Merci Chambé!

I am very heavy hearted writing this final blog entry, because it really means closing the chapter of the past 4 months. Amazing people, fascinating surroundings and simply a great time.

The last two weeks were seriously insanely busy. Besides 8 exams and a presentation in a little more than a week, we went skiing for the first time in this season under semi-awesome conditions. The snow was wonderful, about 50 cm of powder. Just my own physical condition was not that great, I kinda overdid it the night before. Our last exams was Friday morning and that was enough reason to celebrate at night. Unfortunately I did not know when to stop unlike everybody else and that is why I only had 4 hours of sleep just not in my bed...

Well well... on Sunday, our last day together we went out to a last nice dinner with Emmy's and Linda's parents and Demi's dad and boyfriend. All day and all night (... --> Demi ;)) was accompanied by fun and laughter. Saying goodbye seemed unreal and I still have not completely realized the end of my exchange.

The upshot of my exchange period can be summed up in FUN, gradual improvements concering the French language combined with the feeling of not really studying. It felt different compared to the Netherlands. I learned Dutch much quicker and never had one word of it in my previous education. Maybe the similarity to Geman might have contributed to fast progress. However, I know French is much more complicated and complex. Nevertheless I can say that was truely frustrated during the first 5 weeks, because I simply did not make progress like I wanted. With regards to the subjetcs I studied at Université de Savoie I must admit that many courses formed a reptition of NHTV courses, which was not too bad, since the language made it still difficult enough to understand. The intercultural understanding proceeded to another degree of comprehending several situations, where I would have usually backed out off. French people are more extravert and tend to exaggerate their emotions or other incidents; not necessarily in a bad way, but in a way one has to get used to.

Eventually I would like to thank a few people who made my time in Chambéry unforgettable:

Demi (for being the best friend and companion during good and bad times, thank you my little croissant), Linda (for being my nice roommate, even though it was not always easy ;)), Emmy (for always making me laugh), Blandine and Cécile&Max, Keke (for being great friends, offering a lot of help and throwing amazing parties), Jihane and Hatim (for being the best project members), M1 and L3 (for understanding that the ERASMUS are never notified by any teachers and helping us instead) and of course all other ERASMUS people who created this experience with me (Daniëlle and Lore, Simon, Kyle, Illy, Jackson, Riccardo, Matthew, Rob M. and Rob C. ;), Lina, José et Manuel, all other English, American, Spanish and Italian people I forgot). THANK YOU!!!!!

Au revoir Chambé(ry), I wil NEVER forget you

BISOUS

La fête des lumières...

... is spectacular event in Lyon on the 8th of December. Hence, we went there yesterday by bus (great offer through school for all Erasmus students only 15 euros). We left Chambé at almost five o'clock and took almost two hours (usually it is one) because it was so busy.

I don't even know where to start... maybe that it was insanely crowded I am guessing at least 3 Mil people (reminded me of my New Years in New York with 5 Mil people, I hated it back then). Nonetheless it was different, maybe my companions were the reason for that.

To give you guys an idea what this event was about, you have to imagine the following: several houses which are equipped with projectors that project videos on house facades. Suppose a house's normal outline, but because a picture is projected against it, it all the sudden seems to fall apart.

Many illusions, thanks to incredible light technolgy, were created and let your mouth stand open. Moreover, every street in the center has different lights hanging between the two housefronts from butterflies to chandaliers or abstract lights there was everything. In the center square of Lyon there were huge and very colorful balloons high up in the air and combined with a ferries wheel right next to it drew a great amount of people to it.
The Bastille (a big cathedral on top of the hill) was lit up in blue and offered a great sound and light spectacle to stage thunder and a scene of mozart's symphony. Onto another building they projected a flipper game. Believe me all of this was so impressive that all words and pictures in the world could not describe it. 

Even UNICEF had thousands of tealights forming there logo and name. One could buy them for 2 euros for a good cause, it felt just normal to buy one. I might sign up for UNICEF next year, there are really people who need money to survive and to us this is just something so small and minor that everybody should actually consider donating. Most impressive though was that many people put (colored) tealights in their window frames or balconys due to the occassion of the event. Somehow they had such a great meaning!!

