The Travel Part of Traveling

            In this past week, I’ve traveled to both London and Prague.  While both were fantastic experiences, both were also extremely stressful. In, “The Art of Travel,” De Botton seems to romanticize the actual act of traveling quite a bit.  He talks about how train journeys can cause a great deal of introspectiveness into one’s self, according to him, “Journeys are the midwifes of thought.”  This didn’t exactly match with my experiences—I was too busy trying to get comfortable, go to sleep, and ignore the obnoxious snores of others on the train to both doing some intensive thinking.

                However, this doesn’t mean that my travel experiences didn’t teach me anything.  They were just quite different from what De Botton was describing in one particular section. When it comes to the actual “traveling” part of being a tourist, you have to accept that you’re going to get lost. You have to accept that things will be delayed and maybe not going according to plan. Whenever I traveled before, I was always super stressed about the whole process. However, over the past week, the constant travel has forced me to become a calmer person about the situation. Yes, thing won’t always go smoothly and according to plan, but eventually, everything will get sorted out. You’re going to get on the wrong tram, and eventually, you’ll get lost enough times that you will understand the city you’re traveling in. And since getting lost is the best way to learn a city, it’s almost necessary for the travel experience. If you want to know a place, you’re going to have to wander around a bit. 

Feeling at Home

      So finally I am starting to feel like the Château is my home. Rather than the usual traveling and running around like crazy, I have been doing absolutely nothing, which is awesome. I am settling into the normal everyday life of the people of Strasbourg. I know which bars and restaurants to go to and which stores I like. Additionally, I have finally figured out the transportation and what I am getting at the grocery store.
       With this being said, I am having a more difficult time imagining having to go back to the United States where life goes by at 100 miles per hour. I was so used to constantly working and still feeling like I was falling behind to a pace here where I still feel like I am learning but at a relaxed pace. For once, I feel like I can breathe and fulfill my tasks at a normal pace.
      I realize that the normal French person does not live at a château and go to school three days a week with nothing else to do but I have found myself being bored a lot of the time. Not the bad kind of bored where I want to be somewhere else but the kind of bored where I don't have deadlines hanging over my head. I am sure that December will feel much different but I am okay with that.
-Rachel Cooper

East vs West

Let me first start by recapping what I did this weekend.

First Zak, Maria and I took the train to Saint Malo and had a lovely day along the beach. Saint Malo has to be one of the prettiest places I have ever been and the way of life if very laid back. We ate at a Fish & Chips place and went to bed. The next day we ran to catch the bus to Mont St Michel but we missed it. So we decided to rent a car. This sounded like a difficult task but it actually went very well. Zak drove since he is the only one who can drive a stick shift and we began our journey. We got lost using our handy tourist map but we ended up finding another castle and exploring Bretagne, which is beautiful, before finding Mont St Michel. This abbey is amazing to say the least. Words will not do this place justice but it is like an island full from end to end with this small town that leads up the this beautiful abbey. Seriously breathtaking. After our visit we drove back to our hotel and ate at the fish and chips place again, yes it was that good, and then walked along the beach. Today we walked up to several pieces of land that are surround by water and that you are unable to get to at certain times of the day and that was beautiful and relaxing. We ate lunch at a place by the beach and then wondered the old streets until we were forced to leave for Strasbourg. I loved this trip and I could easily live in Saint Malo.

Now that I have filled you in the adventures this is what I noticed. Being in Strasbourg is an odd mix that you do not think of when you think of France. This part of France we visited was what I had in mind. The people were easier to understand, were more laid back and well French. We got a dose of the music french people enjoy when we rented the car and the TV they watch since we had one in our hotel room. Do not get me wrong I like Strasbourg and the people but Saint Malo is what I had pictured for France. This weekend was a good dose of more French culture and I enjoyed it.

