One Dam Good City

This weekend was quite a change from my small, humble city of Metz. A bunch of us decided towards the beginning of the semester that we had to go to Amsterdam, no matter what it took to get there. We somehow coordinated getting 18 of us to the city with everyone staying in the same hostel room. Unfortunately the weather was not the best, but that didn't stop me from enjoying all the sights and sounds of Amsterdam. Well, not all of the sights and sounds, but that's probably a good thing. It is a really incredible city, with tons of canals and awesome architecture.



Lauren, Andy, Mason, and Marshall outside of the hotel


On Friday afternoon we went to the Anne Frank house, which is the same house that she stayed in while hiding from the Nazis, who occupied the Netherlands in the early 40s. The house, which is a museum now, is very well preserved, and we went on a self guided tour starting in her father's storefront on the first floor and ending in the attic and "secret annex" where Anne and some other people went into hiding. Each room and piece of memorabilia in the museum had quotes from Anne's diary that described the situation in great detail. It was really moving to be where she was, looking out at the beautiful canals from the same blinds that she did, and knowing that she couldn't go outside and enjoy the things that ordinary kids could. I didn't get any pictures of the house, but I do have one from the exit.

I couldn't get a picture of the entire thing, but this wall was about 3 stories tall and had that quote in at least 20 different languages.

We spent most of the day Saturday walking around the city, and went on a beer bike tour. It was an amazing way to get 20 people to see the city and we all had a great time. The beer bike is basically a giant wagon with a bar wrapping around it. Everyone sat on bicycle seats facing the bar, and there was a driver that took us all around Amsterdam for two hours. There were a lot of tourists walking around the city, and just about everyone pulled out their cameras and took pictures of us as we passed by. Although the other tourists loved it, I saw plenty of disdainful looks from the locals, as well as drivers that got stuck behind the giant bike moving at a walking pace.

The beer bike.

Some Amsterdam traffic behind the beer bike.

One of my main goals for every trip is to try out some of the local food, and I got to do that this weekend. One of the big Dutch food traditions is raw herring, and they have little stalls around Amsterdam where you can get it for pretty cheap. I decided to get a sandwich with some raw herring, pickles, and onions. I wasn't sure if i would like it or not, but it was really really delicious.


I approve.

Just like every other European city i've been to, the public transportation was amazing, and they had another extensive tram system. I have a feeling that i'll be disappointed when I go back to the US and realize that I can't get everywhere I need to go just by hopping on a train or tram. Europe is spoiling me. One thing that really stands out about Amsterdam and Holland in general is the use of bicycles. I have never seen so many bicycles and so much bike infrastructure at one time. It seems like just about every road in Holland has a bike path next to it, and even in the freezing cold, it was filled with locals and tourists biking to wherever they needed to go. There were lots of women biking too, and a lot of them looked like they had just done a photoshoot for a fashion magazine. I guess the complete lack of hills helps the whole biking thing, but it was still very impressive.



Bike lanes were everywhere


This is a bicycle parking deck near the train station, completely packed with bikes.



The red light district at dusk



Rembrandt square, with a statue of Rembrandt in the middle.

Beautiful Switzerland

I was originally planning on staying in Metz for the weekend and maybe making a day trip to the Champagne region of France, but one of the other GTL kids, Christian, said he was going to Zurich and staying with his cousin, and I was welcome to come. A chance to go to Switzerland with a free place to stay for the weekend? Hard to turn that one down.

Christian's cousin Eric met us at the train station Friday afternoon and showed us around downtown Zurich a little bit. It was really nice to get a tour from someone that actually lives in the city and knows the ins and outs--he took us out to a really nice restaurant for a traditional Swiss dinner: bratwurst and potato salad. Much like Strasbourg, Northern Swiss food has a heavy German influence. We also got to learn some of the cultural norms that set Switzerland apart from other European countries. This one is probably my favorite: When drinking with some friends or family, it's considered really impolite to start drinking before a 'cheers' or 'prost', and you have to make eye contact with each person that you're cheers-ing with. If you don't make eye contact, it means you'll have bad sex for the next seven years. So eye contact is VERY important to the Swiss.

Saturday Christian and Eric went skiing, but I decided to spend some time in Zurich getting to know the city. You guys probably know how much I love seeing different cities, so I took full advantage of an entire day of exploration. I walked through the narrow cobblestone streets and alleys of the 'old city' for hours and every once in a while to check out the art galleries and specialty stores, rode the tram system almost aimlessly and took in the beauty of Switzerland in the winter, and went into a few bars and had a couple drinks to warm me up.

At night we had some Thai food and met up with some of Eric's friends at a Beer Hall. If you have ever been to the Hofbrauhaus in Pittsburgh, then you know what i'm talking about. If not, just imagine a big restaurant with long wooden tables, some live accordian music in German, and lots of drunk people singing along, dancing, and drinking obscene amounts of beer out of giant mugs. It was a great experience and a lot of fun.

