Strasbourg

I'm still having a hard time coming to terms that I'm in Europe for an entire semester. The fact that I had an opportunity to even come here makes me think about how incredibly lucky and privileged I am. I think the main reason that I'm so excited to be overseas is that I absolutely thrive on getting to experience new things and places. If I could just travel the world and live in a new city every month or two, I think I would absolutely do it. Too many people just like to stay within their comfort zone, only hanging out with the same people, staying in the same place, and doing the same things day in and day out. A life like that would drive me insane. There's a quote by Christopher McCandless that came to mind earlier this morning when I was thinking about how great it is to experience new things:

"The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

So here's something new: I went to Strasbourg, France this past weekend with seven other kids from GTL. Quick geography and history lesson: Strasbourg is the capital of the Alsace region of Northeastern France, right on the German border. It has gone back and forth throughout the centuries between France and Germany, so it has a really cool blend of French and German culture and architecture. It's the home of a lot of European government buildings, including the parliament of the European Union.

Anyways, we took a train there Friday morning (GTL has no classes on Fridays!) and spent most of the afternoon just walking around the city center and taking in all the beautiful sights and sounds. Of course we went to the cathedral, which on the exterior is a lot more impressive than the one in Metz--apparently it was the tallest building in the world from the late 1600s until the late 1800s, so we climbed up almost to the top and got a spectacular view of the entire city. We also went to a really nice restaurant for dinner and had some traditional Alsacian food and wine: onion tart as an appetizer, then sauerkraut and various sausages paired with a local 2005 Riesling.

Saturday we learned to use the light rail system, called the tram, and checked out the European Parliament then did a tour of the Kronenbourg brewery, along with a half hour taste test of course.

More on the tram and Strasbourg from an urban design viewpoint (you knew it was coming): being in a city with an efficient light rail system is absolutely incredible. Besides being so dense and walkable, Strasbourg has a great tram that can get you at least within a couple blocks of basically anywhere you need to go in the city. It's so nice to be in a place where the transportation emphasis is clearly placed on transit, biking, and walking. The infrastructure is excellent and the city center is almost car-free, which makes it so much more pleasant and relaxing. I seriously think there were more bike trails, sidewalks and pedestrian areas, and rail lines than roads in Strasbourg, and that's how a liveable and thriving city center should be. On with the pictures.


Just outside the train station..bikes everywhere!


The train station..the original, historic station is actually inside the glass "bubble"


Tram


It was really cold.




My travel buddies outside of our hostel:




The front door of the cathedral:

It was impressively enormous and intricate


The incredible view from the top of the cathedral:


I got some pretty good shots of the "Petit France" section of town at dusk:



Oh the joys of public transportation



The European Parliament:



We went to beer school. I liked it better than Georgia Tech.


To a great weekend!

First Round

I've been in Metz now for five days and I'm continually surprised by how great of a city it is. At our orientation yesterday, we got a brief history lesson on Metz and the Technolopole, which is basically an educational and research area that is focused on electronic communications, and is where Georgia Tech along with some top French engineering schools have campuses. It was created by the former mayor of Metz in the 80s after a massive decline in the steel industry, which was a big part of this region.

So Metz has gone through a renaissance; it went from being heavily industrial and dependant on the steel industry to this great cultural and technology based small city. Sounds exactly like Pittsburgh! And you wonder why I like this place so much. Downtown Metz is incredible--narrow cobblestone streets filled with little cafes, bakeries, and various shops. I've already seen two merry-go-rounds, which is something that I think needs to be incorporated into American cities. The bus system is simple, efficient, and pretty inexpensive, and buses come by about every 20 minutes on weekdays, so getting downtown is really easy. I've already been to the cathedral three times and I want to go more. You'll understand why after seeing the pictures of it. Absolutely amazing.

My Room!


This is the view from my window looking out into the quad:


Beautiful downtown Metz



Crepes! and Nutella!


Cathedral St. Etienne, containing the largest expanses of stained glass in the world:




Stained glass done by the French artist Marc Chagall


The plaza outside of the cathedral at night

Bonjour from France

It's been a long journey, but I finally made it to Metz, France, where I'm doing a semester abroad at Georgia Tech Lorraine. I've only been here for less than a day and it's already been a great experience, although you might not believe it from the story i'm about to tell.

Yesterday afternoon I was planning on taking a train at 12:50pm direct from the Paris airport to Lorraine, but my plane ended up landing about an hour late and there was a long line for tickets, so I missed the train. No worries, another train was leaving an hour later but I would have to get off at the first stop and switch trains. The bullet train came so I boarded, stacked up my two suitcases along with everyone elses, and took a seat. Ten minutes go by and its time to get off the train in some suburb of Paris. I went back to where all the luggage is and find my red suitcase, but not the big black one that is almost completely indistinguishable from all the other black suitcases. At this point I started freaking out, because the train only stops for a couple minutes and if I can't find my suitcase, it ends up in some unknown corner of some unknown foreign country.

