MAAAAAH FACE

The Road Trip : Southwest and California Tour!

Sorry for the silence on this end. I'll admit it has been pure laziness. I've been catching up on sitcoms, obsessing over facebook, and flitting around between Austin and Pleasanton - oh, and did I mention I have a pool?

So now it is time for the epic recap of the road trip adventure! I've decided to split into a sort of list to make this clearer and give a  better recap of our itinerary. I'll take a destination and write out a few of the highlights or funny stories - whichever may have happened at that point.

But first off, I'll give a few details on the actual organization of trip. We were seven humans in a Chrysler Towne and Country - dubbed Napoleon, after that we switched (oil problems) and took a Dodge Caravan who never had a name. Of the seven, the three boys were of French nationality and the girls were German. I was the only American. We used an iPhone for all navigation purposes, and did not use a map. The iPhone kept dying after constant abuse by all road trippers. The Town and Country was actually quite excellent as it had storage in the floor. We put the tents that we packed (two, one for the girls and one for the boys) and the air mattresses that we had bought in that nice little section. In the back of the car - we had it packed full, making it impossible for anyone to see out the back of the car. It was a bit cramped at times, but we made it work. A bit of discomfort never hurt anyone, and that's the point of a road trip, right?

Ok, so let's begin!

Austin

• The crew arrived on July 1st, I went over to pick them up at the Austin airport. We then picked up our car - had problems with National (this became a theme), and finally secured the van.
• My sister took us to Gueros and we had amazing tex-mex foodz.
• SEGWAYS. My other sister took us on an awesome tour of Austin, where we learned about how EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas (including our Capitol building). We also saw many other awesome Austin things, and learned tons all whilst riding segways. 
• That night we went to Midnight Rodeo, learned to two-step and saw trucks the size of houses.

New Braunfels, Tx

• Went tubing down the Comal river. We accidentally left one of our doors open during the entire (2 hr) ride down the river. Not one single thing was stolen. That is how awesome Texans are. 
• On the Comal river, we lost two sets of flip-flops going down the first chute. We searched the entire way, but never found them. 
• Want to know why there are so many Germans in Neu Braunfels?

San Antonio, TX

• Saw the Alamo, searched for banks, and could not find one open in the Downtown San Antonio.

Pleasanton, TX

• Pool party! Two huge cakes were involved. Tons of food. Excellent.
• We let off a ton of HUMONGOUS fireworks (admist a burn ban - oops) and had one explode.  
• We played beer pong in my garage, boys vs. girls. The boys showed up in uniform - matching superman undies!
• We all ended up a little drunk. Julien slept in the gazebo. The next morning, we were ready to hit the road!

During the 8 hr drive toward New Mexico

• We set the GPS from Texas toward El Paseo. Didn't realize that we had the iPhone GPS on "walking" mode. This made us take dirt roads in Pleasanton and probably added 1-2 hours to our journey. Best part, we ate lunch in Utopia, Texas.

White Sands, NM

• Went sledding on white sand dunes.
• Got controlled by US Border Control - had to explain the Europeans were all illegals. ;-)
• Got very lost in White Sand dunes. All the dunes looked the same, and there were no markers (once we went off the path) to tell the difference. The result? Crazy burns on calves, arms, chest and face. 

Santa Fe, NM

• Our first camping adventure. Sadly, a theme began in with BBQs ... they always ended up being almost as expensive as restaurants.
• A woman in the bathroom, wearing leather chaps and a Harley t-shirt gave me aloe gel. My burns from White Sands sold me out. People at campsites are genuinely nice.
• Bought cool earrings from a Navajo woman.

Petrified National Forest and Holbrook, AZ

• Picked up a piece of wood - it was heavy like a rock. Wild. 
• We even slept in petrified wigwams that night (ok, they were concrete!). Very cool fun going down route 66. Holbrook, AZ was definitely a highlight.

Grand Canyon 

• Got there and decided the view from up top wasn't enough. We asked for our backcountry permit that afternoon. Admittedly, I was a bit nervous about the hike 7 miles down ( We did it in 4 hours : A descent of 5,000 ft) and then 10 miles (We made it in about 6 hours : to go up 4,380 ft). I'm not going to lie, it was really difficult, and it was hot. We lucked out on the first day as it was cloudy . Day 2 was not. The hike was more difficult than anything I have ever done. At the end of the trail we were tired - no, exhausted, but proud. I'm glad to say that I did it.
• Slept in a tent at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and played 500 rounds of UNO. We learned about California Condors during a Ranger talk and worried about scorpions through the night.
• Woke up both mornings at 3:30 AM to start the hikes.

