First Study Tour Week

Allow me to introduce this blog post about my week long study tour by explaining what exactly our study tour is in the context of my MUDEC semester. Each student at MUDEC is required to take 3 specific types of classes: a language class (German or French), a "Base Course" (History, Business, or Anthropology), and a "Mini Field Study Class" (Business, Art, Music, Anthropology, or Theatre). For both the Base Course and Mini Field Study Class, all students get a week long break, part of which consists of a "Study Tour" where one travels with their class to relevant destinations around Europe and part of which consists of independent travels. So, our chocolate business class study tour began on Monday in Differdange.

Day 1:

I left Esch on the 10:14 train toward Differdange, where I met everyone else at the Chateau, and proceeded to board our chartered bus. Due to some stragglers, the bus was held up, and we left a few minutes later than expected - at approximately 11:25. We drove straight from Differdange to Koblenz, Germany, which took a little over two hours. The bus ride itself was relatively uneventful, because the only real entertainment consisted of watching the movie Chocolat, but it was in German, i.e. no one understood any of it. Luckily, we were however, provided a delicious packed lunch of sandwiches, water, and chips. We disembarked and walked around on this little pier in Koblenz, because (and this was a surprise for us), we were taking a boat up the Rhine River for the rest of our journey to Köln. As it turns out, the other 3 Miami students who were supposed to meet us in Koblenz didn’t make it on the boat, so Kelley (our student activities coordinator) had to stay behind and retrieve them. Turns out we had to change boats halfway through our voyage, so luckily the lost students and Kelley were able to meet up with us then. Our second boat was actually a dinner cruise, so we had a lovely meal aboard a very fine vessel. I had the fish and chips.

We docked in Köln at around 20:00. From the dock, we had to get back on the bus and took a short drive over to Hotel Leonet, where we were staying. The hotel was really nice and fancy, which I had not expected. After checking into my single room (I just kind of happened to get a single since I was the last student to sign up for a room), I met some friends in the lobby and we proceeded to head out into the city. We probably walked for about an hour through the streets of Köln without finding any interesting places to stop, so we ended up buying some Radler (a mix of beer and lemonade), and going back to our hotel where we played some purportedly fun (but rather uninteresting in reality) pictionary-esque game. I returned to my own room, and promptly slept.

Day 2:

I woke up at 6:45, showered, shaved, and headed down to breakfast at 8:00. As I was finishing breakfast, Professor Rollins came up and told me he needed a favor. Of course, being the responsible, young professional that I am, I said no problem. Now, I had no idea what I was getting myself into at the time. Turns out he needed someone to get in a taxi with Hoover (our chartered bus driver) and go with him to the buspark (where our bus was parked overnight), and then "spot him" (i.e. help Hoover maneuver our massive bus around the narrow streets of downtown Köln,) and get Hoover back to the Hotel to pick the rest of the class up. Ok, so first of all - the taxi driver was a crazy driver; I'm talking like weaving in and out of tramlines crazy. I did learn some interesting things on the taxi ride though: Hoover was pointing out the fact that a ton of the city of Köln had been destroyed during the allied bombings of WWII, and that you could actually see some buildings where parts had been rebuilt from previously leveled buildings. I also learned that Hoover had gone out the night before, wandered into some Turkish bar, and ended up doing some hookah with some strangers. Yeah, that was the guy in charge of driving our bus. So the taxi guy drops us off at the buspark, and I learned a few more interesting (read: terrifying) things about Hoover. He notices a large scrape on the side of the bus and says, "Shit - I must have hit something last night." I'm speechless at this point. He then tells me about how last night he got lost trying to get to the buspark, and ended up on a bridge where the bus couldn't actually fit, so he ended up having to pull a u-turn and almost got hit by a tram. That being said, I was almost hesitant to get on the bus with him. We left the buspark and began our trek back to the hotel. Unfortunately, Hoover's GPS was a piece of junk, so we almost got lost. Thankfully, I remembered parts of the city from walking around the night before and was able to get us close to our hotel. Hoover then illegally parked in a taxi stop, and called Professor Rollins to get everybody to walk to us. Madness ensued as 33 students had to throw all their luggage back onto the bus amid traffic in downtown Köln. It got so crazy that Kelley (again, our student activities coordinator filling in as a sort of chaperone) was hit by a biker. No injuries though.

Schokolademuseum) in Köln. It was awesome - as in they gave us free chocolate as we entered the museum. So we had like an hour-long guided tour of the building, which actually housed a chocolate factory as well. I learned a few interesting things, like that Ireland is the world's highest consumer of chocolate per citizen (about 10.5 kg per person per year). We also were able to taste more chocolate straight from a giant chocolate fountain (I had four of these "samples"). Because we had learned so much about the history of chocolate from our class, we as a tour group were able to ask some very solid questions to our tour guide. We even were able to spot some discrepancies between what the museum said about chocolate and what we had learned in our studies. Anyways, got out of there without buying any actual chocolate, and rolled out into the city, where we were supposed to meet at the Dom (cathedral) at 1:30 pm. We found some lunch, schnitzel and French fries, for a reasonable price, and then wandered over to the Dom. So, we got to take an hour-long guided tour this time, and I learned a lot of cool new things that I had not learned the first time I had walked through the Dom (a week earlier). I learned that the difference between a church and a cathedral is home to an Archbishop (which is apparently a big deal). Let's see, so we also saw the apparent remains of the Three Kings (like the ones who gave Jesus presents), which were housed in the Dom. Oh, and there was this cool sarcophagus of this one guy, who apparently just wanted to be buried in the cathedral, though he was of no real importance and just thought it would help him get into heaven, so he left all his money to the church in his will and was thusly buried in the Dom. His grave had small statues of dogs at his feet, which apparently indicated that he was of the lower nobility - if he was a king or part of the king's family, he would have had lions at his grave, and if he was an emperor, then he would have had eagles at his grave. That's what I'm getting on my tomb - eagles (America!). So after our tour, we had like 45 minutes before we had to get back on the bus. So of course, all the students decided to climb to the top of the South Tower again, which implied that I had to as well, again. This time though, it was a quite a bit easier. The 509 steps to the top flew by considering I wasn't lugging my backpack and a bottle of wine this time. Took some more pictures at the top, which wasn't as nice the second time since it was considerably foggier. After a nice, leisurely descent we hopped back onto the bus, and headed for Brussels.

