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Admittedly, I have a bit of a watch fetish. My overly-generous Nana (who is really far too sweet) gave me some money to buy something special to take back with me, so I decided to splurge it on this. Pierre Lannier is originally an Alsatian brand, and so not so surprisingly, this one was made in Alsace (which continues to be their largest factory). It's partially a skeleton watch and is fully automatic. I love the way it ticks when I hold it up to my ear. There's something about automatic watches that makes them so much more pleasing to watch and listen to.

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A shirt I found in a shop in the Place de la Cathédrale. "I don't need any sex, the State screws me every day." A bit crude, but absolutely French. The State is their lifeline, but also a source of a multitude of critical issues.

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Quick snaps of Bâle.

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My host family's cat, Croquette, whom I will also miss, especially her hungry mewing at 5:00 in the morning. She was a mischievous little thing, but a damned cute one at that.

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Swiss chocolates from Bâle. Mmm, right? They're presented so perfectly.

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In the event that I haven't stressed my love of French food enough, here's a picture of a Parisian pâtisserie near Maisons Lafitte. They wrap up your pastries delicately and box them up with a curly white ribbon wrapped around it.

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A view of the quai near my host mom's apartment, which also happens to be the view from my tram every morning. I loved to sit down by the water and draw, or just breathe it all in. It's one of my favorite places in the city.

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My farewell to Strasbourg was definitely bittersweet. I have a strong attachment to the city, yet the security of home is calling me back to Jacksonville. I'll miss its beautiful cobblestone streets and resonant cathedral bells, and its scenic quais and efficient trams, of course. Yet I'll especially miss its hospitable environment to international students, and naturally, my host family. I made a lot of friends from other countries during my stay, whether through clubbing, social events, or class itself, and I'm glad that I'll keep in contact with some of them. It was interesting speaking French as our common language, but it worked out considerably well. My host mother and I shared many hugs and tears before parting; it was strangely unreal. I didn't want to believe I wouldn't be returning (anytime in the foreseeable future) to have a café-au-lait together and discuss the news. At the very least, my last night seeing the cathedral was an eventful one. I had had a couple of drinks with my American and German friends, the world cup car parade that had roared through the street was finally over, and it was pleasantly cool and silent. The cathedral is even more breathtaking at night, illuminated to highlight all of its magnificent details. We walked back some ways together, speaking more English than French, but having good conversation nonetheless. It's moments like these I will remember the most.

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Le vol qui dure longtemps

Much has happened since my journey to Bâle. I found myself more and more reluctant to make blog posts. I became busier and busier as the trip came to an end. The time flew by, and suddenly here I am at the Miami airport, so close to home.

Unfortunately, my travel experience hasn't been the smoothest. To begin with, our hotel room key broke the night before our departure, and it was 1AM by the time we got it fixed. The next morning, the RER tram in Paris was running at a snail pace (and packed just as tightly as a busy Parisian metro). We (Cindi, my travel buddy, and I) had to jump through some hoops with security to make it through and board our flight in time. When we arrived to Miami, we were told that there would be a 25 minute delay until our plane could reach a gate. It ended up being over an hour. Our flight was delayed as well, but it wasn't delayed enough; we ran past 22 gates to try to reach it in time, but we were 2 minutes too late. After waiting 45 minutes in line, we were able to acquire new boarding passes for 7:50AM the next day, for a flight I'm about to board now. We were given no compensation for their mistakes, despite our various pleas and complaints, and thus spent the night attempting to sleep with our bags on the floor. We had been awake for 22 hours, but it was still difficult to sleep. Fortunately, however, Starbucks (something I've definitely missed) came to our rescue, and our caffeinated bodies are prepared for the journey home. Cindi got a quad latte. (She regularly drinks 4 shots of espresso every morning!)

Well, off we go to board the plane. Hoping nothing else unfortunate happens.

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Un voyage à Bale, Suisse

Last weekend, me and a couple of friends decided we'd hop on over to Switzerland, seeing as we finally had a free day to do something significant. We bought a group ticket and took a train over there. The trip only took a little over an hour, surprisingly enough. Strasbourg is decently close to Switzerland. We visited the city of Bâle, having no idea what to expect, and further, what to do when we arrived. It was a bit shocking to us that most everyone there spoke German or English; we were hoping to use more of our French. In fact, I think that Bâle marks the only place where we've been extraordinarily thankful when the shopkeepers spoke French. It was a little distressing that there were no ATMs to withdraw Swiss francs; maybe we got a bit spoiled by all of the BNP Paribas machines in Strasbourg (and Paris). Strangely enough, many shops accepted our euros (in bills only, no coins) and gave us Swiss francs as change. I suppose it's somewhat efficient that way, seeing as they aren't a part of the European Union, but they still get a lot of tourists.

We ended up deciding to walk through the streets and visiting the shops, seeing as we didn't have enough Francs to visit the museum (nor did it interest us; it seemed to be a bit disorganized and uneventful. They were featuring a Star Wars event of some sort, yet it's a historical museum. I'm not sure I understood their intention though holding such an event.) Nonetheless, there were several little shops that interested us, one of which (perhaps surprisingly) was a Christmas shop. It was selling a variety of Christmas ornaments, quirky cuckoo clocks, and authentic Victorinox swiss army knives. I'm happy to say that I returned home to Strasbourg with a 13-function swiss army knife of my own. We also visited a quaint little chocolate shop (which is actually a Swiss chain called Läderach), in which I spoke an awkward combination of broken German and simplified English to come out with a small bag of expensive (but delicious) chocolate. The smell of the entire building was a lovely combination of white chocolate, milk chocolate, almonds, hazelnuts, and caramel. I felt like I was in a fairytale—Hansel and Gretel to be exact. I wanted to buy out the whole store.