Right after we arrived we tried to find something to eat, Demi and I really wanted pizza, but at some point we had to split up because Emmy and Linda didn't care and Demy and I still wanted pizza, no way to find something like that when you really "need" it ;) By coincidence we found probably the best Christmas market I have ever been to. It was so nicely decorated and all the stands had extravagant jewelery, crafts, tea, wooden figuers and food. Deems and I ended up first eating a Brezel and afterwards German "Spätzel" (for those of you who don't know them, they are a type of pasta). I think Deems didn't really like them (at least not without any sauce) ;) After we met Linda and Emmy again we went back there and spent at least another two hours there. From trying Glühwein and munching cutton candy, crepes and marcrons (French speciality) we pretty much did it all.


Many times I found myself being caught in the moment of creating one of the last memories of my Erasmus semester in France. I felt weird and yeah frankly sad. Not just the lights made that night perfect but actually spending it with the people I cared for most in the last 3 and a half months. I am really grateful for these hours!

The night ended with a hot chocolate at Starbucks and Maroni (big hot nuts) and our bus returning to Chambé at almost 2 am. What a fabulous and memorable night! :)

Sinterklaas

Since I usually study in the Netherlands and have 4 Dutch girls and one Belgian girl with me here we celebrated Sinterklaas on the 4th of December (which is normally on the 5th, but because we had school we moved it to a Sunday). For all other nationalities: Sinterklaas is similar to the German "Nikolaus" and to all others well similar to Santa but then not quite ;) In Holland people believe that Sinterklaas comes by ship from Spain. The Dutch/Belgian have the tradition to write a poem to the person they give their present to. Now, as everyone knows I speak Dutch like the queen - NOT - my poem was 8 lines long, but after all it rimed, others on the other hand wrote up to two pages... oh well I tried my best =)

We celebrated at Daniëlle's house, who lives near the campus and has a quite spacious apartment. From pizza to "Pepernoten" (a Dutch speciality that tastes like "Spekulatius" a very typical Christmas taste) everything was there. We laughed a lot about the different dialects people have within Holland and in general spent joyful hours together. Thanks to the hosts again (Lore and Daniëlle) and to my Sinterklaas (Linda) for the nice present and of course to Demi and Emmy who always make me chuckle :)


De Zwarte Piet (in Holland that is a small black skinned figure that accompanies Sinterklaas on his journey) :)

Crazy sleep over!

Yummi Pumpkin Pie, homemade puree ;)

So I arleady have to start laughing when I even think about last weekend.

Well Thursday was Thanksgiving and honestly I really missed celebrating it with my family in the US. In memories of my great time in the States I baked a pumpkin pie. I hope the time will come where I am allowed to enjoy it again as the traditional day everybody is grateful for what is given to them. In fact I am very thankful for my family and friends, who support me and stand by my side no matter what. Although it sometimes appears I do not appreciate my life I love all the experiences I am able create!

Now, on Saturday we had our long planned sleep over at Emmy's. Deems and Emmy had enough air matresses and sleeping bags to host all four of us. It turned out that I was again the lucky one to sleep on the one that deflated at night. Concrete can be quite uncomfortable I came to realize ;)
Two options: Either lose weight so the stupid thing does not blow up next time or just coincidence, everybody knows I don't believe in coincidence... which just leaves... yeah well ;)

Emmy, Linda, Deems et moi avec BAMI

Simple stupidity

So we started the night with a nice dinner: Bami with chicken and fresh vegetables and pumpkin pie for desert. Of course it was not the last thing we ate that night, because in general sleep overs are just huge binge orgies: popcorn, chips, more chips, salty sticks, chocolate, chocolate peanuts etc. you get the story. I seriously cracked up when Emmy told me to "cut" the chicken with scissors instead with a knife I really thought she was shittin' me. Nonetheless a minute later I find myself really doing it and I must say not a bad idea at all, thanks for the tip, Emmy. After dinner, Linda introduced a website to us, called "massivemusicquiz", we lost ourselves in the world of guessing one song after another. It was quite h.i.larious, because we really thought we new a lot of tunes, turned out whenever a famous hit was played, everybody jumped around and said "Oh, I know, I know, I know.... it is..." and the time was up.

