Goodbye France. Goodbye London. Goodbye Europe!

Today was an amazing last day in Europe! Ahhh that is so sad to say, but I have had a great day! The continental breakfast was amazing as usual. I am in love with the hot chocolate. It is the best hot chocolate I have drank in Europe, and it is too bad my last time drinking it will be tomorrow. Anyway, Hannah and I broke off from our group and did our own thing. When we left the hotel, it was pouring. That was the only downside to the day. We were going to take the bus to King’s Cross Station to see Platform 9 ¾, and we waited for the bus in the rain for forever. We eventually decided, screw it, we will take the Underground and spend four pounds. Things started looking up when we weren’t being rained on inside the Underground, and we decided to ask help about buying a ticket. The man at the counter was super nice, and we decided to spend £6.50 for an all day Underground pass. That’s a huge deal compared to a £4 one way ticket. He told us all we have to do is ask when you are unsure of something, and that is so true. So, we took the metro to King’s Cross. The Underground is so fast compared to the metro in Paris, and it is a lot nicer and newer. We finally got to King’s Cross, and had to ask for directions to Platform 9 ¾ a few times, but we eventually found it! Ahh it was so cool and made my day!

We then took the metro to Regent and Oxford Street, where all the shopping is. We went to H&M, and Hannah bought a lot of clothes, and I bought some hair accessories. We just window shopped for a while and were heading in the direction of the Harry Potter premiere at Trafalger Square. We had lunch nearby Trafalger, and we were done eating by 4pm, which was perfect timing because that’s when the premiere started. Right when we walked outside, we heard the crowds screaming and were fully immersed in a ton of people. We wandered around for a while trying to find a good spot to see the big TV screen and not be yelled at by security. It took us a while, but we eventually found a good spot considering we didn’t camp out for seven days. We had to deal with crowds pushing at us and light poles and things blocking the screen, but I got a good view of the screen and took pictures of all the stars!! It was amazing seeing Daniel Radcliff, J.K. Rowling, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and everyone else! I can’t believe I was at a Harry Potter premiere, let alone the last Harry Potter premiere ever, and I was in London for it! What a way to end my experience in Europe. I can’t even believe it.

Towards the end of the premiere, me and Hannah stepped on a ledge, so we actually got to see with our own eyes Daniel Radcliff and J.K. Rowling. They were pretty small, but I still got to see them! The screen was plenty big to see everyone clearly and take pictures. Overall it was an amazing experience, and I will remember it the rest of my life. I still can’t believe our luck showing up right on time and getting a good seat when people camped out for seven days! Now I know they got a much better spot, but I am not complaining about where I was with the minimal effort I put into it.

Hannah and I headed back to the hotels afterwards and hung out for a little bit. Wittney then came back, and she talked about Harrod’s, which Hannah wanted to go to the whole time we’ve been here, so we decided to go back into the city and go there. It closed at 9pm, and we left at 8:15pm, so we rushed through the Underground as fast as we could. It was stressful, but we got there at 8:40pm. We had to ask a cute guy working there where to find the Harrod’s Arcade (gift shop) because that is where I wanted to go to get some souvenirs. I had to rush through the store, but I found some cute things. I would have liked to spend more time there, though. The whole area near Harrod’s was full of cute stores, and I wish I had gone shopping there today. When I come back to London, I am definitely going back to that area. It was really pretty and had good shopping!

We then took the Underground back and everything went smoothly until we got to the last stop. We exited the station, and the area didn’t look that familiar but we kept walking anyway. We wandered for a while confused because we were at the right stop, but we took the wrong exit. We had to go back to the Underground station and discovered there was a huge train station within the stop as well, and we had to walk the whole length of it to get to our exit. I had no idea our Underground stop was so big, let alone there was a train station in there!

We were hungry too, and Hannah knew there was a Subway nearby, so, with a heavy heart because I knew it would be closed, we tried to find it. I asked this guy for directions about where Subway was, and I kept saying the Subway restaurant because I knew he was confusing that with the Underground, and then he called it the tube, which I thought was funny. He didn’t know where Subway was, but we found it a minute later and it was open! Thank God! I got a turkey sub, and added corn as one of my toppings, which turned out to be yummy. I wish the USA offered that. I also bought potato chips that looked exactly like Lays, but the brand was Walkers.

We got back to the hotel and ate our glorious meal. We then all packed our suitcase for tomorrow morning and got a scale to weigh them. Apparently my suitcase is 77 lbs., which I refuse to believe. It was 50 lbs. coming here, and there is no way I bought 27 lbs. of stuff. I am just gonna pack it as much as possible, so that my duffel bag is light. The duffel bag is the worst part of my luggage because I can’t wheel it around. I then will redistribute the weight when I get to the airport.