I have to say that Zurich is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen--on a clear day you can see the Alps in the background, and it has an incredible lake and river with surprisingly clear water. Apparently it is one of the safest cities in the world too, which is nice after getting used to Atlanta. I couldn't get over the fact that people just leave their bikes on the side of the road, not locked to anything, and there are no problems with theft. It seems almost unreal that it is even possible in a large city. However, it's one of the most expensive cities in Europe. A meal at a regular restaurant is 20-30 Swiss Francs, and 1 Franc is almost exactly equal to a dollar. On with the pictures.
This was at the restaurant we went to Friday night. I thought it was pretty hilarious.

Eric's apartment building. It was about a 5 minute tram ride from the heart of downtown, and 3 blocks from Lake Zurich.

Lake Zurich

Old city

Random alley in the old city.

They're not locked to ANYTHING!!!

This is the Grossmunster protestant church. You can climb up to the top of the left tower..and anyone wider than me probably can't fit up the stairs. Its quite a climb but definitely worth it..

The view from the top of the church. Absolutely one of my favorite views of a city..comparable to Brooklyn Heights, San Francisco, or Mt Washington.



Looking Northwest towards the train station and Bahnhof Strasse. The large clocktower in the picture is the largest clock face in the world.


This is Bahnhof Strasse, which is basically the main street of Zurich. It has lots of high class shopping and retail and is a great place for some people watching. No cars allowed.

Zurich at night is pretty spectacular as well.

Friends at the beer hall.

GTL and Strasbourg, Part 2

So i realized that I haven't really written anything about Georgia Tech Lorraine itself. We have one building in a section of town called the "Technopole", which I talked about briefly in one of my previous posts. It's about 2 miles from downtown Metz and kind of resembles a large, sprawling suburban college campus in America. Various schools have buildings on this campus and they're mostly science and electrical-engineering oriented. There are a few dorm buildings on the Technopole campus, but Lafayette, the one we live in, is about a 10 minute walk from the Technopole.

Our GTL building works a lot like a much much smaller version of Georgia Tech. There is the president and all the staff, who are French, but a lot of the professors are faculty members at GT Atlanta who get the opportunity to teach in Metz for a semester. They get a really nice deal-basically an all expenses paid trip to France. The school even provides them with a car! I'm taking four classes for a total of 13 credits: Heat Transfer, Statistics, History of Technology, and System Dynamics and Controls. So far I like them a lot better than classes in Atlanta because my two ME classes have 5 and 6 students in them. It makes it a lot easier to ask questions, and the professors actually know you by name, which doesn't happen very often at GT Atlanta. Here's a video from the GTL website..it has some good shots of the city of Metz and the GTL building since I haven't taken any pictures of our building yet.

http://www.georgiatech-metz.fr/undergraduate-video

I have gotten to spend a lot of time with the other GTL students and I met some French and Italian students as well. Everyone is really friendly and awesome, and I can tell already that by the time the semester is over, I will have made some really great and valuable friendships. This past weekend I went back to Strasbourg with a different group of people and we had a really good time just walking around the city and experiencing the nightlife.


This is the group that I traveled with this weekend..from left to right: Rita, Pascal, Beth, Lauren, Christian, Dave, Josiah, Sarah Marie, and Robyn.




We got to see some live music and it was really amazing. I don't really know how to describe the genre, I guess I would call it electronic/classical? Anyways, there were two DJs making beats and mixing, but there was a guy playing voilin and a girl singing. It was kind of laid back and chill, but still good for dancing.

Then in the Strasbourg train station on Saturday morning, we came across a really cool charity event called "Pieces Jaune", or 'yellow pieces' that raises money by sending a train to different cities through France. It gets its name because they encourage people to donate the small change that they don't want, and it ends up being lots of money. The inside of the train is filled with activities for children and information about what the charity does for people across the country. This thing is a really, really big deal in France, and I'm lucky to have seen it.


Inside the train:


On the left: The mayor of Strasbourg. On the right: the former first lady of France, Bernadette Chirac. Yes, I was about 2 feet away from the former first lady of France. It was awesome.

A couple lists for your enjoyment

Things I like about France:

1. The people are really friendly and willing to teach you about their language and culture.

2. Delicious food and drink, with a solid replacement for taco bell: Kebabs. They're an amazing thing.

3. It's really easy to get around without having a car.

4. A lot of the people and businesses are environmentally, socially, and politically conscious.

5. The cities are beautiful, full of history, and pretty dense.

6. My apartment here is at least 600 times nicer than the one in Atlanta.

7. There are student specials and discounts almost everywhere you go.

8. The people here are really well dressed, so it motivates me to dress well too.



Things I don't like about France, or at least the part of France that I live in:

1. The weather is awful at this time of the year. I've seen the sun once in two weeks.

2. Just about everything is more expensive, except for some groceries and public transit.

3. Taking really hard classes (I know this is my fault, not France's)

4. It's really flat and there aren't many trees..basically the complete opposite of Pittsburgh in that respect.

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!