On my train ride home I finally finished The Art of Travel and the part towards the end was perfect for me. It was talking about actually looking and enjoying the world around you like an artist. To notice the little things like flowers and birds and this was perfect to sum up my trip this weekend. I always wanted to just sit and stare at the ocean. I love watching the grass blow in the wind and watching seagulls attempt to fly against the strong wind. I love just looking at the waves making designs in the sand. I loved it and took all of it in so the last part of the book was exactly what I had done this weekend and it fit in very well.

-Tyler Underwood


 

travelling on a whim

I've just returned from one of the most enjoyable, unexpected trips yet. I feel certain that this weekend has been one to remember. I feel I've learned a lot about French culture and travelling itself after these past three days.

Everyone here has been really proactive about choosing and planning weekend trips. Meanwhile, I've been feeling indifferent about a lot of the choices and in general just unable to decide. I've got a rail pass with 10 days of travel and I don't know how to divide it or even where I want to go! Two other students had planned on a trip to St Malo in Bretagne for this past weekend. I looked into it, and I thought it seemed interesting enough, so just last Tuesday I said "Oui! I'll go".
So the three of us left the Chateau at 4:50 AM on Friday to trek to the Strasbourg train station and catch our train. At some point that morning I thought, "I can't believe I'm doing this right now". I didn't really know what to expect from the weekend. All I knew was that I wanted to see a different part of France, and the opposite side seemed different enough.

Saint Malo is a lovely beach town. It's defintely a summer town since it was very quiet and empty, but still adorable in October. Maybe off-season is a better time to explore places?
I was surprised how well we were able to communicate in French with most everyone that we interacted with. This is a drastic difference to Strasbourg. I kept expecting the French to switch to English, but they were all patient and tolerated our poor French.

On Saturday, we tried to catch a bus to Mont Saint Michel and somehow ended up leaving the station 10 minutes before it arrived, thinking that we had missed it. We didn't give up, and just thought of our other options. Not going to Mont Saint Michel was not an option. Luckily one person in the group knew how to drive manual, so we said, "okay, let's try to rent a car". And we did.
I was a little in shock. Not one of us was over the age of 20, and they let us rent a car. And so we drove to Mont Saint Michel with no problems (only a little detour thanks to my inability to interpret a tourist map).

The rest of our time in Saint Malo was spent wandering, eating pastries, watching the tides, and exploring the old parts of the city. I loved the emptiness of the town and how it was still very inviting at the same time.

I'm glad I was able to make that last minute decision and that all of us were able to handle everything that came our way. Not knowing what to expect and a positive attitude can really make a trip!

-Maria

Back to Reality, Op there goes gravity

Living at the Chateau is nothing but a fairytale, a dream come true. I'm here in France, studying abroad, meeting new people, shopping at foreign stores, and having a good time. I am finally here doing what I always wanted to do since my freshman year of high school. I remember my school, Glenelg Country School, had exchange students come all of the time for the year. I would make great friends from all of the world and dream about what it felt like to live somewhere else other than home. I guess you could say that WVU gave me this same feeling but it was slightly different. At WVU, there was a different sense of community, which I enjoyed too. It is something to be a Mountaineer, representing WVU in another country other than the US. Living here is like a 4 month long vacation. But as the saying says, all good things must come to an end. 

This week our professor from the International Studies department came to Strasbourg for a visit. He took us out for dinner and drinks twice. I enjoyed his company. It was great to see another American face. It gave me another sense of home. We discussed classes, Strasbourg, trips, and of course scheduling. That stressful time of the year is now approaching. I have to decide what classes I want to take, ultimately what I want to do after I graduate. The 2012 class schedule has been released and it is time that I make my spring semester schedule. Hopefully, I'm not the only one who freaks out at this time of the year but it really bothers me that I have to decide what I want to do 20 years from now.

