The Alps (Basel, Interlaken, Grindelwald, Lucern)

I went all over this weekend! Just in a short but seemingly endless 2 days I have been from Lille to Paris to Strasbourg to Basel to Interlaken to Grindelwald to Lucern and back from there. My dad's place in Basel is gorgeous. They have a flat at the top of a condominium complex which is surrounded by windows and a long balcony. When I arrived in Basel on Friday Sue and I walked around the city. It was much colder there than in Lille! We walked through the center of Basel where they had this cute little market and indulged ourselves in some traditional Swiss food for lunch. Mine was some sort of meat in between delicious rolls, so I guess it was kind of like a hamburger! Then we walked up a hill to this beautiful old cathedral where Erasmus is buried. Two things to note about that: First of all, I am not used to hills because Lille is completely flat although I do walk everywhere around here, and secondly, I was reading "Gulliver's Travels" on the train going to Basel and theres a whole section on where Erasmus is brought back from the dead and Gulliver speaks to him. In a way I feel like Gulliver travelling so much, only Gulliver was constantly mocked throughout the story by Swift who used Gulliver as a major target for satire throughout the book. Then again, I can be mocked too since I was stupid enough to carry around valuables at Oktoberfest! And I am a huge spazz over here, constantly tripping and getting lost and looking like a fool in front of Europeans. But hey, what would life be without some wierdness? I guess this blog should be called "Claireivers Travels..." Wow I will definitely be made fun of for that one!

Anyways back to Switzerland...the weekend was very relaxing which is exactly what I needed, as my dad said, "to recharge my battery." I slept in a nice bed and took warm showers without worrying about wearing sandals. My dorm here resembles a prison cell, and I might sound like a spoiled American saying that but if you saw it then you would say the same thing! The walls are peeling and I sleep on a tiny little cot. No complaints though because I'm usually out and about, but it is just interesting.

On Saturday we took our time getting up, and a chorus of bells from the church right next to Dad's place woke me up. After bundling up (but not quite well enough), we hopped into Dad's car which they call "The Turtle" and drove South to Dad and Sue's friend's place on Lake Thun. My breath was literally taken away as we neared the lake. Their house was situated on the hillside so that we had a view of Interlaken and the lake and the alps behind both of those. It was pretty rainy and "narly" as Dad would have put it, but I still could not believe how stunning everything was. I couldn't stop looking around, there was too much to see! Dad's work friend and her husband Roberto were very geniale. As a traditional Swiss couple they had wine, coffee, and all kinds of snacks ready for us when we arrived! So we chatted upstairs in their cute little weekend home while looking out onto Interlaken.

When we left their home, it was still raining, but I honestly could have cared less. We drove on a windy road up past Interlaken and into the alps. How cool is it that I can say that!? "We drove into the alps." I could say it over and over again and it would still sound just as cool to me! We drove through quaint Swiss villages that had such Anglo-Saxon feels to them, and passed huge cows and bulls and at some point I thought, 'This is definitely the kind of place where you would have to stop your car to let cows cross the road!" I felt like running up the snowy mountain slope and start yodeling!

Up and up we climbed, past trains scooting up the mountain side and hooting their horns. As we kept going up, it started snowing, so that when we at last reached Grindelwald it was basically blizzarding. If you think Whistler is amazing, you clearly have never been to Grindelwald, Switzerland. Sort of a mix between Whoville in "The Grinch," and the town in the movie "Heidi," it was set on a hillside and was touristy but at the same time so Swiss! We parked in this garage and walked upstairs to find ourselves in some fun center with an iceskating rink where people were practicing Curling. We heard noises above and looked up at this crazy rope obstacle course set in the air and attached to the ceiling. I think its purpose was to prepare people for intense mountain hiking. All I could think of was that a day was not enough to discover this amazing town. I have to go back and spend some time there! It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when. We went to a cute cafe and ate pumpkin soup and hot chocolate. If it had not been snowing so hard we would have gone for a hike but I was only wearing a fleece and had no hat and was freezing just walking from the car to the cafe. Like I said, it is absolutely necessary that I return soon.