So I grabbed my red suitcase and waited in an utter panic as more passengers pile into the train, completely blocking my exit. I waited until they all get on and I get off the train with a nice sinking feeling in my stomach since I was sure the train was about to leave and I would lose my luggage forever. I looked around and saw a TGV worker on the platform about 30 yards away getting ready to blow his whistle to send the train on its way again. At this point I left my red suitcase where it was and sprinted towards him saying "Pardon, Pardon!!!" I told him I couldn't find my suitcase and pointed to the train car that it was in. He calmly walked over, got on the train, lifted up a suitcase or two, and magically my suitcase appeared. I must have thanked him 20 times in a row. He didn't really say anything in response. So sorry my fellow Americans, I think I just perpetuated the French stereotype (or world stereotype) that Americans are stupid.

Anyways, the rest of the trip went smoothly. I waited in the train station for about an hour for my other train to come, then took that one to Lorraine and made sure to remember where I put my luggage, although French people like to move other people's luggage on trains. Luckily I ran into another GTL student at the Lorraine train station so I had someone to talk to while taking a shuttle from the train station to downtown Metz, then a taxi from there to our dorm. After just about 24 hours of traveling I finally made it to GTL!

The Burgh, Part 2

You won't see me criticizing Pittsburgh very much on this blog, but there's one thing that's been on my mind lately. One thing that Pittsburgh needs for its transformation into a truly world class city is a functional and highly developed light rail system.

For whomever is unaware, the city does have a light rail system called the "T", but it is mediocre at best. It runs about 20 miles from the Southern suburbs to Station square, crosses the Monongahela River, and goes underground for a few stations downtown. The Port Authority has been working on an extension to the line to go from the Gateway center station through a tunnel bored under the Allegheny river, and coming above ground for two new stations at PNC park and Heinz Field.

This decision to extend it to the stadiums was a perfect example of the poor transportation planning that we see so much of in the states. According to gmaps pedometer, the walk from the Gateway center station (in downtown) to PNC park, across the Allegheny River, is half a mile, or about 10 minutes at a normal pace. But for political and financial reasons, the Port Authority decided to lobby the federal and state governments for hundreds of millions of dollars to dig a tunnel for a half mile line under the Allegheny, and the project is well underway. Turns out that the project is way over budget--from an original estimate of $350 million to over $550 million, according to the Post-Gazette.

It baffles me why anyone would think that a link to the stadiums would be more important than a line to the airport or to Oakland (the transportation, educational, and medical hub for the city). In transportation planning, it's all about reducing VMT, or vehicle miles traveled. The point of having a light rail system is to get people to where they need to go without having to rely on an automobile for transportation. It can be seen as a way of social and environmental justice--cleaner air for city residents, and the opportunity for poorer folks (or anyone else) to get around without having to pay the high costs for a car. A rail line out to the airport or Oakland would dramatically reduce VMT, not to mention the fact that it would be incredibly convenient. Sadly, the line across the river will have little effect on reducing automobile usage in the city.

It turns out that this planning decision was a result of local politics, just like how the poor planning decisions--or lack of decisions--in Atlanta are usually a result of state politics. I won't expand upon it here, but you can check out this article..it explains exactly what went wrong.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09074/955761-52.stm

The silver lining about this entire thing is that the port authority, governor, and media realize that it was an awful decision. We can only hope that more money will become available in the near future for some transit that will actually help the city and make other places envy our excellent public transportation system.

New and Exciting forms of Transportation

I wrote earlier about how I decided to sell my car over the summer. I've now been carless for half a year and it was a great decision. One of the most interesting parts of not having a car is coming up with other ways of transporting yourself. Although Atlanta isn't the most walkable city, it is very possible to live here and not own a car. The weather is nice enough and the terrain is flat enough that walking, biking, and public transportation are pretty legitimate options for transportation.

The first few months of being carless, I relied almost entirely on my bicycle and ZipCar, which is a car-sharing service available in most major cities. But then I realized how efficient and useful a scooter could be, so I decided to buy one. At the time, I wasn't sure if it was a good decision or not. But it's a perfect way of getting around the city. It's got a basket and everything. Perfect for running errands or going grocery shopping. Also, it gets about 70 mpg, and I don't have to spend $600 for a GT parking permit. I can park the thing wherever I want! No registration, no insurance, no motorcycle license required because it's under 50cc. And there's room for a passenger. This is usually what I look like when I'm riding it around:



Also, Grey and I decided to build a tandem bike from 2 vintage road bikes that we found on craigslist. This thing took a ton of time and effort to build, and it's still not complete. But at the moment it's rideable. I'd say it's the definition of a franken-bike--we used 3 frames, various parts from other bikes, tires and wheels from my bike, and brakes from Grey's bike. So neither of our personal bikes is rideable at the moment, but it's alright because we have an incredible homemade tandem. Onward to the pictures.


