Blogs from Strasbourg, Alsace, France, Europe - page 8

Please be patient, we're having some technical difficulties... The last month has presented me with a series of technological and administrative difficulties. One December afternoon, I was singing along to cheery Mariah Carey Christmas carol covers, when my itunes keep stopping and my computer began lagging. None of the programs on my computer would respond so I tried restarting it. This is when, what I came to know as the "folder of doom," appeared alone on a blank grey screen. I tried multiple times to restart it with no luck. I looked up what this mysterious symbol of a folder with a question mark meant on Taryn's computer and the news was not pleasant. My hard drive had crashed! Maybe the world was trying to tell me not to listen to Mariah Carey? Straight away Monday ... read more

Thursday Attempt #2 at finding a pool to go swimming at! This time I was going with a friend and I knew where the pool was, so you would think there wouldn’t be a problem right? Guess again! The pool was so full there were probably 15-20 people in each 25m lane! I did about 3 laps and then decided to leave because swimming in such a crowded pool was pointless; I had to stop every 2 minutes. So exactly one week after getting lost trying to find the other pool, I found myself once again lost for a place to practice! Maybe next Thursday I will try somewhere else, third time’s a charm right? I did ending up having a great sandwich that day from a place called “Made in France.” There were a bunch ... read more

Class has begun! The boat tour was a pretty interesting way to see the city. It took about an hour, and there were headphones so you could listen to a commentary about Strasbourg. Fun fact: the city has 27 bridges! I have officially started classes! We got a list of courses we could pick from on Friday, and this week we went to any classes we were interested in, we just have to hand in our course selection by the end of the week. Monday I went to a class about the history of the European concept. The prof seems nice but he has a southern France accent that I’ve been told is really hard to understand. He speaks very very slowly though so I didn’t have any troubles. My evening class is about culture and ... read more

Saturday My hands are raw and sore from lugging around over 100lbs of suitcases. My shoulders ache from carrying my huge back pack and sitting uncomfortably on the plane. I’ve now been awake for 32 hours. The departure from YVR went smoothly and tearlessly. After gathering our luggage at the strasbourg airport, we hailed a taxi (the driver laughed at home much luggage we had) and headed off to our first stop : le cité universitaire Robertsau, soon to be home to Taryn and me. I went into the residence office to find out what we need to do to get our keys while Taryn and Katherine watched our bags outside. The office was busy and the woman who helped me get my keys also taught me cultural difference #1 : where Canadians are polite and ... read more

Went to Strasbourg, France over the weekend. A lovely city - hotels and eateries galore; yes, there was a McDonald's there. The train station, Gare de Strasbourg, was huge and the building almost invisible behind a glass building, making it look like a ship inside a bottle. If you want t go there for a weekend, especially from Germany, it's a great getaway to experience France. An hour and a half car drive from Heidelberg, Germany. ... read more