Oktoberfest München

So began our twelve day vacation from school (classes were cancelled due to a large ceremony at our school… we didn’t complain!) and we headed off to Munich, Germany. We booked a 7am flight, so realizing the metro’s don’t run that early, we were forced to spend our first (& def. not last) night at Charles De Gaulle Airport.

Upon arriving in Germany, it became ultimately obvious that we not only spoke no German, but that German wasn’t exactly a self- explanatory language. I’ve discovered that when communicating with someone who speaks NO English, and me speaking none of their language, both people will use large and exaggerated hand gestures, speak extraordinarly slowly, and point a lot. Still, communication was near impossible with German locals except for at the Oktoberfest venue itself.

We met up with the lovely Nick Manuele, a friend from Cal Poly, and began exploring the city. We had meatloaf and sausages with beer for a late lunch, then walked around the heart of the city.

It is breathtaking. This photo of the city center explains some of the architectural excellence of those Bavaraians!

Went to the Hofbräuhaus, which is one of the most famous beer drinking locations in the city for locals and tourists. (Oddly enough, it is the location of some of Hitler’s first meetings to take over Germany and once sported over half a dozen swastikas). It’s bigger than a gymnasium and was jam packed with people, food and beer. There was a line out the door with bodyguards limiting entry. We met up with Mollie and Elizabeth (friends from High school), and were totally entertained with the dancing men, loud music, beer glasses clashing, and singing! Oh and can’t forget the brezen and white sausages! This is the night that I sadly discovered that I am allergic to the strong hops in European beer. Yes, made this discovery in Munich… @ Oktoberfest… but it could have been much worse! So, it’s okay!

Headed to Oktoberfest, not drinking beer L, but still had a fabulous time!! We got there around 9 am and didn’t find a spot at a tent until around 11. We stayed in the Schottenhamel, Spatenbrau! Everyone was wearing dindin and lederhosen!! The 3 of us made friends with Austrians, Bavarians, and Italians. Our waiter, Johannes, was awesome as well and hooked us up with food and drinks before even some locals!

We spent the whole afternoon singing, dancing, watching the parade through our tent, and just having an epic time at Oktoberfest. It was like nothing you could ever imagine, being in a tent with over 10,000 people (and there are dozens of tents), each with giant liter stines of beer, singing and dancing in German! I’ll never forget how much fun it was. Someone described Oktobefest as Disneyland for adults (except, I still love disnelyand!!) All I have to say is you have to experience it once in your life if you ever want to get to know Germany.

The next day, we took a bike tour around Munich (thanks to Kelsey’s recommendations!) which was refreshing and beautiful… Just outside the city center, there is a giant church with many statues and columns. At this location (Julie and I are in the picture below at it), in 1923, Hitler walked with his first Nazi soldiers and entered into an open dispute with the Bavarian Police. This is the day Hitler was arrested and imprisioned, in which he wrote Mein Kampf and declared he would overtake all of Germany upon his release. A decade or so after this, at this exact location, one of the largest swastikas was hung. If you walked past and did not stop to Heil Hitler, you were automatically put into one of the most strenuous labor camps in Munich.

It was daunting and creepy to be at this location, though we also walked down the side alley in which locals would creep down to avoid the Nazi regulators. Nowadays if you’re caught heiling Hitler in Germany, no matter if it is a joke or not, you are instantly imprisoned. Here is a picture of us rubbing the lion’s armor, rub 3 times for good luck and fortune!

We also biked through the wonderfully green English Gardens, which is much larger than Central Park in NYC and home to dozens of nudists. We then went to the Chinese Tower Biere gardens, the 2^nd largest beer gardens in the world! The bike tour guide Franky was really funny too and used to surf in Pismo Beach and loves SLO!

We headed back to Oktoberfest to see it with the nightlife and had a blast walking around seeing all the lights and activities in full swing 15 hours after they began.

People begin waiting in the lines for the tents as early as 6 or 7 am after the first day!! Needless to say, we had an unbelievable time in Munchen at Therese-Giese-Allee (our metro stop!)

Belgium! My Half Homeland!

