Couchsurfing Strikes Again

Our last night in Munich, we got dinner at a restaurant called Steinheil 16. There, we enjoyed the biggest portion of Wienerschnitzel we'd ever seen - and Maggie had the Goulasch, which was a lot like carbonade. (I capitalize German nouns on purpose.)

This was so big, we took half of it home and it was enough for both of us for lunch the next day (we made Wienerschnitzel sandwiches!).

But even more delicious than the Wienerschnitzel or Goulasch was the excuse dinner provided to see some old friends. Well, not that old. I first met Sandra in Munich in July, 2007, when she became my very first couchsurfing host. Sandra introduced me to her friends Karl and Alex, who happened to be leaving that week for a trip to the states. It turned out they were going to Boston and needed a place to stay. I wasn't going to be home, but asked if Joey could host them in my absence, and he agreed. They ended up going out for dinner with Joey, Maggie, and Becky, and seem to have had a nice time in Boston.

Fast forward to May, 2008, when Maggie and I traveled to Munich for the first leg of a two-week trip. This time, we stayed with Karl and Alex - and had dinner one night at Sandra's.

Finally, as we were preparing to leave for Paris last summer, Sandra's boyfriend's sister contacted me through couchsurfing.org, looking for a place to stay and someone to show her around Boston in the few free days she had before starting a master's program at Wheaton College, just outside of Boston. Unfortunately we were too busy with preparations to be good hosts, but Becky and Sheila agreed to host Julia and her friend, and I met them briefly at Toad.

So thanks to couchsurfing, we have all these crazy links with Sandra, her boyfriend Sebastien, Karl, and Alex. And we got to see all of them at dinner!

Sebastien, Sandra, and Karl vs. Wienerschnitzel: who will win??

Alex, Rebecca, and Moritz. And lots and lots of beer. Oh, Germany.

Couchsurfing Wins!

Lille v. Cracovie

First stop on our whirlwind mini-sightseeing adventure last week: Lille. Once again, we found a great host via Couchsurfing. While we were on the train, we received a text message from Xavier, our soon-to-be host, saying that he had some extra tickets to a basketball game, and would we like to come along? Never ones to turn down random and potentially interesting opportunities, we were more than happy to take him up on the offer.

Here we are, with our host, post-basketball game:

And here's a shot of part of the crowd and the delightful clown mascot/pump-up-the-crowd-guy.

But wait - here's something I bet you weren't expecting... (and neither were we!) the basketball game we went to was professional, and women's. SO. Awesome. The Lille team is known as the Entente Sportive Basket Villeneuve d'Ascq, or ESBVA and is part of the Ligue Féminine de Basket.

Watch this video to get a little taste of the sweet, sweet basketball action and hear from three of the players themselves, including former Wisconsin Badger all-star Joelene Anderson!

Oh, and I cannot forget to mention one of the highlights of the event: the pep band, Les Z'hurlants! This video comes from their official website [warning, there is unstoppable (but really awesome) music at this site... best not to open this link at work]:

What an adventure!

I leave you with a not-so-great action shot that taken right from my seat because I was too stunned to leave it: I was at my first-ever professional women's basketball game... in Lille, France!

Wij komen naar België!

As all you Dutch/Flemish readers out there already know, we're headed to Belgium! We leave this Wednesday, right after we drop Panda off at the doggie resort. (From the website it seems like way more fun than a normal kennel. She'll be staying on an island in the Seine!) Due to Armistice Day, which is a jour ferié (state holiday) in France, Maggie has no classes Wednesday through Friday this week, so she's not missing too much. And now that I've been researching consistently for six weeks, I feel like I can afford to take a break too.

Here's our itinerary:

View Larger Map

Wednesday night, we'll stay in Lille. Thursday night, we'll stay in Bruges. Friday and Saturday nights, we'll be in Brussels, and we'll return Sunday afternoon. We already have couchsurfing hosts lined up in each city, and we're looking forward to making new friends.

Due to the last-minute nature of this trip, we haven't really had time to plan out what we'll do in each city. Let us know if you have any suggestions - things to see, to do, to eat, things we absolutely shouldn't miss or things we absolutely should.

We can't wait to tell you all about it when we get back!

Couchsurfers

We didn't intend on hosting any "official" couchsurfers during our stay in Paris, for the simple reason that we were (and still are!) planning on hosting so many "unofficial" couchsurfers - meaning people we already know, friends like Robert, family like Jacob.*

But Maggie got word from a girl she couchsurfed with in Milwaukee that a guy she had met in Lesotho was going to be in Paris and needed a place to stay. Turns out the guy's partner graduated from Carleton a year or two after Maggie.

So on Monday night, we hosted Josh and Phil, and even though we didn't get to spend much time with them, we're happy to have furthered the cause of couchsurfing and to have made some new friends.

We went for the meta, "we're taking a picture of you while you're taking a picture of us" shot.

* For any potential "informal" couchsurfers still planning a visit, we're all booked up between Dec. 22 and January 24.

Couchsurfing!

A somewhat-Paris-related topic I'm going to address is Couchsurfing - a website that connects travelers with people willing to host for one, two, or many nights! Hosts and hostees leave references on each others' profiles, thereby letting the community know who is a reputable surfer. Details of each hosting agreement are worked out between the two parties, and the spirit of the game is flexibility, cultural exchange, and fun! Louis and I have surfed in Germany and hosted in Somerville. We've met people from all over the world and have had very pleasant traveling and hosting experiences. In fact, I would say that I have been more comfortable staying with Couchsurfing hosts than at hotels/hostels.

This past weekend we hosted Melanie and Bianca, currently living in Venice, Italy, originally from Montreal and D.C., respectively. They only stayed one night but we enjoyed dinner, conversation, and ice cream with them. In addition to lively stories, they brought mints, truffle oil, and balsamic jelly from Italia! Whoo hoo!

Here they are, with Joey:

We likely will not officially host Couchsurfers in Paris, but we WILL be hosting many friends and family throughout our time there. Can't wait!