engineering around the world

Hygge in Denmark

For my final trip as a study abroad student, I went to Denmark, where I visited Langley and Ashley (ADPi friends studying with DIS) in Copenhagen and then Jens and Ulrik (friends from the EWH summer institute) in Aalborg. The weekend was an amazing chance to catch up with friends, experience a new culture, and enjoy Christmas in Europe, and I couldn’t have asked for a better last trip!

I arrived in Copenhagen on Friday night and was greeted at the airport by Ashley. We went straight to Langley’s dorm, and during the metro ride and walk over I already became so impressed with Copenhagen. The city is beautiful, and the neighborhood Langley lives in is very quaint. And of course, the Christmas decorations made it even better! After finding Langley, we went out to dinner at a little café which I was excited for because they promised me it would be very “hygge.” Indeed it was! Candles everywhere, very relaxed atmosphere, and even a pile of blankets for customers to use in case they wanted to curl up. We stayed there for hours, laughing and catching up. (and by the way my sandwich was incredible – pesto, avocado and smoked salmon… winner combo). Afterwards, we roamed around the city, took lots of pictures by the many Christmas decorations, and then met up with their friends who were hanging out in a dorm with lots of Danish students. As happy as I am to be in a foreign speaking country, being in Copenhagen also made me notice the benefits of being in a country where everybody also speaks English, because it seems like the students here have a much easier time immersing themselves in the local culture. During Friday night alone, I might have met as many Danes as I had met French people all semester! (well that’s an exaggeration… but still).

On Saturday, Langley went to a German Christmas market with a school field trip, so I spent the day exploring Copenhagen with Ashley. We started the day in Christina, a very interesting hippie-town which is part of Denmark but has their own government. It’s a very eclectic and colorful place, and I really enjoyed seeing it. My favorite was a craft shop, run by three women who make jewelry, ornaments, and other metalwork objects and art. I spent a long time admiring everything and trying to decide what to get. I ended up choosing several handmade ornaments and a huge paper star lantern which is illuminated from within and meant to be hung from a ceiling. Very hygge. I can’t wait to put it up in my apartment next semester!

Then we roamed around – wandered down the canal which is lined with houses of every color (making the town feel like something out of a children’s storybook), saw the cathedral, walked by Tivoli (the amusement park which served as inspiration for DisneyWorld), and stopped for a Danish pastry. Then we headed to the Danish Design Center, a fascinating design museum where I learned a lot about Scandanavian design and engineering innovation in general. Needless to say, I really loved this place. My favorite pieces included the LifeStraw, the AMBU disposable videoscope, and indestructible chairs for prison cells made out of garbage.

I was lucky enough to spend the evening with Ashley’s homestay family, where I learned a lot about Danish Christmas traditions. Some of my favorites:

-Advent candles have numbers along the side counting down to Christmas. Every night, the candle is burned until another number is burned away.

-Advent wreaths are hung from the ceiling.

-St. Lucia is still a very celebrated holiday, and every year on Dec 13^th, the 5^th grade girls dress up in white dresses and wear advent wreaths and walk through the school singing a special song.

The next day, Langley and I woke up early and hopped on a train straight to Aalborg, to visit Jens (and his fiancé Isabella and newborn son William) and Ulrik. I met Jens and Ulrik this summer at EWH, and they remained as the last of the Europeans from the trip who I still had to visit; this was a trip I’d been looking forward to all semester.

The day I spent in Aalborg was one of the best days of my semester (not to mention the most hygge!). After spending hours oogling over baby William and his “natural” mohawk, we sat down for lunch, where I sampled some typical Danish sandwich combos such as liver and beets. Might sound strange, but it was actually quite delicious! Throughout the lunch, I kept getting distracted by all the cool things in Jen’s house, such as the hammock cradle Jens’ father made for the hammock he bought in Honduras, or the fact that rather than any traditional lamps, the room was filled with warm, glowing light-fixtures (similar to the star I bought in Chritiana).

After lunch, we headed into town. Snow was falling non-stop, so the walk into town turned out to feel quite adventurous, especially because Jens was pushing William in a huge snow-proof stroller. Dealing with that stroller would be enough to make me never want to leave the house, but he handled it like a pro. Along the way, I enjoyed anecdotes such as Ulrik offhandedly mentioning that he was going to get a bike with snow-spikes in the tires so he could ride his bike on ice. The idea sounded crazy to me at first, but then I noticed that there were indeed still many bikers on these slick, frozen roads. Seems like nothing can stop the Danes from biking!  Also, along the way we discovered some Danes who had just finished making a 4-tiered snowman, so naturally we ran over and posed with it right away!

Downtown Aalborg was very cute, and we enjoyed exploring the Christmas markets, hopping into Christmas shops when we were cold (notice the theme yet?), and then sitting down for hot chocolate. Yes, there were candles everywhere in the café. Yes, it was very hygge. Of course I loved every minute of it, but the best part was just getting to sit with William and take in all his adorableness!

Heading back seemed even more treacherous, because by then there were at least 6 inches of snow.  I couldn’t believe how calm Jens and Isabella were with handling that huge stroller, seeing as I was even getting warn out just from walking. We stopped in the grocery store to pick up food for dinner and paper for traditional Scandinavian paper crafts, then headed home.

The evening at Jens’ house was the best part of my time in Aalborg. It was filled with so much laughter, reminiscing, story-telling, and best of all, Danish traditions. Some of the Danish things I experienced included:

-Folding paper strips into star ornaments. (Ulrik was a pro. Langley and I struggled a bit more…)

-Dinner: rice porridge (“rice a la mande”). This dish is a delicious holiday tradition. Just rice and milk cooked for an hour together then served with butter and brown sugar, but it was amazing! In Denmark, it is believed that this is what Santa and the elves eat. Understandable.

