Category: Alex

A Journey to the South

Written by: Charles Stallworth

A little bit of a fun fact about GTE: your weekends will vary in length throughout the semester! While the usual weekend lasts three days, you’ll also have a couple of four-day and two-day weekends sprinkled into your schedule. Naturally, where and for how long you travel to a destination is heavily dependent on the length of the weekend, and being aware of this information beforehand is very important to planning your trips successfully. If you can’t already tell, I’m speaking with the benefit of, at this point, over a month of hindsight. Here’s a tip: If at all possible, plan your trips, at least in some part, before you arrive in Metz. Trust me, it will save you a lot of time and future headaches. On a completely unrelated note, let’s talk about my recent and entirely spontaneous solo trip last weekend.

An Idea Becomes Reality

Toulouse, France, plays host to a number of Airbus’s final assembly lines for many of their aircraft, including the A320, A330, and A350, as well as their corporate headquarters. As an aerospace engineering student, the city was naturally on my shortlist of places to visit while in Europe, but due to a number of extenuating circumstances, my odds of making this a reality dwindled as the trip became more complicated. First of all, Toulouse is quite far from Metz, with the shortest trains taking around 8 hours. Second of all, it just isn’t a city where there is enough to do to justify it being the sole objective of a 3-day weekend. Finally, and most crucially, the Airbus experience in Toulouse is quite popular, with it being fairly difficult to acquire last-minute tickets. 

But last weekend, the stars aligned. A canceled class. A short weekend. A night train that could double as both my lodging and transportation. And the kicker? The only ticket left for the Airbus experience over the next two weeks was at 3 pm, on that Saturday, in English. I didn’t have any excuses left not to make this happen, so I booked the tickets on Thursday evening and headed for Paris the following afternoon. 

To get to Toulouse, I had to change trains in Paris; however, due to my canceled class, I had around 7 hours to kill in the city. I made the most of this time by visiting the Louvre. 

The Louvre? The Labyrinth.

The Louvre might just be the most absurd place I’ve ever been to. The museum is absolutely massive: I’d argue that if you wanted to walk through every inch of the place without looking at a single work of art, you’d probably be in there for a good hour at the minimum. It almost feels like a labyrinth, with its sheer size and scale becoming more apparent the further you venture into it. With that being said, even with all of that space, it still felt quite crowded in the museum; I’d guess that it could hold the population of a mid-sized football stadium during any given visit.

(The Mona Lisa, a lot smaller than you’d probably expect it to be)

(A mosaic from within the Islamic Art Exhibit at the Louvre)

(An exploded view of a pot, from within the Chinese Art exhibit at the Louvre.)

At first glance, you may assume that I view these absurdities negatively, but it’s actually quite the opposite, as it just added to the majesty of the experience. There’s just something surreal about walking around a beautiful palace, surrounded by 35,000 of the finest artistic pieces in human history, while in a crowd of thousands of strangers speaking dozens of languages. If that’s not what the international experience is all about, I don’t know what is. 

Anyways, here are 3 tips I picked up while visiting the Louvre. 

  1. Order your tickets ahead of time. Despite its size, the Louvre does in fact have a maximum occupancy, and on busy days, museum officials will turn away people seeking walk-up tickets. Prevent this from happening by buying a ticket ahead of time on their official website. 
  2. Get there early. Although it is very difficult to see the entirety of the Louvre in one day, you can still see a good amount of it if you get the earliest ticket slot possible. Getting there early will also give you plenty of time to take as many breaks as needed in the museum, integral to having a good experience. 

Enter through the Carrousel du Louvre. There are two ways to get into the Louvre: the pyramid in the courtyard, and the Carrousel du Louvre, a nearby shopping mall that connects to the space under the pyramid. The Carrousel just makes things a whole lot easier, as the lines are significantly shorter, and you also get to be inside, not exposed to the surprisingly hot Paris sun.

After leaving the Louvre, I spent a lot of time roaming the streets of Paris. I’ve found that wandering around without a specific goal in mind really allows you to get a feel for the different neighborhoods in a city, giving a more relaxed and authentic view of what the city is actually like. Plus, it is so rewarding to find a hidden gem, whether it be a restaurant or some other type of shop, by yourself, and not because of some internet recommendation. 

