Saturday, April 2, 2011

The journey begins.

Haiku-a-day:

April 1st
Relaxation through
napping or reading should be
required every day.

It is the night before my one month journey to the continent begins.  I'm nearly packed, but not ready at all. Even though this will probably be one of the most exciting months of my life, I imagine it'll also be one of the most trying.  We have eurail passes and this means we don't schedule our trains until the day before we leave to head on to the next city/country (for the 2nd half of my trip).  It'll pretty much be a "go go go" type of vacation, purely living out of a suitcase, or one single duffel in my case.  No computer, no updates, no TV, etc.  I hope we will be able to schedule "down time" because that is a necessity when traveling.

It was Beer Festival day for my brewing class.  My mom got to come with, meet my professor and some of my friends, as well as try the 19 types of beer all the groups brewed.  Some types were good and some were horrible.  I am very proud of my group overall.  Ours turned out a heck of a lot better than some of the other groups.  I had a raspberry ale that I voted for as my favorite, followed closely by a blueberry beer (and I don't even like blueberries!).  The festival was quite fun.  Basically, there were a ton of us there in a lab room in the Food Science building.  The 19 beers were set up at stations around the large room with our poster presentations above the barrels explaining what it was and how it was made.  In between each station, the professor had all kinds of chips (crisps), crackers, and peanuts.  Once we were done sampling all 19 (some of which I had to stop drinking and throw out because they were so nasty--watery or vinegary), we voted for our top 3 favorite: beers, names for the beers, and posters.  The winners will receive a prize, most likely Cadbury eggs.  It was a lovely way of ending classes before break begins.  

I will most likely not be posting on here again until April 30th or so, so be aware, but still keep in touch!  Feel free to leave comments.  I'm sure I'll have a ridiculous amount of pictures, as well as stories, to share when I return.  Au revoir!  I shall be in Paris, France by dinner tomorrow!