it's been exactly a month since i've written but it feels like a year. the title is i have arrived, and that is true in more ways than one.
i spent two weeks traveling around europe by train. i first spent a bitterly cold afternoon in strasbourg strolling around the christmas markets. then i took a night train to munich where i spent christmas with some distant cousins of my dad's family. it was my first christmas away from home but it was really fun to have a traditional bavarian christmas complete with real candles on the christmas tree. while there i also went for a nice walk around the snowy lake tergensee which sits about an hour outside of munich in the alps. i also played the bavarian style curling on a little frozen lake. it was my first time on a frozen lake and i was more concerned about the ice cracking {it didn't--seeing that the air temperature was well below freezing} than slipping and low and behold around my fifth step on the ice i was down {if you know anything about me this would probably not surprise you as i am rather clumsy and make a habit of falling or tripping over nothing--see below}. i was also shocked to see many mothers ice skating while pushing their babies in strollers. i also made it a habit in munich to try the bavarian beers, which i'm fairly convinced are some of the best in the world.
after munich, i took a train, or several trains rather, to geveva, switzerland. i hit a minor hiccup along the way. i was traveling with a eurrail pass which works on all local trains. to take a long distance or high-speed train a reservation and fee is required. so being the cash strapped student that i am i planned the trip with local transport, overnight. so i left munich in the afternoon with my dutiful list of nine trains to get to geveva. the only hitch was a five hour stop in neuchatel. i figured five hours isn't that long and i could just sit in the train station and read. the catch is that the five hours were from 1 am to 6 am and the train station closes at 1. so i wandered the streets of neuchatel which was practically a ghost town at that hour and during a holiday. i spent the time in a park, evading the cops and half-sleeping in a little alley and then wandered back up to the train station around 5. amazingly the little grocery store next door was open and i got a hot chocolate croissant, which had never tasted so good. i then caught my train and finally made it to geveva. i spent my time there wandering around and taking pictures with my film camera. it is a really pretty city and the water in the lake is surprisingly clear. it was also very nice to be back in french speaking territory after hearing german for 4 days.
as another twist of fate with my eurrail pass, i took eight trains to get back to munich around 1 am and wait for my 6 am train to paris. i lucked out and watched the sun rise over the swiss alps from the train. the countryside was gorgeous and no, the hills were not alive with the sound of music. i also had a couple hours in basel along the way. when i arrived in munich i was luckier than in neuchatel as the train station stays open all night as well as several bars and restaurants nearby. i had a kebab which are the token drunk food in europe consisting of shaved meat, lettuce, tomato, onion and yogurt sauce served on a roll. i accompanied it with a lagerbier hell, a beer made in munich. again, it never tasted so good. as i was waiting for my train there were two obviously american guys standing around with large backpacks on trying to make sense of the munich train station. i could hear them whispering daring each other to come ask me if i spoke english. when one of them finally got the guts he asked me how to find the train. when i responded in perfect english he looked shocked and/or dumbfounded that i also happened to be american and on the same train. so i dutifully helped the hungover knuckleheads from louisiana find the train {even though it was right in front of us}.
i spent the afternoon in paris. i had some lunch at a small café near the train station. the other three tables in the place were occupied by anglophones who made no effort whatsoever to speak french with the waitress. i was able to speak entirely in french with her and i noticed a bit of a difference in the quality of service. i also went to buy some flowers for my hosts in brussels, where i was heading that afternoon. i picked out a simple and elegant bouquet of roses that i thought i could manage on the train. then the florist asked me if they were for the home or for a gift. i replied a gift and got the full treatment. first he added some red palm frons. then rafia. then a large wrapping of cellophane. then more rafia. then some ribbon. then finally he stapled his card to the top. my simple bouquet almost doubled in size. the craziest part is they don't even charge extra for all the bells and whistles.
that evening i took the train, flowers and all to brussels where i met up with my mom's friends who are americans and work at the american embassy there. as i was getting out of the backseat of their mini cooper convertible at their house i managed to step in the wrong part of the curb and ended up on my face in the gutter. i thought i was fine until later that evening i realized i had completely skinned my knee through my jeans and long underwear without tearing a thread in my clothes. i spent my first day in brussels wandering around the center. it was new year's eve but all the events had been cancelled due to the terror warnings. so i headed back to the house before midnight and had a mellow new year's eve with champagne and the tv show house, but this year i stayed awake until midnight. while in brussels i did enjoy the local specialties of moules frites {mussels and french fries}, frites {french fries served in a parchment cone with a variety of sauces} and gauffres {waffles made with chunks of crystallized sugar in the batter--i had mine with strawberries and whipped cream}.
i returned to nancy for one night to visit again with my host family and so the kids could show me the cool presents they got for christmas. it was nice to see them one last time and i am already missing them.
i arrived back at my parents' house in lake tahoe on january 5, just in time for a massive storm that dumped about 4 feet of snow and threatened to make me spend the night in boise. i was also home just in time to recover from a nasty cold and cough. it was nice to relax, do some laundry and ski for probably the only time this season.
i flew back into portland just in time for an arctic cold front. i can seriously see my breath in my bedroom. classes started today. i'm taking 2-d design, french 321, linguistics, philosophy of art and beauty, and art in contemporary china. it will be a tough semester but they are all classes i'm really interested in so i think it will be worth it. i am living in a house with many {7} other lc students. it's the first time i've had my own room since high school. today woke up before my alarm, made breakfast, made a lunch, and cooked dinner. i also had to run some errands downtown and took trimet instead of the school shuttle. it was the first time in a long time, if ever, that i felt like i had my own life and that i'm actually in control of it. it's a really good feeling. i think finally, i have arrived.
and some things i learned along the way:
+the small luxury of a cheap, hot meal after traveling all day and self-imposed strandedness at a european train station/airport. it really does make everything better.
+how to lie to french-speaking men {oh i'd love to follow you, a stranger in a strange city to a bar around the corner but i'm sorry i have an early train to catch tomorrow}
+how to not look american {everyone i talked to while i was traveling thought i was either french or german}
+that even though my room is a mess, i'm not unpacked, and it's cold enough to store vodka, it's mine and it's really nice to feel like a real person again, maybe even myself.