That bus ride was much more swag - considering we watched one of the greatest movies ever produced in American cinema: Top Gun. We got into Brussels, checked into the Hotel du Congres (where I had stayed a few weeks earlier), and got settled. Now, I was staying in a room with 5 other guys, so it was quite cramped. Anyways, we didn't have much downtime as we had to run out to make our 7:30 reservation… at Pizza Hut. Yeah, we had reservations at Pizza Hut, which was actually really nice. It was also the first place we had been with free refills and an actual soda fountain like in America. After dinner, a bunch of Miami students (I included) headed to this bar, Delirium. As the name suggests, it was a happening place. We snagged a table and headed to the bar to order some Belgian beer. Basically, I chose my beer because there was an ad for "Delirium Tremens - elected best beer in the world!" on the wall. And by god, it was right up there. Now, I know I don't have a lot of experience with beer, but it was by far the best beer I've had in Europe; it had a sort of fruity flavor with a smooth and crisp finish - just wonderful. Also, it was cheap and strong (9% alcohol by volume). We then walked back to our hotel and called it a night.

Day 3:

I woke up at 6:45 (as per usual, the first one in our room up), showered and headed down for breakfast. I was supposed to meet some friends at 8:00 am for breakfast and because they were late and didn’t show up, I ended up eating with Professor Rollins and Kelley, the only other conscious people I knew at the hotel. I also got to meet Mark, our chocolate guide for the day, and learned that he had just returned from a trip to Nepal where he had been guiding a glacier-climbing tour. Basically, Mark = awesomefest. Here's a picture of him leading us around Brussels:

 He knew everything about chocolate and took us around the city of Brussels, stopping in and tasting chocolate at the best shops. We started in the Grand Place at Godiva - where I had one of the best chocolates I've had yet - an 85% dark chocolate truffle that came as the recommendation of the guy working there. Truly majestic it was. Next, we went to Pure, an all-natural, organic, and fair-trade chocolate shop where I had some sort of like espresso shavings thing. It was again, solid. Next, we walked to Whitamer's, which is a very famous Belgian chocolatier. It was there that we had these white chocolate, cassis-flavored truffles; it was incredible. I was in heaven. Next, we traveled to Laurent Gaudot's chocolate shop, where we actually got to make our own chocolate. It was so chill (as in sweet - no pun intended). I ended up buying a small assortment of chocolates from there, since we got to taste 8 different chocolates from their shop. Their specialty was adding interesting new flavors to chocolates, so we had like some with apricot in it, some with ginger, some with speculoos (which is like graham cracker taste), some with nuts - all of it delicious. Then, we got back on the bus after having a quick sandwich for lunch, and drove to a suburb north of the city.

So for the last chocolate stop of the day, we went to Manon's chocolate factory and shop. The proprietor was this old guy who looked like Jepeto - the guy from Pinocchio. Anyways, he was super cool - he learned the chocolate business from his grandpa, who opened the shop in the early 20th century. He makes all his chocolate by hand, which is real cool, and though he runs a really small factory (as in he has one other employee), he has won several international awards for his chocolate. He told us he had never entered any competition for these awards, they just came to him because people had learned of his incredible chocolate. This guy was quite the character, turns out he's also a magician, so he did some sweet magic/chocolate tricks. For example, he asked for a volunteer to come up and pick a card from the deck. So this girl picks a card, and he asks her to show everyone the card (the 8 of hearts). Next, he takes his "magic cocoa powder" and rubs it on the card before putting it back into the deck. He shuffles the deck for a little bit, and then builds the anticipation by again describing how "magical" the cocoa powder is. He then takes some of the powder, pulls up the sleeves of his shirt, and rubs the cocoa powder onto his arm - the powder then exposes on his arm "8 Hearts" and he asks if that was her card. Amazing. Also, he was all about his dark chocolate - he told us he eats 250g every day for energy. Oh, and he was very particular about what was chocolate and what was not - "White chocolate" as we know it actually contains no cacao beans, it's simply milk, sugar, and cocoa butter. He said they don't call it "white chocolate," the just call it "white." So after getting more free chocolate (and a business card so I could order some online to send home?), we left Manon's and headed back to our hotel.

After chillaxing at the hotel, we headed down to dinner with the rest of our class at Chez Leon, a nice restaurant near the city center. We had an appetizer of rabbit (Yum! - seriously, it was quite nice), salad, some superb Belgian beer (Grivermacher or something like that), turkey for dinner, and a cherry sorbet (possibly with alcohol) for dessert. All in all, a splendid feast. We then just sort of chilled around the Grand Place, watched the light show for the second night in a row, and walked back to the hotel. We played cards for a little bit before going to sleep. As it turns out, some of my roommates made the immature and foolhardy decision to go to a strip club that night. They got really drunk, got back to the hotel at like 3:00 am, made a bunch of noise, ran around and caused a ruckus in the hallway, woke a bunch of people up, and caused several other guests to complain to the hotel staff - thus embarrassing Professor Rollins, our entire class, Miami University, and America. To all you out there, please don't blatantly disrespect people like they did. It's not even that it was a cultural thing - you wouldn't do that in America and it shouldn't be done in Europe, especially when you represent our university and our nation.

