Christmas, the Happy Reunion, New Years and Everything Nice...

Well it has been a while, I could lie and tell you I was just too busy to write this but honestly that would be dishonest. I am writing now after what has been a month because of some slight pressure put on by a source of whom I will not name, but she is my mom so that might be a hint. Since my last blog there has been christmas so I believe I will start there.

Christmas tends not to conform to the standard holiday tradition for my family, its been a few years since we were all just at home and waking up early in the morning to open presents. I can't complain though for a few reasons. First, I had my fair share of those when I was a kid and second considering the fact that I was many a mile away from my home, it wasn't really an option in the first place. Anyways, I'll start the day before hand, christmas eve. This day was the most similar to christmas because I did have to wake up early and run downstairs. Not for my presents though, I was waiting for my family this time. So I sat downstairs in the boys dorm waiting for my parents (who were most likely lost) to find my little school on the border of France. I sat waiting by a christmas tree which was was finely decorated but still seemed barren because of the lack of presents beneath it. I waited a while longer and became a bit upset that I had woken up so early for my late-arriving parents and brother. After an hour or more they did arrive and we had our delightful reunion. It had been since early September since I had seen my parents and since June for my brother because he had been off in a far away island nation for the past year. It was a very nice christmas indeed after having been away for so long it was nice to have a piece of home come back to me.

We spent the remainder of our week traveling around France and Switzerland. We went to Geneva and on a train ride up a mountain in Switzerland, then we went about France to some smaller places then up to Paris. Paris was Paris and delightful as always. This was my second time there and considering that I was the only french-speaking (sort of) person in our group I was made official tour guide. A bit of a daunting task but Paris is quite difficult to get bored in especially if you are there for only a few days. We saw all the sights or at least the most important stereotypical Paris things: The Eiffel Tower, the Champs Elysées, the Notre Dame, the Louvre, and the Catacombs of Paris. It was a very good time but a bit rushed but honestly you may have to spend a few weeks in Paris or more if you wish to not feel rushed trying to see it all.

Everybody left the 31 of December early in the morning. The only spent a week because Ryan needed to get back and get a few things and get adjusted, having been out of the states for such a long time. I spent New Years more or less alone which was not too upsetting because I had woken up at 4 that morning to see my family off. he last week of vacation was spent mostly trying to study and remember all that had been lost in the past month. There was more than I wished to take note of. But, school is back in session and I have begun to relearn all that was lost and learn new things all at the same time.

2011 was quite the year and from my experience each year seems to get better so I can only imagine what else there is to be discovered. 2012 has a lot to live up to but I still have about 6 months of it left in Europe which will likely turn out to be amazing as were the first 4.

Christmas Vacation Part 1

Well finals are now over... well they have been over for a week but I've been in recovery mode. Anyways, the end of finals marks the beginning of christmas vacation which is a welcome concept.
This weekend marked the first of I hope many adventures I will be having this break. The school took all the IFLE (foreign language students) to Alsace, France. We left super early on sunday morning and headed north. The first day consisted of traveling and then christmas markets in the evening. We walked around the city looking at little shops and lazily walking through the christmas markets. Needless to say there was a lot of random christmasy items that I wanted to buy, but I had to contain myself. For the most part we just adventured around the city until later into the night when everything had closed. Then went back to the hotel and practiced french with some good old fashioned cartoons.
The next day had a little less of a "happy" start. We went to a concentration camp. It was something I'm glad I have seen but not somewhere I need to go again I guess I can say. It was freezing rain and windy which seemed only appropriate for such a place. Later that afternoon, we visited a chateau atop a hill, which was very beautiful. I peered in all the different rooms and lingered in the armory and the room with all the canons allowing my inner child's imagination to come out a little bit. That night was filled with more christmas markets and overall holiday cheer.
Third and final day was possibly my favorite. We went to visit a large car museum. I'm quite sure I enjoyed this more than anybody else there. There were large rooms filled with old european cars, Ferrari, Bugatti, and Mercedes for the most part. I spent two hours walking around, absorbing all the images I could. Besides old cars they also had the significantly newer and faster Bugatti Veyron. If you don't know what that is well google it I guess. Anybody who does know what this car is knows that it took a lot on my part not to jump over the barrier and try to touch it, but I refrained knowing that my french skills are not quite at the level where I could talk myself out of such trouble. Anyways it was amazing and I stood and stared for quite a long time.
For now I am back at school, temporarily stuck. There are a couple students still here waiting to go on their own trips or waiting for family. Thats what I'm doing, waiting for family. Ryan should be back in the good ol' hometown of Dayton come tomorrow. Then the whole family is coming over to visit me for christmas. Until then I'll just have to make my own entertainment.

