USA USA USA

In Chicago! One more jump and then home sweet home!!
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The Pompidou and Home

Here are some pictures from the cool new art museum in Metz. We went there yesterday for our last day trip.

I'm starting my journey home! Wish me luck! :)
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Home

Leaving France for the good old USA tomorrow morning!! I'm so excited to be leaving, even though it's been a wonderful experience. Like my peers, I'm just ready to get outta here!

Hopefully I will be able to secure a taxi and actually wake up to catch it. :) I can't wait to see everybody!!
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One Down...

One to go!
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Last weekend

So this is my last week here at GTL, and so far I've given a presentation in high-pitched clipped French, given/received the high fives signifying the completion of our big def bods project, and put off studying for statistics just a liiiiittle bit longer.

I've got a giant pile of laundry in the floor of my dorm, waiting impatiently for me to acknowledge it, and a kitchen and bathroom that need a good scouring. I'm afraid to investigate the interior of my fridge, and I'll probably forget to clean something and get fined for it.

But my main concern, of course, besides sleeping through an exam, is making my flight on Friday to head home. I miss America--the food, the air conditioning, and more important things like my family and our way of life.

It's been a good experience studying in France. I set out to try new things and understand other cultures--it has both made me grow as a person and appreciate my own heritage more acutely than ever. I'm proud of who I am and where I come from, and now I feel I can say that with true honesty.

Only a few more days and two exams left! Then home and family and then camping and beach before going back to my familiar life in the ATL. :)

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More Prague

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Prague

For our last big weekend trip of the summer, we decided to go to Prague, the "city of a thousand spires," or something to that effect. The architecture is beautiful--it ranges from cubist to gothic to modern--and the city is full of fun stuff to do.

Our train ride was pretty nice; we had one of the best sleeper car experiences (probably because it was a German train instead of French). We arrived in the morning on Saturday to drizzly weather and a bleak street, but we soon hopped a tram and headed to "breakfast" at a nice restaurant. It was more of a sit-down dinner type setting, and the place seemed great for swing dancing--pretty hard wood floors and an old mic standing on the raised platform at the front.

We took a nap at the hostel and then headed out. We ate dinner at the Budweiser beer hall (that serves the original Budweiser) and then went to a jazz lounge where we listened to a great quartet. The singer and the pianist were both from New York, and the bassist and drummer were Czech. I thoroughly enjoyed their sound. Afterwards, we met up with some other Techies and walked all over town.

On Sunday we ate breakfast and headed into town for a free walking tour of the city that went through the old and new sides and the Jewish section. We took lots of pictures and met some people who live in Atlanta (weird!) and some engineers.

After we hit up some gift shops we ate dinner at a traditional Czech restaurant. We walked across town to this bowling place we thought would be open, only to discover it was dark and deserted. But after a minute or two of fiddling with the Crackberry, we found a tiny local bowling alley and bar.

It was eerily quiet as we descended into the little basement, and at first the lady looked at us loud Americans like we were crazy, but we finally convinced her we were there to bowl. The lanes lit up and the music came on and we basically had our own private (and cheap) bowling party. It was a ton of fun.

We woke up this morning and headed out to see the side of town across the river. We walked over the Charles Bridge which is lined on both sides with (convincing replicas) of old statues and various street performers (including a marionette guy).

We found the Lennon Wall, a small wall hidden back among some cobbled streets that is dedicated to the life and work of John Lennon. It started as a protest wall against communism and coined the term "Lennonism" which is cool because it's the opposite of "Leninism." Next to the wall is a little bridge with tons of master locks and combination locks and bike locks--any lock you could imagine--that newlyweds have left on the railings. :)

The Prague "castle" wasn't really a castle, just a big collection of buildings including the one where the President lives or hangs out when he's in town. We climbed up a big set of steps (nearly killed me) to the top. There was a great view of the city--miles and miles of spires and towers and all colors of rooftops.

We randomly met up with the same Techies there and then saw the changing of the guard before we walked through the castle area. On the way back down we went through a vineyard and then stopped at a place off the street for dinner before getting a delicious cinnamon-roll-like street vendor treat and booking it to the train station.

Prague was a really great trip--it felt like we were here for a week instead of just 3 days because of all the stuff we managed to cram in. Good last big trip. :)
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Amsterdam

On the train back from Amsterdam, through Brussels to Metz. Amsterdam was quite an interesting place--neat architecture, lots of canals, the whole Red Light District experience... Let's just say that wasn't my favorite part. But I enjoyed the trip and would recommend going there.

