Sisterly Bonding in Strasbourg

Saturday and Sunday, December 10th-11th, 2011

Sorry to all of you who are regularly following my blog... I have just been very busy lately, and haven't exactly had the time for a proper blog update. I am really getting to the point in my exchange where I stop looking at everything as new and different, and start looking at it as just being a regular part of my life. I'm in my new host family now, and I am just really coming to love my life here. A year ago, when I was sitting in boring all day presentations about homesickness and such, Rotary had a slide with all of these emotional parts of exchange you will go through. And I remember thinking to myself, "That will never happen for me!", but now I look back on the time I have spent here, and at the current part of my exchange, and I realize how right they were. There's the honeymoon period, were everything is just new and lovely, and then the period were everything just goes over your head and you are lost and a bit confused, but it's still ok. And then the part where you hate the country and yourself for ever wanting to leave you home, family, and friends behind, and then the bliss period where I am now. Where your new country is your home, where you are mostly comfortable with the language, and where you just want to live every moment to the fullest. I never thought my homesickness would go away, but for the most part it has. Not that I don't miss my family and friends, but as of right now I don't exactly want to go home either.

So anyhow, back to this weekend. Pascale and Eddy were nice enough to offer sometime ago to take me to visit Erin in Strasbourg for a weekend. I asked Erin when a good time would be, and they agreed to drive me to her apartment, and then pick me up at the end. They said they had always wanted to discover the area for themselves, so it was perfect. We left for Strasbourg early in the morning, and got there around 12. I swear, the De Decker family is almost worse than my own family at taking a really long time during car trips! There are always several stops for food, gas, and to use the bathroom. Most of the time, I don't mind. Getting out and stretching my legs is always nice. But on Saturday, I was just super anxious to get there and see my sister after being apart from my family for 4 months. Really, we couldn't get there soon enough.

Once we got there, I said a quick goodbye and then went into Erin's apartment. She wan't home at the time, but one of her roommates buzzed me in. But once I actually got inside, I realized I had no idea what floor she was on. So I kinda just stood there awkwardly for like 10 minutes, waiting for Erin to reply to my text about where her room was, when her roommate Rachel came out of the room and was like "Morgan, are you ok?" And so eventually I got there... I was also stupid enough to not see the elevator, and I walked up 5 flights of stairs with my suitcase and large backpack (in my defense, it was hidden behind a normal looking door that could have easily been a room...). Erin got there about 10 minutes after that, because the metro from the house she was tutoring at took longer than normal. I got settled in, and then Erin and I went out so she could show me the city of Strasbourg.

We first walked to the big cathedral in the middle of the city (about a 5-10minute walk, not bad at all...) and it was very pretty. We went inside and saw the nativity scene that they had set up for Christmas. But the thing about Strasbourg is that it is VERY well known for it's Christmas markets. Like, Erin said that the population of Strasbourg literally doubles during the holiday weekends. So the church was pretty crowded, as were the markets by it, so we decided to come back maybe a bit later and see if the crowds had lessened (neither Erin or I are very good at crowds...). I was just so happy to be with my sister, and to be in Strasbourg, that I honestly didn't mind what we did. Because I knew that it would all be fun. To avoid the crowds, Erin decided to take me to see Le Petit France. It was a ways away from the craziness of the markets, and a cool thing to look at because it's the area in Strasbourg that has really cool, old buildings that are supposed to be really pretty. I wouldn't necessarily know, because right about the time we got in the general area, we got hungry and started looking for a restuarant with tarte flambee for lunch. Our quest for food basically lead us right out and around Le Petit France... Good thing I am going back in a couple of weeks!

Strasbourg Cathedral... Truly beautiful!

Always amazed by the elaborate decorations...

Nativity Scene!

It was so big I had to cut it into 2 pictures...

Wandering around Strasbourg!

The beauty is everywhere.

