Spring Break, woooo

Now that the blockage has finally ended (although not the national professor's strike...) of course it's time to head out for a two week vacation. While I originally had planned to go alone, I found someone in my class almost as crazy as I am. Thus we'll be heading out early Friday morning for a long and busy trip. I'll be bringing my computer this time, so I'll probably have posts from the road as it were... It'll make it easier to break this up anyway. So for those who may be interested, here's our plan, subject to change slightly as we haven't reserved any trains but the first and last.

April 3rd
Montpellier-> Lyon-> Geneva (Switzerland)
Geneva-> Lucerne
April 4th
Lucerne-> Innsbruck (Austria)
April 5th
Innsbruck-> Salzburg
Salzburg-> Vienna-> Budapest (Hungary)
April 7th
Budapest-> Vienna
April 8th
Vienna-> Prague (Czech Republic)
April 10th
Prague-> Copenhagen (Denmark - this is a flight, so this one is for sure)
April 11th
Copenhagen-> Hamburg (Germany)
April 12th
Hamburg->Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Amsterdam-> Brussels(Belgium)
April 13th
Brussels-> Bruges
Bruges-> Luxembourg
April 14th
Luxembourg-> Paris
April 15th
Paris-> Glasgow (Scotland, obviously another flight so this isn't changing either)
April 17th
Glasgow-> Belfast (Northern Ireland, also a flight)
April 19th
Belfast-> Paris
April 20th
Paris-> Montpellier

Wow! I'm nuts! I hope Stevie and I don't drive each other insane, but I'm sure it'll be great. I'll have plenty of time to write on train rides, so I'll keep you posted when I find wifi...

French Visa - Acquired

I made the journey down to Chicago in order to visit the French consulate and obtain my student visa for my time in France, valid through the 29th of June 2009. The process was rather painless, but it involved a lot of sitting around in Chicago - which could be fun if the weather weren't so darned cold. The windy city lived up to its name, though, and I tried to spend as little time as possible outside despite the about a mile walk to the consulate from the metra station. I guess getting there five hours early didn't help either, but the trains from Kenosha don't run very often.

Now it's time to finalize packing, make sure I have everything ready. First things first: I still have 2 papers, 2 days of class and four finals to go! Not to mention Christmas in Colorado... It's going to be a busy few weeks leading up to December 29th, but that's nothing new to me!

First order of business in France: Disneyland Paris. My sister and I will be spending New Year's there, before I fly to Montpellier on January 2nd for the start of my programme. Should be a good time. I hope.

22 days!