-It’s also believed that Santa lives in Greenland. Less understandable…

-Dessert: pancake balls (“aebleskiver”). The Danes take pancakes one step further, cooking them in a special pan with lots of little circular dishes so that they end up as little balls. Like pancake donut holes!

-Elf beer: despite the name, this is a non-alcoholic drink that people enjoy during the holidays. Yum.

-Glogg: The Danish take on hot wine. Every European country seems to do it slightly differently. In France, “vin chaud” is red wine cooked with orange slices, cinnamon, and cannelle. Glogg is similar, but it has almonds and raisons as well.

-Karaoke: Not that karaoke alone is Danish, but Langley and I tried to join in with one of the Danish songs. That was when I realized that not a single word in Danish is spelled as it looks. Although Jens and Ulrik did seem to think they noticed a word, which they described as “amazing, the only word in Danish that sounds how its spelled!” – “stjerner”. But the pronunciation sounded more like “sti-erne,” so I remain unconvinced that any Danish words make sense!

Overall, this trip was the perfect way to wrap up a semester of travels in Europe. I enjoyed experiencing new culture, as the Scandinavian countries feel very unique compared to the rest of Europe, but most importantly I enjoyed catching up with old friends (and making some new ones!). I will always remember how fortunate I was this semester to visit countless countries, but even more, I am grateful that I’ve had friends waiting for me in almost all the countries. That, more than anything, has made all the difference.  

Paris Part II

The next morning after our magical day in Strasbourg, Tim and I hopped on the train back to Paris, where we enjoyed our last day together. After our first weekend, we felt like pros at nagivating the city, so we didn’t even print directions to the hotel. Big mistake. That decision ended up costing us hours (mainly thanks to the confusion on a map of an avenue with a boulevard), but we tried to remember that over the course of 9 days, a few hours doesn’t make a difference.

After finally finding the hotel, we rushed back to the creperie on the Champs Elysees for a very late lunch (more like dinner appetizers). Our waiter was wonderfully entertaining – he basically sang every sentence (“je vous ecouteeeeeeeeeeeee” “merciiiiiiiiiii”) with his deep voice and French accent, and had no problem taking breaks from his job to run outside and meet up with his wife and daughter. It was enough to make me wonder if he as acting that way on purpose to entertain his American customers!

Champs-Elysees lit up.

We spent the rest of the afternoon/evening on the Chaps Elysees, roaming around, enjoying the Arc de Triomphe, admiring the Christmas lights which were finally on (!) and then sitting down for dinner at an Italian restaurant, Vesuvio, where we sat outside and had an amazing view of the Arc. Afterwards, we stopped in at Brioche Dorée for some hot chocolate so we could stay warm at the Eiffel Tower. The tower was our last stop for the night. We went back to the same bench where we sat and took pictures the previous weekend. Two visits in two weekends… we decided that was enough to make it our bench.  

The next morning, we woke up and rushed straight to the airport without even having time to pick up a baguette before breakfast! After saying goodbye, I had a full day ahead of me to explore Paris, so I went straight to the Musée d’Orsay.  This museum is filled with countless famous works, especially by Van Gogh and Monet. Unfortunately, most of the Monets were moved to the Palais Royale for a special exhibit. Still, I was overwhelmed by all the beautiful art at the museum. Afterwards, I met up with Katrina at the Centre Pompidou, where we both wallowed together in the sorrow of having to part with our boyfriends. I’d already seen most of that museum with Tim, but we skipped one of the floors (modern art can be tiring in large doses), so I went back to that one with Katrina, where I discovered tons of beautiful pieces by Klein, Kandinsky, Matisse, and Picasso. This work was much cooler than the weirder sculptures (of for example what appeared to be a pile of animal hearts) that Tim and I spent most of our time trying to understand, so I wished we’d gone to that floor instead. Still, I was lucky that I got the chance to go back.

I was especially excited about seeing several Kandinsky pieces because I hadn’t noticed his work before but I love the playful youthfulness of his pieces: 

Composition IX - Kandinsky

Trente - Kandinsky

The following week, I found myself in Paris again because I had an afternoon flight to Copenhagen out of CDG. I got there early in the morning and went to the Musée d’Orangerie, which has all of Monet’s water lilies. Definitely ranks among my favorite of the museums I’ve been to. His paintings sweep across entire rooms – I didn’t realize how large they were – and the colors were just gorgeous. They are clearly so famous for a reason. I found myself focusing on very small sections at a time, and took pictures of some of my favorite details. In general, I prefer to only photograph paintings if I have special details I want to remember, since you can find a better picture of the entire piece online anyway. 

So beautiful.

After the Orangerie, I met up with some Duke friends! Chaele, who is studying in Paris, and Erin and Hannah (studying in Madrid and London) who were visitng her for the weekend. We climbed to the top of the Arc de Triomphe, where we enjoyed an incredible view of Paris. Then, we wandered through the Champs Elysees (seriously, this place never gets old) and made our way over to the Louvre. By the time we got to the Louvre, I had to leave for the airport. My time with the girls in Paris was short, but I was glad I got to see them at all!

On top of the Arc with Chaele and Erin.

