New International Friends and a Valentine's Day in Strasbourg

Parisians are very difficult people to convince. That is my lesson I've learned from the past week. Most of my days have been consumed lately by trying to get train tickets to visit Brett in Germany and France. This has proved to be impossible, impossible, impossible.

My struggles started when I found out that I need to reserve a seat to use my railpass. Next, I found out it is impossible to do this online, so I had to go to the train ticket store to reserve a seat. At the train store, I stumbled around in my French trying to tell them I need to get to Freiburg (they pronounce it Free-burg, for some reason). After a long confusing conversation with them, I decide to purchase tickets to Free-burg, and reserve a seat to Strasbourg for last Sunday. "Impossible, impossible, impossible" they said. Apparently, there is only one car on every French train reserved for railpass holders and once that car fills up, there is no chance my railpass will work. They love to say the word "impossible". After demanding that I get to Strasbourg this weekend using my railpass, not leaving the desk after they say "impossible", and coming nearly to tears in their office, they look one more time and find a seat for me. It is a crazy system they have where at one moment, there is nothing available, but the next moment, there are plenty of seats.

So I got my seat to Strasbourg after over an hour arguing in the train store. Unfortunately, I would arrive there Sunday at 3pm, and have to leave at 8pm. But, Brett and I decided that we'd still have fun even though I only had a few hours in Strasbourg. My first time on the high speed bullet train was exciting! I actually got to see some French country side and the woman speaking next to me was very eager to speak French to me. The trip passed quickly; it was only about 2 hours.

Brett was standing at the platform in Strasbourg with a rose for Valentine's day. We went to the river in town that lines the German style architecture on the streets and had some champagne on a bench. After, we went to a cafe, then wandered around town. Because it was Sunday, it was a bit quiet, but still a charming little city. We saw a massive cathedral with a man playing guitar in front of it. The cathedral reminded me of the detailed walls of the Notre-Dame, complete with gargoyles and gothic looking people. After walking around, we went to a restaurant and had steak-frites (steak and french fries). It was a delicious dinner, and I was shocked to see how "cheap" everything was in Strasbourg compared to Paris.

After my few hour adventure with Brett, I had to hop on the TGV back to Paris. I brought the rose all the way back with me and it is sitting on top of my dresser. I arrived in Paris at about 10pm, and slept in yesterday because my earliest class was at 2:15.

Yesterday, after class, I went to the movie theater with a Paris international club that I joined. It is for young people that are from different countries. It was my first time out with the club, and I have to say it was a very fun time. We saw the film Eden a L'Ouest, about an illegal immigrant from Greece trying to get to Paris. I really enjoyed it. At the end, he traveled through Paris, and went by all the places I've been the last few weeks.

As a side note, speaking of films, Gran Torino has made it to Paris! The poster is all over the subway stations and pretty much any open wall. It doesn't open until the end of the month, but I think I should go to see it again, just because I can. I can't believe a little piece of Michigan is in Paris.

Anyway, after watching the film yesterday, I went with the club to a cafe to chat in French. We stayed there for 3 hours! I met an Austrian, someone from Sevilla, Spain, a Parisian, and an Italian. We all spoke in our mangled French and it was really a fun experience. They were all in Paris for different reasons, some for work, some for school. I enjoyed their company, and felt like a true world citizen with so many different countries at one table. I also think the experience helped my confidence in French, because tonight at dinner with my host family, I found myself speaking more fluidly. I'm pretty sure I'll go out with the club often, because it really helps me to perfect my French.

I had another wonderful dinner with my host family tonight. The Bexons like to hunt, which reminds me of Michigan and its many hunters. They were telling me about the animals they saw while hunting, but I didn't understand most of the words they were saying, and they didn't know how to translate the specific animal words in English. So M. Bexon tried to draw what they were describing and it turns out he has horrible drawing skills. I had no idea what he drew. It looked like a kiwi bird, but it also looked like Big Bird from Sesame Street. So we remained for the rest of the evening lost in translation...

Tomorrow, I'm going with my art history class to the Louvre for my first time. I'm pretty excited. We are going to see an exhibit by Nicolas Poussin, who is supposedly the leader of classicism. It should be interesting, and I'll have to update everyone about the experience.

This weekend, I'm traveling again, oh goodness! I'm going to Freiburg to see Brett, again. It's so lucky that we get to see each other so often, but also I still have time to see everything in Paris. I'm spending spring break in Freiburg just hanging out with Brett. We decided not to travel to save money, and I'm going to get a small regional pass to see the area around Freiburg in Germany, Switzerland, and France. As for other travel plans, I've been seriously considering a weekend trip to Loch Lomond, because I found a really affordable ticket there. It's kind of crazy, but I really want to see Scotland, because it is the homeland.

Well, time for bed. I have to wake up early tomorrow to do homework and get a youth pass to the Louvre. Until next time...

Leah