Haha okay, but to continue. Somehow made it through those couple hours, boarded an equally freezing bus and drifted in and out of slumber during the three hour drive and finally arrived at Hahn Airport around 5am. Of course it was snowing. Ran from the bus to the airport, checked in, ate a bit, and finally boarded the again equally freezing plane. Curled up in a window sleep and woke up as we were landing. Deplaned and when I stepped outside it was the most amazing feeling to step into fresh air and not feel instantly cold! It was actually quite cool and grey in Montpellier that whole Friday but I did not mind at all, and that's what I kept telling Mollie when she kept getting upset that the weather for my week down there wasn't amazing. Anything was better than this year's winter in Germany.
Hopped on the shuttle to downtown where Mollie picked me up at the stop and we went to her apartment. She had come down with a bug the day before so had taken the day off work and was resting all day so she'd be better for the weekend, and since I was equally exhausted and it wasn't even yet 9, we both just passed out and slept til mid-afternoon. Got some noms...which in France is of course bread and cheese and carrots and more bread and cheese and pain au chocolats yummmm.
Since we were so tired, we didn't do anything on Friday during the day, but being 22- of course we had to do something at night! First we went to a party at another one of the assistant's places, Jenelle, who's French roommate was celebrating her birthday. We got there right when it started and there was only me, Mollie, Sarah, and Jenelle, and then Melanie and her friends who were all French. The groups were a little segregated, and I felt bad about that but I really did try with my French all week! So I spoke a little with the French people but the most interesting thing about my week down there was the stark difference between French and Germans. I can speak German but I rarely speak it because Germans are all basically perfect at English and always want to practice. French are basically the opposite. Their English is usually not as good and even when they are pretty good at English, they usually don't want to practice it- so basically no French people I met would speak English to me. It was on the one hand refreshing, but on the other hand kind of ostracizing because there was so much of the conversations I couldn't participate in. Germany and France need to find a happy medium!
After that party we headed to another party at Flo's, who's on Mollie's frisbee team. This party was just a bunch of guys from her team and then me, Mollie, and Jilli. Sometime around midnight we headed out to a club called Cargo which kind of reminded me of an American club because it played American Top 40 and had American style dancing. Again- another big difference between Germany and France. It's so crazy that these are neighboring countries, but I was just picking out soooo many differences!
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| Noms |
We were out pretty late so ended up sleeping til about noon. It was another rainy day so after some food, Mollie and I headed to Odysseum, the big shopping plaza in town and hit up H&M and then bought lots of groceries to make quiche for dinner! (And of course bread and cheese) That night we headed to another French party- it was the birthday of the boyfriend of one of the assistants. It was in a pretty small apartment and again, there was kind of a segregation between the French and the English speakers. I was disappointed that the French weren't more friendly. I know that that's the stereotype, but I've had nothing but positive experiences in France...when I spoke no French, and this time around, I was so excited that I actually knew some French and I could have some conversations with people, but no one really wanted to try with me. I could actually understand quite a bit of what everyone was saying though, just couldn't really respond!
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| Might be the only pic of me in Montpellier |
It was pouring rain on Saturday night but luckily the club was right across the street. By night two, I was really missing beer though. We had drank wine and vodka at the parties and the clubs, and beer is ridiculously expensive in France- but that's just what I'm used to drinking normally. It was another late night and we slept pretty late again, but spent Sunday exploring Montpellier. It was quite a grey day, but the city was still gorgeous. Walked around the narrow streets, passing churches and cafes with baguettes in our hands. I was so surprised to see palm trees and cyprus trees- but then again, that's the climate of the south!
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| Love those panoramas |
Monday brought about the sunshine and warmth I had been waiting for. We got up bright and early and joined Yumi and Elith to head to the beach! We went to one that was a little farther away, but it was absolutely GORGEOUS. We only stayed for a few hours, but the sun was glorious and it's been so long since I've seem the ocean! We got lots of food and picnicked on the beach, played some frisbee, and sat and had some coffee at a cafe. Not even kidding, I had chronic headaches all week and I'm pretty sure it was due to the sunshine. The light was so foreign to my eyes, that a few straight days of it was painful. You guys all think I'm being dramatic- but I can't tell you how drastic my mood changes have been since the sun has finally made itself familiar.
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| Beach town |
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| Hello, Mediterranean |
We got back mid-afternoon and it was about 65 degrees so I made Mollie come on a run with me, and I was just so not used to running outside in warm temperatures! Afterwards, we cooked some dinner and then headed to a bar and sat outside to share some wine with Jilli and Chris and just talk about European life and American life and our futures and whatnot.
