Emily (Germany) A day in France

I'm completely exhausted. Not getting more than six hours of sleep in two weeks is really starting to take a toll. I can't believe I'm going to Berlin and Tallinn (Estonia) on Wednesday for a week. I just need time to stop for about 12 hours so I can catch up on sleep. And reading. How do they seriously expect us to read 300 pages in a week when we just got to Germany? I'm on page 70 and I'm further than probably 75% of the people on the program. There are too many distractions!

Yesterday, we spent the day in France. We drove to Alsace Lorraine (an area fought over between Germany and France for hundreds of years). We visited Haut-Koenigsbourg (a Castle), Colmar (a little city) and Eguisheim (a tiny town run by wineries).



The castle was really pretty, but honestly after going to places like Neuschwanstein, it was kind of a let down. We got lost in the castle and then accidentally left and couldn't get back in, so we never go to to the top.

Then we went to Colmar and decided that this part of France looks like Disney World. It was so bizarre though, we drove about half an hour from Freiburg, and all of a sudden everything was in French and they refused to speak either German or English with anyone. My knowledge of French is "Merci" and that's about it. Trying to figure out what kind of dressing was on the green salad was a total nightmare. I couldn't communicate with the woman at all, so my lunch was salad greens without dressing. Yum. Oh, and a 3 euro bottle of water.


And then we went to a winery and had amazing wine. I bought a bottle for 4 euros and it's definitely the best red wine I've ever tasted. I swear, the only cheap thing in Europe is alcohol. Not food, not transportation, not even water... But anyway, the picture above is the town that the winery that we went to was in. Cute, and also Disneyish, right?

Today, I met up with a friend from high school. We went on the GAPP program together, which was the last time that I was in Germany. He's studying in Versailles and came to Basel for the weekend and just came to Freiburg for the day. Of course it's Sunday and nothing is open, but we explored some of the city that I hadn't been to yet (and I didn't get lost!) and he had some Spaghetti Eis and Doener (I had some falafel and juice). It was good to see him and to show someone Freiburg. Hopefully he'll be around Paris when I'm there because there's much more to see there.

Anyway, I might not write again before going to Berlin and Tallinn because I doubt I'll have much to say. I'll be back on the night of the 4th, though, so I'll try and write then... but we'll see. That day is the Karnival parade so I might be busy.
Time to read 250 pages of convoluted political systems!