Wunderbar Vienna

God, I love this city... our second stop on our trip brought us to the fabulous city that once knew the likes of Mozart, Beethoven, Johann Strauss, and Schubert. Went to see Mozart's Nozze di Figaro at the State Opera (also randomly met the opera's secretary, who was from Chicago. He overheard us talking in English, searching for the Beethoven memorial and was finally like "what are you looking for? like, seriously") He led us to the standing room only ticket line in which we waited for an hour to buy our two euro tickets... standing up wasn't so bad, but I couldn't handle it for the 5+ hour Tristan und Isolde they had the next night!

My favorite museum was the Albertina, located in the former Habsburg apartments which gave a really thorough overview of Mozart's life, as well as life in the Enlightenment era in general. If only our music history class from last summer could have taken a field trip there!

Our hostel was small and cozy, with not two, but THREE layers of bunk beds (they knew how to make use of their space!! too bad I had to be on the top bunk though! ;) and the weather was warm and sunny. We had some great picnics in the park outside the parlement and on the taxi bench outside the opera, eating our 2 euro salads and people watching (people dress up SO MUCH to go to the opera here!! we were nearly embarrassingly underdressed!)

And then there were the buskers. A guy who made bird noises alll day long and made faces at you if you didn't give him money, another dressed up as Mozart (of course) and some dancers too. And the Viennese coffee shops!!

(for more pictures, go to http://mta.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2004010&l=81288&id=16420056)

Busy Berlin

Our last stop was for a week in Berlin, where we stayed with Catherine just outside (40 min by train) in a cute little German town named Ludwigsfelde where she's working for the year. We took in as much as we could, but this huge city just can't be done in 1 week! We did make it to the zoo (pandas and lions!!), the Checkpoint Charlie museum, the Reichstag, had ourselves some Bratwurst (yes, me too!), bought bright red Birkenstocks, went to see an opera at the Staatsoper (von Weber's Der Freischütz) and soaked up the sun when we couldn't walk anymore. Also got to take an awesome (free!) walking tour of the city with an American student named Dan (see picture).

Off and away...

Today- Berlin
Tomorrow- Prague
Thursday the 19th- Vienna
Saturday the 21st- Munich
Sunday the 22nd- back to Berlin
Friday the 28th- back to Stras

I'll try to update from the road! I'll be sending good vibes home for the NGMF!

La Famille Farrell sera reunie en Europe!

Alors, j'ai décidé d'écrire un petit texte en français pour mes amis à Fontenay-le-Comte. En fait, c'est pour Françoise et Louis-Marie Bouleau, qui a aimé tellement mon faux article de journal (et en plus, ils l'avaient cru, qui veut dire que j'ai bien atteint mon but! ;) que je vais le traduire en français pour eux... pardonnez-moi pour les erreurs, j'apprends toujours!!

La famille Farrell du Canada avait été vu récemment, or sépérément, dans la campagne énorme de la Nouvelle-Écosse, s'amusant au haut Canada, aussi que dans la péninsule ibérienne et les diverses parties de l'Europe de l'ouest. À la surprise de tout le monde, M. Gerry Farrell, ou "Dad", tel qu'il est connu dans la famille, a décidé de louer un apartement pour 2 semaines en mai à Strasbourg, France, où ils resteront ensemble pour leur premier voyage de famille depuis "l'Aventure dans les Rocheuses" de septembre 2002.

"On pense de faire aussi les petites visites à la capitale bien connue, Paris, et à rendre visite à la famille Bouleau en France de l'ouest. Surtout, on a hâte d'être ensemble, en Europe- un voyage dont on a toujours rêvé," Gerry dit en soupire. La famille Bouleau a rencontré les Farrells lorsque leur fille, Claudine Bouleau, est resté un an à Pictou, pendant une Échange de Jeunes de Rotary pendant l'année 1996-1997.

Susan, la plus jeune, a été vue si récemment que ce matin, en cherchant les apartements louables vers la Petite France de Strasbourg. Selon quelques sources, elle est particulièrement intéressée par un apartement sur la rue de l'Arc en Ciel, mais ces bruits restent toujours non-confirmés.

Andrew, 24 ans, cherche du travail dans un restaurant brittanique depuis il a fini sa formation de cuisine à Algonquin College à Ottawa, Ontario. "C'est tout-à-fait le bon moment vu que Susan est sur Strasbourg pour l'année- le voyage nous donnera l'opportunité à voir comment elle vit et ainsi elle va nous montrer chez elle. Puis, je vais en Angleterre afin de trouver un boulot, peut-être à Brighton."

