three weeks and counting

In three weeks time, I will be back on South African soil! It is quite strange to be saying that. It means I would have been in Paris for six months and it certainly has not felt like that at all. I feel like i have just arrived here and am leaving again. But the prospect of what next year holds is very exciting.

I have leant a lot in Paris, met a lot of amazing people, and see a lot of amazing things. I have gone to talks by very prominent people and my lecturers themselves, well some of them, have been incredibly interesting. I have made some lovely friends and my facebook friend map definitely looks very different now! I have improved my french, which is still pretty bad. I have learnt to live in a foreign place and have succeeded in it.

I have ten days of Sciences Po left. I have found out i will indeed graduated, and very well i might add, in December. I have one potential for employment next year and will hear about another next year. It seems I will be, once again, moving to a foreign land, but one less scary and intimidating, and one where goldfish and M+Ms will comfort me.

Everything seems to be falling into place but with that said, it could all go up in flames any second now.

It has been an exciting last year of being a student and one that I will never forget!
But i think it is now time to move on to having a job with little money, no free time, and say goodbye to my hours of series watching!

But for the next three weeks at least, I can still enjoy the student life!

Krakow

Our last stop on the mid-term break was Krakow. Poland was not my first choice of venue and i was very reluctant to go. When i thought of Poland, I thought old, destroyed, dirty place...but man oh man was i wrong!

However, before we made it to Krakow, we had a bit of an adventure on the train! We got on the train in Vienna at 10:30pm and sat in the carriage we were supposed to be in. We shared it with some very odd Polish people...Anyway, the ticket man came around literally every hour to check our tickets and all was fine...until 4:30am when the ticket man came around and told us that we were actually on the wrong train and were heading towards Warsaw...fun times! After much confusion and a mix between english and polish, we learnt we were supposed to change trains at a specific stop in Poland which no one had told us. So we ended up getting a new ticket from Warsaw to Krakow. We spend an hour in Warsaw, got on the train to Krakow and finally made it to Krakow 12 hours later...missions!

We arrived at our hostel and it was lovely! It was homely and warm and they gave us crepes and coffee as we arrived. We had a really nice room and the people were great. We set off to explore the town which was the complete opposite to what i expected. It was beautiful and sunny and definitely not as cold as i expected!

The town itself is beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Prague, with lovely old buildings and a lake and bridge, lots of hostels and bars and a place full of visitors. We took a walk through the old town, to the castle, saw the famous dragon and then joined a tour through the Jewish district. Krakow has a lot of history to it and the fact that it was not bombed during WWII means that the buildings are all in tact.

After a long walk, we headed back to the hostel where we joined a all-you-can-eat polish food night with lots of vodka flowing. We met some interesting people from all over the world doing all sorts of adventurous things. We headed home early that night because we had a long day the next day involving a tour to Auschwitz.

Auschwitz was, well, quite hectic. It is of course very emotional and very surreal to be on the site of the Holocaust. The place is very well done and is a great museum. It should really be visited by everyone, and especially to take a tour and learn about what each area was.

After a long tour, we ended the day with a great polish dinner with ravioli and a variety of interesting types of soup! Sadly though, that brought our time in Poland to an end. Two days is really not enough and i will definitely be back to see some more areas and learn more and drink more vodka and eat more wonderful polish food!

Vienna

The second stop on my mid-term break was Vienna.

After the train trip from Prague, we arrived in Vienna, tired, cold and grumpy. But some coffee that came in a bowl- literally- and some nutella, we felt a lot better. Once again, we were staying in a great hostel called "Wombats Naasctmarket" in a very central area in Vienna. We had a good room, and there was a great bar there too, full of travelers from all over- even some other South Africans!

We started with a walk around the area, which had a market selling lots of random scarfs and hats, as well as lovely food- falafels, cheese, olives among others. It reminded me of the early morning famers market in Shogweni in KZN- one of my favourite places! After roaming around there, we moved to the old town. Vienna's main sites are the old town, the centre and the palace. So, on day one, we did the old town- looking at the Opera house, state offices and other old building we did not really know. We stopped for some beer and french fries, then added a pretzel to that because everyone loves pretzels!







We wandered into the centre to find this famous cake shop where they supposably have the best cake and hot chocolate in Vienna. We weren't that impressed but it was still good. Vienna is known for its cake shops!





We went back to the hostel once darkness hit (at like 4pm!), took a much needed nap and then headed to the bar where we made friends with some spanish people studying abroad in poland. They introduced us to a toxic drink- pouring shots of vodka into beer...sounded like a good idea at the time but we paid for it the next day! We went out to the 'party place' in Vienna but were there too early for things to get started and were too tired to stay later, so headed home, and got some sleep.

