really, it was inevitable.

now that i've arrived at the chateau, i finally have internet access. i wrote this entry on the bus ride from munich to strasbourg. current updates to follow.

i'm officially here. well, i guess "here" could be a relative term, when you factor in the various states of consciousness i've been in for the past few days. jet lag, smelliness, intoxication, hungoverness... you know, what is to be expected.

the flight over here was relatively uneventful. delayed leaving chicago, so cut the connecting flight a little close. almost didn't make it. much to my discomfort, my luggage didn't make it at all. i spent monday, tuesday, and most of wednesday in the same pair of undies. gross. i bought a shirt and pairof pants from h&m in munich, so that wasn't so bad. mostly i missed my toothpaste. for future reference, i do not recommend german toothpaste. not so minty fresh.

tuesday we had lots of free time, then a city bus tour, then dinner. germany is refreshingly german. leiderhausen and dundel skirts, beer and saurkraut.i can't get over the architecture. most of the city was destroyed during wwII, so a lot of the historical stuff had to be rebuilt. it's quite interestingto see the stuff i learned in design history in real life, in context. we took a tour of nymphenburg palace, where i could have easily busted out my chair handouts and checked things off as we moved through the rooms.

more impressive is the current stuff being built. gorgeous. i'm impressed with the value germans (perhaps all europeans) place in design. it seems thereis a greater appreciation for the form of objects.

last night we had dinner at the haufbrauhaus, which i guess is famous or something. seemed like kind of a tourist trap. however, they had a delicious buffet. and the beer, oh the beer! served in liter mugs, incredibly delicious.

after dinner, a group of us went to oktoberfest. another beer, dancing on tables. an oompa band was playing (i don't think that's a technical term), butinstead played standard wedding reception fare. lots of fun to hear YMCA in german. hehe. i didn't know that was a universal dance. i continued my unbroken streak of befriending sketchy drunk european men (costa del sol, anyone?). good pictures from that as well. oktoberfest ends at 10:30ish, so we finished the evening at the bar in our hotel. at least this time the beer wasn't as big as my head.

woke up this morning still kinda intoxicated. but my luggage finally arrived last night, so i was able to enjoy a fantastic shower and fresh clothes. this morning we went to a modern art museum called pinakothek. four separate wings, one for paintings/ photography and what not, one for industrialdesign (with the most wonderful collection of furniture i've ever seen), one for architecture (edwards would have really enjoyed the models on display), and one other i didn't see. i only wish we could have spent more time here; i tried to walk through all the galleries, but it's kind of hard to enjoy a piece of art as you walk past for three seconds.

i'm really enjoying the people on this trip. quite honestly, i was worried about making friends. plus, have you seen some of the freaks that go to our school? everyone is fun. it's a little tricky remembering names. sometimes it feels like in chicago i surround myself with an ID bubble. it's really nice to hear about other majors, comparing and contrasting classes, understanding different types of design. plus, everyone is pretty cool.

later we'll finally make it to strasbourg. i've really enjoyed the time in munich. it was a nice way to start the trip, but i feel anxious to settle into a home and a routine. right now it still sort of feels like a people-to-people-esque tour. like i'll be going home in a couple weeks, or something.

but i'm not! this is going to be fun.

bags are packed; i'm ready to go

that's true, except my bags aren't quite packed. and i don't leave until monday. for france (and by france i mean quincy for three months where i will do nothing but photoshop myself into pictures of europe... mwahhaha). no really, i mean france.

perhaps it's my tendency to procrastinate. right now, pretty much every item of clothing i own in strewn across my floor. i think at one point i tried to put things into piles, but it turns out the piles became too specific. what i'm trying to say is, i can't yet bring myself to put anything in my suitcase. instead, i thought i would meditate on the act of packing, of moving on to something new. then i would share these observations on here. once i have resolved these lingering issues, i can pack in peace. god, she is weird

well, i guess i can say now that i've pretty much gotten through my ginormous to-do list that i had leading up to my trip. (side note: i feel strange calling it a trip, because it is much longer than a simple holiday. program sounds too rehab-y; adventure is silly. trip will have to do.) i'm officially done with all my classes, successfully completed final projects for all four, taken two final exams, moved my belongings into storage, gotten my hair cut (it's short!), completed all pre-departure arrangements, and so on and so on. though at the beginning of the quarter i felt daunted by my ever-growing to-do list, i wouldn't have done it any other way. well, maybe i would have spent a little more time working on my autoCAD final. and my rendering. but we'll wait until my grades are posted for that particular complaint. right now i have a load of laundry going downstairs, so that about wraps it up for this evening's activities.

i don't know, the more i think about my trip, the more i'm convinced that it will go by likethat. 11 weeks sounds like a lot, but in the same way, it still feels like yesterday that i started summer quarter.

i promise my bloggage in europe will be more exciting, less introspective, and report on actual events and stories and travels and fun. sorry to bore you.

you know, just testing out the ol' typing fingers.
goodnight.
-katie

welcome...

hello there!

this is the blog of katie mays as she spends three months in france studying abroad. is it premature for her to be setting up this account? perhaps. but, it's late, she's not tired, and for some reason is typing in third person.

i promise i won't do that the entire time.

anywho, this will be my connection to friends and family back in the states while i'm in france. here's to online stalking and the joys of traveling vicariously!