Fin de Vacance (et des Etudes) en France

Salut encore ! J’avais été aux Etats-Unis depuis la fin de Mai. Avant de partir la France j’ai pris une vacance fascinant au sud de la France sur la Méditerranée. J’ai commencé a Nice au sud-est de la France prés de la frontière d’Italie. C’était vraiment une belle ville. Mais la plage était un peu étrange parce qu’en lieu du sable on a une plage des pierres. Je pense que la planche prés de la mer était mon place favoris d’etre a Nice mais il y avais beaucoup beaucoup de choses a faire dans ce ville extraordinaire.
Quand je suis arrivé, je suis allé directement a mon hôtel. En fait, j’avais de bonne chance parce que j’ai payé pour une chambre avec 5 autres personnes mais ils me donnaient une chambre de seulement 2 personnes. L’autre homme dans le chambre venait de New Zealand donc c’était chouette de parler avec lui et apprendre qu’il travail sur la mer comme aide de chef. Apres de laisser mes bagages au chambre, j’ai décidé de marcher a travers la ville et découvrir des choses sans vraiment un but de quoi de voir. Je suis allé au marché des fleurs qui est un marché ou on pouvait voir des fleurs mais aussi toutes les choses « Médittéranique » et native au sud de la France, nord d’Italie, et nord d’Afrique aussi. C’était chouette mais comme toujours j’étais trop bon marché d’acheter quelque chose. Apres ca, j’ai décidé de trouver la mer parce que j’avais écouté que le vue est surement la plus belle chose quelqu’un peut imaginer et j’ai besoin de dire ca n’est pas trop loin de la vérité. Avec la soleil reflet sur la mer c’est fascinant. Donc, j’ai pensé qu’un bonne idée serait de rester ici et lire un livre, écrire des poste-cartes pour ma famille et des amis, et légèrement amuser la vie comme les français se sentaient être able de faire toujours.
Apres d’être la pour quelques heures j’étais tres fatigué par le voyage en train par Paris (6 heures !) Donc j’ai retourné au chambre pour dormir et ensurer que je serais prêt pour les deux jours suivant a Nice ou j’avais toujours beaucoup de choses a faire. Quand je me suis levé j’ai courrais prés de la plage pour la totalité de la planche. Apres avoir prendre une douche j’ai décidé de monter le grand colline ou il y avait un château a quelque point dans l’histoire mais maintenant seulement des vestiges. L’escalier était un peu difficile mais c’était tout pour une bonne raisonne parce que par le pic on pouvait voir les deux ports de Nice et en fait beaucoup de la ville de Nice et de la côte Méditerranée. Aussi sur le colline il y avait un grand cimetière. Apres ca j’ai decide de faire qqch différent et qqch que je n’avais pas faire il y avait comme 5 ans, j’ai loué des rollers. C’était amusant à la première parce que j’étais vraiment horrible haha. Des autres touristes et des résidents me regardent comme fou.
Le jour suivant, j’ai pensé qu’un bonne idée serait d’aller aux ruines Gallo Romaines qui était assez loin de l’eau au cour de la ville. En fait, le parc Gallo-Romain était chouette parce qu’il y avait des arènes anciennes au milieu d’une ville moderne. Aussi, il y avait bcp musées intéressant dans ce ville. Je suis allé a la musée de l’architecture mais aussi bcp d’autres.