Day 4:

Woke up at 6:40, tired from being woken up several times during the night. Ate breakfast early, and got on the bus to Bruges. We finished watching Top Gun on the bus, which started the day off right (except for the fact that Goose died again). After arriving in Bruges, we started our walking tour of the city right away. I learned a lot more from the walking tour than I did from wandering the city when I was there a few weeks before. Actually, I take that back, I didn't necessarily learn more, I just learned different things. So I learned a lot more about the history of the city - for instance, Bruges was once the largest port in northern Europe (which is crazy considering it is landlocked now, and 50 km from the North Sea). So apparently the North Sea used to come all the way to where Bruges is now and boats could literally pull right into the market square and dock. I also learned a lot about the architecture of Bruges, which is a very medieval city. So I guess what happened is that Bruges was pretty much all Gothic architecture, and as the renaissance spread northward from Italy, some cities (like Antwerp in Belgium) started changing their architecture to be more renaissance-y. Bruges however decided that they wanted to preserve their own unique identity as opposed to their rivals in Antwerp, so they just kept up the Gothic architecture. Even today they have strict standards as to how buildings must look in the city (kind of like Oxford?). Our walking tour ended in the market square of the city, and we had lunch as a class right there. We yet again had a delicious meal provided by MUDEC: I'm talking carrot soup, chicken with pureed peas, and a Belgian waffle for dessert.

Then we walked to two other chocolate shops - first we went to Dumon Chocolatier, an apparent favorite of the infamous Rick Steves. There, I chatted with the proprietor and asked her the few key questions to ask in a chocolate shop - "What is your specialty?" (to which she replied, "chocolate," not very helpful), and "What is your personal favorite?" (to which she directed me to a dark chocolate crème brulee truffle). So I had to try this crème brulee truffle (and for 60 euro-cents, it was awesome). From there we walked to Chocolate Line, an interesting store to be sure. Ok, to set the scene, Professor Rollins had mentioned the day before that in Bruges there was a store where we could snort chocolate. That's right, snort chocolate. I was intrigued, even mystified as to what this would entail. So when we get to Chocolate Line, we find out that this is where we can supposedly snort the chocolate. I was thrilled. So we ask the lady at the counter, and she says for one euro we can do "a sniff." Of course, it was worth it - so we made it happen. She busted out this small plastic contraption, into which she put a scoop of powder. We could choose either ginger or raspberry mix - I went with ginger because she said it was stronger. Then, she held the contraption up to my nose, and told me to inhale on the count of three. On three, she like launches the powder and I inhaled deeply. It didn't hurt or anything like that, it just smelled very chocolatey and minty (not very much ginger). And, it felt like there was something stuck in the front part of my nose. It was awesome. So yeah, I snorted chocolate. Here is what the set-up looked like:

We then hustled back to the bus for yet another adventure with Hoover - I'm talking a 2 hour trek through downtown Brussels rush hour traffic, which got so bad that at one point we started going into a tunnel and realized the bus wouldn't fit, so we had to stop all traffic, get the police to move cars, and back out through a roundabout so we could get going in the right direction. Anyway, finally got back to the hotel at around 5:30 or 6 (my memory is a little fuzzy now). After chillaxing / showering / sneezing a bunch, rallied the troops and headed down to the Grand Place, both to meet some friends who had flown into Brussels from the end of their study tour in Madrid as well as to find food for dinner. After rendezvousing with our friends (who were wearing shorts by the way - much nicer weather in Spain than in Belgium, apparently), we ate at some gyro shop near the Grand Place, before going back to watch the light show. Now, we actually had an interesting experience at this point. So we saw a group of college-aged kids in white shirts walking around, apparently covered in dirt, flour, and a variety of other crap. It appeared as though they were being directed (read: yelled at) by several other college-aged kids in blue uniforms with funny hats. So when they started marching and chanting in the Grand Place, I had to know more. So, I did the easiest and most difficult thing to do when you're in a foreign country - ask someone. So I asked one of these guys with a hat on what the dealio was - turns out it was basically an initiation of new students into the university. He told me it was different for each type of student (as in each different school or major), so he was pointing out that his group of 15-20 students were all new education majors ("people who want to be teachers"), and that he had been put through it himself in his first year at the university. He said that this tradition had been going on for over 100 years. I was intrigued at the acceptability of such public humiliation. I asked him if he knew anything about fraternities or sororities - and he said he just knew what they saw on television. So, I explained to him the striking similarity of the group hazing and ritualistic behavior between American fraternities and what his organization seemed to be doing. It was interesting, to be sure.

So went back to our hotel, where we may or may not have let our friends stay in our already overcrowded hotel room (which may or may not have been ok with the Miami chaperones who had held our room for us), so I ended up sleeping sideways across two twin beds pushed together so that they could accommodate three people. Not exactly the most comfortable night I've ever had, but it wasn't bad at all.

Day 5

Unfortunately though, two of the guys in our room had to get up at 3:15 am to make a flight, so I was woken up then, and then again when our friends left for Oktoberfest at 6:30 am. After a leisurely 8:00 am wake up, breakfast, and shower. I got all packed up, and headed towards the train station at around 11:00 am. Turns out it was just going to be Tony and I headed to Zurich, Switzerland, and our train didn't leave until 13:13 (unlucky train?).

So we ate lunch in the train station, and hopped aboard our direct train from Brussels-Centraal to Zurich HB. It was a long 8 hours and 11 minutes, but it was very calming and relaxing to sit on a train all day after having been running around the continent for the past few days. We even had outlets on our train seats, so I got to work on writing this blog entry then. We also met this girl on the train who was a Miami student who had just graduated in the spring, but was doing her student teaching in Luxembourg City. So we at least had someone else to talk to on the train. It wasn't very crowded except while we were going through France (stops in Strasbourg and Metz), and then the train pretty much emptied out for the last two hours between Basel and Zurich.

