hey everyone! ok...real update when i get some time. i'm happy and safe and leaving Göttingen today to go to a New Years' Eve party and then back to Göttingen and eventually back to Besac!

Kisses to everyone and a big happy birthday to my lovely motha! :D

Visited a really lovely city yesterday and had a great time at a party last night for graduates of Perleberg's high school. Real update soon, just wanted to say hi and let everyone know I'm heading on to Gottingen today!

sometimes there are just too many puppies!

still papers to be done :P

It's Sunday! We've had a really good last two days. Christmas evening we went out to the local disco to hear a cover band that's had a lot of good reviews-they didn't disappoint! The singers were both really good and the band was entertaining and we ended up staying out til 4ish. I couldn't believe how cheap going out is in Germany. In France just one drink is like 9€ which is ridiculous, but in Germany everything was around 2€ or 3€, very nice for us poor students. Peter's friends are really nice and quite a few of them speak really good English so I had a fun time chatting and dancing and bien fête-ing Christmas. It's funny though because I'm used to feeling guilty for speaking English when I'm in France (since I should be speaking French instead) but here I have no choice, yet I still feel guilty haha. It has made me realize how much French I actually do speak-all the time I want to respond and I think if only it were French I could say everything!

I hope my German is improving...it's been good practice for me to be around it all the time and I've learned a few new words and phrases. I just have to remind myself that I've only been studying German for 3 months so it's normal I can't say much. But I'm an overachiever and I want to speak now :P

Anyway, so that night was really fun. I had a really good time talking with Peter's friend Robert who did an exchange in England. His English is a bit like Jürgen's...it's very good and polished and they both have that British-y accent-honestly sometimes I forget he's German. We had a lot in common and talked for ages about politics and foreign languages. I always love meeting people like that.

Yesterday was the wrapping up of Christmas celebrations...we had another big dinner (I've probably gained 10 lbs from being fed so well here) and then Peter's cousin and aunt and uncle came to visit-really delightful people who've traveled a lot around the world and even spoke some English and were patient with my limited German. Then Robert, Martin, and Jenny (more of Peter's friends) came by and all 12 of us had cake and coffee and then dinner. It was very cosy and we talked a lot about random stuff. After dinner Peter brought me along to meet some of his friends and I ended up talking with Jana for ages about everything-archeology, the places she's been on excavations, foreign boys, being an exchange student, wow just everything. We really hit it off. She's just started her master's in archeology (and speaks amazing English as well) and is going to be doing an excavation in Çatalhöyük in Turkey-one of the places I studied in my Near east class. It's one of the biggest and most important Neolithic/Chalcolithic sites...I can't believe it, wow she's so lucky. She offered to let me visit her while she's in Turkey in the summer since she knows the area well from previous trips. So cool-I would love to. She also knew of Uni. of Leiden so we talked about that too. She was great-we had such a good time talking and I was happy to have met two really awesome people in the same week. Love them!

Peter was driving so we took everyone home and then on the way back we talked a lot about life and the future and deep philosophical things like that. The roads were icy so we had to drive really slow which kind of helped. It really made me think about the last few months of my life and the months to come...all the changes I've gone through and how my life will be different when I go home. I did more and learned more and experienced more than I ever could have imagined...when I applied for the exchange I just wanted to improve my French and meet some new people but it way exceeded my expectations...a year ago when I was picking my schools and thinking about everything I could never have imagined my life as it is now-never imagined myself learning German, never imagined the places I would've seen, the people I would meet...me and Peter were saying how strange it is that just 4 months ago we didn't know each other, as far apart as could be, and now we're Christmas bros and I can't imagine my life without Peter and the rest of my Besac family. I wouldn't take back the last 4 months for anything.

Anyway, it was a good talk, very thought provoking. Life is always surprising you. Whenever I think I have things planned, everything changes. It's a good thing though.