La prochaine s’arrête de mon tour de la sud de France était Avignon. J’ai pris le train encore et c’était vers 3 heures. En fait, le conducteur ne regard pas mon passe d’Eurail qui était bon pour moi parce que maintenant je peux faire un option vacance parce que j’avais 7 journées mais ce ne conte pas si le conducteur n’écrit pas sur le billet.
Je n’ai pas su quoi de penser d’Avignon avant de arriver. Je savais que c’était ou il y avait le grand palais de papes qui était construit quand il y avait le schism dans l’eglise catholique. En fait, entre les 12 et 15 siecles, il y avait de papes, un a Rome dans le Vatican mais aussi un en France a Avignon. Quand j’ai arrivé le premiere chose j’ai vu était que la ville est complètement entouré par un mur médiéval. Donc, l’autobus j’ai pris par la gare était trop grand pour les rues vraiment étroit. Dedans les murs il y avait un village au charme vieillot avec une mélange des magasins materialistique et nouveaux mais aussi des petits magasins qui était locale et plus personnel. Le centre et foyer du village avait besoin être le Palais de Papes, le Pont Avignon qui est très fameux, et le beau hôtel de ville au centre d’Avignon.
Mais laisse-moi retourner au quoi j’ai fait au première. J’avais trois sacs avec moi donc j’ai voulu de trouver mon auberge. Je l’ai trouvé mais avec un peu de difficulté. C’était pas dedans les murs de la ville mais en fait sur l’autre cote de la puissant Rhône. C’était un site d’une auberge mais aussi pour camping avec les RVs. En première c’était très différent mais après quelques jours j’ai trouvé que je l’aimais plus chaque jour. Il y avait un vue formidable a travers le Rhône de la ville mais specifiquement le Palais et le Pont.
Ici j’ai rencontré deux hommes Canadien qui j’ai partagé mon visite touristique avec. Ils étaient un peu âgée que moi et dans une situation un peu différent mais c’était chouette de trouver des autres avec lesquelles je peux sortir au bars. Ils étaient en train de faire un tour d’Europe pour 4 mois avec seulement un sac et un livre touristique. Nous avons blagués que c’était amusant que l’Americain (moi) peut parler francais meilleure que les Canadiens même que c’est une des langues national de Canada. Ils étaient tres gentils et je suis content de les avoir rencontrés.
Le jour j’étais la ils faisaient des préparations pour un concert en face de Palais de Papes. C’était super parce que nous avons une chose très moderne comme un concert avec les cameras de télé et microphones mais dans l’arrière-plan cette bâtiment âgée, ligné par statues et des autres choses décoratifs et clairement plein d’histoire de la France mais aussi de l’Europe (a quelque point c’était la ville plus importante en Europe sous le pape). Ils ne nous laissons pas au concert mais ils nous disent que c’était un groupe francaise qui est fameux et savant pour inciter des émeutes qui me semble chouette. J’ai vu Avignon en 3 jours mais vraiment je pense qu’on a besoin d’un jour ou deux en haut pour voir la ville parce que c’est tres petit et il n y avait pas beaucoup de faire pendant la nuit comme clubs. En disant ca j’ai besoin de dire qu’Avignon étaient une ville tres chouette et unique et je pense que toutes seraient l’aimées.
J’ai dit au revoir aux mes nouveaux amis Canadiens et j’étais sur le piste vers Aix-En-Provence. Là j’avais bcp des amis. Rajeev Chaudhary et Jennifer Reinke qui je savais par l’université de Wisconsin mais aussi Leah Steckler qui est allée au même lycée de moi dans Greenwich. Donc, clairement j’aurais beaucoup de choses a faire en Aix. Quand je suis arrivé Rajeev m’a rencontré a la gare routiere. Par la nous avons marcher a travers la ville et le découvrir. Apres lui j’ai fait le meme chose avec Leah. Nous avons vu presque toute la ville dans un jour. Aix est vraiment spectaculaire. Les rues sont tout mince et venteux qui rendent être perdu plus facile. La rue dont j’ai utilisé comme centre quand j’étais perdu était toujours le cours mirabeau, le plus grand et le plus fameux rue dans la ville. C chouette parce que sur cette rue il y a une melange d’hisoire et modernité. Il y a des petits places avec des fontaines qui était construit par les Romains pendant leur occupation de la France il y a 1500 ans. Et comme tout l’architecture de la France les bâtiments sont pour le plupart très vieux. Mais ici dedans les bâtiments âgée il y a des magasins et restauraunts modernes.

Londres avec les Balldiers!

