Yawning happily... today was a productive day! (From yesterday, Wednesday 1 feburary 2006)
Sitting in bed, my eyes rather weighty, and it’s only 11 p.m.! Alas. Yesterday night I fell asleep before 10, after two very full days on very little sleep... and today proved to be quite productive! More sleep = higher productivity? Perhaps...
The day started with an 8:00 wake-up to finish up a few pages of grammer exercises (my god, i should be back in second year french with how much I’ve forgotten...) before heading out at the early hour of 9:15 to get to my 10:30 class. Why so early? One might wonder. Particularly since I usually race out of the apartment at about 10:10 for my 10:30 class, when it really takes a good half hour to get to campus, if I don’t just miss the tram (I’ve been late to my language block by about 15 minutes three times already... i guess i’m still getting the hang of this whole not-living-on-campus thing). So... back to the early departure time. Wednesdays, Anisa – one of the Bryn Mawr girls who lives about 10 minutes walk from me – and myself both have class at 10:30, so we decided it might be fun to walk together those mornings. Given, it’s still fricken cold supposed to be –10 Celsius tomorrow...oy) and it’s not every Tuesday night that I’ll get to bed before 10 pm, but the idea came to volition this morning, in any case.
We walked to school along the south quai (the center of the city is essentially an island, surrounded by canals), which i’d only ever seen from the university-side of the city. It was simply magical to walk alongside the water’s edge this morning, past floating swans and random quotes scribbled/chalked onto the quai walls. You know that part in Amelie with a quote chalked onto the side of the building? I thought that was just part of the whimsical nature of the film. Turns out its a reflection of reality. There are messages/quotes/random-nities chalked throughout the city! (of course, there’s a chance this habit was inspired by and after the film, but I kind of doubt it).
Class was two hours of grammar today, which went VERY slowly, though I did – as I always seem to do – learn some new and useful things, if only I were able to remember them when they arrise in context of daily life. After class, Meg (another of the Bryn Mawr girls, in my language class, and a very chill, fun personality), Martina, and I ate at one of the many Resto-Us, the cheap student eateries that get you a decent meal for 2.70 euros.
Upon bidding farewell to Martina and Meg, I began my first taks of the afternoon (Wednesdays = my one free weekday afternoon): Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg (National/University Library of Strasbourg). A research library with tons of SILENT and studious folk scattered along the lengths of old wooden tables, the library has an almost sinister feel... you’d better be there to work, it seems to say. To get my card, I had to fill out a form and wait in line with a bunch of others doing the same. After a good 20 minutes I finally got up to the counter and everythings seemed to be going fine... until she asked me for the 1.50 euro payment. “But I thought it was free?” I mused, as a “temporary” card is advertised as such. It wasn’t as if I was adverse to paying a mere 1.50. The problem was, I simply didn’t HAVE 1.50 on me. Hard to imagine, I know. But I’d spent my last eurocents on a pain au chocolat and a coffee before class and the library was on the way to the bank, so I figured I’d stop in BEFORE replenishing my wallet. Trying to sacrifice the boy scout’s “Be Prepared” motto for what I thought was most practical. Instead I ended up trekking to another bank to get some money, trekking back to the library, and sheepishly approaching the counter for a second time to finish the transaction. In the US, you can use a card for just about anything. Here, things stick proudly to their old-school roots... and I haven’t quite adjusted.
Like the internet. I know I’ve gone off about the internet before, and how there doesn’t seem to be wireless in any public spaces, outside of internet cafes. But just to prove how much the “old school” method is prefered, let me give a couple examples.
The National/University Library, a prominent RESEARCH library, has about 9 computers dedicated to online research. Six of the nine are at “standing” stations. The computers are in a tiny room off to the side of the nice, beautiful wood-lined reading rooms, and they are old clunkers of PCs that you rarely see in the US anymore. Looking at the library map, I saw another room listed that said it was specifically for microfiche and those using portable computers. Great! I thought, A room specifically for portable computers! They must have wireless, or at least internet hook-ups. WRONG. Again, situated in a side room with the feel of a dank, industrial warehouse compared to the rest of the library, I soon realized the point of having a “room for portable computers” IS NOT to help those with portable computers connect to the internet or anything like that. It is because portable computers are NOT ALLOWED in the rest of the library. So instead, we tech-bound folk are delegated to the back dungeon to tap away at our keyboards without disturbing those who are really working hard, out in the well-lit, beautifully crafted reading rooms. Okay. I’m trying not to sound bitter. And I understand why they might want to separate us key-tapping types from the book-leafing others. But it’s just so counter intuitive for me who is so used to the beauty of the LC library’s wireless and the ability to combine “real book” research with anything computer related.