Las Vegas, NV

• Ah yes, finally some luxury! We stayed at the Luxor and slept in the pyramid. It was a great deal for the price. After the death march at the Grand Canyon, we decided to stay an extra day in Vegas. This was a good idea.
• Saw the show Le Rêve at the Wynn and it was amazing. Best thing is that all the seats are good and it is a stunning show. Flips are rampant and people jump from the ceiling (into a giant pool). The stage moves in and out and become a living character in the show.
• We lost Julien in the MGM, and discovered that it is very difficult to leave casinos!
• Played beer pong at O'Sheas, and laughed a lot. Went to a strip club - we were the only patrons! We yelled at them and they drove us home at 5 in the morning.
• Watched the sun come up behind a Sphinx in a desert. It was almost like we were in Egypt. ;-)

Yosemite National Park

• The day was a long drive. Arrived at the southernmost point of Yosemite at 10 pm. I then realized that the campsite I thought we were staying at was not the one we had driven to. After some investigation, we discovered that we still had 2 hours of driving, down windy roads - with two very carsick passengers.  We retreated 30 miles to get some food (only place open) and then decided to do it. It took us ages and we ended up pitching our tents at 1 AM. For reference, we were at the Diamond O campsite.
• Yosemite was beautiful and we walked up and saw waterfalls. Most of the park was done in the car as it is so enormous. We saw giant sequoias and walked all over the Mariposa trail. I did this in flip flops, my feet were disgusting at the end.

Mountain View, CA

• Went to an Indian extravaganza to eat Indian food and attend my roommate's graduation party. There was singing and dancing. We convinced everyone to do the Cupid Shuffle with us on the dance floor. It was hilarious.

• That night, we decided to head to San Francisco. We didn't really have a plan and we were all kind of tipsy (read : drunk), but we had wisely already nominated a designated driver. Got to San Francisco, drove around, and then went back to our hotel - in Mountain View.

San Francisco, CA

• The sea lions were a highlight. We watched them over at Fisherman's wharf for a pretty long time. They battled, pushed each other off the docks, and made funny noises.
• Saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - I liked it.
• Went to Ritual Coffee, and had a delicious time. They had vegan pastries. 
• Visited 826 Valencia and looked at all the Pirate stuff. Very cool.
• I taught the Europeans about hipsters.
• Decided I must live here one day. 
• Saw the Pacific ocean for the first time.

Santa Barbara, CA

• Coastal drive almost killed me. I was so carsick that I had to take Dramamine. Was out for almost the entire drive.
• We tried to surf here, but there were no waves. 
• Swam in the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

San Diego, CA

• Comic Con was going on, and so we saw Superheros running all over the city. 
• The San Diego zoo was really awesome. It was big, pretty and very central. All things that I think a Zoo should be. We saw elephants getting a pedicure.
• Did a few beach days (got burnt again). We did some crazy boogie boarding, and almost drown at Pacific beach.
• Went to Yogurtland and had awesome personalized fro-yo goodness. 
• Marlene and I almost needed to be rescued as the ocean decided we should stay a bit longer... We declined the invitation.
• We went on a wooden roller coaster at Mission Beach.

Los Angeles, CA

• Final city! Stayed at the Westin - woot!
• Went to Universal Studios and saw the houses where they film Desperate Housewives! 
• Ate at the Griddle Cafe, and had the most enormous pancakes ever. I ate one of the three and felt very sick.
• We tried to find famous people's homes, but due to the winding roads, I had to sleep through it. I felt like death riding around on all of those curvy roads. 

Santa Monica, CA

• Last day spent at the beach and on the Promenade. We did some shopping and then some sunning and came back for dinner.
• Instead of getting a hotel for that night we decided to go see two movies and then head on to the airport. Everyone, but me, had a 6 AM flight. I was cool with it. We saw the Hangover and Public Enemies (I fell asleep).

LAX - Flight home! 

• Cleaned out the car and headed to the Airport. National rental tried to overcharge us (I fixed it later) and that was pretty annoying. I'll never rent with National again.
• When we got into the shuttle, the driver asked us what airline we were using. I was just following the everyone (since I was leaving later), but realized quickly they didn't know what airline they were taking. This was a cause for panic. We told them it was American, but then it ended up not being American. There was more panic. After making a few phone calls and charging my iphone, we found out that they were flying United - this was perfect, because so was I. I took a standby flight to leave earlier and there was a teary-eyed farewell.
• At the last minute, Julien went to buy a muffin. They had to call his name 4x's. Sigh. ;-)
• I found my terminal and slept there (in my sleeping bag) for 3 hours. Finally got home and slept the entire way. At the San Antonio airport, I was a bit sad, a bit happy to be home, and exhausted.