Eating all the unhealthy greasy and sugary food made us quite hyper and we decided to dance. Jap, not a joke. We "youtubed" the chacha song, a french song (where everybody freaks out to), Deem's hiphop tunes, the ketchup song, macarena and I don't know what else. At some point we were tired of it and started drinking wine, talked about school and what girls talk about... <free for your imagination>

The night ended with us laying on the matresses, me not stopping to laugh, because Deems had to touch the ground with one hand (her head was spinning from the wine, sorry for publishing this, but I wish I even had a picture) and the funniest thing, Emmy said that night: "It is not really darkin my room, when my light is still on, is it?"

On Sunday morning we enjoyed a good breakfast with Dutch Hagelslag, which I really miss. One won't believe it, but I really miss the Netherlands. My life was SOO different there. Anyway, Thanks girls for a fun night (not out but in), it was great and I won't forget that! =)

After I slept about three hours when I came home, had to catch up for the lost hours during the night, I ran. And I am sorry if I am bragging, but I just have to tell you: 17.26 km in 1hr40min!!!!
Don't ask me I have no idea where all the energy comes from recently, but I blame it on caffeine and carrot juice^^.

BISOU

Good memories

So finally the entry, which so many of you were waiting of.  The last week just flew by, having tons and tons of fun with Mathijs, a friend that visited from the Netherlands. He arrived Thursday night and we had an amazing dinner (a very special somebody will know when I say “Tropfvogel”) with roasted chicken and vegetables. We have not seen each other for months so that there was so much to talk about.  The night ended with a great a couple a bars and a club. 

Friday we were both sooo hungover that NOTHING happened that day except for wandering around Chambéry and walking from one café to another and a small hike (2 hrs) to La croix du Nivolet.

 Saturday morning we went to the market and bought very nice goods for a nice breakfast and later on lunch in Geneva. I must say Geneva is nice, but bloody expensive and not for me: TOO many gucci people and watches everywhere. Because we avoided the highway (took almost an hour longer but reduced péage/road fees) we saw a beautiful cenery of Switzerland. All in all it still was a great day accompanied again by Thijs and Demi :)

However, Sunday totally made up for the missed day on Friday. We had already decided on the day before to go hiking, just had to figure out how to get to the foot of the mountain. Already a couple of weeks ago, I always looked at this very funny shaped looking mountain and really wanted to hike up there, but I just did not find the way up. Nevertheless, we found it on Sunday. I hope my Mum won’t understand this part, but I probably never had so much adrenalin in blood due to the fact that we actually did something very risky. Without any equipment we climbed the last bit – the cliffs – up to the cross. 

I cannot even tell you how hard it was and how scared I was at some point. It took us three hours up and one and a half hours down. Surprisingly I did not feel any sore muscles the next day, but believe me yesterday (so Tuesday) I thought my legs got paralyzed over night.  I could barely walk. Nonetheless I went running yesterday to counteract the pain, it worked ;)

Thijs left on Monday (instead of Tuesday) because he slept very badly all nights he was here. I must say I do not really feel sorry (sorry Mathijs ;) ) but he only brought a very thin mattress, so his own fault . It was a shame that there is no snow anywhere yet, otherwise we would have gone skiing for a day.

Ok one last thing. Let’s see what we have in the treasure box of embarrassments for you guys. Ehhhhhhhh found something:

On Monday night Blandine (a good French friend of mine) invited us to a restaurant for her birthday. Sitting over my dinner plate I was really happy with the piercing I purchased early that day (my previous stud was just too long). Nevertheless, all the sudden I hear a small high pinching sound. I looked into my plate filled with pesto gnocchi and saw the ball that usually sits on the stud. I try to cover my little accident by just ignoring it. At some point, however, I was wondering where my stud went and lifted my plate. Blandine caught me doing that and asked me what happened, so I had to tell. Guess what? She bursted out laughing, so that everybody knew an instant later what happened and I had 10 pairs of French people laughing about me. That makes piercing number two that I must have swallowed ;)

I wish everyone an incredible day! Here the weather is nice and cold approx -1 degree.

Happy greeeeeeetz from Chambéry J

P.S. The next couple of weeks will be the hardest that I will probably experience here, two and a half more weeks of school then one week of exams, precisely 8 (!!!) exams.

