NEATO!

Hello Friends,

I just wanted to write a quick little note about my weekend with Merle. We went to high school for a year together. She is the reason I passed calculus and chemistry, in other words, we spent a lot of time together the year she was going to school in Canada. She was a German exchange student.

Well, now she is a student at Aachen university. This city is 2 hours by train from Paris. And, I couldn't be this close and not visit her. So, I took the opportunity of having a Thursday off and went for a visit. I got picked up on Wednesday morning by her boyfriend and met her after her class. I met some of her friends and I went to a few of her classes (math in German...as a history and French major I followed nothing) Instead I "studied" (aka wrote notes to her and her friend, Fabian). We were also supposed to hear a speech by the Polish president but, unfortunatly it was cancelled. He was getting an award for something to do with the EU.

Aachen is an interesting city. It is in Germany but it is also the last city before Belgium and the Netherlands. There is a spot outside the city where you can walk for 5 minutes and have touched all 3 countries. Neato! I didn't get to go here though. But, I did climb a hill and look at the Netherlands. That's also pretty neato!

We did lots of interesting things. I went to the the Aachen cathedral, built by Charlemange. UNESCO site (I'm trying to get in as many as I can). Most German Holy Roman Emperors were crowned here. They have the chair, but it was hidden becuase of construction. I did see pictures though and it was just a plain wooden chair. We also went to the treasury. Saw some of Charlemange's bones. Neato! Merle took me to the sulfer wells. The water coming out was hot! Neato! I was not expecting that. And, I went to a former Roman bath. Now its a swimming pool, so we went swimming. I also went to the Lindt store. So, I bought a lot of discount chocolate. Seriously. I had tons of room in my bag when I went but I filled it with food for the ride back to Paris.

I also tried a heck of a lot of German food. Printen (specialty to Aachen, its like gingerbread kind of). White esparagus (harder to cut than green esparagus but it tastes better) lots of meats (I could see through one!). Berliner, a type of doughnut with jam inside. We made goulash one night. Delicious. It was probably my favourite meal. That and the white esparagus. I also tried some noodles with cinnamon.

And, I baked. That was a lot of fun, since I don't have an oven in Paris its something that I've missed. We made a thing similar to my famous cheesecake brownies. But, we used quark instead of cream cheese, making it a lot lighter.

Well, it was great to spend a solid amount of time with Merle. 4 whole days. We just hung out and walked around Aachen, or watched movies (by the end of the day Merle was pretty tired because of all the English, which I completly understand, living in French land!) I am super heureuse that I went. It was worth using the 2 days on my eurail pass for sure.

Now...I feel I should also share a little about the events that are coming up for me...there are a lot:

May 18: Exam in French cinema. It's also my last day of phonetics, which means I have a test.

May 19: Exam in France and Europe, medical appointment for my visa (even tho I'm leaving...what's up with that)

May 20: Exam in France and sustainable development, and a test in my grammar class

May 22: Final written exam for the grammar class (whoo hoo!!! It will be the end of French grammar forever)

May 27: Oral exam for the practical course

May 27: Leave for the south of France: Nice and Marseille. Basically we'll hang out on the beach all day. I'm excited to read and listen to music for hours.

June 1: Back to Paris

June 2: Sarah and Hannah leave France and my parents and grampy come!!!!! I'm very excited for this

June 2-22: Traveling France with the parental unit - Vimy Ridge, Normandy beaches on the anniversary, some alps. We'll be first going north and then heading to the south and then back to Paris for a little.

June 22: CANADA!!!!! I'm also really excited for this.

Well, that's my news.

Random note: Today while walking down my street I saw a strange sight: An overweight man (I've seen about 2 since I've been in Paris) driving a bright blue (everything is black in paris except the art) four wheeler (I'd like to know what purpose a four wheeler serves in Paris) down the road. Neato!

Peace, love and joy