Category: Semester

Just Some Twerps in Antwerp

Whether it’s befriending your hosts’ cat or stumbling across a Guinness World Record attempt, Maddie’s has discovered that it’s the little, unplanned adventures that are the most memorable parts of any travels. Check out her post about her visit to Belgium!

Marcel, sitting in a basket being adorable, and the equally adorable wedding album of our hosts!

Last weekend, I went on my first international trip this semester, to Belgium! After arriving late at night on Thursday and fiddling with confusing key mechanisms (a feature that seems to me to be universal among European doors), our merry band of five managed to enter our home for the next three days, a lovely three-story townhouse. We never met our AirBNB hosts in person, but before long I wanted them to be my new best friends: they had fruits and veggies growing on their terrace, lots of board games, a stamp collection, carnivorous plants (!!!), and best of all, a very shy but adorable cat named Marcel. (It became my personal mission to win over Marcel by the end of our stay, which I finally succeeded in doing by giving him his breakfast on the day of our departure.)

The menu may have been in English, but the hot chocolate was decidedly Belgian (and delicious!)

     On Friday morning, we walked into the city in hopes of finding breakfast at an open market that someone had heard of, but when we arrived, we discovered that said market was not a food market at all, but a furniture market with no food to be found. Luckily, there was a delightful (if somewhat touristy) breakfast place nearby. It was here that we had our first taste of Belgian chocolate—the hot chocolate we ordered consisted of fine melted flakes of chocolate stirred in warm milk and had a generous helping of whipped cream.

 

You know you’re in Belgium when you see shops that say Chocoholic and I <3 Waffles right next to each other. You also know you are a tourist, but that’s ok.

After walking around and exploring the city for some time, we encountered yet another classic Belgian food: frites. Frites are French fries (ironic) and they’re typically sold with any of a variety of amazing sauces. Between the five of us, we tried mayonnaise (the most traditional topping), curry, and curry ketchup—all were delicious, and I ended up quite enjoying the mayonnaise despite my initial hesitation. We ate them for lunch under the Cathedral of Our Lady, near a statue depicting the legend of the name of Antwerp, which is Antwerpen in Dutch. According to folklore, the city was once ruled by a giant named Antigoon until a hero arrived, severed the giant’s hands, and threw them in the river; in Dutch, “hand throwing” is hand-werpen, which eventually turned into Antwerpen. As a result, the hand motif is visible all around the city, from little

The Cathedral of Our Lady was a key landmark in Antwerp, always visible as we wandered the city. You can see it here next to some crow-stepped gables, a traditional rooftop style in Flanders.

hand-shaped chocolates to hand sculptures adorning the walls of the MAS, the museum we visited later that day.

 

     After visiting the museum and touring a brewery where we learned how beer is made, we continued wandering the city and came across a busy square with jazz and swing dancing! It was wonderful fun to watch, and the songs were in English so we could understand the lyrics. Interestingly enough, in addition to more croon-y and traditional sounding jazzy tunes, they also played “I Wanna Be Like You” from The Jungle Book! We had our first Belgian waffles later that night (mine with strawberries and cream!), which were even more delicious than I had hoped. Waffles there aren’t made with batter but instead with quite a thick dough, and they were sweeter and more cake-like than waffles in the U.S.

We had a makeshift picnic dinner on the train returning from Bruges. After the conductor came to check our tickets, he wished us “Bon appetit!”

The next day we took a day trip to Bruges, which was about an hour’s train ride away. While Antwerp had been busier and more modern, Bruges was almost like Disneyland, with its cobblestone streets and picturesque facades, the horse-drawn carriages around every corner, and the abundance of gift shops. We wandered the city for a long time and in the process happened upon many unplanned but wonderful things. We stumbled a fencing and sword-fighting tournament between two windmills, where a friendly Dutch man explained to us in detail all the rules of the games, and we also ran into an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for longest toast ever, with a line stretching hundreds of people long! It’s certainly fun to plan things during travels and to try to see as much as possible, but with all the many pleasant surprises we encountered in Belgium, this trip has made me an advocate of wandering around just to see what wonders you’ll discover.

