La Magie de Noël

Even though it doesn't feel like it to me.. Christmas is definitely upon us! The magic of the Christmas markets has been going on for a few weeks now in Alsace. It's really pretty and all, but I have to admit that I am sick of tourists. There are so many people there every time you go, you have to fight your way around all of them. I'll be honest, the sole reason that I will go fight the crowds of people is to make my way towards the "beignet" stand, which is a legit american donut with Nutella in the middle. Oh mon dieu.. they are amazing. Besides the beignets, people usually go to the markets to drink hot wine (headache in a plastic cup), eat unhealthy food, and do some shopping. Most of the stuff they have at the stands is crap, but if you want a stork shaped hat or an overpriced sculpture of your dog then this is the place to find it.

Last night I took the train back from Turckheim and I got out at the station to find the first snow! Finally! It's been raining here for like 2 weeks straight.. I never thought I'd be so thrilled to see snow. In other news, I am coming home on Thursday night! Today my goal is to start to do some serious packing.. I have so much stuff here I think that I need to start bringing it home. Not to mention I'm going to have a whole bag of xmas gifts too. Ugh! I hate luggage. See you all very soon :)

The Strasbourg Markets

Roomie & Meg eating some beignet! Delish.

Christmas isn't complete without some mistletoe!

Huge Advent Calendar in the Turckheim city center

Eguisheim decorated for xmas

Eguisheim again

Colmar markets! I miss my old stomping grounds

My favorite pic.. doesn't even look real, does it?

"Mixte" Feelings

Yesterday Kristen and I decided to go to the spa in Baden-Baden, Germany for our Wednesday excursion. I went once last year and LOVEDddd it! It's kinda awkward because you are completely naked the entire time.. but once you get used to it it's good and really relaxing (since my life is so stressful right now). Rick Steve's describes it as a naked, bewildering experience. Especially for those blind tourists that aren't allowed to wear their glasses into the spa. Kristen's never been before and was really nervous, but I told her that it'd be fine, it's all girls, no big deal. Well we get there.. and discover that it is a "mixte" day.. meaning "mixed"... as in Men and Women together. Naked. The whole time. Umm ok here's the point where I get a little nervous. But we took the train an hour to get there, and there was no turning back. We had to face it. We voiced our nervousness to the girl at the desk and she said she'd send us on the side that most people don't go to.

We got into the spa, and thankfully the lady was right, there weren't many people there at all. We did a 16 step spa treatment, including saunas, thermal baths, full body exfoliation and my favorite part.. the "resting" room, where a big German lady comes and wraps you up in big blankets. You feel like you're back in the womb. I could have slept in there for hours. The reason I like it so much is that afterwards my skin is so soft and I feel so rejuvenated! I think I need to go every week..

Next we went to a typical German bierstub for lunch! The most amazing food ever. If I lived in Germany I think I'd weigh 400 lbs. After lunch we did a little bit of shopping, and hopped on the train to come back to Stras. Another great day in this fairy tale that I call life..

Heading into the Spa.. feeling a bit nervous after the "mixte" discovery

Refreshed after the spa treatment! Ja!

Time to shove my face with some fattening German food.. I sweat out some calories in the sauna, right?

Kristen and I finally found some German Boyfriends.

Proust.

Eskimo Kisses!

The New Digs

Once again I haven't been very good at blogging lately. I've been so busy! Working 12 hours a week is EXHAUSTING!

This past week Kristen and I finally got the keys for our new apartment! We were so ready to move in.. more people have moved into the building where our studios are, and we had to share the kitchen. Some people cook some nasty smelling crap. The other apartments were really nice but we decided that we needed to have a place with more space, with a living room and our own kitchen. Our landlord had an opening at the end of November in the building next door, so we took it. We moved all of our stuff in on Monday. I thought it'd be an easy move because basically I just have my clothes and some belongings.. but somehow I have accumulated so much crap! I don't know how I will ever move back home.

This past week we got settled in really quickly. It was easy since we already have EVERYTHING that we could ever possibly need, sheets, towels, kitchen utensils, everything. And it's not even like it's cheap stuff they've given us, it's all really nice quality.