Sidenote: All the museums and even the tickets for climbing the Arc de Triomphe were free for me since I have a student visa in the EU! This has been a great perk about traveling in Paris. The city really encourages student exploration, so almost all the museums are free to EU students. Future study abroaders, keep this in mind, and be sure to bring your passport with you wherever you go when exploring Paris!

Strasbourg

Our daytrip to Nancy was fun, but after getting back, we started to second-guess our plans of staying overnight in Strasbourg. If it was as entertaining as Nancy, a day trip would be enough, so we though it might be best to cancel our hotel in Strasbourg and save some euros for more delicious dinners. Turns out it was too late to cancel the Strasbourg hotel, which might have been the luckiest thing that’s ever happened to us. I didn’t know if anything could compare to the magic of Paris, but Strasbourg proved me wrong.

After several hours on the train through the snowy winter wonderland of France, we arrived in Strasbourg and I immediately started taking pictures of all the Christmas decorations. By day, Strabourg was the most festive European city I’d seen so far. But that was nothing compared to what we had in store for us at night!

I was very excited when I took this picture of the window decoration. Didn’t realize at the time that this was one of the least decorated streets in Strasbourg…

…then we turned the corner and discovered this street! At which point I realized Strasbourg is unlike anywhere else in the world.

We spent the afternoon of wandering through the Christmas markets (which weren’t officially supposed to open until the next day – luckily most of them were set up anyway!), admiring the cathedral, and munching on crepes. Then we sat down at a place called Europcafé for a few hours. We were having such a fun time there that I even suggested we stay for dinner, but the menu seemed pretty plain and we decided it might be better to explore Strasbourg a bit more. Best decision so far! During the few hours we’d spent indoors, the sun had set and Strasbourg had transformed into a Christmas dream. We wandered in awe through the streets which were now beautifully lit up, overflowing with Christmas decorations, music, and people who seemed as excited about the Christmas spirit as we were. In case all that wasn’t enough to create enough happiness for a lifetime, the air was filled with flurries of lightly falling snow.

Magic.

More magic.

Thankful that we didn’t decide to stay at the Europcafé for even one second longer, we spent hours wandering the streets, taking pictures, and absorbing all the Christmas magic. We also peeked into many of the cozy German restaurants (being on the border, Strasbourg has very heavy German influences), but each one seemed cuter than the next and it proved impossible to choose! Luckily we were in no rush, so we took our time before finally settling on “Au Vieux Strasbourg.”  Upon entering, we were told to sit anywhere, so we wandered around until ending up on the third floor at a little table by the window, from where we could still enjoy all the Christmas-ness that was going on outdoors. But at that point, we were too focused on the restaurant itself to even care about looking out! The decorations, ambiance, and food were all perfect. French waiters really let you take your time, so the meal lasted for hours. I wanted to try something new, so I ordered duck with sauerkraut. Delicious, but not what I was expecting! I expected one filet of meat that was similar to turkey. Instead, 3 filets, a hot-dog, and a sausage of meat which was closer to pork than anything else, all piled on top of tons of sauerkraut.  

Lots of duck. Too bad you can’t take home leftovers in France…

Inside the restaurant.

Outside. Our window was the one on the top floor, left.

We picked up a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau on the way, and enjoyed a glass after dinner. Tim was lucky that his time in France coincided with the release of this wine, which starts selling on the third Thursday of November every year in France (starting to sound like the French version of Thanksgiving?). The release of this wine is extremely anticipated, and it tends to completely sell out within a matter of weeks. So it was a very cultural experience to be here in time to try it!

DisneyWorld has taken the name “the happiest place on earth.” Anybody who believes that clearly hasn’t been to Strasbourg yet. Meanwhile, Strasbourg takes the name “capitale de noël.” Definitely well-deserved.

Winter in Metz

As a result of all my incredible travels, I haven’t devoted nearly enough attention to my daily life in Metz. Now that Metz is a winter wonderland, I thought it would be the perfect time to post some pictures of how beautiful my everyday life is here.

The “campus” is this building, where all my classes take place. (This was also the site of the Thanksgiving potluck). Looks especially beautiful with the snow reflecting off the modern mirrored glass!

View of my dorm from school. Not too far away, but quite a treacherous journey thanks to the lack of any sidewalks! 

SURPRISE! I live across the street from a huge prison (they forgot to mention that “feature” on the GTL website). Thought I should wait until the end of the semester to mention that one (mom). But even the prison looks beautiful in the snow!

Europe goes all out for Christmas decorations (even before Thanksgiving!). Here’s the main train station in downtown Metz.

Christmas markets at night.

Hygge

In preparation for my trip to Denmark this weekend, where I’ll be staying with Duke friends (Langley and Ashley) in Copenhagen and then visiting EWH friends (Jens and Ulrik) in Aalborg, I’ve been catching up on Langley’s blog. In doing so, I discovered the Danish word “hygge,” which definitely deserves its own post.

According to Langs:

“Hygge (naturally pronounced “Hue-gah-lee”) is a word that basically translates best into “being cozy and comfortable, with friends, all bundled up and staring at a candle, with a hot drink in your hand”.  There are also noun, verb and adverb forms of this wonderfully Danish word.  It truly is incredibly evident in the culture, though, and can be best seen in the candles on every table at every restaurant, and the Danes tendency to cuddle up and talk slowly and sit for hours, completely content.  Needless to say, we try to be hyggelit at all possible opportunities.”

How perfect!!! I can’t wait to go to the country that gives this concept its own word, and emphasizes it in their culture. As a girl who is always teased for using the word “cute” 100 times a day and obsessing over winter, Christmas, and coziness, I obviously can’t wait to embrace all things hygge!