Hi Pau Pau! I know that you came to read this today! Love you and I hope you enjoy it!

On Friday, we left for Belgium. We decided to take a bus similar to a Greyhound because it was significantly cheaper than a train. We first landed in Brussels but wanted to journey to Bruges where we were staying that night.

The Brussels Gare du Midi is not a train station, it is an underground world. Oh, and the bathroom is in the farthest corner of the place, and you have to pay for it. Pretty much any bathroom at a public place like a train station, shopping area, movie theatre, etc costs about $0.75…. so when you have to go to the bathroom all the time like me, I’d estimate spending a whole lot of cash on les toilettes in the upcoming months.

In Belgium, they have unofficial languages of Flemish, German, and French. Most of the people we met were so knowledgeable and could switch languages at the drop of one word. Quite impressive compared to our sole English language in the states.

So we went off to Bruges, which is probably the most classically amazing part of Europe (that I’ve seen so far). Imagine medieval style buildings, EVERYWHERE, with colossal and stunning cathedrals everywhere, and cobblestone streets everywhere and tours by horse drawn carriage. Oh and the most popular mode of transportation is by bicycle! We settled down in our hostel, tried the house beer a Kreik that was cherry flavored. I liked it because it tasted like cherry punch ha but Julie was not a big fan.

Next day, experienced the Markt in Bruges. The main Markt is also where the movie "In Bruges" took place for a bit of it, though I haven’t seen it. We visited 1 of 2 rivaling frites companies, apparently fighting for business for many many decades.

Despite the name, “French” fries, they were actually invented in Belgium, so let’s just say we had a lot of unbelieveable fries with our favorite sauce called andalouse (which still and always will remind me of Andolasia … Kira will know the reference) We also went to a Belgian Chocolate Museum, which taught us the history of chocolate, how it is made, and most importantly, gave samples.

Off to Brussels where we stayed in a hostel literally 10 feet away from the Grand Place, the center and most recognized cluster of buildings in Bruxells, coined by Victor Hugo as “the most beautiful square in the world”. So for whatever stroke of luck, we arrived in Brussels for Belgian Independence Day (like the 4^th of July) and were welcomed heartily by weekend festivities, loud music, marching bands, and giant crowds!

Would like to say we planned on coming to Belgium on one of the most exciting weekends of the year, but we definitely had no idea until we met some of the band after their performance and asked what they were doing…

For dinner, we had an authentic meal. It is said that Brussels is the unofficial food capital of the world, so yes, we loved the food. Julie and I shared beef stew brewed in beer with mashed potatoes and saussices with mashed potatoes. Delicious! (we’ve made a pact to have one authentic meal everywhere we travel no matter if it is a bit more pricey than street food)

That night we went out with some friends we met in Bruges also traveling to Brussels. (can’t go to Belgium without visiting both incredible places). Next morning, we went back to the Grand Place and looked more closely at the architecture on the buildings. Every crevice of every building has an intricately designed statue within it. And the buildings themselves are probably 8-10 stories high. Incredible but almost unbelievable.

We visited the famous little boy peeing statue, Mannekin Pis, which is globally recognized as a symbol of Brussels. It is legend that this young boy defused a bomb that was set for the Grand Place.

Truthfully, it was installed to supply water for the community during the reign of Albert and Isabelle. Jeanneken is the statue of a small girl squatting to pee which was installed shortly after to promote equal sex. Jeanneken also marks the most popular alley with bars features thousands of different beers (called Delirium)

Anyways, got some great beer steins from a flea market for less than a euro, hit up the grocery store for Belgian chocolate at much more affordable and non-tourist prices (best tip we could ever have received!) and then went to a movie to take it easy.

We saw Inglorious Basterds in the most incredible theatre shown below, the screen was almost twice as wide as any regular theatre I'd been to, and it was not too expensive either surprisingly.

But unfortunately, for any of you who have seen the movie, its not spoken entirely in English. So for all of the parts (about ½ of the film) spoken in French, the only subtitles were in German. Still, I was mighty proud of me and Julie for understandig most of the French! Pretty good movie, though I think that Brad Pitt’s character was given too thick of a personality without enough background.

