Schengen, Chateau Marlbrouck, and the Wellenstein Winery

Ok, cultural stuff I forgot from yesterday - in Dean Leterre's lecture, he talked about how to fit in better in Europe. One thing he mentioned is that Europe is a non-smiling continent. He told us how that smiling at someone is basically the same as hitting on them, and that to do can be construed as quite creepy. Since then, I've been trying it, but it's very difficult not to smile. Also, he told us that Europeans will be, in general, mean to us - not because we're Americans, but simply because that's how they are raised. He said Europe has such a long history that chances are for any two given people, at some point their ancestors were trying to kill each other, so that's just how they handle things. Dean Leterre told us to not take no for an answer, at least not the first time. When someone tells you, "no" what they're really doing is giving you a chance to plead your case. And, you're not supposed to appeal to any sense of right and wrong, but the appropriate response is instead to basically grovel and try to make yourself look like the victim. He told us that only after the third "No" can you give up on something. Ah... glad that's off my chest.

Nice. So today was like "Big Field Trip Day". For me, and the rest of the students on Bus 2, that meant a trip to Schengen (a la the "Schengen Agreement"), Chateau Marlbrouck (a castle in France), and the Wellenstein Winery.

We had a picnic in Schengen along the Moselle River, which was awesome. Historical Note: Schengen is a very, very, tiny, insignificant little city in Luxembourg - except for the fact that arguably one of the most important documents in recent European history was signed in the Moselle River (yeah, on a boat), right near Schengen. The Schengen Agreement basically allows for free travel throughout all the countries in the Schengen Region. Originally, I don't think it was very many, but now it's basically all of Europe, except the UK and maybe Switzerland? Anyhow, the guys in charge chose Schengen because the river there is basically part of Germany, Luxembourg, and France, so it was like totally diplomaticfest '85.

Quick note: for lunch, we had ham sandwiches...with pickles and hard boiled eggs on them. I know what you're thinking, "Madness!" but it was actually very good.

Then we went to Chateau Marlbrouck, some castle in France. It was pretty chill. There was an art exhibition of Niki de Saint-Phalle going on in the Chateau, so we got to walk around and see all her artwork. It was... interesting. I personally was not a huge fan, but some of it was cool. Much cooler than that, however, was the stunning views from the tip-top of the castle, seen here:

Next, we had some time to kill, so we rolled into Remich, a small town in Luxembourg. It was pretty cool, I took some pictures and we strolled about.

Then, got back on the bus, went to the Wellenstein Winery. It was raining, so we took our tour of the cellars instead of walking through the vineyards. We had a cool, funny old man as our guidetook us down into the basements; the cellars held over 11 million liters of wine. (That's even a lot for you Mom! Haha). But yeah, it was really cool. Now, it wasn't as cool as the fact that we actually had a little wine tasting afterwards. That was awesome. We were each served four small glasses of wine to sample. We had some Rivaner (which I guess is like everyday, cheap wine), some Auxerrois (which was my personal favorite, twas very sweet), some Pinot Gris (which was also quite good), and some Cremant (which is like champagne, and was very well received). So, it was awesome. This was definitely my kind of field trip. (Are you jealous yet Mom and Dad?).

Then we got on buses and went to the Schueberfouer. It was pretty crazy. Basically, it was like cedar point had just up and moved to Luxembourg City. Seriously, they had like actual legit rides. So, we all had a nice sausage and french fry feast there, and then took a leisurely stroll about the fair. There were a ton of people there - not surprising considering it was a Saturday night. Norby was there with his friends from Germany, but I didn't meet up with him. Instead, a few of us came up with a game plan. We were going to get on the Miami bus, and get off at the train station in Luxembourg City, then try to find some bar nearby before catching a train back to Bettembourg or Esch or Differdange. It was not going to be that easy.

So we got off the bus, and there were 9 of us. Right then Norby called me, and I asked him if there were any good bars nearby. As it turns out, the train station is in a really bad part of the city, near the red light district (yeah, prostitutes in Luxembourg). He told me that there were plenty of prostitutes and drugs, but not really any good bars. Ergo, we started walking away from the train station. We ended up getting, well, not really lost, but not really sure where to go. So, after not getting axe-murdered (which was part of the new game plan), we stopped at Akula, some little bar right on one of the main streets. We only stopped there because there was a soccer game on their tv inside. So, of course, the two bartenders didn't speak any english, and no one else in our group spoke french, so I had to parle francais. Yeah, then the menu was a little confusing, and the whole thing was, I think, intimidating to all of us. You see, none of us, well, most of us, were very inexperienced drinkers - so the whole bar thing was quite foreign. But we got some very cheap Super Bock (which turns out is a Portuguese beer). It was fine, nothing to write home about. Then, we made it to the train station, got on the 2320, and cruised. I had to walk home by myself at night, which was a little scary, but I made it.

Cultural note: europeans are much quieter than us Americans. I noticed it very much throughout the entire day. And it's not just volume, its a sort of way of moving through things. Like, I noticed that when we Americans got in large groups we would tend to walk down the middle of a square. While, all the europeans would walk along the edges.

Oh, cool other cultural thing I remember that makes me think back to my study abroad class. We talked about proper shop etiquette today. I learned that when you enter a shop in Luxembourg, you have to say, "Moien," because it is considered a private, and not public, space. Thus, you have to be respectful upon entering.

So, now I'm home, which is good, because I am tired. As always, you can see more pictures on Facebook, I again made it so they should be visible to everyone.