This and That

I can't believe the week is already over. Alex just left for the airport and I feel like he just arrived, blah. The good news is that on Saturday I am going to go visit him!!!!! I am really excited, he is in a tiny tiny village in Italy called Paderno del Grappa, it is somewhat near Venice.
We went to Basel, Switzerland which is about 1 hour and 15 minutes away from Strasbourg. We went to the zoo and just walked around a little bit. We ate lunch at the zoo and I accidentally got two meals and it was VERY expensive. Switzerland is one of the most expensive places to live in the world plus it was the zoo cafeteria which automatically means the prices are ridiculous. Basel is located on the Rhine and borders both France and Germany. What we heard was a mix I am assuming a local dialect. However everyone also spoke French so we were able to manage.
I had my medical exam in order to get my carte de sejour which is my long term residence permit. The exam consisted of people taking my weight, height, asking if I was updated with my shots and then I had to get the famous French chest exam haha I had already read about the whole experience beforehand so no surprises there. I also got to keep a copy of my x-ray which is absolutely enormous and I have no idea what I am supposed to do with it...souvenir?
E and S invited Alex and me downstairs for a formal dinner which was very nice and quite grownup feeling. The meal was complete with five courses including a cheese course:) The cheese and the desert was the only French part of the meal. In fact the whole time I have been here I have had an actual French meal maybe twice. The family is Greek so we eat Greek food. Anyhow the meal was good, and it was nice to talk to E and S and they got to know Alex a little and liked him as well.
The next day S and E showed us around the Council of Europe which is where they work. S is a human rights lawyer and E works on a committee in the council. The buildings are not too impressive but what goes on there is something that really interests me being an international studies major and wanting to go to law school. The court of Human Rights is the big branch of the Council of Europe and basically it allows any citizen to sue their government if they feel their rights have been violated. Of course this carries with it the problem of all IGO's, enforcement. The idea is beautiful and suits idealistic me just fine.


Also I found a church I really like here. It's called Trinity International and it's and English speaking church, quite similar to a church back in Cedar Rapids called New Covenant except much smaller, about 50 people. I have only been there once so far and I won't get a chance to go back for a while since I will be gone the next two Sundays but the people were friendly and the music was good.

OOO and thank you for the mail, I LOVE getting it! I got a letter from my mom, auntie Kika and Uncle Bruce, and Ipa!!!