The Pope of Rope: An Adventure to Austria

Hallo meinen Freunden!
   So, this last weekend I went to a country that I had yet to explore- Austria. Specifically, Salzburg. This place was AMAZING. Honestly, it is absolutely gorgeous.

Thursday, July 19th
8 of us from the program made the 8 hour train journey to Salzburg from Freiburg. The trip was easy, mostly because Traci got me addicted to the author Tom Robbins, so I couldn't look away from my book for more than 43 seconds before having to dive back in.

We managed to get there and to our hostel (Meininger Hotel- definitely recommend this place to my fellow European travelers) in an orderly fashion, and after our rooms were situated, we walked to this restaurant that the front desk operator recommended. The restaurant was VERY Austrian- the servers spoke only limited English (not a problem for us, because conveniently, we speak German), and all the food was typical Austrian eats. We ate our way through enough schnitzel, pork dumplings, spatzel, and spare ribs to send a small family of Sumo-Wrestlers into a food coma. But damn, was it worth it.

So. Much. Schnitzel.

Friday, July 20th
We awoke still full from the night before at a bight and early time and walked to Mirabellplatz to try and catch the 9am bike tour with Fräulein Maria's Sound of Music Bike Tour company. Although we emailed them a few days before letting them know that we were coming, they we're full, but promised that if we came back at 4:30 they would get us in.

So we had some time before we needed to be back at Mirabellplatz and decided to hit up some of the sights. First we strolled through the beautiful gardens at Mirabellplatz, and then we walked across the town and into the Salzburg Cathedral. It was gorgeous. Big, baroque, and beautiful. It was all nice and pretty there until I had the living shit scared out of me. I was taking my time through the Cathedral (being a very cliche tourist with my nose deep in Rick Steve's guidebook, reading every detail about every bit of the Cathedral) and I got separated from the group. Not a problem for me, because I like wandering though places like this alone. I made it to the underground catacombs and crawled down. I was all alone when I wandered into this dark, ominous room in the back. It was dimly lit by a few candles which shone shadows of little monsters onto the walls. All of a sudden a shadowy figure in a hood came floating across the wall and a soundtrack with loud beeping and voice came on. I pretty much peed in my pants right there as I jumped out of my skin and ran out with my tail between my legs. Turns out that an artist had set it all up as an art exhibit, but at that moment, I felt less like I was in an art exhibit, and more like I was on Candid Camera. Joke was on me I guess.

Inside the Salzburg Cathedral

After the Cathedral we trekked up the steep hill to the Hohensalzburg Fenstung- The Salzburg Fortress. Sitting high above the city, the fortress has views of Salzburg that I literally cannot describe in words. We stood on an outside balcony with views of the city, the river, the fields outside the city, and the gorgeous mountains. Breathtaking doesn't even cover it. The weather was a little dim, but seeing the mountains against the stark purple sky, with the clouds playing hide-and-seek between their ridges made the whole thing seem completely surreal.

View from the
Hohensalzburg Fenstung.
Doesn't do the real
thing justice.

After spending a few hours going through the museums in the fortress we retreated into the city to try to find somewhere to eat. And honestly, things got frustrating. Traveling with 8 people is not easy. Everyone wants to go somewhere else or do something different, and keeping everyone together was like herding ferrel cats. At this point, everyone was also hungry, so tempers were short and attitudes were high. We managed to agree on a small Italian restaurant, and then grumbled our way back to Mirabellplatz to catch the tour.


We had a bit of time before the tour started once we got back to the gardens, so we decided to go our separate ways for a bit and get some space. Thank god we did, because when we finally met back up at the tour's starting spot, everyone was a beaucoup more cheery. We grabbed our bikes (coincidentally I got the bike labeled with the name 'Grelt', the littlest of the Von Trapp clan), met our guide (Jonas, from Denmark, and very, very cute) and set off.