Today was quiet, we relaxed and I got to skype Mom and Jud and they 'met' Peter haha. Soon we'll leave Perleberg and continue on to our next German destination. In the meantime I need to stop procrastinating and DO THESE PAPERS. Ugh. One and half left...get in the zone!

Bisous bisous bisous, miss all of you...two more weeks as of today! :D

also new pictures on Flickr-Christmas in Besançon, Berlin, and Germany :)

real update

Merry Christmas everyone!

So lots to recap...my last weekend in Besançon was snowy snowy snowy...I bought some nice snow boots though (for a good price haha) and then Monday night I set out for Mulhouse/Basel to take the plane early early Tuesday morning to Berlin. Bright and early Tuesday morning I met Peter in the Berlin airport (his flight got in 5 minutes before mine-perfect timing) and we went to the apartment of his friends Robert and Maria. They were really nice and took me on a tour of Berlin (since all three of them know it really well, the best kinds of guides). Robert did an exchange in Manchester so his English is really good and we had a good time talking together. When we began our walk we noticed the sidewalks were all icy-not very good conditions to do a walkign tour of a city but we pressed on and they showed me everything-starting in East Berlin and then moving into West Berlin (we saw the Brandenburg Gate and the brick path marking the old Berlin Wall) and then the Holocaust Memorial (it's really interesting, a bunch of columns that become taller and shorter as you walk around them, and in the iced over pathways it was more like sliding haha).

We saw the Parliament and they pointed out bullet holes from WWII and half destroyed building that are still standing there. It was such an interesting city-it's still changing and it's such a melange of different things-I really liked it. It feels very alive.

That night we went to an Anatolian resto and then out for a few drinks with Peter's friends and then finally to bed. The next day we got up early to take the train to Perleberg, Peter's hometown. It's really cute, it's a small town with a medieval center and lots of medieval buildings. Really cute and charming. I met his family, who are all very nice and welcoming, and then Peter showed me around his hometown-his old school, where he grew up and all that. Then we met Robert and his family and then went out to a pub for some drinks with his friends. There I met a girl who'd also done an exchange in England and spoke good English and was studying Archeology. She was great-we talked about Ancient Near East history (that's her speciality) and also about Turkish (she's learning it). I really enjoyed talking with her.

Yesterday was Christmas Eve. In Germany they celebrate Christmas for 3 days, starting the 24th. So yesterday I helped Peter and his sister, Anna, to decorate the Christmas tree (which looked very nice by the way) and then we had lunch of potato salad and sausage (very German haha) and then off to this tiny medieval church for Christmas Eve service. It was cute-it was very cold inside but these little kids put on a play of the Christmas story and we sang Christmas songs (most of them are the same tune as the English ones but with German words so I could sing too). Then we came back to the house for beginning of Christmas fun...

We had a nice spread of cookies, stollen, chocolate, gingerbread...all kinds of cake and cookies imaginable, plus tea and coffee. We all sat around the table and had our cake and tea and chatted a bit. There was also a cheesecake type thing with chocolate shapes in the top-really cool idea I'm going to have to replicate when I go home!

So after cake and chatting Peter got the guitar and his sister the recorder and then we sang Christmas songs. It was so cute and traditional and we had a lot of fun. Then gluhwein for everyone and then time to open presents. I bought Peter's family a box of different kinds of macaroons

like these! I hope they liked them, I wanted to bring something typically French. They were really sweet-they gave me a red scarf, some fuzzy socks (very useful hehe) and some chocolates and Peter was awesome and got me a German phrasebook and a German-English dictionary. So much better than my French-German one! :D I was so excited about his present-it was so useful and I couldn't stop looking at it. Yay for learning German! I got Peter some chocolates since his real present I ordered from America and it wasn't here in time. Luckily I had it sent directly to his address in Besançon, hopefully it'll find it's way there...I hope he likes it :)

 After all this was dinner-bratwursts, cabbage (a bit like collard greens I thought) and potatoes. All really good. Then we went into the living room to chat and watch Christmas stuff on TV and finally a movie. Then very tired and all to bed.

