More Reflecting and such

So I realize that in my last post I sound like I'm channeling Alanis Morisette, and I know it just sounds weird, but I'll leave it up there for posterity. Amsterdam was really great, despite my emotional awkwardness. I am now back in the good ol' U S of A, and I am happy as a clam! Home is great, I love my family, and I am excited to move back to St. Olaf campus tomorrow morning. Since I got home two days ago, I have: Had my teeth cleaned, gotten my eyes checked, done my laundry, gone back-to-school shopping, had coffee with a good friend, eaten no fewer than 6 sloppy joes, and celebrated Chinese New Year with my Chinese family (Gung hei fat choy!) I feel pretty accomplished, and ready to go back to Olaf.

As far as reflection on this whole experience: OMG IT WAS AWESOME. No, really, it was! I wouldn't trade it for anything. I learned so much about myself, about people in general, about the world and the way it all works; I've had so many eye-opening experiences, met so many amazing people, and seen so many unforgettable things! I'm glad to be home, but all I really want to know is... When can I go back???

Although I know I'm too poor to afford another big trip anytime soon, I'm just outrageously thankful that I had (and took) the opportunity to do so much traveling. I am a brighter, better Sarah because of it, I'm sure. As I said many times to my good friend Bill Hoy yesterday: "I just got back from 5 months abroad --- I am SOOOO Cultured!" I say it as a joke, but really, this trip has changed me (and I'm sure I'll notice more changes as I deal with the culture shock of returning to hectic college life). Anyway, before this post starts to look too Alanis Morisette-y like the last one, I'll end this post with one last story from my trip (Enjoy!)

Airport anecdote: I didn't have a book to read before departing for my 16-hour trip home, and I figured I would buy a book at the airport. I found the book I wanted (which happened to be just about the cheapest book in the store) and it was 10.95 euros, but I only had 10.30 left! Well, I decided I could NOT sit on planes and wait in airports for 16 hours with nothing to do, so... I asked a stranger if he could spare 65 cents. Luckily, he was pretty cool about it, although he laughed at me a little when I explained my situation. I thanked him as he handed me the change, but as I walked away I realized that he had miscounted and only given me 56 cents! I couldn't bring myself to turn around and correct him, so then I had to ask 4 other people before I found someone with a 10 cent piece. I did get laughed at a few more times, but hey, I succeeded in getting the book. The End!

Love you all, the Blog ends here!
Sarah

Amsterdam?

Amsterdam makes me feel… a lot. Amsterdam makes me want to cry, but I’m not entirely sure why. It makes me want to speak to strangers, it makes me want to sit in coffee shop all day with a delicious cappuccino and read and stare at the canals. It makes me want to make art, makes me wish I had my pottery wheel and glazes and canvas and acrylics and rainbow pipe-cleaners. I want to take photos of everything I see, but I can’t bring myself to take out my camera. It makes me want to bake chocolate chip cookies with banana and peanut butter. It makes me confused and lost, it makes me want to be alone but makes me feel very lonely, it makes me want to fall in love, it makes me wonder if I am capable of truly loving, or if anyone can truly love me. It makes me miss Russia, it makes me want to go home, it makes me wonder why I decided to come in the first place. It makes me feel like I don’t know myself, like I don’t exist, like I am completely ordinary and yet oh-so-extraordinary, that no one can understand me although I must be so easy to understand. It makes me want to be a philosopher, makes me want to be a better person, makes me want to sleep all day long, makes me want to read the news. It makes me never want to eat again, makes me want to make beautiful food and eat like there’s no tomorrow. It makes me want to learn everything in the world. I wish I had another month to stay here, but I also just want to be somewhere else --- Anywhere else. Maybe this is all because I’m alone most of the time… but then again, maybe it’s better that I am spending time alone?


The other day I walked into a Dutch Delft-ware shop to look at the ceramics, and I talked to the shopkeeper about the clay bodies and the history of Delftware. Did you know that although delftware pieces always have a white base, they are not made from porcelain? Just an opaque white glaze.