NOT A GOOD SITUATION: So it kind of hits me all at once that Tony and I are in deep. Upon arriving in Zurich, we have several problems that need to be resolved:

1. We have no money - Switzerland uses the Swiss Franc, not the euro (note: 1 Swiss Franc = about 1 US dollar).

2. We have no idea where our hostel is - I forgot to print off directions to our hostel from the train station. 

3. We have no idea where we are - I know we're at the main train station, but I have no idea where that is relative to the city.

4. It's 21:30 on a Friday night - all the shops are closed, as is the tourism office at the train station.            5. Zurich is close to the Swiss-German border, so they were actually having an Oktoberfest celebration and concert going on in the train station, which only furthered our disorientation.

6. We're starving - we should have packed some dinner for the train ride, but we didn’t and now everything is closed.

HOW WE SURVIVED: Obviously, we didn't die or panic or get lost forever in Switzerland, here is how we handled the problems we faced, and what to do if you find yourself in a similar situation.

1. There was still a currency exchange window open at the train station, so Tony and I ran up and exchanged some euros for Swiss Francs. Even if the currency exchange had been closed, we would have just needed to find an ATM and we could've scored some cash.

2. We followed a mob of people out of the train station, and just kind of walked in the same direction as a bunch of people. Then, majestically, we spotted a Starbucks across the river. We walked to it, and when I got inside the first question we asked was, "Do you have wifi?" Thankfully, they did, and we were able to find the directions online to our hostel, which we then transcribed onto paper. Oh, and we got some Swiss hot chocolate albeit from Starbucks.

3. This was pretty much solved by using Google Maps at Starbucks.

4. Not really an issue, since we had managed to walk over to the student district of the city (near the University of Zurich), so everything, or at least Starbucks, was open later.

5. We just didn't panic. It's important not to panic.

6. As we walked the 4 km from the train station to our hostel, we made our way down some busy streets, and as fate would have it, passed a McDonald's. Yes, that's right, at like 23:00 on a Friday night, the McDonald's was still open. America (as in Starbucks and McDonald's) saved us that night.

So we checked into our hostel, and after having a quick and much needed drink at the bar in the hostel's lobby, we called it a night.

Day 6

Got up around 7:30, never saw the other two guys who had stayed in our four-person hostel room. We had a nice little breakfast provided for us in our hostel - bread, jam, coffee, and orange juice. We then headed out for the city at about 9:00 am. We walked down to the lake shore before walking north into the downtown area (now I was nice and oriented correctly!). It was quite a sight, you could see the Swiss Alps off in the distance beyond Lake Zurich, here is what it looked like:

and this:

and this:

Anyway, so we rolled into town, and walked around for a little bit at a flea market. It was sweet, lots of stuff for sale, and huge, considering that they put the whole show together every Saturday. We didn't buy anything, but that was chill. We walked around for a while, and strolled over the Grossmunster, the typical large church for the city. Our hostel receptionist had recommended that we climb it to get cool views of the city, which was spot on. It looked like this:

Yeah, it was pretty cool. Then Tony and I made our way over to the University of Zurich. On the way, we grabbed lunch at this little bakery/butcher shop. We then got the Zentrum (which I believe is the equivalent of the Shriver Center, our student union back in Oxford). It was pretty deserted, but there was some kind of little reception going on there. Anyway, I had my computer, and we saw some students working on their laptops, so I decided to try to get the interwebs. I was able to hack onto their internet, and we found out some interesting things about the University of Zurich. Apparently it's the 11th most prestigious university in Europe - oh, and Albert Einstein went to school there. So yeah, it's kind of a big deal.

Then we walked across campus (up the street) to the University Library. Turns out they were having an exhibition on algebraic surfaces in the library that day (oh boy - math!). So Tony and I went up and started asking questions to one of the students who was working the exhibit. She quickly turned to English, and we ended up having like an hour-long conversation with her and her friend. Here is what we learned from them about Zurich and Switzerland:

1. People in Zurich speak Swiss German, which is a strange dialect. They told us that even if we spoke German fluently, we would still have problems understanding the locals.

2. People in Switzerland do not like people from Germany. Apparently, they view Germany as an aggressive and arrogant nation, and since Zurich is relatively close to the border, it's especially bad in Zurich.

3. There is nothing cool to do in Zurich - they said that most people just sit around all day and look at the alps. We asked what students do on the weekends, and they said, "study."

4. University of Zurich students have class on Saturdays - we heard a bell ring in the middle of our conversation, and asked what that was. Turns out it was the 15:00 bell releasing kids from class. I thought that was hilarious / unfortunate.

5. There are similar cross-cultural understandings of what constitutes an "easy major," I talked to them about math, because they were both math majors, and we were able to joke about communication majors (no offense to communication majors - I was just using what I perceive to be the most stereotypically understood "easy" major, based on no factual evidence of my own. So don't get mad at me). 

So that was really cool, it's always nice to talk to locals, and the most friendly people are always other students. They even invited us to a big university party that was going on that night downtown (we did not end up going). Then we walked all the way back to our hostel. We started chilling in our room, and decided to take a little siesta. Just as I was about to fall asleep however, Roy showed up. Turns out one of the guys staying in our room that night, the aforementioned Roy, wanted to make a lot of noise when he walked in. So we talk to Roy for a while - he's a cyclist from New Zealand. Apparently he spends a lot of time in Europe, and has biked all over the continent, which is pretty cool (but it kept me from my nap). 