Next day, headed back to Rouen, only after enjoying our last Frites avec Andalouse et Waffles au chocolat. MMMM. Had a mild scare about losing my passport when we hit border check returning into France. Details are unnecessary, but lets just say it won’t happen again and I have it without question. Dedicating my entire afternoon to Yoga today and heading to the beloved Carrefour. Classes start tomorrow (all two days a week of them) before we head off to Germany!

For Mom

Found this viola/violin purse in Nice. I took a photo with it and the lady in the store thought I was a crazy tourist. Didn't buy it for you, but I thought you'd like it

La Côte D'Azur

I am absolutely loving life here! Last week in Rouen, it rained a lot. Julie and I found some beautiful untouched running trails behind our dorms that are surrounded by hundreds of thick trees and come up onto this beautiful view of a small French village. Julie and I headed to the French Riveria with 3 other girls from Cal Poly via train… which wasn’t necessarily the quickest mode of transport, but not bad. Haven’t gotten much sleep since arriving, well almost none, but in Julie’s wise words… you can sleep when you die, we’ve got things to see!

The train ride itself was actually incredible, with phenomenal cloud formations brushing softly against rolling hills and stone houses inset in the green land. I loved just watching outside the windows!

We arrived in Cannes and promptly went to the beach! The water there was pretty cold for whatever reason, but it was our first dip in the Mediterranean so there was no way we were missing out! That night we wandered beautiful, schnazzy upscale Cannes searching for some fun. We stopped at a fun swing bar and watched some incredible dancing!! Julie’s and my friend Courtney studied abroad in Cannes, so we honestly just did exactly what she told us was fun, including a delicious dinner!

The next day, we took a ferry across the Med to the Isle marguerite where the Man in the Iron Mask was held however many years ago. It was a crazy island, the prison itself was pretty typical, not very legendary with like iron masks chillin ever

ywhere, but the island was UN believable! The views of the coast were epic and everytime I saw the views of the water, I just about died with happiness. Oddly enough, most of the beaches are made of rocks and wood, not sand, so Julie and I found the most comfortable giant slate rock and took a nap. When we woke up, we realized the cove surrounding us was completely full of big and little jellyfish! Headed back… went to get some coffee (actually, coffee is really rare here, people just drink straight espresso shots, which is always good for someone like me who doesn’t feel the effects of caffeine… jk I’m like constantly wired haha)

Then we had might have been the most unbelievable Mediterranean meal of my life!!! Started with about 50 Moules (mussels), the most delicious sea bass in a butter cream sauce, and crème caramel. I’m getting hungry just imagining it!!!

Here in France, some vulgar men hit on you by asking the very sly and devious question: will you have sex with me? It’s pretty gross. They also have condom dispensers on the streets like vending machines. It’s a tad more straightforward then I’ve ever seen… its funny, but sick!! Haha The men also ride around on their mopeds and throw eggs at people at night, but don’t bring it up with Julie b/c it’s a sore subject. Ha.

this picture below is actually the view from the island ste marguerite

Next day, took the quick train to Nice! We ventured to our hostel, which we made the epic error of not finding directions on the metro, and refused to pay the requested 20 euros for a taxi. Lame. So, we finally found our way to the hostel, which was in the mountains of Nice. On the way we saw the human version of the cartoon man in UP! Took a picture… hahah it was so cute.

Nice itself was breathtaking. The water was warm and perfect. The beaches were made of the giant stone pebbles that hurt all over, but I still love everything about the beach. I’d say it was all even more beautiful than like the Caribbean or any tropical islands. It rests at a lovely 27 to 39 degrees Celsius ( like 85), is perfectly stunning, and sits nestled between some of the world’s most anciently beautiful and picturesque buildings. Wow, the shopping was fabulous too, though these trips are sucking everything dry money wise, so shopping is semi-non-existent right now. Can we have a quick discussion though about how much all of Europe loves purple!?! Sweet!