A very foreign thanksgiving and a few more things

Before I start I would like to say that I know you or people you know may be in panic mode because you are no longer able to read about island adventures with Ryan's adventures being over. Have no fear you can still read or direct others to read this blog. I know its mediocre but it can probably suffice until you meet somebody else who is doing something more interesting.

Lets start with Thanksgiving. No I didn't get a Thanksgiving break but us americans at the school had the honor of sharing our wonderful holiday with everybody who so chose to come to our event for the day. It was a very new experience for many. I had to explain to many though that it doesn't really count for multiple reasons. 1 most people weren't with family. 2 Most people only ate 1 plate which we all know doesn't count. 3 there was no football or parades. 4 It kind of helps when you actually celebrate in America. But no matter, it was good evening trying to share our cultural differences.

Honestly, besides there have not being many things going on here. I have been studying quite a lot as of late. This is all in preparation for finals here which take place next week. Everything I do has been french-related even more than usual. I did get out one evening to go to the cinema but the film was still in french so I count it as study time. If anybody has any interest its a very good film called "Intouchables" about a paralyzed man in a wheelchair and his unlikely young helper. It becomes a comedy... I think... people were laughing at least in the theater and I had enough trouble keeping up with the story let alone the jokes. But for the most part it was a very beautiful movie.

Well, thats about it for this week. Sorry no major adventures but come next week after exams comes a long winter break. I know for sure I will be going to Lyon, Alsace, and Paris possibly some more places so until then just read some re-runs of Ryan's Blog haha.

Crossing Borders / Climbing Mountains... The Usual

Well, new chapter, new country, and new flag to place on my wall. I'm happy to say I have now been to Austria. Innsbruck to be specific. And not for any average tourist event. No. I went for a volleyball tournament. An Adventist volleyball tournament. If I count I believe that there were people from at least 14 different countries around the world. This is the point in the story that I would love to tell the story about how the two teams from Collonges placed 1st and 2nd in an epic (adventist) battle, a story to be passed down through the ages. However, by some higher power, I am obligated to be honest and tell you that this was not the case. To be honest, Collonges 2, my team, did not do as good as I hoped. I'll just leave it at that because I do not wish to cry on my laptop. After all, I shock myself nearly every day with my converters so no reason to do it even more. Anywho... it was a very good time despite our lack of winning. Also, I was able to have my first experience with the German language which is a bit confusing and also my first experience with Christmas markets which are so awesome.

The following Monday was terrible. Over the whole weekend there was a poor sleep to activity ratio going on and it hit me the day classes started. But I guess that I had to pay for having my fun. Today, whats left of it, is Tuesday and that meant that I did not get anything accomplished. Why? you might ask. Well tuesday is the day when I go to ESM class where my mountain studies class goes out and does some form of ecip rock climbing or hiking. This means that my entire afternoon is taken up by some activity which is very fun indeed. Today was a technical hike across the Salève involving some rock climbing and repelling which was good times indeed. Why, you might ask, is this a problem? Well because I should be studying and catching up on all the missed homework fromt this past weekend as well as preparing for my oncoming tests and presentations. Also, I should not be wasting even more time by blogging, but thats a different story. Fortunately, all of these things are Future-Derek's problems. That is why Jonathan and I have decided to call Wednesday "Hangover day." Because on Tuesday we have all the fun and partying and when we wake up on wednesday we have deep regret for what we did yesterday... Minus the drinking that is implied with the word "hangover."

Well thats about it for now. I'm going to keep this one short because I need to study/catch up on my sleeping. So chao for now and thanks for reading.

I Have to go to Class on the Weekend... Sort of.

Before we commence this week I wish to assure everybody, but mostly my parents, that despite my many ventures I am still in school. Mom, Dad. This is not just a year of random travelling and using Europe as a playground, I assure you I am learning so much and working very hard. I feel as if I have never been this busy. I had to get special permission to take an additional two credits here so that I can get the most out of my experience and have been doing additional work in order to learn the most from this year abroad.

Now. Enough of that nonsense, less talk more play.