About 15 minutes into our tour, it started to pour rain. I'm not talking about a light drizzle, I'm taking about a good, solid rain. But even the rain couldn't rain on our parade, and we biked further. The great thing about this group is that we go beyond being just troopers. In this case, a bike tour would have been fun, but a bike tour in the pouring rain was fun, hilarious, exciting, and memorable. There is this great quote my Bob Marley that I love that states, "some people feel the rain- other's just get wet". Let me tell you, at this moment, we were definitely feeling the rain (and to be fair... we were also a little wet. But in the literal sense, because after all, it's very hard to carry an umbrella and bike at the same time). 


Our guide did a great job of including both Salzburg history and Sound of Music sites. We wandered through St. Peter's Cemetery, peddled up the steep hill to Nonnberg Abbey, sped down the mountain to the Horse Bath fountain, splashed our way to the actual Von Trapp house, and the movie house as well, meandered to the infamous 16-going-on-17 pagoda, and explored every place in between. The best part had to be biking on the outskirts of Salzburg. The rural, country-side of the city is so serene, and is draped with meadows, farms, cows, dirt roads, secret pathways, and even a "Milk ATM".

The Von Trapp Family House
(as seen in the movie)

And, naturally, I was unable to make it though the whole tour without making a complete fool out of myself. At one point in the tour, we stopped at this old house in the middle of a field that was covered by foliage. Our tour guide asked us to guess who used to live there. Traci started our idiot parade, and, without her glasses, she could only see the trees. So of course when the guide asked who lived there, she thought he meant "who lived in the trees" and she yelled out "A HOMELESS MAN!" Everyone laughed, because obviously, a homeless man would not live in a house. But I managed to top her as Queen Idiot with my next guess. Our guide gave us a hint and told us that the man who lived there loved "ropes and axes". But, with his thick, Denmark accent, I heard "robes and X's". I connected "X's" with Roman Numerals (an inference that I honestly have no idea how I reached), and connected Roman Numerals and Robes with a very famous figure that OBVIOUSLY does NOT live in a tiny house in the middle of Austria... but my mouth preceded my brain and I proudly shouted out "THE POPE!". I really need to learn to think before I speak. The correct answer (which made sense to me after Adara explained what the guide actually said) was the executioner.

We ended the day back at the restaurant from the previous night, where once again just couldn't hold back on the schnitzel.

Saturday, July 21st
On the way to walk around the Old Town, where most of the shops are located, we came across a giant market. Booths and tents lined the river as far as the eye could see, selling hand-made jewelry, funky clothing, and other bizarre objects. These markets are my favourite things to explore in any city in the world. I think it is the best way to get to know a place. Meeting the locals at the booths and seeing the objects being sold there, rather than at the big department store chains, is the ultimate way to understand a new culture.

After making our way through all the booths (and buying a pair of hippie pants that my fellow Vauban students would be proud of) we walked around the Alt Stadt. Finally we made our way back to our hostel where we made pasta in the kitchen they provide for us.

That night we decided to go out and experience Austrian Nightlife. Everyone had fun. Except me. Because I missed it all. I will spare the details, but, basically, I drank a little too much vodka before leaving the hostel (because it was cheaper that way and I was trying to be responsible money-wise), made it to the club, lasted about 15 minutes, prayed to the porcelain God, realized (with the help of the bar's bouncer) I should not be in public, took a cab home, and passed out in my bed. All before 11:30 pm. This is a wonderful example of "learning a lesson the hard way". And trust me- the lesson has been learned.

Sunday, July 22nd
Train-ed it back to Freiburg. Laughed the whole way back. Watched Traci open a bottle of wine with a toothbrush. Smelled the wine. Almost tossed my cookies. Ich habe einen Kater gehabt. Not worth it.


And that, my friends, was the adventure to Austria. Would I go back? Absolutely. Any year, any day, any time. So, if any of you head that way and need a travel buddy, you know who to call.

Until Next Time,
Meggie

I'm in Love With an Ice Cream

Friends! Family!
  Again, so much has happened, but I'm gonna talk about the highlights since the last update :)

Wednesday, July 11th
We went to Heidelberg! Let me tell you my friends, this place is awesome. The two hour bus ride with the bus driver who was torturing us by playing German Polka music over the speakers at a volume that could be heard all the way in Mongolia was totally worth it. We started the trip by taking a tour of the Heidelberg Castle. It was really cool, but I''ll admit, the highlight of the tour was the guide company's fascination with George Clooney. There is this one statue of this prince in the castle that they SWEAR looks identical to the Cloon-meister. Personally, I didn't see it. But the guide sat there for a solid 30 minutes gushing over it. Then she whips out an autographed photo of Mr. Clooney himself explaining how they had mailed him a picture of the statue and had received that in return. Literally, we were standing in front of a 800 year old castle, filled to the brim with history, and the guide is more excited about George Clooney.