I can’t fathom that I am leaving Europe tomorrow. It is just so sad. I have loved my experience here so much. I always knew it would end, but it seemed so far away, and I just put it out of my mind every time I thought about it. I really am sad. There is no other word to describe how I feel. I have put a lot into this trip, and I never thought about what I was going to do for the rest of the summer after I got back, or my life in general. These past weeks have been a great escape from the real world and all the worries I left behind on May 28, so it just sucks that I have to deal with life again! I am just going to take my life day by day and see where it takes me. I have fallen in love with Europe, and I am going back here…soon preferably. I really want to come back after I graduate to go to school, work, or travel. I don’t care which one as long as it takes me back!

Well my traveling day back to the States was complete hell. I ended up staying for 25 hours, and that is how long it took me to finally get to America and fall asleep in a Charlotte hotel. Let me take you back to the beginning though…

So Wittney and Bryan left the hotel before me and Hannah because Bryan had an earlier flight and Wittney just wanted to get to the airport as soon as possible, so they left around  6:15am-ish I think. I woke up at 5:50am to re-pack my bag and make sure I had ample time to get ready. I decided to pack more into my duffel than I had planned and redistributed the weight at the hotel because I was nervous about my bag being overweight and didn’t want to deal with it at the airport. Hannah and I headed down to breakfast at 6:45am, and I ate way too much. I wanted to take advantage of my last scrumptious breakfast at the hotel and my last European breakfast!

We then went back to our room, got our bags, checked out, and began our journey back home. The Underground was a five minute walk from the hotel, but my arms were already burning pulling my luggage, so we took some breaks. We asked a man under an Assistance booth about what metro ticket we should buy, and he was very nice and helpful and gave us good directions on how to get to Heathrow airport.

Traveling within the Underground was difficult with our luggage. We had to go down escalators, deal with crowds, and deal with getting onto the actual trains. We took an elevator at one point to avoid walking up stairs, which was really handy. At another point, we had to walk down some stairs, and two nice men helped each of us with our heavy bags. I couldn’t believe our luck and how nice people can be; it just really surprised me!

We finally got on the last train to Heathrow and had about a 45 minute ride. We met some people who had been on Africa for several weeks, so they were interesting to talk to. When we got to the airport, we just followed the crowd and eventually found the U.S. Airways counter. I was so nervous about paying an outrageous fee for my overweight bag, but when the lady weighed it, I couldn’t even find where to read the scale, and she didn’t comment on the weight, so I got away with it! I was so excited because I knew my bag was definitely overweight. However when she printed my tickets, she told me my flight to Philadelphia was delayed, and that I would miss my connection to Charlotte; not good news. The flight was delayed from 12:20pm to 2:20pm I think, and that forced my arrival to Charlotte from 7pm to 10:45pm. I was not happy about this, but I wasn’t really thinking about it and was just happy I got another connecting flight.

Hannah and I went through security easily. However, I got randomly selected for a full body scan. I had to step in this machine and lift my arms above my head. I then had to wait for someone to call the security man I was with to confirm my scan was clean. It wasn’t a big deal, but I wish I didn’t have to do it. We then found Wittney, who was waiting for us right outside security. We caught each other up on our mornings, and I then just wanted to go ahead and find our gate, so we could settle down and not deal with our bags. I learned that the Heathrow airport operates differently than airports in America, and is exactly like a train station. You don’t know what gate you will be at until right before you are scheduled to board, which is so inconvenient. We had to wait around in the general area, until 40 minutes before our flight to know where to go. Train stations are the same way, but you never knew until like 15 minutes before your trained left.

So we sat down and waited for a while. I bought a bottle of water and got a free newspaper with it. It had an article about the Harry Potter premiere, which was fun to read, and I kept it if I ever end up making a scrapbook about my European experience. The girls slept for a bit, and I did a Sudoku in the paper to kill time. We then found somewhere to eat and sit down, and I got a hot chocolate and pain au chocolat; had to get one last fix!

I was worried about contacting my mom to let her know about my flight delays. The wifi at the airport wasn’t free; you had to pay £10 for internet access all day, which wasn’t worth it to me. Whenever I turned my computer on, though, my Skype came up and asked if I wanted to link it with the internet, and pay for the internet that way. I already had credit on there because that is what I used to call my family in Europe, so I tried that. It ended up not working, and linking it with the airport internet took away $5, so I only had 11 cents left to call with, and no one answered when  called. I was pretty annoyed about losing $5 of my skype credit because it said it would only cost 19 cents a minute. I then tried a pay phone, but it ate all my coins and didn’t work. I then tried my credit card, and it finally worked, and I ended up leaving a message explaining everything. At 1:30pm we found out which gate we were and headed to it. It took like 15 minutes; the airport was so spread out! You had to have someone check your passport and ticket to even get into the waiting area for the gate, which was different than how America does things. There wasn’t enough seating, so we had to sit on the floor, which was annoying. Of course, our delayed flight wasn’t on time, so we had to wait even more. I don’t even know what time we finally got to board the plane and take off, but we were already pushing into maybe missing our connection, so we were worried.