Second example of internet-noncompatibility... in the U.S., things are often cheaper online. Plane tickets, ink cartridges, you name it. More and more, we’re encouraged to glue our butts to our home office chairs and do our living through the screen, without ever having to even go out and get groceries.... they can be delivered to your door after you choose your produce with a click of the mouse! In France... pas de tout (not at all!). After searching online for a train ticket to Amsterdam, I found on the SNCF (France’s train network) site and looked up my desired ticket. 80 euros, one way. Oy. I think all my plane tickets for winter break cost less than that. Upon hearing my groan, Ariana advised me to actually go in to the train station or in-town kiosque. “It’s cheaper to get them there.” Really? Really. Going into an office downtown, talking to a representative in person, buying a real-live printed ticket... dropped about 20 euros from the price of my ticket. Amazing. Note-to-self: don’t buy on-line if the product is coming from France...
Other productivities of the day:
- I found the closest thing to energy bars I’ve come across yet... at Kate’s suggestion, I went to the cereal aisle and found some dirt cheap cereal bars that taste damn good for being .88 euros for a box of eight! Not stock full of protein, but I’m excited to have a quick snack for hurried mornings on my way to class!
- Visted the large Librairie Kleber in the center of town, the biggest bookstore around (though no where near the size of Portland’s beloved Powell’s...) and found a copy – in English – of James Joyce’s Portrait of a Young Man for less than 3 euros! This is to be my train/plane reading for winter break, in honor Ariana’s and my soon-to-come traipsings around Ireland!
- Finally got conditioner for my hair... which has not been behaving in the least since first coming into contact with the hard water prevalent throughout the city (my host mom, along with many others, only drinks bottled water as a result). Essentially night-time showers means going to bed with slightly damp hair, and when I wake up in the morning, the whole deal is a dry crimped mess that simply won’t be reshaped until the next night’s shower. Lots of haphazard ponytails as a result. I’m hoping to conditionner will do something to improve its suppleness...
- As the sales are still in full swing, with many stores on their second “demark” of prices, I managed to pick up a warm, somewhat french-style sweater for less than 10 euros today. Seems warm and a good addition to my daily attempt to do it the french way... to “faire l’onion.” Not sure if I’ve mentioned this expression before, but it translates as “To do the onion” and essentially means dressing in layers and peeling them off as you go. And it is completely a propos. My usual attire consists of a tanktop, a t-shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, sometimes a sweater, and a jacket on the top (yes, that’s five layers) and one or two pairs of tights plus pants and socks on the bottom. It can be a bitch to shed the layers upon entering any of the many overheated building and then put everything back on to transfer to the next overheated building, but it’s a load better than turning to ice during any trek longer than a few blocks.
Oh and just for the record...
WINTER BREAK PLANS – official two week break, Sat Feb 11 – Sun Feb 26
Fri, Feb 10 – ditch class to hop a 7:50 am train to Amsterdam, with a switch in Bruxelles. End up in Amsterdam mid-afternoon to meet up with Derek when he finishes classes... for those who don’t know, Derek is Anya’s long-time boyfriend who is currently studying in Amsterdam on a Fullbright. Lucky for me, he’s got his own apartment with an extra bed, so I get an amazing discount (i.e. free!) on my stay in Amsterdam, equipped with friend and tour guide at no extra cost! I’m totally stoked!
Wed, Feb 15 – leave Amsterdam on an EasyJet evening flight to London... meet up with Ariana somewhere in the airport (our flights arrive within fifteen minutes of each other) and find our way, late at night, to our hostel... Ace Hotel, as Anya recommended, in West Kensington. I think we'll probably get to meet up with Anya's cousin, Patrick, who lives in London and seems up for a get-together... yay for connections!