The awe inspiring
George Clooney Statue

After the tour we were freed to venture about the city by ourselves. And this is when I formed my first serious relationship in Germany. With an ice cream. I'm serious, this ice cream was life changing. I guess technically it was gelato, but either way, I was smitten. It was Lemon-Basil flavoured, and while that sounds like a strange combination, when the two came together, it was magic. Miya, another friend on the trip, had Strawberry-Marscapone flavoured gelato, and it was nearly as good. Seriously Mom, we have to try to recreate this whenst I return.

We spent the rest of the day poking around stores and having lunch. We ate at this little Italian cafe, and the handmade ravioli in cream sauce that I had was delicious. Yummm!

Near the end of the day we came to a small shop that sold Schneeballen. For those of you who don't know, Schneeballs are these German desserts that are kind like sugar cookies that are rolled into this weird ball and then covered in an assortment of things (ie. sprinkles and chocolate). I got so excited, because I remember trying these in Rothenburg the last time that my family and I were in Germany. I gathered the team around and spend a good 5 minutes describing how these delectable treats were God's gift to mankind, and how they were the best things these people would ever taste, and how they make birds sing prettier and colors seem brighter, and how we needed to go inside immediately and purchase a small truckload amount because they were just so damn good! My friends finally cut me off and we went into the shop and settled on splitting one.

And it was awful. Dry and plain and yucky. And they all looked at me like I was crazy, which is when I remembered, when we tried them in Rothenburg, we hated them too. So I had remembered eating them, and I had remembered having an overwhelming feeling for them, but I guess I had just confused exactly which feeling it was. Oops. Taught them to listen to me anymore.

Friday, July 13th
Highlight of the day was going to the movies. We went and saw "The Chernobyl Diaries". The whole thing was in German and I was very proud that I understood almost all of it. Go me! The best part of the experience though was going down the 3-story slide. Yes, my friends, in the movie theatre here they have a 3-story, super steep, spiral slide. I was the first to attempt it, and it was awesome! I didn't expect to go as fast as I did, and I squealed the whole time that I flipped and flopped down it. I ended up coming out at the end upside-down and backwards and sans shoes. The theatre employees laughed at me.

Small part of the
Heidelberg Castle

Saturday, July 14th
Miya and I decided that we needed a little spontaneity in our lives, and so we went to the train station with no plan in mind. Being students of the university here means that we have train passes that will take us about an hour out of the city for free, and so we boarded the first train that came that would be free for us and road it until we saw a bunch of people exit, and we got off too. The stop was for a town called Kirchzarten, and that was good enough for us.

When we first got off the train, it looked like we had ended up in a neighbourhood. We figured we'd walk in one direction for a little bit and headed onwards.

Thank goodness we did. Kirchzarten ended up being this sweet little town. "Quaint" would be the perfect word to describe it. There were little shops and bakeries in the square, a campground with a neat public swimming pool, rows of houses and bed & breakfasts, and a big church in the middle. On this particular day, there was a big wedding at the church. There was a German "oompa" band playing tubas and whatnot, and all the men had on goofy looking German hats.

We wandered around the streets looking at the cute homes and inns and finally made it to the edge of the town where we had a killer view of the Schwarzwald Mountains. After we took around 3453498 pictures (more or less), we grabbed some ice cream (obviously) and then made our way back to Freiburg. We're planning on going again soon to show our other friends our little find.

View from Kirchzarten

Sunday, July 15h
The four of us (Me, Melissa, Miya, and Traci) plus one German friend all woke up at 6 am and train-ed it to EUROPA PARK! This place was awesome! Think Disneyland/World for Germany. I'm not kidding. Like... I really don't know how Disney hasn't sued this place in some way. There were so many similarities to Disney that it couldn't have been a coincidence. Consider the following...

a.) Their main "mascot", which can be seen all over the park, is a mouse.

