MAAAAAH FACE

Thanksgiving: the day we made our mothers proud

It started two weeks ago with a Facebook event invitation. I was sitting trying to studying for the accounting final and it suddenly hit me. Thanksgiving was upon us. There had been talk about splitting up the group of thirteen Americans and having satellite Thanksgiving dinners, but in the end we decided it just couldn't be and wouldn't be right. So we sent out the invitation and immediately the ball got rolling, and oh would it roll.

Fast forward two weeks and there are 35 people stuffed into my bedroom.

A slight rewind:
We started cooking on Tuesday night or Pie Night as it was affectionately named. A few of the other girls and I got together and baked 5 pies. Two pumpkin and three apple. But these were no ordinary pies. These were magic pies. Baked with love, charisma and awkward conversation. The pumpkin pie was amazingly fresh and made from real pumpkin NOT OUT OF A CAN. I was terrified that it wouldn't be good and kept bringing up the idea of doing test runs (I don't know when I started to get so nutty about cooking). The pies came out beautifully and we even had one that had a pastry turkey to top one off.

Thursday morning we had our French Law class. We couldn't pay attention. We were too full of excitement. IT WAS THANKSGIVING! We rushed home in a tizzy from class and began to get organized. Began to get organized by moving all my furniture out of my room and into various placces in the apartment. My armoire= the hallway, my bed= Kristyn's room, and my desk= the kitchen. It was nuts. The tables and chairs began to arrive all 6 tables and all 28 chairs and we began to feel a little hopeful, a little like it was actually going to work out. . . not to be too cheezy but . . . a little thankful.

I made corn casserole and a pumpkin gratin. Both were well recieved and I continued my typical Thanksgiving tradition of eating corn casserole for breakfast the day after. Corn casserole is so delicious. It is so ooey-gooey and wonderful. I digress.

7pm came around. We had a monstrous amount of food. Any previous concerns that we had about feeding our 35 friends hd been thrown out the window. People came over and surprisingly everyone fit in my room, everyone had a seat . . .well except Kristyn and I, but that was not an issue because we were running around the apartment (small as it may be) like chickens with our heads cut off.

I told the Thanksgiving story to everyone in French, pilgrims, starving, corn and all. We made everyone say what they were thankful for. I was thankful for so many exciting people being there.

But Thanksgiving held other surprises. A totally Thanksgiving type (holiday, warm and fuzzy) suprise, like the text message I recieved from our neighbors wishing us a "bon fête"*.

The night went swimmingly and only one table fell down (the tables were shoddy from the student residence). But there was so much friendship and so much excitement and that was what made the night. The fact that people where having their first Thanksgivings and it was with us. I feel like we all made our mothers and grandmothers proud last Thursday night. Because darling, we threw one great party.

Photos, as always, are here: www.flickr.com/geniusb

*We had posted signs all over our building informing our neighbors that we were going to have a big party on Thursday for our traditional American holiday.

Whilst studying for accounting. . .

"Do you know what the difference between dotation et provision is?"

"I think they are the opposite or something. . .hold on, I'll look it up on wordreference."

(pause)

"Kristyn, you're never going to believe this."

"What????"

". . .dotation means provision."

A Road Trip: Toussaint

We (me + 3 other girls) had the day after halloween off and so we decided to do what any other sensible person living in Europe would do. We went on vacation. After looking at several destinations and modes of transportation, we decided to rent a car. I wanted to rent a Panda. If only because I think that a car called a Panda is the most hilarious thing in the world. I mean think of the marketing: step into my speedy, sexy new . . . panda? Or want a ride in something slow, predictable and apt to munching on bamboo, well we have just the car for you. . . a panda! The panda didn't work out much to my chagrin, but we did get an awesome Megane.

The Megane was kickass, a blue beauty with a credit-card looking key. So cool. Though I admired all of the cars I did not get to drive. Why would a licensed and perfectly capable American girl not have to share the workload of driving in Europe? Well let's just thank the stars for never learning how to drive manual. I was the co-pilot and the worthless backseat rider. It was awesome.