This past week consisted of a few tests (I told you I still had school) which I believe I did fairly well on. After all its not incredibly difficult to do well when you can't do anything, at least that involves talking, without it reinforcing your studying. There are definitely benefits to that aspect of french immersion. This last Friday, the 11th of November, was Armistice day. And, yes, this meant a day off of school. Somewhat. My ESM (studies of mountain sports) class ended up having a class activity for this weekend though. Technically this means I was in class but I'll let you decide. This weekend retreat meant that we were to head out into the wilderness behind our school and pretty much walk in the woods finding clues to different points and rendez-vous. Having done things like this before, because I was raised right (thanks Dad), it wasn't as difficult as it could have been. All the directions and puzzles were in french though. Fortunately I had two other team mates who were fluent and definitely knew what they were doing. After multiple puzzles and clues we came to the place we were to rest for the night. It was magnificent. We stayed atop a mountain where the summit pushed through the thick layer of clouds that had been covering Collonges for the past week or more. It was beautiful, the only way to describe it was a sea of clouds with mountain tops for islands, truly amazing. Saturday involved more hiking and a good repel off the side of the mountain, using some knots and forms we had learned in previous classes. It was still absolutely beautiful outside and that made it all the more enjoyable. We spent another night camping out on the top of the mountain, where I will admit it was quite cold but definitely not worth complaining about. Sunday involved an early rise and a quick hike down where I spent the rest of the afternoon doing the mass of homework that was intended for our "long weekend".

All in all it was definitely a good weekend and I don't know that I can even convince myself to consider it as "class" but no matter I probably learned more french in those two days then I did all week. Say what you will but high schoolers are good teachers.

Well that'll be all for now. Keep reading and commenting. Next week comes some stories about what I'm sure is going to be an amazing trip to Austria with my volley-ball team!

France, Belgium, Ireland, and England... what's not to like

Alright Madames et Monsieurs... this is going to be a big one so I have to decided to separate this into chapters. You may read the ones that have a title that strikes your fancy or if we are actually good friends / you are obligated to read all of it based on some relation to me (Mom). Either way be prepared for a good amount of travelling follies. For a picture adventure and to live vicariously through me visit my facebook

CHAPTER 1 : VENTURES IN PARIS

My recent voyages began with my school and fellow IFLE on our way to Paris. One of our first stops was the chateau Chambords. It was incredible, we arrived there in the morning and the chateau was engulfed in fog making it look quite mystical. We went to Versailles which was beautiful but far too crowded for my taste.

The freedom to walk around Paris was fantastic. I am quite sure I saw 90% of Paris in 2 days. Day 1 included Versailles as well as a long walk up the Champs Elysees Avenue where there were amazing shops and easy access to L'Arc de Triomphe. On this day I also got my first view of the Eiffel Tower. Day 2 was the big one, I think I did just about everything else there was to do all in a sprint. Morning commenced with the Louvre where I ran through each wing. I felt sick by the end because I had seen everything but not spent any time actually looking at anything and trying to comprehend all that I had seen. Next on the agenda was the Catacombs of Paris. It starts with a large spiral staircase spinning into the depths of Paris. After that there is a long walk through damp and dark hallways deep beneath the surface. Then you see it, a doorway with an inscription "Arrète! C'est ici l'empire de la mort" basically "Stop! Here is the empire of the dead." Thats not a doorway I would normally walk through, but when in Paris I guess. Through the doorway there were piles of bones lining the corridor, arranged in quite a creepy fashion, each stack labeled by which graveyard they originally came from. After quite a long walk and many more stacks of former people, we reached another staircase back towards the surface.

After such a happy event it was time to do something a little less frightening I guess would be a good word for it. So my group met back up with the rest of the IFLE and went for a beautiful ride up to the top of the Eiffel Tower where we had a beautiful view of the city lights.

CHAPTER 2 : FIRES IN AALST AND BRUGES

Belgium was the start of the real adventures and before you ask, No I have no idea where Aalst is I just know I stayed there for a night because of a fire. Continue reading if you wish to understand.

