ich bin blair

Pictures from the Turkish Coast and Greek Isles

2010-07-12T20:56:00.003+02:00

Click here for pictures from the cruise along the Turkish Coast and to some Greek Isles.

Marian in Montpellier

2010-05-13T23:15:00.001+02:00

Marian made it to Montpellier after a lonnnnng day of travel! After flying out of RDU to LGA, having to take a cab from LGA to JFK, and a two hour delay at JFK, she landed safely in Paris! I was sitting in a cafe around 11:30 studying for an exam I had at 3:45 when my cell phone rang and I answered to hear Marian say “Blair?” However, she apparently couldn’t hear me, so she hung up. I called the payphone back and she answered with a hesitant “…hellooo?” but again, couldn’t hear me. So I took that one call as a message that she was in France, had gotten everything straight, and was going to take the train at 11:46. So, I arranged for two of my friends to meet her at the train station while I was in my exam, and I met them at a cafe not long after.

Marian was a champ! She managed to stay awake for coffee in the afternoon, an abridged tour of Montpellier by dusk, and a rendez-vous with a few friends that night. We both were out like rocks by midnight, and woke up to pretty nice weather in Montpellier this morning, despite what the forecast said! I, being the great gastronomic host, gathered a bag of freshly-baked pastries from a bakery nearby to help draw Marian out of bed this morning. We got English audio guides for a tour of Montpellier, and spent the afternoon following the map and pushing the buttons to hear historical info on all the places around Montpellier. It was pretty cool to hear all that background on the places that I’ve been passing by every day!

Tonight we’ve just been hanging out, and I’ve been working on a presentation that I have to do tomorrow – my LAST assignment due in France! After that, it’s Greece here we come!

backpacking dog

courthouse

The Final Days

2010-05-10T11:23:00.000+02:00

In case I don’t get a chance to blog again between now and when I’m back in North Carolina, here is a list of what I’ll be up to. I promise to take lots of pictures once I get past the exams!

Monday May 10 – French Cinema Oral Exam

Tuesday, May 11 – Oral Expression Oral Exam

Wednesday, May 12 – German Written Exam, MARIAN ARRIVES! : )

Thursday, May 13 – National Holiday in France, showing Marian around Montpellier

Friday May 14, – Presentation of Methodology Research

Saturday May 15, – fly from Marseille, France to Bodrum, Turkey for a cruise of the Turkish Coast and Greek Islands aboard a schooner

Sunday, May 16

Day 2: Bodrum - Kos (1h30 navigation)
After the usual formalities (customs and maritime), sail to the island of Kos in Greece. Lunch and free time to discover the charming streets of the old city, the castle of the knights, the village and Platani Asklepieion, regarded as the first hospital in the ancient world. Dinner and overnight in port.

Monday, May 17

Day 3: Kos - Symi (5h30 navigation)

Head towards the cove Aimilianou, located north of the island of Symi. Lunch and free time for swimming. In the afternoon arrival at the port of Symi, free time to enjoy the magic of this picturesque village in the stunning graphics. Dinner and overnight in port.Tuesday, May 18

Day 4: Symi - Rhodes (3 hours of navigation)
Early departure and navigation to the island of Rhodes, famous for being one of the most beautiful islands in the Mediterranean. Free time to discover the port or stroll through the charming old city so special. Possibility to visit the palace of the great masters or hike across the island to the charming town of Lindos, famous for its ancient acropolis dedicated to the goddess Athena. Dinner and overnight in port.

Wednesday, May 19

Day 5: Island of Rhodes - Datca - Palamut - Cnidus (4h navigation)
Early departure to the small port of Datca (usual formalities). Lunch and free time for swimming. Navigation up the creek Palamut (or similar). Continue until at ancient Cnidus (Knidos), located at the tip of the Datca peninsula. Visit the temples of Demeter, Aphrodite and the ruins of what was once a mighty port city. Dinner and overnight in the cove.

Thursday, May 20

Day 6: Cnidus - Karaada - Ciftlik (4h navigation)
Navigating to the crack Ciftlik via Karaada (the black island) and traversed the Bay of Gokova. Lunch. Free time or explore the surrounding villages. Dinner and overnight in the cove.

Friday, May 21

Day 7: Ciftlik - Tavsanburnu - Bodrum (1h30 navigation)

Check up Tavsanburnu. Lunch and free time for swimming or rest. Dinner and overnight in a cove or headland back to Bodrum, the ancient Halikarnas, late in the day.Saturday, May 22 – fly back to Montpellier

Sunday, May 23 – early train to Paris, see the city

Monday, May 24 – fly home!

Last Sunday in Montpellier

2010-05-09T22:39:00.001+02:00

Time FLIES! Today was my last Sunday in Montpellier… next Sunday I will be on a schooner somewhere in the Greek Islands, then the Sunday after that I’ll be in Paris, then the Sunday after that I’ll be back in North Carolina!

So… I went today with Mme Cesari to a really cool medieval town founded by Louis IX. The name of the town is Aigues-Mortes, which literally translated into dead (or stagnant) waters. What is special about Aigues-Mortes is that it had a medieval city wall but was never attacked, so the walls are in extremely great condition.

The town was really cool! It was right on the water, and inside the city wall reminded me of the village from the beginning of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast for some reason.

We climbed up the tower and walked around on the walls some before we went to visit the church, Notre Dame des Sablons, before heading out of the city to the nearby winery, Les Caves de Listel, which grow all of their vines in sand. What was really cool about this place was that Mme Cesari’s grandfather used to be the guy in charge of everything, kind of like the wine engineer. I don’t know what that word is, for the person who tells what to do with which vines and everything! Anyway, he was the “wine engineer” there in the 20s and 30s, so we got to see the house where her mom grew up. That was pretty cool!

Here are some pictures from the day:

Spring Break on the Costa Brava

2010-04-28T14:53:00.002+02:00

Well, two glorious weeks of spring break have come and gone, and I am now officially halfway through the second to last week of classes. CRAZY! Time flies.
Spring break was great… we took the bus from Montpellier to Girona, Spain, then a bus from Girona to Platja d’Aro, and then an even more local bus a few stops down the road to our campground. The campground was great… we had a mobile home fully equipped with all the cooking equipment you could need, a nice little outdoor table with chairs and an umbrella, and a small grill. There were also ping pong tables, tennis courts, a decent grocery store, a restaurant, and last but not least: a beautiful private beach. Needless to say, we didn’t leave the campground the whole time! It was such a fun, relaxing week… and the weather stayed pretty nice! It was never warm enough for me to brave the Mediterranean, but I enjoyed sitting out on the beach enjoying the sun!

Well, I better get back to work. School is REALLY hectic right now, but I’ve got visits from two best friends from home and the cruise of the Turkish Coast and Greek Isles coming up on May 15th to keep me going!

Sète

2010-04-12T12:19:00.003+02:00

Well, it’s officially spring break here in Montpellier! I’m currently sitting inside… trying to finish up a geography dissertation before I head off to Spain for a week, but I’m already enjoying the break in Montpellier! The weather has been PERFECT for the past two days, so it has been really enjoyable just to wander around, check out markets, sit out at cafes… basically the quintessential activities of life in Southern France!

Yesterday I went with Mme Cesari, the Japanese girl who rents an apartment in this building, and her Japanese friend to Sète, a port town and resort about 40km south of Montpellier.

It was so nice! Sète is actually known as the “Venice of France,” but I’m not really sure that the person who made that comparison had actually been to Venice! Granted, Sète is made up of a bunch of canals, and locals do use boats to get around, but that’s about all that is similar. It was much more rustic than Venice. It has more of a fisherman village feel than grand city!

We packed a picnic, drove to Sète with the windows down, and ate our sandwiches sitting on the steps of a lighthouse. Then, we drove up Mont St. Claire, which is right in the middle of the town. We stopped at a really beautiful cemetery on the way up, which overlooks the water and has the tomb of Paul Valery, the guy who the university in Montpellier is named after. Most of the graves have porcelain flowers and wreaths on them. The porcelain wreaths are meant to symbolize life savers, since most of the people buried there were fishermen, and the town is so closely related to the sea.

After the cemetery, we went all the way up to the top, were there is a small chapel with the original paintings still on the walls, and a great view of the whole port. It was a really nice day, and there were sailboats out everywhere.

Finally, on our way out of town we stopped at the museum for George Brassens, a famous French singer and songwriter who sang in the “typical” style of French songs. Even though I wasn’t necessarily a huge George Brassens fan, the museum was really cool… it’s really designed well to make you experience his music and his poems. I would recommend it to anyone visiting Sète!

what Mme Cesari referred to as “la mort” of all the tuna in the Mediterranean

where we had lunch… (me wearing Mme Cesari’s old sunglasses that we found in the glove compartment)

view from the top of Mont St. Claire

inside the chapel

Well, I’ll be headed down to the Costa Brava in Spain on Thursday, so I’ll have pictures from there when I return!

Villa Loupian

2010-04-03T19:48:00.002+02:00

Greetings after a busy week! I hope everybody had a fun April Fool’s

Today is a cloudy and overcast Saturday in Montpellier (who knew it would be almost 90 degrees in NC while in the upper 50s on the Mediterranean coast?!?!). Since the weather isn’t the best for wandering around like most French people do on Saturdays, Madame Cesari and I went to the archeological site of a Gallo-Roman Villa out in the country between Montpellier and Béziers. It was really cool… the main attraction is a building full of mosaics that used to decorate the floors of the villa. The artists who made the mosaics were two “teams” of artists from Aquitaine and Syria, so there was an interesting mix of designs.

There were also a lot of pots and some jewelry, all with the same set of initials on them, which were the initials of the occupant of the villa. The pottery and stuff was actually produced on site… they made everything from pottery to roof tiles.

We stopped off in the nearby fishing village of Bouzigues, which is right on the coast. You can see the village of Sète right across a waterway full of structures used to harvest oysters and mussels (I’m sure there’s a better term for this… I just don’t know it!). It was overcast and windy, but Bouzigues was really charming! The road was just lined with restaurants all serving fresh mussels and oysters.

