a semester in strasbourg

So, a lot has happened since fall break. For one thing, I’ve barely been in Strasbourg. I’ve also been having some colitis issues, unfortunately.

So I arrived home from the Paris part of fall break on November 2, a Sunday, and flew to London the night of November 6, a Thursday, to stay with Yu-Yu, along with Shelly.  Needless to say, a long weekend (I was in London until Tuesday) with two of my favorite people from CMC provided for an amazing time. It may have been my favorite trip of the semester. It was also kind of nice to be somewhere where English was the default language, especially since I’ve been feeling a little homesick lately. So the English and being with CMC friends was really nice.

We did a lot of the touristy stuff: changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, London Bridge, Tower of London, traditional fish and chips at a pub (though I didn’t actually get fish and chips), a show (we saw Dirty Dancing), and of course we saw LSE’s campus, where Yu-Yu is studying. We also went out to the Ministry of Sound club to celebrate Yu-Yu’s 21st birthday, a night to remember. I will leave it at that…

On Saturday, Shelly and I took the train to Oxford for the day, and I got to see Jesse, who was there for a debate tournament. Even though it was only for one night, it was a lot of fun and great to see him, though it made me a little more homesick…I will be excited to go back to CMC next semester for sure.

The only mar on the weekend, besides Shelly hogging the covers in our shared air mattress (just kidding…mostly), was that I was feeling sick with colitis stuff, which has only worsened since, and also marred my trip to Paris, the following weekend.

Which brings me to November 14-16, when I was in Paris for my art class field trip. We went to the Musee d’Orsay, which I had already been to with my parents, but I got to see a different part of the museum, so I still enjoyed it. We also went to the Musee de la vie romantique and the Musee Jacquemart-Andre, which was incredible–a converted 19th century mansion in the 8th Arrondissement from a couple voracious art collectors who later turned their home into a public museum. It was gorgeous; I’d have loved to live there. Unfortunately, due to being sick, I missed going to the Louvre which I’m really upset about…I really wanted to see the Mona Lisa (along with everything else). In free time, I got to see the Sacre-Coeur and Montmartre (where Moulin Rouge is!) which I loved. It is my favorite area that I have seen of Paris, as well as going back to the Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triomphe, ending at Lauderee, the “best cafe in Paris” where we sampled the best macaroons in all of France (or so our art prof told us).

Before I had left for Paris, I had a doctor’s appointment to figure out colitis stuff, but it was actually somewhat horrible because the doctor barely spoke English and my French does not cover medical symptoms. I got some prescriptions, though, and had a blood test today, so hopefully things will get sorted out–though I had to cancel my post-semester trip to Italy, which I’m pretty bummed out about. Anyways, I will now be getting home December 11, only 3.5 weeks from now. Crazy!