This morning, actual Christmas day has been quiet-a nice breakfast and sitting around checking emails and playing on the laptop...about the same as in America :) Plus, it is my first white Christmas-there is snow everywhere! Yay! I miss all of you at home and I hope your Christmases are going really well and Santa was good to you hehe. Lots of kisses from Germany and until the next update...

Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël, Fröliche Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad, Feliz Natal, and Vrolijk Kerstfeest :)

and lots of love from your Shannon so far away

Merry Christmas!

It's a bit late so I just wanted to say Merry Christmas to everyone and then I'll post a proper update later. I've been having a really good time so far, Peter and his family and friends have been so unbelievably nice and welcoming to me and I'm really grateful that they've adopted me for Christmas. Berlin was beautiful and really interesting (not to self, go on city tours with natives/fellow history majors more often) and Perleberg, Peter's hometown is really cute and charming and his family is super nice. We've had a really great first day of Christmas (there are 3!) so here's so hoping the next two will be just as good. Real update soon, I promise!

In the meantime, Merry Christmas, Joyeux Noël and Fröhliche Weihnachten to all my friends and family! I love you so much! :)  

hard to say goodbye...

Igga left this morning to go back to Canada...I am going to miss her a lot. It just won't be the same without my Canadian partner in crime.

Jürgen left yesterday to go home for Christmas and Peter left this morning to go to Paris before he flies out to meet me in Berlin on Tuesday. Andrea and Tete left this morning to head back to Seville and Marina left last night...everyone is leaving :( The dorms are so barren and deserted! Laura is here though! Just til tomorrow and then she goes back to England for the holidays. Sonia's also here, which is nice because she'll be here til Monday (same as me) so I won't be totally alone. Happy about that at least :)

Today was quite an adventure. All anyone can talk about is the snow and how it's disrupting flights and people going on strike. EuroStar is on strike (but the Belgian drivers came over to help out) ATM fillers are on strike (who knows why) and last week regional trains and the RER A in Paris were on strike. What's up with that? This morning I was a bit worried because there is a TON of snow everywhere...the deepest snow I've ever seen (which isn't saying much, but it was still past my ankles) and the buses weren't running. I was really worried I'd be snowed in, trapped in Bâtiment Aymé and forced to spend Christmas by myself in my tiny sad room with a can of peas for comfort. Luckily that was not the case. Laura is fabulous and came over to cook omelettes with me for lunch. Very very yummy. Then we dropped off Igga's keys at Stendhal (sad) and then braved the snow to find a bank (since having cash seemed like a good idea if we needed to take a taxi). By this time the snow had stopped and the sun was out so it was actually really pretty and we frolicked a bit. Found a bank, then went to Intermarché for groceries and then headed back to Laura' room for tea and coconut macaroons. I was glad Laura was with me or I would've been lost and scared and sad. But the snow was actually pretty, my multiple layers kept me warm and the buses started running again!

I found good use for all the crazy tights I bought during the fall...today i wore my leopard tights under my jeans and i have to say I was very warm (and secretly fabulous haha). Laura and I chatted for a bit over tea and then I headed back here to Aymé and then we'll meet up again around 7h30 for dinner. Yay pasta with Sonia and Laura!

I'm really excited to go to Germany! I need to pack bleh. Laua and I were saying today we have to have a snow day when everyone is home in Besançon-we'll make a snowman and slide down the hill and then drink hot chocolate and eat cookies afterward. I look forward to it :)

New pictures on Flickr. Check it!

Le sigh, I miss my Besac family already...I also miss my family and my fav people in Savannah. I've been thinking about a lot of you lately...

In three weeks I'll be home...anyone excited? :)

Jürgen said today, "Fall in Besançon, Christmas in Perleberg, Spring in Savannah, and Summer in Sevilla-could it be more exciting?"

