring schools to become more financially independent. Because of this the three universities in Strasbourg joined together to form one University of Strasbourg. For some reason people don't like this... I'll try to learn more about it.
So today some of my friends and I went to a Faculté class for the first time. When the teacher arrived she said that she's on strike but is required to be there so she said she was physically there but wouldn't be teaching so we could just talk about whatever we want. So we talked about the States for a while and since she's from Italy she told us about school in Italy and Canada since she taught there. It was very interesting and I can't wait to get the actual class started next week. It's the sociology of cities or something like that...
After we left I realized 5€ fell out of my pocket and I couldn't find it so I get upset about that... then the coffee machine at my money... but I tried to forget about all that because other than that I was having a really great day.
So I came home, watched a couple episodes of 24 and then made dinner! I made pasta and some chicken I started marinating last night. It was really good! Except that I marinated it in soy sauce and some other things so it was kind of salty but I just added sweet chili sauce and it was good :) I was happy to make up my own sauce without a recipe and have it turn out okay :)
I'm not quite sure when my host mom is getting back but I hope soon because I've run out of cooking ideas... at least anything I can make with what's left in the fridge.
I was thinking about the strikes lately and had some interesting ideas. Well the French love to go on strike and it happens all the time. I learned in my culture class they basically go on strike when the government tries to make any kind of reform. But if that's the case wouldn't it start to lose it's power? If the government knows everyone's going to strike no matter what then it won't matter because maybe they're just striking for the sake of striking? The government may just come to ignore it because it's meaningless. I don't know, just my thoughts and impressions, if any people that know a bit more about France and French culture have any responses please let me know :)
On another note I'm getting really excited about climbing! I did a lot of research last night and found some good climbing spots nearby, now I just have to figure out how to get there. I also found out where the gym where my class is so I can make it there next Monday. I hope I can make some new friends and get some great climbs in!
But now it's cake time :) A bientôt!
Inscription à :
Commentaires (Atom)
