Strasbourg!!

It's 6:16 pm here in Strasbourg, and I am still rather jetlagged from the whole journey. I have a loooong post that I wrote last night, trying to stay up to begin the acclimation to France time, which is 9 hours ahead. Consider I hadn't slept for a good 24 hours during the transit over here, it was surprising to get a second wind.

Before I post from last night, I'll add a couple of updates... for one, I mentioned how it was "Sooo cold" here after a brief encounter with a sunny day yesterday. Turns out yesterday was a "beautiful" day, by Strasbourg standards. In that it was sunny and only about 35 degrees Fahrenheit. Today it hit a temperature low, and even in with tights and wool socks under my jeans and four layers on top (not to mention the necessary hat, scarf, and fleece gloves), I was chilly walking around, with a light snow fall just barely sticking on the pavement. For the next four weeks France's government-mandated bi-annual sales are going on, so I think I'm going to invest in some more warm clothes while the prices are (hopefully) reasonable, considering California-bought winter clothes just don't quite understand what cold weather is really about.

Just an update on the internet situation... I'm one of the three in our ten person group that does not, alas, have internet available in the home. Thus, casual chatting (especially via Skype, by voice) may not be as easy as I'd originally hoped (of course, without the internet at my finger tips, I'm sure I'll be more inclined to spend my time in perhaps more productive ways about the town). I just bought, however, a convenient month-long, unlimited internet access card at a cheap internet place somewhat near the university. It's a bit of a walk from my apartment, but since I'm somewhat farther out, I get a free bus/tram pass, and the city is very easy to get around in, so I'm sure I'll get out here pretty frequently. In the next week or so, I'll investigate whether I can find a corner of the university with wireless and a bustling atmosphere such that no one would mind if I sat talking to my computer... perhaps then I can call all of you who have Skype-connected computers.

Okay, without further ado, here's the entry I wrote up last night. More to come, of course!

À plus tard!
Melia

P.S. It's a long post, i know... but you'll be rewarded w/ a couple pics towards the end!

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Mon premier jour à Strasbourg (My first day in Strasbourg)

It is currently 12:54 PM West Coast time back home, Friday afternoon. Here, it is nearly 10 p.m. and I’m sitting in the bed that is to be mine for the next four months, trying to process the tiring pursuit this day has been. I woke up about 30+ hours ago to begin my journey to France, and I’ve had barely a wink of sleep since the whole thing began. Me, who is known to conk out within minutes of buckling up in any moving vehicle, could not, for the life of me, sleep during the two main legs of the journey (4 hours to Chicago, 2 hour layover, 7.5 hours to Paris, 3 hour layover, 1.1 hours to Strasbourg). I managed to catch about 40 minutes of sleep as we flew from Paris to Strasbourg, my body finally giving in to inch of extra leg room Air France offered against the cramped and claustrophobic confines of United Airlines.

As it is, i’m finally here... and it’s all beginning to sink in. The flight over was unreal... besides being jittery and unable to doze off, I simply felt indifferent to the fact that I was heading to Strasbourg for my semester abroad. I was incapable of believing it, not in the “Oh my GOD, I can’t believe this is happening!!” sort of way. Rather, the “Hmm, let’s read some more in this book and MAN i wish i had a bed right now and wouldn’t it be nice if they turned down the heat in this frickin plane??” In other words, the thought that I was on my way to what is supposed to be a quintessential part of the college experience simply didn’t have enough umph to keep it my mind more than a minute. So instead I read nearly all of Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” (and what a COMPLETELY different world that is from either the world I was leaving or the one I was about to enter). I listened to an hour or two of Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys... quite well done, enough to nearly make me snicker aloud on the plane. Listened to at least one proton mix, half of the Rent soundtrack, other music... eventually i just gave up on focusing (did someone slip me a caffiene pill this morning because really, I was pumping with exhausted adrenaline) and after a good 24 hours of flight... we arrived.

I should qualify “we,” perhaps. I ran into Alex, the only LC guy on the program, in Chicago, and we ended up a few rows from each other on the plane to Paris. We got in, maneuvered our way around the enormous Charles de Gaulle airport, dared to try a little french, plopped down in a pub while waiting for the next check-in and talked to a chill-attitude, language-loving American (portland-esque) “dude” who was returning to Slovakia with his Slovakian wife. He in his sweats, dreds piled under a huge hat, with his backpack, a laid back attitude, and talkative style was a complete juxtaposition with his quite, well-tailored, and rather proper young Slovakian wife. Some couples make you wonder in that amazed “never woulda thunk it” sort of way. In any case, Alex and I met up with two other LC students Erica, who’d just returned from a fall semester in rural Morocco and Gilly, and we finally got on our last plane, to head to our final destination (my and Alex’s forth airport of the day).

To meet us in Strasbourg was Bethany, the small, smiling American correspondant that coordinates the LC trips alongside her husband, both of whom have lived in Strasbourg/Nancy for 20+ years. That being the case, I was rather surprised to hear one of the worst French accents I’ve ever come across escape Bethany’s lips when she attempted to ask one of the baggage claim personnel a question about potentially missing luggage. Seriously... dad, if you think you’re french accent is bad, you haven’t heard nothing...! I’d been forewarned as to this detail, but man, “20 years??!” just kept resonating in my mind, and I finally had to resign myself to the explanation that, well, some people just don’t get languages. Alas.