As for the rest of my time, I've just been hanging out. Shannon was here to visit, we went to Dijon, and Beaune in the Burgundy region. I spent last weekend in Turckheim with the family, and this weekend I had some visitors here for the Christmas markets and my housewarming party. So everything is going well! I will update more soon..

Kristen's room. Hey Roomie!

Le "salon"

Flat screen+Klimt painting. Love it.

my room! small but cozy

quick vacay in the pair-e

Stained Glass in Notre Dame

Ohh look at that organ!

Montmartre

Notre Dame Cathedral

Lamp in the Tiffany's exhibit

Kisses on Oscar Wilde's grave! presh

Metro entrance

Well since I am obvi already on vacation, I decided to go to Paris for a few days. I was trying to go some other places I haven't been yet, but everything was so expensive, and I really haven't spent much time in Paris since I was here in 2006. My French fam offered me a ride there so I couldn't pass it up! We left last Monday, the drive was about 6 hours. Which is weird because it's only a 2 1/2 hour train ride. I decided to just stay in a hostel on my own, I of course opted for the one that had a bar so I could easily meet people :) They dropped me off there around 8pm, and it took me about 5 minutes to meet someone. I ended up hanging out with this Canadian girl from Ontario most of the nights that I was there.

The next day there was a late start- things can get rowdy in those hostel bars! I got up and went to the Musée d'Orsay, which is in an old train station. I arrived there around 11, and to my surprise there was a HUGE line to get in. I waited in line for over an hour. The nice thing is that I got a teacher's card from my school which entitles me to free entry into all national museums! So I wasn't as angry about waiting for an hour since I knew it was free anyway. I wandered around the museum for a few hours, the actual structure of the building was even more interesting than the art itself. But it was still a good place to say I've been to!

Next I decided to go up the Arc de Triomphe (or shall we say the "triumphal arch") I knew that there would be a pretty view from the top, and since it was a clear day I decided to take advantage. Oh, and also it was free. Score. Well it was a lonnggg climb up and my lungs were burning, but every like hundred stairs they'd let you take a break and read about some of the history. In case you were wondering, it was built in the early 1800's by Napoleon after the victory of Austerlitz. That means nothing to me either, by the way.

That night I was invited to my host mom's mom's house! She is 87 and lives in the suburbs of Paris. It was cool to meet her family. It was funny to see, no matter what country you live in, all families are the same. Her mom was so funny, just a crazy old Parisian lady. She was graciously offering me liquor and snacks that had possibly been in her cabinet since shortly after the 2nd world war. She even brought out the nicest china and silverware for me! So, so cute.

The next day was spent at yet another museum, Centre Pompidou, which is the modern art museum. Definitely one of my favorites so far! The building itself looks like it's all built inside out. They put all the pipes and everything on the outside of it. Also, from the top there was yet again another ridiculous view of the city! I spent over 3 hours just wandering around in this place. It is massive inside. Later that day I found out that there was a Tiffany exhibit in the Luxembourg gardens. I obviously decided to hit that up too, however, I was sadly disappointed that it wasn't free. Boo. I went in anyway, and it was pretty cool. I seriously wanted to steal the lamps, they were so awesome. I have some knock-off's from Target but they just aren't quite as pretty.

This night I went to a Pub Crawl with some other people from the hostel. I think we'll skip over the details of the night.

Moving on, the next day I went to the cemetery called "Père Lachaise" which is where Jim Morrison, Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde, and many others are buried. After that I devoted my entire day to Montmartre, my favorite area in Paris. This is where artists like Van Gogh and Picasso used to hang out before they were a big deal. I ended up doing a guided tour with the Canadian chick. I was really glad I did it, because I learned so much! Just one little fun fact for you: instead of cleaning his paint brushes with water, Van Gogh used to suck the paint off them and eat it. There was lead in paint back in those days.. so this explains why he went a little kooky there in the end.

Well that's all for now! Paris was great, this really is a city that has endless things to do. Hmm I might have to go back in a few weeks..