No, I think not :)

SNOW! and Joyeux Christmas tree, everyone :)

There is SO much snow. I'm actually a little scared of it! It's everywhere and it's getting kinda deep! But everyone assures me it's ok. I'm just not used to it. Today I had to walk across campus to go print off some stuff and at one point at had to walk up a hill and I really didn't know how...I kept slipping and sliding and finally a passing French guy saw me and told me to walk on the edge where there was a lot of snow so I had more traction. Then a girl walked me for a bit and kinda sympathized, saying oh it's a bit difficult, isn't it? I explained to her that it was my first real snow...and somehow my excuse of "I'm from the South" seemed to explain everything haha. I really have no idea what to do with snow!

I took some nice pictures though...voilà!

 

 

 

 

yeah...rockin' it. 

This has been a really fun week. Tuesday was our last Bar de l'U night...everybody was there. It was so sad saying goodbye to everyone though! :(

Wednesday was Music Day! We had a really awesome session...another German guy joined us with his trumpet and we played a lot of really cool songs and made up some nice accompaniments. Probably one of the best we've had. And the fiddle sounded great...I'm really in love with this one. I played a few Irish songs and the boys joined in and of course we played our regular routine of pop and whatever random stuff Jürgen has on his laptop.

After the session I met Igga and we went into centre ville for our ISEP dinner. Our coordinator invited all of the ISEP students out for a traditional Franche-Comtois meal (Franche Comté is the region we live in). It was good but in general the food of this region isn't very exciting...for instance, my dinner was bread, white wine of the region (a bit sweet) and then different kinds of sausage and ham, boiled potatoes, and one of the regional cheeses-usually they're hot and melty, almost like fondue or something. It makes sense, we're a cold, mountainous region-it's typical food for this kind of place, but it's not the most exciting! Boiled potatoes, melty cheese and ham? Either way, it was good and very hearty and I met a new person-an ISEPer from Iowa who I've only met briefly once before. She was really nice. Then I met some coordinators and department heads of the university which was a bit intimidating because I wanted to be polite and speak proper French and not look silly trying to eat melty cheese and ham while talking to someone important. I think I did alright though :)

Igga and I left a bit early since we had planned to meet our friends back on campus and while we were waiting for the bus this huge group was standing around the bus stop and then these two guys dressed in Santa outfits and wearing berets decorated with Franche-Comté and Besançon pins and patches came up and started offering cups of vin chaud (hot mulled wine). Then a special bus pulls up and everyone gets on, laughing and yelling  and cheering. Then they drove off and some men in santa hats told these people running to catch it they'd have to wait for the next bus. We were so confused but intrigued haha.

Then our bus came and we headed back to campus where we hung out with our usual group. It was nice just to spend time together.

Thursday was pretty action packed. I was forced to do laundry (since I had NO clothes left) which took ages as usual. We had lunch at the resto u where a French girl with bad English wished us "Joyeux Christmas tree!" instead of "Joyeux Christmas!" (and no, she didn't see her mistake haha) then I went into town with the boys to work on our presentation for Igga. She's the first to leave so we wanted to do something special-so we made a slideshow of the past 4 months. It was really sweet. Then I went and bought her a picture frame with one of our fav pics of the group and then me and Jürgen went into Centre Ville to find presents for our Secret Santa and pizza for dinner.

After all this we headed over to Andrea's for our Secret Santa party!

Remember our ornament making party? Where here are the fruits of our labor...and look at the presents! :D

 

I noticed that Andrea and Tete hung the candy canes upside down...hehehe they don't have them in Spain. :) I thought it was pretty cute.

The atmosphere was great last night...it was just like real Christmas, just with my Besançon family. We had pizza for dinner and then Peter got out the guitar and Sabine, Jürgen and I sang Christmas carols in the common languages of the night (Spanish, English, German, French...). Jürgen and Sabine both have really nice voices and they made up some pretty good harmonies...very very pretty!

ready for presents! 