The next day, we headed to the Schroonburg Palace and gardens. We decided against going into the palace because once you have been into Versaille, nothing will really compare. We took a walk through the gardens, which are amazing! The trees are orange, leaves falling everywhere. It is the perfect vision of fall! We walked through the gardens which are spectacular and then headed for the zoo. The zoo boasts holding Pandas, Polar Beers and Koala's among others. It is also supposed to be one of the oldest zoos in existence. It was exciting, we saw some animals but a lot of them i had seem before since i am from Africa.

We then headed to starbucks to de-thaw because it was COLD! And then walked around the centre again. After looking at some shops, we went to find the XXL Schnitzel which is supposed to be the biggest schnitzel in Vienna and man oh man was it BIG! I am amazed we finished them! It was reallllly good too! We decided to get an early night that night because Abi had to be up at 3am to get a flight home. On the way back to the hostel, we stumbled upon another really nice area- very alternative and studenty with nice shops and coffee shops, and stopped into a very intellectual cafe for some amazing hot chocolate!

The last day we were there, we took it easy. Abi has gone back to Paris to meet her aunt, so Katie and I wandered around and the visited the dinosaurs in the Natural History Museum. Vienna has a whole museum quartier, full of unique and interesting places!

That evening we caught the train to our last stop- Krakow! It was an...interesting train ride, which i will write about in my next post!

Vienna is a beautiful city but not my favourite. I could live there and definitely study there but as a tourist place, there is not too much to see. It would be great if we had a guide book or something, but on your own, it is hard to know what is what. Nevertheless, i have never seen parks that beautiful and the leaves are just unbelievable. I am very glad i went and will always look back fondly on it!

Prague!

Over my mid-term break, I set off to Prague, Vienna and Krakow. I went with two girlfriends, each of us choosing a city: Abi choosing Prague, myself choosing Vienna and Katie choosing Krakow. We were only in each place for two days which is far too short to do them justice but enough to make me want to go back!

We left bright and early on Monday morning, via plane to Prague. A mere few hours later we arrived at our hostel which was definitely one of the nicest I have ever stayed in. It was called St Christopher's Mosaic Hostel and it was like a freaking hotel! It was huge, with a great restaurant and bar and lots of friendly people! Plus the bed was probably more comfy than my bed at home! I definitely recommend it.

After dropping our stuff off, we set off for some traditional Prague food- schnitzel, potatoes and beer! And man, was it good ands cheap too! They use the Czech Crown in Prague and it is 22 Crown to a Euro, so we felt rich even if we weren't! The city overall is quite cheap, although everywhere is cheap compared to Paris! After lunch we set off the Prague Castel which is stunning. The building itself and the Cathedral is spectacular, especially because we were there in twilight, so the lightening was amazing. We even saw a changing of the guards, which was entertaining.




We then strolled back to the city, looked at some shops, had some hot chocolate and crepes and then set home to take a nap before heading out.



The hostel had a bar crawl that evening which we decided to join. We made friends with some American Jews who were doing a little Eurotrip and spent the evening with them drinking wine and beer and talking about our travels thus far. Abi and I, however, did not last long and headed home early to get some sleep.

The next day we were up early, had breakfast and set off on a free walking tour of the city, and it was great. There is so much history to Prague that I do not know. I know my history of World War II is not great, but i feel this trip i learnt a lot! We saw the famous Astrological clock, the town square and the Jewish district, ending by the river and St Charles Bridge. It was really a great tour!

We then headed for some more traditional Czech food consisting of Goulash Soup! Very exciting! We walked over the bridge, rubbed the statue of a women for good luck, and headed home to nap. That evening we decided we had to go and see the "14th biggest club in Europe" which was five stories high and boasted different music on each floor. However, sadly for us, it was a tuesday night and not too full, so only floors one, two and three were open. But it was still pretty cool to see!







Our train to Vienna was at 4:30am, so we decided there was little point in sleeping, so we went straight from the club, to get our bags and headed for the train, which we found with no problems and prompting feel asleep on the journey.

It was way too short to spend in this lovely city. Prague is small and based on toursim, so everywhere there are tours, hostels and bars and restaurants. The city is cheap and the food is good; the scenery is beautiful and it was not that cold! I am so glad i saw this place and got to spend some time here. It truly is one of my favourite places now- a perfect mix of history, beauty and fun! The language is impossible but that is part of the fun!

If you have a chance, make sure you give Prague a visit!