The plane was really nice, though; A LOT better than the plane to Paris. Me and Hannah had two seats to ourselves, and we got TV screens! Hallelujah! I watched three movies; The Adjustment Bureau, True Grit, and Alice in Wonderland. I have never watched three movies one after the other, but it was good entertainment! You could also play games, watch TV episodes, and track your flight and all sorts of information like how fast you were going and your arrival time. It was nifty. So overall, the flight wasn’t so bad. Watching movies made the time go by very fast. I was ready to get off that plane, though. My back was hurting, and I was worried about missing our connections because we had to go through customs in Philadelphia.

When we got off the plane, we first had to go where they check your passport and ask what you are declaring and all that. I have had to deal with some strict people before, so I was nervous because I didn’t declare the beer I brought over. It went smoothly, though, and he didn’t ask too many questions about the clothes, chocolate, and postcards I declared. We then had to get our checked bags and scan them and go through security, but that wasn’t that bad either. I don’t even know why we had to get our checked luggage. We just did a little scan with it, and handed it back to the people. I feel they could have just done that themselves. I then had to go through another desk and give my declaration form to someone, and she didn’t even glance at it and let me through. Overall, customs was really lax. That was nice, but kind of worrying to me if you think about it. Oh well.

We had a long walk to our terminal and gate, but we made it. It was nice to go straight to our gate, instead of waiting around before they tell you where to go. I was hungry for dinner, so I got a philly cheese steak sandwich; gotta take advantage of being in philly! It was really yummy! I only ate half to save the other half for the plane ride. While eating though, we learn our flight was delayed until 11pm meaning we wouldn’t get to Charlotte until 1am. Ahhh oh my god, I was so frustrated at this point. The weather in Philly was bad, so I think that was the problem. They told us to go to another gate at one point, so we all had to move. We waited for a while there not really knowing what was going on.

 Meanwhile, a lot of flights near Charlotte were getting canceled, so we were worried our flight would be canceled. I slept on the floor for a little bit because all the chairs had bars, so you couldn’t lay down. We then had to move gates again! This gate was so full that we had to sit on the main airport walkway for a while. We just waited, waited, and waited not knowing if our flight would be canceled or not. We finally got  a seat in the gate, and I finished my sandwich. Around 11:30pm, all the sudden, they tell us to start boarding. I was so tired and out of it at this point that I didn’t really have any emotion about this other than I couldn’t wait to sleep on the plane.

And that’s what I did: sleep. I slept on and off the whole ride. When I woke up the first time, it was absolutely freezing, so I couldn’t ever really go to sleep again. It was really cold and miserable. I only had a light sweater and no other layers, so I just curled up as much I could and half slept. We finally landed at 1:15am and headed to the baggage claim. Hannah’s dad was waiting for her right when we walked in, and I had to call my mom to learn she was just waiting in the car outside. We waited for our bags for a while, and they finally came. It was hard saying goodbye to Hannah. I cried. I had been with her since day one and we had traveled together every weekend, so it was hard to finally say bye to her. I think all my emotions about everything surfaced to in that final goodbye. I was just glad to finally be in Charlotte and, at the same time, really sad that I wasn’t in Europe anymore and that my study abroad was over.

I walked outside and found my mom’s car immediately. I was still crying when I finally got to hug her and see her for the first time. I was pretty much dazed about everything. I loaded the car, and we drove five minutes to the hotel. We were in a really nice hotel, and the bed was sooo comfy and soft! I thought I would pass out immediately, but it took me a while to fall asleep, which surprised me a lot. I went to bed around 2:30am, and for some unknown reason, I woke up at 7am and couldn’t go back to sleep. I have no idea how my body is dealing with no sleep for 25 hours and then sleeping for less than five. My sleep schedule is pretty messed up, so I hope I can make it right tonight and go to bed at a normal hour. I can’t believe it took 25 hours to get back yesterday. I just can’t. It didn’t even feel like it took 25 hours.

Well that is my story about getting back to America. I still have to drive three hours to get to Cashiers, and then I will finally be home. I am so sad right now. It is sad that this is my last blog entry. I don’t want to stop writing because that means my experience really is over, and I have no more stories about yet another day in Europe. I know I will go through culture shock being here; I think I already am. The first thing is I hate our money system here. Europe has the right idea having 1 and 2 dollar coins; it makes so much more sense and is so convenient. Our bills here our ugly compared to the Pounds and Euros too. The driving everywhere will suck too. I miss the metro already. It is so convenient, easy, and affordable to use. I think I just like big cities. Everything is so compact and close; it just makes things easier.

Ahh I am rambling too much. I just need to stop writing and finally let go and have closure. I have written this entry over the past few days, and it is now Sunday, so I have been home for a full day. I am slowly getting used to my new life here, but I am still missing France too much. I have made wonderful friends though and looking forward to seeing them soon is the only thing that is not putting me over the edge in sadness. Also, the prospect of once again returning to France is helping me deal with everything. As I said before, I WILL come back. I am making damn sure of that. Hopefully, after I graduate, I will return for a year…or two or three! Thank you all for reading my blog, and I will be sure to create a new one when I return to Europe. I love you all!