All in all, the roadtrip was amazing. It was great to see parts of my country that I have never been to, and after being in Europe and doing quite a bit of traveling there - it felt right. I love the Southwest for its big wide open spaces, the friendly people and breakfast tacos. California was great too, but in a totally different way, and it was great to get beach time in at the end.  I also had an amazing time getting to know my group of friends even more than before.  We became a team, an awesome one, and now have shared such a great adventure. It was great because we were there to have fun and relax, which I felt was a rare commodity during the last year.

It was great to do it in a month as well, which gave us ample time to get to sites and enjoy them. There were some cities we wanted to see more in depth, but the road trip gave us a taste for places we would like to go back to. It was definitely an amazing experience, and I think I was in the perfect time in my life to enjoy it with the perfect people. ;-)

**my iPhone died the day I got back from the trip! Perfect timing ;-) 

whirlwind

home, home, home.

I haven't blogged in ages. Honestly, I've been pretty busy moving from France, hanging out in New York and visiting with my sisters to even be on my computer.

I'm really happy that I'm home and it has been really nice being around my sisters. I feel grounded when I'm at home with them, and it is hilarious to be part of our family (even if we sometimes behave like a bad family sitcom or drama!). I have been away for so long, but I love coming home and being part of my big, wonderful, disorganized family. I like being there to go on walks around the lake, go out to dinner at fabulous Austin restaurants, and just be here. 

Some things that have happened since I left France with 3 sixty pound suitcases, one large bike and a 22 pound carry-on:

• stayed with Lana in New York with her family. We had delicious hand cut french fries (as made by her momma), we out to yummy restaurants, and saw two great movies (UP and Away we go). It was nice seeing her and Edwin (who had to get shaved while we were there - he looks like a loser). We talked about new adventures, me moving to New York, and other life things.
• went to see Austin's Girls Rock Camp showcase. It was amazing seeing 9-14 year old girls rock out with such confidence, talent, and ambition. My little sister was a camp counselor and it was mighty good to see her excited about her band.
• received an email confirmation that my iphone is in the mail! Woot! This means that blogging will be going mobile.
• arranged things for upcoming road trip. Booked a wigwam in Arizona, campsites in national parks, and have been anxiously waiting for the Germans (and French) to arrive!
• started the job search, and updated my resume. Things are ready to go! 
• Planned 4th of July pool party with my family! Our new pool is ready for its inaugural pool party! Veggie burgers, hamburgers, corn on the cob and other exciting delicious items are on the menu!

I'll be posting details about the road trip asap! :-D

And we're off!

I'm leaving this morning to take on the 750 km all the way to Italy!

Wish me luck!

We've got our padded pants, spandex galore and we are ready to bike, bike, bike!

RELAY 2009
Reims-->Lucerne-->Altdorf-->Lugano-->Bergamo-->Verone-->Venice-->Bibione

Trois gazelles in Marrakech

In Morocco, they call girls "la gazelle". . . just like the animal.  As we walked through the Medina in Marrakech, we could always hear the continuous hum of "la gazelle, la gazelle". It eventually became something we would block out, as you learn to stop paying attention to the men in the market pitching their leather wares, silver teapots, and beautiful scarves.

But other than that the men in Morocco were really not that sketchy. I was honestly expecting them to be a bit more aggressive after experiencing the demeanor of 2nd generation North Africans in France.

We stayed at an amazing hostel called the Riad Agdez. The manager, Claude, picked us up from the airport and my favorite thing will always be hearing him say into his phone "we'll arrive in 10 minutes, start the tea". He didn't disappoint us from there giving us advice and dropping us off at the Majorelle gardens, and who could forget the delicious sugary mint tea that was always at our disposal. It was a really great price for a great amount of comfort.

We had our own room and bathroom and every morning they served us breakfast on the terrace, which was always gloriously sunny. The weather was amazing, not a cloud to be seen, and the temperature stayed a steady 70-75 all weekend. This was exactly what we were hoping for during our weekend holiday away from cold, rainy, northern France. 

Initially, we had wanted to stay in the desert overnight and ride camels. But our level of comfort and happiness at our Riad made us decide to book another night at the hotel and do a day trip to two Berber villages with Sahara Expeditions, a local tour company. 45 euros got us into a Land Rover with a toothless driver and an awkward German couple, and off we went to see a bit of the Moroccan countryside.

