how French can you get?

On my way home from the grocery store the other day I saw this man riding his bike. I was able to snap a picture on my phone. When I think of France this is what I see.

going up?

For as long as I can remember I've always had this thing about elevators. They freak me out. I can remember going to visit my mom in the hospital after she had my brother and being so scared of the huge hospital elevators. I have always been afraid of one day, stepping on to an elevator only to have it stop mid trip resulting in me becoming stuck for hours on end.

Yesterday something like that happened to a friend of mine. He got on the elevator for what should have been barely a minute and then 45 minutes later he finally emerged annoyed and hungry. He told me about it over gchat right after it happened. I laughed of course, who wouldn't, but then last night as I slept my subconscious took over. All night I dreamed about being stuck in an elevator, going up and down, up and down, not being able to get out. It was horrible. It's not that I'm claustrophobic...well, maybe a little, but I think it's knowing that after pressing that button, you no longer have any control over what the elevator does. That's what scares me.

out and about

I took the opportunity of a free Saturday (the kids were with their dad) to hop a train and go visit Strasbourg. Since I am so close I figured I should probably go up there and see what its all about.


Fortunately for me, Strasbourg is known for more than just the EU headquarters. It is home to one of the more well known European cathedrals. One of the things I love about living in Europe is how old everything is. It was cool in DC to go to sites that were a couple hundred years old but the cathedral in Strasbourg was built over a 300 year period from 1100-1400. There is nothing like that in the states. Its a beautiful building with your classic Gothic architecture. Inside there is an astronomical clock which is amazing and was used to calculate Easter.


As with most towns and villages in Alsace there was a distinct feel with the cobbled streets and the timber framed houses. There is a specific part of Strasbourg called Petite-France, or Little France. It is the quintessential Alsatian neighborhood. Though, as cute as the cobbled streets were my feet were killing me by the end of the day. Now I know why you don't see cobbled streets any more.


I found an ice cream stand with blood orange sorbet. It was so yummy. One more thing I love about European cities, you can always find an ice cream stand. I remember once in DC I wandered all over downtown with my roommate trying to find an ice cream shop. It was near impossible (once we did find one it was a really good place and still one of my favorite ice cream shops in DC).

I've created a photo album on Facebook so please, go check out more pictures.

no place like home

After a bout of homesickness this past week I have come up with some things that I really miss from life before I came to France.

Cooking with my roommates. This would usually happen on Sunday after my roommate had invited people over and we would frantically try and come up with a meal. it always turned out though.

Running by the Potomac. There are plenty of places to run here but there is something about running towards DC at sunset. absolutely gorgeous.

Costco hot dog runs with co-workers. 'nuff said.

Lazy Saturdays spent watching cheesy made-for-TV movies on ABC family.

Going to parties. this may seem ironic to some, usually I would go kicking and screaming. I've never felt like I was any good at negotiating large groups of people and DC definitely challenged me.

Coming home from work on Fridays knowing that for the next two days I wasn't required to do anything.

Visiting my brother and sister-in-law in New York. It's great that I can still visit family here but some days I think I miss New York just as much as I miss DC.

The Arlington Public Library. Books and dvds in English that I could keep for almost as long as I wanted.

Kebab Palace. The place is ghetto but the food is oh so yummy.

Standing around in the kitchen with my roommates talking about anything and everything from boys to work to how we were someday going to open a restaurant together.

It's possible that after writing this I am even more homesick and here I was hoping it would help. Maybe next time I will write about what I will miss when I go back to the states.

in 200 meters turn...

How far is a meter? You'd think that by now I would have figured it out. This morning I dropped Dan and Em at work. Well, Dan drove, dropped Em and then drove on to his office where he proceeded to give me directions back to France. Needless to say I wasn't able to follow his directions and I ended up on the road to Zurich. Before things got too far out of hand I turned on the trusty SatNav, got off the motorway and found my way back into Basel. I still had no idea where I was as I desperately tried to follow the directions provided by the nice yet indignant voice coming from the dash. After more than one wrong turn, partly due to the fact that I still can't properly measure a meter as I'm driving, I started to recognize a few of the streets. I finally got to a street from which I knew I could get home without the help of the SatNav. I happily turned it off and decided I needed a reward for surviving my unintentional tour of Basel. I stopped at my favorite patisserie and I am now enjoying a tasty gourmandise. It's great to be back in France.