Here are some pictures from the day:

the building that covers the site

Mosaics. They actually are made out of squares of different colored/tinted clays… not painted.

Loupain on the map

looking across the water at Sète (no Great Danes allowed?)

Bouzigues

This coming week is the last week of class before two weeks of spring break! Hooray! I will be headed down to the Costa Brava in Spain to stay in “a bungalow” (aka… mobile home) with a group of people. It should be really fun, and relaxing too! However… before I can even think about spring break I have a film analysis due in my French Cinema class, a presentation on the modern-day marketing of Mozart in my German class, an hour-long presentation on French news articles, my FINAL written exam in my Oral Expressions class, and the usual pile of homework in my Methodology class. Plus, I want to finish my take-home geography final before break begins, because it’s due the Monday after break and I don’t want to have to be thinking about it on the beach in Spain! So… I might disappear for a while, but I’ll be sure to post before I head off to España!

Happy Easter!

What to do when you miss the train?

2010-03-28T16:38:00.002+02:00

…pas de souci! Enjoy your Sunday afternoon like any good Frenchman would!

I was planning to go explore the port town of Sète this afternoon, but missed the train by about two minutes. So… in the true style of southern France that is starting to grow on me… I just got a magazine, a coffee, and a macaron au chocolat and enjoyed the sunny afternoon at a sidewalk cafe instead. : )

Saturday in Montpellier

2010-03-27T14:27:00.002+01:00

It’s really windy here in Montpellier today. I’m sitting at my desk where I can see out into the courtyard of the building and dirt and leaves and debris are being whipped around like crazy! I had plans to go to the beach today with a few people from class but I’m pretty sure it would be kind of miserable with this much wind. Maybe tomorrow will be calmer…

I have been pretty busy with school and the daily task of living it up Southern-France style. : ) The weather here has been getting nice, which means it’s “strike season.” Apparently, as soon as the weather gets nice, the French decide to take to the streets. Professors at the university urge students to go on strike so that everyone has a holiday, but the teachers still get paid! There have been tons of marches and demonstrations… usually just for the sake of striking. The concept of striking here in France is extremely different from the United States. The “right to strike” here is just a given… striking really isn’t a big deal, it’s almost just part of what you do. Often people strike just to strike, without specific goals that they hope to accomplish. Monday was a “national strike day,” which basically means everything was shut down. Friday was like that too. People in our group who usually take the bus or tram to get into the center of Montpellier or out to the university have been doing a lot of walking! And my usual volunteer spot at a local high school was cancelled on Monday because they weren’t sure if many teachers or students were going to show up. It’s pretty interesting… and a pretty different concept for Americans to think about.

Speaking of that kind of thing… with it being “strike season,” it is also just generally “activist season.” Let me tell you one thing – if you ever come to Montpellier, you will never, ever be in a shortage of glossy paper for the rest of your life. EVERYBODY here has a flyer to hand out… and they are everywhere. My advice? Take the first flyer someone tries to hand you and keep it in your hand. That is much less tiring than declining fliers for the rest of your walk!

In other news, Mme Cesari is out of town at the moment, and I managed to lock myself out of the house on Thursday! As soon as I shut the door I realized I had left my keys sitting on my desk, so I sent Mme Cesari a text message to ask which neighbor had the extra set of keys. It took until almost time for me to get home to coordinate everything, but luckily our neighbors on the floor above let me into the building and unlocked the door for me when I got home that evening. I was afraid I was about to have to get a little monkey and start living on the streets in Montpellier until she got back!

Two interesting things that I noticed in the past week that I haven’t ever seen before:

1- The giant grocery store here, Casino, has digital price tags. Watch out, WalMart! Every hook in the store had a price tag with a digital display, so that they can just change prices electronically rather than going around and putting on new stickers or putting up new signs. It was pretty neat, but surprising that the land of the local market would have stores that seem to be more on top of the mega retailer thing than Mr. Walton himself!

2 – A girl stopped me while I was jogging to ask if I had a lighter. Only in France!

Well, I think I’m going to go out an do a few things before the wind whips Montpellier into a weekend tizzy! Maybe I’ll make it to the beach tomorrow and post some pictures!

Oh, also… the clocks change here tomorrow. For the past two weeks, France and North Carolina have only been five hours apart, but we’re about to go into daylight savings time, so it will be back at a 6 hour difference.

Avignon

2010-03-17T13:38:00.001+01:00

This past Saturday I went to Avignon with Mme Cesari, which is about an hour by car from Montpellier. Avignon is right on the Rhone river and has quite a history. It’s surrounded by a big medieval city wall that seemed to be completely still intact. It was really cool!

During the 14th century era of “Babylonian Captivity of the Church,” the papacy was actually in Avignon and not Rome. Thus, Avignon is a pretty big deal as far as Catholicism goes. There is a huge palace there that was the Pope’s, called (naturally) The Palais du Papes. I got an audio tour of the palace and walked around for over an hour… I kept trying to imagine what it must have been like back in the 1300s! I had trouble getting any good pictures that captured how huge and grandiose this palace was! You’ll have to go see it for yourself! But in the meantime, here are some pictures from the day:

the main street, right after walking into a gate in the city wall

the Palace of the Pope and the attached chapel

inside the courtyard of the palace

view of Avignon from gardens around the palace

Pont St. Bénezet

view of L'abbaye Saint-André across the river

the wall around Avignon

More Pictures of the Snow

2010-03-09T11:57:00.001+01:00

Here are a few more pictures I took of the snow the next morning after it started melting. Apparently, Montpellier just missed a big blizzard that passed all around us… one of the girls in our group got snowed in in Barcelona. They closed the border between Spain and France and shut down all transportation because of all the snow! Here's a BBC clip about the blizzards.

The snow was nice to for a day or too, but I’m really enjoying the sunny, warmer weather that we’ve been having this past week. If it stays nice, I might just have to venture out to the beach over the weekend!

Snow in Montpellier... in March!?!

2010-03-07T19:38:00.002+01:00

It's snowing tonight in Montpellier... I can't believe it!! As soon as it starts getting warmer in NC, it starts snowing on my Mediterranean Semester over here!

The Lion and the Lunch

2010-03-05T15:54:00.002+01:00

This morning, as I was making my lunch and getting ready to head out for class, Madame Cesari was just returning from running some errands and was getting ready to cook lunch. As she was chopping up some carrots and putting them in a pot she said (in French) "It's nice and sunny outside but it's actually quite cold! Make sure you wear something warm." then the conversation went like this...

Me: Okay, thanks. I saw on the forecast that it was going to be windy.
Mme Cesari: Yeah, it has been really windy the past few days!
Me: We have the saying in America that March comes in like a lion and goes out like a... I don't know the name of the animal. It's the small thing that goes "baaah".
Mme Cesari: A goat?
Me: No... The other animal like a goat. It makes the material for sweaters.
Mme Cesari: Ooh, "le mouton!"
Me: Oui... Mais le petit. Le bébé.
Mme Cesari: L'agneau! Un petit mouton s'appelle un agneau!
Me: Right, so March comes in like a lion and goes out like "un agneau."
Mme Cesari: Oh! That's what I'm about to cook right now!

Bon apetit!

Florence

2010-02-27T20:51:00.001+01:00

the cathedral

inside the cathedral

Palazzo Veccio

sculptures in the Piazza della Signoria

the Ponte Vecchio

Venice is definitely sinking

2010-02-27T20:24:00.001+01:00

view from train between Cinque Terre and Venice

carnival masks in VeniceVenice at night

the grand canal

a sidewalk, underwater

a trash boat

a side canal

St. Mark’s square early in the morning, foggy and flooded

St. Mark’s Basilica with water coming in

mosaics on St. Mark’s Basilica

scaffolding, as usual

gondoliers

looking across the Grand Canal

another side canal

view from museum

in the train station

Exploring Cinque Terre

2010-02-27T17:12:00.002+01:00

With about an hour to kill until breakfast on Monday morning, we walked up the road to the hills and paths up over the water and marina to check Riomagg out in the morning. It was beautiful and peaceful, for sure. The only people out were people that you could tell had the same routines every morning, like an old man taking a leisurely stroll to start his day, or another sleepy-eyed Italian walking their dog. I can’t imagine what it would be like to live your daily life in such a beautiful setting! These people definitely seem to appreciate it, and have slowed down the pace of their lives (and productivity) in order to build in more time just to relax and enjoy the surroundings. Don’t expect to get much done from around noon-2:00 or 3:00 in Italy. It shuts down for long lunches followed by naps.

Anyway, we went to breakfast at the hostel right at 8:00am and were happy to tell the lady working it that “si” we would love a caffè latte. The table was set with freshly sliced bread, packets of crisp crackers/ “biscuits”, a croissant with crème, and a packaged pastry very similar to a Ho-Ho. There was also honey, an Italian version of Nutella and a bunch of jellies, plus some fresh juice concoction. Not a bad way to start your day off, if you ask me!

There had apparently been a bad land/rock slide in the area, because every part of the trail was closed off except the segment between Riomaggiore and Manarola. So after breakfast, we took the local train the 8 or 9 minute ride to Monterosso, the northernmost village of the five. We didn’t stay there very long at all, because Moterosso turned out to be the most modern and least picturesque of the five villages. Aside from a thin strip of beach, Monterosso didn’t have much to attract tourists for that long other than more restaurants and modern convinces than the other four villages.

Next up, heading back south down the strip of villages was Vernazza, which ended up being my favorite after Riomaggiore. We pulled into the train station in Vernazza, walked down a little curved hill, and ended up at a square right on the water, with a church on one side, a bunch of little shops, and the water and a walkway on the other. At the end of the walkway stretching out to the water was a pizzeria that served up the best meal of the whole trip. Fresh pizza margharetia and the best pesto bruschetta I have ever, and probably will ever, taste. We were the only people in there aside from a man who appeared to be the owner/manager and the cook in the kitchen. The owner guy was quite a character, and danced around and sang while he cleaned and did stuff around the restaurant.