Tim’s Visit - Week in Metz (and Nancy)

We got back to Metz around 8pm on Monday evening, and by then we were very hungry for dinner so we started cooking right away – pesto pasta. I had planned an elaborate combo of veggies to sauté and pour over the pasta, until Tim informed me that one of his (many) picky food habits is never wanting to mix food. Veggies must be separate from the pasta. OK, then! I had fun learning these quirks, because they are things I wouldn’t have picked up on at Duke where we never cook. So I still sautéed the veggies, but made sure to set aside Tim’s pasta before mixing them in with mine.

Tuesday was unfortunately mostly a working day. I had 4 lectures (and then was surprised by the last minute scheduling of a 5^th make-up lecture), and Tim had to take an econ final, so that consumed most of the day. I brought him to my French class at night though, where I was giving a presentation on Ben Vautier, my favorite French modern artist. It was nice to have Tim there watching (felt almost like a kindergarten parent go to school night), and I was also glad he could see how entertaining and goofy my French teacher is! After class, we headed to Cora, the huge supermarket in Metz (think Super Wal-Mart), probably the most commercial thing I’ve seen in all of France. Cora is an important part of the student experience here at GTL, as we all make weekly (or bi-weekly) treks to Cora to stock up on food and any other random household needs. My friend Julie came with and entertained us with stories from her weekend trip to Prague, so it was a great bonding time for Tim and Julie. When we arrived at Cora, we realized we’d forgotten to bring our own bags (required at all supermarkets in France), so we knew we’d have to limit ourselves in what we bought. Luckily, despite the thousands of options at the store, Tim only seemed to want one thing – orange juice, and lots of it. Easy guest! Still, there was a lot of food I wanted Tim to try, especially crème de marrons spread on pre-toasted bread, speculoos spread (acceptable to eat straight out of the jar), and brie with fresh Bonne Maman strawberry jam. These snacks have been staples for me during my semester in France, and luckily Tim seemed to enjoy them (although, in keeping with the picky habits, it was better not to “mix” the jam with brie…).

It was late by the time we got back, so we started cooking Paneer Curry, a delicious recipe that was recommended to me by a friend here. It was fun to cook together, especially since we haven’t had the chance at Duke where all the meals are a product of foodpoints. The only problem was figuring out how to chop all the onions without our eyes tearing up! Other than that, it was very enjoyable and the curry was delicious. I am really looking forward to cooking a lot of meals in the spring, when I’ll have a kitchen in my Central Campus apartment!

On Wednesday, we spent the day exploring Metz, then also hopped on an afternoon train to Nancy. I wanted to go to Nancy because I’ve heard great things about the town, and it was also the center of the French Art Nouveau movement, which I just finished writing a paper about. We were debating between a daytrip to Nancy or Luxembourg, but I’m glad we settled on Nancy – when we walked into the beautiful golden plaza, I knew we’d chosen the right place. Its golden decorations reminded me a lot of Bruxelles, and the town offers a beauty I didn’t find in Luxembourg.

A bit blurry, but you get the idea…

We didn’t arrive until around 4pm (since I spent many hours showing him around Metz), so we decided that rather than heading for the Art Nouveau museum, it would be better to just explore the town. We made the right choice, because Nancy is overflowing with so much Art Nouveau that you don’t need to pay for a museum to see it! In the main plaza, I noticed a Daum crystal shop, which I knew from my paper was a shop founded by the Daum brothers, one of the leaders of the movement. We walked in, and immediately I recognized all the techniques in the glass that I’d learned about them pioneering. I felt lucky that I’d just turned in my paper, because all the information about them was fresh in my mind. My favorite part though was discovering the Ben Vautier for Daum collection  - I knew it was Vautier (my favorite artist who I had just presented about the previous night) before I even read the label. Nancy was proving to be a great place to show Tim more about my favorite interests in France.

After the Daum shop closed, we spent several hours wandering through the town and shop-hopping. Nancy is filled with tons of strange and unique shops, so shop-hopping was very entertaining (and also a great way to stay warm). Afterwards, we decided it was time to stop in a café (of course). We choose one overlooking the main plaza, called Jean Lamour. I was ready to order yet another cappuccino, until I noticed vin chaud on the menu. Vin chaud is a traditional holiday drink here – red wine mixed with lots of spices and orange slices, so we decided to try it. Delicious! We immediately started brainstorming about how it could be the featured drink at a classy holiday party at Duke, or over winter break.

By then, it was dark and cold, so we decided to head back, rather than waiting for a few more hours to have dinner in Nancy. We had lots of leftovers waiting for us (not as glamorous as cooking together, but I didn’t want the food to go to waste!), and our only regret was not being able to find an open boulangerie on the way home for a fresh baguette.

The following day was Thanksgiving, and I was in charge of “directing” a cute musical skit that Katrina had written (a parody about the life of a GTL student to the tune of “16 Going On 17”), so after dinner I hosted a rehearsal in my room. Apparently there wasn’t enough space for the dance moves that had been planned though, so we relocated to the laundry room. Curtis, Brett, and Julie joined us in the audience as we watched Katrina and Jesse perform, so it was another great opportunity for Tim to get to know some of my friends here (and see how strange some of our evening activities can be!). After rehearsal, we decided it was the perfect time to cook the crêpe batter I’d prepared earlier (I’ve learned the secret to perfect crepes is to let the batter sit for several hours or even overnight), so we started cooking! Tim has scared me with many tales of his “difficulties” in the kitchen, but it turned out he was great at making crêpes!  With a little nutella and whipped cream, they are the tastiest desserts I can imagine, and we finished nearly the entire plate before the end of the night. Crêpes are definitely at the top of our list of things to make at Duke. And after discovering how delicious dinner crêpes are, I want to try making those too! 

