The LONGEST Day

Today started off as usual, but the day turned out to be one of the most interesting days I have lived in my life so far.

Ok, let me start at the beginning. We had a slightly later start today – 9am, instead of 8:30. Unfortunately, I woke up at 7 and could not really sleep in. But I decided to not let the morning go to waste and instead for a nice long run in the forest behind the chateau. Running along the former Maginot Line is quite a moving experience when you understand the history of the region.

Our only scheduled activity today was to visit the Alsatian Chamber of Commerce. I really dreaded this because finance and business bore me. The lecturer had a great PowerPoint, but his command of the English language was lacking in some instances. It is so weird that he knew many complicated words, but still had trouble with the simplest words – such as wet. He meant waterproof. I went to him after the lecture and complimented him on his English. I wish I could speak German half as well as he spoke English.


It is interesting how much the Alsatian economy mirrors that of Clemson, SC. The two economies are heavily focused on textile, automotives, and medicine. Many foreign companies invest in Strasbourg, and over 50% of the population is employed by these foreign companies.

After the meeting, we wandered through the streets and stumbled upon this neat craft shop. I got tsome patches for my crazy patchwork back pack, and some anchor earrings for my obnoxious preppiness back at Clemson.

After lunch, Dorothy finally got to buy one of those giant upside town muffin bakery treats, and we walked back to Strasbourg. Also, outside of the bakery, there was a woman asking for money, so we gave her some. I have not seen many beggars here, but there was another one in Heidelberg yesterday. There is a noticeable difference between the American ones and ones here – the ones here are slightly cleaner. Interesting.


The walk back was lovely and enjoyable. We saw the Arte center (a television channel developed to help reunite France and Germany) Also, on the way back, we saw a few banners outside of an institute protesting various issues such as anti-terrorism measures (so they were anti anti-terrorism). There was also a banner promoting Christianity. This was very interesting, since people are generally not religious around here. The banner said that court of human rights will not be here forever and this life will not be forever, so we should look to God.

Once we got to the chateau, Dorothy, Sally , John, Allen, and I rented bikes and headed to Kehl. We also took some lovely pictures with the chateau as background. Oh yeahhhh, Christmas card pictures! The ride to Kehl was…it is hard to describe it…intense and exhilarating? There is a regular, safe route, but we got semi-lost following the Google Map directions. Sally and all of her lovliness flagged down this passing biker and asked her for help. Thank goodness she spoke English! (Although I think I'm highly conversational in France, Sally loves to chat with people. She epitomizes all the friendliness that America has to offer.) The biker was also on the way to Kehl, so we just followed her. She was a Parsian opera soloist who is interning in Strasbourg and is going back in a month to audition for an opera company!

Whew, the path we took was so intense that it deserves its own paragraph. The route took us through highways and bumpy rocky areas that had no bike lanes (most roads in Europe has two bike lanes). Attempting to crossing the streets and having big trucks pass alongside you were the worst. But, we made it! We stopped on the friendship bridge connecting France and Germany. The bridge in Greenville, SC is actually based off of this bridge. It was really beautiful but I especially enjoy the story of the bridge, which I think I mentioned in an earlier post about Germany and France. Yet again, France took clear advantage of Germany.

Fate would have it that we end up right in front of a H&M store. With almost no money, shopping is atorture for me! Aterwards, we rode to the Supermarket. I just want to point that I have not mentioned eating at all today. This is because I tried to save money and only had a Diet Coke and some bread for breakfast. Needless to say I was completely delusional in the supermarket and could hardly choose what to eat let alone sit down and actually eat it. I was not alone in my delusional state, however. At the supermarket, Sally went crazy buying more crackers and chocolate as well as a bottle of great Bourgogne Wine, which I helped her pick out.


As we were all delirious from the physical excretion and lack of food, we were a spectacle in the store. Here, they have cigarette dispensers. We did not know what it was/how it worked, so I just pressed random buttons. Boxes came out and I pushed it back under the flap in hopes that no one would notice. I just could not stop laughing, as Sally acted like a Bull in a China closet bumping into random people and objects. We were a complete shit show for lack of a nicer way to put these things.

John and Allen rode back early to be back in time for Allen’s 9:15 train ride. Slightly sad that he had to leave, but his parents are meeting him in Prague tomorrow. Very nice. We followed en suite just after a little nourishment at the Supermarket. We were less insane afterward at the very least.

