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 Posted January 15th, 2006 at 11:56PM
At long last — the last in the western europe trip series. The “Germany” category on this blog is quickly coming to its end. Expect a post or two about Amsterdam, and maybe a few retrospectives about my time in Europe, and that’s it. I liked blogging about my study abroad experience, but now feel like I could have done a much better job. And I wish it wasn’t dragging out like this, months after the fact. 
Franktfurt
Paris
Brussels
Luxembourg
Luxembourg reminded me strongly of the last leg of the Eastern Europe trip — Estonia. Both Luxembourg City and Tallinn were remarkably small capitals, cold, with small populations and no real night life. Well, Tallinn probably had a better nightlife than Luxembourg City.
Anyways, unlike the previous posts, I can’t give a day by day write-up for Luxembourg. I left the itinerary for the trip at home, and can’t really remember what we did, exactly. This is probably for the best, since the other posts were a bit too methodical, dwelling on time frames instead of actual experiences.
Also probably for the best — We only spent one night in Luxembourg. We arrived Thursday, November 10th. To my recollection, it was already dark out when we arrived at our hotel. This hotel was very funny. It was on the outskirts of a small pedestrian shopping area. The rooms were small (stereotypical European hotel small), the building itself was very tiny, and while they offered a continental breakfast, they had no dining area to speak of. This meant that the night before, each lodger had to go to the front desk, and tell them what he wanted for breakfast (the only choice was between beverages) and when. Then, the next morning at the allotted time (for us; for some their breakfasts arrived late, or not at all), you opened your door and there was your breakfast, sitting at the doorstep. Free room service.
This night in Luxembourg, me and the roommate set out to find a late-night snack, and perhaps a bit to drink. It was hard to find either.
It was only about ten or eleven, but nearly everything was closed. A few token restaurants remained open, and we finally ate at some random Italian place. There were also a handful of bars, but nothing too inviting. There were other comparisons to be made with Estonia. The time we spent in Luxembourg, it was pretty cold, with a nice wind whipping about. That late in the year, it got dark early in Luxembourg (similar to Tallinn, where — compared to what I’m used to — it gets dark early pretty much year round). And there was hardly anyone walking around. Ever. But especially at night, this was true.
The day after, we had a lecture or two, to justify spending time in Luxembourg. There was a city tour, but I ducked out, intent to find some grub. We went to a Chinese buffet (all you can eat, in Europe — odd, no?) and were disappointed when we found out that nearly everything had meat in it. A lot of seafood, shrimp even in the rice. Ah well.
Sometime midday, on Friday, November 11th, we set back for Freiburg. I forget how long the drive was, somewhere between four and five hours would be my guess. We got back late, but a lot of us were glad to be back. This trip was expensive, and while we didn’t have the busy schedules that we had in eastern Europe, it had been a draining experience (a lot of time spent just traveling?). Combine all of this with the fact that a week or so after we got back, all of our term papers were due, and you’ve got a generally so-so tour of western Europe. Still, I can finally say I’ve been there.
Posted January 12th, 2006 at 2:44AM
Franktfurt
Paris
Brussels
Luxembourg
I had a better time in Brussels than I did in Paris. True story.
We arrived in Brussels around 8:15pm, on Monday, November 7th (how long it’s taken me to finally get around to this). The hotel in Brussels was fine, I remember little about it. I do remember we did have trouble finding it however. It was right next to a church, and every morning, at six or seven, the church bell would begin ringing — a deafening sound in our room, waking us up. It was apparently rung by hand, since it was uneven, and even worse was the fact that it seemed to ring until whoever was in charge got tired. The first morning in Brussels, it had to of went on for five minutes!
I was only rooming with one guy in Brussels, and he was a cooler head than my previous roommates in Paris. That Monday night I was feeling a bit better than I did in Paris, so I went out and walked around. Nothing memorable, the hotel was in a tiny Asian section of town, so I ate some Chinese, bought a bottle of wine, and headed back to the room. We watched TV, called it an early night.