Ce week-end je suis allé avec mon équipe de basket (et beaucoup des autres équipes de ESCP aussi comme rugby, foot, volley) à Londres pour jouer contre ESCP Londres. J’étais a Londres il y a vers 9 ans et donc ce n’était pas nécessaire de voir toutes les sites touristiques qui était bien.

Nous sommes arrivés a Londres vendredi soir assez tard et donc nous n’avons pas fait beaucoup pendant le soir. À la première nous sommes allés au campus de l’ESCP Londres pour recevoir notre assignements de logement. J’étais avec Stéphane (un jouer de notre équipe) et nous avons resté avec deux étudiants, Graig et Thomas, qui sont français mais maintenant sont a Londres. Ils ont habité dans le nord de Londres donc la première nuit nous ne sommes pas allés trop loin de leur maison. Beaucoup des membres de nos équipes qui sont venus de Paris sont allés à un bar qui s’appelle le « Railway » et ça était amusant. Apres ça nous avons décidé que c’était presque le temps pour dormir et nous avons retourné aux logements.
Le deuxième jour nous avons commencé avec un « brunch » à l’école pour presque une heure avec cookies, sandwiches, jus, et quelques d’autres choses aussi. Apres ça nous sommes allés au gymnase pour jouer au basket. Les filles ont joué la première et nous elles suivions. L’équipe que nous avons joué n’était pas très bien mais après le premier quartier c t seulement 13-10 dans notre faveur. Mais dans le deuxième, nous avons renversé la porte et à la fin du quartier nous étions en contrôle, 20 points en plus.

Apres le match je suis allé de trouver mon ami Chris Bianchi qui étudiait a Londres pour le semestre. Nous avons bu un peu et parler un peu mais a cette pointe j’ai voulu d’aller a un club. ESCP a loué le deuxième étage d’un club pour nous et aussi les équipes de Londres. C t très très amusant parce que la musique qu’ils ont joué était très éclectique comme hip-hop le première moment en suivant par le B-52s « Love Shack. » J'ai perdu presque ma voix par chantant trop. Toutes les filles et presque tous les hommes était la donc c t très amusant ce nuit !

Dimanche matin j’ai fait quelque des choses touristiques comme voir Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace et des choses comme ça. C t une bonne conclusion de ma visite a Londres je pense. En générale le voyage était super et parce que l’école subventionnait le prix du train c t pas cher a tout !

Cette semaine j’ai seulement un cours dans lequel j’ai l’examen final du cours mais aussi à ESCP. Aussi, j’ai un match mardi soir à H.E.C. (une autre grande école de commerce). Si nous gagner nous aurons un match ce week-end a Reims en Champagne pour le « coup de France ». C super ! Aussi Vendredi soir est la « nuit de la cap », en fait c le plus grand fête de l’année qui célébrera la fin de l’année scolaire. Donc ça sera amusant et fantastique aussi.

J’ai fait ce post en français parce que j’ai réalisé que mon temps ici est presque fini et donc je veux voir pour moi-même si mon français est mieux qu’avant. Je ne suis pas sur mais je peux le comprendre en parlant beaucoup mieux et je pense que je peux le parler mieux aussi.

Si vous avez difficulté avec la translation, laisse-moi savoir et je peux traduire pour vous, ok ? A bientôt !

DUBLIN for Patty's!

This past weekend I spent in Dublin, Ireland for St. Patrick's Day. The city itself is great because it is very small so walking everywhere is almost easier than using other transportation. We saw many things while here but the highlights were certainly the crypts underneath St. Michen (spelling?) church, the Guinness Factory tour, Stephen's green and many more. The catacombs/crypts were very interesting because the bodies of famous Irishmen lay there and were preserved due to the way it was constructed keeping the temperature always constant and the humidity as well. Thus, the bodies were mummified without actually intending to do so. The Guinness factory is unbelievable. From taking this tour you can really tell how much they love their beer. It was 7 floors of history and procedure of making Guinness. It was actually very interesting to see what makes it so different than other beers. With the ticket you also get a free Guinness, straight from the factory, which tasted amazing. In fact, because of the way they have it on tap, it comes out brown with less head on the top but ferments in front of your eyes. You see it mix and eventually turn black, which signals that you can drink it now. The videos they had though were almost humorous because they were talking about Arthur Guinness (the creator) as if he was the most significant Irish man that ever lived and that he was heroic for what he did.