London Calling

Today was a big day full of surprises in London. When we finally got our act together and left the hotel, we went to the London Eye to buy combo tickets to that and the London Dungeon (I’ll explain that later). After buying the tickets, we went to check out the Harry Potter 7 premiere! I looked it up online and learned that people could start getting wristbands for it starting at 10am. We showed up around then, and not surprisingly the line was crazy long. We got a spot in line, and then I decided to get some information from a security guard. He said some people had been camping out for seven days (they weren’t allowed to have tents- dedicated fans right there), and that around 7,000 wristbands would be given out. He said we didn’t have a good chance to get in given where we were in line. There was a big TV screen, so we decided to leave and plan on getting as close as possible without the wristband, so we can see the screen. As long as I can see that, I will be happy. Hope it works out. I know it is a long shot, but it is worth a try. I am not willing to spend my little time here camping out.

We went back to the London Eye to find our other friend, and luckily we found her waiting in line already, so we jumped in line. Apparently, we cut a big portion of the line without  knowing, and while someone was telling us this another guy came up to us offering us to go to the Fast Track Lane and another rotation on the wheel for free. We thought it was a scam, but he assured us it wasn’t, so we went with him and became VIP’s! We wore these green ID necklaces, and we got to use the Fast Track lane, which barely anyone was in. We eventually found our other friend, and she got to join our VIP epicness. We then got to skip people in the Fast Track lane and loaded up on the eye. We then learned we got to do whatever on the first rotation around and then we would participate in a survey the second rotation. I am so glad I paid for the London Eye. It offered an amazing view of the city! It was awesome I got to ride another time too. I definitely got my money’s worth! The capsule we were in had Ipads with information on the skyline you saw, and that’s what we were interviewed about the next rotation around. They are thinking about adding these Ipads on all the capsules.

We then had lunch nearby at a really good restaurant called The Slug and the Lettuce. I had cottage pie, which was similar to shepherd’s pie, and it was only £5.95, which I thought was a good deal. We then took a bus to the London Dungeon. Now I wasn’t very excited about this from the beginning, but I tagged along because everyone else wanted to go. I should have listened to my instincts! The London Dungeon was this horror haunted house ride experience thing. We waited outside for probably an hour and a half to get in, and once we were inside, we had to wait even more. It basically was this corny try to scare you thing where you walked around inside these chambers and you have to wait every time to hear the actors and the story. It had three rides, which were so LAME and stupid. I think we were inside doing everything for like two hours. It was wayyy too long, drawn out, and boring. The last ride was scary because it was a drop down thing, which I don’t like those rides at all. Luckily it wasn’t very tall, but it scared me enough. The ride took a picture of all of us going down, and it is absolutely hilarious. I can’t wait for Hannah to those pictures up on facebook.

I treated myself to a Magnum ice cream bar after the aweful experience, and then we split up. I wanted to go to Platform 9 and ¾, and Hannah wanted to go to Harrod’s. We went to take the metro, and it was freaking 4 pounds. Way too expensive. The Paris metro cost under two euro, so we were pissed. We decided to try a bus instead, but that didn’t work, so we had to resort to use the metro. We just took the metro back to our stop and saw the Westminister Abbey. We randomly ran into our other people, and went to eat dinner at the same restaurant as lunch because it was so good and right by our hotel. It also had 2-4-1 drinks, which we wanted to take advantage of. However, that deal was only on weekends unfortunately. I still had a good meal anyway. We then went back to the hotel and went to the steam room to relax. I am now in bed resting. Excited to have one more day and head home the next!

My London London Bridge Wanna Go Down

I am finally in London! I have been busy since getting here Monday night. The train ride went smoothly, and it went way too quickly; it was only an hour and a half. It was a hassle dealing with all my luggage, but we took a bus to the train station, which made things easier. I think because I could brace myself for the pain my luggage would be, it wasn’t as bad as when I arrived in Paris. There was also a time change getting to London, so we arrived in 30 minutes technically. We took a cab to our hotel, and it turned out to be very cheap; $15 total divided by 4. The cab driver was really nice, and we somehow managed to fit all of our luggage and 4 people in to the cab semi-comfortably. We got to our hotel, and it is SO NICE! Completely luxurious compared to what I have slept in this whole trip. We have a waterfall shower, two big, fluffy beds, modern architecture, and two TV’s. We also get an amazing continental breakfast each morning, and I eat way too much. The hotel is in a prime location too…right by the London Eye.

Yesterday we did a boat tour first thing, although, we had to walk to the company’s office to get tickets with our vouchers, which was a little annoying. Once we were on the boat it was fun. I saw Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, London Bridge, and so many more things that I can’t remember. We then did a bus tour and saw lots of things including where Daniel Radcliff went to school! I am was excited to see that. We also saw Buckingham Palace. Compared to Versaille, the palace seemed not as grand, but I am glad I saw it for sure.