After the dinner we were all pretty impatient to open presents, so we sat in a big circle and decided we would start with oldest (Peter) then the youngest (me!) then the second oldest...etc etc. So we got started!

Peter was first since he's the oldest. His secret santa (or amigo invisible as the spanish say!) was Andrea and she got him the cutest present-chocolate and a picture of them that said "You have the most beautiful eyes in the world" written in Spanish-it's a joke of ours because one night we tried to find which language that phrase sounded the prettiest in and Spanish won.

Then came my turn-I got such an awesome present. My secret santa was Sabine and she bought me a day palnner but she decorated it with pictures of all of us and included everyone's birthday inside with mini pictures. It was so sweet and personal. I loved it.

I was really thrilled and everyone thought it was fab. So we continued with everyone...all 11 of us! My person was Tete-I found him a book of 1001 soccer moment photos...I wasn't sure if he'd like it but he LOVED it-as soon as he got it he sat on the couch pouring over every page and getting all excited about soccer...I was so happy he liked it! I wrote him a note in French and in English in the front.

Our present limit was 10€ and it was perfect-everybody's present was awesome and so sweet and personal and everyone had an amazing time. Plus it was fun to watch every person open their present one at a time so we could all get as excited as they were and enjoy every moment. It was a really amazing night. After present opening we had cake and German cookies and other goodies and just like real Christmas everyone settled into the couch to play with their present and chat.

yum yum treats

 

 

Marina making sure her present fits :)

Then it was time for Igga's slideshow-I think she was really surprised. The boys did an amazing job-the music, the photos, everything. Everyone loved it and we all cried at the end. We decided we couldn't leave the night on a sad note so we got bundled up and headed out to faire le fête. Thursday is student night so lots of things are going on. It was nice-our last real night out as a group. The only sucky part was walking home in the snow but it was really beautiful and since it was the last night it wasn't so bad...though I have to say, my feet were freezing by the end...

Today, Friday, we had lunch together since Jürgen was taking the train home this afternoon. Everyone is leaving...a lot of my friends are already gone and back home, though a bunch are leaving today and tomorrow and worried about the snow delaying things. I hope everyone gets home in time for Christmas! I was sad to see everyone go, especially Igga, who's leaving tomorrow for Canada. It's so awful having to say goodbye. At least I get to put mine off until January. Jürgen and I were talking in the bus today and he said he read an essay written by an Erasmus student and how she said she only cried two times while she was abroad; once when she arrived and again when she left. I understand the feeling. But it's better that I'm sad to leave-it means I've really enjoyed my time here.

It's still snowing outside...I 'm supposed to go out for Igga's goodbye dinner but I have to say I'm not excited about walking in the snow again! How do people do it?

I hope everyone at home is happy and enjoying the warm weather...I leave on Monday to go to Germany but the laptop will be coming too so don't worry, you'll stay updated!

an early merry christmas tree to everyone ;)

December surprise! :)

photos from Strasbourg, my birthday, and our Christmas ornament making day

our group in the European Parliament. Can you find me?

 

Very interesting, hmm...

 

My lovely fellow anglophones in Stras:)

My midnight surprise party!

bustin out the new fiddle

 

haha i love them

 

champagne at midnight to celebrate!

 

my real birthday...ready to go out

 

presents!

 

we made pizzas (and weird faces)

 

Sabine made an awesome chocolate cake

 

Tete and Andrea came!

 

haha who knows...

 

me, cake, and Jürgen...

everyone just before we went out dancing

 

Christmas ornament making! Peter looks like a little kid hehe

 

our flags! (i ran out of white paper when I was making America's so it's a bit funny looking)

 

hard at work...