Getting There: A Night Train Experience

Eventually, it was time for me to head to the station and board the train to Toulouse. This was the part of the journey that I was admittedly pretty concerned about. This train was set to leave Paris at 10 pm and arrive in Toulouse at 7 am. I am no stranger to sleeping upright, but doing it two nights in a row was a bit daunting. Also, since I was traveling alone on a train that required seat reservations, I had no idea, nor could I control where I was sitting, or who I was sitting next to. I am pretty tall (around 6 ‘3), so a bad draw in either seating location or seatmates could doom me to a pretty uncomfortable night. While this wasn’t something that would make or break my trip, I was still pretty cognizant of it while I was on my way to the station. So, you can imagine my sheer joy when I got to the car and saw nothing but bunks.

(A Sleeper Car on the Intercities Night Trains.)

The bunk wasn’t overtly impressive, consisting only of a couch-like twin mattress, a thin sleeping bag, and a small pillow, but for what I expected, I was more than pleased with this. I slept soundly throughout both train rides. 

Time for Toulouse: Planes and Processes

When I arrived in Toulouse, I headed straight for the Musée Aeroscopia for my tour of the Airbus factory. The tour made the entire journey there more than worth it. Walking through the factory and hearing all of the detailed explanations of the Airbus assembly processes was a really insightful experience. The only downside of the tour was that we weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside the factory itself, which was a bit of a bummer, but understandable. 

On a more positive note, we did get to see 3 of the 6 active Airbus Belugas at the factory; we even got to watch one come in to land. That plane is something remarkable, so goofy-looking yet so grand; the experience made my day. The museum itself was also packed with a lot of cool things to see, from Concorde to a plane from every generation of Airbus aircraft. Eventually, my time at Aeroscopia came and went, and after spending the rest of my afternoon galavanting around Toulouse, I found my way back to the station, back to Paris, and back to Metz. 

(One of the Airbus Belugas, taken from inside the tour bus)

(Concorde)

(Airbus A340-600)

And thus concluded my solo trip. Was this an amazing experience that I’m still excited about, even now? Yes, of course. Am I excited to do another solo trip? Well, let’s just say that I’m putting a pause on that idea for the foreseeable future.

Culture Shock

Written by: Charles Stallworth

One thing that has always excited me about GTE was the degree of culture shock that I’d get to experience. I guess culture shock has been intriguing to me from a young age; when I was around 8 years old, I remember I found it so fascinating that people in New Jersey didn’t pump their own gas. In hindsight, this was quite a minor example of culture shock, as after visiting 8 countries over the span of 3 weeks, I have become increasingly aware of the obvious fact that New Jersey is much more similar to Atlanta than any country in Europe will ever be. So, let’s go over just a few of my findings from these past couple of weeks. 

My First European Transaction: The Bathroom

To start, on our bus ride from the Frankfurt Airport to Metz, we stopped by a gas station about an hour in. As some 25 of us descended upon the humble shop, with the hopes of using the bathroom, we were all met with a puzzling scene: a gate, a kiosk, and a sign in German. While most of us couldn’t comprehend the complete sign, the largest part of it was perfectly clear:  “1 €”. Some made a quiet protest, leaving the scene in a huff, but for the majority, the decision had already been made. With a collective groan, we begrudgingly readied our debit cards. 

Bathrooms in a lot of chain quick service establishments all over Europe, whether they be gas stations, convenience stores, or fast food restaurants, often come with some sort of small fee:  usually anywhere between .50 and 2 euros. Now granted, some of these places will give you some voucher of equal value to use in-store, but a lot of them just treat the bathroom as its own independent purchase. I would be lying to pretend like this isn’t an objectively good business practice, but just let’s keep it a good European business practice, you know? If this were implemented at my local QuikTrip, it would probably ruin my entire week. 

A Demonstration of German Efficiency: 

While gazing out the window about two hours into our trip to Metz, I saw a car on fire in the middle of the opposite side of the highway. While the accident itself was shocking enough, the most fascinating part of this situation was the traffic behind it. On this two-lane highway, cars had crowded onto the left and right shoulders, creating a straight shot for emergency personnel to arrive at the accident. A majority of people even switched off their engines, saving gas and helping the environment. The best part? There was no police to direct people to do this, no, they just did it by themselves. While this is a law in Germany, it’s just really impressive that it was actually followed without being enforced. Apparently, as shown in the diagram below, this is a common practice for highways of any size. 

