Summer Teaching in Metz, France

In the summer of 2011, I had the chance to teach two sections of an Introduction to Databases course to undergraduate at the Lorraine campus (GTL) of Georgia Tech in Metz, France. The schedule for the summer session is arranged in such a way that long weekends are available to students (and faculty) to travel around Europe. My wife Susan and I took advantage of this opportunity to visit Metz (pronounced Mess) from May 15th through August 8th.

Metz is located east of Paris, near the German border.



Sunday/Monday May 15 - 16: Atlanta to Metz

Our trip began inauspiciously when the cab company we had made a reservation with to take us to the airport failed to show up. When we called to find out why, they had lost the reservation, but sent along a van that still got us to the Atlanta airport with plenty of time to spare. Our flight was uneventful, and we got into Paris, Charles De Gaulle airport just before 6:00am, local time on the 16th. French time is six hours different from Atlanta time, at least during this part of the year.

We had previously bought tickets on the TGV, a bullet train going from the airport to the Lorraine regional train station. The schedule however had only
one morning direct train, and we had felt that we couldn't count on making it. Instead, we had bought tickets on a train leaving at 12:50pm. So, after sitting for
nine hours on our flight, we ending up sitting for another seven in the train station! Fortunately, we took the opportunity to get to know two other faculty members who would also be teaching at GTL this summer.

Eventually, it was time for the train, and the four of us moved from the waiting room down to the platform. We had been told that we must validate our tickets, using the yellow validation machines, before boarding the trains. Although I tried the three machines, our tickets were rejected by all three, while those of my colleagues, which had been prepurched to be picked up at the train station, worked fine. I had no choice but to board the train with unvalidated tickets!

As is typical of train stations, the platform for our track (voie) was quite long. I happened to notice that there were electronic signs indicating which cars would stop next to which locations on the platform. Because our seats were reserved, we needed to board the correct car. Of course, when the train arrived, it didn't exactly align with the markers on the platform, which meant we had to look for our car number, which was hard to find. It turns out that there is a small LCD sign near the train doors, and that we guessed right about our car.

The train ride itself was quite nice, blasting through the French country side with nary a bump or rumble, and we arrived at the Lorraine Regional Station right on time. Because this train station is about 40 minutes outside of town, GTL had arranged a van for the four of us, and we were all delivered to our new home, the Metz Residhome directly. Here are some pictures of our apartment at Residhome.

Another nice thing that GTL did for us was to send a local staff member by to take us to the rental car agency to pick up our car. The agency is at Merz's main train station (gare), which was only a long block from our apartment. Although the rental agent spoke some English, having a bilingual partisan available to help us work through the details of the prearranged contract was helpful, particularly after what was now 29 hours without sleep. After making the arrangements, I made the short drive back to the Residhome's underground parking garage, quickly recovering my skills driving a manual transmission car.

Our final challenge of the day was getting something to eat. We tried a walk around the block, looking for something cheap and easy to tide us over until the next day, but eventually decided to have the desk clerk at the Residhome order a V.I.P pizza to be delivered to us. All this worked out well, and we finally crashed into our surprisingly firm and comfortable bed.

Tuesday, May 17: GTL

Tuesday was spent getting familiar with GTL. Pictures can be found here.

Wednesday, May 18

First day of classes, and a party to boot! I was teaching two sections, back-to-back, in the late afternoon of each class day. The two sections comprised, respectively, 26 and 13 mostly engineering students, eager to explore Europe, and willing to subscribe to the GTL motto: Work Hard, Play Hard. Everyone showed up, the classroon technology worked, and we were off to the races.

After the school day was over, all the faculty were invited to a party at the apartment of two resident faculty. After driving back to Residhome, Susan and I set off walking to our destination in the older part of Metz. The walk should have taken us about 20 minutes, and we got within a block of our destination, when we
took a wrong turn. Part of the problem was that I was using dead reckoning, part was that street names change every couple of blocks, and part was the limited resolution of Google maps. Nevertheless, we soon righted ourselves, found our destination, and had a good time getting to know our hosts and fellow faculty. Afterwards, we walked back as a group, using our collective experience to find a more direct path, that soon became our standard route from Residhome to the central city.