Sun, Feb 19 – leave London on a RyanAir morning flight to Dublin, Ireland. Potentially meet up with one of the Irish guys in Ariana’s PoliSci classes here in Strasbourg, to have a local show us around. Not sure where we’re staying yet.
Mon or Tues through Sat, Feb 25 – Make our way, via the long and sometimes unreliable but rather cheap bus system, down through various Irish towns, to Cork, in the South. Perhaps we’ll go straight to Cork and do day trips from there, or perhaps we’ll meander through a few other towns before then. Not sure yet. Ireland’s kind of blank slate at this point, with tons of recommendations of what to see but no coherent plan of how we’re going to do it...
Sat, Feb 25 – midday flight from Cork back to London (which cost a mere 12 euros, the cheapest of all the flights we snagged), for one more night, hopefully in a hostel close to the airport, because...
Sun, Feb 26 – 7:50 am RyanAir flight to Basel-Mulhouse, right on the France/German/Swiss border (officially in Swizterland?). This gives us a day to figure out how to take the hour-long train from Basel-Mulhouse back to Strasbourg, where we start up courses the next day.
Ambitious schedule? Yes indeed. But I think it’ll be good practice for the summer, though I think I’ll be doing more train travel come summer.
So if anyone has any final suggestions for what to see/do in Amsterdam, London, or around Ireland, leave a post! Given, we/I only have a matter of days in each place, but we’re planning to live it up as best we can!
The day started with an 8:00 wake-up to finish up a few pages of grammer exercises (my god, i should be back in second year french with how much I’ve forgotten...) before heading out at the early hour of 9:15 to get to my 10:30 class. Why so early? One might wonder. Particularly since I usually race out of the apartment at about 10:10 for my 10:30 class, when it really takes a good half hour to get to campus, if I don’t just miss the tram (I’ve been late to my language block by about 15 minutes three times already... i guess i’m still getting the hang of this whole not-living-on-campus thing). So... back to the early departure time. Wednesdays, Anisa – one of the Bryn Mawr girls who lives about 10 minutes walk from me – and myself both have class at 10:30, so we decided it might be fun to walk together those mornings. Given, it’s still fricken cold supposed to be –10 Celsius tomorrow...oy) and it’s not every Tuesday night that I’ll get to bed before 10 pm, but the idea came to volition this morning, in any case.
We walked to school along the south quai (the center of the city is essentially an island, surrounded by canals), which i’d only ever seen from the university-side of the city. It was simply magical to walk alongside the water’s edge this morning, past floating swans and random quotes scribbled/chalked onto the quai walls. You know that part in Amelie with a quote chalked onto the side of the building? I thought that was just part of the whimsical nature of the film. Turns out its a reflection of reality. There are messages/quotes/random-nities chalked throughout the city! (of course, there’s a chance this habit was inspired by and after the film, but I kind of doubt it).
Class was two hours of grammar today, which went VERY slowly, though I did – as I always seem to do – learn some new and useful things, if only I were able to remember them when they arrise in context of daily life. After class, Meg (another of the Bryn Mawr girls, in my language class, and a very chill, fun personality), Martina, and I ate at one of the many Resto-Us, the cheap student eateries that get you a decent meal for 2.70 euros.
Upon bidding farewell to Martina and Meg, I began my first taks of the afternoon (Wednesdays = my one free weekday afternoon): Bibliothèque Nationale et Universitaire de Strasbourg (National/University Library of Strasbourg). A research library with tons of SILENT and studious folk scattered along the lengths of old wooden tables, the library has an almost sinister feel... you’d better be there to work, it seems to say. To get my card, I had to fill out a form and wait in line with a bunch of others doing the same. After a good 20 minutes I finally got up to the counter and everythings seemed to be going fine... until she asked me for the 1.50 euro payment. “But I thought it was free?” I mused, as a “temporary” card is advertised as such. It wasn’t as if I was adverse to paying a mere 1.50. The problem was, I simply didn’t HAVE 1.50 on me. Hard to imagine, I know. But I’d spent my last eurocents on a pain au chocolat and a coffee before class and the library was on the way to the bank, so I figured I’d stop in BEFORE replenishing my wallet. Trying to sacrifice the boy scout’s “Be Prepared” motto for what I thought was most practical. Instead I ended up trekking to another bank to get some money, trekking back to the library, and sheepishly approaching the counter for a second time to finish the transaction. In the US, you can use a card for just about anything. Here, things stick proudly to their old-school roots... and I haven’t quite adjusted.