So we got up and headed back into the city around 4:45. Casually strolling through the downtown, we found this cheeseburger take-out place on the Niederdorfstrasse, the main shopping street in the old town. So we got some burgers and fries to go, and then ate dinner on a bridge, looking at the Swiss Alps. Awesome. So then, on the suggestion of our friends at the University of Zurich, we had to go to the grocery store and get some Feldschlossen (a Swiss beer). So we went to the store, got some free samples of chocolate (which was delicious), and bought some Swiss beer. We then walked down to the river, sat on a bench, people-watched, and drank. We had a sweet view of the river and Zurich at night:

Swiss beer could not really hold a candle to Belgian beer, but it wasn't a problem. Then, around 20:30 or so, we decided to try to find this Irish Pub, Nelson, downtown. Unfortunately, the map had it mislabeled, but we found it. No big deal. After a pint of Murphy's (an Irish beer, which was cheap because it was Happy Hour, apparently). We took the long road back to our hostel and crashed.

Day 7

The last day of the trip was quick. We got up, ate, and headed out the door at 10:00. Strolled into town, chilled at this park, had really cheap hot dogs for lunch (as in, mine only cost 50 Swiss franc cents since the guy gave me too much change back - not sure how that makes me feel about the whole Swiss bank thing...), and went back to Starbucks to check the internet and make sure we had the right time for our train. We got on the train at 14:36, and had a straight five-hour train ride back to Lux City. It was a long week indeed.

Weekend In Lux City (Apples, Banana's, and Bars)

So, as a result of having been a little ill, worn down from schoolwork, and the impending week of travel, I (among a good few other MUDECers) elected to stay in town this weekend. Before the weekend however, I went out to dinner with Norby on Thursday night, and it was awesome.

So Norby's two friends (and I feel terrible about this, but I forget their names now) came over and picked us up around 7:30 or so. We had a beer before we left, and I had some other Luxembourg beer that I haven't had before. It was nice. So we went to this little restaurant that was originally just a house. It was really small, quiet, and very cozy. The place itself was basically just a room and a bar with a few tables around the walls. So, for dinner itself, I (on Norby's advice) had filet de cheval. For you non-french speakers, I ate horse meat. It was actually really tasty. I think it's best described as like American beef in taste / texture, but significantly leaner. Anyhow, Norby and his one friend split a Raclette meal. Ok, so basically this thing is a Swiss delicacy, and it's quite a feast. They serve you a big block of cheese in a heating device, so you slowly melt the cheese. They also provide you with a plate of assorted meats and a bunch of potatoes, so you can basically go to town and combine all of them in a warm, sumptuous feast of flavor. Norby let me try some, and it was superb. We ended up hanging out, having some wine, and chatting with the other people in the restaurant (which is cool, because that doesn't really happen a lot of places in Luxembourg).

Fast-forward to Friday night. I take the 17:48 train from Esch into Lux City. Greg and Patrick meet me on the train, and we arrive in Lux city at 6:15. It's a short 7 minute bus ride, where we get off near the city center. A 5 minute walk later and we arrive at the city center. Hilarity ensues as Patrick and Bobby are wearing the exact same striped sweater (with different colors). Dinner discussions are tense, the group splits up - I end up drinking strawberry margaritas at Chi Chi's. After the rest of the group meets us there, we get dinner at Chi Chi's (quesadilla - first mexican food in a month). Some of the group has already left, but several of us decide another margarita wouldn't really be such a bad idea, so we hang out for a little bit longer. Then, after a 10 minute walk through the city, we get to Clausen - basically a street with a bunch of bars on it. PROBLEM: there are bouncers at either end of the street, and to get in you need a valid i.d. For some reason, my train pass (with my birthday on it) or my student id (also with my birthday) did not suffice - they said I needed a passport or drivers' license. Bummer. SOLUTION: we walked around to the other entrance of Clausen, waited for a huge group of students to roll in, blended in, and snuck in. Ended up at some bar called Verso, had a couple of (quite expensive) drinks, and chilled out.

I took time to analyze how different the clubs were in Europe as opposed to those in America. (Disclaimer: I do not spend a large amount of time in clubs anywhere, but I've researched this subject extensively and feel I possess enough base knowledge to comment on key differences). So anyway, in Europe, they play extremely loud dance music all night, but no one really dances. At least, there's not like a pure dance floor where everyone is just getting down. Well, I take that back, there were some people dancing, but the vast majority of persons present were just standing or sitting, hanging out, and drinking with their friends. The bar was huge, the bathrooms weren't trashy, and everyone was really dressed up - these were the chief differences I noticed. Also, there were a lot more places to sit down in Europe. Oh, and in Europe, everybody smokes in the bars, which is not all that cool - because now my nice clothes smell like smoke. Anyway, back to my riveting narrative. So found Jacques and Phillippe (Greg's host brothers) and they guided us back to the train station in time to catch the last train home (it left Lux City at 12:50 am). As expected, we ran into a bunch of other Miami students on the train back (an experience in and of itself), and I made it home by about 1:30 am. A late night indeed.

Woke up about 11:30 on Saturday morning. Hopped on the 1:14 train into Lux City, as the game plan was to hit up the Apple Festival going on in Steinsel (a little village just north of Lux City). Now, I had been told that it would be a 15 minute bus ride, and a short walk up a hill. Allow me to correct that statement with what it actually was: a 30 minute bus ride, a 40 minute trek up a large hill. No big deal though, just got to Applefest a little later than I had planned. It wasn't really a festival so much as a couple of tents and an apple orchard. But, it was really cool. I had some of the best apple juice I've ever had, tried some fresh apple tart, and got to stroll casually through the orchard and pick some apples. They were fantastic.