Today I walked through the red light district to get to the oldest church in Amsterdam, which I had to pay to get into, so I just walked down the street to another church. I sat there and counted “Hail Mary” and “Our Father” and “Angel of God” prayers on my fingers, I went through them all 10 or 15 times and then did some freestyle prayer, starting with the prayer that my father helped us make up as children: “Dear God, make me a good girl, take care of Mommy and Daddy and Mary Claire and all of my relatives and their pets (and all of my relatives and their pets that are in heaven)…”

I like to walk along the canals like I know where I’m going (which isn’t that hard, actually). I have to dodge bicycles, and many of the cyclists are singing to themselves (or to anyone who will listen, perhaps.) When they speak Dutch, it sounds like they are speaking English --- only they are just making nonsense sounds peppered with the F-word.


I was taken to a photography museum by my wonderful host, Daan, to whom I apologize profusely for being in such a weird mood all the time. Sorry, Daan… Maybe next time we see each other I’ll be more like myself.

Tomorrow morning I fly back to Minnesota (that is, if I’m not held up in Philadelphia because of the storm that’s coming). I have no doubt that my emotions are going berserk partly because of my impending return to the US and to St. Olaf, which I haven’t seen for 5 months. Parts of me want to go home, but a lot of me wants to keep traveling for the rest of my life: To go back to Russia and live with my amazing host mother, go back to Italy and party with my good friend Laura, back to France and spend my days with my Sister Mary Claire, back to Germany where I can eat schnitzel and hazelnut kuchen with Madeleine every day, back to Belgium to watch Friends and laugh at Flemish people with Guillaume, to stay in Amsterdam and get to know this city with the help of my friend Daan.

I just made half a butternut squash for dinner, baked with butter and cane sugar (they don’t have brown sugar here, I don’t think.) I love my mother, and right now all I can think about is getting a Big Mac in the Philadelphia airport, Eggs Benedict with my friend Anders, and sloppy joes.

I’ll write a more conclusive post from home, when I can have more time to reflect on everything… I love you all!

Sarah

Belgiummmm

Alright, so I'm not in Belgium anymore, but I'll tell you about it now, is that ok? Ok, good. So, Belgium... I arrive at the train station in Ghent after a few minor difficulties (trains being late, conductors being late, conductors not being able to conduct my train because they are driving another train that is blocked by a third train...) and I had a couple of hours to kill before Guillaume (My unofficially adopted French brother...?) could come pick me up. I went on a nice walk, and had some tea, which I tried to order in French and soon learned that English was the way to go. Good news, because my French is still sub-par if you ask me.


Anyway, tea was lovely, and then Guillaume met me at the train station and took me to his work party, which was GREAT! I met so many people from everywhere around the world: France, Italy, China, Germany, Tunisia... I had a great time. Everyone seemed interested in my travels as well, which was fun to talk about. Guillaume also took me around the old part of Ghent at night, because there was a light festival going on and all of the Flemish were out and about. We remarked on many occasions: "Flemish people are so funny!"


The next day Guillaume and I stayed in and ordered pizza, watched a lot of Friends, and the Princess and the Frog. I tried some Belgian beer, and on my last morning Guillaume took me out for Belgian waffles: BEST way to end a PERFECT visit to see my brother in Belgium.

Next up --- Amsterdam!
Sarah

Frankfurt and Reflections

So, knowing that I’m only in Germany for two nights, I tried to make sure I had the most German experience that I possibly could! The first step: Cuisine. I came in with a specific list of German foods that I wanted to make sure I could eat while actually IN GERMANY! Schnitzel, Strudel, beer, and appelwine were all accomplished in my first night, while in Geissen. Today in Frankfurt I also got some Bratwurst from a street fair vendor, another type of German cake (which, unfortunately, I can’t remember the name of), and apparently the hibiscus tea I had today is particularly popular here… who knew? Then we had dinner at Madeleine’s grandmother’s house and she made us real Frankfurter sausage, and we ate it IN FRANKFURT! DOUBLE WHAMMY! Oh, and she also made a delicious Hazelnut Kuchen (cake) and I fell in love immediately. Don’t worry, I made sure to get the recipe (I really regret not getting any of my mother’s recipes in Russia, hopefully I can request them by mail someday)!

Other than that, the German experience of the day involved taking an audio-guided bus tour through Frankfurt, walking through the old part of the city, checking out the Kaiser Dom, and doing all of this with a real-life German, Madeleine, who is AWESOME.