On Tuesday, I got up and ran with Sarah, who's currently training for a marathon next month. After some lunch, I went to school with Mollie. She works in a primary school, so we visited a 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade class I believe. French teachers are much stricter with their kids, and I was also surprised to see that the teachers barely speak English. Mollie was saying that she thinks that's why French people aren't good at English generally, because their teachers aren't good at English. Which is the opposite in German schools--all the English teachers at my school speak perfect English and even the teachers of other subjects all speak English about as well as I speak German!
We stopped home quickly and then headed to frisbee practice. I've never played ultimate, so what better time to try than in France! I had already met some of Mollie's teammates at the gathering on Friday, and I met some more. It was fun to join the practice of a team sport! I honestly don't remember the last time I participated in a team sport, because all through college I only focused on working out and running- so it was pretty fun! And I'm not so scared of the frisbee anymore which is a plus!
Another note- most everyone knows about the French kissing cheeks greeting, called bizou. Well, in southern France, you had to kiss THREE times. To everyone! No matter where you see them! I could understand bizouing at a party, but like... teammates walking into sports practice and you have to bizou them three times. It got a little obnoxious. I like it. But I'm still a little weirded out by it. I like hugging better hahaha. After practice Mollie, Jilli, and I grabbed some Indian style kebab and then headed to the English pub, the Shakespeare, where one of the guys on the team hosts a bilingual quiz night on Tuesdays. Alas, there was no Guinness on tap, so I got some weird English stout I had never heard of... 7 euro! Absolutely absurd. Oh well. When in Rome...
I liked the atmosphere of the pub a lot. When we were ordering drinks, Mollie heard a group of boys speaking German at the table next to us and told me and I got so excited and sat down and started speaking German to them... turns out they were all Swedish and were visiting one guy who was studying in Montpellier. One lived in Austria and one in Switzerland though, so they all spoke German. Being Swedish, their English was perfect and they actually could've passed as Americans when they spoke, but I insisted they speak German with me. It was nice to talk with them if only for a bit though, because the French weren't speaking to me again...c'est la vie.
Headed home when the pub closed just before one and on Wednesday Mollie and I headed to Avignon for the day, a little town about an hour away. The city is in Provence, a different region than Montpellier. It's famous for the massive papal palace that housed a number of popes centuries and centuries ago when they were facing strife in Rome and moved the seat of the Holy See for a bit. When we saw the palace, I thought it looked pretty familiar and kind of thought I had been there before. When I got back to Münster, I looked at my pictures from my trip to Spain, France, and Italy in 2006, and sure enough- I had been to Avignon and had a picture of the palace at night!
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| Papal Palace |
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| Bridge to Nowhere |
Mollie was kind of freaking out and I felt bad for not freaking out too, but honestly I was fine cause I hadn't lost my phone. Everything in perspective! She called all her friends though, and they told us there wasn't another train until the morning, so we took a cab into the center of town to a hotel they told us had vacancies. Well, the hotel was locked.... so we continued walking, and the city was DEAD. Like not a soul anywhere, it was actually kind of creepy. Finally we saw the lights of a Best Western and knew that would be open, so we headed in there and purchased a room for the night. The concierge was actually German who had American relatives and was living in France. What a world!
We felt really, really, realllllly stupid about missing the train, but it was an honest mistake. And I think it's really good we were with each other, because both of us have so much experience traveling and were able to keep calm and figure out what to do. Grabbed some sandwiches and then passed out in our beds and had a nice night's sleep. Woke up the next morning, and although we had to wear the clothes we had been wearing all day... we had clean underwear!!! We had done some shopping again in Avignon, mainly along the lingerie lines, and hey- turns out to have been a clutch purchase because we had clean underwear to wear. Headed down to a massive German-style breakfast and proceeded to stuff our faces. Then headed out to explore Arles!
Arles is very small but has lots of Roman stuff. We passed by some Roman ruins and then by a big Roman arena! It was raining most of the time we were there but the city was still really pretty. Very quaint and French. Again, the arena looked very familiar.... lo and behold I got home and looked back at my photos from that same trip and turns out I had been to Arles as well. But I hadn't been with Mollie before!
