À Strasbourg!

Strasbourg! Sorry for the lack of posts. I don’t have internet at my house and SU isn’t open on the weekends….and even when it is open, it closes at 7. LAME. I’m working on trying to purchase an internet key so I can have internet at my house. We’ll see.

The first pic is of the European Parliament...literally, right outside my window. The second is me outside of the Council of Europe after my interview. And the last is of the neighborhood where I live.

Anyway, lots of news. I’ll try not to be too boring. We arrived in Strasbourg on Friday at about 3pm. I was actually dreading the arrival. I couldn’t sleep on the bus from Cologne and all I did was eat Haribo and two Toblerone bars and listen to Taylor Swift on my ipod on repeat. (Otto danced in my lap. Everyone else looked at me and made judgmental faces. Meh, who cares!?)

The SU Center is pretty nice. Very French…whatever that means? All of the classrooms are on the main floor. Upstairs is a library and the offices of the professors. In the attic there’s a computer room. In the basement we have a student lounge, kitchen and another computer room. I’m pretty sure I’ll be spending most of my time there…

Also, this is my mailing address at the center for those of you who asked for it:

Université de Syracuse
7, rue Schiller
67000 Strasbourg
France

All 43 of us crowded into one of the classrooms and awaited our housing assignments. We each received a piece of paper with a profile of our host families. Mine: “divorcée single woman, child daycare worker, three children ages 39-43, no internet, enjoys country dancing, and being calm.”

Greatttttttttttttttttt.

One by one we were called out of the room to meet our host families. It was a bit like being chosen by a giant claw in one of those arcade games à la Toy Story. Terrifying. I’ve never been so nervous yet so anxious in my entire life.

Finally I heard “Sue et Katherine.” I walked out of the room and was met by a young skinny woman who definitely did not fit the 70+ year old woman I had constructed in my head based on the paper I had in my hands.

The woman introduced herself as Patricia, the daughter of my host mom. We drove to the house which was about a 5 minute walk from SU.

Marie-Madeleine, or as we call her “Nou Nou,” welcomed me with open arms as I entered. I was so relieved. Nou Nou is incredible. She’s been a host since 1994 and has house more than 50 students including Katie Couric’s nephew, John Couric. She even had Katie come visit her! YES, I am sleeping in the same house that she once stayed in. RIDICULOUS!

She told me a story today that she went to John’s wedding a while back and met Tom Cruise. She said he was a real asshole. Surprise? Haha.

The house is so cute. Very welcoming and comfortable. Nou Nou has lived in this house her entire life. It’s incredible! I’ll post pictures sometime this week. I have my own room…and fyi Sarah Palin, I can see the Council of Europe and the Parliament from my house. I’m pretty sure that OWNS Russia. But anyway…

Dinner was amazing…vegetable soup, a sausage and vegetable stew, salad and cheese, and strawberry ice cream. Sorry, I’m not very talented at describing food, but use your imagination. Patricia stayed for dinner along with her daughter Lutèce who is 4 years old and ADORABLE. I am in love. Noo Noo watches Lutèce and 4 other kids during the week.

Saturday morning I woke up around 8 and went to the center with Sue to the center to meet Lex, Mika, Vanessa and Kelly to do some shopping. We went to Orange, the local cell phone company to get cell phones. Quite an adventure. Anyway, I now have a French cell phone, horray! It’s pretty entertaining…I walk down the street with my Nokia in one hand and my Blackberry in the other. I’m a pro.

The city itself is beautiful. I’m not a fan of Paris because it’s just so huge and you always feel lost. Strasbourg is home. I literally stopped three times today and said to myself, “I can’t believe I’m living here.” I don’t know when it will hit me.

We stopped at Monoprix which is like a Walmart only nicer and without all of the white trash (No, I don’t care if that’s politically incorrect). Les Galleries Lafayette is a big department store in France. Now until February there are “soldes,” which are basically ridiculous sales on everything. We wandered around in GL for a bit, but it was just really crowded and we were all tired.

Sue and I took the Tram back to the SU Center, picked up some flowers for Nou Nou, and managed to get lost only once. Success. Until we got home and spent 25 minutes attempting to unlock the front door. Pretty sure the neighbors thought we were complete idiots. Oh well.

Patricia and Lutèce were over for dinner again last night. We had a traditional salade Alsacienne with lettuce, Alsacien sausage, Gouda, chopped carrots, onions, and homemade vinaigrette dressing.

Yesterday was “dimanche en famille” or the traditional “Sunday with the family.” We waited for Tom’s (1 year old boy Nou Nou also watches during the week) parents to come pick him up. We talked for a little bit about the Council of Europe because they both work there. Later today I have an interview for an internship at the Council so wish me luck!

We had lunch and then headed out for a tour of the city on foot. We stopped to visit Francine (No, NOT D’Amico) a friend of Nou Nou’s who is going to the hospital tomorrow for foot surgery. We went to the famous Cathédrale de Strasbourg for a tour by Nou Nou. I felt a little sick so I couldn’t completely enjoy it, but I know I’ll be visiting a lot. She showed us the nearest laundromat and then the three of us took the tram home.

Dinner. A little TV. And then bed.

Had Orientation this morning. Lunch at the Center. I’m just hanging around here until my interview at the Council at 4.

Sorry for the long post!