Also, Madeleine’s grandma is seriously THE BEST! Her name is Rita, and she speaks as much English as I do German (which is none) but she talks ALL the time, which is surprisingly comforting. Madeleine has just about stopped translating for me, because Rita will just look at me and have a conversation all on her own. She asks me questions in German, and I always smile and answer “what?” but then we both just smile at each other until I figure it out. I love that she speaks to me normally instead of as if I were deaf or stupid, because miming and yelling in order to get a point across between a language-barrier just emphasizes the fact that the barrier exists. It’s even worse when people don’t talk at all because they figure they won’t be understood. It’s nice that Rita and I can just talk to each other with the mutual understanding that not many of our words are being understood. The main ideas usually translate: Generosity, Gratitude, Laughter… those are the most important messages anyway, as far as I can tell.

So yeah, I really like Germany! I’ve learned lots of German words (which I have no idea how to spell) and I love to read German signs out loud, asking Madeleine if I said them correctly. Tomorrow I am going to buy a pretzel for my train to Belgium, and then I’ll meet up with Guillaume in Ghent. Wish me luck!

Gartenartikel,

Sarah

Schnitzel, strudel, and appelwine...

I think we've all figured out by now that Sarah's favorite part is always the food... so, anyway, I am LOVING Germany! Madeleine picked me up yesterday in Gießen, and we went out to dinner for schnitzel and beer. This schnityel was bigger than my face, and I could only eat half of it, but it was the most delicious thing EVER!


Later we went out for drinks with Madeleine's friends and got some apple strudel and apple wine, to complete the German experience. It was super snazzy.


Anyway, we are on our way to discover Frankfurt, eat pretzels, and watch some German TV. Peace!

Sarah

Blogapathy

Sorry everyone, I am still in Paris, and it's still a grand old time! The bothersome thing about taking a class while I'm here is that I don't get much free time to write a blog post. Anyway, now I am getting ready for the grand finale of my European tour: One week, 3 countries, and (hopefully) a few blog posts to keep you entertained. Wish me luck in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands!


Sarah

ParisParisParis

I suck at blogging in Paris. I'm sorry, everyone, if you're disappointed in me... but since I have no time to write and no other way to sum up the past two weeks, I'll just give you a photo to summarize the experience for me so far:


(See all of the Paris photos in the Paris album, linked on the right)

Take care, everyone!

Love,
Sarah

Reveillons-Nous!

So in French, the "Reveillon" is when you stay up super late on New year's eve (or Christmas eve, or whatever eve you like) and have a big party, in order to celebrate the REAL event at midnight. The verb "reveiller," however, means "wake up." So there are these signs all over town that say "Reveillons-Nous!" which is supposed to be a play on words, since it literally means "Let's wake up!" but it sounds like "Let's party!" ...It's not a very good play on words, it's not very funny, but it pretty much sums up my experience so far in France: We party all night, but then we always have to wake up early the next morning for something or other. It's a busy life.


So for New Year's we had a nice Reveillon at Christiane's house (the woman I am staying with in Rennes). Her sisters came, my parents were here, we ate a lot (as usual) and I struggled with my french (also as usual). The next morning we had to get up at 7am and see our parents off at the train station to catch their train to Paris.

I was also lucky enough to be in France for the Epiphany (January 2nd) which is celebrated with a special dessert called "Galette de Roi." It's a flaky pastry cake filled with sweet almond paste (frangipan). But here's the kicker: they hide a tiny porcelain charm (a "feve") inside the cake, and you cut it evenly for however many guests you have (so you eat the whole thing at once). Whoever gets the feve is the "Roi" (king) or "Renne" (queen) for the day! You get to wear a crown and everything! Elle and I BOTH got a feve, so we were royalty all day long. It was sweet. We had matching crowns.


For my last few days in Rennes, I went for a walk with MC through the Parc Thabor: A beautiful park in Rennes (The park's rose garden is featured above, but it's winter... so... yeah). I also saw some friends from Olaf who are staying here as well, went shopping, did laundry, and I've been eating a lot of Christmas chocolates.

Tomorrow Elle and I go to Paris! Woohoo!

Je vous aime,
Sarah