Long Overdue

Well, long overdue: my account of the Strasbourg trip...
I hadn't slept well the night before, so I started out the (long) bus ride with just a few moments of lucidity (oh, we are in Luxembourg now? Welcome to France?). What little I saw was beautiful landscape... Once we arrived in France, we went to the concentration camp Struthof-Natzwiller. It was really terrible to see for myself the places and the explanations about what went on there. Then we went to Obernai, the town in which we were to stay. I decided to room with Britany, an american girl interning at the EU parliament. It was a really nice hotel room with wirless (yes!) and one bed (gasp). Yes, mom, two teeny beds pushed together doesn't two beds make! So we got cozy, she snored, I laid there in despair, etc. That night we went to a restaurant and a bunch of us tried "tarte fambe" a sort of really thin pizza that is typical of the region. That was day one. Day two we went to a beautiful village, Riquewihr (the germana influence is everywhere here in this part of France). It is called the most beautiful town in france, and i would believe it. it was completely picturesque and adorable... then we went to 'Les caves de Beblenheim', which included a wine tasting. The lady kept giving us rounds so quickly that soon I was talking loudly about Obama and the day i met clinton... Imagine that. 6 rounds of a (not small) glass of different wines. after a while we were like "oh la la , oui c'est tres treshhhh bon!) needless to say i thought i should buy three bottles and i hope they are of the best one that we tried. Then we went to Strausbourg, which after the quaint village seemed dirty and boring... But that could have also been the hangover. So we went and ate a tarte flambe, just in case this was the last time that we would have the chance! Then a borrring boat ride took us through the city explaining what each and every bridge represented... The cool part of that is that we passed through a key and had to change levels to be brought up to the upper level of the river. Then we had dinner with Said, the EU Parliament Member (MEP). And, you guessed it! had tarte flambe (plus salad, cheese, wine, cake and bread...) It was nice! The next and final day we saw the plenary session of the parliament, which was really cool! That day they gave out an award for La silence de Lorna, a french movie that is apparently good, so rent it if you get a chance!
This saturday I am going with Francis and Tantan to Luxembourg to see it properly and then in 10 days paul arrives and we go to pareee!!
BTW, for those of you coming (really this is just to quiz you and make sure you read the whole entry. Yes, mom, i know YOU do!!) you should bring gloves, hat etc... it is getting cold!
Kisses, e

HAPPINESS

I am uploading just a few teasers from Strasbourg and my celebration of life pictures1 I will make a proper blog on the trip during my next week, since I have it completely off of school and I dont work. I may have a few minutes in there between my jaunt to Luxembourg and my musings at a cafe! I wish you were all here. Anyway today I am the happiest ever and I hope that you all know how much you mean to me and that we all need to take care of ourselves and enjoy life fully! HERES TO YOU!

Ardennes

I went to Ardennes, a region in the south of Belgium (that extends into Luxembourg and France). It is in the french speaking part of the country -which was NICE- and I was only 10 minutes from France! I would have been sad but turns out that I am going there on Monday for a three day excursion to Strasbourg to see the EU Parliament, wine taste, cave dwell and boatride and then see a concentration camp. Should be intense!Anyway, back to today. We went first to a cave (do you sense a trend?) which was really cool with some humongo stalag-whatevers... see pics. In the middle of the cave excursion we were treated to a lights and music show in a huge cavern and then were taken out by boat. BRR. Then we went on a 45 minute hike where I ended up walking with an italian girl and practicing my italian. That was cool and all until I realized that she kept surreptiously taking pictures of me. I am scared that she thought I was really really cute. Anyway also met a Canadian boy who is really smart about history and spoke 5 languages. So we were alternating between french, english, italian and spanish. What a mess! But really fun, although, mamma mia, il mio italiano e miserable! So the hike was beautiful and it was nice to see some form of elevation again! Then we went to a really cool castle that may or maynot have the cross that Christ was crucified on...
That is all I have time to type for now, Myra is IMing me, Paul texting me, Myra wanting to skype... AYAYAY.
PS. Those beautiful gloves are from my mom and they radiate the love of a mother.
XO