The itinerary:
Reims->Luxembourg City->Chateau Bourscheid->Aachen->Brussels->Brugge->Reims

My take on each destination:
Luxembourg City- I don't know why I have never known or heard that the city is in a gorge and is awesome. You hear people say that, "It's a beautiful city" (check); that, "It's a great place for walks/hiking" (check); or that, "It's a great place to get in touch with nature" (check). But somehow people left out: "It's a beautiful multilayered city with amazing nooks and crannies to get lost in, and is maybe one of the most breathtaking views in Europe." No one ever told me. It was a wonderful surprise. Also, the hostel in Luxembourg is AMAZING. It's newly renovated and thanks to my little lonely planet travel guide we got to sleep in their highly stylish bunkbeds. When I say "highly stylish" I am not being sarcastic. They were hot. DINNER WAS Delicious, they had stuffed peppers for vegetarians and even a veggie lasagna. The hostel food was badass. Included b-fast: yum, yum, yum.

Chateau de Bourscheid - We made this stop on the way to Aacken. It was pretty cool. After driving around some foggy winding roads and one of our friends getting attacked by stinging nettles, we arrived at the 1,000 year old castle. Slightly disappointing was the fog that covered the surrounding valley (a valley I'm more than sure is breathtakingly beautiful; especially in the fall when all the leaves are colorful). We got to storm that castle. No one was supervising and so we were allowed to just walk around the area. That was cool. It felt like exploring. For a minute I felt like a real archeologist*.

Aachen - As we walked around the meeting point of Germany, Beligum, and the Netherlands, you really can't help but see the different influences on the city. People were speaking in French, Dutch and German (and as always: English), and we got there on a bustling day, Friday. We were on the lookout for waffles, gingerbread, beer and Charlemange as we walked around and ending up going to this really cool coffeehouse called Leo van den Daele. It was made of a combination of merchant houses put together to produce a rambling multi floor coffeehouse with a lot of crazy antiques. We had strudel, gingerbread, and some other treats all while enjoying some great German beer. We left there in search of food and more drinks and we ran into a dilemma: it was only 4 pm. We would run into this problem all week. Because of the drizzling weather and our early starts, we would check out the sites and be finished around 4-5pm each day. We were always faced with the awkward question of what to do until 7/8pm (dinner time!) without going back to the hostel (most of the time they were a bit out of the way). In Aachen we would this beer place that was amazing. We had our first drink at 4:30 and dinner done by 7:00. We decided to leave and go to the BAD AACHEN. I had never been to a German bad (thermal bath) and was so excited to go. We were really nervous about the bathing suit situation (naked or not) and brought everything with us (bathing suits . . . forgot the towels), but soon realized it's more like a swimming pool deal. Saved! If you ever go to Aachen go to the baths. It was so cool. You could swim outside in the hot-tub like swimming pool without even feeling cold. Or you could sit under steaming waterfalls and relax. It was amazing. They even have a meditation room. A softly lit quiet place to relax in with some chill music. It was one of the highlights.

Brussels- I didn't know what I thought Brussels would be like. Maybe I thought it would be like D.C. slightly sterile with all the important government buildings. But Brussels was lively. It was lively in the most wonderful way. There were lots of people in the Grand Markt and we got to see the Mannekin Pis, the symbol of Brussels and a statue of a little boy peeing. Every once and awhile you would see a comic come to live on the sides of buildings, that mixed with European institutions makes an amazingly quirky city. I dug it. I also dug my fries drowned in my spicy mayo sauce. Oh yes, and restaurants that make paying customers pay for the toilet are -pun intended- crap, I'm looking at you: Roi de l'Espagne.

Brugge- As Kristyn had read "Brugge is the Venice of the north", we took a canal tour of the city. Thank goodness, in this little picturesque city canal tours are only around 5 euros, unlike their overpriced friend in the south. We got to see a Michaelanglo, touch the coagulated blood of Christ (for a small donation of course), a Benedictine nunnery and eat some waffles. One of our friends, a beer connoisseur of sorts, had one goal: to get to 't Brugs Beertje, a beer haven of more than 300 Belgian beers. 3 of us (one being a designated driver and coincidentally a non-beer drinker) had 4 each. This was purely educational as we felt the need to each have a sip of all 12 beers, a tasting, if you will. We waited all day and got into the bar exactly as the doors opened at 4 pm. Within 10 minutes the place was packed! It was great and we made it home that night safe and sound.

Distanced travel: 1,120 kilometers.

Pictures are here: http://flickr.com/photos/geniusb/sets/72157603045233671/ 

*this is slightly lame, but so true. Ok. it's more than slightly lame. Leave me alone.