The first night I was there we actually went to an Irish comedy improv show similar to whose line is it anyway in a very small venue, which was hilarious. Before it even started they took the opportunity to make fun of people in the crowd. And us being the Americans with the tourist big green hats on were pretty easy to make fun of. I didnt get some of the local references but everything else was relatively easy to understand even with the thick irish accents. The funniest was probably a skit they did where they would have to constantly change their accents from australian to irish, to scottish, to french, etc. They did an unbelievable Texas accent which I assume is taken from Bush and I found the French accent to be hilarious as well. The New York accent wasnt all that great though, it was basically a Robert De Niro Italian type accent. The Temple Bar area, which is the city's main cultural quarter was always packed full of people all celebrating patty's. The food here was also amazing. Everything was meat and potatoes, which certainly suits my kind of diet.

Praha! Wien! Budapest!

For spring break we decided to do a few days in Prague, Budapest and Vienna. There were 6 of us, 4 girls and 2 guys that went. We flew to Prague first and got in pretty late so we decided to call it a night. The next few days were spent exploring the city exclusively by foot. The city was small enough to just be able to walk wherever we wanted to go. It was very cool because it was much different from the other cities I've seen in terms of its architecture and setup. On one side of the river splitting the city in 2 is the Prague Castle area up on a hill overlooking the city (which is the largest castle area in europe). It holds some fantastic buildings including a huge gothic church that took over 500 years to complete. The church was started in medieval times but was not completed until 1914! From up there you can see the entire city which really is beautiful. To cross the water is the famous Charles Bridge which is exclusively a walking bridge which is lined with statues on both sides. One statue in particular was interesting because there was a legend along with it. King Charles' (of the HRE) wife had been going to confession for quite some time and he was curious about her fidelity so he went to the confessionary and asked him to tell what she had said. He refused as he was binded by the church not to say, so King Charles tied up his hands and threw the confessionary off of the bridge precisely where there is now a statue. Another interesting one is there is a statue with a dog and woman that you're supposed to rub as you pass by. Unfortunately i didnt take the walking tour before we did this so i didn't hear the story and rubbed both of them. Women are supposed to rub the dog for good luck in the near future at "keeping their man with them in the house" and if a man rubs it is supposedly bad luck and you are said to be likely to "impregnate a girl in the next year". Oh well. Also some of the great sites include the large jewish quarter (biggest in Europe) with some fascinating synogagues and a neat cemetary, the astronomical clock in old town square, the dancing building, etc. Also the clubs in Prague were amazing. The best one we went to was one that was 5 floors tall, with each floor playing different genres of music. The first floor was rap/r and b, next was pop, next was techno, next was classic rock, and the top floor was czech and hungarian pop. It was a very interesting experience. In Prague I also found the food to be very good as well. I tried Czech traditional goulash (spelling?) and it was really good. Overall Prague was probably the city that I liked the most on the trip because the whole city was walkable and there was so much to see and do. As for the language, it certainly is a different type of language than french or english or german so it was very hard for me to pick up anything.




Next stop was Vienna, Austria. We took a bus from Prague to Austria and although while in Prague I didnt really feel like I was in the "former communist block", on this drive there were certainly still remnants. Statues of men with machine guns and run down little towns were everywhere in the czech republic. It was very interesting to see actually. We got to vienna around 1 on tuesday and it was amazing because the bus dropped us off right in front of the city hall, which was sooo nice. In front of it was a huge ice skating rink that actually had all sorts of little ice trails running like a maze through the park. Vienna was a much different city than Prague; it looked like many other western cities in its architecture and the general sentiment of the city. We saw all of the major sites such as the shonnebrunn palace, the sigmund freud museum, and the center of the city which holds about 10 different museums. Speaking of the food, this had to be my favorite because we went to this one traditional austrian restaurant and i ordered a weiner schnitzel expecting a small chop but got one that was actually bigger than the already big plate. It was about the size of a frozen pizza in circumference; it was amazing. We also went up to the top of the tallest tower in Vienna to get a great view of the city and it was a beautiful site. From this tower there were also people bungy jumping but I didnt partake in that....































