Glad That's Over

Whew, what a long week! Two midterms and an essay are always so much harder when you start the week off with an all-nighter, even if it was at a carnival in Switzerland.

Carnival in Basel was pretty fun, even though it entailed being up all night and going to class at 9 am. We got there around 3:00 am or so and got some drinks while we waited for the parade to start at 4. Basel is special because all the lights in the city go out as the parade starts. Then, a massive procession of masked figures and floats proceeds through the streets. It was quite different from Fasnacht in Freiburg, and I think I prefer the latter. In Freiburg there is quite a bit of interaction with the public (i.e. songs, cheers, candy-throwing, etc.), but that doesn't really happen in Basel. We basically just watched the parade, and while it was nice to see all the different costumes, I think I'll remain loyal to Freiburg. We got back home at about 7:00 am or so and I had to go to class at 9:00. Our professor was well aware that we were going to Basel and had in fact encouraged it, but we still felt bad since we ALL fell asleep in class at one point or another. Everyone was just so exhausted. It felt great to get some sleep that night, but I still don't feel like I've fully recovered since I had so much work to do this week and couldn't get as much sleep as I wanted.

Fortunately, my work is finished now. Next week, we're going on our second field trip! We're going to Luxembourg on Monday to see the European Court of Justice and then we'll be in Brussels by the evening. We'll be in Brussels for a few days, where we'll see the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, and NATO headquarters (!). Then, we head on over to Paris for meetings at the EU Institute for Security Studies and the French Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs. Students in different classes will have some additional meetings as well. I can't wait for this trip - not only do we have a really interesting academic schedule, we get to see some great cities! I'm especially looking forward to returning to Paris. I'll try to take lots of pictures and post a detailed update when I return.

I'm going to try to get some sleep tonight because my flatmate and I are planning to go skiing tomorrow. We have a little wager on who will be the better skier. Guess we'll see when I get back...I'll post again before I leave for the trip!

Bis spaeter!