The bus tour then completely sucked. We were trying to get in the blue line, and after three hours, we never managed to get on it. We were on buses for like three hours not really knowing where we were going. I just wanted to fall asleep because I was exhausted for some reason. It started raining eventually, and we just sat in Starbucks for a while and then we went to the M&M museum. That was a lot of fun! It was four stories full of M&M memorabilia. We then headed back to the hotel, and I pretty much just fell asleep. Everyone else went to dinner, but I decided to stay in and sleep because I wasn’t hungry, and I was just really tired.

I think this entire trip finally caught up to me yesterday because I was exhausted. Not gonna lie, I want to go home now. I think it is because I am not in Lille, where I feel at home and I know how to get around. Here, I have no basis for where I am, and that really bothers me. I don’t feel connected or attached to London because I never really know where I am, and I have discovered that is really important to me when I travel. I still am enjoying London, though, and I am happy to be here. For me, it just doesn’t compare to Paris. Paris seems a lot older, and the city appeals to me more. London mixes modern architecture and historic architecture, which is really pretty, but I fell in love with the cute, old buildings of Paris with the balconies and flowers and all.

I am dreading Friday traveling home to the States. It is just going to be an extremely long day, and I am going to crash so hard when I finally get to the hotel in Charlotte with my mom.

4th of July in France

Last night the remainder of the group saw movie. At first I didn’t want to go because I wanted to have enough time to pack, but I got convinced. We were going to see Transformers, but the group decided to see Minuit à Paris instead because it was cheaper since it wasn’t in 3D. I wasn’t very thrilled to see a movie that I knew nothing about because I knew Transformers would have been good, but I went a long anyway. I was wrong about the movie, though. It turned out to be really good! It was the perfect movie to see for us because it was set in Paris, so I recognized all the scenery. It brought back a lot of good memories seeing Paris on the movie screen, and I loved remembering everything. Aside from the setting, it was a good story too. I recommend it!

After the movie, some people went to Pizza Hut and out for the night, but I wanted to get back early. I was on edge about packing. I was so worried I wouldn’t be able to fit everything in my bags, so I just wanted to get back to my room and figure everything out. Fortunately, I got everything to fit in my suitcase and duffel bag! I don’t even really need my backpack, so I am very excited about that. I went to bed early (around midnight) to get a full night’s rest.

Today I met up with Bryan at 9:30am to walk to the train station to go ahead and print our train tickets, so I would have one less thing to worry about tonight when we leave for London. Our station was Lille Europe instead of the usual station we go to, Lille Flanders. When we got there, we had to find where Eurostar (our train company) was to get out tickets. After walking around and turning around many times, we find where to go. We get to the counter, and they ask for our passports. I had mine, but Bryan didn’t, so when he tried to follow me they got all pissed off and wouldn’t let him in. I tried to tell the people in limited French and English about how I wanted to print my ticket for my train tonight, and they led me to another guy at the counter. He motioned for me to fill out this form, and when I am halfway done, we knocks on his window for me to go up to him. I hadn’t filled out the address of where I am staying in London, and he gets all pissy asking me how I don’t know where I am going in London since my train is in five minutes. I then explain my train is tonight, and then he tells someone else and he takes my paper with my train code on it and walks away. I wait about ten minutes, and he eventually tells me vaguely to print my tickets somewhere else. I had just wasted a bunch of time doing nothing. We told the people we wanted to print our tickets, not board a train!

We then found where we were actually supposed to go to print our tickets, and waited in line 15 minutes and painlessly printed them out once we got to the counter. Oh well, traveling is never a smooth process. I hope tonight goes well though. At least I experienced all those without my heavy luggage!

I then split up from Bryan and went shopping on my own. I was slightly nervous to be alone, but I had a pleasant time walking around doing my own thing going where I wanted to go. I bought two skirts and a shirt from H&M, a skirt from a store called Cool Cat, and then some pretty sandals. I got a tuna baguette and a pastry for four euro for lunch too. I had a good shopping day. I can’t believe it took me so long to finally go shopping for myself. I have sporadically shopped around, but it has never been a relaxing experience like today. I was on a mission for some cute, grey tennis shoes, but they don’t ever have my size! My feet are too big here; it is annoying haha.

I walked back to the dorm and randomly found Hannah and hung out with her, Rebecca, Bryan, and Wittney for a bit. I am now in my room packed and ready to go pretty much. I am going outside soon to take pics of La Catho and the dorm…my last memories here. It is weird to leave Lille. I wonder if I will ever come back. It is so sad to leave and not know if I will ever come back here! It hasn’t really hit me though. I have travelled so much, and I always come back to Lille again, but this time I won’t. This thought puts me in a blehhh mood. At least I am going to London. London will be an amazing and beautiful city like Paris. I am sure I will fall in love with it. I just can’t believe Europe is drawing to a close for me. I knew it would end, but this went by way too fast. I wished I studied abroad for a semester! I really regret that. I am looking into grad schools, though. Ideally, it would be nice to find an internship or even a real job over here after I graduate. That’s the dream at least.

