Tour de France here I come!

Two tires. Shiny blue paint. Stick on a bell & basket and call me a European.

This week I bought a bike. Well, it’s mine until I leave and then I get my deposit back. Up until August, expect to see me blending into the rest of Strasbourg -- traveling around the parks and city centre on my way to the lab. You can also expect to see me cycling around with a baguette sticking out of my wire basket following a visit to the Supermarche.

My dad will be proud: this savvy traveler shopped around and found the best bike deal for the summer. Many of the other students bought bicycles their first day at this “sketch” [note to older readers :: slang for sketchy :) ] place by the university. I traveled out to the train station and hooked myself up.

I went and checked out the first place and the guy tried to charge me €50 for a bike that clearly had seen better days. So I did my asking around and internet searching and found a place that only rents bikes but they’re in very good condition. The guy at the rental spoke very little English and I’m pretty sure had a speech impediment. He was incredibly nice and patient, so we played what felt like a version of charades involving various forms of pointing, expressions, and broken words from both languages.

The 411 on my bike from Velocation (velo = bike in French)
- The bike is really good condition, and came with a bell and basket!
- The lock was included
- If something happens, I pay €4 for a flat tire, or bring in the bike for them to fix it if it breaks
- I put down a €100 deposit that I get back at the end
- €45 euros for the entire time until I leave

Aside from the deposit, this was cheaper and way more reliable than the other bike. Now I don’t have to pay for tram tickets (about €3.50 for a day pass) to get to work. The month passes for the tram we haven’t even found yet, but will cost about €30 per month.

Waffles and chocolate anyone?

After a day of scheming on Skype chat with Chris (a longtime and very dear friend), I also purchased tickets to Belgium for the weekend. I leave today after work and get back Sunday night. Don’t really know a lot of details about the weekend yet, just that it’s a go and he’s meeting me at the train station.

Here again, I saved money because I went and got a 12-25 card earlier this week. You pay €49 euros for this rail pass (for those in the ages of 12-25) and get between 25-75% off your rail tickets in France for a year.

Yet another example of people in Strasbourg being nice. There was a young guy at the teller who helped me find the best deal, spoke very good English, and was very patient. He asked me where I was from, I said Texas, he said “ah, Bush” and then smiled and laughed.

The day before when I went with Matt to buy the rail card the young lady who helped us saw our passports and said “ ah, you are from the US, lucky!” And then told us about her vacation to Ecuador (at least that’s what we think she said) and wished us happy traveling.

I love the people in Strasbourg. Pauline -- a grad student in the lab who’s gone out of her way to help me and tell me about special hangouts in Strasbourg -- said it’s because a lot of France just thinks people here are half German, so they are just “different.”

I buy it. People could not be more friendly.

After getting my bike I cycled all the way home. I thought since the train station was so far out I’d hop on a tram since my card was still valid, but the sun was setting and it was a very warm, summertime evening. A little more of me fell in love with France today. I cycled past two guys standing by their bikes and they smiled and said a colloquial “chiao” and went right by the European Parliament building on my way back. It was simply lovely.

Update
This entry is a day old because I didn’t have internet at home or time in the lab. Well I finally got internet, which means I spent adequate time “catching up” on my facebook addiction. I’m off to Belgium today, so my next entry will be long, both about Belgium and my day yesterday/today. Also I plan to write more about what it’s like to work at ULP Chimie Department.

MissElaineous