I woke up on Thanksgiving morning, looked out the window, and exclaimed “its snowing!!” I love the first snow of the season, and it felt perfect that it was happening on Thanksgiving. This made it feel a little bit more like I was back home in Chicago for the holidays.

I had to go to my Fluids lecture to take a quiz, so while I was gone, Tim made the stuffing (again, proving he isn’t so useless in the kitchen!). Tim’s sister Robin was kind enough to send Tim to France with 2 big bags of Pepperidge Farm stuffing mix, since American stuffing is my favorite part of Thanksgiving (other than pumpkin pie…). The stuffing was so delicious that we couldn’t stop sampling it, so it was good that we had 2 bags! By the time we brought it over to the dinner, there was only one bowl left. Whoops. Before dinner, we went on a long walk through Fort de Queuleu, inarguably one of my favorite parts of living here. It was cool to show Tim the trail I’d been running on every day this year (but not anymore now that its so cold), and also tell him about some of the WWII history I’d learned. Experiencing history like this is an opportunity we just don’t get in the United States.

Then it was time for Thanksgiving dinner! The party was hosted by Georgia Tech – a potluck dinner with 200 guests. Katrina, Julie, Lauren, and I were in charge of decorations (so I’d spent the previous week making hundreds of paper snowflakes and spending the entire student government budget on Christmas decorations at IKEA), and I am so pleased with how the room turned out. It was very beautiful (though admittedly very Christmas-y). I was also in charge of music, so throughout the night, Christmas carols were blasting out of the speakers. Dinner was delicious – a huge assortment of both traditional Thanksgiving dishes and samples of cuisine from all over the world. We sat with Julie, Katrina, and Brett, and once again I was grateful that Tim had another chance to get to know my friends here. After dinner, Katrina and Jesse performed their skit, and it was a huge success!

Following the party, we went back to my dorm. Despite having all we could eat and then some, we still wanted to make more crêpes (truly irresistible), so we made another batch! We also skyped with both of our families, and it made us feel like we were a part of their Thanksgiving celebrations, even though we were separated by an ocean.

The week went by so quickly! Somehow it was already Friday, and we were scheduled to head off to Strasbourg. Before we did though, we stopped into the Centre Pompidou-Metz, so I could show Tim the sister museum to the one we saw in Paris. Most importantly, I wanted to show him “Magasin de Ben,” definitely Ben Vautier’s most famous piece, and the first one I ever saw. That piece fueled my obsession with him, so I was glad Tim got to see it in person. We didn’t have much time at the museum though, so after admiring the piece, we rushed back to the train station and hopped on a train to Strasbourg!

Tim’s Visit - Paris (Weekend #1)

I’ve created a ton of incredible memories in Europe, but this past week undoubtedly my favorite by far. Tim visited! He arrived on Saturday the 20^th and didn’t leave until Sunday the 29^th. We realized that since June, we’d only had 5 days together.  So what an amazing change of pace it was to spend 9 days together in France! The week really felt like a dream come true, and I am going to try to capture as much of it as I can in this post. But of course, there’s something about being in love in Paris that just can’t be conveyed with words.

Saturday –

I woke up before my alarm even went off after a night of barely sleeping – I was so excited, I felt like a child on Christmas! Luckily, I had somebody to share my joy with, as my friend Katrina was also headed to the airport to pick up her boyfriend, Brett, who was also visiting for the week. By now, meeting up at the airport is a routine Tim and I are all too familiar with, but obviously there was something especially exciting about being reunited at Charles de Gaulle. This was the trip we’d been waiting for all semester!

After getting over the initial disbelief that we were actually together in Paris, we headed off to our hotel, the Batignolles Villiers, in a quiet little district of the city. We’d hoped to spend the afternoon exploring the city, but Tim hadn’t slept at all on the plane and was jetlagged, and I was quite tired myself from barely being able to sleep the night before, so a nap seemed like a good idea. He was still asleep when I woke up, so I explored the Villiers district, and much to my delight discovered a boulangerie just down the road from the hotel, advertising that their baguette recently won an award for being the “Best in France.” Even better, I walked past it just as a fresh batch came out of the oven, so I bought a hot baguette and brought it back to the hotel. It really was the best baguette I’ve ever had, so I was glad it was the first baguette Tim got to try on the trip! After a makeshift dinner of some groceries and the baguette, we headed off into Paris.

The magic of being in Paris at night is unparalleled. Our bus dropped us off at the Arc de Triomphe, from where we could also see the Eiffel Tower twinkling in the distance. The feeling of seeing those monuments for the first time, with Tim by my side, is one I’m sure I’ll always remember. After marveling at the Arc, we headed down the Champs Elysees. It was hard to resist the urge to sing “Oh, Champs Elysees,” but I reminded myself that I’d be the millionth American tourist to do so! But I was experiencing the kind of joy that just makes you want to sing. Few things compare to the Champs Elysees. The energy, the shops, the decorations – it was all so beautiful. I noticed some unlit lights on the trees, and spent the whole weekend wondering when they’d be lit. Luckily, we returned the following weekend, when Paris had finally decided it was time to go all out for Christmas! Before then though, there is still more than enough beauty to enjoy on this avenue. After stopping at Brioche Dorée for a late night snack, we made our way to the Eiffel Tower.