Immensely satisfied after that lunch, we walked down the pier sticking out over the water and enjoyed the sun before walking back into town a little. We climbed up a ridiculous number of stairs in order to get to the castello, which overlooked the town and water, before realizing it was closed until tourist season was in full swing. We grabbed a delicious cup of gelato (which was caramel and coffee flavored with hazelnuts) on our way back to the train station to head to Corniglia.

Corniglia is by far the most remote and rustic of the five villages, which probably has a lot to do with the almost 400 steps you have to climb to even get into the village. The train dropped us off in what seemed like a train station in the middle of nowhere, and just as it pulled off we realized the next train wasn’t coming for another hour, and Corniglia was at the top of those stairs. So, like any trusty and able-bodied tourists, we huffed and puffed our way up the stairs and then up through the village, up some more stairs, and onto the platform around the highest point – a church and a tower. The view was definitely worth it, so we enjoyed that for approximately nine and a half minutes before hoofing it back down to the train station in order to catch the train back to Riomagg.

After returning to Riomaggiore, we climbed up to part of the walkway along the cliffs to enjoy the afternoon the way the locals seem to do it – by just sitting. We sat there long enough to see a few ships and a sail boat way out in the water, as well as some storms out over the ocean.

Around six, we decided to do dinner the true Italian way: three hours long with antipasto, pasta, and a secondo piatto of calamari, after which we unfortunately did not have any room for il dolce! My main course was a special of the day… taglioni with truffle and zucchini! It was delish!

Oh, I forgot to mention that at one point when we were climbing back up the hill in Riomagg toward where we were staying, we saw a clementine rolling down the hill traveling at well above the speed limit. It was hilarious! I wonder how often that happens when all the fruit is starting to ripen!

part of the path between villages

the marina in Vernazza

church in Vernazza

my favorite meal of the whole trip: bruschetta from a pizzeria right on the water in Vernazza

a door in Vernazza

view from highest point in Corniglia

Walking the Via dell’Amore

2010-02-27T17:09:00.002+01:00

The road between Manarola and Riomaggiore is called the Via dell’Amore, or literally, the road of love. We discovered on the way between the two towns that the common thing to do is for couples to take a lock and put it on the Via dell’Amore – there’s a picture of this below.

So anyway, we walked along this path, which didn’t take that long, and went to check out Manarola. It was relatively overcast in the afternoon, and like in Riomaggiore, most places were closed, but it was still cool to check out the next village. Like Riomaggiore (which we came to affectionately call Riomagg, or “Riomagjh”), Manarola slopes down to a marina at the water. So we walked down the main road to the marina, which was lined with boats pulled up out of the water quite a ways up the hill. Then we walked back up the hill, past the Via dell’Amore, and up into the town a little. It was cool to just walk by people’s houses and look in to their backyards and terraces. Almost everybody has their own personal clementine and lemon tree, and the hills going up around Manarola are filled with terraced vineyards of citrus fruit trees. It was tough not to just reach up and pluck off one of the clementines from sombody’s yard!

After we explored the down a little, we traipsed back down the hill and back down the Via dell’Amore to Riomaggiore. By this time we were thoroughly exhausted, having walked almost all day, up and down hills, on less than 2 hours of sleep. So we killed a little time waiting for restaurants to open around six. I had a disappointing dinner of “fish soup”, which essentially really sandy shellfish in water. Oh well! I was really too tired to mind. We went to bed around 8 and slept a solid 11 hours until around 7:00 on Monday morning.

Via dell’Amore – going between Riomaggiore and Manarola

locks that people put up on the Via dell’Amore - they are everywhere

main street in Manarola

view from a hill in Manarola

Around Riomaggiore

2010-02-27T16:09:00.000+01:00

So, the last post that I wrote was from the train on the way to Venice. Now I’m back in Montpellier and in the process of uploading pictures, doing laundry, and enjoying the last days of break before school starts on Tuesday!

Riomaggiore was by far my favorite place from the whole trip. It is the southernmost town of the fives villages in Cinque Terre, and just the right size. After we pulled into Riomaggiore and ooh’ed and ahh’ed over the sea stretching out from the train station for a while, we walked under a tunnel into the main part of town. Other than the train station, Riomaggiore is pretty much based around one main road, which is ridiculously steep and has lots of tiny and winding roads shooting off on either side.

Although we were thoroughly exhausted from the overnight bus ride and early morning in Pisa, we decided to go out and explore after we put our backpacks down. So we walked back down the hill and to the marina. The water was really rough that day, so it was amazing just to stand there at watch the water crashing up onto the rocks. At one point, we climbed up a bunch of stairs and were on a platform that must have been 30 ft above the water, but the water was coming into the cove so hard and fast that it was splashing above our heads.

After having been up all night and having had breakfast in Pisa around 7 am, we were already thinking about lunch by around 11:30, so we walked back up the hill to a local pizzeria. I ordered just a pesto pizza, and it was delicious. The lady working at the place was also really nice, which was a relief to me since I was trying to get by on “per favore,” “grazie” and sign language.

We should have thought about it before, but we were surprised to see when we came back out from our long lunch on the closed in terrace of that pizzeria that everywhere in Riomaggiore was closed for the rest of the afternoon since it was Sunday. So with not much to do around Riomaggiore other than explore the coastline, we decided to walk to the next village over, Manarola.

From the Train to Venice

2010-02-27T12:46:00.001+01:00

It's 10:40 now on Tuesday morning and we're on the way to Venice. It's damp and overcast today, so it's a good day for train travel. Cinque Terre may now be my favorite place on earth, so it was kind of sad to leave but I'm sure I'll come back at some point.

Anyway, the last time I wrote we were on the bus in the middle of the night going through Italy. Thanks to the second driver of the bus flying along the Italian coast like a formula 1 driver, we arrived in Pisa right on time despite the hold up with the passport check. We checked our bags with an overweight bag attendant in the train station and headed out into the town. We had Pisa all to ourselves at 7 am on a Sunday morning. The streets were literally deserted. We headed in the direction of the campanile (or the leaning tower of Pisa) and stopped at a cafe on the way. We ordered lattes and panini... And I'm pretty sure it was the best breakfast I've had in while. My mozzarella and tomato panini was perfect, and the latte would put the work of any American barista (myself included) to shame. Full and immensely content from the delicious breakfast, we headed to the tower, where we were able to get really rare pictures with no other tourists swarming around. It was really cool to be there early in the morning when it was quiet and relatively peaceful.

After seeing the tower, we just headed back to the train station... There really isn't much else to see in Pisa. It was a good connecting point but I feel sorry for people who plan trips around spending a good amount of time there!

the river, early in the morning in Pisa

approaching the tower and cathedral, which really just sort of come up out of nowhere in the middle of the streets

leaning

the cathedral and campanile

the obligatory tourist picture

We were on a train to Riomaggiore, which is one of the five villages in Cinque Terre, by 9:00 am. We switched trains in La Spezia and took just a regional train for the last 10 minutes of the trip into Cinque Terre. We were just standing in the space on the train by the door, riding through tunnels, when all of the sudden there was an opening in the tunnel wall and we saw a quick glimpse of the Mediterranean stretching out forever from the cliffs we were riding along. I had no idea that we were over the ocean like that, so I let out a big gasp when it flashed by like that for a split second. Then my stomach was full of tingly excitement until we finally pulled out of the tunnels into the train station at Riomaggiore, which sits right above the ocean. It was breathtaking. The only way to describe how exciting it was to come into Riomaggiore like that is to tell you that I was skipping around in my heavy backpack after only having had two hours of sleep in the past 24 hours.

Here are some pictures from when we first pulled up in Riomaggiore and were exploring around the town and marina.

the view right from the train station in Riomaggiore

the marina in Riomaggiore

rough waters in Riomaggiore

looking up from the marina at the village

looking north up the coast towards the other four villages in Cinque Terre

a delicious pesto pizza from a pizzeria on the main street in Riomaggiore

Riomaggiore, and the other four villages of Cinque Terre: Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterosso al Mare. There is a trail that goes between all five villages, so we checked them all out. Each one has it’s own personality… I’ll be posting pictures of them later. I have to say though, I have a bias now towards Riomaggiore, and would say that it is either the best of the five or right up there with Vernazza.

Stay tuned for more!

From the Bus to Italy

2010-02-21T12:16:00.000+01:00

**Well, I'm back in Montpellier! The trip all around Italy was amazing... I'll slowly be uploading posts and pictures over the next few days as I get everything straight on my computer and have time to write about everything we did and saw. In the meantime, here are two posts that I typed on my iPod from the road:**

It's 3:16 am on Sunday morning and our bus just got stopped for a passport check not long after crossing over into Italy. Normally this wouldn't have been a big deal at all other than having to rouse myself from slumber, but there was one minor detail that made it a little more interesting... I left my passport at home in France. I was sitting near the front of the bus, so when the two uniformed Italians climbed on and demanded "passaporte," I handed them my NC drivers license and French university ID with a confident smile and a shaky hand. With one glance and a nod from the soldier my worries were over, but they just climbed off our bus with a handfull of passports each to go run checks on.

The rest of the bus ride has been interesting as well. Unbeknownst to us, there was a scheduled bus switch in Marseille, so mid-ride our bus driver pulls up to a station, announces if you're going to Pisa or Rome to switch buses. So we climbed off in a confused and sleepy stupor, switched our bags into the other bus and climbed aboard. The new bus seemed almost full, and I was already plotting how best to say "no way am I sitting in the isle all the way to Pisa" when they made some room up at the front of the bus. It turned out to be a trade upward, because there is slightly more room in this bus than the previous.

So the soldiers just gave everybody's passports back and bid us "ciao," and now we're barreling along the coast into Italy.

Up Next… L’Italia!

2010-02-19T08:22:00.001+01:00

Today is the last day of class before a week long winter break (I’m telling you – the French know how to do it!), so I might be MIA from the blogosphere for a while... I’m headed to Italy!

We’re leaving Saturday, taking an over-night bus to Pisa, then from Pisa going to Cinque Terre National Park, and then to Venice!