Why Day Trips are the Best

Many undergraduate students take the opportunity of being at GT-Lorraine to travel to their hearts’ desire, crossing all of Europe some weekends, but that can be taxing. In her latest blog post, Quinnell highlights the merits of local day-trips, and just what she did during hers!

Waking up with it still being dark outside is not always the most pleasant experience, especially when you are not a morning person. I was not the happiest person as I dragged myself out of my bed in the GTL dorms at 4:30 AM. Entering the train station, I immediately made a beeline for Starbucks, as it was my travel ritual and a dire necessity at this point. For the first weekend in a long time, I was traveling more locally around Europe. When I say travel locally, I am implying that the train ride would be less than 2 hours. This weekend, I decided to travel to Colmar, France and Luxembourg City, Luxembourg!

The Old Town of Colmar

The first stop on my weekend travels was Colmar, France. My friend and I arrived at the train station in Colmar at 9 AM. When we initially planned our travel times to arrive in the city, we thought that the city would just be starting its day. Little to our surprise, the people in Colmar surely like to get their rest we found out, as everything was closed until about 10:30 AM. When the city did awaken, it was a peaceful experience to see schools in session on a Friday, coffee shops and stores opening, and the the scent of freshly baked pretzels filling the air in the market. We had a great time as we were able to go shopping, try new foods, do a boat ride in this small town affectionately called “Little Venice,” and see the beautiful, colorful, quaint little houses of the Old Town.

The awesome part of doing a day trip to Luxembourg the next day was that I was able to visit another country! Luxembourg was actually on my list of countries to visit because it is the second richest county in the world, and I was dying to see what the hype was all about. Stepping off the train, we entered a very modern looking city only for it to drastically change into an old, medieval-looking town. In Luxembourg City, the old forts and castle still stand in the city center. It was a great city to see in one day! Everything was conveniently placed in the center of Luxembourg, and there were enough museums, shopping, sites, restaurants, and local life to fill one day.

The best part about day trips is that we saw all the attractions we wanted to see and ate all the food our hearts desired, and then we were able to go back to GTL! It was so refreshing to take a train without a reservation, explore a new city on my bucket list, see the change in culture between French cities and neighboring countries, and be able to sleep in my bed at the end of the day. Another perk about day trips is that the stress of finding a place to sleep for the weekend, budgeting for meals and activities for three days, and organizing reservations and transportation is essentially nonexistent. It was also nice to not feel stressed wondering if you packed all the essential clothes needed for a weekend, or trying to bustle to the train station after classes.

Inside the Bock Casemates

While I can say that traveling to a place for an entire weekend is a more immersive experience, day trips are a great alternative if you are tired from extensive traveling, want to catch up on school work, trying to save some money, or visiting a smaller nearby city. I think it is a great idea to try a day trip at least once while studying at Georgia Tech Lorraine. Below I included a list of things we did in Colmar and Luxembourg City to give a small idea of what can be accomplished in a day trip!

Colmar, France

Bretzels in Colmar

The city is absolutely gorgeous! It is colorful and full of little senior citizen tourist groups everywhere. When I visited here, I felt extremely comfortable and safe. The locals here were very kind, and many spoke English well. If you visit here, make sure to use your student ID for the Statue of Liberty museum, take a boat ride on the river, and eat one of their bretzels!

List of Things to See:  Old Town, shopping, a boat ride in Little Venice, Musee Bartholdi (free with student ID), Presbytere Protestant de Colmar, Collegiate Saint-Martin de Colmar, Schwendi Fountain

Must Try Local Foods: Bretzel (pretzel with melted cheese) and kugelhopf (sponge cake with nuts and cherry brandy)

 

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

In comparison to all the cities I have visited so far, I would definitely say that Luxembourg City has been most of the modern. It was very safe, peaceful, and mainly everything was located around the city center. We only needed about 5-6 hours to get a lot done in our day.