I’d heard that the Eiffel Tower was overrated. Wrong. The magic I felt while sitting next to Tim beneath the tower, marveling at its beauty and gasping in awe when the lights started twinkling, is indescribable.

Of course I wanted to have a picture from the night, so we looked around to find somebody to ask. I noticed a man who I quickly nicknamed the “pumpkin man,” due to his orange jacket and green hat, and he happily agreed to take a picture for us. After the first one was blurry, he offered to take another one, and then a few more, until it felt like he was conducting a photo shoot! “Ok look at each other this time. Great now do whatever you want. Great. I’ll just take a few more…” Most of the pictures turned out blurry, but even more fun than the pictures were probably our goofy interactions with this pumpkin man! Afterwards, we stopped at a stand for some delicious hot chocolate, then headed back. What an unforgettable first day in Paris.

Sunday –

Sunday was all about being tourists in Paris. Started the morning with another delicious baguette from La Fournée d’Augustine, then headed for the Centre Pompidou – the modern art museum whose sister museum is in Metz. On the way, we passed so many wonderful-looking Parisian cafés; by the time we got to the museum and saw the lines for the tickets, we decided it would be better to start the day off at a café. So we made a small detour and headed back to Café Au Père Tranquille, which we’d passed on the way to the museum. We greeted the host with a “bonjour, monsieur,” but he immediately responded in English. This challenged us to a week-long mission of not being immediately pegged as Americans at the restaurants. From living in Paris for a month in 8^th grade, Tim’s French is better than mine, and both of us studied through AP French, so we felt pretty confident with our skill levels. Any time a waiter would speak French to us, we felt a small sense of accomplishment.

After the first of many café dates, we headed back to the museum. The artist Arman had a special exhibition, so we started off there. One piece which stood out to me was created by dipping a guitar in paint and stamping it on the canvas many times – it reminded me of an Yves Klein piece, which involves the same technique applied to women’s bodies instead of guitars. We read the description, and indeed, it said Arman was inspired by Klein!

Piece by Arman

Reminded me of this piece by Yves Klein.

Another piece of Arman’s reminded me of something I’d seen at the Picasso museum in Nice. Again, when we read the description, it said the piece was a homage to Picasso and cubism!

this piece reminded me of…

…this Picasso sculpture that I saw outside his museum in Nice.

I have so much fun drawing connections between all the artist I’ve been learning about in France, so being able to do so at the Arman exhibit made the Centre Pompidou very enjoyable for me. Art isn’t Tim’s favorite thing, but I tried to keep him entertained by telling him about everything I’d learned about French modern art this semester. 

It took several hours to get through the entire museum, and by the end of it we were exhausted. Time to look for another café! But first we made our way over to the Latin Quarter, to see the Notre Dame before it got too dark. As expected, it was breathtaking. We were especially lucky, because we were greeted by the sounds of a choir singing when we walked in, at which point we realized we were experiencing an actual church service in the Notre Dame. That enhanced the experience even more!

Then it was time for the second café of the day: Café Aux Tours Notre Dame. I had another coffee and Tim ordered “soupe oignon” – no need to call it “French onion soup” when you’re in France! I really cherish the hours we spent at each café, catching each other up on all the stories and discussions we hadn’t had time to share throughout the semester. Even with skype being as wonderful as it is, there isn’t time for everything, and we discovered that there was an endless source of things we wanted to tell each other. And what better place for endless conversation than a Parisian café?

We explored the Latin Quarter a little more – truly a unique part of Paris whose atmosphere reminded me a lot of Nice. Then back to arguably the best part of Paris – the Champs Elysées. We wandered up and down the street for a while searching for the perfect restaurant. But we weren’t in any rush, so it was nice to explore. Along the way, we discovered the crêperie that Tim remembered going to with his host family in 8^th grade, Les Ecuries. We were hoping to find it, but out of all the side streets on the Champs Elysées, we were shocked that we actually did! It was already closed for the night, so we made a plan to go back the next day for lunch. By then it was getting cold, so we finally settled on a restaurant – George V. Cold weather doesn’t keep the French from dining outdoors (how else can you eat and smoke at the same time!), so we asked for outdoor seating (near the outdoor heaters of course) so we could enjoy the atmosphere of the avenue. Everything about the meal - our proximity to the Arc de Triomphe, the food, the conversation, and of course the company - was perfect. We didn’t want the dinner to end, and luckily the waiters in France are in no rush to make you leave. It seems typical, even expected, for guests to stay at a table hours after finishing their meal, even without ordering anything else. This attitude was one of our favorite parts of dining in France. Still, to prolong the dinner even more, we ordered a dessert crepe with Nutella. How could we resist!

Monday –

We started the morning with anther baguette from the boulangerie (of course), then headed to the Louvre. Tim had been before, but this was my first time, so it was very exciting. Of course you could spend days in the Louvre, but looking at art is quite tiring (plus we were anticipating our crêpe lunch at Les Ecuries!), so we only stayed for the morning. Still, that was long enough to see the Mona Lisa, rooms from Napoleons palace, and countless other masterpieces.

But the real highlight of the day was definitely the crêperie. Cozily tucked into one of the side streets of the Champs Elysées, it might be one of Paris’ best-kept secrets. Despite being extremely delicious, the restaurant seems to only host a few guests at a time! So it was nice to escape the flocks of tourists and sit down in a place that felt truly french. Above all, it was amazing for Tim to return to a place he’d been to so many years ago, and relive all the memories that were still so vivid to him.

(Tim is looking away to avoid the embarrassment I kept causing by whipping out my camera at restaurants!)