A few flickr pictures of the destinations:

The tower, leaning again

Cinque Terre
(click here to hear how it’s pronounced)

Venezia

I promise lots of my own pictures when I return! : )

10 Things I have learned in my first month in Montpellier

2010-02-17T11:05:00.001+01:00

1. French, obviously. I’m still working on it though. You know, we were just discussing in my Oral Expression class yesterday how funny it is that words that are used all the time here, like the word “un truc,” which literally means “a thingy,” are never mentioned in French classes in America. I’d even go so far as to say un truc is the most commonly used French word after “croissant.” Haha.

2. Watch out for le dog poop. French dogs rule the roost here… as well as the streets. Fou Fou, along with her owner François, does not really care if you have to watch your step everywhere you walk.

3. I officially do not like the taste of Chèvre cheese, which happens to be on almost everything in France. There, I said it. Sorry goats.

4. Patience. My foot tapping has finally slowed to a slow rhythm while I wait in line behind people having long, drawn out discussions – and sometimes arguments – with a cashier. Also, waiters come when they feel like it, so just relax and enjoy your café, because there’s no telling when you’re going to get to order the next.

5. A watched pot never boils, or in my case, a watched 10 day forecast never gets warm. I’m still waiting for my streak of perfect Mediterranean weather!

6. I thought I was on a mission to become a connoisseuse of cheese or wine while I was here, but it turns out my calling is macarons. I’m on a mission to find the best macarons in Montpellier. Stay tuned.

7. The American idea and the French idea of separation of church and state are entirely different. France takes secularism in government very seriously in order to allow equal opportunity for every belief in the rest of France. I recently noticed that it is unheard of for the French president not to end a speech with “Vive la République! Vive la France!” However, on the other side of the ocean, it is most common for the president to end his speeches like President Obama ended his State of the Union address, “God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.” I’m pretty sure people would fall out of their chairs if Sarkozy said that in France.

8. The early bird gets the best fruit. If you show up at the market at 5:30 on your way home from class, don’t expect anything but an apple with a pet worm thrown in for free. The French take their produce seriously, and will get up early to prove it!

9. Be prepared to walk – or do anything, for that matter. You never know what part of your daily life a strike could interrupt. So far, I have been relatively unaffected by strikes, but there are constantly notices posted on the tramline boards, warning about trams being stopped because of a strike. In the upcoming weeks, the government is supposed to be trying to pass employee pension reforms, and word on the street is that if anything puts the French out on the streets this year, it will be this. So we'll see!

10. Wear armor to class. French professors are in the profession of tearing you down. I had never thought about it before, but I think it’s really rare in the United States to give an answer in class and (even if it is completely wrong) hear just a flat “no, not even close” as your reply. While American students are coddled and have their self esteem constantly built-up, French students were raised by a harsher rule.

Spotted on the way to school...

2010-02-11T11:13:00.000+01:00

A baguette dispensing machine!!

Cathedral of Maguelone

2010-02-08T11:06:00.001+01:00

Our day trip yesterday was to the city of Maguelone, which sits on a peninsula about 25 minutes outside of Montpellier. It was the perfect day for it – really sunny, not too windy, and in the high 50s.

Our first stop was at the cathedral, which I heard was the biggest cathedral outside of Rome when it was originally built. It is a really picturesque cathedral, sitting on this ancient volcanic islet, surrounded by trees and all sorts of vegetation.

This is what I found about the cathedral online:

From the 6th to the 16th centuries, it was the bishop's seat. In the 11th century, Bishop Arnaud had the shrine rebuilt and constructed a bridge that linked Maguelone to Villeneuve. Roman Popes often visited the cathedral, until 1536, when the bishop's seat was transferred to Montpellier.

And here are some pictures I took yeserday:

a smaller structure near the cathedral

the altar

view from above

archeological site outside

Right outside of the cathedral is a fenced in area with a lot of peacocks. That might have been the most exciting part of the day aside from seeing the Mediterranean for the first time. They were so gorgeous.

After the cathedral and peacocks, we went to walk on the beach for a while, which was really enjoyable. It was pretty busy for February, but I think everybody wanted to come out on the first warm Sunday in a while. It was nice to just walk along, pick up some shells, and then sit back for a while and enjoy the sun. I will DEFINITELY be going back when it’s bathing suit weather… and probably before that too!

Mme Cesari’s car

the Mediterranean

view of the cathedral from the beach

Well, I’ve got a lot of homework to do today before my week starts on Tuesday. Stay tuned!

Saturday in Montpellier

2010-02-07T12:49:00.001+01:00

I’m about to head out for a car field trip with Mme Cesari and two other students who rent from her, but I thought I’d post some pictures and video that I took yesterday first! I spent most of yesterday walking around Montpellier, running a few errands and enjoying the sun.

Here’s a video from the main square in Montpellier yesterday morning:

Also, I discovered yesterday when I came down out of the apartment that not only does Domino's exist and make deliveries in France – they do it on mopeds!

After wandering around for a while and doing a little shopping, I went to the Musée Fabre, which is a really nice, newly renovated art museum in Montpellier. I was going to check it out for a paper that I’m writing about modernity in Montpellier, and I only had the time to check out the building for the renovations and the Pierre Soulages exhibit, but I definitely plan on going back when I have more time!

I also found out that yesterday was the opening of a museum of interior design that the Musée Fabre built in an old hotel, so I’m really looking forward to checking that out.

I saw this sweet moped outside of the museum…

Well, we’re about to head off on our day trip. I’ll be posting pictures soon!

Sunday Afternoon in Montpellier

2010-01-31T15:46:00.001+01:00

As most of you probably already know, almost everything closes down in Europe on Sundays. The only things open here in Montpellier are cafes and some restaurants, so Sunday is a good day to relax, walk around, and get stuff done at home.

I spent a while this afternoon at a cafe not far from the apartment where I live…

Roman Amphitheatre in Nîmes

2010-01-31T15:28:00.001+01:00

On Saturday a few of us went to Nîmes, which is about half an hour from Montpellier by train. It was a pretty chilly and windy day, but it was at least sunny enough to enjoy exploring the city for a while! Nîmes was a pretty prominent city during the reign of Caesar Augustus and has a lot of Gallo-Roman relics because of that. Below are some pictures of the Roman amphitheatre that used to be used for events like gladiator battles, but now hosts events like bull fighting.

Montpellier at Night

2010-01-29T21:39:00.001+01:00

Verlan (L’envers)

2010-01-28T19:20:00.001+01:00

I learned about something really cool today (or at least, I thought it was!)… a version of French slang that involves switching syllables around in words. It’s called Verlan, which is the Verlan word for the French word l’enverse, meaning “the inverse.”

This is what about.com says:

Verlan is a form of French slang that consists of playing around with syllables, kind of along the same lines as pig Latin. Unlike pig Latin, however, verlan is actively spoken in France - many verlan words have become so commonplace that they are used in everyday French.

To "verlan" a word, simply separate it into syllables, reverse them, and put the word back together. In order to maintain the correct pronunciation, the verlaned word often undergoes some spelling adjustments. Unnecessary letters are dropped, while other letters are added to make pronunciation logical. There are no real rules for this; it's just something to be aware of. Note that not every word can or should be verlaned; verlan is used essentially to emphasize or hide the meaning of the main word(s) in a sentence.

Verlan is apparently most often used by immigrant groups or other groups not in the main center of society.

A couple words in Verlan…

meuf – from the French word femme, meaning woman
féca – from the word café

From the University

2010-01-27T14:39:00.001+01:00

Good morning from Montpellier!

I’m just killing a little time before my class starts in a while, so I thought I’d post about my experience in my first class at at French university. It was interesting, to say the least! And actually pretty enjoyable.

The class is called “Géographie de la France” and takes places in “Préfa. 3.3.” Préfa is an abbreviation for préfabriqué… so essentially, the class is in a really nice trailer. If I haven’t already conveyed this, the campus of the university is NOT anything to look at. It makes me appreciate our beautiful quad even more!

So anyway, I arrived and entered préfa 3.3 just a few minutes early, but was one of the first 7 or 8 people in the class. I sat down in the third row from the front, but the teacher – a small guy wearing a thick and tiny black turtleneck sweater with a bushy head of shockingly white hair – asked me to sit in the very front row. He looked at me and said (in French) something like, “BE CORAGEOUS! SET AN EXAMPLE!” Then, as lots other people filed into the class in a big rush, he directed them to all sit near me and enjoy my charm. Haha.

Carol was telling us that French students usually have no regard for a lecturing professor, which would explain why this professor, Jean-Paul Bord, spent a good 15 minutes asking people not to talk during the lecture or answer their cell phones.

Just as class was well underway, another professor burst into préfa 3.3 and exclaimed that he had that classroom reserved every Wednesday morning. Thus followed a long discussion about classes, their departments, and scheduling. Eventually, with 40 students already in their seats and listening intently, our professor won and the other man left.

The rest of class continued without incident. The subject matter is slightly easy to tune out on… but will be worth learning. He is starting the semester with lectures about the region where Montpellier is, Languedoc-Roussillon.

After class ended a half hour later than was listed on the timetables, I went to lunch with some of the other UNC students. The cafeteria was PACKED but we managed to cram into a small table.

I have “Culture des pays Germanophones” this afternoon, so we’ll see how that goes… in the meantime, I’m going to go grab a coffee!

Miscellaneous Pictures

2010-01-26T20:24:00.001+01:00

Here are just a few pictures I collected when wandering around, getting to know Montpellier.

Eglise St. Roch

First day of class

2010-01-26T20:11:00.001+01:00

Bonjour!

I'm at the university now... waiting for a class to start.

I just had a pretty sweet lunch for 2,80 euro! With your student ID in the student cafeterias, you pick an entree, main plate, and a dessert for 2,80. So I got like a corn/veggie salad, baked fish with carrots and potatoes, and a little cup of caramel flan. Score!

I also went by the bank and got a bunch of stuff straight. : )

However... classes are not turning out as well as lunch. I'm in the right classroom at the right time but no one is here... I'm about to go look around and see what the deal is. SO FRUSTRATING! The French have been around sooooo long and it's like they're still operating on a university system from the 1800s. Oh well. I guess that's part of the cultural experience!