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| Arena in Arles |
After our exploring, we got on the train back to Montpellier. It was still raining, but Sarah and I went for a run anyways. Mollie went to practice and I packed up all my stuff and hung out with Sarah a bit...she got back pretty late and we concluded MSM in our pajamas on our electronix. Lol. It had been a very tiring and exhausting month! And then I had to wake up at 5:30am to catch the shuttle to the airport for my morning flight back to Germany. Hugged Mollie goodbye, but hopefully I'll see her again in May when we might take a random trip somewhere.
Conked out on the flight again, and then flight attendant actually had to push me awake to put up the window shade during landing... embarrassing because I had drooled all over the place. Classy, I know. Do you drool more when you're tired?? Katherine and I were wondering this because she said she's been drooling as well even though both of us usually don't. But I drooled in Berlin, in Montpellier, on the plane, and then in Mainz as well. But after a couple good nights of sleep in my bed in Münster...no drool! Sorry...TMI? ;)
Arrival back at good ol' Frankfurt Hahn and was welcomed back to Germany with snowwww! Shuttle bus to Mainz where I Katherine and her friend Sam met us who had been visiting all week from the States. We went to Austin's and just kind of hung out hiding from the snow. Went and got a drink at a cute little German pub-- and the beer was only 3,50-- ahh times like these I love Germany! Then got dinner at an Italian place and looking around me at everyone in the restaurant, I really was happy to be back in Germany. The land of the tall and the blonde and the beautiful. The land where I can understand people and speak to people. The land where I understand trains and know that they'll run past 8pm and the land where I have a bank account and the land where I know what products each grocery store has and the land where I can complain about the weather all I want and fit right in with all the other Germans.
As I said, my week in France was great, but disappointing just along the cultural lines, but the pro that came out of that was missing Germany-- something I needed for these final three months here. I went home last over a month ago now and was crying at the gate when I had to come back... because I was leaving my most familiar home. But this time around, I was excited to get back to Germany because France was much more unfamiliar than Germany to me. Mollie and I were talking about this while I was with her- she had a great time in Germany, but still really missed France... she knows France and knows how the people are and knows the culture and how to do day to day things. And that's how I felt in France- I enjoyed my time and love visiting the beautiful country and eating the delicious food, but at the end of the day, I missed Germany- I missed familiarity- this country I've now lived in for a total of more than a year if you count my time abroad. It's just a really cool thing to be able to know another country and culture so well, that you can actually miss it when you travel somewhere new-- and miss it first and foremost before your home country.
But the rest of Easter...! Saturday was the only say from Friday-Monday that stores were open because of Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday (and the Europeans claim to not be religious...) so Austin, Katherine, and I spent a record amount of money at the grocery store for dinner and Easter brunch, and of course chocolate. Katherine and I both gave up candy and chocolate for Lent so I was counting down the hours until Easter. We cooked some dinner, drank a bit too much wine, and then headed to the Irish Pub where an Irish duo was playing and they were great! The Guinness wasn't bad either!
The three of us shared Austin's double bed that night and I got the shaft and got stuck in the middle, but I didn't even mind too much because at least that kept me warm. Woke up like kids on Christmas Day- the clocks moved forward an hour the night before so we were a little more groggy than usual. Nevertheless, dressed in our Easter best and headed to the cathedral for church! (NB- Germans do not share the concept of Easter best- although everyone stayed in their coats during the service, it was clear that the three of us were in the small minority that had dressed up for the occassion...c'mon! Easter dress is one of the best parts of Easter!!)
Service started at ten and we got there at 9:45 but still had to stand for the two hour service which was actually wicked painful, but I just kept thinking of Jesus the whole time. The service was beautiful though- I remembered back to Easter service I attended in Vienna when I was abroad, and the cardinal archbishop presided, and there was a massive choir and orchestra, and they did the entirety of one of the Bach masses and I was blown away. This service was very similar- a massive choir and orchestra and the cardinal archbishop, but this time it was a Schubert mass. After the service, we headed back, and I broke open the chocolate bar I had stored in my purse. We had awoken to a bright blue sky, but when we left the cathedral, the sky had turned grey and then it snowed all day. Thanks Germany. Coldest March in 100 years is right.
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| Easter service in the Mainzer Dom |
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| BRUNCH |
OKAY. WOW. That was lot. If you're tired of reading this, don't worry, I'm tired of typing this. I've been back in Münster the last couple years just sleeping, eating chocolate, and running because it's actually been really sunny and close to 50 degrees! Amazing! Heading to Hannover tomorrow for a couple days and then I'll be back on Saturday before work begins again on Monday! That's a wrap!
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