Oh and Happy 4th of July! It is weird being somewhere where no one cares what day is today. I look forward to celebrating this day in London tonight!

Last Days in Lille...

My last French class was ok. We watched a French movie with French subtitles, but I understood most of it, which was surprising. We then had the closing ceremony and got to watch a presentation full of pictures, which was entertaining. I then had a free afternoon and didn’t know what to do with myself. The boys were doing a cookout, so I just hung out outside all afternoon. The hotdogs were pretty yummy! Hannah, Claire, Stephan, and I went to a Chinese restaurant on Sulferino for dinner, and I got beef, green peppers, and rice. It was pretty good. I tried ordering a une carafe d’eau and the waitress just gave me a weird look, so I had to buy a bottle of water. Later on, I saw two girls with a carafe d’eau, which pissed me off. I don’t know why I couldn’t get one. I then tried to take my bottle of water with me out of the restaurant, and they wouldn’t let me. Complete bs. I was pissed abut that too.

Later that night we were pre-drinking an ended up in my room. My neighbor, who hasn’t been there for weeks, was getting pissed at us for being loud. She knocked on my door three seconds after we got to my room and later on banged on the while for us to shut-up. There were only like five people in my room, and we were only there for like 45 minutes. It was a Friday night, so I don’t understand what her problem was! She left a note on my door and Claire’s door the next day. Claire didn’t even go out that night, so I don’t know why she got a note too! The note said, “Please would you STOP making noise tonight. I’m working for exams which are this week. Would you respect the persons who sleep and their tranquility.” This girl has been gone for three weeks, and now she comes back for exams? I don’t believe her. Someone in my program that their French neighbor said exams were over weeks ago, so the whole situation just makes me mad. I don’t like living in the nerdy dorm.

Anyway we went to Latina when we went out that night, and it was fun. It was my first time going there, but I am glad I did. It was something different. I just danced as always. After that we drunkenly got some food from a stand outside, and me and Hannah split a hamburger. I don’t eat hamburgers, so I don’t know why I ate it. Oh well, it was pretty good.

The next day I got to sleep in! I took advantage of it and woke up at like 12:30. It was so nice. I think that is my first time sleeping in here! It turned out to be a bad idea though because when we went to go out to lunch at 2:30pm all the restaurants were closed. We were in pretty bad moods because we wasted a lot of time wandering around trying to find somewhere to eat. We ran into other people and they said there were food stands at the park, so we headed there. After eating, we went to the zoo. I love the zoo. I like that is free; that’s one good thing about France! Later on we cooked out again and had a family dinner. Me and Claire bought hotdogs, frozen veggies that were really good, and Magnum chocolate ice cream bars. I had an excellent meal! I liked eating together too; we really are a family.

We all went out again. It was some of our group’s last night, so that was my excuse to go out for the 4^th day in a row. I wanted to go to Smile, but we never made it unfortunately. We just went to Latina and 7^th Heaven. The night was ok. I wasn’t expecting my last night in Lille to be what it was, but I had fun with everyone.

I woke up at 11am today and went to the market with Pranj. She was leaving at 1pm for her train, so we went there for like 30 minutes. I just wanted to go one last time. I bought some cheetah print pants and this eye shadow compact for one euro! I then said my goodbyes to some of our group, which was really sad and depressing. I love everyone soooo much! Hannah and I then ate sushi in Vieux Lille and walked around downtown to shop, but all the stores were closed. We will go shopping tomorrow! I got a waffle with nutella and whipped cream, and after holding it 5 seconds, half of my whipped cream falls off. I was a little angry at that haha. I am now gonna go layout an read my book, and just enjoy this nice, summery day outside. We are having a chill night tonight, and I am perfectly ok with that. I have to pack today, so sad to say. Ahhh I can’t believe I am leaving. It hasn’t sunk in. I WILL come back to France one day. That’s the only thing I can say to make leaving this place easier.

Finally Done

I am officially done with classes! That is really nice to say. I had three tests on Wednesday and a presentation on Thursday. So far, I know I made an A- on my French test, and I made a B on my French Literature test. I just hope I end up making A’s in both of my classes, so we will see. Today we had a closing ceremony, so I am also officially done with the European Summer Program, which is sad and nice to say at the same time. I felt like my classes dragged me down this summer, so I am looking forward to my last week in Europe stress free from classes.

Last night, we had a farewell dinner at L’Omnia restaurant. It was one of the better meals of the trip. The restaurant itself had a cool layout, and it used to be a brothel. I had a really good salad with goat cheese and bread, beef stew and fries, and then tiramisu. I have never had tiramisu, but it was really yummy! They also gave each table some rose wine to start with, a few bottles of red wine, and I then had a beer. Overall I had a good meal!