The trip to Belgium commenced with a few missed trains. Honestly though, that wasn't really a problem just a minor inconvenience compared to what was to come. On the way to Bruges from Brussels I contemplated how to be a better traveller after missing 2 trains already that day. I guess it wasn't so bad after all we were going to make it into Bruges in time to reach our hostel and see the city by the night, right? No, quite wrong in fact. Approximately 15 minutes into our train ride from Brussels our train slowed to a halt. This was no normal stop, through the darkness outside the window I could barely tell that we were in the middle of nowhere (the lack of city lights helped me with my assumption). A voice came over the loud speaker saying something in dutch that I was unable to comprehend. Gauging the other traveller's reactions it wasn't good news. Seeing our confusion an elderly Belgian man said in broken english "The train burns." Oh bother this could be a predicament. "No" the belgian man corrected himself, "The train station, it burns." It turns out that the next train station had caught fire, this meaning that our train was stuck until the electrics were figured out in the next station. This took quite some time, actually it took about 3 1/2 hours and multiple more messages, where the only word I managed to understand was "evacuation." Who knew I spoke dutch. Anyways the belgian fire brigade came and picked up all the passengers of our train and since it had been so long they thought they should feed us. This was my first of many experiences with belgian waffles. The fire brigade dropped us off in Aalst which I still have not found on a map. The time being near midnight we found the first hotel we could and stayed there the night. The hotel was called the New Hotel and well, lets just say it has seen better days.

In the morning we caught a train to Bruges and walked around the city most of the day. Bruges is a beautiful medieval city with cobble-stone streets and horse-drawn carriages. I could describe it all day but honestly you should just go there or watch the movie "In Bruges" which does a decent job of showing the city. One of the many things you must do while in Bruges is get a waffle, I admit to buying more than one during my stay and it was magnificent, I don't know if I will ever be able to eat a waffle again. And that makes me sad because I know there is nothing better.

CHAPTER 3 : DUBLIN, IRELAND

Sadly I do not have much to report about Dublin, I got sick and didn't exactly get out a whole lot. It was my first time in an english-speaking country in 6 weeks though. The only thing I really did was watch "The Adventures of Tintin" at a special pre-showing which was super cool. Its a really good movie BTW you all should see it when it comes out in December.

CHAPTER 4 : LONDON, ENGLAND

London was some really good times indeed. By this time we were all super travelers and it didn't hurt that we were yet again in a english-speaking country. I got to see all the major sights of London, the London Bridge, Big Ben and Parlament, Buckingham Palace, had my first official experience with fish and chips, as well as all that other good stuff. I could go into great detail about all that, but honestly it probably wouldn't be that interesting. I can though tell you about my awesome burrito adventure. We were nearing the end of the trip which meant we were all feeling very poor and didn't have any clean clothes. Fortunately, I found a solution. In London there is a mexican restaurant that has a 2 foot burrito and a challenge to go with it. If you can eat the whole 2 foot burrito (basically 3 chipotlé burritos) in less than 15 minutes you get it for free and a free (clean) T-shirt. I was sold, free t-shirt and burrito sounded brilliant to me. So on Monday I ate a huge breakfast to expand my stomach and then fasted for the remainder of the day until about 7:30. I could go into gross detail but the end result is that I have eaten a burrito the size of my arm and for the last day in London I had a clean shirt.

EPILOGUE

Thus concludes my first of many major adventures. I must say I was quite relieved to return to my home in France. I learned quite a lot about different countries, cultures and travel in general (salute). Its been quite an adventure, one that makes me worry I might get bored when I go back to the states. But then again, maybe not, after all there is always another adventure.

"One day your life will flash before your eyes, make sure its worth watching."

Annecy and Preparation for Adventure.

Well, since last blog I have gone on our surprise field trip. We went to Annecy, I love that town, its really beautiful. Its a really old-fashioned city with beautiful everything. I honestly don't think there is a way to look at it where it isn't absolutely stunning. There are so many old houses and buildings filled with boutiques and pastry shops. There is a chateau on a hill overlooking the city and there is a beautifully blue lake right by the city which on top of all that is of course surrounded by mountains. I liked it so much I already went back and even on a rainy day its still amazing. The second time was on a sunday and there were open air markets set up all throughout the town. I must have tried 10 different types of cheeses I only wish I could have justified buying a massive wheel of tomme. But maybe someday I can find a reason.

Let's see, what else. Honestly besides the random trip to Annecy there isn't a lot of stuff going on here. But there is a reason for that. For the past week most of the IFLE students here are just sitting around waiting and being bored. And the reason for that is that we are leaving for Paris tomorrow! I can't wait to see this place, its hard to think I have been in France for 5 weeks or so and have still not been to Paris. After that we get another vacation for another week too. A few other friends and I will be going to Bruges Belgium, Back to Paris, Dublin Ireland, and then to London England before coming back to school. With lots of activities that will be happening in each country. But that will all be discussed by Future Derek in the next blog.

I fear this blog has been overly brief, but thats because I have a lot of packing to do and by a lot of packing I mean decide which four shirts and three pairs of pants are best for the next two weeks of travelling. But no worries there... I'm here to see the world and the goal is being achieved.