On our way back down the hill, we ran into other Miami students and told them that they were unfortunately too late to make it to the festival. But, instead, we all went out to dinner in Lux City at a place called Banana's - which was awesome. The margaritas there were real strong though. Luckily, I also had a giant hamburger / egg / cheese / french fries sandwich contraption for dinner. After dawdling around in the city for a while, we were notified via text message that it was "student night" at Verso (the same bar we were at on Friday night), and that "student night" meant "free beer for students." Ergo, we made it to Verso (and I had my driver's license now, so it was chill). After another long night of chillaxing (and almost running into Norby, as I later learned), made it home, slept, and woke up around noon today. Very unproductive day so far, basically been getting ready to leave on our Study tour tomorrow.

Our chocolate class is headed to Koln tomorrow via bus. Then later to Brussels and Bruges. Should be interesting - especially since I have no real plans for afterwards on Thursday. By that I mean, we get done with our Study Tour on Thursday at 1500 in Bruges, and class doesn't resume until Monday morning, so I'm going somewhere - I just don't know where yet.

That brings me to a study abroad tip for anyone considering it: Either go with one really good friend, or go to a program where no one knows each other before hand. It's been a little difficult for me here, because I didn't know any MUDECers before I got here, and there are a ton of people here who came with like one best friend, so it can be clique-y at times, which is unfortunate. It can be hard to fit into groups of already-established friends at times. But, don't let that discourage you from heading out on your own. Sometimes, that's the best way to get to know yourself and how you really feel about life.

Anyway, I need to finish packing - look forward to hearing from me in a week or so about my long travel time. Thanks for reading!

4 Cities, One Weekend

Sorry this has taken me a while to write. I'm just getting back on my feet after having quite a long week (two midterm exams and a research paper due, all while battling a cold). Anyhow, forgive me if memory fails, but here is hopefully an accurate account of my past weekend.

So I elected to go on the "Discovery Tour" which is a Miami sponsored trip led by our student activities coordinator, Kelley. I had signed up for the express purpose that part of the trip was a wine tasting, but more on that later.

Our tour began in Differdange, where we took the 1300 train to Luxembourg City. From there, we boarded a long train to Cologne, Germany (or Koln, as it's called in German). The train ride was just over three hours, and I had yet another opportunity to meet some cool people on the train. I sat with a young man who was originally born in Paris, but who was now living in Esch (where I live!). Also in Bonn, another guy sat next to us, and he was some sort of Olympic athlete from Germany. I say this because he was jacked (as in ripped) and was wearing a Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games official shirt. He was very friendly, and we chatted for a while about Germany, Koln, and America. We arrived in Koln at about six, and walked around the massive Dom (which is right by the train station). Here is what it looked like then:

It's giant. Anyways, I climbed it later.

So we checked into our hostel (Pathpoint Backpacker's Hostel) which was a sweet converted Evangelical church, and we even had a private bathroom in our room. Then, on the advice of one of the other students on the Discovery Tour, Tiffany, we found our way to this incredibly happening German restaurant, Fruh (or something like that). It was real awesome, and I had probably some of the best beer I've had yet, Kolsch (which is made in Koln). I had had that same beer earlier, in Trier, but it was not nearly as good then. I had a bockwurst with potato salad for dinner, and it was quite tasty. We then strolled leisurely through the streets of Koln, where there were shopping sites everywhere. We wandered into a street performance of 4 guys that was really cool. Then, our advisor, Kelley left us to go meet a friend, and it was just us 10 Miami students, alone, in Koln. So, we went back to the hostel, got jackets, and decided to find a club to hit. We took the subway (which was ubersketchy at midnight), and made our way to the main club street. It was crazy. Imagine High Street in Oxford times five. But yeah, we weren't really dressed well enough to get into any club, and we didn't want to pay that much at other places. So we ended up just walking slowly back to our hostel before konking out for the night.

We got up early, had a sweet breakfast in the hostel, and then got on an 0858 train to Moselkern. Now, the town of Moselkern is not exactly a booming metropolis, but near there is the castle Burg Eltz, which was our destination. Here is a picture of the sleepy town of Moselkern:

So yeah, we hiked through the city first, and then made our way through the woods approximately two additional kilometers up to Burg Eltz. It was really cool. As in, it was set back on a hill, in the middle of what appeared to be an extensive forest. We chillaxed in the castle, and actually had a guided tour in English (which was nice). Turns out this castle is still owned by the original family descendent, and is in its 33rd generation of ownership. I remember I found it interesting that every room had a chimney in it, as they had to heat each room individually. We then had lunch - in the castle courtyard, which rocked. I had really good french fries that actually tasted like pretzels. Then we hiked back to the train station so that we could make our train to Cochem (where our wine tasting was scheduled). We took the short train to Cochem, which is another sleepy town along the Moselle river, and literally walked 100 steps to the vineyard.

First, we had the proprietor give us a little lecture (in English) about his vineyard. I learned all about the terroir of his vineyard. Apparently, terroir is a french word which describes the unique aspects of a vineyard. It takes into account local weather, local soil, the actual grapes used, and the work/workers. This guy told us all about how there they have hot mornings, so they grow the grapes on the southeast side of hills to maximize the morning sun. Then, they use a very gravelly-slate soil (which apparently adds a potassium taste to the wine). The grapes they grew included Riesling, Dunfelder, and Pinot Noir. Then, after a tour through their rock cellar (where they keep wine - it was literally a cave), we got to taste some wine (my favorite part). We had three different glasses of white wine, and then one glass of red. The red was especially interesting - they keep their reds in oak barrels, so there was a very strong woody taste to the wine, which I was not used to, and did not particularly enjoy. So I actually ended up buying a bottle of one of the white wines we had (for 9.80 euros), to give to Norby as a present (My first wine purchase, and assuredly not my last - my parents would be so proud).

