Museum & CS BBQ

April 16, 2010

Renzo told us about a big transportation museum that is supposed to be really cool. It was Friday but he had taken the day off so we all went to the museum together. Hilary and I are still pretty museumed out from London, but this was supposed to be really interactive, not just walking around a reading. It wasn't cheap at 23 franks but I think it was worth it. We were there for the whole day and pretty much just acted like kids while we were there. There is a ton of things to play with and you can pretend you are driving a plane or train or anything else that moves. There were scooters, bikes, video game-like things, simulations, life size models, etc etc. There was even a planetarium which had a presentation about the Zodiac. It was kind of interesting but with it being so dark and laying in comfy seats I was falling in and out of sleep the whole time. Renzo made fun of me for it. Apparently space isn't my thing.

After the museum we headed back to Renzo's place to get ready for a couchsurfing BBQ he was having. He's pretty involved in the CS community and a lot of them hang out together. We happened to come on the weekend he was hosting his first BBQ with all of them - awesome. The night was really fun. Everyone we met was really nice, as always. I've really come to expect nothing less from this community. We were the only ones there officially couchsurfing on someone's couch, but it was a pretty big international group. There were people from Germany, Scandinavia, Australia, Estonia, etc... That's the great thing about Europe, it's so easy to get from country to country so people can move around for a year or two or so. The longer I am here for the more I want to live somewhere in Europe. People were telling us about how they were in this country or that country last weekend and such. Traveling is just so easy here.

It was one of the CS'ers going away party as she was headed back to Scandinavia after being in Switzerland for a few years. The party was full of good people, good food (chocolate cake even!), alcohol of course, a little wrestling, lots of pictures and even random drunk neighbors who let me drink way to much of their delicious alcohol. When it started we were introduced as "the Americans" by the end of it I think most of the people there looked at us a lot differently - hopefully.

A good party is always helpful in getting closer with people. Renzo had expressed some angst toward American CSers and even told us that we were probably the last Americans he would host. Apparently he'd had some bad experiences with people from California. But by the end of the party we had gone from 'Americans' to 'Girls.' I think that's a successful step up. It's been an unplanned mission of ours to change the way a lot of Europeans view American CSers. Surprise surprise we have a not-so-good reputation. It is really sad how poorly most of the world does view us. I know it's a stereotype and everyone here has been amazingly nice and generous but we heard from just about everyone that Americans in general are not very well liked. And we keep hearing story after story why and more and more I get it. At least being educated on why the rest of the world sees us the way they do allows me to make sure I don't make the same mistakes.

At this point we were planning on leaving for Germany the next day. A few of the people were trying to talk us in to staying longer and Renzo's rugby team had a game that I really wanted to see so we drunkenly decided around midnight to stay a day later. It was a great decision.