We were not disappointed. Morocco has a breathtaking beauty to it in the spring, there is green everywhere and the temperatures are perfect. What we weren't expecting on our trip were little photo stops at gimmicky places; where the locals were waiting for us, ready to sell cheap necklaces and teapots. It was sneakily planned, but we were rather delighted to find that tourist trap #2 had CAMELS waiting for us! Ciara and I sat on camels for a total of 10 minutes and were perfectly content with checking off camels from our list of "must do's".

After a while, we got to a little mountain town in the Ourika Valley, where we were given the opportunity to hike up to see some waterfalls.  As soon as we arrived in the town a group of "guides " surrounded us and asked if we wanted a tour to the waterfalls. We were trying to be frugal on this trip and confidently brushed aside any offer, but even after our persistent "go away's" one of the guys continued to follow us around as we began to climb up towards the waterfalls. 

We started to get kind of nervous as we climbed up and he was still following us. At one point we even stopped and told him to go away. He would not leave. So we waited until there were more tourists around and kept climb up. What we didn't realize was that it wasn't as easy as climbing up the side of a hill. There were slippery rocks and loose rocks as well, which our little guide happily climbed up like a little mountain goat. As we kept getting higher (this was all taking like an hour to just climb up), he would give us his hand on difficult passages. Little by little, we realized that we couldn't have made it without his help.

I, for one, am not a great climber (and usually do not climb as a rule) and  had to be helped numerous times as we slid, jumped and dragged ourselves around. He came in to use the time when we had to scale the side of wall to get to the "easier path" or when we were practically sliding down the hill with our cute converse on. These moments made us realize that a helping hand was definitely needed. I think when we finally accepted that we needed his help, things got a little easier, and we continued on our way. I guess, sometimes being less stubborn makes climbing a mountain that much easier.

Our second stop, four hours and some fun in the snow on top of the mountains later was in a little town called Imili. In Imili, we could spot the Jebel Toubka (the tallest mountain in Northern Africa). Zoe, Ciara and I bought friendship bangles from a guy that promised us they were "pure silver".

That night we went back into the center of the Medina to have dinner on the square. Every night, the little food stands set up their wares and start heaping out plates of couscous, tagine, and olives to all who pass. As you walk from stand to stand, you are welcomed, begged and harassed into sitting at stall #115 or #117 "just like heaven". At one point, we walked by a stand and I told the guy that we had already eaten, he looked at me, pinched my arm and said, "mais ça ne se voit pas (you can't tell)".  

All in all, I'm pretty in love with the haggling, the fresh orange juice stands (seen everywhere) and the blue from the majorelle gardens (I have house slippers in this glorious blue). I love the sound my bangles make as I move around my room, it's like a constant reminder of a really fun holiday, tinkling at all the right moments of my study routine.

Two hilarious things happened as we were at the airport ready to return to France. The first was the fact that our "silver" bangles went off through the metal detector (I can see the German couple with "I told you so faces") and the second happened as we taxied toward the runway. I was reading a chick-lit book and settling into my seat when a voice came on over the loudspeaker. They announced that due to the French Food and Drug administration's regulations, they would be spraying insecticide all over the cabin to eliminate any critters we might have on us.

You can check out more of my photos here.

I've made a huge mistake

... was the first thing  I thought as I heard the announcement on the train say we were arriving in Lorraine TGV - the opposite direction of where I was supposed to be going on Tuesday morning.  I felt slightly panicked as I jumped off the train and onto the platform; knowing that I was not at all where I was supposed to be.  You see, I had just take a high speed train 45 minutes in the wrong direction meaning that not only was I not in the right place I was FAR AWAY from the right place.

I had woken up that morning at 6AM, my day bag was already packed from the night before and all I needed to do was shower and show up at the train station on time. I did both of these things and did not feel at all rushed as I took my train shuttle to the other station in my town.  The think about Champagne TGV is that it is a train station where trains pass through and so most days the name of your destination is only a mere subheading on the sign whilst another city takes precedence.  I was stressed about taking the wrong train in the wrong direction - I tend to always get flustered when I have to grab a train here as I am usually running late due to a bus or train delay.  So as I waited on the platform and my train did not show up on time, I started to die inside. 

I had told my friend, Meagan, that I would be meeting her at the Charles de Gualle airport train station at 9AM, so we could go and spend the day in Paris together, frolic and eat crepes.  Meagan had just arrived from Tanzania after three months in Africa and was pretty excited for her first European experience, so we had planned an exciting first day touring Paris.  The night before I had talked to her online telling her how everything would work for the next day. I had been worried she would be lost and nervous as she doesn't speak French and would be toting things around in France. 