Our group then weighed our options and figured out how to get to Aachen, where we had rooms booked for Saturday night. Unfortunately, we called the hotel to let them know we were going to be late, and by then they had already given away some of our rooms. Luckily, they just booked us new rooms in a hotel right by the train station in Aachen. So we took like a long, four hour journey, with several changes, to get to Aachen. Notably, when we were on the train from Koblenz to Koln, at one stop in Remagen like a thousand people got on the train, and it was a party. There were some older people who brought glasses and bottles of wine on the train, people were standing throughout the entire train aisle, I gave up my seat to an old lady, twice (one of them was so appreciative, she gave us an entire bag of chocolate to say thanks!), it was a Party Train (or Party Zug, in German). Oh, side note about cultural exchange, when one of the german guys dropped and broke his wine glass, I said out loud, "Das ist eine Party Foul!" and everybody laughed, so I think they understood the notion of a "party foul," which was funny for me. German people are incredibly friendly, which has really contributed to how much fun I've had the last two weekends. So we didn't get into Aachen until after midnight, and by that point we were all exhausted, so we set up a rendezvous time for the next morning and went to bed. I, regrettably, decided to sleep on the couch and had quite a cold night. Nonetheless, I survived, and after a warm shower in the morning, I was back in the game.

So we headed out in search of food, and stumbled upon one of the coolest little cafes I've been in yet. The place was called "Bagels and Beans." Thus, we had delicious bagels and the best coffee I've had in Europe yet. It was awesome. Plus, the owner was talking to us and explained that that day, Sunday, was the last day of a rock and jazz festival going on in Aachen, and that there would be free concerts all day starting at 1300. So, we walked into the city center, and it was already happening. Turns out they were hosting some sort of running fundraiser for Amnesty International, so there was a large hoopla in the city center with people cheering and a big band playing inspirational music (like YMCA, and the Rocky theme song - pure America). We went into the Rathaus, which was like the town center, and saw a bunch of cool stuff about German kings and Charlemagne. Later on, we would visit the cathedral in Aachen, where Charlemagne's remains are located.

It was really cool that there was this huge festival going on, and it provided a fascinating juxtaposition between the ancient parts of the city and the still vibrant German population. Here is a picture that explains this idea well:

Anyway, so that was cool. Then, we had some lunch (more sausage), and decided to catch a train back to Koln so that we could climb the tower of the Dom (for some reason that seems to be the thing to do in Europe). So, after a relatively short, and uneventful, train ride, we got to Koln and promptly headed over to the tower.

It got real high, real fast. The stairs were quite steep and thin. Yet again, I had my backpack on, which added to the difficulty of climbing the 509 steps to the top of the tower. Though it took quite some time, it seemed fast, and tiring - the oxygen level decreases with an increase in altitude, just so you know. Anyway, so we got to the top, and had some pretty sweet views of the Rhine River and the city. Here is one of them:

And, we were like caged in, as I can imagine the danger of falling from such great heights. But, it was a really fantastic view, and I could see for miles. The climb down was equally precarious, but I again survived. Then, some members of our group actually elected to go to mass in the Dom, which is cool, but I was hungry. So instead, we went to the train station and plotted our return course as well as got McDonalds. We got on a train about an hour later, and had a long, long journey back to Lux City. On trains, you learn a lot about people, and they always provide a great opportunity to really get to know the people that you're spending time with. They are truly fascinating modes of transportation.

And thus concluded our whirlwind tour of Koln, Moselkern, Cochem, and Aachen. It was very hectic. So I'm now much more chill after having completed my exams and papers (by the way - classes are NOT easier here, I don't know how that myth exists, but it does, and it's wrong). So, I plan on putting up the rest of my pictures on facebook soon, and you should be able to check them out.

Thanks for reading, and look forward to next, next weekend, I should be returning from a weeklong vacation. Er, I mean..."Study tour" for my chocolate class. I'll be sure to take good notes.

Class already?

So after finally getting settled into the swing of things - BOOM - class happened.

Monday morning, 0845. Sad day. But it wasn't all bad, considering I was sitting in a class about chocolate. The class is being taught by one Rob Rollins, a business professor from Miami (in Oxford). Professor Rollins is really chill - I had him for a business 101 class back in freshman year. He also worked for Mars (the candy bar company) for 17 years, so I think the guy knows his chocolate. From there, it was downtime until I had class again at 1415 - international economics. Again, the prof clearly knows his stuff. This class however, is I imagine, going to be the most difficult by far. I say this because I've started my homework for next week (aren't I a good student?) and it's dense. Economists have this unique ability to take the most simple, common-sense pieces of knowledge and technalize (not really a word, but you get the point) beyond any necessary point.

Anyhow, my last class on Monday got cancelled, so I went out to dinner in Differdange at some little hole-in-the wall pizzeria, and it was actually very good. My rather large margherita pizza only cost 3,80 euros, Nice! On a tangent - I've officially developed an excel spreadsheet for budgeting all the money I'll spend here. It's pretty legit.

Tuesday = today. So, I again had class at 0845, but it was with Dr. Haag. Cool story about Dr. Haag: he's this pretty old guy (though I had imagined him as being older), who has taught at MUDEC since its inception. So, when my father was a student at MUDEC, he actually had Dr. Haag for this very same class I'm taking, "The Rise and Fall of Hitler." Already, I have great respect for the man. He literally talked for the entire hour and a half class, without stopping, without rushing, without panicking, without ever even stumbling over what he was going to say. It was impressive, to say the least. So that class is going to be sweet, albeit with a large amount of reading. I've already begun our first reading assignment from a biography of Hitler (again, am I a good student or what?), and it's fascinating. Did you know Hitler tried to work as an artist in Vienna, and he was pretty bad at it? Crazy stuff already.