The next day was Tuesday, November 8th. We had to wake up early, for meetings at NATO headquarters. We had three meetings here, and two of them were actually excellent. The first was informative, who presented a lot of valuable info (he was “an American, but representing NATO, not America”). And the third turned out to be a fairly conservative diplomat (“representing America”). He was fairly provocative — the first speaker left his personal opinion out of it, whereas the third’s presentation was full of it. There were three or four Germans in the room, and he ruffled their feathers quite a bit. But the guy made me want to come back, take the Civil Service Exam, and work for the government. He was smooth.
This was one occasion where a sort of cultural difference appeared, which was interesting to watch. While the American students were relieved to meet someone who wasn’t full of officious bullshit, the Germans in the room were offended with his casual, opinion-laden style of presentation. The two different groups had hugely different reactions to this guy. It’s possible that the age difference came into play — although one of the Germans was one of our teacher assistants, who was in his mid-twenties. I mark it up to cultural differences — the sort of difference that makes “outsider politicians” like Bush winners in the US, while career politicians like Schroeder and Merkel earn Germany’s top spot.
After spending awhile at NATO, and having an hour lunch break, we traveled to the US-EU Mission. And these two meetings were a complete waste of time. The first women treated us like preschoolers — I felt dumber after leaving the room. While the second person, who was soon about to be transferred to the diplomatic mission to Kazakhstan (or some other backward -stan country (big freaking deal)), kept the self-important attitude of the US diplomat at NATO — without any of the charm, intelligence, or information of the former.
After this, we departed for a city tour of downtown Brussels. The tour was pretty good; the guide was nice and informative, although she recommended a really crappy restaurant that a friend and I tried and were totally disappointed with. We got a nice historical overview, and an explanation of all of the official buildings. Brussels is a city of bureaucrats — and that’s not said in any sort of disapproving manner. Brussels is the center for three or four governments and major organizations (Belgium being a heavily-federalized country, I believe both the national and state governments are housed in Brussels).
I can’t really remember what I did this night, since it’s been such a long time (damn it, half of the reason of blogging all of this was so I’d have a place it was all written down). I believe I just walked around downtown Brussels a bit with the roommate. We bought a bottle of wine, and sat on a park bench drinking. We had dinner somewhere that was unsatisfying (I swear, I didn’t have a single decent meal on this entire trip) and probably called it a fairly early night.
Wednesday, November 9th, we had a light program at the European Commission. I can’t remember anything remarkable about these lectures, so I imagine they were just marginal. Originally, we were suppose to have a meeting with Greenpeace, to see how an NGO interacts with the EU. But those plans apparently fell through, and we didn’t get to go. One I was actually looking forward to too.
This night I do remember, because it was sort of a let-down. In the morning, I checked the cellphone, and found a message from someone — alerting me about a nearby bar which had one Euro pints. Damn, we missed out. But a lot of people were going back again, so after doing the requisite wandering around trying to find food with my roommate (he was one of the other few vegetarians in our group, so that problem was shared), we headed to the place. It was sort of early, nine or ten I think, and we only caught a few people that we knew there. After a few drinks, we split. Later on, I heard about another couple of friends who showed up later, and had an absolutely crazy night in Brussels. If only we had stayed a bit longer.
Thursday, November 10th was our last day in Brussels. We met with the Council of the European Union early. Another unmemorable time. A lunch break, then we met with a representative of the European Anti-Poverty Network. This meeting was really bad. Absolutely nothing remotely interesting or informative. We left Brussels and headed towards the last leg of our journey, Luxembourg, at about five in the afternoon. Brussels was actually quite a nice city, and I would have loved to explore further. Maybe I’ll get another chance someday. Pff.
Posted December 14th, 2005 at 9:04AM
It was a long time coming, but I need to quickly wrap up the second big field trip. Over a month after it happened.. *cough*
Franktfurt
Paris
Brussels
Luxembourg
We got into Paris on November 4th. It was a Friday, and we arrived at about eight in the evening. The hotel was alright, although the elevator was broken and I was in a triple. This night we set out to see some sights. I was not feeling all that great, and after eating at a crappy Chinese restaurant, and seeing the Eiffel Tour lit up, I walked back alone. Paris was a bit intimidating at night – moreso than any of the eastern European cities.
But Paris’ subway system is amazing. I used it every day, and it was pretty easy to use / understand. Very nice.