Now this is something that I wouldn’t mind becoming a mainstay in the US, as it would easily make driving on the interstate at least 20% more bearable, although it wouldn’t actually ever happen. 

The First Carrefour Experience: 

Carrefour is basically a French Walmart that is about a 25-minute walk from the Pythagore dorms. My first experience in French Walmart came with an avalanche of a lot of minor shocks that’ll go over really quickly. 

First off, Carrefour might just be one of the most overstimulating places I have ever been to, which is saying something as I am already keenly aware how stores like Walmart work; the only key difference here is that everything is in French. Turns out, being surrounded by labels and signage in a language that you don’t understand makes things incredibly challenging, turning something simple, like finding milk or eggs, into some sort of arduous scavenger hunt. Every time I walk into Carrefour, I just become more and more grateful for the ability to read. 

Secondly, things that you would expect to be refrigerated, like milk and eggs, aren’t. This is apparently because there are different farming standards in the EU, allowing milk, eggs, and a host of other things to be shelf-stable without refrigeration. While this makes sense, it is quite jarring to pick up a bottle of warm milk and have it be totally fine. 

Lastly, let’s talk about the checkout process. The cashiers are always sitting down (seriously, why isn’t this a thing in America?), and you are expected to bag your own groceries in your own bags. For the latter, while this isn’t that shocking, not realizing this on your first trip can be quite humbling, as you now lug your milk, eggs, and mattress topper on that 25-minute walk that you swore was shorter on the way there. 

I’ll end with this: the most surprising piece of culture shock that I’ve experienced so far is just how easily everyone can tell that you are American. In just three weeks, I have been identified as American many times, often before I even open my mouth. I always ask: “How did you know?” and I get a myriad of answers, from how I stand, to the fact that I wore gym shorts one time, or just some other miscellaneous mannerism. This serves as a pretty cool reminder that I really am a fish out of water over here, and that every day brings something new and exciting to explore.

Arrival and the First Days: Welcome To Europe!

Written by: Alex Stallworth

It was finally time to depart. I zipped up my bookbag, hugged my grandmother goodbye, tossed my suitcase into the back of my mother’s SUV, and rode along to the airport for the start of my summer-long adventure. On the nearly 30-minute drive, I found some time to reflect. I was first mildly annoyed and apprehensive about jumping back into school so soon. GTE kicked off just 10 days after the spring semester came to a close and considering that the spring was definitely the most difficult semester of my academic career so far, I was rightfully a bit concerned about getting back into the swing of things so soon.

I then thought back to those 10 days. I had used that time to meet up with as many of my friends as reasonably possible: both from Tech and high school. This was the first time in my life that I wouldn’t be within driving distance from these people who meant so much to me, so I wanted to make every moment count. Sure, spending a little more than a week buzzing around the chaotic battlefields that we in Atlanta call “roads” was hectic, not to mention the damage that these excursions did to my wallet, but even so, I didn’t regret a single second of any of it.

Finally, I allowed myself to really take in the moment, basking in the radiant light of optimism before the upcoming journey. This would be my first time outside of the Americas and considering that I would get to live in Europe for 80 days, I was… excited. That’s the emotion to describe it all. Sure, there was a tinge of fear, apprehension, and worry, but at the heart of it all, I was excited. We arrived at the airport.

From Atlanta to Metz: The Travel Day

After I unloaded my belongings at Hartsfield-Jackson, I glanced at the time. It was around 3 pm EST. 18 hours, and the longest single travel day of my life (so far!) later, I would lug my last suitcase over the threshold at the Pythagore dorm. Let’s talk about how we got there.

Based on how that prior statement is phrased, you might expect some epic tale with all of the dramatic airport cliches, whether it be long security lines, a slightly overweight bag requiring frantic repacking in front of the check-in kiosk, or a mad dash through a terminal to just narrowly avoid missing a flight. As a frequent traveler, I’ve lived through all of these many times, but on that fateful day, I luckily had no such story. My bag was underweight by a good 5 pounds, it only took 10 minutes to get through security, and because I arrived some 3 hours before my flight, I was instead able to take a leisurely stroll through the terminal.