Cultural Interruption: so I think it's interesting how you pay for things in Europe. Everything is really laid back as in you pay after you've gotten your meal and eaten your food. I don't know, but when I was sitting in the kebab fast food place, and I didn't pay right when I ordered, I felt strange. Also, when we were at this pizzeria the other night, they had MTV on the tv. It was all techno jams. Europeans love techno music. This is fascinating to me, maybe because they play it all the time. I mean, in America, we have techno music in clubs and stuff, but they literally have it on all the time. Walking down the street at eight o'clock in the morning? Techno. Playing foosball? Techno. Eating pizza or kebabs? Techno. Sleeping? Techno. Not really.

Next, poly sci class got cancelled. This was sweet for two reasons. Firstly, I didn't have to go to class. Secondly, the reason class was cancelled is because our prof had to go present something at some royal presentation in Luxembourg city, and, according to our assistant dean, will hold a make-up class at his house with dinner and the opportunity to meet some ambassadors or something cool like that. Two days in, and I've already got some connections. Then I had german. It's gonna be fine. I've always felt like I have a knack for languages, so I don't feel at all intimidated by people speaking foreign languages to me. Then, it was dinner, where I had a kebab (which is the same as a gyro), and it was taste-tacular. Again, it was good and cheap as well. Back at the Chateau, Kelley (the student activities coordinator) put on a little presentation about traveling in Europe. Which was nice because...

This weekend, I will be traveling to Brussels and Bruges in Belgium. We're going on this Miami charter bus to spend Friday afternoon in the Belgian Ardennes before they drop us off at the Arlon train station in Belgium. From there, myself and a good plenty of Miami students are heading to Brussels via train, where I'll be spending Friday night at the Hotel du Congres. Then, as far as I know, the plan is to chill in the morning in Brussels and then get going to Bruges pretty early (also by train). In Bruges, I'm staying at the Snuffel Backpacker Hostel. I'm excited to travel away for the first weekend, but I'm also nervous, I'll be sure to keep this updated afterwards. And Blue and Dad, I'll be sure to find some Jupiler.

Ah, I should also mention my moments of weakness today. So I don't know if it was just that I was tired (I literally haven't had any caffeine since I've been here) or if classes just got me down, but for the first time today I got homesick and sad. It might have taken a week, but I've definitely realized consciously that I'm not in America anymore. And, that, along with my general shyness, made me miss home and all my close friends back in Ohio. Sadface. But, after getting a little food in me, doing some homework, and relaxing, I felt much better. I want to be accurate about my feelings for the entire trip, so I have no intention of hiding if I freak out, or have a mental-breakdown, or cry about missing home. No, this is and will be a tell-all account of what it's like for me, Jimmy Trotier, studying abroad in Europe for a semester. Yeah, it's going to be difficult at times, but that's why I'm here, to grow up and win at life. Thanks for reading, and I'll continue to let you know how my experience goes.

Luxembourgish Sunday

Today was all Luxembourg.

I got up this morning, had brunch with Norby and his friends from Germany, and took a shower. Then, we went to the National Museum of the Mines in Remalange (just outside of Esch). We got to take like an hour-long guided tour down into the old steel mines, which was sweet. Unfortunately, our tour guide just spoke in Luxembourgish, but thankfully they gave us these little audio players so that we could hear the tour in English. Twas a fascinating tale indeed.

We spent the afternoon at Pitcher, where we met Norby's niece, Tammy, and her friends Michael and Andy. Greg and his host family, including Jacques, as well as a couple other Miami students joined us for some drinks while it poured outside. So, I had a Heineken, which was good. But then Tammy and her friends got some "Blue Nickel" (could be off, but that's what it sounded like), which was some drink invented at that bar. I inquired as to what it was, and Norby told me it was a little vodka with a lot of blue lemonade and lime flavoring. So, we all had a shot of that (while I'm still drinking my Heineken). We just hung out and chatted, and it was very nice. We had another shot of the Blue Nickel (still good), and hung out some more.The bartender, Jean-Claude, then brought over some black looking drink, called Black Nickel. I did not have any. But later, when he brought us some Purple Nickel, I mean, I had to try it since everybody else seemed to like it. It was more sour than the Blue stuff. And then Michael poured me another (I tried to stop him, but I don't think he understood english very well). So, I had to have it. DISCLAIMER: I am not an alcoholic, and I will only drink responsibly - approximately three hours elapsed while we sat at this bar. UNDISCLAIMER: Then after a while, Norby decided we needed to have some Bofferding, which is another famous Luxembourgish beer. 

Then, we went to Greg's host family's house for a traditional Luxembourgish dinner. It was awesome. We had some pork pie with jelly for an appetizer. Then we had bean slurp soup, which sounds nasty, but was actually delicious. Then we had bacon potatoes (best creation ever), wine sausage with mustard, and salad for the main course. All of it was incredible and satisfying. Then dessert was a plum pie with whipped cream. Oh, and with appetizers and dinner we had a Riesling (white wine from the Moselle region), which was quite nice and refreshing. Then, after dinner we each had a small glass of Vieux Marc, which turns out is some extremely strong french liquor (even Norby said so!). I got it down though. I'm actually surprised that I did so well considering the amount of alcohol I consumed today. Don't get me wrong, I was trying to be very responsible and not drunk (which is extremely, EXTREMELY, frowned upon in Europe), but I was unsure about how I would handle. Luckily, I have good genes for this kind of stuff (thanks Mom and Dad!). So then, before we left, Tiffany and I asserted our American dominance at foosball over Jacques and his cousin, Lisa. America 4, Luxembourg 1. Victory yet again.

Anyways, first day of class is tomorrow, and I have class from 845 all the way until 1915. Yikes. Long day ahead, so yeah, peace out.