La Vie en France: 3/6/11

For the 3rd of my 4 vacations (For my 9 month contract, I have 8 weeks of paid vacation. This is a country that knows how to appreciate vacation time.), I was at a loss as to what to do. The 2nd week, Brie, Kate and I went to Berlin, but for the first there wasn't much going on. Everyone else had family visiting or was teaching extra courses. So, I looked into places I could get to cheaply and stumbled onto Strasbourg (Strasbourg). It's a gorgeous city, with a well-preserved history but also plenty of current life. The later has become important to me since coming to understand that Laon peaked in the middle ages, and is currently sleeping in the beautiful remnants of that time. I spent an hour cruising couch-surfing and eventually sent out a request.

Have you heard of couchsurfng? If not, you should look into it: Couch Surfing. It's an website where people offer to let other travelers sleep on their couch or in their spare room for a few nights. I was naturally skeptical, especially being a woman traveling alone. But I have met a lot of couch-surfers through various means (pot lucks in other towns, random nights out here in Laon, etc.) and they've all been really pleasant to be around. There seem to be two things similar to all couch-surfers: an genuine interest in listening to other people and a certain sort of worldliness. So with the promise of good conversation and the many stories from friends of great couch-surfing adventures, I decided to take the risk of ending up staying with complete weirdos. In the end, I got so, so lucky, but that later.

I took the train to Strasbourg Saturday afternoon and spent the rest of that day wandering around, just soaking in the gorgeous historical part of the city. The city, and the region of which it is the capital, has changed hands between the French and the Germans many times over the past 1700 years. Today it's a beautiful blend of the two. That evening I met my couch-surfing hosts for the first. Their house was about 15 minutes from the city center if you rode a bike or took the tram.

Couch-Surfing House. Cute, eh?

There were seven roommates at home that week: 1. Marie, a German student studying translation 2. Nico, a French student aqua-engineering (did I make that word up?) 3. Murielle, a French student studying something like public administration 4. Natsuko, a Japenese girl living in France to learn to make pastries 5. Flora, a French student studying the EU 6. Xavier, a French waiter who should probably actually be a musician for a living 7. Adrianna, a Romanian med-school student, and a former roommate who was visiting for vacation. Plus, an endless stream of friends visiting for the afternoon, evening, or a few days. Though it was admittedly a bit awkward and nerve-wracking in the beginning, everyone was incredibly open and welcoming from the moment I walked into the door. That evening they threw a soiree, and I listened to French until I was utterly incapable of understanding even a single word more. There's a point with foreign languages at which your brain just turns off and you have to stop. That point is usually around 1 am for me, but, happily, I'm finding that it's getting later and later.

Sunday, I borrowed a bike and took a big tour around the city. I started with the "European" section of the city, where there are European Council, Courts, and Parliament buildings. Lots of interesting, albeit not always beautiful, modern architecture. That afternoon I met some of the housemates at the Modern Art Museum. I'd intended to head back to Laon Monday afternoon, but Nico was generous enough to invited me to stay longer. Though I was hesistant to over-stay my welcome, as I always am, it felt too good to be in a big, cosmopolitan city. I ended up staying for 8 days.

It turned out to be such a super (My use of that word is evidence of the French corrupting my mind) vacation. I spent the rest of the week hanging out with whichever housemate happened to be home, passing lots of time around their kitchen table; reading, drinking 3 or 4 cups of tea a day, taking turns cooking big meals, sharing pictures from our homes and our favorite youtube videos, being amazed by Natsuko's cakes. Have I mentioned the gateaus? She made at least one a day. Beautiful, home-made pieces of French heaven in your mouth. Often several a day.

Maria and Natsuko

I went to the Alsatian museum, saw a movie in English!, took 3 hour walks, drank decent beer and great wine, managed to understand most of a 2 hour, French tour of an art museum, saw a modern circus, got married, ate traditional Alsatian food, chopped off most of my hair (Don't worry Grandma, not all of it!), and learned more French than I probably had in the past month.

Now, dad has often said that he that is very lucky. It's clear to me that I must've inherited his luck. Strasbourg is a lovable city, but mostly the week was made by the people I met there. Thanks to my good fortune, I got scooped up into this amazing little community of smart, interesting and big-hearted people. They were so generous with their space, their food, and their things, so patient with my terrible French, and so open with their lives. I'm completely incapable of expressing what a positive experience it was and of how truly grateful I am.