Bright Morning Light: Alsace and the North

The brisk air rustled in the bare treetops as students trudged up the hill to the church parking lot, toting backpacks and suitcases. The darkness had not begun to lift yet and it showed in the sleepy faces of the IFLE's boarding the bus. We were leaving for Alsace, a region in the north-east of France. Our finals had ended the day before so we were gleeful with the freedom of Christmas break. Unfortunately, this was also the day that Danae, Olen, and Lyol left for Tchad. They came to see us off and gave us sleepy hugs and promises of news from Tchad before our bus pulled out of Campus Adventiste du Saleve.
Our first stop was a truckstop for breakfast where we got croissants and chocolate before continuing on to our first town (the name of which escapes me). Once arriving at the town, we checked into our hotel and then wandered out into the town to explore the christmas markets. I started out with a large group of other students before deciding that they were too slow and heading off on my own.
I explored Christmas market after Christmas market until I was sure I couldn't possibly see any more. The markets were full of colors and sound. People were jostling everywhere as they tried to get close to the various booths, looking at all the various things being sold. There were stalls with food and stalls with wooden carvings, stalls with stuffed animals and others with metal craft. My favorite though were the ornament booths. They had ornaments of all sizes and shapes spread out in baskets on the counter. Some were class and some were wooden and I spent a great time looking at all the different ornaments.
After a time of rest and relaxation in the hotel, I found some of the others and we headed out to see if we could go ice skating. Unfortunately the rink had just closed and so we instead wandered down the street where we found a playground to enjoy until we got cold and headed back to the hotel.
The next morning we loaded up the busses and headed for the Struthof-Natzwiler Concentration camp. We drove up and over a mountain, through some gorgeous snow covered pines before parking in outside the entrance to the camp. We spent the next few solemn hours slowly walking through the museum and grounds of the concentration camp. Some of the buildings are still standing and have had plaques added to the walls, describing what took place in each room or building.
After that solemn experience, we got back into the buses and headed for Strassbourg, the home of Christmas markets. Or at least, that's what we were to believe, whether or not that's true I don't know. We were taken into the town of Strassbourg where we were turned free to roam the streets. Jazzi, Hillary and I spent time looking around the Christmas markets before we headed off in search of fun things to do. We spent the rest of the afternoon stepping in and out of little shops and seeing what the town was like. Of course there were Crepes involved and a stop in a little cafe for coffee - which turned out to be quite bitter...
The next day we headed back towards Collonges via a tiny little town (the name of which I have forgotten) with cute little french shops. We wondered the streets there and then got back onto the bus headed "home".
I spent next 24hours (ish) packing up the rest of my stuff and making sure I had everything I wanted to take with me. I was headed for South Africa! FINALLY! I was so very excited!