The ride back was not as bad as the ride to Kehl. However, we were racing to beat the storm at one point – scary dark clouds looming over us. It was rather exhilarating. I sort of wanted it to storm. I think that riding through a storm would be intensely awesome.

this is where the day gets kind of interesting. When we got back to the chateau, it was already 8:30, so we rushed to get ready, since we were supposed to meet some French teenagers at the Gallia tram station at 9pm. Unfortunately, we started out super late, and it got even later. Dorothy, Julie, and I got lost in some random suburbs. Caitlin and Kate were supposed to meet us at the Square, but hopefully, they did not wait for us so long. I felt so horrible we kept the foreign students waiting. We finally arrived at a Mexican restaurant in the middle of nowhere and asked someone. Once again, thank goodness for kind people. The lady directed us to the tram station.

When we finally made it down town, several interesting things happened. First, and to the grave dismay of Sally, a Middle Eastern-looking man at a random restaurant said, “ hi three prostitutes, how much for the night?” – in French, of course as we were passing by to walk to the tram station. Sally was fuming like I had never seen before after Dorothy and I translated.) First of all, I wore this nice black dress with a white cardigan over it, Dorothy wore a tube top with black pants and a cardigan, and I wore white pants and a shirt over a tank top. We were definitely not showing enough skin to earn the great honor of being called a prostitute. Second of all, even if we were dressed promiscuously, one has a right to dress as he or she wishes without being called a whore and made an offer. It did not bother me because it's just how they are sometimes in France, but the great bother came from Sally. I felt bad for her because I could not get across to her to just let it ride and not worry too much about it.

After all these long trials and challenges, we finally got to the Gallia tram station at 10:20pm. Understandably, the French kids we were supposed to meet were not there. The only thing we could do was get gelato. Which would make a funny story the next moorning when telling the fellow DGPSers, "We went all the way to Strasbourg, got called whores, got hopelessly lost...all for Gelato!"

We walked to the Square afterwards to make sure that the others were not waiting for us there. On the way, this another French man said, "two French girls and one Chinese girl. Three prostitutes. How much for the night?” I thought it was a little funny and I could not help but laugh. But Sally pestered me to translate, and thank god I waited for a few minutes to tell her what he said. I suspect if I had told her what he said right on spot, she would have Chuck Norris Roundhouse kick to his crotch area.

At this point, after two freaking sex offers and with my feet in immense pain, I asked Julie to say the French words for three and prosititue. Unfortunately for the French, Sally was completely fed up with the country and culture at this point. I felt sad about this because evn though I love to make fun of the French, I also think it's a wondeful culture. ally forced me to translate every little thing we heard on the street, and she continually gave the Death Glare to everyone of the male species. It was funny to watch, but as I was to learn her attitude was to come in handy. France was about to remind me of just that.

The walk back to the chateau from the tram station was lovely in the scenery, but uber painful. Dorothy and I took care of Sally, who was angry at the world and in pan because of her ridiculous heels. It helped a little, but there were still small rocks and pieces of glass we had to watch out for. Once, I accidentally tripped over a piece of concrete. Painful, but the two girls really helped me along. When we were almost back to the chateau, we had another disgusting event happen.

As we rounded around a alley corner with a house, Sally saw this dark shadow of a man. I was walking pretty close to it, so she grabbed my wrist and pulled me to her. I turned and saw the man smiling creepily at us. This repulsive man had his penis out and was masturbating. Sally told me later that she had seen him skulking around behind us for a while but thought he was just on his way home. I felt so sick to my stomach that I started to cry. Dorothy was quick to get me to calm down though. She reminded me that giving a reaction was exactly what that pervert wanted from us. We hurriedly walked back to the chateau, I teared up the whole way while Sally looked ready to fight someone. Dorothy did a great job calming the pair of down, however, and we focused solely on getting back inside.

Today was definitely the most interesting day we have had so far. Although it was a free day (minus the Chamber of Commerce visit), we were all constantly on the go. I feel like we all want to enjoy the area as much as we can.

While lost, we definitely encountered some wonderful people from around the area, but there were also negative incidents such as the two men with prostitution offers and that super repulsive man. The best that can said about today is that is strengthened the bond I have will my fellow DGPSers, but it also rocked my whole perception of France. I defended France to Sally when she angrily called it's people a bunch of rude perverts. But I then seemed subjected to exactly her argument. It's hard for me to grapple with right now.