The next stop was Budapest in Hungary, which I enjoyed immensely. The culture was so different than that of any place I had ever been. The city was set up similar to Prague in that a river ran through the middle (in this case the Danube) and on one side lied the castle and historical sites and on the other lied the place where the townspeople would live. I actually didnt know ahead of time that Budapest was at one time two different cities (one Buda and the other Pest) and was combined at some point. Hungary has clear influences of the countries that had occupied them for hundreds of years. This includes the Holy Roman Empire, Germany, and the Soviet Union but it also has a distinct culture of its own. This language was pretty much impossible for me to speak correctly. The formation of the words was very few vowels and many consonants that when put together make a sound that I certainly wouldnt think they would make. A few girls that we met out at a club kept laughing at us for our pronunciation of simple words such as "thank you" which we could just not pronounce right even just trying to mimic them. Here, the architecture was similar in style to Prague. The Parliament building and the castle were great as was fisherman's bastion, hero's square and the city park. Budapest is well known for its spas and baths and there are over 100 different ones. We went to one and it was pretty much the most relaxing thing i've ever done. I'm really glad I decided to do it because at first I was like, what do I need that for? I'd rather just see the city. I also had a friend that is currently studying in Budapest that I met up with and she showed us some of the lesser known things to see and do in Budapest which was nice. While the girls did some shopping, Ardy and me went to two different museums. One being the history of Budapest located in the castle and the other being the history of the Hungarian military. They were very interesting and allowed me to better understand how Budapest became what it is today. I had no idea how tough it has been for the Hungarians constantly being under the rule of others all the way up until 1989. The food here was great because it was really spicy. There is this mix of crushed red pepper and paprika that is used as a condiment for many things and I loved it. the exchange rate was interesting here because it was 172 Hungarian Forents to 1 US dollar so it was normal for us to get a check of 20,000 forents. I found it to be very cool to be holding a 10,000 forent bill even if it was not worth all that much.




Overall I had an unbelievable time on this trip and it was great to see the different nations and hear the different languages. I would definitely recommend all 3 cities but if I had to choose one as a place you "need to see" it would be between Prague and Budapest because Vienna is very similar to cities you'll find in France and Germany and many western nations whereas Prague and Budapest are in fact very different.

Le Week-end a Berlin

It took me quite a while to finally write this post, but 2 weekends ago I took a trip with Lyndsey and Theresa (2 girls who also go to Wisconsin) to Berlin, Germany. We left very very early on saturday morning and returned tuesday around noon. It was such a blast, and it was much different than Paris. The city is so interesting because of its history but what I found so interesting was the fact that its history haunted its inhabitants. Many of the Berliners we spoke to were overly nice and willing to talk in English (something that doesn't happen as often for non French speakers in Paris!)



We took the "Third Reich" tour which was about 4 hours long and took us through the heart of the city seeing all the major sites (Brandenberg Gate, Reichstag, Checkpoint Charlie, Museuminsel, the TV tower needle, etc.) but it was mainly focused on the history of Hitler's rise to power and the creation of his Third Reich government. First of all, it was very interesting to hear this from the German point of view but it was also very informative in the fact that I learned things about the government I had never known previously. The next day we went to the DDR museum which is basically a museum on what life was like in East Berlin when it was split between '63 and '89. It didn't look as gloomy in the pictures as I had heard previously but our hostel was far into the old "East" Berlin and traces are still very visible mainly in the architecture. All of the apartment buildings and flats were the same size, the same color, etc. Everything was standardized. It's certainly getting much more modern looking and merging with the West but the divide is still quite evident. We also saw the Jewish museum, which was a VERY good museum that is similar to the Holocaust Museum in DC except it covers the history of Jewish people in Germany and in greater Europe.

