Week 12!!!

Monday started off with another lovely transportation strike. I will not miss these. I had a few classes in the morning and then worked on our Enmodes project in the afternoon. After that, we had our pre-departure meeting for our Paris trip. They warned us about all their demonstrations, strikes, protests, trash, etc. Luckily, we did not run into any of that. After that meeting I had an advising appointment with Ms. Hoy to figure out my new Fall 2023 schedule since the BMEN department is changing. I am excited for the changes. When I got home, I packed for this week and managed to fit everything in my backpack instead of also bringing a suitcase. This helped me out later. On Tuesday, we met at the bus stop at 5:45AM. We got on the bus, and I instantly fell asleep and stayed asleep till we got out in Luxembourg for a stop. The ride was 7 hours to Beaune, but it ended up going by very quickly, mostly because I was reading an interesting book. We got to the hotel and had a bit of free time before we had to head down. At 3, we went to the Hotel Dieu and had a great tour. It was not crowded so we basically had the museum to ourselves. After that, Victoria, Peyton, Celeste, and I went to a French restaurant to get some French food. We had to get wine since Beaune is known for its wine. I also tried Escargot! It was way better than I expected. For my meal, I ate beef bourguignon and it was absolutely amazing. We headed back to the hotel after walking around for a bit. The next morning, we got back on the bus and headed to Colmar. We had a tour led by Dr. Wasser of the Munsee Unterlinden and it was breathtaking. I am so thankful I was able to go and see the Isenheim Altar. It was probably the prettiest work of art I have ever seen. After the tour, we had some free time. I went to a ton of places in Colmar. I loved the environment of the city; it was a very laid-back small town and the weather was perfect. it made for a pleasant afternoon. We then got on the bus again to go to the train station. We got on the train and basically had an entire cart for our program. It was so funny because everyone was so crammed and loud. When we got off the train, we took the metro to our hotel. Let me just say, i have a new appreciation for Germany's public transportation. Paris's metro was unbelievably crowded and i did not enjoy it at all since we also had to be constantly aware of pickpocketing. When we got to the hotel, Peyton, Mason, and I went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. It was so good, and the pizza was heart shaped! We went back to the hotel and slept since we had a long day the following day. On Thursday, we woke up and headed downstairs for a city tour led by our guide Julian. We saw the Eiffel tower and some other monuments of Paris. We stopped in a cafe for lunch before our tour of the Louvre. We got a 3-hour tour of the Louvre by Dr. Wasser and I am just so thankful I have the opportunity to learn from him. He is so intelligent and engaging and passionate about what he teaches, I can’t believe I am part of the last set of students he will ever teach. Colby and I also had to register for our Fall 2023 classes while we were in there, which was kind of a mess, but it worked out. After the Louvre, Peyton and I went to Starbucks to get our France mugs. Then we went to a bookstore of course; i got 2 books. Then, Peyton and I went into Christian Louboutin, and she bought red bottoms!! They are so beautiful, and it was a fun experience. It was about time for our group dinner, so we met up with our program again. We ate at a creperie, and the food was alright but not filling so a couple of us went to a Thai food restaurant close by after. The food was amazing there. Then, a bunch of us met up to go to the Eiffel Tower to see it sparkle. We got there and within 15 minutes we were able to see the sparkle! It looks so much better at night. Then it started to rain so Victoria, Peyton, and I headed to the hotel. We were almost an hour away, so it was a trek getting back. Friday morning, we brought down all our stuff before we left for the day. Julian took us on a city tour through Montmartre, which is the region in Paris where a lot of artists began their careers. We then ate at a southwest France food restaurant. I ate gizzard which was crazy and what was even crazier is that it was good. After our lunch, we were free to do whatever we wanted. Peyton, Victoria, and I went to a nearby gluten free bakery and then to Notre Dame. After, we headed to dinner. It started pouring and the walk got very unpleasant very quickly. We made it to the restaurant, but they were so rude, and the food was widely overpriced. It was disappointing. Then, we went back to the hotel and met with our friends to go to the train station to take our train to Lyon. It was quick ride and then we ubered to our Airbnb. We all crashed since we were exhausted. The next day we had a slow day, compared to the past week. We headed to old Lyon and ate bunch. We did some shopping and lots of walking. We also ran into a random parade, and it was so fun. Then out of nowhere, it started to hail and thunderstorm, so we went into a random store to hid. I bought a quiche from them because I felt bad for being in there and not buying anything. But I got the quiche I had been wanting all week. After the weather calmed down a bit, Erin, Peyton, and I grabbed some snacks and wine from a store. I bought a bottle of wine which was so weird because I had never done that before! We went back to the Airbnb and watched some Netflix and had fun together. The next day was the longest day of Peyton and I's life. We woke up at 5:15AM and left our Airbnb and ubered to the train station. We took a short train from Lyon back to Paris; Peyton and I slept the whole time. We arrived in the train station and walked a mile to the Flixbus station to take our bus back to Siegburg. We got there and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, after our bus had been delayed by half an hour, they canceled our bus. They gave me a new bus time a couple of hours later, but only gave me one seat instead of two which was stupid. So now I was out $100 and a ride home. Peyton and I looked at the DB trains, but they were almost $300, so then we looked at flights. There was a flight leaving from CDG at 18:15 and would arrive in FRA at 19:30. We bought that flight and then ubered to the airport, which was very far. We got to the airport around 12 and were excited to check in and go eat in the terminal. However, this airport is dumb, and they would not let us check in until 2 hours before our flight, meaning Peyton and I had 4 hours on our hands with nothing to do. We wandered around the parts of the airport we could go into and found a Starbucks and a table. We sat there for a while. Then at 3:30, we decided to see if we could check in. They still would not let us, so we waited until they did. The check in was so slow with only one person working and everyone on the flight in line. They were so inefficient. After getting though that, we got to the security line which was so long. At this point I got worried we would not make our flight. They only had one system working for security and even then, it was partially broken. They also had to search both Peyton and I's bag which was annoying. We finally got to our gate. We were so tired and starving. We boarded our flight and had to sit away from eachother but luckily, I fell asleep before we even took off. The flight was so short. We landed and then a bus took us from our plane to our terminal. We went to baggage claim and got our stuff so fast. I missed Germany and their efficiency. We then headed to the train station where I regrettably got KFC for dinner and Peyton got rice. It was a struggle meal. Then we waited for our train and left FRA at 22:00. We were on an ICE Sprinter, so we made it to Siegburg in 40 minutes. Then, Peyton and I did our walk from the train station to home. I was SO glad to be home. It took us 17 hours to go from Lyon to Siegburg, when if we had a car, it would only take 6 hours. Overall, I had a fun week in France but a new appreciation for Germany's transportation and the attitude of the people here.