I had been so stressed about all these things and being late in general that when a train on the opposite side of the platform came in and had Charles de Gaulle TGV writing on it I ran up the stairs and jumped on that train.  The thing is that train had COME from Charles de Gaulle train station and was headed to the German frontier. 

I must have look a wreck as I went up to the ticket booth and explained to the lady what had happened.  Her first question was if the train controller had noticed if I had the wrong ticket.  My answer : no. No, no, instead he had yelled at me for minutes about the fact that I had not validated my ticket. As she rerouted my ticket so I could get back to the train station, a new fear came over me. I had no way to contact Meagan, as her phone wasn't working.  With an hour before my next train left I had time to think and agonize over my mistake.  I went back up to the ticket counter where I explained that my anglophone friend was probably lost in the train station, and had no way to get in contact with me.  The woman quickly acted and called the CDG train station and was about to make an announcement when my phone rang. It was Meagan. She started off telling me that she was lost (how ironic) as I began to tell her just HOW lost I was.  Thankfully she was ok with it all and just used her computer and the CDG free WIFI available at the airport as she waited the three hours for me to get there.

I was not so lucky.  I had not prepared for a three hour train ride.  In fact, I had only brought with me three birthday cards that I had been meaning to write for the entire month - all three of which I had finished on the first train. At 10AM I got on my train heading to Marne-la-Vallée -Chessy TGV train station and sat reading the Economist's prediction for 2009, and let me tell you 2009 sounds not very good at all. It was a depressing train ride.

As the train pulled in I realized why I knew the name of this train station! THIS WAS THE TRAIN STATION THAT LANDED RIGHT SMACK DAB AT DISNEYLAND PARIS! I wouldn't mistake those ears anywhere.  So I did what any awesome individual would do if they had a 20 minute  layover at the happiest place on earth. I took pictures to prove that I made it.

I did get to CDG that day. I was three hours late, and was suffering from a bruised ego - but I made it!

Going North

I've been wanting to get north for the last five years.  Ever since I met a Finnish girl named Jenni, I have been determined to go North.  So finally after years of wanting to go and thinking about going, I made it. 

We got to Stockholm around noon.  Looked around at the train station and put our bags in a locker.  Form there we met a fellow couchsurfer who was staying at the same guy's house as us.  He was a cool Canadian that instructed us to go to the Vasamuseet, a 16th century battleship that had been pulled out of the water in the 50's and now has a full fledged museum built around it.  I'm so glad we went.  Then we decided to go walk to the old town and even though it was only 3pm, twilight was setting in.  It's an eerie feeling seeing the moon in the middle of the day.  I wasn't sure if I should feel hungry or tired, but I do know that it was unsettling. 

From there we sat in a cafe and I had some soup (the entire weekend we kept searching for soup) and we chatted with the other guy, getting to know him and see what he was all about. 

Then we headed back to where we would be couchsurfing for the night.  We were staying at a Swedish guy's house for the night who lived about 20 minutes outside of the city.  He was really nice to us and we all cooked a big pasta dinner together and sat and talked, watched English tv series and had a good laugh.

The next day we walked out to Stockholm to do what I call a bit of destiny : we went to the largest IKEA in the world. I love IKEA, I love the obnoxious branding, the quirky items found within, and the immense sizes of the store.  I could spend an entire day looking at home goods, comparing glasses and looking at different couches.  We walked around and did make second favorite thing. We took pictures in the different rooms.  I don't know why I like doing this so much, but there is something utterly hilarious about posing in front of the different rooms in IKEA.

After we had our fill of IKEA, we took the free bus that we had arrived on back to the city center, from there we bumbled around looking for different sites and walked over to the fun and trendy area of Sodermalm. 

After walking around some more, night started falling or just darkness, and so we decided we would go to the Ice Bar.  I thought it would be a good story to say that we stood in a room made of ice and wore the funny jackets, but when we got there the Japanese tourists and the families smiling inside put us off the idea.  We just thought about how awkward and weird it would be, just the two of us in our funny jackets, sipping on vodka, among the other awkward tourists. 

I am in love with Stockholm, there is something so familiar about the wide streets, the perfectly articulated English, and the cute cafes that had made me fall in love with it.  The fact that it is a network of connected islands makes it a fun and exciting city to discover.  I really enjoyed my time there and hope to go back soon ;-).

And then we left.

We were off to Helsinki to find one of my favorite people.  She was waiting for us inside of the airport looking all smiley and just like I remember.  She took us back to her government subsidized apartment - complete with sauna - and we went to bed (we arrived at like 1am). 