The hostel we stayed at, called Villa Saint Exeupery, was phenomenal!! It was ranked best hostel in France and one of the top 10 hostels in the entire world! The place was a converted monastery, so the common room/bar/restaurant was an ex. Chapel. They serve dinner there every night with Euro beers, so for dinner we had home cooked Boeuf Bourguignon for the beautiful price of 6 euros. J At the common room, we met a bunch of other traveling people, mostly from England and Australia. The people were awesome, especially our roomies 3 English girls that I absolutely love!! Our other roomie Jamie was working on a 3,000 mile bike ride from London to Sicily and stopped in Nice for a quick rest. Crazy!

We were supposed to leave Nice to come back for a non-mandatory French language class, but obviously since I fell so much in love with the ppl/hostel/ cote d’azur, we stayed an extra night!! The next day, we took a bus down to Port Grimaud, a beautiful place a bit farther west of Cannes. We hit up the beach and shopping, and especially liked the canals similar to Venice throughout the small town. (Drove up through Saint-Maxime also and another little town where the King of Sweden (I think ) vacations yearly) Then we hopped on a cruise to Saint Tropez, the most upscale recognized vacation spot in the Riveria. Met so many awesome people, and I’m pretty sure Jules and I were the only Americans on the entire cruise (which boasted free drinks haha). Landed in Saint Tropez, just one day shy of seeing JayZ, Beyonce, and P-Diddy who were alllllso making trips there.

P-Diddy has his infamous white party there every year as well. Other ppl with houses/mansions/gi-freaking enormous Yachts in St. Tropez: Paris Hilton’s Pop (though she herself is banned from the island due to some crazy birthday party she had last year), Mercedes Benz, Heineken, Sarcozy’s wife, a bunch of extremely well known European stars, and so on.

Our cruise tour guide told us a sweet story. One year he was on a small boat taking a trip through the Saint Tropez waters with a small disposable camera when he glanced over to another ship, and saw the lovely Princess Diana. He then realized she was there with her lover Dodi Fayad, snapped a few photos, including one of them leaning in for a delicious smooch. When she passed away tragically a few months later, our tour guide realized the value of his photo, sold it to the press for a FAT dollar sign, (guessing a couple hundred thousand), and now everyone globally has seen that very photo! There are media helicopters that chase down yachts and beaches all across the water too, the paparazzi is vicious, I’ve never watched it in person before.!!

Okay not much to do in St .Tropez though unless you’re a zillionaire. But going to visit just the yacht scenery was kind of worth it itself, because its so unbelievable. Paul Allen was visiting in his yacht, only like the 9^th biggest in the world, and it might have been bigger than like the business building at Poly.

Oh hey on the bus ride back, The girl I sat next to was named Emily, who was traveling with her friend Emily (in front of me).. both from Melbourne, Australia, and next to me was our friend Emily from England. I have a globally sweet name. haha oh and the lady in Rouen who helped me today was Emilie. (like Em_E LEE, in the Madrid customs office haha)

Headed Back to Rouen with extreme sadness to say goodbye to Rivera-n Paradise, but stopped in Marseilles which has some incredibly gorgeous views itself. Rouen has been warm, and I’m excited to go out with our friends from school today. We’re all booked for Brussels and Belgium tomorrow, which should be beautiful. Gotta fill up on all that beer, chocolate, and waffles J Our hostel in Brussels is in the heart of the Grand Palace, so we’re lucky gals.

More later, miss you all… I’m so lucky to be here. If anyone would like to wire me money, I’d take it with happiness. Just kidding, but traveling is expensive… but so so worth it!

Rrrrouen

ok, I thought that it'd be easy to blog, but actually I have almost no time, so blogs will be much shorter than the day that I was chillin in the airport for hours with nothing to do.

Julie and I left Par

is CDG with about 120 lbs of luggage or so each and ventured onto the metro (X2), the 1/2 mile walk to the train station, 1 train, 2 taxis, lots of stairs, and arrived at our hotel and then eventually our dorm in Rouen! Lets just say, my arms and hands were sore from all the lugging and lifting. We wouldn't have made it through Paris but made friends with this awesome Parisean named Charly who

is a comedian and does hip hop (pronounced eeepooop) and offered to carry some of our baggage! It was wonderful!