We started early and celebrated class ending last night, and it was a lot of fun! We left the dorm pretty late last night at like 12am to start our night. We first went to La Plage, but we heard they were charging people to get in, so I followed people to Vieux Lille. There was a particular bar they wanted to go to, and Vieux Lille is made up of a maze of streets, so I am surprised we did end up finding it. It was some random and pretty empty bar, but we ended up having a blast anyway and stayed the whole night until we went home. I had this drink made up of beer and orange liquor, and it was really good. At one point someone had found this stuffed animal rabbit and called him Wittle Wabbit. It was probably full of diseases but we were all drunk and in love with it. Eventually someone threw him up on a balcony and we were all pretty emotional and upset. I got attached to that thing!

I am looking forward to spending my weekend in Lille. This is the first weekend that I am not traveling somewhere, so I can relax and do all the things in Lille that I haven’t gotten around too. I want to go to Vieux Lille tomorrow to the Notre Dame, and this coffee shop that is supposed to have a good view of the city. I also want to do some shopping this weekend; France has this month long sale, so I want to take advantage of that. I get to sleep in tomorrow too! I have only been able to do that like once since I have been there, so I am extremely excited for that. I hated waking up at 7:30am every day.

Well not much else has happened this week since I have been tied up studying for my exams. This weekend should be an eventful one, though!

One Hell of a Weekend

I thoroughly enjoyed Marseille, France. The trip was absolutely perfect and everything I expected, although we got to a rough start…

We had a girl’s night the night before, which was a bad idea knowing you had a 6:45am train to catch the next morning. I disregarded this because we said we would be back by a decent hour, but, of course, this didn’t happen. We went to La Plage for a bit, and then me and a few girls left and headed to the dance club, Smile. I had a good night full of dancing. I think I got back around 3am and headed straight for bed.

The next morning, while half asleep, I hear my phone ringing, but I didn’t comprehend that it was ringing. On the third call to me, I finally wake up and answer the phone. It was Rebecca asking if I was awake and ready to leave for the station and that she had been banging on Hannah’s door to no avail to wake up. I realize it is 6am, and we had planned to leave then, so I threw on some clothes and got my already (thankfully) packed bag and ran upstairs. I find Rebecca in Hannah’s room, and she is scrambling to pack as well. We leave ten minutes later and start fast walking to the station. It was, of course, drizzling and miserable outside. We half run and walk as fast as possible to the station. We got pretty spread apart, me in the lead, and I was worried we wouldn’t all stay together. At point we are running and these French guys start yelling and encouraging (maybe?) us, and I just ignored them slightly embarrassed. We were pushing the time pretty bad, so when we finally got to the station, I just ran up the escalator leaving Hannah behind with Rebecca close by. I quickly figure out what line our train is on and run towards it to find we have two minutes to get on. I quickly get on and look for Rebecca and Hannah. Rebecca comes down, but she doesn’t know where Hannah is, so we scramble to find her yelling her name, but to no avail. We are freaking out because we don’t want to miss the train, but at the same time we don’t want to leave Hannah. I was worried we would miss the train, so we finally hop on board hoping Hannah made it on somehow. Finally the doors close and the train starts moving, and we sit down at the first seat we can find, and finally everything sets in: Hannah isn’t with us, and we don’t know where she is.

Me and Rebecca were freaking out and gasping for air not knowing what to do. We eventually figure out we need to be in voiture 18, and we were in like voiture 2, so we start heading down the train. I ask a man in some uniform how to get to 18 and he singles and speaks a little English that there are two trains, so we have to get off at the next stop and run ahead to get on the other one because the entire train isn’t connected. At the first stop, we do as we are told and start running for the train ahead, but we didn’t know how long it would be stopped, so we got on the same train we were already on because we didn’t want to stay outside for too long. At the next stop we start running for the next train again, and this conductor guys starts yelling at me, but I ignore him hopping onto the train with Rebecca behind me. He catches Rebecca and I hesitate to turn around, but I do, and he motions for our tickets. He gives is this awful and annoyed look, and I knew he would start yelling in French at us, and I just couldn’t take it. However, he leads us to the snack stand, and I give him all three of our tickets (I had Hannah and Rebecca’s tickets ( Lesson learned to never do that again), and he asks about Hannah. I say she missed the train, and then I tell him we are Loretta and Rebecca. He then gets on his cell phone and starts writing down information about a new train for Hannah, and explains all this to us with the help of a snack stand lady who spoke English.

I am pretty much dumbfounded at this point because this man was pissed at us one minute and then gets a train for Hannah the next minute. We thank him, and finally find our seats utterly exhausted. I call Bryan and Wittney and ask them if they have seen Hannah, and they hadn’t, but I tell them to relay the message about her new train. Hannah calls me on Wittney’s phone a few minutes later an explains her side of the story. She told me that she had got to our train with a few minutes to spare and ran on, but a guy pulled her arm and asked for her ticket. She didn’t have it because I did, and he wouldn’t let her on. She told them her friends had it, but he didn’t believe her. She had to watch the train leave her behind, which must have been completely awful. She said she then threw a huge fit and cried asking for help on what to do, and the guy was a complete asshole and was just laughing and being no help. She said she eventually got help from a man named Philip, who figured everything out for her. She went with him to the train operating room, and they got her a train.