View of Luxembourg City from the top of the Bock Casemates

List of Things to See: Notre-Dame Cathedral of Luxembourg, the markets of Place Guillaume, the statue of Duke William II, Bock Casemates (5 euros with student ID), Palace of the Grand Duke, Luxembourg City History Museum (free with student ID), Adolphe Bridge, Neumunster Abbey

Must Try Foods: Chocolate House and ice cream

Grad Student Spotlight: Hugo & Tristan

Meet Tristan and Hugo, grad students in mechanical engineering who want to use their Georgia Tech degrees to take them to new heights.

Tristan (left) and Hugo (right), at home in the GTL student lounge.Today I had the pleasure of interviewing two French graduate students at Georgia Tech Lorraine, Hugo Elissalde and Tristan Ogier! They are on the same track here at GTL—both come from the same engineering school in France, are getting their Master’s degrees in mechanical engineering and will be graduating next year in 2019.

I was a bit nervous about approaching the gaggle of French students outside the GTL classrooms and asking if any of them would be willing to be interviewed for the blog. Thankfully, they were very nice and were good sports about it, and not one, but two grad students agreed to talk with me about their time here! It was a lucky day for me. Although they were about to head to a class as I started speaking to them, they agreed to meet me to be interviewed after their last class later in the day.

Later, in the student lounge, Hugo and Tristan told me about their motivations for coming to Georgia Tech Lorraine.  Hugo said, “For me, it’s because I want to work in America afterwards, and having an American degree helps a lot. Especially Georgia Tech’s.” They both agreed that Georgia Tech was a good school and the most practical choice for their career paths. After they finish their semester here in Metz, they will do six months of internships, followed by a final semester in Atlanta next fall.

When asked what they were most excited about for their semester at GTL, Tristan responded with the program’s proximity to many European countries, including Luxembourg, Belgium, and Germany. The fact that everything is within an hour’s drive or train ride was exciting. Were they going to take any weekend trips? “Far less than the Americans, everybody has planned all their weekends already,” Hugo replied. “It’s more like, we plan on Thursday and Friday what to do for the weekend.” Having already lived in France and Europe, they don’t have the same urgent need as the American students to see and do as much as possible while in Europe. They are hoping to see nearby countries such as Germany and Luxembourg, however, and plan to go to Oktoberfest in a couple of weeks.

Lastly, I started to ask them if they had any fun facts about themselves to share, but midway through the question I realized that icebreakers like this might not be as ubiquitous in France as they are in the United States—so I decided to ask that instead. Do French people share fun facts about each other the way Americans often do when they meet for the first time in group settings? “Not really. When you know each other, you kind of joke about them, but you wouldn’t describe yourself with a fun fact,” Tristan told me. “Yeah, we are boring people,” Hugo chuckled.

On that topic, we will have to disagree. I may not have gotten a “fun fact” out of it, but it was great fun to talk with them and learn about the graduate experience at GTL! Best of luck to Hugo and Tristan with the rest of their semester!

Grad Student Spotlight: Ines El Glaoui

Meet Ines, a mechanical engineering grad student with a passion for aerospace! She seems to have some things figured out – and has some wisdom to share with her fellow students.

Ines El Glaoui is pursuing her Master’s in mechanical engineering, but before coming to GTL, Ines completed her Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering in Morocco at one of GTL’s partner institutions, the Université Internationale de Rabat. What I find interesting about her story is that she did not always want to become an engineer! In fact, her journey to where she is now is not that of a typical engineering student’s. Before deciding to major in AE for her bachelor’s degree, she studied computer science for three years as an undergraduate at a school in France. What made her decide to make the switch more than halfway through school? Ines was not able to successfully completed her third year as a computer science major, and she realized that computer science was not her passion to begin with. When asked why she switched to AE, she said that it just stuck with her and that she has liked it ever since.

While being at GTL for the past two years, she has traveled, researched, and gained a better understanding and taste of American culture. Something many American GTL students have been able to experience is French culture from interacting with graduate students and living in France. However, did we ever stop to think about the reverse of this experience? Of the locals of Metz, France and international students being able to get a small taste of American culture? I certainly did not think this way, and it was shocking to hear that Ines’ favorite part of GTL is getting a partial American experience. Since being at GTL, she says “Being here and being with American [students], makes me have a different point of view then what I had of the States before.” Ines said that she would not have thought it to be so different, but that it has been good to learn that people from the United States are not the same as the languages, cultures, and the way people from different places think. 