This was when we still had 2 frames..trying to get the spacing right before welding.

Our roommate Clayton helped with cutting and welding. He did a great job.
"Best Friends for Life". Molly was the head decorator/painter.

Lots and lots of clearcoat.

Working at the local bike co-operative, Sopo.

Coming together, but still missing a few things.

We turned our hallway into a bike workshop.

This is the current state of the tandem. It's definitely a head-turner.

It's impossible to be upset while riding a tandem, or a scooter with a basket on the back. Two-wheeled transportation is the way to go!

To Shoot or Not to Shoot

I've been thinking lately about some things that I'd like to experience in my life but haven't gotten a chance to yet. If you know me you might be a little surprised by this, but I really have the desire to go hunting at least once. Growing up in Western Pennsylvania, hunting was a big deal to a lot of people. There was always a pretty noticeable amount of my friends missing from school on the first day of hunting season, and I always got a chance to eat some deer jerky later on in the season.

Nowadays we are so far removed from our food that most of the time we don't even think about where it came from. Some people may think of this as a good thing, but I think it's one of the major downfalls of having a highly industrialized food industry. Our food is not something to be taken for granted, and one of the reasons I don't eat a lot of meat anymore is because I really have no idea where it came from or how the animals were treated. Fruits and vegetables aren't a big deal because anyone can grow them in their back yard, but meat is a different story. I have a feeling that if everyone could see the industrialized and non-regulated process of turning a cow into a McDonald's hamburger, the beef industry would be absolutely screwed. Veggie burgers for everyone! Yum.

Anyways, I would think of my hunting experience as kind of an emotional experiment. I've never seen an animal die in order to become someone's food. I wonder if I would feel happy after shooting a deer or a boar or a turkey. I'm sure that after a day of waiting outside in the freezing cold for even the slightest glimpse of an animal, I would feel relieved at finally getting one. Maybe I would feel remorseful and upset that I took the life of another creature. I wonder if it would make me feel more thankful about getting the opportunity to eat meat, rather than taking for granted our seemingly endless source of factory-farmed meat. Regardless, I would feel a thousand times better about eating a wild animal that I killed rather than one that comes pre-marinated in some shrink wrap in the meat section of Kroger.

So someone please take me hunting, and I'll let everyone know what it's like to actually feel connected to my food.

The Burgh, Part 1

It has really been a while since I updated. My apologies. I've been spending the summer so far either working at Newcomb & Boyd or outside enjoying (and sweating in) the hot Georgia summer. I just got back yesterday from a trip to Pittsburgh, a place I rarely get to see anymore. I'm beginning to realize that my love for the city grows more and more each time I go back. Maybe it's the nostalgia that many people feel for their hometown after they have been gone for a while. That definitely has something to do with it, but there are a couple other reasons in my case. This may seem kind of superficial, but Pittsburgh's recent sports success has made me even more loyal and proud of the city.

I'm sure you all know that this past year both the Steelers and the Penguins won championships in their respective sports. This may not seem like a big deal to most people, but for a Pittsburgher, it's like winning the lottery. When Santonio and Big Ben held up the Lombardi Trophy for millions around the country to see, it was as if we as Pittsburghers were also up there, proudly holding that trophy for everyone to see. It was the same way with Sidney Crosby and the Stanley Cup. I felt as if I were right next to him drinking champagne out of that big shiny Cup. And I'm not even that big of a hockey fan compared to some of the people I know. Chad Hermann describes our pride at that moment of sports history so well...

"And I'd like them, if only for a moment, to consider the sustainable growth, or perhaps the community benefit, of living and sharing and carrying those moments within you, of waking up with an extra bounce in your step and what feels like a fluttering rally towel in your chest, knowing that everything you do, every last bit of work or stress you face between now and the end of the week or maybe the start of next season, will come a little easier, will carry a hop and a smile and a whole lot of buoyant, extra energy because those gritty, gutty kids just kept on working and winning and making you feel, even on the most dark and dismal of days, that you, your family, and your wonderful little corner of the world had one more thing to look forward to, to be thankful for, and now forever to celebrate, together."

I ran into Evgeni Malkin (#71 for the Pens) in the Atlanta airport the other day, and I was so starstruck that I didn't even know how to react. I knew that I had to say something to him to congratulate him and the Penguins for their championship, but I ended up stumbling over my words while saying something along the lines of "nice job Geno..we're proud of you!" I think I spoke so quickly that he didn't really understand what I was saying. Poor Russian. It's funny that he can walk all over the Atlanta airport and no one will know who he is, but as soon as he walks up to the gate for the Pittsburgh flight, people are smiling at him and congratulating him right and left. Instant celebrity status.

It was an incredible season for the Penguins and made me so proud to call Pittsburgh my hometown. Nice job Geno.