P.S.2. For any of you, which are interested, I finally got my car fixed last week. Apparently I did not need a new battery and it had to do with the key recognition system why the car did not start. The repair guy was so kind to take the battery back and reimburse me. After all I paid 100 euros less than expected for the tires and putting them on my car. Made me very happy and it is a big relief. My advice: NEVER GET A CAR! Just results in trouble…

Fou à lier!

Realizing I have not written in ages, it is about time for a new entry. I already apologize for the absence of pictures, was too busy taking any =)

Alright let's start with the last hike I did not post here. Three weekends ago Demi, Rob, Simon and I hiked a 1300m high mountain. On our way we passed a beautiful water fall. With top speed, shorts and t-shirts we made our way up in less then 2 hours. Because it was very foggy we were not able to see the valley on top but nonetheless it was a great hike.

Next up was a surprise visit (well actually I was apparently the only person that did NOT know) Karo and Thorsten visited us from Italy, where they do their ERASMUS in Rome. It felt really good and a little bit like being back home in Breda. Just nice to see familiar faces and people you have known for longer than only 2 or 3 months.

This weekend I spent in Germany. I flew out of Geneva on Thursday night to Frankfurt, where a friend picked me. It felt great to be home and recharge my batteries, which sort of dried out during the past weeks. After all French and studying in France is more difficult than I would have ever imagined.
Nonetheless I would like to tell you more about my time in Germany. :)

On Saturday it was my best friends birthday. She invited us to a very nice breakfast at her house on Saturday morning, because I went out with a few friends on Friday night, it was a very good hangover breakfast. Afterwards my friend invited us to a spa. Never been to one. Guess what? Of course I embarrassed myself as always. Everybody knows how a sauna works, right? You take your clothes of like everyone else and enjoy all sorts of hot temperatures and aromas completely naked. Only thing is, I have never done it. So technically I had no idea where to put my eyes and felt extremely uncomfortable. After half an hour you get used to it though it would feel even weirder if you wore clothes. So, yes going to a spa relaxes your bones, but I wouldn't wanna do it every weekend. Too expensive anyway.
Saturday night was another nice hanging out night with a friend and his friends. Played a very funny dice game. Since I never lost it was a cheap night for me.

Sunday's lunch I spent with my grandparents, which was very nice seeing again. We had lots of fun. Is it normal that when you get old, you blame each other for everything? My grandma was constantly picking on my grandpa, but in a funny way and he just made her look like a fool with funny comments, seriously it was h.i.larious.

And yeah to sum it up this was it, a lot of running around and seeing people, but great time all in all and in feels weird to be back in Chambéry, because ahead of me are 5 more weeks and 8 exams. Nevertheless there are more things to look forward to: a friend is visiting from the Netherlands and skiing with the kids in Decemeber over New Years and directly after spending another 3 weeks in Austria working and skiing :)

Last but not least I want to tell you what happened within the couple of hours I returned today. I needed groceries, so walked to my car and it already had problems starting up last time, so I already had this feeling. My intuition wasn't wrong, car didn't start, assuming it is the battery. So as I walked to the store I pass a little shop, which has car pieces, but is not garage. I passed it and turned around on my heel, taking all the courage I have, and walked in. I explained that I am German, my French is crap and that I need help. After 20 min I managed to order tires and a battery and a "rendez-vous" (which is not a date but an appointment) with a garage to put everything in and on my car for a reasonable price in total.
Yep, sorry if this sounds ignorant: "I am really proud of myself" :) Sometimes you are just capable of the impossible once you are in despair.

A bientôt et bisou à tous!

Hike last weekend

Just a short entry about last weekend. On Saturday I went on a hike with Demi to Lac de St. André where I already went alone a couple of weeks ago. It appeared not as long this time and was more than pleasant to have a companion. May I proudly introduce to you Mr. Raupy!!! We found him and a couple of his buddies on our way.

Mr. Raupy =)

 On Sunday I felt like I needed a little time on my own and therefore climbed up to La Croix du Nivolet. It was very impressive that my tires slipped on the already frozen ground close to the parking lot. Well still summer tires and indeed there is already some snow when you are at about 1500m height. When we went to the cross the first time we were with a big group and almost needed two and a half hours back and forth. This time it only took me 1:45hr. And again I was not disappointed by the wonderful view. One can definitely notice the temperature difference to the valley tho :) Great weekend!!