Normandy

The next place I visited was Normandy. Normandy is the sight of a lot of WWII history. Simply put, it is where British and American troops invaded France to get rid of the Germans. It is a collection of smaller French towns each with their own unique beauty and things to offer.

We visited four towns in Normandy- Pont Saint Michel, Caen, Hornfleur and Deauville. These were not our choices but were the places chosen by the Erasmus people who organised the trip.

Once again we found ourselves on a bus where it was party central. This time it was 7am on a Saturday and once again I found myself not wanting to par-take in the partying. However, this was not an option as everyone found it very exciting that I was from South Africa and Tafadzwa (the other UCT student) was from Zimbabwe. This involved a lot of shouting of “Waka Waka” and “Mandela”. Sooooooo Awesome!

We arrived a few hours later at Pont Saint Michel, which is a huge church/abby on top of a mountain surrounded by water. It is beautiful, but as churches go, I have seen better. It is pretty cool that it is on a mountain and is an island and like a whole little town exists in it with restaurants etc.

We then moved onto Caen which is the sight of another famous WWII battle. It has a huge wall in the middle of it which kept the bad guys out. My history of WWII is pretty lacking, as you can tell. It is a nice town, but we arrived in the evening so did not see much of it. We did see the canal it has through the middle, which is pretty cool and it has a good Quick Burger, where we got some food. And maybe one of the worst clubs I have ever been too- but this could have been because he was playing music popular in the 50s as the main attraction for the evening.

The next day we went to Hornfleur and Deauville. These are beautiful seaside towns, surrounded by the English Channel and apparently where Parisians take their summer holidays. I have never been to the Hamptons but it sounds a lot like the Hampton in France. They are small with old houses and lovely beaches. Not much to do with WWII here, but did have lots of seagulls, ducks and really good food!




Sadly we did not get to go to the D-day beaches, which is were I wanted to go. Erasmus is a bit dumb- don’t go on trips organised by them! But besides that, it was really nice to get out of Paris and see some more of France. It is very different to Paris- much more relaxed, the people don’t smoke as much, they actually eat food and are really nice to you.

I am definitely glad I went and I hope I get to see a bit more of France before I leave. There is definitely more to France than just Paris!

Munich and Oktoberfest!

The next place I visited after Barcelona was Munich for Oktoberfest for the first weekend in October.

We left Paris at 11pm on Thursday evening on a bus full of people ready to drink excessive amount of beer for three days. My plan was to not drink any beer being offered on the bus because…well…I need to sleep. However, this was not the plan of many others, and it quite literally turned into a ‘party bus’.


We arrived in Munich at 10am the next day and it was sunny and lovely and we were all exhausted, needing a shower and a nap. Of course we could not check in until 3pm so we had to postpone those needs for a couple of hours. We decided to use the time to roam around Munich and explore the city. This started with some traditional Bavarian food and drink. After the nourishment, we walked around and saw some amazing things. It is an incredibly beautiful city; one I would not hesitate to not only visit again but could easily live in. It is not too big, has an amazing transport system, is clean, organised and yet full of history. Contrary to what I had been told, the people were incredibly nice to us and very helpful.


The next day was Oktoberfest day. We arrived at 7:30am because we decided we wanted to get into the Hakker Tent, which is a very popular tent in Germany. How it works is that you do not pay anything to get in; it is totally open to the public, but you have to be seated at a table to get served a beer and you cannot easily reserve a table. Hence the getting there at 7:30am. We did get a table which was excellent and we drank a lot. Now, when someone explained Oktoberfest to me, I was like-um, you sit around and drink beer all day, well that’s lame. But no, it is so much more than that. It is 2000 people all dressed up in traditional Bavarian costumes, standing on tables and singing songs in German, drinking litres of beer and eating some of the best chicken and pretzels I have ever had! There are literally no words to describe this event and I really think that everyone should go at least once in their lives! Some make it a habit, like the man we met who was at his 22nd Oktoberfest. There are people from all over the world, but actually there are also a lot of Germans there.




Once you leave the tent, it is pretty hard to get back inside. But outside the tents there are rides and food and souvenirs etc. I guess it is like a music festival but the tents are for drinking beer and not for music.

We left around 7pm and fell into a deep beer-induced sleep! The next day, some decided to visit Oktoberfest again but we instead went to the English Garden which was amazing. A huge park in the middle of a city, with a pond and ducks et alles! It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon.



We then spent another 12 hours on the bus, which again turned into a party bus. Some people just have a lot more stamina than I do. We arrived back in Paris at 6am, and luckily for me, my Monday classes had been cancelled!

I cannot say I saw the whole of Munich but I saw enough to know that it is beautiful and an amazing city! Definitely worth a 12 hour bus ride!