Worse than the accent however, may have been the fact that, while everyone else seemed to retrieve their “potentially missing luggage” easily (once we figured out it was coming out of a completely different baggage carosel) one of my bags was simply no where to be found. Talking to one of the personnel with list in hand, I saw my name under the “luggage left behind” list. Oy. Turns out one of my bags never made it past Chicago. Thankfully, the larger suitcase with the bulk of my clothes and immediate necessities had come through. But somewhere the smaller one, with details like toiletries, decided one flight was enough. I should be getting it within the next few days, they say. Until then, i’ll be off to “Monoprix” tomorrow to stock up on veritable toothpaste, shampoo, towel, etc.

So... how is Strasbourg, you ask?? Well, I can honestly say I don’t fully have a grasp yet, what with only an hour of sleep-deprived wanderings about the town tonight, but the following tidbits do come to mind...
• Frickin’ COLD!!! My god! My ears felt like they were about to fall off when we were walking about, and I nearly fell to my knees with a halleluja when I unpacked later tonight and found that my warm toasty ear-covering hats were not sitting uselessly in Chicago, but rather ripe and ready for any ventures out come tomorrow.
• Beautiful... the buildings here... old apartments with architectural detailing, funky desings, and lights everywhere! The town is still decorated from Christmas, although I hear it’s only a skeleton of what it was during the bulk of the holidays. Skeleton or not, everything seems lit and gorgeous, and because the sales are here, everyone was out on the street tonight, running from shop to shop (FYI: France’s stores have sales twice a year, in January and in July, with everything going on sale for up to 50% off, if not more. The rest of the year, sales are unheard of. I guess the figure getting it done in two frenzied chunks is better than trying to compete for low prices all year round).
• Busy. Perhaps it was just b/c of the sales, but people were bustling here and there all over the downtown (which is a mere three tram stops from my apartment), even though it gets dark here quite early.
• Fun! While Mde Reiss’s last semester student (who was showing me around town) seemed a bit jaded by the whole deal and was greatly looking forward to heading home, I saw potential in every street corner, every little pub they pointed out, the river running through town, the bridges, the cathedral (only saw a glimpse, but MY GOD!), the tram, the people, the character... I know it’s not going to be easy to just step into Strasbourg life as a foreigner, but the more the girl and her friend (both from Kalamazoo and leaving tomorrow) talked about “yeah, this place is good b/c they speak English” “well, you’re really busy at the beginning and then there’s like, nothing to do” “i had an okay semester. I was going to leave half way through, but I stuck it out” and “no, the clubs here kind of suck”... the more they talked, the more determined I became to make this experience just the opposite. Moaning and groaning – while valid at times – is not how I want to start out my semester (and given, they were just ending theirs and were in a very different place than me. Especially with the level of french they knew, which wasn’t all that much).

Tomorrow we meet up with Beth for orientation and a tour of the city. I’m excited to get back to the LC group and hear about everyone’s families, talk to people just as enthusiastic about being here as I am, and get more familiar with the city itself.

As for my homestay and host mother, I think it’s going to work out well. The difficulties I can already forsee (like hardwood floors and five to seven small children running around pitter-patter pitter-patter and screaming with delight and/or agony outside my door from 9 am until 6 pm Mon-Fri) are just going to be new experiences to add to the list, new challenges to get around, new stories to add to the books. Mme Reiss (whose first name I heard once in a fleeting moment and can’t for the life of me remember... will work on that one) is probably in her fifties, doesn’t speak a lick of English (which is a good thing), and runs an in-home daycare for a living. She’s a good cook, not heavy on the meat (thank god! And she asked to make sure she knew my likes/dislikes), and her evening relaxation takes place in front of the TV, which is on all day, although not obnoxiously loud and not audible from my bedroom. She’s very welcoming, sociable, warm, but firm in her requests and explanations. I’m sure it’ll take some getting used to, and I’ve already started a list of things I need to remember to get in the habit of (turn the heat down in my room when i leave... put the “do not disturb” sign on the bathroom door when i use it, as it does not lock (worrisome with six small children about the house, but I guess they understand)... clean out the shower briefly once i’ve finished... call a good amount ahead of time if i’m not going to be home for dinner... only use one light in the room at a time... speak to the dog in french if i want him to stop licking me b/c he really does listen, but only to his native language, of course... etc. etc.). But as it is, Mme. is really quite friendly, impressed with my french and we were able to have a fairly up-to-speed conversation at dinner, although she certainly stopped me a few times to say she didn’t understand what I was trying to say, and she’s a fervent grammar-corrector, which I guess will be useful in the long run.

The home is a forth-story apartment in one of those exciting old complexes that allow you to spy on someone across the way, with their light on and yours turned off, Amelie-style. I already know I might be peeking across to a young artist/designer who I watched briefly bent over his drawing board across the way tonight, as Mme demonstrated why I might want to draw down the shutters in the evenings. The apartment is fairly small and the hardwood floors squeak, making every step available for all to hear. No sneaking about this place! All in all, i think it will work well, as long as I remember to ask if there’s a discrepency and try to foster some of the habits listed above, not to mention digging out the earplugs if attempting a midday nap amid rather vocal children.

My room (well, half of it)


The other half of my room


The view from my window


A closer look at the view from my room... um, y'think they just have a better turning radius than we do? Because this looks like a rather hopeless situation...


Well, it’s now reached 11 pm france-time, and I think going to bed now should get me on a decent schedule for the time-adjustment. I have Sleek, my silky-soft seal, to curl up with tonight, as a necessary and comforting familiarity in this new place i will call home. Call me a freak for using prime packing real estate on a stuffed animal, but you would not believe what comfort can be found in the seemingly frivolous, unnecessary, and or seemingly childish extras. I personally think everyone would benefit from a stuffed animal to curl up with each night (lacking something better, that is, like a warm body).

Okay, throwing in the towel. Future updates probably won’t be as long, but knowing me... well, they might be. Who knows.

Bonne nuit!