On the bright side, it's nice and sunny today! : )

the tram I take from the Place de la Comédie to the University

sidewalk on the way to the university

entrance to the university… notice the “a” falling down, which is a discrete hint at the charming way French universities operate

“Le Resto U” – the campus restaurant

...okay, I figured out what the deal was with the class. There's a tinnny red note posted that says it doesn't start until February 8. So, I have two weeks before it starts!

Now I'm at the French language school in the center of Montpellier where we have three of our classes, waiting for our Oral Expression class to start at 2:15.

We were just discussing a possible excursion to the beach this weekend... so keep your fingers crossed that it says sunny until the weekend so I can finally stick my toes in the Mediterranean!

Pictures from Saturday

2010-01-25T18:46:00.001+01:00

Well, it has officially been a week since I left NC! Truthfully, I can’t believe it has only been a week because I feel like we have done soooo much! I’ve been pretty busy. Mostly with meetings and administrative stuff. But also with a tour of the city, registering for classes, and exploring Montpellier. Unfortunately, it had been pretty overcast except for one day – but I’m willing to endure a few clouds during the first week for what they claim will be an almost entirely sunny semester!

Below are just some pictures I snapped around Montpellier, mostly from our tour.

Classes start tomorrow. I managed to make my schedule so that I have Mondays off, so that will be nice. : ) Most classes are in the afternoons… UNC could learn a lesson or two from the Montpellier lifestyle!

I plan on writing a lot more about the history of Monpellier… as soon as I figure it out for myself!

Salade de la Mer

a hazy mountain off in the distance

Jesus and crane

L’Arc de Triomphe in Montpelier

statue, covered in pigeons

building, covered in pigeons (luckily most of the pigeons are on these buildings and statues and not bothering everybody in the main squares and streets!)

Unicorn Gothic cathedral in Montpellier

Pictures from my Walk Home Today

2010-01-21T19:11:00.001+01:00

First Full Day in Montpellier

2010-01-20T18:57:00.001+01:00

Bonjour!

Well, it’s 6:10pm here and I just got back to the apartment a few minutes ago. I was determined to get the door unlocked myself, because it’s this funky lock that involves a lot of pushing in and turning this way and that, and Mme Cesari took quite a while explaining it to me …but sure enough, she must have heard all the clicks and rattles because she came to the rescue. I think I’ve got the hang of it now! Her warnings yesterday about not turning the key too hard and breaking it were keeping me from turning it hard enough!

Anyway, I guess I haven’t written since the train ride. I was talking about my 78 pound suitcase earlier… but get this: we WALKED back to the apartment! I almost busted into tears and laughter at the same time when I heard Mme Cesari say we were going to walk back. She is this tiny, older lady… so I gave her my pocketbook to carry while I hauled my suitcase and bookbag through town along cobblestone streets. I just checked Google Maps and it says it was 1.2 km, but I think I realized today that she took me the SENIC route!! Hah! It was pretty funny – in hindsight. I was probably huffing and puffing and grimacing, lugging this suitcase and bookbag while still trying to take in Montpellier all around me, and she’s flitting around and talking to me all about Montpellier… it was great!

Her apartment is in a PERFECT location, and it’s a really cool building. It only took us about five minutes to get to school this morning, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I spent a lot of last night trying to get Skype to work on my computer (which it finally did!). Mme Cesari, the Montpellier social butterfly, had accidentally agreed to a dinner party, so we went out and got groceries for myself before she left. I loved going to the market; it was so… French! I dropped a few centimes on some veggies and baguette, and we headed back to the apartment. I fixed myself a little something, took a shower (with no shower curtain! – which turns out to be the norm, five other people in our group also said they don’t have shower curtains), and went to bed around 11:30. I heard Mme Cesari come in around midnight… she said they were having so much “discussion” that she had no idea it had gotten so late!

So all went really well on the first day. I realized yesterday that I came in to Germany knowing a maximum of three words of German, so no one really expected me to be able to communicate. However, I show up in France and am supposed to be fully functional… MAN! I’m sure Mme thought I might be slightly retarded. I was understanding everything she was saying but my sentences were coming out in little toddler-like phrases. However, today – after a good night’s sleep and being surrounded by French – it seems to be MUCH better! It’s basically catch on quick or get left behind!

Today Mme Cesari walked with me to Accent Français, the French language school where we meet and have three of our classes. Classes don’t actually start until Monday but we have a full week of administrative stuff, tours, and meetings. I realized today, though, that the pace in Montpellier is SSSLLLLOOOWWWWW compared to what we Americans are used to. It’s kind of nice, but it will definitely take some getting used to! Whereas I usually like to have everything planned out and know what’s going to happen when, people here seem to just take life as it comes. It’s refreshing, for sure! However, we STILL don’t know what classes we’re going to be taking! I’m sure we’ll be seeing about that soon. There are 11 in our group: 10 UNC students and 1 girl from Chapel Hill who goes to Amherst.

So today we spent the day at this school, talking with our residential director about a lot of stuff and just getting settled in.

We finished up around 4:30 and I stopped by the grocery store on the way home. I noticed an old lady in the store just staring at me, like right up in my face, and it kind of irritated me so I looked back at her like “what, lady?”. Then she said to me (in French, obviously), “you have beautiful hair!” So I smiled at her, said “merci,” and kept shopping.

Here are a few pictures I took on my way home… I wanted to take some with more sunlight but it was getting dark quickly!

La Place de la Comédie – the main spot where stuff is happening in Montpellier

palm tree

my street, the apartment building (the floor with the covered up flowers is mine), and inside the building

looking up from the courtyard, the staircase

the front door to the apartment, [a bad picture of me!] with Mme Cesari

Well, I better get a few things done and then fix le dîner.

Word on the street is that school cafeteria workers are going on strike tomorrow. Stay tuned for live updates throughout the day! (hah)

-Blair in Montpellier

PS – Mme Cesari is hosting a Greenpeace meeting here at the moment!

From the Train

2010-01-19T23:06:00.001+01:00

I'm on the train now... One more hour until we pull up to Montpellier. I feel like I've been traveling FOREVER! It has been virtually painless and stress free though - thank goodness!

It was so foggy coming in that I couldn't see anything until the wheels touched the runway. So it was overcast and 32 degrees Fahrenheit... Paris in January I guess!

Charles de Gaulle proved to be extremely easy to navigate. I just followed signs to passport checks and then baggage. My 78 pound suitcase was one of the first on the carousel so I just grabbed it and went to the airport shuttle to get from terminal 1 to terminal 2, where the train station is. After I got there I had about two hours to kill until the train so I just grabbed a San Pellegrino and sat in a cafe for a while.

... Right now the guy beside me on the train has his elbow allll up on my side of the seat. Annoying!

There was a girl on the train with the cutest beagle puppy! That's one pretty big difference between the US and France... Dogs can even get seats at restaurants here!

I met up with the two other UNC students who were on my train on the platform and now we're all scattered throughout the same train car.

I slept for maybe 20 solid minutes against the window but other than that I haven't really slept since Sunday night. I'm sure I'll be making up for that over the next few days! I'm looking forward to meeting up with my host lady (Mme Cesari), seeing the apartment, getting all my stuff unpacked and put away, and getting reconnected with the world wide web (I've been typing these posts on my iPod touch and will post them when I get online again).

In the meantime I've been watching the French countryside go by... Wishing I could get out and take some pictures! I keep thinking how crazy Daddy would be going to jump off the train and snap some pictures of these farms and farmhouses! ...there was even some snow left on the ground in places up closer to Paris, but it's looking warmer and sunnier the closer we get to Montpelier.

I hope I'll be posting this soon!

-Blair en route
Sent from my iPod

From the Flight

2010-01-19T23:01:00.001+01:00

Well, it's 3 am NC time and they just cut on the lights and rolled by passing out coffee and warm little breakfast rolls. I'm not sure where we are but it's light outside.

I scored big time on this flight... I almost kissed the empty seat beside me when they said everybody was on board. So I snuggled up with my two pillows and two blankets for a still relatively sleepless flight across the Atlantic. I don't think I fell asleep at all... although by this morning I had two pillows under my head and two between my back and the armrest... I guess my neighbors both lost theirs to my in-flight pillow gathering aura.

So I'll probably just go check out the bathroom for old time's (and coffee's) sake... I'll be on the ground in Paris in less than an hour with a smiling 78 lb. ($100 fee) suitcase waiting for me to haul it through customs and onto the train to sunny (actually, possibly rainy) Montpellier.

Until then!

-Blair in flight
Sent from my iPod

Bon Voyage

2010-01-18T19:29:00.000+01:00

I'm on the way to the airport now! My flight leaves at 5:50, I connect in Philadelphia, and will be landing in Paris at 10:25 am (Paris time) on Tuesday.

My train for Montpellier leaves Paris at 1:01 and I'll be arriving in Montpellier at 4:49 in the afternoon.

Until then!

-Blair in NC

Montpellier Update

2009-12-06T21:24:00.001+01:00

Some updates about my upcoming semester in Montpellier, France... I am flying out on January 18th!

Also, found out my address, so I have some pictures from Google Maps Streetview.

Très européen, no?

In the meantime, stay tuned! : )

Sleepy posting on the go...

2009-05-15T06:40:00.000+02:00

... bad idea!

I've been informed that typos and lack of enthusiasm run rampant throughout my recent posts. Therefore, I will post a better synopsis of the trip when I've had a little more rest. A cross country road trip is not the time to spend time on the computer anyway.

In the meantime, you can check out any pictures I've uploaded here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/stephenson.gb

Until then!

