Wo ist der Bahnhof?

It's a little late but I'm finally getting around to writing about last weekend!

I caught the TGV on Thursday and 7 hours later I was greeted by Jean at the train station in Strasbourg! So we headed over to her residence, which to get to you have to take a bus since it's a ways outside of the downtown area. We didn't do too much, just spent some time catching up (until approximately 3 in the morning!)

Friday Jean toured me around Strasbourg a little bit. Unfortunately the weather was pretty miserable (cold and rainy!) but I enjoyed walking around the town. It was very different from Aix, which definitely has to do with the fact that it's so close to Germany (it's a very different style of architecture). It's also a lot bigger than Aix! But it was very cute, there was a big river running through the town (which even had swans!) and I especially liked a little area called Petite France ("Little France"). For lunch we got Tarte Flambee, a specialty of the Alsace region. It's kind of like a pizza but very thin and not as greasy. It was really good! Then we took a bus over to the big bridge that leads over to the German town of Kehl. So it's cool being able to see the border of two countries like that, and it's so easy because you can just walk over! (So weird too not having to wait in line or show my passport... very different from going into the US!) Once we crossed the bridge we could tell immediately that we were "in" Germany as EVERYONE was speaking German! (Maybe that sounds silly, but I guess I expected there to be SOME French being spoken since we were so close to France) So that was really interesting! Kehl doesn't have a lot to offer tourist-wise but it has a few shops/cafes all of which are cheaper than in Strasbourg, which is great since Jean can go over there pretty much anytime! Friday night Jean got some of her friends together and we went out to a little organic-themed bar/cafe called "Artichoke". I'd never been in a bar like that before so that was neat! Jean has made some French friends too so it was nice to get to speak with them, as I haven't made that many French friends in Aix!

On Saturday we decided to go to Freiburg, located in the South of Germany, on the suggestion of one of Jean's friends. 2 trains and about an hour and a half later we were there! We had even met a nice student on the train who was helping us out with the Germany phrases we were trying to learn out of Jean's Germany phrasebook. Once there we pretty much just walked around. There were some nice buildings, a huge church, a market, and some really pretty streets! We even found (drumroll...) a Starbucks! (Apparently the only Starbucks they have in France are in Paris, so I have not been to one in about 2 months.) Now Starbucks isn't something I even drink all that often back home but it was nice to see something that reminded me of home. Only one of the employees spoke some English, but she spoke enough where I was able to explain how to make the drink I wanted (she didn't know what a London Fog was - Earl Grey tea, filled half with steamed milk, plus some vanilla syrup). I think we probably spent a good couple of hours in Starbucks doing some more catching up. After Starbucks we found this really nice park with a fountain and LOTS of beautiful fall colors on the leaves, so we spent some time there taking some pictures. Pretty soon after we decided to head back. That night we went to a little Mexican restaurant Jean had discovered which was really good! (Although not as good as Paso del Norte - our favourite Mexican place back home). It was nice being able to afford a meal out, because I can't often (or, ever) do that in Aix - it's too expensive!

On Sunday Jean and some of her friends usually get together and make a brunch so that's what we did. Cookies, apple crisp, pancakes, crepes... it was delicious! It was really fun too because only one of my friends lives on my floor and we don't usually cook together, seeing as our "kitchen" has 2 elements, a microwave and a sink. (No table, barely any counter space, etc.) making it not the nicest atmosphere to eat/hang out in. So the brunch was really fun! Then it was time for me to head back to Aix. I didn't get back to my room until almost 1 in the morning! It was a very long day. SUCH a fun weekend though, it was so great to see my best friend from home! And Jean has already booked her ticket to come down to Aix in the beginning of December, so I think we're already looking forward to that! PLUS we even came out learning a few Germany phrases, such as: "Where is the train station?" (This is what the title of this blog entry means), "Can you take a photo of us?" plus a few other little things, so we were pretty proud of that too!