Mouse knock-off
(and random Dolphin...)

b.) They have a "Space Mountain" type ride. IE a very dark roller coaster that is set in space. Actually, they had two of them.
c.) The park is divided into different "pavilions" of different European countries. Very EPCOT-esque.
d.) There is a "Kali River Rapids" ride
e.) There is a (really shitty) Jungle Cruise
f.) There is an EPCOT ball. It is very irrelevant, and smaller than ours at Disney, but why would they have this?

What!? Really?!

g.) They have a "Pirates of Bratavia" ride. Similar scenes to our beloved "Pirates of the Caribbean" include the burning town, the initial drop, the ship-cannon scene, and the one where the men are in the jail trying to bribe the dog to give them the key (except they used a monkey instead of a dog... real original)
h.) And this is the most eerie one... They have a "Haunted Mansion" that is almost EXACTLY like Disney's. You get into the ride and get into an elevator. Disney. The elevator stretches. Disney. When the elevator stretches, the seemingly sweet portraits on the wall become longer and show dangerous situations. Disney. There are doors that are knocking with no one there. Disney. There is a ballroom scene with dancing ghosts. Disney. They even have those same singing statue heads!! DISNEY!!!

Even though this place was cramping on my Disney style, it was still pretty damn awesome. It was raining all day so there were virtually no lines, which was perfect because we were able to walk right onto some of the HUGE roller coasters. These things means business! The last one we went on was definitely the most intense coaster I have ever been on. So much fun! The park also had cool shows in each of the "countries", and we saw a circ-du-solei type show in Holland, a Flamenco dancing show in Spain, and a Ice Skating show in Greece.

One highlight of the day was our dinner. The place we ate was called the "food loop", and it was epic. Basically, you sit in a circular table where there are 15 people divided into 3 smaller groups. In the center of our circle was this twisty metal track that spawned from the ceiling. There was also a rotating platform in the center which housed condiments, silverware, and a place to put dishes. Your specific seat has a number, for example, I was seat number 7. For the 5 of us in our group we had one computer. This computer is how we order. So I ordered my food via computer and put it in as seat number 7, and a few minutes later, a pot with my dinner came flying down a ramp from an unknown location, spiraled down the ramp in the middle of the table, and stopped at my place. Dinner was served. It was so cool!!

Inside picture of the
"Food Loop"

Monday, July 16th
We made a group dinner, and then sat on Anna's (another friend in the group) porch and talked for hours. I can't say this enough, but I seriously lucked out with the people on this trip. We get along so great, and literally never run out of things to talk about. Last night we ended up each posing a new philosophical question, and then answered them. I can't explain to anyone outside of the program how well we mesh together. We laugh more than I can explain, and we can talk about incredibly immature topics, as well as topics that are so deep and question everything I've ever thought about life. We've only known each other for 3 weeks, and yet we've formed this inseparable family. And the best part is that it can continue after this program. So many time I've made friendships that mean so much to me, but once we finish camp/study abroad/the internship or what have you, we all have to move back to our respective states and our friendship fizzles out. But the great thing about us here is that we all go to CSU, so when we move back, it's not the end. And thank goodness, because these friendships aren't something I could give up easily.

Tuesday, July 17th
I've got to be honest, today was probably my favourite day in Freiburg thus far. After class, the 5 of us (Traci, Anna, Miya, Adara and I) went to the market that is in the Church square. We meandered from stand to stand and had real, honest to God conversations with local Freiburgers, completely in German. We talked to the woman at the Honey stand for a good 15 minutes, and she let us try local honey and honey schnapps. We had a conversation with the man who made homemade mustard and balsamic vinegar. The lady at the herb stand gave us free candies, and the man who worked at the toy stand taught how to properly pronounce the word for "squirrel" in German (Eichhornchen... it is physically impossible for American's to say correctly). It was just so amazing interacting with these people in this foreign language. This is why I came here. Everyone was so friendly to us and wanted to get to know us and the whole time we were just beaming with pride because of our ability to speak this language. I mean, my German is far, far from perfect, and I have an insurmountable amount to learn still, but I can get around Germany in their language on their terms, and that, to me, is priceless.