On Sunday my dad took me on a vespa ride around the area that he lives in. It was breathtaking as well, in fact I think I was just in complete awe the entire weekend. Never have I seen such a prestine, serene, and cheerful place! Now all I have to do is crank out this week so that I can enjoy my time in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark next week. I ordered a new camera from dad's so HOPEFULLY it will reach me in time. If not, then I don't care, I am buying disposibles. I almost went crazy in Switzerland without a camera! I looked long and hard at everything so that I would remember things vividly. I know people say that it's your memory that counts, but when memory fails, what do you do? Look at pictures!

Alright I still need to unpack. At least I got a lot of sleep this weekend! I hope everyone's well back home in the US and no one has climbed into any hot air balloons recently that have spontaneously taken off and stopped air traffic and the like (ba ha ha). Ciao! xxxxx

Frenchification

So I feel like I'm in my element...I'm going to be going to see Carmen at Lille's Opera in December with some fellow music nerds, and I've joined an equipe de volley (volleyball team!) And the girls on the team speak only French except for one, so it's been exciting learning how to call certain things in French. Like to call for a hit you go, "LA LA LA LA!" and when the setter wants to run a play she goes "OUI OUI OUI ou ALLEZ ALLEZ!" It's pretty self-explanatory though, but whenever I play volleyball I get REALLY into it and scream and cheer all the time, and of course I don't know how to scream those things in French so they think I'm this psychotic American girl. But they're really nice and laugh at me which is good. If they just stared then I'd feel even wierder. One of the girls has never ever played volleyball before so I was the one asked to teach her, and strangely enough, she actually improved throughout the course of the evening. I just used very simple French and a lot of hand gestures and body movements. It's funny how useless words can be at times...You can read a lot more about a person by how he or she reacts with the environment around him or her.

Needless to say, I feel like I've found a spot for myself here. It would be way different if I wasn't hanging out with French students because in the beginning when I was just with all American, British, and Australian people it felt like some sort of utopia removed from the world of Lille where the only language spoken is colloquial English. I still hang out with them but I am the most restless person in the sense that I cannot confine myself to a group of individuals with whom I relate well. I must be constantly on the move, which probably explains why I want to travel so much here! One of the funniest French people I've met here is my friend Clement's roommate "Coucou." I think his actual name is Ediouardo or something, which is way too sophisticated of a name for him judging by his character! He is such a goof and his English speaking is limited to slang, so we're constantly laughing at him.

Time to do my French homework. I'm off to Switzerland demain pour passer un weekend chez mon pere et ma belle bere a Basel. J'espere que j'amuserai la. Il sera un peu bizarre parce que je suis avec les eleves mon age ici! Donc j'ecrirai a une autre heure. A bientot :)

Plus de photos

The many flags of Europe (Brussels, Belgium)

Inside our quaint waffle shop above la grande place a Brussels

Poor dog in Brussels...people pay his owner to watch him sit like that for entire days

Inside the huge cathedral on rue sulfurino

Galen and I right before I left for Europe! :)

The "Outsider"

It's so wierd being an exchange student. In the United States the "exchance students" are always in their own group, somewhat ostracized from all the others. Now I know exactly how it feels to be in that situation. It is an immensely humbling experience in some ways. I have such limited possessions over here and no one understands how I act because I am such an American! I feel like I've gradually become more understanding of different cultures. Obviously I'm not somewhere like Africa where I would have an incredibly moving experience, but I definitely feel as though my life is changing...a lot. That's pretty deep, I know, but this past weekend on Saturday, me, Jambo, Jamie, and Vero drove to Brussels for the day. While we were driving there amongst cow and horse pastures, it suddenly hit me that never in my life had I thought that I'd be in this position. I mean, especially visiting Belgium which I will never go out of my way to visit. If I weren't studying abroad in Lille or somewhere close to Belgium, I'd never go out of my way to explore it. My mom sent me an e-mail about a man she met at a store who had worked in Belgium and had explained that it was such an undermined country. It DOES have spectacular sites, waffles, beer, and food! Additionally, the people there are SO cheery and friendly towards people from different countries, which I love.