In the near future, Ines plans on continuing her travels throughout Europe as she goes to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany. At GTL, she is working on research based on a special acoustics problem studying diffraction in materials. Ines will be graduating in December, and she hopes to work in France, preferably for an aircraft company, to gain as much experience as she can. She believes that her potential is much more in France than Morocco, as she believes that companies in Morocco would not value the international education that she has received from Georgia Tech as much as other places may. Another big reason for Ines deciding to stay in France after graduation is because France has a larger aerospace market; a lot of the industries in Morocco are agricultural and manufacturing. Later on in her career, she says she may move back to Morocco to be closer to family and her home.

Ines is fun, optimistic, and hard-working; when I asked her about her favorite things do in her spare time, she enjoys watching TV shows like Rick and Morty and reading. Some of her biggest pieces of advice for undergraduate students are to not be afraid to fail, to not stress over failing as everything will work out, and to remember that we are still young and have time to accomplish our goals.

Even though Ines’s time is coming to a close at GTL, she is hopeful, calm, and just loving life as she finishes her Master’s and awaits what the future may hold. Ines’ journey to finishing her engineering degrees may have not started out simple, but she is a strong, determined young woman who will continue to accomplish great things. To leave you with Ines’s last words of wisdom, “Don’t worry, be happy!”

Johnny Appleseed Came to Visit!

Madame Serafin’s cultural program may have changed names, but it’s still just as fun! Quinnell joined her classmates in picking fruits at a local farm and made some friends of many species.

Once 5:30 PM hit, we were all rushing out of the GTL building doors to make it on the bus in time. Cramming into the bus, many of the GTL students and myself were ready to go vegetable and fruit picking for the first time. With the city bus rolling down the street along the dirt roads to the fields, we pulled up to this small building, grabbed our baskets, and started picking the fruits and vegetables of our choice.

We walked out to the fields, and were instantly surrounded with the smell of nature and flowers. It was really cool to see the beauty of nature, and to see the produce in grocery stores actually growing out of the ground. The first stop many of us made and one of my favorites was going to the strawberry fields! Strawberries were nestled in the green leaves decorated by the small white flowers; this made the strawberry bushes seem even more beautiful. I really enjoyed picking the strawberries and raspberries because those are some of my favorite fruits, but it was also interesting to see how tall and wide the plants actually grow to produce such small fruit. For example, the raspberry trees were taller than me with only a couple handfuls of fruit on their branches.

The next stop in the fields were the apple trees! Did someone call Johnny Appleseed to come visit? Rows and rows of apple trees lined about one fifth of the fields. There were a variety of apples that could be picked from the trees: green, red, pink lady, Gala apples, and even more. Walking through the apple trees, I could truly appreciate the amount of work that goes into picking produce. It was even more satisfying to pick produce that was not genetically engineered in the process of their growth. Pear trees also filled the fields right next to the apple trees, standing just as tall and green.

Picking fruits and vegetables reminded me of home, and the peaceful silence of being in a rural area. Many of the GTL students enjoyed this afternoon activity as well because most of us have never been picking before – and it provided us with a much-needed break from classwork and studying too. It was nice that the Georgia Tech Leonardo Program (the new name for Madame Serafin’s cultural program featured before!) organized the entire event and that transportation was provided to and from campus. Students were able to bond more as a GTL class from this experience. While picking fruits and vegetables, I was also able to meet more students that I would see around, but had never met before.

As we left the fields to buy our items that we picked, we exited with a friendly greeting from the facility’s geese, goats, and chickens. That afternoon consisted of good laughs, smiles, small screams from seeing a bug on a leaf, and interesting conversations. This was an experience that I never would have decided to do on my own, however, this was something I will definitely remember from my time at my GTL study program.

Bayeux—A Historic Treasure

Maddie and friends ventured over to the west coast to the town of Bayeux to visit not only Mont-Saint-Michel, but also soak in the rich history of the region. Check out her blog post!