So friends, things are good here in Germany. I am really feeling at home and I'm becoming loads more comfortable with everything.

Tomorrow we are going to Titisee for the day, and Thursday we leave for our next adventure... 4 days in AUSTRIA.

Until Next Time,
Meggie

Nutella Makes the Best Chaser

Hello Friends!

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated this. I've been so busy that the only free time I have I use to take mini-comas in my bed. I've done so much, but I don't have a ton of time right now so let me just mention some highlights...

Wednesday, July 4th
This day was our first "field trip". We started off the adventure by going to the town of Triberg. It's a small town who's claims to fame include the longest waterfall in Germany and the largest Coo-Coo Clock in the world. This clock was enormous. The bird that came out of the door on the hour was not the cute little sparrow that we're all used to, but rather a giant, man eating, beast of a bird. Think Big Bird from Seseme Street if he was German and blood thirsty.

At the middle of the
Waterfall. It's longer in
real life, promise!

After Triberg, we went to Gutach. When we first got to this town we all went to ride the Rodelbahn. This is a rollercoaster/alpine luge of doom. Friends, I have never feared for my life more. This thing cannot be safe in any way. It is like being in a shitty go-kart that is balanced precariously on a track that swivers and twists and tips you sideways. On top of that, each individual driver works their own brakes, so if one person slams on theirs and the person behind them doesn't see them (which is highly likely considering this is in the middle of the Black Forest) then they will come carrining into the back of the other person and die. By the time I finished going down and had gotten my hyperventillating under control, I could not understand how I was still alive. So I went down 3 more times and then we moved on...

On the death-trap that is
the Rodelbahn

We finished up the day by touring some kind of farm and then a clothing museum. You can just tell by our body language in this picture how much fun it was....

Mind you, this picture was taken
only 2 minutes before the others
also fell asleep

Thursday, July 5th

After class, some of us got lunch (Doner... so addicted. I'm scared to face the withdrawls when I get home) and then went to the Munster church in Freiburg.

No wait, that was Friday. Crap I don't remember what we did on Thursday.

I DO remember that night though. Myself, 3 of my program friends, and one of their German roommates decided to go to a bar in town. We left around 11:30 and went to a club called Karma where we danced for hours. I'm telling you, these Germans love to dance, and they do not stop. We had so much fun and by the time we left around 4 we were drenched in sweat from dancing. We ended up walking home, which was actually really fun. We all just laugh so much here, I love it.

We also drink so much wine here. In America, we drink Vodka and Rum and such, but here we end up going through 4-5 bottles of wine during family dinner (5 or 6 of us) and think nothing of it. I guess it's probably because wine is 1.5 euros/bottle here, and water is more expensive.

Friday, July 6th

THIS was the day that we went to tour the Munster church in Freiburg. It's this gorgeous old church that was started in the 1200s, which is a really long time ago. It's not like most other churches I've visited. I feel like many of the other churches I've been to have been pretty and uplifting inside, where as this one is straight out of a horror film. The fact that there was some old woman pounding on the organ to some creepy minor tune didn't help either.

We then hiked up to the Schlossberg beer garden, which is this great place that overlooks all of Freiburg. We got a beer, and some ice cream, and then I went home to do homework... ew.

That night we went to my very first OPERA! We went to the big opera house in Freiburg and saw "Rinaldo". I would recap it for you, but the fact is, the opera was in italian, and the super titles were in complex German, so I'm kinda shaky on what actually happened... Basically there was this guy, he loved this girl, but in the end they couldn't be together, partly because her father didn't approve of it, but mostly because he died. Oh well. But the voices were amazing and I was really surprised that I liked it so much! I'd definitely go again! 

Saturday, July 6th

We woke up at 10 am to meet and start drinking because it was SOMMERFEST at our housing complex! We ran to the store and bought enough alcohol to supply an average group of people for a year and were ready to party! And then we realized that maaaaybe the Germans who told us everyone would be drunk by 9:30 in the morning may have exaggerated a bit, because they had basically just started setting up for the event and no one was there.