The next morning we got up to a rousing breakfast of brown bread, cucumbers and cheese (meat for the meateaters as well :-). We walked around the downtown of Helsinki, went into stores like Marimekko and other Finnish staples.  The funny thing about Finnish staples is that they all seem to be home good.  We went to glasses, ceramics stores, and to fabric stores.  Each store had it's own taste of bright colors and patterns.  Each store made me wish I was graduating sooner and decorating my own apartment. 

Then we went and saw two different churches.  Two churches that might explain a bit of the Finnish spirit.  One was a beautiful white church that stood on a large and open square near the port area.  The other, called the "Rock Church" was a bit away from the center up the hill.  Oh the Rock Church.  The Rock Church looks like a space ship has landed in downtown Helsinki.  Aerial photos prove that point and maybe even allude to a meteor/flying saucer attack.  But inside the church has a bit of austere charm.  The ornate decorations seen in most churches in France are absent, mostly because this is a Lutheran church as opposed to a Catholic church.  But the ceiling looks like the dissection of a tree trunk, full of concentric circles, and that in the midst of a place for prayer and devotion is a beautiful thing.  

As night began to fall, I saw my friend Jenni do a curious thing.  She flipped two little circles out of her pocket.  They were reflectors.  Apparently in Finland there has been a public safety campaign for people to wear reflectors.  This is to avoid cars hitting people in the darkness (a darkness that stands for most of the day in the wintertime).  I found this fascinating and I began to see them everywhere.  The reflectors exist in a variety of colors and shapes, from cute to awkward and big to small.  Some people had them attached to their arms whilst others followed the example of Jenni and had them only in their pockets.

I found them to be really cool and decided to grad some shaped like Moomins as a souvenir. 

The next day we went to an island outside of the city center to see some old Finnish houses and other buildings.  It was drizzling outside, a normal November kind of day.  A theme throughout the weekend was that everything was nicer in the summertime.  Every time we got a gust of wind or even saw a pretty site, we were reminded by our little Fin of how much nicer everything was in the summertime.  And honestly I can imagine it.  The city must light up in the summertime.  With green things growing and a bit of warm summer air, the city must be magnificent by bike.  I  love the Russian influences seen in the buildings and I can only imagine how much more beautiful they must seem with sunshine on their walls.  I don't care though if I went in November -I know I'll go back. 

Throughout the 5 days we were their, we ate some great cinnabuns.  I really enjoyed them and have been wanting to share this cinnabun recipe given to me by a coworker.  They are really delicious and so make some up with a good cup of coffee.  I think sugary goodness like cinnabuns keep the people from going insane during the long winter months. 

Henrietta's Cinnabuns : a Scandinavian tradition!
(two dozen round rolls)

1/4 cup warm water
1 pkg dry yeast
1 tsp +1/4 cup sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
230 gr butter, chilled
3 egg yolks
1 cup milk

Filling
1/4 cup butter, melted
6 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Glaze
1 1/2 confectioner's sugar, (200gr)
2 Tbsp butter, room temp.
1 Tbsp water, a trifle more may be needed to make a manageable glaze

Put the warm water in a small bowl and sprinkle yeast over. Add 1 tsp sugar, stir, let dissolve for 5 min. In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt w/ fork to mix well.cut butter into pieces size of small grapes and add to flour mixture. Using hands or pastry blender, rub or cut the butter into the flour mixture until distributed and there are coarse little lumps of butter throughout.  Stir in the yeast mixture, egg yolks and milk. Beat until blended. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in fridge at least 6 hours,(this dough can be refrigerated for 12-14 hours).

Divide dough in half. On lightly floured board, roll out half the dough into a rectangle about 10 by 12 inches.  Spread 2 Tbsp of melted butter over rectangle.  Mix remaining 6 Tbsp sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon together in small bowl.  Sprinkle half sugar mixture evenly over rectangle.  Starting with the wide side, roll rectangle like a jelly roll.  Divide roll into 12 pieces by first cut into 4 equal portions, then each portion into 3.  Put rolls cut side down in greased muffin tin.  repeat these steps with other half of dough.

Cover loosely and let rise for 1 hour.

Bake in preheated 400F(200C) oven 20-25 min. Remove rolls and put them on a rack set over a piece of wax paper.
To make the glaze, sift confectioner's sugar into a small bowl then beat in the butter and water until smooth.
Spoon a little of the glaze over each roll while still hot.

Enjoy. Go to Finland and Sweden :-)

We make Party in Germany

Germany over the weekend was amazing.  On Friday morning two of my roommate and another friend bundled our things together and jumped on the highspeed train - stopping through Strasbourg for a switch and heading onward to Stuttgart.  We arrived in Germany and our first remark was how ugly everything and everyone was. It was odd. 