Here in Rouen, I absolutely love it. All the

frenchies are great, everyone our age is pretty much fluent in 2-4 languages, including English. I love everything about Carrefour and could spend hours and hours there if it weren't so expensive... Wine reallllly is cheaper than water. Weird things: toilet paper is pink. they dont refrigerate eggs. a man's sole job is to weigh veggies and fruit in the produce section.

Here at school, we have a castle where we check in which is gorgeous. I'll show a photo of it later. Rouen itself is literally a city of cathedrals, with breathtaking architecture. Even the ruined architecture is amazing. The city center is called Jeanne D'arc so we've wandered around there a ton but we have yet to see where she was actually burned....

The other students here are so much fun! US is actually really small the most students are from China but lots froM SPain, canada, south america, and italy. We went out to downtown rouen last night and the nightclubs epically fail compared to Madrid, but that is why we'll make multiple trips to the city that never sleeps (and gives you alllll that she wants) ;) but the pubs/bars are fun for meeting local frenchies, though none are quite as awesome as maxime... he'd be happy to know that.

We got cell phones yesterday which is sweet to have international numbers. We finally have internet as well. We had some delicious french baked goods too and they really are fantastique in every way!!

Send me an email if you want my int'l number if you're abroad.

My contact info here is:

Posselius Emily

Cité Universitaire du Panorama. Pavillion Ango

203

Boulevard André Siefried. BP 218

76136 Mont Saint Aignan Cedex

Skype account is emily.posselius

Heading to the French Riveria tomorrow for our 1st weekend trip. Miss you all! Loving France and couldnt possibly be happier!!

Arriving in Paris

So, I’m here, in Paris! I tried to do real journaling, like with a pen and paper, but I got super tired and just wanted to type it. It just seems easier, which is kinda pathetic, but oh well. I’ve never really been a journal girl, especially since I was little and EJ would steal and read all my journal entries… haha.

I’m waiting for Julie to arrive from her flight from SF. Its about 2 hours after mine, but I couldn’t be more excited to see her! I sat down, got situated and realized that I have no idea what hostel I booked us at. I know that it is in Rouen somewhere, but I don’t want to pay 9 bucks for 30 minutes of internet at the airport to find out the name, so I’m just going to have to figure out these minor details later. Ha.

When I got to DIA, I thought I was going to Pittsburg. Wrong. I was flying to Philadelphia (in Pennsylvania… J) and I was happily waiting at the gate when I got to see Mr. Kalush (heading to NY with a sweet camera) and Mollie (heading to Madrid!). Then I

looked down at my ticket and realized not only was I flying to Philly & not Pittsburg, but that my flight was pretty much about to take off, and I was at the wrong gate. So I ran to the gate, quickly boarded, and then had a fun adventure trying to find a place to put my carry on bag since there was no room left. The two flight attendants, both male and both so effeminate that I couldn’t help but LOVE them, helped me out and then told me about how much they LOOOOVe paris and how lucky that I was. I sat next to this nice girl Alexa who goes to USD with Molls and EmJ and is studying in Madrid in the same program as Mollie! Small world, and at our layover, I met a bunch of her friends. They were all so sweet, maybe I should study with them in Madrid instead. (calm down Kira, I’m not actually going to leave France for your country, but we can go together in a few months!)… By the way, the airport in Philadelphia, is not an airport. It is like a luxurious mall, probably opened last week because it is so modern and clean! They had a Gap, a BOSE audio, every imaginable awesome smelling food place, and was probably 8 miles long ( b/c we walked from terminal A to E, which was like 8 miles.).

Boarded my flight to CDG, and slept about 5 of the 6 ½ hours. I met a girl next to me named Kelsey heading to study also outside of Paris, and we ventured through the airport together. Now I’m here at terminal 2E waiting for Jules! I hope that she doesn’t like walk right past me because I’m too busy typing away, but I don’t think that will happen. When I got here, I got the world’s smallest coffee… maybe 4 oz for the incredibly good deal of 4 Euros… so like 6 bucks. But, I didn’t even care because it was delicious and I’m currently running on like 0 energy, other than pure excitement to be here. I also enjoyed my Chipotle, hauled all the way here from the original Chipotle in Denver (which may I mention, I got 100% fo free by pure luck—right Minu?). I should finish eating it like now-ish since its traveled the whole world and is likely not very fresh anymore). But I still thought it was delicious. Who would have ever guessed I’d be sitting in Paris, eating Chipotle?! All I have to say, is I can’t complain much b/c I’m sure one lucky girl! (P.S. IC is relatively high here. AC is low- just me, Oohmy sort of, BC is off the charts! You know what I mean?)