Erin made me do it :)

But due to the Christmas markets, practically every restuarant was filled to the brim and we decided that it might just be easier to go to the supermarket and buy food there. We ended up getting a tarte flambee (which is basically like a pizza with really thin crust, but a million times better), some delicious cheese, and an AMAZINGGGGG loaf of bread for the price it probably would have cost us just to split a mdeium-sized tarte flambee. So we had a very Alsatian lunch (Alsace is the region of France that Strasbourg is in...), for cheap, and Erin said it tasted better than most tartes she has had at restuarants.

A tarte flambee... One of the most delicious things you shall ever eat.

After lunch, we went back to the supermarket with her roommates Rachel and Danielle to get some last minute supplies for the Christmas party they were throwing that night. After we got the food, Erin and I split off and went looking for a dress for me to wear to the party that night (even though she had told me the party wasn't formal, everyone was planning on wearing dresses and I didn't have one... :( ). We started in H&M (the best shop in Europe), and the proceeded to walk all around the mall searching for a dress that was cute and not too expensive. Then, in a desperate last chance in a search for a dress, we returned to H&M and found a really cute black dress, and I bought green tights to go with it to be festive. I really wish we would have seen the dress in the first place, because then we wouldn't have wasted almost 2 hours walking around the mall... -___-

We got back to her apartment, finished decorating the small tree that they had bought (which turned out to be the only real tree I got for Christmas this year...), and then all of her friends arrived. The were all really nice, and thankfully all spoke English (I didn't really know if their friends would be French or what) and a good time was had by all. A lot of people asked me why I was here and if I liked Belgium and just stuff like that. I made a place for myself next to the food table, because most people brought along a Christmas dish with them, and since I had no idea what Christmas would hold for me in Belgium, I decided to take advantage of the traditional Christmas foods as much as I could. Around 10, Erin and I went into her room and Skyped Maddie because that Saturday was her 15th birthday. Happy Late Birthday on my blog Maddie! :) We skyped for about 40 minutes, and it was really weird to be Skyping back home with Erin sitting right next to me, rather than her being in another screen on my computer. It was just so nice to be in the presence of real family. I had really missed that.

The only Christmas tree I got this year...

Me, Erin, and her roommate Rachel at their party!

the next morning we all woke up late, and got our mouths set on going to this New York stlye bagel shop that had just opened up. We looked on the website and everything for the hours and the menu, as to not get our hopes up. After reading the menu, my mouth was literally watering. But once we actually got to the store, it was closed (stupid internet that lies about the hours of the store...), so we went across the road and got McDonald's for breakfast/lunch (it was like 12 at this point). So we had McDonald's like complete Americans, even dressed in our sweats and pajamas and talking completely in English. After our meal, we went back to the apartment and watched Love Actually. It was nice to sit down and just watch a chick flick with my sister and her friends. It kinda felt like I was back home, and I really needed a weekend where I wasn't facing all completely new things all the time. It was like a break from my life as an exchanger.

After the movie, we went back out to the Christmas markets and beared the crowd, which was still just as big on a Sunday afternoon. And I thought we might have the chance to avoid them... :( They were really cool, and had some nice products. I can definitely tell why they are famous as far as the Christmas Markets go. But really, I almost preferred the ones in Aachen just because it was less crowded and I could actually take my time looking at things rather than be pushed along by the crowds. But then again, I bet Strasbourg would have been really nice if I could have gone there on a Wednesday like I did in Aachen. But they were still Christmas Markets, which just really give me this feeling like the whole world is a magical place. I don't know, I think it is just the holidays and the celebrations and the love surrounding it all that I love so much.

Cute Decorations!

And the same by night...

Erin and I in front of teh Strasbourg Christmas Tree!

By the time we got back from the markets, I packed up my bags and Eddy and Pascale had arrived to pick me up. That weekend with my sister, it was one of the best I had had in Europe so far. It was so great getting to see famliy, and also seeing how Erin lives from day to day. I couldn't have asked for a cooler thing to do on a little weekend getaway. Sorry that the post is so long, but we did a lot and I never feel right leaving things out.