Strasbourg Day 6: Coming Home

The course was now over, and we had said most of our goodbyes. However Andrea, Marlene, Gaylord and myself decided to have lunch together, before I left. We made our way to the centre of the city, and had a very good lunch together at Le Dauphin. We were seated outside and it was great fun. I had Voul-au-vent mmmmm and we chatted our way through lunch. Suddenly it started pouring with rain 😦 and the umbrellas under which we were seated started dripping. After some table movement and seating settlements we managed to finish our meal.

Unfortunately it was now time to make my way to the bus station to start my trip back home. I said goodbye to my new-found friends, and left to the train station. There I found the line for the Lufthansa airport bus and started my trip back home. The bus trip was OK, but things only went downhill the moment I arrived at Frankfurt airport. There was a long queue and wait to check in, because they had some problems. This made people frustrated. I was in the club-class/flypass line (I have fly pass weee). And once they started checking in a guy decided to ask whether he could check in because he was club class. They told him sure and they just checked him in whilst skipping the whole line. Obviously people got angry, because everyone in that line was either club class or fly pass. But anyway I checked in and went to the gate. We boarded the airplane on time. But then we waited, and waited, and waited. After 1.5hours on the plane we finally flew WEEEEE.

The flight was not that nice, especially towards the end where we had quite some turbulence, and we landed to find a stormy Malta. I then went to get my luggage and it had a stud missing at the bottom. I went to claim the damage, but they told me it is wear and tear…so I now have a nail poking out of my luggage…well, patience right. I came home and SLEPT.

Overall…it was a great experience. I think that the course could do with some improvements. But it is something that people should do more of 😀

Strasbourg Day 1: Getting there

Greets from my humble abode in Strasbourg

Day 1 of my September Trip 2: Strasbourg experience is nearly over and here I am writing from my Apart-Hotel Room. I had a very good flight to Frankfurt, where I knew one of the air hostesses (or whatever guy hostesses are called)…he lives 2 roads away from me back in Malta and we were good friends once upon a time…and the couple next to me were really nice…a lady from the US working with the US government in Germany and her Turkish-German partner who were returning from a 9 day trip to Gozo. The lady was a chatter box like me…or more than me I think…and so the flight passed by quite quickly. At the airport however I had a bit of a scare…no luggage aaaaa. I spoke to the representative who saw my luggage receipt tag and said ahhhh…you have checked in for the Airport bus to Strasbourg…your bag will not come here but on luggage rail 16…off we go to 16 but hmmmm…it was not moving…he tried calling to check about it and they said it is not in their system :(…he then started to input my details in the system of lost luggage :(…but then he called to check again and they said it should be coming to no. 16 in about 10-15mins…so he told me to go wait next to carousel 16, and keep him informed. So I off I go to wait and finally…yes…my luggage came wippie (this was around 30mins after all the others had gotten their luggage…and he told me next time never let them check in for the airport bus as,  well…cos it ends up in transit and then it comes out later).

Luckily I had 2 hours until the airport bus left (now 1.5hours hihi) and so off I went to wait for the bus. I immediately found where the bus leaves and then started walking around….hmmm…I saw a guy looking at me…he looked Maltese and I thought I remembered him from the plane…so I said…Int Malti? (are you Maltese) and he said yes and we started talking. Apparently he knows my sister slightly haha cos he worked with her when she worked in a pharmaceutical company. He has now changed job and he was going to Strasbourg for a 5 week course related to his work.

At 8pm we went towards the bus stop, and whilst putting our luggage on 2 different people heard us talking and said…Intom Maltin?…(and we suspect there was another lady who was smiling whilst we were talking hihi). And surprise…one of the guys was coming to the same course. So we boarded the bus and we chatted a bit and then settled in (we had 2.5hours on the bus).

Once we reached Strasbourg we all said our good byes and made our way to our places. I got a taxi (walking around Strasbourg at 11pm with my luggage was not something I cherished) and arrived at the apart-hotel. I inserted the codes as informed (the reception is closed during the weekend) and found my key and made my way to my room. But hmmm where is the bed?…Then I noticed the large sofa with a lot of space inside it…so I pulled it apart and dadammmm…I have my bed.

The room is quite nice and big…I also have a fridge a cooker and a microwave…they will stay as they are however hihi. I entered my bed, read a bit then slept a good night’s sleep.

September…Trip 2

Well, September is proving to be a busy month. I had a total of 3 trips planned. Trip 1: Denmark, Trip 2: Strasbourg, Trip 3: Dublin (to start the rest of my life). Well this afternoon I will be starting the September trip 2. I will be going to Strasbourg on a 1 week course called:

European Master Course on Climate change: impact on health, human environment and water

 

It is organised by the Council of Europe (COE) European and Mediterranean Major Hazards Agreement in collaboration with University of Strasbourg – Faculty of Medecine and the National School for Water and Environmental Engineering of Strasbourg (ENGEES). I had seen this course advertised on the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) a while ago, when I entered the website on a whim…do not even know why, and since the topic interested me a lot, and I knew I would have been off work I decided to apply. Within a few days I heard that I was accepted for the course, and also for financial assistance. I would not have been able to go without this financial assistance grant, so I am very grateful to the COE for this.

 

Therefore this morning I have woken up and packed (30-45 mins packing time…weeee), and am now updating all of you :D. In a few hours time (5hours or so) I should be at the airport and off I go (at least I hope so…they bought my ticket themselves and misspelled my name…missed an i GRRRR…I informed them and they said they contacted Air Malta and Lufthansa who said all is OK…so will see :D). 

Denmark Day 6: Copenhagen and Home :(

The last day of our trip had arrived :(…Michael and Ann came over in the morning with pastries for Breakfast MMMMM…then we went to the main Copenhagen Shopping street…we are not big shopping people, but we walked around and bought some small things…then it was back to the B&B…we took our things from the B&B (at 12:05…we were supposed to leave by 12:00..oops…but no worries), had a French Hot Dog, and then me and mum said our good byes to Ann and Michael and left to the airport. At the airport, mum checked in and made her way to security. My plane was leaving around 2hours after mum’s, so I then checked in and made my way through security. My gate was not yet called, so I made my way to mum’s gate, went around the shops a bit, then when mum started boarding I left to find a place where I could sit and read, till my gate was called.

 

2 Plane rides after (Copenhagen-Munich, Munich-Malta), and I arrived in Malta. Bernard was there to pick me up (WEEEEE), and off home we went. We then went for a short walk to the Zurrieq festa then SLEEP!

 

Our Denmark trip was over 😦