Weekend #2: Valfréjus, France

Week two of classes was a lot different from week one. I actually had class MTWR, what a drag. It's kind of weird not getting out of class until 8pm some nights. But the weeks go by so quickly since we only have class four days a week.

So this past weekend we decided to go skiing/snowboarding in the French Alps. I had never done either before, so it was interesting, haha. Our train left at 6am on Friday, but some people had to leave at 9pm the night before because of problems with making reservations. On the way, our first train had brake problems (we've had train problems both weekends so far, I hope this doesn't become a trend), delaying us about an hour and a half and making us miss our second train. We finally made it to Modane around 4pm, and took a taxi up a mountain to where we were staying in Valfréjus. This was the view from our window -

We didn't really do anything Friday night, just went and rented our equipment for the next day. Some people took their boards out and snowboarded on the closed slopes until they got chased off by a snowmobile, but I waited until the morning.

We got an early start on Saturday morning. I started off snowboarding (or attempting to), and I did that for about 3 hours or so. After lunch, I decided I should switch to skiing, since I wasn't getting the hang of snowboarding. With zero lessons and few tips, I got down the green slope on my first try without falling! I skied the rest of the day, and felt like I got the hang of it fairly well. I actually tried to go down a blue slope at the end of the day, but I wiped out right at the beginning and decided to call it quits.

We left on Sunday around 1pm and didn't get back to Metz until 8am Monday. We had a layover in Strasbourg from midnight to 6am. And apparently the station there closes from 1am to 4:45am. Perfect, right? So we found the one restaurant that was open (although apparently they were just about to close, and stayed open an hour later just for us), then found a bar to hang out in until they closed at 3:30am. After that, we just walked around and tried to stay warm until 4:45am. Once the station opened, we found a bench and slept as best as we could until we could board our train at 6am. Needless to say, everyone was exhausted when we got home, and I still haven't caught up on my sleep.

So overall, Ski Trip '11 was a success!

This weekend: Berlin

Weekend #1: Luxembourg and Belgium

The first week of classes was uneventful. I only actually had one class, since the rest were canceled. So the first week didn't really feel like school at all. It was spent meeting people, having parties in the dorm, and exploring Metz.

I didn't travel anywhere until the weekend after classes started. We were planning on going to Luxembourg for two days. I went to Luxembourg Friday morning, and we discovered that there is not a whole lot to do there. We walked around, and it was a pretty place, but the one thing we were actually going to do, tour a castle, didn't happen because it was closed. So we ended up heading back to Metz Friday night.

While on the train back to Metz, I made plans with some other people to go to Belgium the next day. So on Saturday we left bright and early for Bruges. One of our trains on the way was delayed an hour, so we had to figure out the train system very quickly and find a new way there, but we eventually made it, just a little later than planned.

Bruges is gorgeous. It's a city full of canals, beautiful architecture, and fun shops. One thing to note: In Bruges, everything is in Dutch. When we arrived, we thought the signs were in German, and it took us a while to figure out that it was really Dutch. But most people spoke English, which was nice.

While in Bruges, we decided we were only allowed to eat/drink 4 things:

• Waffles
• Chocolate
• Beer
• Fries

And we did eat all of those at some point. And they were incredible. I have to put up a picture of the waffle because it was the most amazing creation on Earth -

So in Bruges, we stayed at a hostel (my first!) called Bauhaus, which had a bar in it. While there, we had plans to:

• Climb the 366 steps of the Belfort, a clock tower
• Go on a canal tour
• Visit the chocolate museum

Out of those, we were only able to climb the tower, since they only do canal tours when it's warmer and the chocolate museum was closed that week for renovations. The Belfort was cool though. When we finally reached the top, we were treated to an incredible view -

After that, we just walked around the city and bought some chocolate and headed home Sunday night. I love Bruges! It was a great weekend. I might need to go back sometime to buy more chocolate; I'm almost out. :)

Metz

I left Atlanta on January 5th, and after a 9 hour plane ride to Zurich, a shuttle to the train station, a 4 1/2 hour train ride, and a taxi, I arrived in Metz, France on January 6th.

I live in a bright red hallway, which is kind of neat. I have my own room, with my own bathroom and kitchenette. I like Metz, but it seems like the sun is hardly ever out and it rains all the time. We've walked around downtown Metz a few times, and it is a very cool place. France is gorgeous.

The local supermarket here is called Cora, and its like a Super Super Super Walmart. It has its own cafeteria, passport photo place, and hair salon (apparently, although I haven't found it yet). Things that are different in Metz:

• To rent a grocery cart, you have to put a euro in that you get back when you return it.
• When you get fruits and vegetables, you have to go to a lady in the store who weighs them and places a price tag on them, instead of them doing it at the register.
• They have tons and tons of cheese, and even have a cheese bar in the store
• Meat is really expensive; ham comes in packs of 4 or 6 slices, and it costs as much as a pound would cost in the States
• They don't refrigerate their milk

Needless to say, it's been an interesting three weeks in Metz so far.

Blog

I decided I should make a blog to keep track of my time in Europe. I know I'm about three weeks late, but I'll try to sum up what I've already done and then keep it up to date. So this way I can keep track of everything I've done, and if anyone else is interested then they can read as much or as little as they like. Enjoy!

Also, I'm uploading all of my pictures onto Photobucket. It takes too long to upload pictures onto here, so just go look at them there.