Gone were my illusions of the merrily tramping about blond and blue eyed friends (of course I don't believe that Germans are all blond haired and blue eyed) and to replace my beloved sterotype was a multitude of euro-mullets and clothes straight out of the eighties. Also the buildings were all very ugly.  The Stuttgart train station, though practical and nice was horribly ugly. It was prison-like. Unfortunately my observation is totally biased because I live in France, where most train stations feel like an open armed welcome from the city.  But here I felt like I had just entered a post-war depression.  I realize that the city had been destroyed during the war and that the Germans are not as obsessed with keeping things restored and the same as the French are, but honestly it made me a little sad.  Note : this entire revelation happened within the 1st 5 minutes of me getting off the train.

Things got better from there.

Reutlingen was really cute, it had a nice tower that was nicely restored, but still there was a lack of warmth and beauty that I have come to love and admire in France.  But the warmth came when we went out that night into the town. An odd thing happened at the bar we went to *gasp* the people were *gasp* HAPPY that we were there. They talked to our hosts in a KIND and FRIENDLY manner.  I feel like this never happens in Reims.  Mostly because we end up going out to the kind of places that you don't sit and chat with the help, but also because the opportunity never seems to arise. That was the night we got our beer diplomas - 10 33 cl beers and a true taste of Germany! 

The next day we went to Tübingen, where the adorableness of Germany really came out. This is where I learned why we love and dream about Germany so much. It was so lovely and it helped that we had gorgeous weather with the sun drying the leaves to a perfect crunch and reflecting through the orange and yellows of the autumn leaves. We walked up to the top of the castle in the city and looked over at all the splendid houses and the autumnal colors florishing the city and I felt so happy.  Maybe it was because my friends were around me, and maybe it was because  I was feeling blissfully warm in the Indian summer sunshine, but I felt so content in that moment. It was a really lovely day.

VOLKSFEST
I sang and danced on top of picnic tables on Sunday evening. German beerfests are amazing. Not because there is amazing beer at really good prices but because of what the beerfests are at the base of things : a big party.  Let me describe to you why it is so cool that the fests are in fact "a big party".  Because of this simple fact : no one was fighting. In America or France for that matter, it seems that everytime there is a large group of people consumming alcohol there is a need for fighting. I don't understand this but it always seems to happen.  At Volksfest, people were drinking absurd amounts of delicious beer. BUT NOTHING HAPPENED. Instead you know what we did? We sang together.  They have a song just about "cheers-ing" together and it is awesome. Never have I felt so connected with a group of strangers and granted I was a little drunk, but I couldn't deny the electricity in the room as a group of strangers and I drunkenly sang drinking songs ... in German.

Drunk Driving
One of the guys from the German school we were visiting announced to us that he wanted to go on the bumper cars at VolksFest. Since none of us could think of a reason not to we all agreed that after we had each had 2 liters of beer at the festival (the first two were free) we would go and do the bumper cars. I'm not going to lie, but after two liters of beer I have never been so terrfied in my life then when people were bumping into my little car.  If this serves as an example for anything - I vow never to get into a vehicle drunk, never ever ever have I been so convinced of how that is a terrible terrible terrible idea. Seriously, it was like I was in a bad public service announcement.

We came home battered and bruised from dancing the night away. We also came home with two Schwaben Bräu beer steins ;-).

In Boston

I'm in Boston for a little visit to my friends.  I will most definitely be updating you all on my most recent adventure though Vienna, Budapest and Prague, but for the moment I am just hanging out and enjoying the great times in Boston!

I've been riding around in a bright orange Jeep blaring MIA out the windows. It has been bliss.

Being in Castles

Last weekend, we went to visit the Castles in the Loire Valley.  Castles are weird.  In one awkward place, the Chateau de Rigny-'Ussé, they had set up reenactment of the Sleeping Beauty story because evidently this was the castle that inspired Perrault to write the story.  It was terrifying.  I used to be really afraid of this episode of Are you afraid of the Dark? where the girl get sucked into a large dollhouse.  I remember having nightmare about that and so being in this castles you felt like you were in a bad dream, I would almost go as far out to say nightmare ... but it was just so damn amusing.   

Most of the castles even had current photos of the families that own them, I think the pictures are meant to put you are ease, but honestly they sort of made me feel weird, like I was peeking into a window I wasn't supposed to look in.  At the end of the day you have walked into these peoples homes and granted my house doesn't have 50 bedrooms, or ornate ballrooms... but still sometimes people still live in them. 