Both the Bayeux Cathedral and the clouds were stunningly majestic.

Last weekend marked the official beginning of my travels from Georgia Tech-Lorraine! My friend Sarah and I chose to stay within France for our first excursion, staying in the beautiful town of Bayeux and taking a day trip to Mont Saint-Michel on Saturday.

This unassuming little apricot croissant (I think this qualifies as a croissant? Forgive me if I’m wrong) is the best pastry I’ve had in France so far.

On Friday, we woke up early to a brisk, sunny morning and ventured from our adorable AirBNB into the quiet town. We were staying just a stone’s throw away from the incredible Bayeux Cathedral, which we used to orient ourselves throughout our time there—when we had first arrived at the train station the afternoon before, we hadn’t even bothered to map our way to the town because we could just walk towards the massive cathedral in the distance! After admiring the church and wandering for a bit, we bought pastries at a small bakery and ate them on a bench in a deserted square; it was a very peaceful time.

 

One night, the cathedral was lit up in beautiful shades of pink, purple, and blue (one of my very favorite color combinations).

We then got ticket bundles to 3 museums for only

This stone road marker, used to delineate the distance between towns, is a relic of the Roman Empire; I believe it’s from 46 BC.

12€, which was pretty nifty. The first was the Musée D’Art Et D’Histoire Baron Gérard, which covered a fascinating variety of topics about the region from Stone Age artifacts to lace-making to modern art. Next we went to see the Bayeux Tapestry, a 75-meter long tapestry depicting in intricate detail the story of William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy. For reference, 75 meters long is more than two-thirds of the length of an American football field (and more than three fourths the length of a soccer field!). Last was the Musée Mémorial de la Bataille du Normandie, telling the story of the Invasion of Normandy near the conclusion of World War II in Europe.

 

These stone arrowheads date back to 2000 BC!

So much history in one day was a lot to process. Especially with our visits book-ended by such a huge time span: we started the day seeing stone arrowheads from thousands of years ago, and ended it with relics of a battle that took place just 70 years ago, so recently and yet so long ago at the same time. It really hit me with how incomprehensibly vast our history is as humans, and impressed upon me the sheer volume of the human experience.

The Battle of Normandy museum was most affecting and most poignant to me—there’s just so much information about an event that took place in such a small period of time (under 2 months), in such a small geographical area, but that was so historically significant. So much planning, so much tension and anxiety, so many lives were forever changed or lost during this one battle in this one war.

That’s the most amazing thing to me, is that there are these places and events that have so profoundly affected the course of history that we have but a cursory knowledge of, and there’s no way to comprehend all of it. Before visiting Bayeux, I hardly knew anything about William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, other than that he conquered something and that he was from Normandy, but someone in the distant past made an entire tapestry about it explaining all the events surrounding his conquest. I had learned about the Battle of Normandy and D-Day in school, but never about the details of the troop movements, the meticulous planning of the military, the journalists who risked their lives to cover the invasion, the logistics of the army hospitals, the reactions of the French towns upon liberation.

Items used and owned by soldiers during the Battle of Normandy, including shaving cream, cigarettes, and a French phrasebook.

Seeing footage of bombs and rubble, of troops marching through the same idyllic French villages I’ve been wandering, I’m very grateful that I have the opportunity not just to enjoy the present, but to learn about the deep history of my home away from home—that I can walk the same streets that have endured so much and picture them in a different era, a different time.

I Just Fell in Love with the City of Love

Do you remember the best weekend of your entire life? Where were you? Who were you with? Was the Eiffel Tower involved? Quinnell just spent one of the best weekends of her life wandering around Paris. Whether it spurs up nostalgia or anticipation for you, Paris is always a good idea. Take a trip to the city of love in her latest blog!

A couple of weekends ago, I had one of the best weekends of my entire life. It still does not seem real that I visited Paris, France! I was finally able to check this off my bucket list – I always dreamed of going here since I was six years old. Thankfully, Paris certainly did not disappoint.

