I heart Strasbourg.

I don’t even know where to start with this post.  I know I have only been in France a week, but I absoloutely love it.  The differences between Strasbourg and St. Louis are amazing.  In this city, I do quite well for myself getting around on foot.  There is absoloutely no need for a car, everything is close enough to walk to, and there are trams here that run on a course next to the street where the cars drive, and they’re very efficient and quiet and cheap. My dorm is about a 10 minute walk from the main part of the city with the Cathedrale Notre Dame, which is over a thousand years old and quite beautiful.  Every night in July at 10:00 they turn on Mozart and light up the Cathedrale and it’s “magique”.  Every street is a mixture of store, the boulangerie, the tabac, cafes, restaurants, bookstores, and other sorts of shops.  The river runs through the city and at one point it surrounds it, like a little island.  The other day in class we had to do a project on architecture, and there were several different groups that reported on different periods.  Mine was mideval, and it’s incredible to see the mixture of styles, up to a thousand years old, all in one place. Today I went to a large market and looked around, I’m still a little shy with my French and am not quite comfortable navagating crowds to ask for a kilo of apples, or whatever. But there’s still time.

Everyone in Strasbourg rides bikes, from kids to professionals, to parents. I’ve seen many bikes with carseats on the back and it’s just amazing.  There is a bike path on every sidewalk. Amazing! Imagine having an actual path to ride your bike on!

The only thing that has been disappointing so far has been the food situation.  For breakfast I’ve been eating a crossiant with jam or honey, which is great, but for lunch we have to eat in the dining hall as a group so we can all speak French to one another.  Before my trip the professors spoke very highly of the dining hall and all the choices it has, and really, it’s a big fat lie.  It’s very difficult for me to find something to eat, being a vegetarian. Sometimes they serve fish, which is usually not delicious, but it’s mostly pork or chicken.  I haven’t really been eating out, other than at sandwich shops and whatnot, because I don’t want to spend a ton of money every day.  The markets have amazing food, but I also don’t have a kitchen or anything to cook with, so that’s not really an option either.  Luckily I have a mini fridge in my room, so I can keep fruit and yogurt, but it’s really hard being in France and not being able to enjoy the cuisine as I feel I should.

Tonight we are having a picnic in the park, which should be fun. Tomorrow we’re going into the small towns of Alsace for a wine tour and I’m really looking forward to that.  The towns are supposed to be “charmant”.

I’m kicking myself for saving my study abroad until the end.  My French is improving day by day, but I think I’ve got to branch out and make some French friends, because I mostly hang out with people from my group and it’s much easier to speak English together, so we do. 

All in all, everything is great.