So we settled with making lunch at Arthur's apartment and hanging out on his porch until things started. 6 pizzas, 2 bottles of Malibu, a handle of vodka, a ton of laughter, and 8 hours later, we hadn't moved.

FINALLY things got going. We went down to check it out and discovered we had wandered into German Woodstock. I'm not kidding, I have never seen so many hippies in one place, and I'm from Boulder, so that's saying something. There were a bunch of people making vegan, gluten-free, non-discriminatory, sustainable food and selling it (pay what you want), and selling hemp, organic clothing. But they did have 2 stages with different bands, and a giant inflatable swimming pool, and beer, so we stayed. 

We ended up sitting and listening to some live Reggae music for a while and just chilled out. And then absolutely everything changed in a heart beat, and around 12 pm, the chill-out fest turned into a 2,500 person, full out drunken party. This put the Rams Pointe party to shame. EVERYone was so drunk and running around and making new friends and dancing. They had bands in the basements of all the dorms and each one was a different party. It was absolutely insane, but we had more fun than I could possibly explain. Finally, around 4 am, we gave in and decided to go to bed. My mistake- my bedroom is on the first floor directly above one of the basement parties. It was SO loud, and my whole room was vibrating, and I seriously thought my bed might fall through the floor. This continued on until SEVEN IN THE MORNING. I wasn't kidding when I said the Germans liked to dance...

Sunday, July 7th

We dragged our hungover butts out of bed at 1:30 pm and went to get Doner, obviously the only choice to cure the post-night nausea. And then we made plans to go see a movie and be productive for the rest of the afternoon. And then I spent the rest of the day in my bed instead. Around 10 pm, the greatest sentence ever uttered by mankind was spoken outside my window via megaphone: "FREE BEER". So I gathered the others and we went to the bar where we had one beer before realizing that was the last thing we wanted to have and instead went to bed.

Monday, July 8th

We met at 9 am at the train station and took the train to the Schluchsee, where we went on a 12 km hike  around the lake (about 8 miles). It was so gorgeous! Afterward we went to the Rothaus Brewery for a tour. It's like the German New Belgium! AND we literally spoke ONLY German the entire day! My German is definitely improving. When I first got here, I was terrified to open my mouth, and now I am so much more confident. I still have a long way to go and make some mistakes (okay, a TON of mistakes...), but it is getting easier!

Outside the Rothaus Brewery

And now I am here, blogging! Hopefully you can tell that I am really having an amazing time. I am so lucky that the other people on this program are so awesome. We all laugh so, so much, and work well together, and just have fun with each other. And I love this town. Freiburg is amazing. There is so much to do, and even when we are doing nothing and just sitting on someone's deck or at a cafe I am loving it. And to think that I still have another month here!

Until Next Time,

Meggie

"I Feel Like Cookie Monster"

Bonjour mes amis!
   I have finally returned from Paris and have caught up on sleep and homework. Therefore it is time for yet another blog post! Lets go back a bit...

Thursday, June 28th
Arthur, Anna, Adara and I departed right after class to go to PARIS. The train was easy, and when we got to the hostel, we were pleasantly surprised. Most of the hostels in Paris were about 99 Euros/night, so after booking this one that was about 31 Euros/night, I was prepared to get comfy for the night snuggling between a strange Turkish woman and a cockroach the size of a small house cat. But no! This place was great! It was about a 2 minute walk from the Gare de Nord train station, which was super convenient. It had a fun little lobby and a kitchen on the first floor where people from all over the world were hanging out. Our room had 2 bunk beds, which was perfect for the four of us. We had a private little balcony which we spent most of the time drinking wine on, and our own bathroom, which was shocking and awesome. It was also right near this little crepe shop, which was may or may not have eaten at 4 times...

Once we got settled, we bought out metro tickets and took the underground to this little cafe that the lady at the front desk recommended. It. was. so. good. It was not in the super touristy area, and most of the people there seemed local, so just walking in I had a suspicion that it was going to be wonderful. I had duck with potatoes, and the duck was literally falling off the bone it was so tender. For dessert I had this vanilla mousse type thing with fresh berries. I almost cried when I took the last bite because it was empty. Oh, and I had a mojito, because I was in France, and why not.