Vivian, la beaucoup respectée et la "fondation" de la famille, a hâte simplement de voir ses enfants et de bien profiter de son séjour, avec de la bonne nourriture et, surtout, la bonne compagnie.

Frog Legs

Tonight, for the first time, I ate frog legs. No stay in France would be complete without such a meal, they say.
Here's the proof!! They were really tasty actually.. wouldn't say they tasted like chicken, I'd say they taste more like fish.. or better yet like amphibian ;) What made it all the weirder was the way they were folded like little crossed-legged creatures. A bit of a reality check! And then you realize the juicy meat you're eating came from a lily-pad jumping frog thigh...

St. Paddy's and Sarah Slean

so... some very un-French events: St. Paddy's day and an awesome concert by a fellow Canadian, Sarah Slean- who we met after. She was really nice! and the other Canadians there were great too- we met a former Mt A Strasbourg programme participant (97) who now lives in Stras with her French hubbie.. and a guy who used to bag groceries with Sarah Slean herself.

Oh, the CPE...

Hey everyone.. hope the first days of Spring are treating you well!! Our weather's been holding up pretty well, can't complain. It's inSANE how fast time is going. To think that I have only 2 full months left in this great city... for now anyway! This Friday I'm heading to Fontenay-le-comte (west) to visit Claudine again, before Jenna H and I leave the 15th for Berlin/Prague/Vienna with Catherine! Then, it's only to come back to a week of classes, followed by exams the 9-16 of May. And then my family comes. So, none of this counting-down business, I'm going to make the most out of this awesome opportunity...

In other news, our classes at Marc Bloch U. have been a little sketchy lately, seeing that the majority of French students have been in the streets for the past couple weeks, protesting the now valid CPE (contrat première embauche).. which again, basically applies to those under 26 who get hired for the first time- this contract allows that their bosses can fire them without justification during a period of 2 years... Not exactly the hottest idea that Chirac's government has ever had. But at the same time, I don't know how they're doing all that much good, seeing that most French students have missed enough school that they might have just ruined their chances of completing the semester... and their slogans are all about the need to avoid poverty! We've been lucky overall, taking most of our classes in the International Institute, our profs have been pretty good about teaching despite the strike, until today anyway! We were in the middle of a class this afternoon when the president of the university himself came with the security guards and kicked us out of the building until Thursday morning! What a joke this is becoming...

Nonetheless, there's plenty of this situation that's amusing for an outsider.. for example some of the slogans. Alice Jacquin loves this one "CPE: cherche pigeons à embaucher" (looking for pigeons to hire) and there was a sign up yesterday in the Palais Universitaire that said "Profs non-payés, bâtiments non-entretenus... où va notre 200 Euros??" (unpaid profs, unkempt buildings, where does our 200 Euros go??). We North-Americans thought the last one was extra-funny, seeing how little they pay for tuition here, and then they complain that ALL the money they pay isn't being well-spent... I guess everything's relative!! I'll have to get a picture of that one... And today after we were rudely dismissed from our classes, Christie, Jenna and Sam and I decided to go take in a bit of the "parade"... haha which was dying down a lot by 4pm. Completely non-violent, the protesters seemed to have lost their steam!! They were really dragging their feet. I was joking with Dad the other day about how the strikes can be a way for a French family to bond together- you'll see whole families out there waving their flags and wearing their stickers. I guess it's an idea, maybe we Canadians could use a little excitement. Can you imagine- instead of family board game night, we could go take our politics out in the street. What do you say?

Right on, I'll leave you now to do some work that's due... whenever I have class again! ;)
Have a good day, everyone, and keep in touch!

*Susan

Carnavale de Bale

The first Sunday in March, eight Canadian girls went to Basel, Switzerland to discover the Carnavale festivities! First stop: Liechstal (sp?) where they saw the torch parade- picture parades of people running with burning sticks... there were even little kids carrying torches! Then, they invaded an all-night restaurant where they amused themselves with cards, funny faces, ovaltine and yummy appelkuchen until the main event at 4am: everyone in the city put out their lights. The only light in the city came from the moon and the lanterns in the parade! The marching piccolists (?) and drummers wore lanterns on their heads and the most elaborate costumes. If I've ever seen anything that would merit the adjective "trippy", this would be it. The point of the parade was that you choose a band that you really like and then you follow them until you get cold. Our feet were ice. (I swear my shoes were soaked through about a half an hour in) But it was worth it! Back on the train, we arrived back to Strasbourg around 8am with the sunrise, and we wondered what kind of weird dream we had just woken up from!