Our next stop was my lovely home base in France, Nancy. We woke up at 6:30 in order to check out of hotel and catch metro to the Gare de l’Est for our 9 am departure time. During the hour and a half train ride, I studied some German and took a nice nap. Paris may be more exciting, but I find Nancy to be eminently more livable. My family bought transportation passes at the gare and I discovered that the apartments where we would be staying were on the tram line. This meant more frequent service with shorter rides – score! After check-in, we returned to the city center to lunch at Flunch. It’s a cafeteria-style dining experience but with the French definition of “fast food” – made-to-order steaks are delicious, but waiting 15 minutes for them with a tray of hot food is slightly annoying. At the attached mall, we bought train tickets to the city of Trier, Germany on Sunday. Since it’s part of a Euroregion (Saar-Lor-Lux), we were able to get cheap weekend tickets designed to promote regional tourism. Spending hours trying things on isn’t as common in France – if you go into a store, you probably know what you’re looking for and can make a quick decision. While family members took naps, I went back to the lycée to clean things up and have some alone time. My family caught up on the Tudors while I caught up on YouTube videos and Internet chats.
We had a quiet Christmas Eve, spent hanging out in the hotel room. In the afternoon, we wandered downtown to meet my very lively conversation leader at his art gallery. I was the first one of my classmates to franchir le seuil (cross the threshold) and was surprised at what a wide variety of objects he had accumulated. Upon hearing that my sister is studying business, he jokingly asked her to draw up a business plan for him. His English was OK, but broke down after 20 minutes. This is understandable – when you only use a language to order food and ask directions, you aren’t use to speaking it fluidly and confidently. Then, I gave my family the tour of my living quarters and we spent about 20 minutes talking in the TV room before heading across the street to Christmas Eve mass. My choir was there and I was able to join in the last-minute rehearsal (I had missed the previous one due to travel) and sang in the choir. As can be expected, Catholic Christmas Eve services are much the same everywhere and the priest talked about how being with family is the most important thing. Some kids put on a play about the rewards of being nice to your neighbors, which explained why the church was packed with their adoring parents and grandparents. A bus trip home and some soup later, we were ready for bed.
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