Like the internet. I know I’ve gone off about the internet before, and how there doesn’t seem to be wireless in any public spaces, outside of internet cafes. But just to prove how much the “old school” method is prefered, let me give a couple examples.
The National/University Library, a prominent RESEARCH library, has about 9 computers dedicated to online research. Six of the nine are at “standing” stations. The computers are in a tiny room off to the side of the nice, beautiful wood-lined reading rooms, and they are old clunkers of PCs that you rarely see in the US anymore. Looking at the library map, I saw another room listed that said it was specifically for microfiche and those using portable computers. Great! I thought, A room specifically for portable computers! They must have wireless, or at least internet hook-ups. WRONG. Again, situated in a side room with the feel of a dank, industrial warehouse compared to the rest of the library, I soon realized the point of having a “room for portable computers” IS NOT to help those with portable computers connect to the internet or anything like that. It is because portable computers are NOT ALLOWED in the rest of the library. So instead, we tech-bound folk are delegated to the back dungeon to tap away at our keyboards without disturbing those who are really working hard, out in the well-lit, beautifully crafted reading rooms. Okay. I’m trying not to sound bitter. And I understand why they might want to separate us key-tapping types from the book-leafing others. But it’s just so counter intuitive for me who is so used to the beauty of the LC library’s wireless and the ability to combine “real book” research with anything computer related.
Second example of internet-noncompatibility... in the U.S., things are often cheaper online. Plane tickets, ink cartridges, you name it. More and more, we’re encouraged to glue our butts to our home office chairs and do our living through the screen, without ever having to even go out and get groceries.... they can be delivered to your door after you choose your produce with a click of the mouse! In France... pas de tout (not at all!). After searching online for a train ticket to Amsterdam, I found on the SNCF (France’s train network) site and looked up my desired ticket. 80 euros, one way. Oy. I think all my plane tickets for winter break cost less than that. Upon hearing my groan, Ariana advised me to actually go in to the train station or in-town kiosque. “It’s cheaper to get them there.” Really? Really. Going into an office downtown, talking to a representative in person, buying a real-live printed ticket... dropped about 20 euros from the price of my ticket. Amazing. Note-to-self: don’t buy on-line if the product is coming from France...
Other productivities of the day:
- I found the closest thing to energy bars I’ve come across yet... at Kate’s suggestion, I went to the cereal aisle and found some dirt cheap cereal bars that taste damn good for being .88 euros for a box of eight! Not stock full of protein, but I’m excited to have a quick snack for hurried mornings on my way to class!
- Visted the large Librairie Kleber in the center of town, the biggest bookstore around (though no where near the size of Portland’s beloved Powell’s...) and found a copy – in English – of James Joyce’s Portrait of a Young Man for less than 3 euros! This is to be my train/plane reading for winter break, in honor Ariana’s and my soon-to-come traipsings around Ireland!
- Finally got conditioner for my hair... which has not been behaving in the least since first coming into contact with the hard water prevalent throughout the city (my host mom, along with many others, only drinks bottled water as a result). Essentially night-time showers means going to bed with slightly damp hair, and when I wake up in the morning, the whole deal is a dry crimped mess that simply won’t be reshaped until the next night’s shower. Lots of haphazard ponytails as a result. I’m hoping to conditionner will do something to improve its suppleness...
- As the sales are still in full swing, with many stores on their second “demark” of prices, I managed to pick up a warm, somewhat french-style sweater for less than 10 euros today. Seems warm and a good addition to my daily attempt to do it the french way... to “faire l’onion.” Not sure if I’ve mentioned this expression before, but it translates as “To do the onion” and essentially means dressing in layers and peeling them off as you go. And it is completely a propos. My usual attire consists of a tanktop, a t-shirt, a long-sleeved shirt, sometimes a sweater, and a jacket on the top (yes, that’s five layers) and one or two pairs of tights plus pants and socks on the bottom. It can be a bitch to shed the layers upon entering any of the many overheated building and then put everything back on to transfer to the next overheated building, but it’s a load better than turning to ice during any trek longer than a few blocks.