In all seriousness, the art of having simple travel days just comes down to preparation. While any sort of travel has a natural degree of unpredictability to it, there are a lot of measures you can take to give yourself more control, such as arriving at least 3 hours before your flight, investing in quick security clearances such as TSA pre-check and Clear, and weighing your own bags, even with something as rudimentary as stepping on a scale while carrying your suitcase.

Travel advice tangents aside, when I arrived at the gate, I was met with a metaphorical sea of white and gold. This was to be expected, as this was a direct flight from Atlanta to Frankfurt, however, the sheer number of students was kind of baffling to see in real time, as conservatively, at least 60% of this plane was comprised of Tech students. While this was comforting to see, my friends and I had a laugh at how strange it would’ve been to be a normal adult on this flight invaded by college kids. From there, the flight and subsequent shuttle ride were largely uneventful, aside from some pretty cool sightseeing in the West German countryside.

The First Days:

The next 24 hours were a blur, between orientation, my first classes, and lots and lots of sleep. My first day actually exploring Metz was Tuesday. I met up with a couple of friends and caught the MB bus to downtown Metz. The MB is one of the many cogs in Metz’s surprisingly intricate bus system, which makes MARTA look like some cruel joke. Sadly, this will become a trend.

Downtown Metz was the first of many picture-esque European cities that we would get the opportunity to explore during our time at GTE. While all of these cities are quite unique, I’ve come to learn that all of them share one common thread: they are all beautiful in the evening.

After doing some sightseeing near the Moselle river, we headed to Pasta Mery for my first proper sit-down meal in Europe. Pasta Mery is a family-owned Italian restaurant with the vibe of dining at someone’s house rather than at a typical retail establishment. I ordered the Chef’s pasta, which was fairly priced, tasted great, and came in a large enough portion for me to have a great deal of leftovers.

Now, while the food at Pasta Mery was good, what really stood out to us was the hospitality. The owner came to our table and regaled us with a story about all of the Georgia Tech students who have been coming to his restaurant over the years. This got a laugh out of our group, as we were a little surprised that it was so blatantly obvious that we were tourists. This would also become a trend. Finally, after the owner’s story, he then gave us a couple of things on the house, a token of gratitude on our way out. In all, despite only coming to Pasta Mery for a meal, we left with a wonderfully warm welcome to the city of Metz.

Meet our Summer 2025 Bloggers!

Written by: Alex Stallworth and Ashlyn Willis

Introducing… Alex!

Salut à tous, mon nom est Alex! I am a first year Aerospace Engineering student at Georgia Tech, with a concentration in propulsion and fixed-wing aircraft. As a Georgia Tech tour guide, I’ve spent the last semester giving tours of the ins and outs of campus, but this summer, I’m excited to embark on my own tour of France, Germany, the Netherlands, and beyond! Whenever I have free time, you’ll usually find me watching some kind of sport. In Europe, I’m ecstatic to delve into the world of soccer and rugby, to see firsthand how deeply sports are woven into the culture of different cities. But my adventures won’t stop at the stadium; whether it’s beholding the sheer majesty of the towering spires of Notre-Dame, or savoring a plate of authentic Italian pasta in a secluded trattoria, I’m more than ready to experience Europe through its landmarks, flavors, and traditions. While my excursions will keep me busy exploring cities, I won’t neglect the opportunity to unwind and escape to nature. I’ve already planned to hike the Alps and explore the Black Forest, but I’m also looking forward to uncovering hidden gems in the community of Metz. 

With passport in hand and a 200-day (and counting!) Duolingo streak at the ready, I’m so excited to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure—come along for the journey!

Introducing… Ashlyn!

Hello, my name is Ashlyn, and I am an environmental science major with a passion for the visual arts and the natural world around us! I love exploring the connection between science and creativity, using art to highlight the beauty of nature and exemplify environmental awareness. Whether through painting, drawing, or science, they all promote my love for the intertwining of these subjects.

Special interests include: Art, Biology, Environmental Science, Nature, Outdoors, Animals, Reading, Cooking, Baking, Arts and Crafts, and Traveling.

Keep up with them as the summer semester progresses for their insight and experiences while at GT-Europe!