Lugging my 140 lbs of luggage around has been quite interesting, though in the terminal they provide free luggage carts. In the train is when it gets a bit challenging. But hey, these guns can handle anything. Shoot, I wish I hadn’t just typed that. How embarrassing. Anyways, I’m just sooo excited to be here in FRANCE. When I hear people speaking French, I just want to follow them and listen to them talk, but then I realize how incredibly creepy that is, so don’t worry loves, I don’t do that.

But then I was talking to this girl, and she started speaking rapid French to me—I totally understood her but just froze and didn’t respond. She, being all worldy and multi-lingual, quickly responded in English and was like OH sorry, I didn’t realize you weren’t French. Ha, now I look French! YAY! I told her I understood her, but that I’m not fluent. She was really sweet though. I’m doing my best to remember all the things Kennelly, Thompson, and Samson taught me… Maybe I’ll only speak French to Julie when she gets here. Probably not, I think she’ll be here soon! I’m stoked! (as if I hadn’t already mentioned that).

It’s totally crazy to know that a whole school, dorm, and group of friends awaits us just an hour away. People and places that we haven’t ever met or experience, all of which are going to become integral parts of our lives for the next 4 months!! Its so exhilarating to know that everything is blank and we can fill in all the colors and experiences as we go. I have yet to see the Eiffel Tower, and oh how I can’t wait. Ok wow, I just saw two of the most manly men kiss each other on the cheeks to say hello. I forgot how culturally different it is here!! Dude, blogging is fun! I think I’ll keep doing it while I’m here since its just like stream of consciousness talking and I can say whatever I want! I hope that I have more viewers than like Kira and my Mom (though I love you both immensely and thank you for reading about my life!)

Okay, I’m going to go wait for Julianne! A tout à l’heure mes amis!

Off to PARIS!

And SO, my journey to France has begun. I left this morning at the beautiful hour of 6am to get to the airport. The sun was a breathtaking deep red color, but the sky was gloomy. I didn't get to say goodbye to the Colorado Mtns, but I know they'll be there when I come back. I'm also stoked for Sushi Den when I get back- they're opening a new Sushi Deli thing across the street, basically monopolizing Pearl Street entirely, but I'm stoked about it. Tazu one of the co-owners told us about it at my fabulous dinner with my mom last night. It couldn't have been a more perfect day!

As I drove to the airport, I thought, maybe I should video this journey and make a sweet video like Kira did when she went to Madrid. Then I remembered I have no idea how to do that. Hey Kira will you teach me someday haha or maybe I'll just pay you to follow me around like a reality tv show celeb. :)

So I'm off to Paris with 2 huge bags (both miraculously under 50 lbs)... 10, okay 11 .. pairs of shoes, a lot of purple (and turquoise and pink) clothes, a Chipotle for the plane, and of course, my yoga mat. I was so sad to leave Core Power yoga yesterday, but I completed my 30 day yoga challenge, so that was awesome! I was so sad to leave actually, that I might have cried a bit in savasana. I know, I'm lame, but I just love being on my mat so much!

Next time I blog, I'll be with Julie in France! I'm excited to see her! We have like 4 plans of trying to meet up with each other while at the CDG b/c we won't have cell phones. I'm sure we'll be resourceful and figure it out though, and then head off to Rouen. In the first scene of the movie Julie and Julia, they eat dinner in Rouen, so I'm going to search for that restaurant. Oh french food, I'm so excited to have it in my belly! MMm!

Flight's about to board. I hope there are no weird complications as I go. Cross my fingers. A tout a l'heure toute la monde! France here I come!!