My first weekend travel was nothing short of great and relaxing. While my week at GTL is usually filled with homework, studying, and trying to eat decent meals; stepping off the Eurail train in Paris completely washed out any negative emotion I may have felt. Flowing into the rush of hundreds of people walking to catch the metro, I ordered my one way tickets to the metro for my stay in Paris. Once my friend and I made to where we were staying, dropped off our bags, and ate lunch at a local café, we headed to the most well-known and must see attractions in Paris, the Eiffel Tower.

The anticipation as we made our way from the metro and saw it ascending towards the sky from a distant had us screeching with excitement as our inner younger selves started to come out. As we got closer to the Eiffel Tower, it grew larger and larger as it filled the center of the city. It was so beautiful that words could not even describe its intricate steel frame-work surrounded by photographers, tourists, people blowing bubbles for kids, and smiling faces from all around the world. I was able to take a ton of pictures and get a better idea of just how big the Eiffel Tower was by taking flights of stairs up to the top. For 5 euros, I was able to walk up to the second level of the Eiffel Tower! You may think that the second level doesn’t sound like much, however, the tower is massive. Massive. I think that walk up flight after flight of stairs consisted of my entire workout for the week. It may be stereotypical and tourist-y, but climbing up the Eiffel Tower and seeing that view is something I would highly recommend for anyone to do if they visit Paris.

To continue our adventures in Paris, we walked around the first day with nothing other designs or plans in our minds. We were just walking around on the streets, people watching, and going into local stores. Being the over-planner that I usually am when it comes to traveling, it was nice to not have a concrete plan for the day as it made the experience more fun, carefree, and memorable. As a result of our wandering, we were able to see the Arc de Triomphe, eat at a local pizza place, see the Hotel de Plaza, and pass by many bakeries. To end the night, I was able to sit in the chilly night air at the top of a boat, as we took a river cruise through Paris passing many of the famous, historical landmarks. The most interesting part of this river boat cruise to me aside from the landmarks was seeing: the restaurants in boats, a dance festival, and the local college crowd leisurely hanging out along the river.

The next day, we were able to visit the Louvre for free, see the Mona Lisa, go shopping in Paris, visit the Notre Dame, and eat the best crêpe I ever had in my entire life! I truly fell in love with Paris when I visited, and would definitely be visiting there many more times to come. French culture is something I am coming to appreciate more and more. The way people interact with one another in France, take their time throughout the day, and gleam with happiness makes me love the country even more.

Moselle Sans Limite

Georgia Tech-Lorraine has opportunities like no other – like mingling with the Department’s President and visiting historical monuments and museums! Catch up with Maddie and other students on their field trips through the Department of Moselle.

At the gardens they have the new logo of Moselle in the grass! (Photo courtesy of Sarah Bland)

Last week, all of us at GTL went on a field trip to the headquarters of the Department of Moselle in Metz. For other Americans such as myself who aren’t familiar with the term, a department is essentially a political/geographical unit in France that is higher up than a county but smaller than a state. Moselle is slightly larger than the state of Delaware. We were greeted with a lovely welcome from the department, with speeches from the Vice President and the President of the department to us, and also from the president of Georgia Tech Lorraine to the department officials about the great things going on at GTL! The President of Moselle didn’t speak English and had a translator relay his speech to us. It was easy to tell, even in a different language, that he was an excellent public speaker—even without understanding, I was engaged! It was interesting to listen for familiar words in French, and to try to guess which French words corresponded with the English words of the translator.

Some of the main points that I took from the departmental speeches were their words about the many wonderful aspects of Moselle, such as the culture, the food, the business, the history, and much more. They encouraged us to travel around the region and take advantage of these things during our semester in this region of France—a sentiment which, after my fantastic weekend in Metz, I wholeheartedly agreed with!

After the speeches, we moved to the eagerly anticipated and delicious lunch, which consisted of charcuterie plates covered in various meats and cheeses, breads, grapes that looked too perfect to be real (but they were!), and the regional plums, mirabelles.