Because 90 percent of the city was destroyed in 1945 in the final siege of Berlin by the British and Americans flanking from the west and the Soviet Union converging from the East, many of the buildings of Nazi Germany no longer remain but there are still some that are visible. The wall is also still visible in a few places with a whole outdoor exhibition dedicated to the time period when Berlin was split into East and West. I found the Checkpoint Charlie (the checkpoint between the American sector of Berlin and the Soviet sector of Berlin) museum very interesting as well. The history of this checkpoint is immense as the two superpowers were literally facing each other from about 100 metres away from each other. Some of the most interesting stories are those of how people attempted to get out of East Germany into the West. Some tried to dig under the wall, some tried to run and hop over the wall (not usually a good strategy as Soviet guard towers lined the wall at close intervals, some tried to parachute over, some tried to hide in cars and go through the checkpoint (this worked some time but was obviously very risky.) as well as many, many more.


I also must say that the food in Germany was awesome. It was cheaper than Paris by about 50 percent and it was by far less bread and pastries. What I really liked was the Weiner Schnitzel, Bratwurst, Currywurst, Saurkraut, and of course the German beers sold at every corner of the city.

In the end I really enjoyed this trip, my first depart from Paris since I've been living here, greatly. It was a very unique experience and although a lot of the history was oral because the buildings no longer stand and the schism no longer exists between east and west, it was an eye opening experience for me. Also, I picked up a few German phrases and words as well, I find it to be a fun language to speak and listen to because it is pretty much the opposite of French in that it is quite choppy with very hard sounds. It was definitely a good change of pace for me, and I was impressed with the Germans that I met as well!

Anyway, I hope all is going well back in the States, the Europeans are really invested in the Primaries so I'm hearing all about them. I missed O'bama and Clinton campaigning in Madison but was able to watch Obama's speech in front of the 20,000 students and supporters in the Kohl Center on Youtube. I think it would have been very fun to have been at; he certainly knows how to public speak!


Mickey - Feb. 15

First Post

Hi all,
I decided that while I'm in Europe it would be a good thing to create a blog, both so I can look at it in the future to remember this once in a lifetime opportunity and also keep everyone updated as to what I'm doing while in Europe. I can't promise you all that I will update it very often but in case you want to check up on me, this will be an easy way to do so. I will try and put up as many pictures as I can as well as anything I think you would like to know.
For those of you who don't know, I'm studying in Paris, France at l'ESCP-EAP (European School of Management) until early June so I'm sure there will be plenty for me to tell you guys about. So far, it's been absolutely great. The sites in Paris are incredible and I'm picking up more and more of the language each day, which is nice as well. I live in an apartment complex near the Bastille Area (11th arrondisement; east side of the city) and the school is only a 10-15 minute metro ride, which is very convenient. I've found the Parisian metro to be unbelievably simple to use and in general if you need help, as long as you ask in French (or at least make an attempt), i've found many people to be quite helpful. Obviously I've done all of the main tourist attractions here (l'arc de triomphe, la tour eiffel, montmartre et Sacre-Coeur, Les Champs-Elysees, la Seine, etc.) but Paris is so full of things to see and do that I feel like each day I can learn/see something new in the city. That being said, Paris is quite an expensive city, which is probably its only drawback.
At the school I've met people from all over the world including France, Spain, Canada, Sweden, Slovakia, Poland, Australia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and many more as well! It is very interesting to meet and talk to people from other cultures and I definitely have learned a lot from talking with them.
Anyway, this is just the first of many posts I will make but I hope all is well with all of you and I will talk to you later!

A Bientôt!


Below:
Top Left - On the stairs coming down from L'arc de triomphe

Top Right - We all saw the Lion King en francais, and it was very good. Also very weird to hear all of the songs in french and not english

Bottom Left - At Pere Lachaise cemetary, which is very very very large. It houses some famous people as well including Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde.

Bottom Right - The girls and I in front of La Tour Eiffel!