Melanie, living la bonne vie en France!: Un weekend fou.

Yet another crazy weekend!

I guess I’ll start on Friday. I woke up bright and early in order to catch our bus to Nancy. As soon as I stepped outside, I was reminded of Seattle as it was pouring rain. Happy Thanksgiving indeed. We arrived in Nancy around 10:30 am and were greeted by even more rain. After a brief introduction to the city, we were given time to look around the Musee des Beaux Arts near the main square. By far the coolest part of the museum was a small room that looked fairly inconspicuous until you entered. When you enter (only one at a time), you walk into a room covered in mirrors. Each wall, the ceiling, and even the back of the door are all covered in mirrors. The floor is actually a pool of water and you stand on a small platform. Then there are lights that could easily just be fancy Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling, but the mirrors make it look like there are thousands of lights surrounding you. It was really incredible and vaguely trippy. By noon, we were starving and ready for our feast. Beth and Ron, our two directors, led us to a small restaurant where we joined the other Lewis & Clark students studying in Nancy. Our Thanksgiving meal was wonderful, complete with salad, potatoes, yams, turkey, chestnut stuffing, and pumpkin pie. Plenty of wine as well… it may be an American tradition, but we are still in France after all. I ate far too much and had a great time with everyone here. After lunch, Laura and Clio, two of the LC Nancy students took us to the Artist’s Café where we got tea and sat in a turkey-induced stupor until it was time to go home. When we returned to Strasbourg, everyone went to their respective homes and I spent a relaxed night catching up on some TV shows from home.

Saturday I slept in and finally rolled out of bed to meet Sarah and Clif downtown. It was officially the first day of the Christmas Market here and let me tell you, Christmas in Strasbourg is a big deal. It’s the oldest and biggest Christmas Market in France and one of my professors likes to refer to it as “Disneyland”. I can see what she was getting at… walking through the market is completely overwhelming. The German tourists come out in full force and you can barely move through the hoards of people. Every stand is lit up with lights and decorated as a small wood cabin. There are tons of food vendors that sell vin chaud (hot wine) and other traditionally Alsatian/German food, whereas the other stands sell tchockies or handmade gifts. Personally, the vin chaud wasn’t as amazing as I was hoping it would be, but I’m a big fan of the overpriced roasted chestnuts. I can’t see myself getting that many gifts for people, just as a lot of it is useless trinkets, but I think I’ll be stocking up on Alsatian cookies and candy. Merry Christmas, have some French candy… After the market, we met up with Mike and stopped in at Chez Christian for some hot chocolate. Later that night, I grabbed a bite to eat at a vendor and we met up again to see a choir/organ concert at the Cathedral. It sadly wasn’t the warm Christmas concert I was hoping for (I think Northwest Girlchoir has spoiled me for the rest of my life), but it was good regardless. We left early to grab drinks and meet up with the rest of the group. I have discovered my new favorite beer: Delirium. It comes from Belgium and I’m going to have to hunt it down when I get to Portland. The rest of the night was a wonderfully blurry time filled with taking silly pictures, good friends, and dancing at a club on a barge in Petit France. Jill and I managed to find our way back home after walking across all of downtown Strasbourg late at night. What a good night.

Sunday morning I managed to get out of bed in time to meet for a trip to the Maginot Line with the Institute where we study. As usual, I slept on the bus and when I woke up we were out in the middle of the Vosges next to a French fortification from World War Two to keep out the Germans. Crazy how that happens here. Anyway, we were given the option of getting the tour in either French or English and I, stupidly, opted for the French tour. I really wish I could tell you all what the Maginot Line did exactly, but unfortunately I have no idea what our tour guide said. He had the thickest Alsatian/mountain accent I have heard since being here. Even my professor Isabelle who was born in Alsace couldn’t understand what he was saying. The next two hours were spent wandering around the underground fortifications and laughing at how confused we were. It wasn’t exactly a cheery place, though. I can’t imagine having to live there… soldiers were three to a bed and one hundred to a shower. Many got serious depression from lack of exposure to the sun. Still interesting, though. After the tour, we piled onto the bus again and drove to a local village where we had some tarte flambée and wine. When I finally got home I had some work to do for classes, which has recently become a foreign concept. Homework? Studying? What? I’m sorry, je ne comprends pas.

Only three days until I take off for Scotland! Hurrah! Now I just need to figure out the French bank system in order to withdraw Pounds... huh.