Musée d'Orsay

Starving artists in Montmartre

Stuffing my Face in Stras

This weekend my friend Megan came up from Zurich to visit. Literally all we did was eat amazinggg French food! I have been eating so bad here but I still have managed to already lose weight. I mean I could live off cheese and bread. Gotta love the Frenchie's lifestyle. I also walk like 5 miles a day here just to get to where I need to go so I guess that's why.

Meg came up Saturday afternoon, and as soon as she got here we found a nice patio to settle down on for lunch. It was pretty cold but they supplied us with some nice Ikea blankets so it was all good. I of course chose one of my all time faves: goat cheese salad. You can never find anything quite like the French version at home. We had lunch for a couple hours, complete with an espresso afterwards. The rest of the day we strolled around the city, walked for about 4 hours, did lots of shopping, and then came back and got ready for dinner. For dinner my roommate Kristen chose an Alsatian restaurant right on the river. We ate mussels and the region's specialty called "Tarte Flambée" (means flaming tart) which is kinda like a pizza, but it is made with a cream sauce, a super thin crust, and they put bacon and onion on it. So. Good. Next the dessert...ohhh the dessert. We chose a hot fudge lava cake and another ice cream/chocolate dish. You really just can't find food like this at home!

Today we slept in, and then.. went to lunch! I think I found my new fave restaurant. It's a 50's themed bar, they have milkshakes and sandwiches and stuff. And the prices are super cheap! It reminds me of a place that would be in Tremont at home. I will def be spending a lot of time there this year.

So did I mention lately that I love food? And of course I also love visitors. It was so good to see Megan, it's always a good feeling to have some familiarity when I'm over here thousands of miles from home! Here are some pics of our fat-free weekend.

Pre-binge eating

Delicious goat cheese salad. This pic should be in a magazine or something

Me Kristen and Meg

The end of our Tarte Flambée

Moules Frites

Hot Fudge Lava cake

clean plate club!

I forgot to mention the fact that we accidently lit meg's hat on fire.. luckily I caught it in the early phase.

Roomies!

The 50's place

Reflecting over an afternoon game of Boggle.

To whomever has me for the xmas exchange this year: This is the only gift I'm asking for

This one's for our Moms! I'm sure this blog will be discussed at church next Sunday

Dreams really do come true...

After wanting to go for over a year, I finally made it to Europa Park on Wednesday! Europa Park is the biggest amusement park in Europe and it's in Germany about an hour away. Last year ALL YEAR I wanted to go to this place soo bad, and I could never get anyone to go with me. Well I mentioned it to my roommate and another assistant, and they were just as excited about it as I was! So of course we hastily planned our trip to the Disney-esque amusement park. We left Wednesday early in the morning, and trained it down to Rust, Germany where the park is. Right when we entered we knew it would be a magical day! The park is overly decorated for Halloween, with hundreds of pumpkins and creepy dressed-up people walking around pretending to stab you with their knives and swords.. The park is split up into different countries, so they have France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, etc. The best two countries are definitely France and Iceland because the have the big roller coasters! Now of course they aren't as good as the Cedar Point coasters, but it was pretty cold that day so I was okay with the fact that they weren't going 100 mph.

As for the other rides, they all had a theme to go along with the country. It's pretty much an Epcot with roller coasters. It was funny, they totally copied Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion from Disney World. Both rides were replicas down to the small details. Also the mascot of the park is a mouse.. he doesn't look anything like Mickey but they're def stealing the idea. I have to say that we weren't disappointed by any of the rides there, I would definitely go back again if I get the chance.

We spent about 6 or 7 hours there, and after that decided we had enough. We were wearing ski jackets and gloves because it was so cold! Luckily, unlike most amusement parks, food was extremely cheap there. I got a burger, fries and a coke for about 4 euros, which is around 6 bucks. Not bad! I obviously ate my way through the rest of the park after I discovered the low prices.

Overwhelmed with Joy!

The entrance all decorated for Halloween

So many pumpkins

Couldn't resist

Kristen getting chased by the stilts dude and the guy with swords.. it's funny at first but after a while it starts to get pretty scary

The new roller coaster, the Blue Fire

Part of the "nightmare before christmas" parade

bahahah

We tried to find an elf ride and ended up on a creepy puppet boat ride

Kristen & Gina