-Blair in Vegas

Austin

2009-05-12T22:07:00.001+02:00

Tuesday, May 12, 2009 – 9:12 am – on the road in New Mexico

Austin was really great – and a big change of pace from New Orleans. We got Joe and Lisa’s (my dad’s friends from backpacking across England) around 8:15. Their house was awesome. Really cool. Two of their daughters were there: Caroline and Amy. Amy lives next door, and Caroline goes to Texas State. They were all really nice. They made margaritas and we just sat outside and talked until we went to bed around midnight. Everybody – Joe, Lisa, Amy, Caroline, and Jojo – they were all so extremely nice and welcoming. We couldn’t have had better hosts for Austin. It was great and really made our trip better.

Lisa took Monday off from teaching and showed us around. We went to the Cathedral of Junk first, and then to Barton Springs. The Cathedral of Junk was really cool. I took lots of pictures. Barton Springs was a big natural spring in the middle of Austin where everybody goes to hike, lay out, and swim in the spring. MAN it was COLD! It felt really great after having lain in the sun and sweated for a few minutes. It was really invigorating.

We spent so much time at Barton Springs that we only had time to just drive around 5^th and 6^th Streets in Austin, but we were really glad that we had spent the day the way that we did. It was nice to do a “local” thing, spend some time in nature, get some exercise, and relax. We took showers and packed up when we got home and headed back into Austin to go to Joe and Lisa’s favorite restaurant, Chuy’s. It was DELICIOUS! Great Mexican food.

On the way out of Austin headed towards Round Rock and on to Santa Fe we drove over a bridge and noticed spirals of black ribbon going up into the sky from under the bridge. It was bats! TONS of them! I had read about that and heard about that in Austin, but it was really cool to just happen to see it when driving by.

The drive has been pretty good. We’ve been trying to get gas at every chance possible since civilization is becoming sparser and sparser. Before we got far out of Austin we got the GPS to direct us toward a station that was about 3 miles off the highway in a really small town. Instead of telling us to backtrack to get back onto the highway, the GPS sent us down a 13 mile “highway” that was more like a driveway. There were no lines, no distinct edges, and definitely no lighting. It was actually pretty scary. Jenna drove really slowly and we eventually made it out of the 13 mile trap, but I must admit that I was scared. The cell phone service was really patchy and it would have been horrible to have had to stop for some reason. As soon as we got out and back onto the highway, it became a good story to tell.

I drove for three hours of Texas after Jenna, and then Kate. Prairie took us over the border into New Mexico. Right before getting out of Texas around 5am we stopped at a McDonald’s. We piled out of the car, got food, and went back out to the car. Everything was really misty and foggy (I think because we were climbing in elevation and basically in the clouds), and as we were getting into the car Prairie said the word “raindrops” which made me sing, “on roses,” which made Prairie sing “and whiskers on kittens.” As we all got in the car and before we left all four of us finished out that song. It was really fun – and funny. I guess we were pretty tired and delirious. Maria would have been proud.

I woke up to see sunlight and desert surrounding us around 6:30. We just passed by Las Vegas, NM and should be getting to Santa Fe around 8:40.

Pictures from the Adams’ house:

Pictures from the Cathedral of Junk:

Pictures from Barton Springs:

New Orleans

2009-05-12T21:59:00.001+02:00

Saturday, May 9, 2009 – 4:00 pm – New Orleans

It’s 4:00 in the afternoon and we’re sitting here in our hotel in New Orleans. We left Chapel Hill Friday afternoon around 3:30 and got to Drexel, where Prairie lives, around 5:45. After hummus, pita, and frozen pizza we rested until 10, when left for New Orleans.

I woke up around 3:15 to see downtown Atlanta whizzing by. My driving shift came up around 4am, which I wimped out on. I could barely keep my eyes open, so Jenna took over and let me drive the last leg of the trip when the sun was out and I had gotten a little more sleep.

12 hours, 6 states, 5 driving shifts, 4 tanks of gas, and 2 potty breaks later we arrived at our hotel in the French Quarter around 10:15 on Saturday afternoon.

I will go ahead and give two big thumbs up to the Courtyard Marriot. They have been so helpful and accommodating. They found us a room when we got here at 10:15, have lent us a can opener, and didn’t scoff at us traipsing through the lobby with a cart full of suitcases and random little grocery bags full food.

Jenna and Kate took quick showers before we headed to Café du Monde for beignets and café au lait. It was delicious! After that, we walked around the French Quarter for a good while taking pictures and stopping in shops here and there. After a while we made our way all the way up to the 800 block of North Esplanade to check out the Voodoo Spiritual Temple, which Frommer’s heralded as “the real McCoy.” The contents of the shop didn’t mean much to me, but it was cool to see a lady in the back, standing in front of the door that opened up to a lush courtyard, mixing this and that into a smoking pot.

It was around 2 then, so we slowly made our way through the French Quarter, stopped at Subway for Kate to grab a sub, and came back to the hotel. We’re soaking up the AC right now, eating tuna on crackers and planning our evening.

Jenna loading up the car at the Phi Mu house in Chapel Hill

All of us before leaving Drexel: me, Jenna, Prairie, Kate

Blurry downtown Atlanta

First glimpse of the Mississippi

French Quarter

St. Louis Cathedral

Andrew Jackson

One of my favorite little houses

Jenna and Prairie

Looking into a dilapidated courtyard in the French Quarter

Deanie’s, where we at dinner

Sunday, May 10, 2009 – 5:40 pm – on the road in Texas

So, we should be arriving in Austin in about one hour! Texas has so far been slightly smelly, hot, and flat. The roads have been HORRIBLE! The road had been blocked off with those concrete dividers into two very narrow lanes almost the whole time. Other than that, however, things have been great.

We had fun last night in New Orleans. We went to a seafood place in the French Quarter called Deanie’s for dinner. We split crawfish legs for an appetizer and I had a shrimp po boy. We spent some time out on Bourbon Street and also rode the free ferry that goes from the foot of Canal Street to Algiers Point and back. It was neat to see New Orleans lit up from out on the water.

We got up around 8:30 and 9 this morning. I felt surprisingly well rested. We packed up, got the car back from the valet, somehow managed to load everything into the back of the Subaru Outback, which Jenna calls Merryweather after the ferry from Snow White.

We left around 10:30, met Kate’s half sister in Baton Rouge for lunch around noon, and hit the road again. My driving shift was the last little part of Louisiana and the first part of Texas. We listened to Mitch Hedberg and sweated.

Now Prairie’s driving and we should be at Joe and Lisa’s by 8:15.

Bourbon Street

On the ferry

New Orleans skyline from the ferry

Ode to the Old Well

2009-03-11T20:59:00.001+01:00

As a student at UNC – Chapel Hill, there are few – if any – symbols as recognizable and as meaningful as the Old Well. Here is a little background on the Old Well from UNC’s website:

At the heart of the campus stands the visual symbol of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For many years the Old Well served as the sole water supply for Old East and Old West dormitories. In 1897, the well was given its present decorative form at the direction of President Edwin A. Alderman, who described his beautification project as largely derived from the Temple of Love in the Garden of Versailles. In 1954 the well was given added beauty with brick walks, plantings, and benches. Students can bring good luck with a drink from the Old Well on the first day of classes.

My favorite picture of the Old Well is this one, taken by my dad:

The Old Well – and UNC in general – holds such a special place in many people’s hearts, and people often get major milestone portraits taken at the Old Well. My favorites by far are these wedding portraits, featuring a beautiful wedding cake from Sugarland on Franklin St.

…which leads me to this delicious picture of Sugarland gelato:

…which reminds me of Franklin Street on warm spring days

…which reminds me of being on Franklin St. after the Tarheels beat Duke 101 – 87 at Cameron

…which reminds me that we beat Duke again this weekend at home, and how much I love springtime in Chapel Hill.

Help... Camera Advice!

2009-03-05T05:25:00.000+01:00

Okay, I need some help on this one! I recently (and unwillingly) bid my most recent camera goodbye, so now I'm looking for the perfect one to carry me (with any luck) through the next few years. Thus, I'm looking for a camera that takes GREAT PICTURES and is TRAVEL FRIENDLY, since I like to keep my camera with me at almost all times and will be in Europe next spring.

So... I'm considering the Cannon PowerShot SD880 IS, mainly because of what I read on cnet. However, I'm totally open to suggestions. Has anyone used the SD880?

I've also considered the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H50, but I'm wondering if it might be too bulky.

Basically, I'm looking to spend at or under $300, and I'd like not necessarily a "pocket" camera, but definitely a medium-large bag/tote camera.

Any advice? Opinions? Personal experience?

Snow in Chapel Hill

2009-03-02T18:53:00.000+01:00

This quiet blanket of snow let me sleep in an hour later this morning... but it didn't stop my exam at 11:00! You can click the pictures for a bigger version. I took them with my cell phone (RIP camera).

Next Up: Montpellier in 2010

2009-02-19T21:57:00.000+01:00

A Spontaneous Trip to Witness History: The Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States

2009-01-23T23:40:00.000+01:00

On Sunday, January 18th, 2009, it really hit me that a major historical event was taking place a mere five hours from Chapel Hill on that coming Tuesday. I sent a text message to a few friends, and ba-da bing, ba-da boom, Anne Marie and I decided to go to the inauguration. I spent that Sunday evening ironing out the details: trying to get off work on Monday, talking to my mom’s friend Dondie, who lives outside of DC in Herndon, Virginia, and reading up on what was going down.

So, on Monday morning, I grabbed a few apples, made a few peanut butter sandwiches, and picked up inauguration cupcakes that Nithin had made for the trip,:

picked up Anne Marie, and hit the road:

There were few incidents. Actually, there was only one. I have now contributed to the treasury of Dinwiddie County, Virginia, thanks to the 60 mph speed limit and my 74 mph speed. We couldn’t let that bring us down though, so we barreled on at a slightly slower pace towards DC.

Thanks to good directions, reasonably light traffic, and my trusty travel companion, we arrived in a snowy Herndon in good time.

Dondie and Mark were headed to the Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball, so it was just the two of us and their patriotic dog, Zac.

Anne Marie and I picked up some Quiznos subs, did a little reading, and went to bed around 8:30. Morning came early.

We tried to bundle up as warmly as possible. Unfortunately, I did not have my long john’s with me at school in Chapel Hill, so I improvised with a double layer of jeans. Comfy? no. Warm? …sort of. Funny enough to take a picture of at 3 in the morning? Definitely.