After lunch, the students split into four groups to visit different sites in Moselle: Jardins Fruitiers de Laquenexy (Fruit Gardens), Chateau Malbrouck (Malbrouck Castle), the Maison Robert Schuman (House of Robert Schuman), and the Musée de la Guerre de 1870 et de l’Annexation (Museum of the War of 1870 and the Annexation). Unfortunately, being in four places at once is not one of my talents, so for some of the locations I didn’t visit, I’ll relay what I’ve heard from other GTL students about their experiences.

The house of Robert Schuman, and the attached museum about his life and role in the formation of the EU.

I visited the Maison Robert Schuman, which is both the house of the French statesman Robert Schuman (not the German piano composer—his name has two n’s) and a museum about his life. He is regarded as the father of the Europe, instrumental to the formation of the European Union after World War II. We toured through his former home and watched a video about his life. When he lived there, he had owned over 8000 books! This seemed to be his only excess, for he chose to live quite simply. At the sight of a piano in his office, I wondered to myself: did Robert Schuman ever play Robert Schumann?

Musée de la Guerre de 1870 et de l’Annexation. (Photo courtesy of Katherine Tighe)

Those who went to the war museum saw relics from the Franco-Prussian war, including uniforms and cannons. They also visited a grave where many soldiers from the war were buried, surrounded by plaques describing the losses in each battalion. The museum also holds pieces of a large panoramic painting from the war, meant to surround a room and make the viewer feel present in the scene.

Part of the panoramic painting in the Musée de la Guerre. (Photo courtesy of Katherine Tighe)

The students who visited the gardens learned about many different kinds of plants and were given 3 minutes to pick as many mirabelles as they possibly could. My friend observed that if they had had as much time as they wanted to pick the fruits, she probably would have grabbed a more reasonable amount and then stopped; but the pressure of the time limit led them to frantically pick an absurd number of mirabelles! (This in turn led to us holding the Mirabelle Olympics back at Lafayette that evening, where the events included catching mirabelles in our mouths, a mirabelle beauty contest, and other equally prestigious activities.)

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to talk to anyone about the Chateau Malbrouck, but I heard that both the castle itself and the view from the walls is wonderful!

In all, our field trip through Moselle was filled with times both fun and educational, and if you’re looking for a beautiful area of France to explore that’s packed with experiences for everyone, look no further! They also have a very cool website where you can learn more, at www.mosl.fr.

From Morocco to Metz: Bennis’ Story

Meet graduate student Ben Mamoun! From Morocco, Ben is settling into France – and adjusting to the diet, too! Check out his interview with Quinnell.

I met Bennis Mamoun the first week being at Georgia Tech Lorraine. I remember walking up to him and his friends to introduce myself. Upon meeting him, I found out he is from Morocco! That moment, I realized that not only was I studying in France with students from the Atlanta campus, but I was also studying with other students from all around the world that are at GTL for the same purpose I am.

Bennis, who goes by Ben, is from Morocco and completed his undergraduate studies in Aerospace Engineering at the Université Internationale de Rabat. Even though Ben is from Morocco, this is not his first time in France; he previously came to France as a tourist traveling to a couple cities – one of which being Paris. In comparison to being a tourist, he says that his experience of living in Metz has been great (and less expensive).

When it comes to being away from his family back in Morocco, Ben says he feels comfortable as he is used to being away from his family for school due to his previous university being in a different city. Aside from the different cultures between Morocco and France, he has been pleasantly surprised to see how well organized everything is especially when it comes to the school and transportation systems of France. His adjustment to life in Metz has been great, except when it comes to the shift of his meals to consisting mostly of bread, croissants, and delicious chocolate.

At Georgia Tech Lorraine, Ben is pursuing his master’s in mechanical engineering. Even though he is not doing research at the moment, he hopes to begin his research next semester under a mentor. When it comes to future plans for his career, he is very open to see where his career will go. Having his bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering and getting his master’s in mechanical engineering, Ben realizes the broad and significant number of opportunities he will have in the future. When I asked him what made him decide on getting his master’s in mechanical engineering, he said “It gives you enough tools to work in every other industry.” Long term, he hopes to one day live and work in Europe, and to have an internship experience to discover his interests before completing his master’s degree.