Saturday, the 5th, we had completely free. I did all of the typical tourist things – Eiffel Tour, the miniature Statue of Liberty, the Arc D’Triumph, Notre Dame, and half a dozen other attractions. A lot of walking. And I still felt bad.
Sunday we also had free, except for a formal dinner in the evening (expenses paid, naturally). I visited the Louvre, and had the amazing luck to get in free (first Sunday of every month). The place was packed, but I saw some art. Mona Lisa. Woo. (I guess?)
The formal dinner was pretty bad, since the other vegetarian and I had to request “special” dinners, which meant crappy leftovers of the sides of everyone else. I’ll say it right now – French cuisine is bad, and overpriced to boot.
Sunday night I walked around the neighborhood around our hotel (NE of the city center area). It was sorta ethnic, sorta funky. A little creepy. Found a used clothing store, bought some pants and a couple shirts.
On Monday the 7th, we had two lectures, which were quite good. One dealt with the French rejection of the European Constitution, and the future of European integration, while the other was a meeting with a group from the EU Institute for Security Studies. The focus was on EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, and it was quite enlightening.
At about three thirty, we departed Paris for Brussels, and I was glad. The weather in Paris was bad, alternatively overcast with occasional rainshowers. I felt terrible the entire time, having some sort of stomach bug, or, more likely, just as a result of a terrible diet on the trip (vegetarian options in Paris are scarcer than any other place I’ve been. Only options were Italian, which I soon grew tired of). And Paris was just generally.. “EH”. The tourist attractions were alright – the Eiffel Tour and Arc D’Triumph being particularly impressive – but the general atmosphere sucked.
I had very low expectations for Paris, since it is such the typical tourist spot. Generally, I think it was probably better than I was expecting. But it still wasn’t all that much fun.
Posted November 19th, 2005 at 6:41PM
So, more than two weeks ago we departed for a ten day tour of Western Europe. The educational seminars were by and large better than the ones on the other trip, however the hotels (and their continental breakfasts’) were generally worse.
Franktfurt
Paris
Brussels
Luxembourg
Thursday, November 3rd we loaded our crap onto the bus bright and early at 8am. We arrived in Strasbourg an hour and a half later. We had been to Strasbourg several times already, and were only staying for a single presentation, so this was not very exciting. We left Strasbourg for Frankfurt at 11:30, and we arrived in Frankfurt by three. We had a meeting, and then had the rest of the night off.
In Frankfurt we stayed at a youth hostel. But it was probably one of the nicest youth hostels known to man. There were only four beds per room, and it was a generally clean place, with decent furniture, brightly lit, a good shower. And so on.
We only had one night to spend in Frankfurt, so we had to use it wisely. I set off in a group to the area nearby the hostel which supposedly had a lot of restaurants, and also to try some of the “apple wine” that is apparently a local concoction (for the record? It was alright. Nothing I would want to get drunk off of, but a glass or two with dinner? Acceptable). I split off of the main group at the earliest opportunity, and ate at a very good Thai place with a few others. Why Thai? I had not eaten Thai since arriving in Europe; it was a pretty clean, decent-looking establishment; and it was relatively cheap. The restaurants were expensive in Frankfurt.
It was very good Thai.
After that, two of us hooked up with another small group who were going to see a play (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). I was sort of interested, but not entirely in the mood. The price (12 euro from scalpers) was the deciding factor, and I passed on the chance. Instead, I headed into the downtown area with two Americans, and a German that one of them knew. We went to a few bars, drank a few rounds. Generally nothing to write home about. It was a good time though. I got back at around half past eleven though, and all three of my roommates were asleep.
Err… whoops? No, waitasecond. Why the hell were they sleeping so early?
The next morning, Friday the 4th, we packed our stuff onto the bus, then headed to the European Central Bank, where we had a presentation. It was alright. Again — nothing spectacular. I also began feeling sort of rotten this day, something which continued through most of the trip. It had nothing to do with drinking, I believe it was rather the result of a shoddy diet (I ate mostly cheese on baguettes during this trip, because, guess what? The French do not make vegetarian food). Any time I drank coffee, I would get indigestion, and I was generally in a sour mood.
We left Frankfurt at twelve, and arrived in Paris at around eight in the evening. We had the evening free in Paris. Gai Paris, eh? *shrug*
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