Francis' BDay

Hi! Quick post to show the pics from last night. We went out to Mexican and then dancing. Talked about the Gaza strip, Bush, Saudi Arabia and oil etc... My friends are really interesting. Today I went to STUK (means peace in Dutch, apparently) and is a coffee house/bar with music and fast internet. Watched two episodes of The Hills, in order to make sure that I dont get too too smart with all this philosophising and what with me becoming a theologian and all... The pics are of downtown Leuven (as downtown as a small town can have) and the Mexican restaurant and of the subsequent dancing... XO

Esther's kindness

Hello all!
Just poping in here to send a shout out... Today I am feeling blah after kicking it at the bar last night with three friends from class. It was a new group, sort of. Francis, of course, but then an Ethiopian doctor and a Puerto Rican girl who is craazy. It was fun and I learned the roots of the Rastafarians and that in PR they can caucus but not vote. Today I am sitting here with my book open in case of osmosis and Esther knocks on my door. She wants me to come down and hang out with her friends. I lie and say that I am studying. So she gives me this plate of delicious food (the empanada looking things are full of beef and onions) and tells me that she is like my mothers younger sister, trying to take care of me. Isnt that the nicest thing you have ever heard of? I want to do something nice for her when I leave... Suggestions?
Oh, and today I went to the train station and bought tickets on the Thalys to PARIS for when Paul comes (35 days!)
Kisses

Mussels in ... not Brussels but Leuven

Today I went to the square to have coffee with Francis and Gaston at 12pm and... left at 12:30 am after one coffee at cafe 1, lunch at cafe 2, coffee/soda at cafe 3 and dinner at cafe 4! We were chasing the sun aroung the plazas and talking, talking talking about politics, bidets, movies....
Francis is eating kangaroo in that pic! I tried it and it is pretty good, although it made me feel jumpy!

Back due to popular demand...

Hi all,
Sorry I havent written (jeez, rough crowd). I have been busy with class, orientation etc! Orientation was fun (relatively), I visited a lot of libraries (I dont think my classmates are very familiar with the dewey system, judging by the painSTAIkingly slow and precise manner in which it was explained in EACH of the 4 or 5 libraries that we visited. Yesterday I had a first meet and greet with the Professors, organizers and students... It was pretty formal and we were in the Holy Spirit College, surrounded by pictures of Jesus Christ. Pretty different than my days at CU! I made friends with the main prof from the Netherlands. Nice guy! But, seriously I guess I am really used to the american "this is my personal space" phenomenon. They all stand really close to me (you know, Alice, ala Hilary Cohn). Then we had lunch and I went out with my flemish buddy to (another) lunch. She is cool, Leisbeth, but also dorky. Not sure what is up with that. Then at night my classmates and I went out for frittes and beer to the square. Nationalities present: USA, philippines, argentina, macedonia, ethiopia, nigeria, china and palestine (bethlehem!) Today we had our first class. It was really interesting. I now know the diff between morals and ethics. The prof (Borry) already knows my name- for better or for worst- and apologized if his lecture seemed anti-American. Ha! No problem, I said. OBAMA, OBAMA. Then to the gym (unifit) for a quick run and back home to discuss garbage and cleaning duties with my roomates (seriously, garbage is HUGE here). So I sat down with Esther, Eva (Flemish, 5th year Med student, 22 years old) and Adrian (Flemish, 4th Year Med Student, 20 years old) and ... discussed Sarah Palin. These "kids" are so well versed in american politics, and really anything else. They are so mature and well-mannered and awesome! Adrian has the french-ish pout (you know what i mean? "bah...") and is so cute. He asked me about my day and my classes and asked if I knew where the grocery store etc was (when i said "Yes" he still thought he should draw me a map:) ) and Eva has already invited me to spend the weekend in Ghent at her parents. She then came to knock on my door to ask me when i eat dinner cause she wants to eat with me. My social calender is almost too full! I havent yet cracked my "reader" (textbook)... And tomorrow there is (another) student welcome in the Grote Markt (great market, see dutch is EASY) with concerts etc. which I just KNOW my philipino doctor friend is going to want to go to see if he can "pick a babe"... Keep you posted. Pics are (obviously) of a skyppes conversation gone mad (if you look closely at the pic with p and his camara you can see my reflection with my camara).
Kisses, XO
PS: this is p's response to my story: "I couldn't believe you called a 20 year old a kid..."