Oh and just for the record...
WINTER BREAK PLANS – official two week break, Sat Feb 11 – Sun Feb 26
Fri, Feb 10 – ditch class to hop a 7:50 am train to Amsterdam, with a switch in Bruxelles. End up in Amsterdam mid-afternoon to meet up with Derek when he finishes classes... for those who don’t know, Derek is Anya’s long-time boyfriend who is currently studying in Amsterdam on a Fullbright. Lucky for me, he’s got his own apartment with an extra bed, so I get an amazing discount (i.e. free!) on my stay in Amsterdam, equipped with friend and tour guide at no extra cost! I’m totally stoked!
Wed, Feb 15 – leave Amsterdam on an EasyJet evening flight to London... meet up with Ariana somewhere in the airport (our flights arrive within fifteen minutes of each other) and find our way, late at night, to our hostel... Ace Hotel, as Anya recommended, in West Kensington. I think we'll probably get to meet up with Anya's cousin, Patrick, who lives in London and seems up for a get-together... yay for connections!
Sun, Feb 19 – leave London on a RyanAir morning flight to Dublin, Ireland. Potentially meet up with one of the Irish guys in Ariana’s PoliSci classes here in Strasbourg, to have a local show us around. Not sure where we’re staying yet.
Mon or Tues through Sat, Feb 25 – Make our way, via the long and sometimes unreliable but rather cheap bus system, down through various Irish towns, to Cork, in the South. Perhaps we’ll go straight to Cork and do day trips from there, or perhaps we’ll meander through a few other towns before then. Not sure yet. Ireland’s kind of blank slate at this point, with tons of recommendations of what to see but no coherent plan of how we’re going to do it...
Sat, Feb 25 – midday flight from Cork back to London (which cost a mere 12 euros, the cheapest of all the flights we snagged), for one more night, hopefully in a hostel close to the airport, because...
Sun, Feb 26 – 7:50 am RyanAir flight to Basel-Mulhouse, right on the France/German/Swiss border (officially in Swizterland?). This gives us a day to figure out how to take the hour-long train from Basel-Mulhouse back to Strasbourg, where we start up courses the next day.
Ambitious schedule? Yes indeed. But I think it’ll be good practice for the summer, though I think I’ll be doing more train travel come summer.
So if anyone has any final suggestions for what to see/do in Amsterdam, London, or around Ireland, leave a post! Given, we/I only have a matter of days in each place, but we’re planning to live it up as best we can!
posted by Melia at 5:45 AM
1 Comments:
yay for melia adventures! sounds like you are having a wonderful time.
to keep you up on BHS news...SPSP was awesome and WARM. 80 degrees and sunny when it is 40 degrees and torrential in Portland can't be argued with. Jess and Tess did a wonderful job of presenting. We kept seeing on these psych rockstars. hIlarious. ALSO--> saw the crazy tie-dye t-shirt guy fromt the mortality salience video. i have a funny story about him, but it's too complicated to write. but suffice it to say, he's just as crazy as he was in the video. AND he PRESENTED a symposia wearing green track shorts and a dingy 'white' adidas shirt. with regards to our study, WE ARE RUNNING! And we already have over 110 participants in Phase I. We have 27 participants in Phase II, which is ~70% response rate between the two phases. Incredible! But we miss you...
In Dublin, I would highly suggest the National Museum of Archaeology & History. One of my friends also liked the National Gallery, but I didn't go. Oh, and go to the park with Wilde's statue in it just so you can get pictures. Wander around and check out the colorful doors. The Guinness factory is a little overrated, but it's hard to resist, and you do get a wonderful view of the area when you reach the bar at the end for your "free" drink. If you are interested in slightly less-touristy, more local bars, check out "the celt" on Talbot street. Loved it. Good music (although i almost cried when they switched from Celtic ballads to Amerian country songs), a friendly bartender, and people who might just buy your drinks.
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