European Adventures
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Back!
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The End (for now)
- Riding a bicycle 30km through the French countryside from Bayeux to the American Cemetary at Omaha beach with Erin, Tim, Matt, and Joe because it was Easter Monday and no public transportation was running.
- Getting stuck in an elevator for 20 minutes between the 55th and 56th floors of Tour Montparnasse (the tallest sky-scraper in Paris).
- Watching the sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence with Erin, Morgan, Joe, Paige, Matt, and Tim (and the walk back to the hostel :P)
- The Colosseum Pub Crawl. Ask me about the details; this is a story that needs to be told in person.
- Hanging out with ENSEA folk. The parties, the bus rides to the parties, the BBQ/pool party at Adrien's, etc, etc.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Krista in Paris
Monday, May 10, 2010
What "luxury" can not describe
Saturday, April 24, 2010
When in Rome...
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Normandy
5 April, 2010
I’ve spent the weekend in Normandy. Saturday in La Havre, Thibault’s home town. His family (parents, one younger brother my age, and a 17-yr-old sister) had us to their country home for lunch. I like French dining – began with Muscat for an aperitif alongside mini-sausages and baguette and cheeto type snacks. This was followed by a carrot, cucumber, tomato, and olive salad. Then the main course was duck with green beans, accompanied by a glass of Bordeaux (currently my favorite red wine). After that was baguette et fromage and then a delicious apple tart for dessert with café (French coffee >> American coffee). It was so good, and I was so full. Oh, and they also had us try Calvados (a very strong apple-based liquor that Normandy is famous for). Never again. Never again. I just had a sugar cube soaked in it (sugar cubes in France are made with real unprocessed, brown sugar, by the way). It tastes so bad -_- Thibault’s mother joked that once when Thibault and his friends were getting too loud having a bon fire party, she brought them out some calvados so they’d just pass out, and thus quiet down. Oh, Europe.
Then Thibault and his dad took us to Etretat, a famous beach on the Atlantic. Here we finally (and inevitably) met fellow Buffalonians! Two high school students, one from West Seneca and one from the West Side, were on a 3-week exchange program to France. The beach was very beautiful, check Facebook for pics. That night we got some Chinese for dinner and hung at a pub, drank some cidre (which was surprisingly hard to find to buy in stores, which made me sad because I love it) and played billiards.
On Sunday we took the train to Caen, then a train+bus to Mont Saint Michel. Unfortunately, we just missed being able to tour the abbey, but we got to walk around the picturesque medieval village. It was like Disney World – but real! :P And of course, there was ice cream in a waffle cone to be had (vanille being the equivalent of French Vanilla dans les Etas-Unis).
Then today we (Tim, Erin, Joe, Matt, and me, Taylor went back to Cergy last night cause he’d already been to the D-Day area) wanted to go see a D-Day beach. We found a train to get us as close as we could, but it was still 17km to Omaha and the American Cemetery, AND the bus wasn’t running because it’s a national school holiday. Our first reaction was “MERDE!” but then we found a bike rental shop, rented the bikes, 15 Euro for the day, and made our great trek. I’m really glad we did this. Now I can tell my kids that I rode a bike through the French countryside to go see the American Cemetery on Omaha beach. It took about 1.5 hrs to get there, we were there for probably as long, and then made it back with slightly better time. The visitor center at the cemetery was very well done – a miniature museum. They even highlighted a soldier from Buffalo (Buffalo pride!) After seeing the cemetery we walked down onto the beach itself. It was so serene that it’s hard to imagine that 2,000+ people died there in a day. After walking the beach we climbed the hill back to our bikes, stopping in some old German bunkers on the way. Once back to town it was time for a jambon et beurre baguette avec Orangina (like orange juice, but in pop form – it even has a little bit of pulp) avec un boule de glaces Nutella pour dessert (nutella ice cream – c’est bon!!, and it was in a waffle cone for no extra charge, God I love this country) In the end, it was definitely a day I will never forget.
This Thursday will be my first night a Paris night club. A club at Monteparnasse is free for foreigners every Thursday night, which is awesome because Paris night clubs usually cost 20+ Euro – trop cher! I have class in the morning, but I’d like to go to Paris for the afternoon-evening before the dancing begins.
Last Thursday I went to a night club near Cergy for a party hosted by ENSEA, EISTI (the computer science school that Sylvain and Lala and Antoine go to), and then the Bio Engineering school. It was a really big club. And unlike what I would ever see in America, there were times when the heightened dancing podiums were occupied only by boys. In the US they’re usually only filled with the slutiest girls in the club. It was a really fun night. There’s supposed to be an even bigger party there in two weeks, when they’ll open up the second floor (it was closed for this last party). Seriously, French student parties >> American student parties.
And then this weekend, I don’t think we have plans for it yet. But we bought tix for a UK trip in June. We have a 5 day weekend for Scottland and England. I’m hoping for a weekend trip to Dublin, and definitely to Bordeaux and Lyon or Toulouse.
Ahhh, all of our butts hurt from the biking L There was a full chorus of ow’s when we remounted the bikes at the cemetery for the ride back home. At least the train’s seats are soft this time.
And with that, I bid you adieu.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Just a pleasant evening
- UB's internet
- The Hub
- Wegman's
- Chicken Wings
- Tim Horton's
- Mighty Taco
- Ovens
- Walking
- The weather
- The food
- The friendly people
- The buildings
- The sights
- The reduced drinking - I'm actually an equal adult here!