Bienvenue à Strasbourg!

Welcome to Strasbourg!


We arrived last Tuesday morning, after negotiating both the New York and the Paris airports. New York was uneventful except for an enormous security line. Paris involved a seemingly endless (at 5:40 am) trek through the airport and a shuttle ride to a different terminal. Customs was uneventful and Alex, our program's Strasbourg director met us at the airport. We went to the hostel where we were spending the first night and dropped our bags off. Here's a pic of the room I shared with two girls from our group. I just stood in one spot and took a picture one way and then the other. The beds were comfortable; the food was barely edible. Surprisingly, they had fresh, unripened dates in the creme brulée I had for desert. It was a welcome taste from home my first night away, though the creme brulée itself wasn't that great.

Alex showed us around the city that first day, but very little sank in and I didn't have my camera. He treated us to tarte flambée, which is pretty much pizza minus tomato sauce, for lunch. Tarte flambée traditionally has cheese, ham, onions, and mushrooms on it, if I remember correctly. I was so exhausted I could barely eat. After that, Alex took as back to the Ciarus (hostel) and we all crashed. 


In subsequent days Alex showed us more of the city, taught a history class in French about Alsace, and introduced us to the French university system. They are very last minute, posting schedules for classes less than a week before the semester. You have to go to the department offices to see the schedules - they aren't posted online. University is only 3 years, since their primary schooling lasts 17 years. And they don't really have liberal arts education - you study your subject only and your schedule is pretty much set for you in advance. Classes started this week and we've also discovered that they have a tendency to change rooms and schedules at the last minute. 


I, unfortunately, usually forget to take my camera out with me, so I don't have any pictures of the city yet. But I plan to go out with my camera on Saturday and take pictures. In the meantime, here are pictures from my house and the BCA (my program) office space.


This is the room where we had orientation and class.

This is the room where we tend to hang out, because the protestant chaplaincy and a business school in the same building use the other room for classes, too.

Another view of the same room - it's the left wall in the above picture. My shelf is the upper left - we see the remains of a baguette in a paper bag, my gloves, my cup (provided by Alex), which is sitting atop a few piano books. There's a piano in the building I can practice one, so I keep my books at the office.

Now for a tour of my apartment! Mme. Merceris tends to keep the apartment at the level of mood lighting, using lamps instead of the overhead lights. She had taken the dog, whom you shall meet presently, out for a walk, so I took the opportunity to turn on all the lights and take pictures. :-) This is looking into my room. 

This is the view as soon as you walk in the door. My bedrooms is to the left, just before the table. Mme. Merceris' (my hostess) bedrooms is after the table to the left. The white door is a closet. The open door where you can see a bookcase is the sitting room. Bathroom to the right through the archway. Kitchen to the immediate right, before the desk.

Kitchen! We usually eat by the light of a lamp just to the left of the door (you can't see it), but I turned on the overhead for the picture. Refrigerator and a counter is around the corner to the right.

Sitting area! As you can see, Mme. Merceris prefers modern decor. She is an interior designer.

 Bathroom(s)! The toilet is behind the door to the right, all else is in front.

Returning to my room, my bed, which is to the left of the door. 

Voila the beagle! Elliot (pronounced more like eel-y-oat) investigating my violin.

 A tail-wagging investigation of the camera case...

 A frontal view. :-)

Mme. Merceris had gone out without him; generally, she takes him along. He is heartbroken every time she leaves him, whining, howling, and sometimes barking. He's standing on a beanbag chair staring hopefully out the window, anxious for her return. Generally, after some coaxing and petting, he settles down next to me for several minutes, but then runs around the apartment whining and trying to find her. Repeat. She's had him all his four years of life, so he's fairly attached. 

And finally, a picture from my first adventure. Amelia and I set out to explore the town and after visiting the cathedral and eating lunch, we got set out for the university. We got lost on the way, and though we're not entirely sure where we were, we're fairly certain we wandered through one of the two sketchy neighborhoods in town, Neuhorf. When we arrived on campus we set out to find a particular building Alex had shown us. We wandered for a long time before asking for directions. Turns out, we were right next to it when we asked for directions and had wandered past it a few times. But now, we will never forget where it is! We walked for upwards of 3 hours that afternoon and the walk home seemed like ages. Here's a picture of the building, complete with broken glass, which has now been replaced. 

Presently, I shall persuade Amelia to let me take a picture of her so you can see who I wandered with!


If you persevered this far, you'll be glad to know that future posts will be shorter as I'll hopefully post often enough to cover a couple days at a time, instead of two weeks at a time!


À toute à l'heure!