Following lunch, we wanted to go back to the Eiffel Tower. Rather than going to the main lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower, we made our way over by turning down one of the side streets and arriving to a side of the tower facing some apartments, where few tourists seem to flock. For the most part, we were the only ones to be sitting and staring at that side of the Eiffel Tower, which felt very special. We found a bench with a perfect view (and returned to the same bench the second weekend, earning it the status of “our favorite bench”) and enjoyed the tower by daytime – a very different sight than at night. Again, I wanted a few pictures (luckily Tim was very patient with my girly picture taking habit!), so I created a tripod with the bench and my backpack and conducted a photo-shoot with the 10 second self timer. During one of the pictures, an old Parisian lady who was walking past stopped by the bench so she wouldn’t get in the way of the picture. After the picture, she lingered to talk to us for a minute, offering her best wishes to us and the hopes that we enjoy Paris. I’m sure wishing the best to couples who come from all over the world to enjoy the Eiffel Tower together is just a part of her daily routine. 

London

By Wednesday night of my fall break, I was sitting in London’s palace theater, surrounded by Duke friends and watching “Priscilla,” a crazy new musical about an Australian drag queen’s quest to find his son. Think Mamma Mia mixed with a little bit of Rent.

My trip to London certainly provided a huge contrast to the 5 days I’d spent in Greece, yet the trips were unified by one very important thing: I was visiting people I loved and enjoying the treat of being shown around a city by people who live there! These kinds of trips are by far the best. I’ve heard it said “its not where you are, but who you’re with that matters.” Even in the context of traveling Europe, this couldn’t be more true. For all I cared, I could have been hanging out in the basement of my house with all the EWH and Duke friends I was visiting! (as a result, we did spend a lot of time just sitting around dorms and coffee shops, laughing, chatting, and having intense debates, just as we did on all the busses in Central America). Felt just like old times (where by “old times” i mean 4 months ago…), and I was so happy to experience how easily we all clicked back into the swing of things. Though hanging out was the best highlight of the trip, we managed to pack in countless tourist sights:

Victor and Albert Museum

National Portrait Gallery

Tate Modern

Science Museum

British Museum (interesting to see the rest of the Acropolis marbles after being in Athens!)

Buckingham Palace, Covent Garden, Big Ben, and everything else you see on a walking tour.

Even better than any of those tourist activities though were discovering what wonderful hosts Sarah and Marcello are! Sarah woke us up on Saturday morning with an amazingly delicious breakfast - crumpets (first time trying them - yum!) with jam, fresh fruit, and incredible blueberry pancakes. Despite all this hospitality, she kept apologizing that the pancakes weren’t “perfect circles.” Ha! In the evening, Marcello had us for a dinner party at his apartment, where we enjoyed pasta (of course), one of Outi’s traditional Finnish recipes (speaking of which, I also got to go to her flat to finally learn how to make korvapuusti!), tiramisu, and Sarah’s brownies. Then we spent the rest of the night laughing and making fun of each other. I’m really going to miss our EWH community, and I can’t wait to be reunited again!

Athens: Greece - Days 4 and 5

The rest of my time in Greece provided a large contrast to the country life I experienced in the village of Prosymni. While the kids were at school, Sarah and Yanni devoted their week to being incredible tour guides of Athens. Sarah had English lessons on Monday, so I spent the day exploring Athens with Yanni. It was amazing to finally spend hours of quality time with him, really for the first time in my life. His visits in Chicago are brief every summer (only 3 weeks), and he has many friends to visit from when he went to school there, so spending the day with him was a rare opportunity, and one of the many highlights of my time here.

It isn’t difficult to guess where our first stop was: The Acropolis. I can hardly describe the feeling of walking out of a modern metro station and seeing an ancient Greek structure in the middle of the city, towering over Athens as it has for many thousands of years now. I’m sure there only remain a few places in the world where you can have an experience like that. We made our way to the top, passing an ancient Greek theater along the way where Yanni and Sarah have enjoyed many dates in the summer. As you can imagine, we made our way straight to the top, where I admired the Parthenon and took in the view of all of Athens. Much of the writing on the Acropolis is in ancient Greek, a language Yanni learned when he was in school, so he was able to translate for me. This is lucky, because the language isn’t really taught in Greek schools anymore – there is more of an emphasis on modern Greek. From the top of the Acropolis, he pointed out countless amazing sights all over Athens; St. John’s rock, the Olympic stadium, the prison where Socrates died, and many ancient temples. Yanni apologized for not being “more knowledgeable” about ancient Greece, but I was very impressed with all the information he had to offer, and he seemed to know the answer to any question I could think of. After leaving the Acropolis, we spent a few minutes on the top of St. John’s rock, then wandered the streets of Athens. The cafes and small streets were very familiar to Yanni, because he lived there when he was in college, so it was nice to hear him reminiscing about all his memories with friends at the various cafes. We sat down at one of the cafes for coffee, and I decided to try a Café Frappe, which is a cold Greek coffee drink. Yanni laughed after I ordered it and told me it was rumored to be the same as drinking 27 cappuccinos! (perfect for me). As a student, Yanni would drink one or two Frappes every day. Of course, I loved it. Its like a Starbucks Frappucinno, but much stronger and with less sugar. We had a great time at the café – Yanni told me all about his life in Greece, experience in America, and filled the conversation with little anecdotes that I never had the chance to hear during his visits in Chicago. We laughed a lot, and both really appreciated the fact that we finally had a chance to hang out. After finishing the coffee and watching a street performance, we wandered the streets a little bit more and then headed home. On the walk home, I couldn’t stop noticing the sidewalks – in the middle of every other square on the sidewalk is a huge tree! I took a picture, which Yanni was quite amused by, and he promised to mention my amusement at these sidewalks later in the evening at a political meeting he was attending. So, now all the Greek politicians know about my amusement with the Greeks sidewalks!

