Happy Holidays everybody!
Well, today is January 9th, 2007. Can anyone believe that? I’ve been in France since September 1st. That’s 4 months. My program finishes on January 25th and I’ll be flying home on February 17th. My friend Sarah and I are going to travel for three weeks after our program ends. We’re in the process of getting that figured out. Anyway, that’s the plan. My classes are pretty much finishing up by now. My Marketing class is completely over - we took the final exam before winter break (the results of which I should find out soon). My other classes are more or less nonexistent. My European civ class continues with the other international kids. My French classes with M. Faure have pretty much fizzled out. We just have tests/papers/projects until the end. Project Pépinière continues, but more or less without me. My ICRP and violin lessons continue as well. That’s that.
I just got in yesterday from my winter break travels. Here’s an overview of what I’ve been up to. I promise not to do an in-depth report like I did for Italy.
Dec 21-25: These days were spent in Bonn, Germany with my K pal Suzy, who is studying at the Uni Bonn and has an apartment there. We spent a day in Cologne exploring the cathedral and the Christmas markets, which was much too fun. Their Christmas markets are intense and put the one in Cl-Fd to shame. We putzed around Bonn as well, but mostly just lazed around watching Grey’s Anatomy and several movies. On Christmas Eve, we cooked up mom’s recipe for roast beef and Yorkshire pudding – a Topping family Christmas tradition. Against all odds, it turned out to be extremely delicious, and just what we needed. Christmas Day we made a huge breakfast for ourselves. The rest of the day was entirely spent cooking up a storm. Suzy invited a few of her friends who were homeless for the holiday and we fed them a feast. One must understand that Suz and I are not the most experienced in the kitchen. We took on a gigantic meal, however, including turkey with cranberry/apple/sausage stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, a goat cheese and pear salad, mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade rolls, and a gingerbread cake with orange glaze. I’m sure I’m forgetting something. All was made by scratch. I just have to say that I am extremely proud of us, because it all tasted delicious, even after smelling it in the kitchen all day. Suz and I joke that we cooked as an act of self preservation so that we wouldn’t dwell on the fact that we weren’t home with the fam. I was able to skype my family on Christmas though, which was really really nice. Actually, it was excellent. I really like those people.
Dec 25-30: Suz and I took a train to Munich, where I think the highlight was the bräuhäuses we ate at every night. For those who are fans of German beer, we visited/drank at/ate at Löwenbräu, Züm Dümbräu, Augustiner, and Paul something or other. We visited Häfbräuhäus but did not eat there because it was way too busy. I’m sure I’ve got my umlauts in all the wrong places. Anyway, I ate lots of delicious German food and drank lots of delicious German beer. We hopped on a train one of the days and visited Neuschwanstein, which is Mad King Ludwig II’s castle that he designed and dedicated to Richard Wagner and that Disney supposedly used as a model for its castle. We also took a daytrip to Dachau concentration camp. That was pretty difficult to see, but fortunately we had an excellent guide. I’m glad I did it.
Dec 30- Jan 1: Suz and I met up with Sarah and her family at the apartment they rented in Paris. The 31st was the Musée d’Orsay’s 20th birthday, and as a result, anyone age 20 got in for free. Well, it was Sar’s, Suz’s, and my lucky day! We spent a long time in there and then headed to the Rodin museum afterwards. We did New Years Eve on the Champs Elysées right below the Arc de Triomphe, where we lost Sarah’s brother Dave in the crowd. That was terrifying. Other than that, it was really cool to be there. We walked home along the Seine and watched the Eiffel Tower for a while. People flooded the streets for the occasion, and there were fireworks and corks flying all over the place. It was pretty neat.
Jan 1- Jan 4: The three of us took a train to Amboise, which is a town in the Loire Valley not far from Tours. We decided to spend a few days seeing some of the Châteaux de la Loire. We managed to see Chenonceaux (le chateaux des dames) and Clos Lucé (where da Vinci spent the last three years of his life), then moved onto a town called Blois, where we managed to see Chambord (an architectural marvel).
Jan 4 – Jan 7: We then headed to Dijon (Bourgogne), where we ate ourselves stupid for a few days straight. Don’t be fooled by that crap they sell in Farmer Jack called Dijon mustard. That stuff is nothing compared to the real stuff, which burns your mouth, makes you cry, and cleans out your sinuses. Other regional specialties included coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon, and escargot. Food is not all that they do in Bourgogne. Bourgogne (or Burgundy) is a very important wine region, producing mostly pinot noirs and chardonnays. 20 minutes away from Dijon is Beaune, which is home to several wine caves. We visited the wine museum, and toured two caves (one of which was over 5 km long). Between both tours/degoustations, we tasted 13 wines and several other types of alcohols, including a couple crèmes de cassis. Oy vey. I learned so much, and then forgot most of it. I’m kidddding. I picked up a tastevin though, which is pretty cool. It’s a little silver cup that is traditionally used in Bourgogne for degoustations.
Whelp, that more or less sums up my two and a half weeks of travels over winter break! It was a lot of fun but my wallet it sure feeling a lot lighter these days! I hope I have enough to get me through until the end! Time to get serious and finish up so that I can get out of here! Hope all is well and I’m still missing everyone at home! Teuß