 

singing Christmas carols

my chocolate letter from Sinter Klaas!

il fait froid

Finals week! Well, actually not really. The real finals week is two weeks after we come back from Christmas break...very strange. But I still had finals this week. Yesterday was my French Revolution exam and my German exam. I was really nervous about the French Revolution one-I stayed up late studying the night before and my whole desk was covered in timelines and notes and highlighters...well I got to class Monday morning and she hands us our document. Mind you, I had basically crammed and learned the whole French Revolution...and she hands us a primary source of the Marquis de Ferrieres' description of the celebration of the first anniversary of Bastille Day in 1790. And that was it...the document basically described a big party. Me and Jürgen looked at each other like...what are we supposed to write for two hours about this! She tells us we have to write a commentary on it and that was it. A 'commentaire' is a very strange French invention that I still do not understand that well...you describe the document and its significance but you make a "Plan" before which is like an outline...I always end up doing it wrong. So whatever, I tried my best and the good thing was I really did know my facts and managed to write a decent paper, though I'm sure sometimes my French was a little bit funny.

After that exam was lunch and then Bar de l'U for a coffee and then off to my German exam! I was studying in the cafe and Jürgen and Peter were playing foosball next to me and quizzing me as they played. It was actually a really good way to study. So I went to my exam and it went pretty well...I know I didn't do well on the nominative/dativ/akkusativ and I had some trouble remembering some of the vocab. I just tried really hard to remember things I've heard my German friends say and it worked out in the end-and I have to say all of my impromptu German lessons with the boys have really come in handy, I was surprised at how much I knew!

Anyway, so German exam done, then over to Sabine's house for tea and some cookies which was nice because it is FREEZING in Besançon! Right now it's nearly noon and 27 degrees outside. It's unreal. I learned a good French expression for it; "ça caille!"

This past weekend I was in Aix en Provence with Peter and Sabine to visit Peter's friend Lena (it was a very German weekend haha). It was a really nice weekend and Aix is gorgeous tho we were a bit bummed that it was cold there too (though not as cold as Besac). Friday we went to the train station after class, arrived around 5ish and then had cheese fondue for dinner and then met up with a bunch of Lena's friends. Lena's really lucky because she has an apartment in Aix with 3 French roommates so her French is pretty awesome and it was nice to hang out with French people for a change. I usually spend my time with other foreigners...not for lack of trying to make French friends but sometimes it's hard to break in and make friends with them, especially if they're not patient with your mistakes or when you don't understand.

Peter, Lena, and me

around Aix

Anyway, Saturday we went to Marseille (my second time!) to see the sights. That night it was back to Aix (they're like 15 minutes apart by bus) and we took Lena out to dinner.

Notre Dame de la Garde...so beautiful

 

me and Sabine in Marseille...don't let the picture fool you, it was very cold!

 

the O'Shannon Irish pub :)

Then Sunday we had a tour of Aix and ran into some people in costume celebrating something. I was of course excited because I'm a nerd :) We got a really nice feeling for the town though, I really liked it. Then it was back on the train to go home...

cute!

 

around Aix

 We left  around noon to take the TGV (the high speed train) to Lyon to connect to Besac. It was snowing in Lyon though not enough to stick-I was still excited :) Unfortunately our train to Besancon had been canceled due to strikes (who knows what about...) so we had to wait an hour for another TGV on its way to Starsbourg that had a stop in Besançon. But all was good in the end and we made it home and spent the train ride talking about cultural differences and responsibility and cultural stereotypes over cookies and clementines...pretty deep train convo haha

 

it was so cold n Lyon Sabine busted out a blanket for us :)

So here we are, back in Besançon...nothing much exciting, we've been trying to make the most of our last week here altogether since Igga leaves on Friday :( I'm really sad to see her go...hopefully the week will go by slow. We have so many events planned...and i still have one more paper to write bleck.

We all exchanged pictures so I have a ton of new ones. I'll put up birthday photos at least :)