Saturday, May 21; Sunday, May 22: Metz

Saturday, we spent walking around, getting familiar with the city of Metz, whose founding was no doubt motivated by its strategic position at the junction of two rivers: the Moselle and the Seille.


Here are some pictures from our walks.

Monday, May 23: Technopole

On Monday, I decided to head to GTL early, bring my lunch and explore the Technopole, which includes a small lake including a walking path, benches and wildlife. Here are some pictures.

Friday, May 25: Luxembourg

The first week of classes ended with a three-day weekend, and we took advantage of it by taking our first excursion-a day trip to Luxembourg. Here is a description and some pictures.

Sunday, May 27: Jardin Botanique de Metz

On Sunday, we decided to stroll over to the Metz Botanical Garden. This way nearby, free and the day was beautiful. Here are some picture.

Thursday, June 2: Moselle

We took a walk to get a look at the Moselle. Here are some pictures.

Saturday, June 11 and Saturday, July 2: Parc de la Seille

Another locale within walking distance of Residhome was a park along the Seille River. Here are some pictures.

Wednesday, June 15th: First Field Trip, to Veckring/Hackenberg and St Avold

Part of the GTL experience for students is to become familiar with Europe, particularly the local Alsace-Lorraine region, which has played such an important historical role. One aspect of this is a pair of mandatory field trips for the students, to which the faculty are invited. The first field trip was to the St. Avold U. S. military cemetery and to the Veckring/Hackenberg fortifications. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Friday, June 24th - Tuesday, June 28th: Holiday in the Netherlands

This was the mid-term break for GTL and the longest weekend of the term. We used it to visit the Netherlands. Included here are pictures from Delft, The Hague and Amsterdam.

Saturday and Sunday, July 2nd and 3rd: Walking in Metz

Here are some pictures from other walks we took in Metz, including a visit to the dramatic Porte des Allemands.

Wednesday, July 6th: Second Field Trip, to Strasbourg

GTL arranged another field trip, this time to Strasbourg, home of the European Parliament and one of the highest cathedrals in the world. Here are the pictures.

Thursday, July 14th - Sunday, July 17th: Paris

Other than a boring layover in the airport, we had been in France for two months and not seen Paris. We took at advantage of a four-day weekend at GTL to rectify this failure. Here are the pictures.

Saturday, July 23th: Baloons

We went to have a look at one of the world's largest balloon festivals. Although the weather prevented any balloons from launching, and the mud was overwhelming, still there were some interesting sights to see.

August 4th: Plappeville

There is a nearby prominance to Metz, called Fort de'Plappeville. It is an abandoned fort that we should as the target for our last Metz exploration. Here are our pictures.

August 6th and 7th: Paris Redux

On the morning of the 6th of August, we began our return to Atlanta by taking the morning TGV from Metz back to Paris. We would spend the 6th and the 7th there before flying back to Atlanta on the 8th. Pictures from these two days can be found here.

August 8th and 9th: Return to Atlanta

Our return flight was scheduled for the afternoon of the 8th. We left our hotel for the short walk to the Metro, which we rode with incident to Gere Nord. From there we transferred to the RER train, which took us to Charles de Gaulle airport. We arrived with plenty of time, and were able to find some last-minute souvenirs before boarding our flight.

Unfortunately, the combination of a long bus ride from our gate to the plane and an interminable wait for Air France to close the plane's doors, meant that we took off about one hour late. The flight itself was uneventful except that, at the end, Atlanta had some weather-related delays. We circled for a while before being diverted to Knoxville to refuel, not exactly what you want to hear after sitting in the plane for over nine hours. The end result was that we finally arrived at home in the early hours of August 9th.