We were tiptoeing around the house while getting ready so as not to wake Dondie and Mark… I think I even tried to flush quietly. Then, when we were about to leave, low and behold, I hear the garage door open, and in come Dondi and Mark from the ball. Party animals!

We were a little worried about black ice on the roads, but we made it to the Vienna metro station with no problem. The parking lot was already 75% full and there was a long line of cars to enter. Luckily, with America on our side, we got a parking spot and boarded the metro for a long ride into DC.

We got on at the very first station on the line and had to stand up. It was PACKED. At just about every stop, they announced that we would be stopped momentarily. However, we finally arrived at the chaotic L’Enfant Plaza station and began our walk towards the mall.

The crowds, the chaos, the sirens, the excitement… I don’t think I’ll ever forget how early it was and how close I felt to all the other people making that trek. Finally, the capitol came into sight:

Everyone, including us, was so excited. Already.

We took the obligatory pictures with landmarks,

…and headed down to pick out our spot and put down our trash bags.

After sitting there for a quite a while, I stood up and took this video:

The crowd began to fill in behind us…

…and the sun started to come up.

Meanwhile, Anne Marie and I lost every ounce of heat in our bodies, and began to question… well, life. I have never been so cold in my whole life, and I doubt I will ever be that cold again. At one point we took turns sitting on each other’s feet for warmth, but realized that it was pointless, because our bottoms were no warmer than our feet. Everything was ice cube status. At one point, Anne Marie said, “I’m wondering if these people around us are just laying there for warmth, or if they’re dead.”

The energy on the mall, however, kept us alive.

It was an amazing, exciting, and very cold day. After all of the speeches, we, two tiny grains of sand, rode the giant wave of Americans to the tiny hole at the entrance to the metro. Needless to say, it took FOR-EV-ER. While we were in that sea of people, Bush’s helicopter flew overhead, and we all waved at him and wished him a pleasant life in Texas.

Once we sat down on the metro, (YES! We got seats!) we realized how absolutely tired, cold, sore, and happy we were. We rode the metro back to Vienna, stumbled to the car, and drove back to Herndon. I think we ended up getting back to Herndon between 3 and 4.

We packed up our stuff, said goodbye to Dondie and Mark, and headed back to Chapel Hill. Traffic wasn’t that bad anywhere, and we both (thank goodness) managed to stay awake the whole way home. When we pulled into a snow covered Chapel Hill around eleven, I dropped the zombie version of Anne Marie back off at her house and headed home to mine. I was glad to find out that I hadn’t missed any class, since Monday was a holiday and my class on Tuesday was cancelled because of the snow.

So, I woke up Wednesday morning to a new America, a body that I could barely move, and piece of history that I will remember forever.

Maria Kalman

Christmas Break Trip to NYC

2008-12-21T00:45:00.000+01:00

Text and captions coming soon!

Endlich!

2007-02-08T06:00:00.000+01:00

Hallo Alle!

Ich aktualisiere ENDLICH diese Seite wieder... und für die Deutschen dieses Mal! : ) Ich kann nicht glauben dass ich zurück in Amerika für mehr als ein halbes Jahr gewesen bin! Die Zeit in Deutschland ging so schnell vorbei, und jetzt meine Zeit zurück in Amerika geht auch so schnell vorbei.

In diesem Augenblick bin ich in meinem "senior" Jahr in der High School in North Carolina. Nächsten Jahr werde ich zur die University of North Carolina gehen, und für jetzt studiere ich "Contemporary European Studies". Ich hoffe dass ich auch deutsche Klassen nehmen kann. Ich werde eigentlich im deutschen Haus leben im Schlafsaal (Studentinheim?). Das deutsche Haus ist eine Gruppe von Studenten, die verbessern und ihr Deutsch durchhalten wollen, indem sie zusammen leben und es sprechen. Ich nehme an, dass wir ein wenig deutsches Bier ebenso trinken werden.; )

Ich denke oft an Augsburg. Ich hoffe wirklich dass ich im Stande sein werde, zurcckzukommen und bald zu besuchen. Die ganze Zeit, wenn ich in meinen Klassen sitze und tagträume, denke ich an zurück nach Europa gehen.

Ich vermisse den Schnee! Das Wetter hier in North Carolina ist kalt und heiß und kalt und es gibt keinen SCHNEE! Voll was anderes von Deutschland!

Ich habe einige der anderen Amerikaner gesehen, die in Deutschland waren, seitdem ich zurück gewesen bin. Austin hat mich hier in North Carolina besucht, und ich werde ihn in Mississippi besuchen in den Osterferrien. Ich habe auch zufällig, zwei andere sehen, als ich Mittagessen im Chapel Hill (wo die Univeristy North Carolinas ist) im Restaurant gegessen habe.

Ich werde versuchen Bilder von meiner Zeit seitdem ich zurück in Amerika gewesen bin bald upzuloaden. (Sagt Man "upzuloaden"?)

Ich hoffe dass alles bei euch toll geht, und ich würde lieben was von euch zu hören! Ich vermisse euch alle sehr!

Hier sind einige andere Bilder...

2007-02-08T05:38:00.000+01:00

mit meinen Freunden vor dem Christmas Dance

mit Austin, wann er mich besucht hat

mit meiner Schwester und Stiefschwester

Statistikklasse

Lustig in der Klasse haben

spielen "tag football" am Wochenende

"Senior Portrait" machen (Cheerleaders helfen mir)

bei meinem Job (Starbucks-das Café)

Footballspiels Freitagsnacht in der Schule

beim Mittagessen im School Cafeteria (Francesco, der italienische Student in einer Footballuniform)

mein Schlafzimmer bei meinem Vater

Homecoming Week

2007-02-08T04:36:00.000+01:00

Jedes Jahr in amerikanischen High Schools gibt es ein Homecoming Footballspiel und Homecoming Dance im Herbst. Wir haben "Spirit Week" vor dem Freitag des Footballspiels und Tanze, wann wir verschiedene Tagen wie "Blast from the Past" oder "Cross-Dress Day" haben.

Ich bin zum Tanz mit unserem italienischen Austauschuler gegangen. Er hat auch "Homecoming King" gewonnen. Es hat viel am Footballspiel geregnet, und jeder musste Regenschirme tragen. Die Cheerleaders mussten Ponchos tragen!

Warped Tour

2007-02-08T04:28:00.000+01:00

Warped Tour ist ein riesiges Konzert des Punk rocks und Indie Bänder, Ich bin mit meinen zwei besten Freundinnen gegangen.

2006-05-30T17:24:00.000+02:00

Well, all you North Carolinians, it's snowing in Bavaria today. It's not snowing where I am but it was cold and rainy all day. It was 7 degrees Celsius, 44 Fahrenheit. I could see my breath! It definitely does not feel like June weather. This isn't normal for Germany either though.

Other than the weather, everything is going great here! This week has been totally centered around our Ambassador Project, which is this Saturday evening. I think it's going to turn out really well though. Almost my whole class from school is coming, along with the librarian, a few teachers, my local program counselor, and my Bundestag representative along with a bunch of other people!

I posted some pictures below of an afternoon last week when I made Weißwurst, probably the most famous Bavarian meal, for lunch. The only thing that was missing was the Weißbier!

2006-05-30T17:22:00.000+02:00

2006-05-30T17:20:00.001+02:00

2006-05-30T17:20:00.000+02:00

2006-05-30T17:19:00.000+02:00

mmm!

2006-05-26T17:32:00.000+02:00

plans that are being made right now for June that I'm VERY excited about

Berlin

2006-05-24T19:42:00.000+02:00

Let me start off by saying that I think Berlin was the best of all the times our whole group has been together. I couldn't stop comparing it to how we all were when we met that first day almost a year ago in Washington D.C. After lots of conversation between all of us we realized that we had almost all the first impressions we got of each other totally wrong. It's so cool to think back on those first days coming to Germany and realize exactly how far we've come, how much we've seen, and how much we've changed.

The train to Berlin from Augsburg was pretty crowded so we ended up not finding seats for four people to sit together on the first leg of the trip. When we had to get off and make a connection we ended up finding a compartment with just one woman sitting in it. So Bonnie, Mike, Priya and I sat in the compartment with this older German woman. We ended up talking to her for the next two hours and had a really interesting conversation. She was from Southern Germany right on the French border, but she was originally from East Germany, so we talked a lot about how that was. She was really impressed about our knowledge of German history. Most Germans are surprised to find out that Americans even learn about the "iron curtain" and the divide between East and West Germany. It's always nice to show them that we're aware.

We ran into a lot of the other Americans right after getting off the train in Berlin. Austin and Chris were coming down the escalators directly across from ours at exactly the same time, so we headed to the youth hostel with them. One thing that we learned right away is that the trams and subways in Berlin don't wait for anybody. In Augsburg, if somebody on the outside or inside pushes a button, the tram waits and the doors open again, but in Berlin, once the doors shut, the doors are shut. Austin and I got separated right off the bat from the rest of the group because I zealously jumped onto a tram to ask someone if it was the right direction and the doors shut before we could convince the rest of the group that it was the right way. Austin was still skeptical of my confidence in being headed in the right direction, but after just a few stops we pulled up to where we needed to be. Looks like I'm not so bad at public transportation after all! (Actually, I think I'm just pretty lucky sometimes.) So Austin and I ended up halfway running the whole way to the hostel just to get there and look casual by the time the others got there so we could prove we knew where we were headed. (hah!)

We had arrived at the Berlin Zoologischer Gardens train station, and our hostel was right near Berlin main train station. The Zoologischer Garden train station is actually where most people coming from other parts of Germany come to. The "Main Train Station" which our youth hostel was near actually has its grand opening this Friday. There was still some construction going on while we were there. It's now supposed to be "Europe's biggest crossroads", with train tracks going north, south, east and west- and it's actually in Berlin instead of on the outskirts like most big train stations are. I found an article about it in the Spiegel.