We had a layover in Brussels on the way to Amsterdam so we walked around and found a bustling square with a huge farmers' and clothes market and food stands. I got a bratwurst with sweet grilled onions and mustard, and it was delicious. Then I bought a cute purple dress (that randomly happened to be made in Paris.. or at least that's what the tag says) for 5 euros to wear to the concert on Sunday. We found a waffle place, and I got a chocolate-covered authentic Belgian waffle. Nothing back home can top that masterpiece of food.

When we got to Amsterdam, we checked into our hostel, a nice place with breakfast included and TV. Then we went out to eat. There are, bizarrely, lots of Argentinian restaurants in Amsterdam. After dinner we walked through the Red Light District and saw lots of prostitutes and sleazy shops. It was kind of corny actually--I don't know why but it felt like a weird, creepy carnival. Afterwards, a couple of us went to a bar with live jazz music, a small but comfortably crowded place--it made me crave for swing dancing back in Atlanta.

I had a lot of fun at the awesome concert festival, Zwarte Cross, that we went to all day yesterday. We saw Airbourne, an Australian band that sounded kind of like AC/DC exploding inside your brain (their speaker volume was high enough to induce chest pain); the Mahones, a Canadian Irish rock band; the Skatalites (yay!!); and Papa Roach, who looked like he's morphing into a fatty Adam Lambert.

The festival was in a big field and was full of people and littered with a carpet of trash (from all the concessions). There were a surprising number of little kids there, but hey, I guess it was a family kind of event... with tons of beer. This ended up being the best weekend for hearing good music. I really enjoyed it all.

This morning some of us got up early and went around town again, ending up at one of the parks with an "I amsterdam" sign. We took our tourist pictures and then headed to the train station.

Our last big trip is Prague!! Yay for making the USD go a long way!

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Hair pics!

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Hair

Getting my hair done tomorrow... Wish me luck! Will try to post pics soon.
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Normandy and Paris, Day 2

On Sunday we woke up early again and headed to the metro to hop a train to Versailles. It was a good thing we got there when we did; like Rick Steves says in his most recent Europe travel book, Versailles is a "zoo." There were crowds upon crowds of swarming people, and those prone to claustrophobic panic attacks should stay far away from this place.

We got into the already formidable line and checked our bags, stepped back out into the heat and started our tour. We went into the palace first, going into one of the many hallways. There were about a bajillion rooms, each full of frescos and portraits and gilded knick-knacks. There was the Hall of Mirrors; I enjoyed the chandeliers the most--there were a ton of them hanging down from ornate ropes, all in perfect rows down the hall. Then there was Marie-Antoinette's bedroom, which was packed through of pushing and shoving people all trying to get a picture of her rather ordinary-looking stuff. I remember there being several hallways with busts and sculptures of famous people, including Charlemagne, Voltaire, L'Hopital, Descartes, and Russeau. There was another hallway with a magnificent arched skylight that housed a ton of giant war paintings, some of which depicted Napoleon riding his horse.

After this maze of a palace finally ended, we went out onto the scorching hot grounds to see the gardens. It seemed like everybody and his brother had a garden--the king had one, the queen too (probably because they needed to get away from each other from time to time so they could scheme in peace). There were fountains and sculptures and large basins full of stagnant water, flowers planted in incredibly detailed patterns, a musical fountain show (a new installment, no doubt), perfectly trimmed trees, and miles and miles of hedged pathways. It would have been a nightmare to get lost in there; it was a good thing we had a map.

There wasn't time to see the Marie-Antoinette estate, but we felt like we saw plenty of good stuff. We all met outside the palace in front of this big horse statue, and then (of course) sought out the nearby McDonalds for a much needed iced drink.

We headed back into Paris to meet our LBAT friends Abby and Dan, and then headed to Cafe Delmas, a neat little cafe with really tasty ice cream. I am constantly deprived of decent vegetables here so I got a Caesar salad, and it had beautiful thin slices of parmesan cheese and nice cruncy croutons. Abby and I split a strawberry/chocolate/praline ice cream, and it was good down to the last spoonful.

The LBATers split off to go to the Eiffel Tower to watch a movie, and we headed back to the train station, where we saw (gasp) yet another one-legged pigeon! The first one we saw was in front of the Monte Carlo Casino, and we named him "Nubby." Nubby's bretheren pigeon at Saint-Lazare was even less fortunate--he had a stump plus a few mangled toes on his other foot. Maybe he got them caught in those creepy anti-landing spikes that adorn the support beams and store signs of public places... At least he looked happy, pigeoning along like pigeons do.

The train ride back was surprisingly short--it could be that I'm finally getting used to the constant traveling. Too bad there's only a few weeks left. Our next two trips are to Amsterdam for a big music festival, and then to Prague.

Sorry for not posting pictures yet! They will be up soon--my internet is out in my dorm and it's driving me up the wall...