A bit sick in Strasbourg (but not sick of Strasbourg)

This week I'm on break from classes. It's kind of a random break because we've only had class for about a month. But I'm not complaining!

So last Friday as you all know was Valentine's Day. I just did stuff with Malika like we made choco strawbs after class. We had a weird night that started with us trying to go to an Erasmus party. But nothing that crazy!

Also, Ejona's sister has been visiting so sometimes I join them in their adventures. It's fun when friends visit because you can play tour guide and share everything you've been up to and probably see some things you've been meaning to but haven't gotten to (hint: visit me 😡)

the valentine's patisserie were adorable

pink!

Yesterday we went to Strasbourg for the day. The city is in the French region called Alsace and as you can see from the map, the area borders with Germany. Basically France and Germany have been fighting for the region over the years and as you'd expect, the culture there is a mix of the two. I could see it in the cuisine, architecture, language, etc.

We left Paris Monday night at 11:45pm and came back 11:45pm Tuesday night. The rides were 7 hours and thankfully I was able to sleep so it wasn't so terrible. Overall it was a fun day trip, but I'll be honest that it was kinda tough because it was so cold and also I had a cold. I think I got it the day before because I was walking around in Montmartre while it was rainy cold. So that influenced how I felt the next day. But here's the recap:

We got there very early obviously, before a lot of things opened. So we got coffee and ended up at a Starbucks (but we didn't have coffee from Starbucks, don't ask...). From there we went to the Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. It was a cute museum and a good size imo. Like not huge but not too small either.

For lunch we had Lebanese food that was delicious and after we went to a cathedral and a 3 different thrift stores. In the end I bought pants (which is good because I hate looking for pants at thrift stores) and earrings. And we had dinner at a Chinese place where we were trying to prolong our stay for as long as possible since our bus was so late and most stores closed at 7pm. After we still had time to kill so we wandered around a bit. Another notable event: we saw the literal hugest swans EVER. I've seen swans before so it was shocking to see swans of that size. It JOLTED me.

In short, this is what I've learned about day trips: make sure you either don't take a super late bus OR have a plan for where to be later! Also maybe find something that gives me energy because I pretty reliably need a nap at some point in the day...

This morning I came back and showered and slept and thankfully when I woke up I felt pretty much fully recovered. I was... late to a lab interview. But I think it didn't affect things too much. It's a really interesting lab that does neuroelectrophysiology with rats to study the link between sleep and emotional processing. However, the lab is super new so the PI is kinda worried about what I could do. Also there are only 3 other people there and they seemed cool, so I'd be happy to work there. Basically the answer is, once again, not yes, but not no. I think I could learn a lot there so I'd be on board if the PI is! Please send your positive thoughts towards me!!! Time's a tickin :/

Tomorrow morning, it's so exciting because I'm headed on a train to London and then Oxford to see Claire and Kristiana! So expect that for next week :-)

Also, movie rec: Horse Girl on Netflix