That evening after choosing our rooms (I was with Bonnie and Priya as usual), we had dinner at the youth hostel and then a quick meeting to welcome us before they let us go for the rest of the night. I had been really excited about being able to hang out in parks the whole time we were there, so some of us headed off to Tierpark, which I read somewhere that it is the largest park in Europe. By the time we actually got there it was nearing dusk, so the park was pretty dark, and even though some of the counselors said that it was totally safe, anybody who knows me won't be surprised to hear that I got really jumpy. The longer we walked through the park, the more dogs were barking, more and more eyes were peeking out of the bushes, and by the time we got to a big open, well lit area, something had been following us in the bushes. We walked the city sidewalk way back to the hostel instead of going back through the park, and that's when we took the night time pictures of the Siegessäule.

I can't remember exactly what time we had to leave the youth hostel on Thursday morning, but I'm pretty sure it was before 8:00. We took the tram to the AmerikaHaus, which is right near the Zoo train station. We all had to show our passports in order to get in. We had a speaker lined up to talk about Berlin and it's history, which none of us were super excited about, but it ended up really waking all of us up and being really, really interesting. The speaker was Ronnie Golz, a Brittish guy who lives in Germany and does freelance public speaking. I just found his website here. He started off by giving a normal history of Berlin, but then started talking more and more about his opinion of Germans and stuff got really interesting. We talked a lot about the differences between East and West Germany and their inhabitants. He kept saying how all Germans did was "moan." I wish I had a euro for every time he said that the Germans needed to stop "moaning." In my opinion, however, he managed to present his thoughts in a way that wasn't very offending. Granted, I'm not a German, but he also was willing to admit his and Britain’s faults. He was pretty funny two. I laughed really hard when once, in the middle of just talking, he addressed us as "you people from the colony." It took us all a few seconds to realize he was referring to America as the British colony, and by that time he was back in the middle of his speech. All in all, it was really interesting, and I'd love to hear his views on other political topics.

After that we had a while in which some of us just wandered around that area of Berlin. We met back at the youth hostel at 2 that afternoon for a relatively quick meeting and then we had free time for the rest of the day. Austin and I asked one of the counselors that lives in Berlin where a cool place to go was, and she gave us directions to an area of town that she liked. We walked up and down the street called Kastanienallee and ended up having dinner at a little Thai place there. While we were having dinner a friend of Austin's who was an exchange student in America last year and lives in Berlin now gave him a call, and we realized we were right in her neighborhood. We arranged to meet her in about half an hour, so we finished our dinner and headed back up the street. Of course, I had to stop at Ben & Jerry’s to get a cone of Chunky Monkey ice cream, and right across the street there was a Land Cruiser just like Daddy's! Those pictures are below.

We had to leave the youth hostel at 6:30 am on Friday, which ended up feeling like the longest day since I've been in Germany. (Excluding that first day when we flew here, where we just drifted in and out of jet lagged sleep for a few days after.) We walked from the youth hostel to the Reistag, where the Bundestag is. All of the Congress Bundestag recipients were there, so it was really cool to see all of them for the first time. After we all got into the building, they seated us in a big conference style room where we sat for most of the morning and had discussions and speeches and stuff. After that we had a lunch break, in which we discovered we could look down through glass windows and see Angela Merkel, the German president, in session below. We were all pressed up to the glass trying to take pictures like kids at a zoo, and then we realized we were actually going in to listen in on the session a little later. That was actually really interesting, but we couldn't take pictures, so the pictures of Angela Merkel that I posted are the ones taking through glass pretty high up, although we were much closer. She seemed pretty cool. At one point I think she was sending text messages under the table on her cell phone and joking with the guy beside her about it.

We went up to the roof of the Reistag, which is where all of the view pictures of Berlin are taken and the pictures in front of the big glass bubble thing. The sky looks pretty ominous in almost all of the pictures but it never did rain really hard.

When we left the Reistag around 2:00 pm, it felt like we had been living there for about three weeks. It was a really interesting visit, but for some reason the day drug on forever for all of us. I'm wondering if they got us all in that big conference room together and then somehow put us to sleep for a while to do experiments or something.

We all took busses to the residence of the American Ambassador then. The ambassador wasn't there, but they had set up his back yard really nicely with tents and a dance area and music and stuff. We basically just mingled there for a few hours before we took busses to where our boat tour left from. The boat was full of tables, so we could sit down and have dinner while it rode along the Spree River. The trip actually wasn't that scenic, but luckily the sun was setting and at just the right spot when we went by the cathedral to light it up.

We didn't have to be up until 9:00 on Friday, and then we just had a leisurely meeting in which we filled out a bunch of evaluations and also a survey about ourselves and our group that we've taken every time we've been together in order to compare the changes. We'll get those back through the mail right before we leave, as well as letters that we wrote to ourselves right before we left to go to our host families. In some ways, I can remember writing that letter like it was just a few days ago, but in other ways it seems like soooo long ago! I'm really looking forward to getting it because I can't remember what I wrote in it even though I thought I would.
A guy who was on this program 5 years ago and now goes to William and Mary and is doing a year in Germany came to speak to us later that morning. His speech was about re-entry and culture shock when we got back to America and it was really insightful. That's also when they passed out our flight tickets back to America and I think it was the first time going back home really actually felt tangible. It was a strange feeling.

The weather in the morning was really nice, so we held the meetings outside, but after lunch the weather had turned pretty cloudy and drizzly. We had free time then, so some of us headed to sight-see in spite of the weather.

That night was our last night together, which still seems surreal to me. The betreuers gave us an extended curfew and we all went out together. It was a really fun night, Berlin was the right place to say goodbye to that aspect of our time in Germany.

We could leave Sunday morning any time after breakfast, so most of us slowly trickled off and said goodbye between 8 and 10. The majority of us are flying home together on June 25, but some have extended their stays longer or are going home earlier, so that was the last time we saw each other. I don't think it really sunk in with most of us.

My train back to Augsburg left around 2 that afternoon, so Austin and I walked around the city looking for somewhere with wireless internet to use our laptops. While we were walking right in front of the train station, an older couple approached us an asked if we spoke English. The accent of the man sounded like he had just stepped out of Roanoke Rapids! It was really cool to talk to them. They ended up being from Charlottesville, VA. They were in Europe for another week and wanted to go to Prague and go through Dresden, so they were asking us for advice.

We spent the rest of the morning sitting at a sidewalk cafe putting the pictures I had taken on Austin's computer and mine on his. The train ride home was a long 6 hours. I just slept and read most of the time. My host brother Georg picked me up from the train station and we got to Aystetten a little before 9:00.

Tomorrow is a holiday here in Germany, so I don't have school. I'm meeting Priya at 9 in the city and we're planning on working on our Ambassador Project the whole day. We have school Friday and next week, and then Bavaria has two weeks of vacation!

2006-05-23T17:59:00.000+02:00

Berlin Pictures: here is the official itinerary again.
* = picture by Austin

Bonnie in our room*

2006-05-23T17:58:00.000+02:00

the youth hostel room I shared with Bonnie and Priya*

2006-05-23T17:54:00.000+02:00

Friday- our visit to the Bundestag, cookout at the Ambassador's residence, and the boat tour on the Spree:

on the way to the Reistag*

2006-05-23T17:53:00.000+02:00

2006-05-23T17:50:00.000+02:00

John and me*

2006-05-23T17:49:00.000+02:00

Reistag*

2006-05-23T17:39:00.000+02:00

Bonnie and Priya*

2006-05-23T17:38:00.000+02:00

Angela Merkel, the German president (wearing red inside the circle)*

2006-05-23T17:37:00.000+02:00

2006-05-23T17:34:00.000+02:00

me being interviewed by a Berlin radio station*

2006-05-23T17:33:00.000+02:00

speechless*

2006-05-23T17:29:00.000+02:00

in front of the big glass dome thing on top of the Reistag

2006-05-23T17:27:00.001+02:00

Austin and John

2006-05-23T17:27:00.000+02:00

Deutsches Bahn building

2006-05-23T17:26:00.001+02:00

Brandenburg Gate and 5 cranes

2006-05-23T17:25:00.001+02:00

with John

2006-05-23T16:39:00.000+02:00

Priya and me with our Bundestag's representative, Eduard Oswald

2006-05-23T16:35:00.000+02:00

the American Ambassador to Germany's backyard before the party we had there got going

2006-05-23T16:25:00.000+02:00

2006-05-23T16:24:00.001+02:00

2006-05-23T16:24:00.000+02:00

the Cathedral from the Spree River

2006-05-23T16:23:00.001+02:00

2006-05-23T16:23:00.000+02:00

from the boat

2006-05-23T16:15:00.001+02:00

Saturday afternoon free time in the city:

a bunch of ponchoed tourists*

2006-05-23T16:12:00.001+02:00

the Brandenburg Gate

2006-05-23T16:12:00.000+02:00

2006-05-23T16:11:00.002+02:00

2006-05-23T16:11:00.001+02:00

2006-05-23T16:11:00.000+02:00

Austin and me

2006-05-23T16:09:00.001+02:00

2006-05-23T16:09:00.000+02:00

Austin and Anna right after walking under the gate

2006-05-23T16:08:00.000+02:00

Jake, Chris, Keren

2006-05-23T16:00:00.000+02:00

a six or seven person bike going down the street in the middle of Berlin*

2006-05-23T15:54:00.000+02:00

these people just came around the corner and marched past everybody, I have no idea what it was about, but it was interesting (this is right in front of Brandenburg Gate)

2006-05-23T15:53:00.000+02:00

2006-05-23T15:11:00.000+02:00

Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin's oldest university*

2006-05-23T15:10:00.000+02:00

another view of Humboldt

2006-05-23T15:07:00.000+02:00

not sure what this building is, it seems kind of judicial. Does anybody know?

2006-05-23T15:05:00.000+02:00

2006-05-23T15:04:00.000+02:00

another piece of architecture that I don't know what it is*

2006-05-23T15:03:00.000+02:00

Berlin Cathedral (with Berlin TV tower in background, decorated with a soccer ball for the upcoming World Cup)