We had taken a car for the weekend to easily bump from castle to castle.  We went to Chambord which has 365 fireplaces in it.  It was really enormous.  I think there are 400 rooms all in all.  Can you imagine that! And it was designed to be a mere hunting lodge.  We took loads of selftimer photos. Which was pretty great.

We also got to use my Polaroid Land Camera and the results were pretty good.  But try to be awkward and ask foreigners to take a picture using my camera, and you get curious stares and raised eyebrows.  No matter what I said people would not get close enough to us.  I would try to coax them along, but nothing seemed to be able to entice them to get a little closer.  I was like NO,REALLY C'MON PLEASE... etc but to no avail.  And then the viewfinder is a little off and so it was an awkward photo taken when the "volunteer" photographers tried to center the photo.  There are numerous photos with only one arm seemingly deattached from a missing body. 

IBWE 2008: Shalalalaa

Last weekend I went on an adventure of grandiose proportion: IBWE 2008.  IBWE stands for International Business Weekend and is meant as a way for students from across partner schools to gather together, have a great time and interact through sports/team spirit and to win the Coup d'Ambiance.

The trajectory:   
Thursday: Paris, France -> Reims, France -> (small stop in Luxembourg to pick up Germans) Frankfort, Germany -> Kerry, Ireland -> Cork, Ireland

Monday: BACK!

On Thursday night, my roommates and I grabbed our assorted luggage and sent ourselves back to Reims to go to one of the only clubs in Reims, Soa.  What transpired after was both hilarious and exhausting.  We took the 45 minute TGV back to our wonderful oasis of Reims and were welcomed by a committee of our student council.   They made us sing songs, cheered for us and were downright amazing.  Then we went to the club and it was so much fun to see everyone and partake in old jokes and make new ones! We danced, laughed, and had a fantastic time.  Then it was 3 am and time to load up on the bus to get to the Frankfort airport.  Because you know it is always necessary to go to Frankfort to get to Ireland if you are starting from Paris.

Friday, we continued our 12ish hours of traveling and got to our destination Trabolgan (an Irish camping resort) and the festivities began!  Every year it is the tradition for each school to have a relay team to get to the IBWE destination.  It is an amazing endeavor that takes a ton of work and also a great level of dedication to coordinate, find sponsorship for and  actually partake in (I'm planning on participating next year).  Our team was amazing and they brought spirit, a sense of fun and an overall surprise to this year's relay!  They had told everyone they would be swimming to Ireland (of course they didn't) but they biked to Bretagne and back and then went on the journey with us.   But then once we got to IBWE they went off and later we found out that they were arriving by BOAT!  They had rented a boat and came in with a wondrously glorious entrance on top of waves and overall with undoubted panache.

We have a school haka.  Inspired by the All Blacks and a bit by Missy Elliot . . we have a school haka that we all get together and grunt, yell, whoop and smack our arms to in unison.  I have never been a great possessor of school spirit, but IBWE seems to bring out something in me that gets me gloriously spirited.  I was wearing my gaulois horns the entire weekend, rarely ever took off my gaulois sweatshirt and t-shirt, and sang la Marseillaise as loud as the next person.

Friday night was the video competition.  You can see ours below.  I can promise you it is class. Watch them both.  It is a part 1, part 2 kind of deal.

One friday night, the theme party was "childhood heros".  My penthouse roomies and I had got to thinking the week before that it might be AWESOME to dress up as the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles.  I can promise you it was.  I was Donatello, the smart one ;).  The night was so much fun, we danced, posed, did ninja kicks and had a wonderfully excellent time.

Day two brought teaching the French a thing or two about the favorite American pastime: Flipcup.  That night the party was a headphone disco.  We got to switch between two competing DJ's as they worked through their mixes and we worked through our mixers. 

Sunday morning were the sports competitions and our own Penthouse Ciara scored a goal for the ladies soccer team! Woot!  It was also the time we did an amazing group haka. . .in true All Black's style to intimidate the Old Boys volleyball team!  That night was a pirate party! I have never laughed so hard trying to pose with my roommates like we were in a boat or whilst sword fighting.   We didn't win the Coup d'Ambiance, but we definitely put in our best effort.

That morning I woke up to get on our 6am bus, still a little buzzed from the night before. . . and still dancing.

Next year, I am on the committee to plan IBWE, and I have got to admit we have our work cut out for us.  I have never seen a group of 200 drunken international students been corralled cross countries and to different events... flawlessly.  This year's BDE, MadMix, has done amazing work, and I can honestly say I'm proud to have been able to see them do such a great job.  We like to say they are superhumans, but even more I just think they are just superbly wonderful, kind and extraordinary people.