I know it's pretty wierd, but before coming here I viewed all French people as the same. I thought they all acted the same way in various situations, but clearly now I see that they are humans just like everyone else. They have their social hierarchies and various prejudices towards people. I feel like I was so naive and ignorant before! I was talking to a group of French students the other day and one of them was gay and Arabic. We were going to go do some salsa dancing at this place called Le Palace and because they were so talkative and sociable we invited them to come with us. The Arabic one looked at us and said he would never step in there because he was a different skin color and various Arabs have been beaten up there. I was completely appalled by this and asked my friend Clement if that was true. He said, "Mais oui, c'est normale." The Arabs here have a reputation for violence, and to the residents of Lille, it is completely normal to discriminate against them. He asked if it was like that for African Americans in the US and I was completely shocked. 50 years ago it was like that all over the US but not now! French people are very proud of their culture and do not like when people infiltrate it.

I also met this really cute French girl named Zoe. I was talking to her on facebook the other day and she lives in Paris. I've hung out with her and her friends like three times now, and she was telling me how none of the exchange students from America ever hang out with French students there and that I was one of the first! That is very surprising! All I ever wanted to do here was meet tons of cool French people that I can always keep in touch with. She also said that she has friends with houses all over France, in the South and on various coasts, and that she is going to do her best to take me all over. Oh, and my friend from Bordeaux is going to take some of us down there after the week long break too! I am SO excited about all of the amazing people I'm meeting here. I seriously don't want to leave, even after the disastrious event of my purse being stolen. I feel like I'm really growing and will forever remember this extraordinary experience. xoxoxo a bientot mes amis.

Les photos de la grande continent

Basically I love Europe and never want to go home...Now all I need is a new camera. I'm going to go crazy without one! I need to photograph my experiences in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark coming up!

An update on the last two crazy weeks

I have literally travelled the last 4 weekends in a row...it started off with magical and oh so happy Brussels, then Manchester, then the fun weekend that turned into a nightmare in Munich, and finally Quimper in Brittany on the French coast. I'll try my best to work my way through them all!

Manchester was so much fun. It was awesome to see my friends I met in Biarritz again in their own home town! We went to Chatsworth House on Friday after I got in at 6 AM in the morning and stayed nearby at a hotel one of my friend's families owns. Chatsworth was more like a fairy tale castle. There were so many cool little things to see, like a massive hedge-maze and tons of fountains and caves. Saturday night was my friend Jonny's going away party before he left for Dubai for two years and it was literally me, one other girl, two moms, and about 50 rugby player guys. They are all like brothers to me so it was fun but very hectic with all the singing and dancing!

Going to Oktoberfest was one of the most impulsive decisions I've ever made. Was it worth it? Yes, of course, but the ill circumstances that befell me were not too appreciated. First of all, it is basically a Disney Land for adults. The tents are literally insane, and the food and drinks are over priced but good. I really like the German language and culture. The people are so cheerful and although the language might seem a little lengthy, it really is cool to listen too. I really wanted to get one of those German dresses that all the girls wear there but the cheapest one was like 100 euros! Geeze Louise! I met tons of cool people there, but I have no way of remaining in contact with them because my purse was stolen on Sunday, our last day there. I felt like SUCH an idiot because at the last second I decided to put my passport into my purse in case the terrorist attacks that had been predicted actually happened so I could prove who I was, but of course, that decision came back and kicked me right in the ass. Needless to say I had my purse stolen from me right out of the bathroom and because of the drunken mess that was the crowd, I had no way of chasing after the person. People kept telling me to smile and be happy when all I could do was sob and yell at them that they would not be so cheerful if they were in my place. I honestly could have hunted across Oktoberfest for the person and used my kick boxing skills to beat them to the ground, but I'm sure I would have been knifed or something like that. So we went back to the train station and I was smuggled illegally across the border into France. It was an overnight train, and that night military officials did security checks to make sure there were no terrorists abord. LUCKILY everyone in my carriage was dead asleep. Except, of course, myself, who was shaking in terror pretending to be fast asleep. The military guy opened the door and barked something in German, and when no one responded he slammed it shut and went on to the next carriage. I kept thinking that they'd come back, but they never did. I was getting ready to throw myself under one of the seats and hide away. Fortunately it never came down to that! Arriving back in Lille was a mess especially because my room and dorm key had been in my purse. Why hadn't I taken them out!? I keep kicking myself for not taking enough precautions but honestly, I know for next time, and if I keep giving my self enormous guilt trips like I did ALL last week when I was practically depressed and close to suicide the entire time then I wouldn't be able to enjoy my time here. I keep telling myself that I need my passport to travel when I keep forgetting that I am in one of the most gorgeous countries in the world...le France. It was great to see all the Santa Clara students that I know there! I ran into Alexandra, Austen, Michelle, Sam Seely, Brian Whitfield, Blake Martinez, etc. It was a nice little reunion! I wish I could say I have my own pictures of the experience but of course, my camera was in my purse so some stranger out there can enjoy the pictures for himself. UGHHHH