It wasn't a very eventful day there, but I was satisfied with my purchases, and very grateful that I had the opportunity to visit Switzerland. I was looking forward to plopping down into my train seat, and my travel buddies seemed to be sharing this sentiment as we made the hike back. All was going well until we noticed that the next train to Strasbourg got cancelled, and then the next. Soon after that, we began to realize that it was every French train being cancelled. We saw a digital red notice sign that told us of "delays" being experienced in France at the moment, which we realized were from the strikes occurring at the SNCF, the company that runs the trains. Drivers and conductors have been on strike, for reasons likely related to workers' rights, but I can't seem to determine exactly what it is they're protesting. If there is anything I have discovered, however, it is that the French truly do not hesitate to make themselves heard and noticed when need be; I've witnessed four protests since I arrived here. Two protesting the recent elections and the dominance of the National Front, one stressing the importance of the arts and demands for more employment in the field, and now this. I can appreciate their ability to speak up when need be; however, admittedly, it can inconvenience a lot of people sometimes (such as when the protestors blocked tram passageways, rendering it impossible to use them for transport for some time, and now, the trains). I also find myself questioning how serious some of the strikes are, especially when they involve high school students smiling and giggling while marching through the street with their signs.  Nevertheless, we were fortunate enough to have a train make it back to Bâle that night, and we returned safely to Strasbourg without any issues. I also visited Kehl, Germany today for a brief moment, of which I hope to blog about later.

À la prochaine!

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The Louvre from the outside. It's a pretty magnificent building, but I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of the pyramids.

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Montmartre Cemetery (one of my favorite places in Paris) as well as the graves of Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Baudelaire, and Durkheim (whose grave is surprisingly simple).

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Arc de triomphe. It's much more impressive in person than it is in photos. This one surprised me with how intricately detailed it is (it's also massive).

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Eiffel Tower and friends.

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Paris: La ville de tourisme et désordre

Reflecting back on my trip to Paris, it was one I both loved and dreaded. I learned that visiting the traditionally touristy places didn't do much for me; if anything, it stressed me out. There were too many other tourists. Instead, it was the places I hadn't initially given thought to that I enjoyed the most. Our group was on a very tight, limiting schedule for the 4 days that we were there. Fortunately, there was one day that we were given a generous portion of free time to do as we pleased. I didn't want to go to the Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, or the Orsay. In fact, I had no idea what I wanted to do once I discovered that the Catacombs were closed that day. Some friends of mine suggested we go to the Montmartre cemetery. I'd heard about it, but hadn't entertained the idea previously. I'm glad that we decided to go there, because I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Émile Durkheim (a famous sociologist), Jean-Paul Sartre (a well-known philosopher and writer) as well as Charles Baudelaire (a remarkable poet) were all buried there.

Yet there was more to the cemetery that made it worth a visit. Most cemeteries are certainly calming, but this one was nicely organized with narrow walkways with beautiful trees and little benches. Despite how hectic Paris normally is this time of year, the birds were singing and you could hardly hear the cars rolling in the distance. The wind though the trees and the quiet murmuring of visitors was a comforting respite from the noises of city life.

After we finished up at the cemetery, we decided to head off to visit Napoleon's tomb at Les Invalides. I hadn't previously known anything about this place, but my odd fixation with death led me to go there. Never had I seen a tomb as ornate as this one. The entire building was made of marble. There were statues of Roman emperors that stretched to cover the walls (all of which, funnily enough, resembled Napolean himself). There was an ornate centerpiece decorated with gold and granite which portrayed the crucifixion. Napoleon's tomb itself was massive and made of beautifully carved wood. It was an unnecessarily large tomb for such an incredibly little man, but it suited the size of his ego perfectly. Though, to be fair, there are a few others buried in the building with him, none of whom I recognized.

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Mes "vacances" à Paris

Well, I had initially intended to blog during my stay at Paris, but due to a combination of fatigue and a poor quality WiFi connection, that didn't happen. This weekend flew by; the group visited a lot of places, took lots of photos, spent lots of money (Parisian food is expensive) and walked nearly 20,000 steps every day. Paris was (and wasn't) what I expected it to be. As I'd imagined, there was an overwhelming amount of history to be seen in the city, even things I didn't think existed anymore, including fragments of the old city wall. There were monuments and historical buildings that stunned me with their complexity and grandeur, as well as breathtaking artwork that I've heard of countless times, showcased in museums I was afraid I'd never visit. Unfortunately, there were a lot of obnoxious tourists and sketchy street vendors, as people have warned me about. The metro was definitely stinky and unpleasant, packed with people of innumerable origins and questionable intent. To me, it wasn't nearly the romantic city many Americans dream of. In fact, it was quite dirty, and there were many strange odors to be smelled in the streets. Not all of the food there was anything special; some cafés were outstanding and well-priced, while others were pricey and left much to be desired. Some people were patient and allowed me to speak French, while others immediately switched to English and were frustrated if I didn't follow suit (though perhaps understandably so; it probably makes it easier on them if I'm not speaking incomprehensible French).

Ultimately, I'm glad that I was able to visit the city, but it was a rather stressful visit; I think that Strasbourg is a much more reasonable place to be. I'll post some pictures and give more details later. I just returned "home" and I'm exhausted. Until next time!

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I decided to buy a sketchbook for my stay here, because I've felt inspired. How could I not be while surrounded with so much beauty, history, and other artwork? This is just a face I sketched from a quick image search, but I'm still glad that I did it. It'll be good to get myself into art again.