Well it has been an exciting week since I arrived. The BDI, a student organization that aids international students in getting acquainted, has thrown parties for the past week. Alot of fun and drinking. I have met loads of people from all over the world. I have two German roommates, and Stras is full of German students, therefore it seems that I'm always hanging out with the Germans. They have come here to work on their degrees and english, it makes it hard to learn french when you are speaking in english all the time.
Outside that, Strasbourg is very nice. Weather is amazing, between 65-75 each day so far. Alot of walking and tram riding. It is very interesting to observe the cultural differences and realize the stereotypes and the falsities/truths. FYI, although Germans are famous for their kraut, it is only eaten on occasion. A couple of my German friends came over on sunday and made a traditional German meal. It was potatoes, ham and an apple kraut. It was very good! I also ate a local dish called Flammekueche (it is pronounced flam-koosh). It reminded me of pizza without pizza sauce. It was on a very thin crust, thinner than Imo's, with cream as a base and different types of cheeses, bacon and a dessert one that had sugar and apple slices. The dessert tasted like apple kettle corn, it was very good as was the rest of the flammekeuche!
Other neat things are the beer at McDonald's, beer/wine at the cafeteria on campus, a whole 3 course lunch for less than $3.50 (2.95 euro), and very cheap beer and wine in the markets. Europeans do a lot of drinking, but not drinking to get drunk. I am amazed at the responsibility among the students and others when it comes to drinking. Although some get crazy, it isn't too many. I went over the Kehl, Germany, about 3 days ago to do shopping. It is very inexpensive to shop over there, and it is only 15 minutes away. One thing, they (both Germany and France) make you pay .09 Euro (15 cents) per plastic bag. Therefore, I use my backpack! We don't have a freezer and our fridge is the size of my college dorm fridge (and it is for 4 people), so about every 2 days I am stopping by the market to pick up food for the next 2 days. It is nice, cause 4 days a week, their is a live market in Strasbourg (2 of the days it is down the street from my apt) so I get fresh fish, veggies and fruits.
Life over here is quite more relaxed, the pace is slower and a lot less noisy (the whole town shuts down form lunch from noon until 2pm). We have no TV, even though I wouldn't understand French television. From what I understand, they only have a couple channels and according the locals, the channels aren't worth the money. The apartment has no internet yet, therefore I can only get on when I'm at the university. The main difference is we don't spend a lot of time at the apartment, only sleeping and eating time. The rest is spent outside and in other common meeting areas like the university, city squares, city yards, ect...
Well, that is hopefully a good description of experiences thus far. I have alot more, but i'll think of it later. Gotta get finishing some registration and then off to lunch. Also, I have posted photos on Facebook.
Bonne Jounee!
You don't need a big fridge Bill, it's better to each fresh each day. I remember people shopping on their lunch hour or after work for the evening's meal. Do you find that dinner last a long time? It's more of an event instead of just a meal.
ReplyDeleteKim