So last weekend, as in three days ago, me, Vero, Josh, and Mike embarked on a trully integrational adventure. We went to this kind of orientation/ hazing for Freshmen at the IESEG Business school here in Lille. It was in Quimper or Quimpy I forget the exact name, as opposed to La Rochelle where I originally had been told we were going. The bus left at midnight instead of the anticipated 9:00 departure, and it was a grand total of ten hours abord a bus full of screaming French people. Needless to say, I think my French has perfected itself. When we got there, the four of us international students immediately went to our room and crashed, and when we got up there were tons of activities for us to engage in, like sumo wrestling, slip and slides, enormous twister games, etc. It was a once in a life time experience, that's for sure, and luckily I met TONS of really cool French people which I don't think many SCU students abroad can say. I feel like all the American students in American programs abroad only hang out with English speakers. It was really cool to chat with tons of French students who have studied abroad in America and are willing to talk both in English AND in French.

So I've gone through a lot these past 4 weeks. I went to the Embassy in Paris last Friday to apply for a new passport, and honestly, whenever I think of urgent trips to Embassies in foreign countries I envision Americans in rags and without shoes throwing themselves upon the doorstep, and I guess I was a little wrong. I made my situation seem incredibly urgent, though, so I was one of the first people to get in :) I was just my usual charming self. This weekend will be much more low key, especially because I can't leave the country...and then the next weekend Vero and I are hopefully going to visit my dad in Basel, Switzerland and go to Grendelwald, and then the next weekend is my Nordic adventure up in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. I cannot wait!

I don't know how a suicidal or pessimistic person would have handled what I went through last week. I basically wasn't a person. I had no ID, no passport, no money, not even a phone. I have never felt so alone and so empty in my entire life. I have no close friends here and no family in Lille. People were willing to help me financially but it was mostly in a "oh you poor thing!" Kind of way. I hate when people feel sorry for me so I kept trying to make my situation seem way better than it was while talking to people, when in reality it was the worst possible mess I could get myself into. To make matters worse, I was INCREDIBLY sick. I had bronchitis and a high fever of about 102 at least one day, so I couldn't even explain to people my dilemma. When I went to make the police report I couldn't talk, so luckily one of the French teachers came with me and helped. My throat has been unusually achey...I thought that the pain there would have diminshed with my tonsil surgery but I guess not. I went to the gym again today though and was fine so hopefully it's all downhill from here :)

Ugh, I got to go finish up some homework now. I have an Introduction to French Institution for Exchange students IN FRENCH tomorrow so I have to be perky and alert for that. When you're really tired in the morning its hard understanding English let alone French. Then Wednesday I have my British Literature class and then Thursday, my busiest day of the week, I have American Literature, British Slavery, and my French class. None of them are TOO bad though which is good! And my professors are all really cool. Anyways, I'm out for now. I could say a lot more about my travelling adventures but it would take up an entire novel.

Bisous pour tout le monde xxxxxx