I've changed my major about 5 times because I'm so indecisive. I can't figure it out all because I'm scared to make a mistake that I won't like that same career when I am older. It is the craziest idea to me but I know that taking a break from school is nothing but a mistake because I will not go back to school. I am a all at once person. All of this thinking stresses me out. Secretly, I decided to come on this trip because I wanted extra time in college. I wanted this time to figure out what I wanted to do and I think my plan is working so far. I could have graduated a year early but I decided not to. I have realized that yes, I need to stay in the science/medicine field. I've narrowed down my choices to a clinical child psychology or a OB/GYN. (I realize that they are very different paths.) The government is interesting slightly but I want to directly help people and not sit at a desk all day. Most importantly, I still want to have time to be that soccer mom driving my SUV in the suburbs of a large city. I think right now I am an a better state than I was last year when it comes to deciding what I want to do in my life but its still scary because time is moving. It makes me feel like I'm falling or better yet failing because I'm technically a senior with a high schooler's mind. I know I will figure this out soon but I'm not very patient and I don't want to make a mistake. Hopefully, God will speak to me through my dreams or something and give me a little confidence to achieve my goals without getting scared and changing my mind yet again.

It Twinkles My Toes..*

What a weekend, where to start? Should I begin with sitting at the train station in a random train; or should we discuss random B.B.Q's with Germans? This weekend was compiled of random series of events that some how fit together,and it was a good time. Last night (Saturday), most of us attended a B.B.Q around the corner. We arrived and it was rather awkward at first. We strolled in and slowly wandered until we saw someone we recognized, someone we knew. We ran into the guy who invited us, that's all it took. Before we knew it, we were wined and dined until our hearts were content. They were tossing combinations of beers, salad, breads and, of course, meats. It was so good, and those Germans know what's up. I may even be so bold as to say I like the German side of life more than the French side of things.
Prior to heading to the B.B.Q., we had a nice little gathering in the chateau kitchen. A few of us experienced my D.J. skills. We were just listening to a bunch of music having a good time. I love those little bonding sessions. That bonding even carried over to today. We had our volleyball game in the sand pit. Some were a little leery of this but it turned out to be really fun. Although some of the crew were missing (sadly), it was a real good time of bonding . There was a sense of family.
My toes/ feet may have been telling a different story, especially towards the end. As we headed towards the sand pit I could see it was wet and cold. My lovely roommate insisted I stop being a pansy and remove my shoes. After being very reluctant I proceeded to join the group and remove my warm, comfy socks to wet, cold sand. It was like slight torture at first, then after about 30 minutes our feet went numb. We played and had a good time, and then it was time to make our way back to the chateau. As we all know, it's complete gravel, and let's just say the quest was a good time. OK, not so much, but it must have been hilarious watching us all bounce from semi soft surfaces like frogs on lily pads.

What's a Girl to Do? Grab a Bike & Wander!

I have a lot of free time. And when I say a lot, I mean that I only have one day out of the week that I have obligations. The rest of the week I spend most of my time forcing myself to get up and get out of this place. My only outlet, I have found, is taking a bike and riding around the trails and town.

During one of my "get up & out" days I was waiting around for a bus and started reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, (before you judge me, it was free in the "Stanza" app on my iphone and that is all I had with me at the time. So, yeah.) Besides the fact that I learned that it is almost line for line as the disney classic, I thought about who Alice is. Alice acts and speaks like a child, but one thing that you cannot get past is that she has no inhibitions. She does what she very well pleases, with no worries or considerations of the unknown. Some people see it as careless and selfish, myself however, I see it as courageous.

I think of the simple things like riding around the Pourtales park and thinking "should I go this way or not? I might get lost and will not find my way back." And here is a character who follows something and doesn't look back, it doesn't cross her mind that maybe she will not be able to get back. She just goes.

It's easy to get stuck here in the chateau, it's like a black hole and you can't get out. I need to do more and see more and ask less questions about where I'm going and more about what will I see! The best way to find something is by getting lost. We should all be a bit more like Alice, let our inhibitions go and go which ever way we please.