Biosciences Bonn: Eiffel in love w/ Paris

I was in Bonn for about 5 hours between my arrival from Berlin and departure to France. I got back to my apartment around midnight; I spent most of the time packing and trying to finish up my Differential Equations homework assignment. I really didn’t want to bring any sort of homework with me to France or Spring Break. Well, homework took longer than I expected, and I ended up having to take it with me on the trip. Sigh. We met up at the Hofgarten with the rest of the group at 6:30AM. Fortunately, we made it to the meeting point on time and were able to avoid “waking up late for the Vienna excursion – 2.0.” So far so good! We had to pick up one student who wasn’t able to make it to the bus on time, but after that, we were on our way to start the French chapter of our semester abroad! Most of the bus ride there consisted of sleep; when I woke up, I found that we had crossed the French border. We made a pit stop at a gas station between the French border and Colmar. One of my good friends, Rachel, LOVES LOVES LOVES all things French. The moment we walked into that gas station, she went crazy! She started running around everywhere telling us what each label meant; she even spoke to the cashier in French and helped us order! Ahh it was so cute! Back to the bus! We arrived in Colmar around 1 in the afternoon; I ate with my friend Amran at Café Dussourd. We tried to speak French to them…and ya it didn’t really work out haha. Merci beaucoup……afterwards we met up with the other students and got dessert. To the museum! Dr. Wasser showed us around the Unterlinden Museum. There were several pieces of art, but the most famous piece of art that the museum is known for the Isenheim Alterpiece, which was painted for the Monastery of St. Anthony, which specialized in hospital work.

Next stop: Beaune! We arrived that night around 8PM. The hotel that we stayed at was small but homely. We had a group dinner at a rather fancy French restaurant; much wine was had and much noise was made! Beaune Apaetit! At dinner, Stephenie convinced me that baths are one of the greatest things in the world and that I should have one; well, it turned out that our hotel room also had a bathtub, so guess what! I took a bath haha. It was actually quite pleasant to sit there and just relax. The next morning, we visited the Hotel Dieu, a hospital for the poor, which was founded in 1443 by Nicholas Rolin. For lunch, we ate at Baltard Café where I tried escargot for the first time! It was pretty expensive, as expected, but I loved it! Lecker lecker lecker! Off to Paris, the City of Love and City of Lights!

The bus ride to Paris took about 6 hours, which consisted of more sleep, but the moment that we entered the city of Paris, we saw the Eiffel Tower, and every one of us jumped up. I don’t know why, but seeing the tower just made me happy. We had officially made it to Paris! We dropped our stuff off at our hotel and met up with our tour guide for the week. His name was Julien, and he was extremely knowledgeable about all things Paris and more! We had a group dinner one of the Creperies in France; the crepes were nothing like the “Gourmet Crepes” that you would find in America; instead, they were very basic crepes, which consisted of ham and cheese for the main course and nutella for the dessert portion. Still, it tasted great! The next morning, we met up with Julien and biked all over Paris for a few hours! It was a lovely experience! Luckily, I didn’t fall (there were a few close calls though). However, one of our professors, Madeleine Durkee, smacked right into the back end of a truck within 5 minutes of riding..so that was something! She was okay though! We stopped by the Eiffel Tower and several other neat monuments including the Luxor Obelisk at the Place de la Concorde. Dr. Wasser bought us all macarons (THANK YOU SO MUCH :) !), and I got a nutell and banana gaufre (waffle). Mmmmmm so good! Afterwards, Julien took us to the Notre-Dame Cathedral. Sadly, we did not find the hunchback :\ . We had to skip lunch so that we could make it to the Museum of the History of Medicine because we were behind schedule. Ahhh…the next couple of hours were rough for everyone! Afterwards, I stopped by the Jardin du Luxembourg and the Pantheon; shortly thereafter, I ate at an Italian restaurant (it was also extremely expensive)! It seems that there are a lot of French restaurants in Paris (duh), but there are just as many Italian restaurants (no so duh?), and food is extremely pricey regardless of where you buy it from. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Arc de Triomphe, and me being basic, I made Raju stand in the middle of the intersection with me for 5 minutes to get the perfect photo of me with the Arc de Triomphe. Basically, the moment the cars came to a standstill, I would run out to the road and try to get the perfect photo. After a few tries, we were Gucci! I was able to meet up with Stephenie’s mom and her friends who were all spending the week in Paris! They were all so nice to us! They were all high school friends and former Aggies. We made our way up to the top of the Arc de Triomphe; although it was rather foggy, the views were incredible! Last and tallest stop of the night, the Eiffel Tower! The journey was took a while, and my fear of heights did not help! But, we made it! Luckily, the fog had cleared out, and I understood why Paris was called the City of Lights; Eiffel in love with it all! The next morning (Thursday), I made my way over to Sainte-Chapelle and the Conciergerie. Saint-Chapelle was just as pretty as everyone had said. The Conciergerie was a prison that was used during the French Revolution to imprison many including Queen Marie-Antionette. Afterwards, I met up with the rest of the group at the Basilica de Sacré-Coeur, which translates to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The entire basilica was very pretty, and the area outside had a beautiful view of the city. Next stop: Place du Tertre, which was a square where several artists set up and paint! We stopped at a café and discussed Bode Plots and Laplace Transforms with Madeleine and the other engineers. I guess school never ends..I got a croque-madame, which is a sandwich consisting of ham and cheese with a fried egg on top! It’s basic but very tasty. I proceeded to order a crème brûlée and two macarons…..yeah I pigged the heck out! At 3, we met up with the entire group at the Louvre! The museum was fantastic. The artwork never ended! We saw the Venus of Milo and the Mona Lisa, just to name a few pieces! Last day: Versailles! I had definitely heard of the city, but other than the Treaty of Versailles, I’m not sure what else happened there. We arrived Friday morning, and toured the Palace of Versailles. Everything in there was so luxurious! I was scared to even breath!! HAHA. Jkjk. But it was all very pretty. Every room corresponded with a specific Roman god, and the Hall of Mirrors and Gallery of Battles were just out of this world! The Gallery of Battles depicted numerous battles from 496 to 1809 that glorified French military history! The garden of Versailles outside was massive; it covered over 2000 acres! We stopped by the tents near the Palace and had lunch with the entire group. The lunch consisted of bread, cheese, yogurt, and wine. It may sound plain, but the cheese was of a crazy assortment! It was gourmet cheese that sparked every single taste bud when you took a bite out of it! We took a little bit of each and spread it amongst the footlong. I might have been hearing things, but at one point, I heard our professor, Dr. Wasser, tell Julien that this lunch was “an orgy in my mouth….” In fact, several other students confirmed this….so yeah! That’s a new phrase that I have not heard before and could definitely add to my list of odd phrases haha! After we returned to Paris, everyone parted ways for Spring Break. There were several groups going to different areas: London, Italy & Berlin, Bruge & Interlacken & Auschwitz, Dublin & Lisbon & Barcelona, and Copenhagen & Oslo. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone as well as Paris because this was the last big excursion that we would take as an entire group! Sad face… We met up with Stephenie’s mom again, and she treated us to dinner at a tasty Italian restaurant! Afterwards, we caught some zzz’s and prepared for our extensive Spring Break, which consisted of traveling to 3 different countries in 9 days!