For the rest of the evening, I just joined in on the usual routine – playing games with the kids and resting while they did their homework. Yanni also showed me how to prepare “Kokkinesto,” delicious Greek recipe for beef, potatoes, and zucchini (with lots of olive oil of course), which I can’t wait to try cooking myself once I return to France.

On Tuesday, I got to spend the day with Sarah. We went to the Acropolis Museum, where all the statues and friezes, along with many other ancient Greek relics, are on display. Amazingly, none of the statues are behind display glass, they are just displayed in the middle of the museum floor. Many of the statues are missing from Athens (because they are in London, where I will hopefully see the rest of the collection!). After the museum, we stopped for – you guessed it – another coffee, during which we exchanged many travel stories. Then we picked up the kids at school, and it was fun to see their classrooms, art projects, and watch them play on the playground.

 

In the evening, we went to a pastry café on the Pandeli Mountain (where the marbles for the Acropolis came from) to have an early birthday celebration for me! Thanai, one of the Greek cousins, joined us for this celebration. I met her a few years ago when she came to Chicago, but it was great to catch up with her and hear about her life as a med student in Athens. We really had a great time together, and I can’t wait to see her when she comes to Chicago again this summer! I couldn’t imagine a better way to celebrate my birthday than to be surrounded by family, enjoying delicious cake, and sitting on a very historically significant Greek mountain. What a wonderful last evening in Greece.

It is now Wednesday morning, and I am preparing for my trip to London, where I am spending the rest of fall break! I’m excited to see all my friends there, but I wish I had more time in Greece. Being here with the Trikkas family has been such a rare and valuable experience, and now when they come to America during the summers I will know what the rest of their life is like! I will surely come back to Greece as soon as I can. This trip has been everything I hoped for, and more.  

Life in the Village: Greece - Day 3

I woke up on Sunday to the sounds of the Greek Orthodox church service, which are blasted on a loudspeaker from the church so that the whole town can hear. Yanni’s family lives next door to the church, so the music was especially… audible. It was unlike any Sunday morning I’d ever experienced, but was certainly entertaining to say the least.

Typical view from the village.

For breakfast, I had real Greek yogurt with fresh honey from a local pine tree. I’m not exaggerating when I say it was the most amazing honey I’ve ever tasted. And the Greek yogurt is a breakfast staple here, at least for Yanni who refers to “regular” yogurt as “desert yogurt.” But Sarah only likes the dessert yogurt, so I guess Greek yogurt isn’t for everybody. With that delicious honey though, I’m surprised it’s not irresistible for everyone! After another cup of that Greek coffee with a biscuit cookie (‘koularakia’), homemade by Yanni’s mother of course, I headed off to the park with Yiorgos and Magdalena for an hour of basketball (everybody against Yiorgos), swings, and monkey bars.

Afterwards, I went with Yanni, his father, and the kids to see the Panageia Church (Church of the Virgin Mary), a small sanctuary tucked into the Profitis Ilias mountain, where everyone from the village goes in August to camp out for several days and nights of community, festivity, and reflection. Along the way, Yanni casually pointed out more incredible sights: “look over there, the ancient hotel where people would stay on their journey from Athens to Sparta.” Wow.

We hung the camera from a branch to take this picture while exploring the Illias mountain.

Then came another visit to Napflio, where we returned to the same café place to enjoy a cappuccino while admiring the sea. Earlier in the week, Yanni had written an article for the finance section of “TO VHMA,” the largest newspaper in Greece, so he found the article and showed it to us while we were in town. Turns out he’s had many articles published! But I was most impressed by his response when Sarah asked why he didn’t brag about the article to his parents: “My parents should be proud of the person I am. Not because I wrote an article for a newspaper. So this doesn’t matter.” Anecdotes like this throughout the weekend really demonstrated to me what a good man Yanni is, and its been a pleasure to finally get to know him after 16 years of his being married in our family!

Upon returning home, I took the chance to notice some of the finer details of the house. I was amazed to find out that Yanni’s mother seemed to make everything – she embroidered their floral tablecloth, stitched the lace on the curtains, etc. Again, the pictures will show how incredible this is. I also forgot to mention before that their front yard has a lemon and orange tree – these trees are plentiful in the village – so we got to enjoy delicious fresh oranges for a snack. Especially after recently reading “The Omnivores Dilemma,” this experience really made me appreciate the value of freshly picked food. I now find myself dreaming of living in a place where my yard can be filled with fruit trees and a vegetable garden. Similar to my experience in Costa Rica with having a banana straight from the rainforest, being able to smell the strong, fresh citrus scent of the lemons straight from the tree proved that the food we buy in the supermarket isn’t how its really supposed to be. I’ve never smelled anything like that fresh lemon before.

Tablecloth hand-embroidered by Yanni’s mother.

Around 3:00, we headed home – the kids had homework and school the next day after all! For the rest of the evening in Athens, I played games with Yiorgos and helped Magdalena with her weaving project. After 5 months of shuffling from city to city, it has been so comforting to finally have the chance to just hang out with family. Sipping coffee overlooking the sea certainly made me feel like I was on an incredible vacation, but in many ways, the real vacation has been just being a part of the Trekkas family for the week.