While Ben continues to pursue his asters, he hopes to have some new fun experiences along the way. This semester at GTL, he looks forward to planning a skiing trip, as that is something he has never done. Something many people do not know about Bennis is that he has been to four countries, loves cats, and is a “meme addict” – and for those who do not know what a meme is, it is a picture that has a funny caption on it. He says they make his day just a little brighter. Aside from reading memes, he enjoys watching TV series and playing video games such as League of Legends in his spare time. Best of wishes to Ben in the future as he work toward his master’s in mechanical engineering, try skiing for the first time, and continues laughing at funny memes!

Marvelous Meandering in Metz

There is absolutely NO (zero, zip, zilch) exaggeration in Maddie’s account of her first weekend exploring Metz, but there IS a lot of fun, and there may be a few expressive superlatives.

After a busy, exciting, and syllabus-filled first week at Georgia Tech Lorraine, what better way to spend the weekend than by exploring the city of our new home? Last weekend, several friends and myself spent our time wandering the beautiful city of Metz and experiencing all that it has to offer. A disclaimer for you, readers: my excitement about some of the things we did, sights we saw, or food we had in Metz is probably going to sound exaggerated because I use lots of superlatives, but I mean them sincerely! It was really that awesome. Now, let’s go! (Or should I say, METZ go? …I’m sorry.)

Pictures don’t do it justice; the movement, optical illusions, and music are what made the experience truly amazing.

On Friday night, our motley group of nine GTL students wandered aimlessly for a long time, trying to decide on a restaurant, plagued by the indecision that increases exponentially in larger groups of people, until finally we stopped walking in circles and just sat down at the nearest place. The restaurant we chose was called Mamie M’a Dit (which, according to Google Translate, means Granny Told Me), and it was excellent! Luckily, we were sharers and we all exchanged bites of our food, so I got to try duck, veal, and what appeared to be the French equivalent of chicken pot pie in addition to the steak that I ordered.

After dinner, we made our way to what would become the highlight (literally) of the night: the light show on the Cathedral that took place as part of the Constellations festival. I don’t know what I was expecting before seeing it but it turned out to be, without a doubt, one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life. The sheer scale of the projection, the way the images perfectly complemented and seemed to change the face of the cathedral itself, the way the accompanying music reflected and enhanced it—it was absolutely incredible.

The cathedral in Metz is nothing to sneeze at even when it’s not covered in a projection performance. And by nothing to sneeze at I mean stunningly beautiful.

The other Constellations exhibitions included a lit up arcade; a large, spinning, glowing ring with unearthly music playing in the background; projections on the roof of the ceiling in a museum; projections of pop art onto walls of buildings; colorful paper boats on the river; a glowing line sculpture by the castle on the river; and some glowing mannequins, all interspersed around Metz and all free to experience.

This is my sketch of the view from the park where we were sitting.

On Saturday, we went to the open market in the plaza near the cathedral, where we bought peaches, tomatoes, some beautiful strawberries (some of the best I’ve ever had—again, no exaggeration here), and some kind of pancake-like food that was thicker than a crepe and had cheese and vegetables on it. Then we wandered to a park and sat and talked for a couple hours while I sketched the scene in front of us.

Lastly, we visited the Pompidou, with its lovely color exhibition and some art that was fascinating and other art that was just peculiar. I could talk about the pieces we saw for hours, but I’ll save it for the future post I’m planning about the art I’ve seen in France so far (which is kind of a ton considering I’ve been here for just under three weeks). Strangely, there was also a giant, empty room bathed in pink light with a humming sound in the background that had delightfully soft carpet and was very soothing to sit in.We stayed there for an hour, and it was the best giant pink museum room that I’ve been in in my life. (Ok, now I’m just messing with you. This is still true though!)

One of the main pieces at the Pompidou exhibition.

This post doesn’t even cover all of the great experiences we had in Metz. I could spend ages talking more about how lovely the city is, describing the deliciousness of each pastry we tasted, waxing poetic about the loveliness of each park we explored, of each building, from ornate edifices to quaint cafes…but instead I’ll just recommend that you visit and experience the wonders of Metz yourself!