After I recovered from the tragedy that was finishing my dessert, we decided to walk around a bit. We wandered by the Bastille, and up the streets until we made it to the Notre Dame. Paris is so gorgeous. It is so cool, because there will be these modern, new looking buildings incorporated with these pieces of architecture that are hundreds of years old. It was really neat being at the Notre Dame at night too, because there were only a handful of people there, which is a huge difference from how it is during the day time.

Friday, June 29th
BEST DAY EVER. I was the annoying girl who made everyone wake up at 7:00 in the morning so that we could take the 45 minute train to get to DISNEYLAND PARIS the minute it opened. The entire day I was just smiling like a crazy person. We got there around ten and started the day by going on Space Mountain.

So here's the thing about Space Mountain. One of the girls who was with us, Anna, does not like Roller Coasters. She decided to sit out on Space Mountain, and immediately the three of us started to try to convince her otherwise. We told her about our experiences on Space Mountain in the US- how it's pretty tame, and geared toward little children, and doesn't even go very fast, and there is absolutely no going upside down. Finally we convinced her, and she decided to come with us. As soon as we buckled into the coaster and started moving, I realized that Space Mountain Paris was not going to be the same as what we were used to. And as soon as we hit the first double barrel roll and went screaming down the steep hills, I started screaming apologies back to Anna (of course, I had made us ride in the front row, so that didn't help). Thankfully, she survived, and has still continued to talk to us the rest of the trip.

Sleeping Beauty's Castle!

But Disneyland was awesome. After Space Mountain we decided to change parks and do all of "Walt Disney Studios" first since it closed earlier. The park was really cool- very similar to Disney's Hollywood Studios, so naturally I felt like I was home. We hit up Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster, and even some ones that were native to Paris, like Stitch Live (think Turtle Talk w/ Crush or Laugh Floor but with Stitch. Obvi I was freaking out like a 5 year old).

We then moved back to the main "Disneyland" park and went on a bunch of the classics- Small World, Haunted Mansion, etc. We split up for a bit while Anna and Arthur waited to meet the princesses, and Adara and I decided to go on Pirates of the Caribbean. Big mistake. We make it to the room where the town is "burning down" and our boat stops. And we sit. And we wait. About five minutes later they tell us there is something wrong (something... very clear) and to remain seated. 5 minutes later we hear a panic-y voice say over the intercoms "BLU BLAH CE VOUS JU BLAH" (that is how French sounds to me) and they shut off the music, which was very eerie. It was strange hearing only the creaking and mechanical noises of the animatronics. Then the same loud freaked out voice comes on and states "JE NE PAW BLU VOUS HOMARD" (mind you that is just paraphrasing what they actually said) and the lights turned on. I start chanting excitedly "EVAC! EVAC! EVAC!" (as in evacuation, for you non-cast members) and clearly no one else on the ride was a Disney Cast Member from America because they just stared at me like I was mad.

We started moving backwards and by this time we'd been stuck for about 20 minutes. Everyone is getting a little nervous and trying to figure out what's happening and I'm just sitting there having the time of my life because this was like a super cool backstage tour, and the looming possibility of an evacuation left me giddy. I am such a cast member.

We finally made it out (sans evacuation) and ran to make our reservation at the Agrabah Cafe. Sehr lecker. After we stuffed ourselves to the brim with Mediterranean food, we rolled our way to the castle, where we watched the amazing firework show. It's called Disney Dreams and is kind of a mix between Wishes and The Magic, Memories, and You (the two shows at Disney World Florida). The whole time I watched it, I just thought of how lucky I am to work for such an amazing company. Seriously, I am one lucky kid.

Still frame from the Disney Dreams show

Saturday, June 30th
After our 16 hour ordeal at Disney (13 hours at the park, 1.5 hours there and back travel), we did not sleep through the night. Instead we coma-ed through the night. The second our heads hit our beds we were gone until 11 am the next morning.

Finally, we hauled ourselves out of bed, and we took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. Just as I was the last time I saw it, I was just in awe of its huge-ness. What really captured our attention, however, was the epic battle that took place underneath. This group of younger women in gypsy-esque clothing came tearing by us with a gaggle of cops behind them. One of the policemen managed to knock one of them down and she laid on the ground crying and wailing while the other gypsys ran back and started hitting and kicking and screaming at the cops. More cops came and they managed to move the women away from the tower, but we could hear the screaming and yelling from all the way down the street. It was like nothing I've ever seen! Kinda scary!

We meandered around Rue Cler, a recommendation from Dr. Z. It's a really cure shopping street with small cheese and book shops. We grabbed some lunch (Mom- I had pasta w/ Truffle sauce in your honor!) and then went on about a 4 mile walk to do some more sight seeing (and a bit of shopping, naturlich).

That night, although we were exhausted, we continued to experience Paris. Arthur, Anna, and I decided to check out the nightlife in Paris, and chose to go to the Banana Cafe. I'd never been to a gay club before, and I had no idea what to expect. I figured I'd be open minded and go with them. It ended up being so much fun! We danced and danced and danced! It was so cool to be able to dance and hang out without having any creepy guys come try to get in my business. We had so much fun!

Sunday, July 1st
The next morning, we did not have fun. It was hangover city in Paris, and we struggled to climb out of bed and pack before our 11am check-out. But we pulled it together (not gracefully) and trekked to the Lourve. The line was enormous, and we had to catch a train later that day so we didn't have too much time, so we opted to just walk around the outside and check out the gardens. It was so pretty!

We moved to the Notre Dame next and walked around the inside for a while before grabbing some lunch and heading to the train station.

The Notre Dame

Paris was amazing, I had such a great weekend, and not even my level-5 hangover could ruin my day!

What DID ruin my day, however, was our train being cancelled.

You know how Joshua said "it's not an adventure unless something goes wrong"? Well, if thats the case, this was definitely an adventure.

Our train was supposed to leave from Paris at 7:30 pm. We were then going to take a direct train to Stuttguard and then change and take a short one to Freiburg. The best part was that it was going to be a night train, and after an action packed weekend, we were pretty excited to catch some z's in our extra large, fully reclinable chairs.

But no. Our train had been canceled, and France tried frantically to figure out a backup plan for the 100+ people who were now screwed. And naturally, they made it as complicated as possible.

We boarded our new train at about 9 pm. It was not a night train, which was a bummer, but we accepted it. We took that train to Schlossburg, and then everyone transfered and squeezed into three greyhound-sized busses. The busses schlepped up to Mannheim, where we arrived around 2:30 am. They threw us out of the busses and took off. All 100 of us wandered over to the station, groggy eyed and half asleep, only to discover that the station was closed. Everyone started to get angry and scared, and I just started cracking up. I turned to my friends and said "Let me recap- We were supposed to take the night train to Stuttguard and then a train to Freiburg. Instead we took a train to a bus to a train station where we are NOW ABANDONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!" We looked inside the station where it said the next train wasn't supposed to depart until 4:45 am, so people started to get comfy and sleep on the ground.

Eventually, someone came out and told us there was finally a train that could take us somewhere. We took it to Stuttguard and arrived around 4 am. We waited in the station until 5:45 when we took another train to Karlsruhe, and then finally one to Freiburg. We arrived at the Freiburg train station at about 8:30 am. Yes my friends, it took me four hours longer to get from Paris to Freiburg (about 3 hours away) than it took for me to get to Europe from America.

If you feel so inclined to look at a map, you should look at our travel route. Paris to Schlossburg to Mannheim to Stuttguard to Karlsruhe to Freiburg. You will notice that this is the most inefficient route ever created. I'm getting a headache just thinking about it.

I finally got back to my dorm at about 9 am. I did my homework, took a "nap", and went to class. Ah... life of a study abroad student.

Nonetheless, it was totally worth it. We had an amazing time in Paris. I still find myself looking at my life in disbelief. I look back on this weekend thinking how lucky I am so have been to Disneyland Paris and to have seen the Eiffel Tower twice and to have eaten such good food and made such good friends and to have laughed and laughed.

Now its time for me to study. Yuck :(

Until Next Time-
Meggie