We think the man who found us knew that there were a group of girls who had been split up, and he must have guessed it was me and Rebecca and that’s how he arranged a train so quickly because the train station already knew about the situation. Anyway, Hannah got a train that landed three hours after ours, so we made plans to come get her at the Marseille train station when she got in.

After we had figured everything out, me and Rebecca could finally relax and enjoy the train ride. I just dozed, read, and listened to music the whole way. The ride was very beautiful, and I enjoyed seeing the countryside of France. By 12:30pm, we got to Marseille, and it felt so warm and nice right when we walked out. We walked through the train station, which was pretty and it had trees inside it! I thought that was cool. When we exited the train station, we were up on a hill, so we were above the city. The view was gorgeous. I could see the mountains in the background, some of the city, and this really pretty building up on one of the mountains. We walked down a lot of stairs and were finally in the city. I had written down directions to the hotel, and we figured out how to get there pretty easily. It turns out our hotel was like a 10 minute walk from the station, and I had no idea it would be so close. We stayed at the Hotel Lutetia, which was a nice hotel. Our room had one double bed and a bathroom, and the bed turned out to be extremely comfortable.

After we checked in, our mission was to find food, so we explored the city a little bit and found the main strip to the harbor. We walked up and down it, and eventually found a sandwich place and I got a poulet baguette, which yummy. We then walked to the harbor, and I was trying to find a beach just to look at it. We start walking down this road for probably a mile, and then we turn around because we didn’t really know how long it would take. We decided to head to a tourism office, and I got a free map and directions on how to take the bus to the beach. It was time to go get Hannah at that point, so we headed back to the station and met up with her. We caught up on our crazy mornings and apologized for everything that had happened. We took Hannah to the hotel (which was a little sketch since there were only supposed to be two people in our room), and then head to the beach with the directions we got earlier.

The bus ride was relatively easy. We had done some research on beaches in Marseille and knew la Plage du Prado was the best, so our goal was to find that somehow. We eventually did find it and got off the right bus stop. The beach was in a park, so we crossed over some grassy fields and then found the beach! It didn’t have sand, but instead little, smooth pebbles. I hate sand, so I really liked the pebbles. We got there around 5pm, so we decided to stay until the sun went down. The water was a really pretty aqua greenish color, but it was also a little colder than expected. We didn’t get fully into the ocean until the next day since we weren’t very hot with the setting sun.

We had a few experiences with guys approaching us on the beach. The first guy was dressed up in a Superman costume, wearing bunny ears, and had whiskers painted on his face. He starts talking in French to us kneeling down, and we eventually tell him we speak English. He then tells us he is getting married in three weeks, so he was doing this scavenger hunt type thing , which I guess was a part of his bachelor party. He needed to get a girl to put lipstick on and kiss him on the cheek. We told him we only had chap stick, but he said that was good enough. Rebecca and Hannah volunteered me to do it, so I got to kiss a French guy in a Superman suit! He was cute, so I didn’t mind haha. We then had some awkward guy kneel down to us and start talking in French to himself. I just started laughing because it was so awkward because we weren’t saying anything. Hannah eventually asks what he wants, and we got him to go away. We then had these two French guys approach us and they were excited we spoke English. They were trying to get us to stay in Marseille longer and hang out with them, but we eventually got them to go away too.

At this point we left the beach. I was getting a little sketched out. We saw more beaches and a Ferris wheel in the distance, so we headed over there. We found a cool part of the neighborhood with restaurants and sandy beaches. We decided to ride the Ferris wheel to take some pictures of the beautiful scenery, and I enjoyed that. The area was so pretty. My favorite part were the mountains in the background. I just thought it was cool to have beautiful ocean right next to the mountains. We then took the bus back to Vieux Port (the harbor) and then walked home. We went out again for dinner and got some pizza, and we then called it a night and headed home for bed. I had a good night’s sleep in that bed! It was so comfortable even piling three girls in there!

We headed back to the beach with the Ferris wheel the next morning, and laid out for a while. We got in the water this time, and it was pretty cold, but me and Hannah just dove in. I wanted to say I have swam in the Mediterranean! The water was so cold that my feet went numb, so I took a quick dip and went to lay in the sun again. We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant, and I had a quesadilla with salmon and cream cheese. I have never heard of that before, but I enjoyed it. We went back to the pebble beach, and by the time we got out there it was mid-afternoon, so it was extremely hot. We ended up sitting in the water most of the time, so we could cool down. By the time it was 3:30pm, we had to leave, so we could have enough time to catch the train at 5pm. Our journey back to the station went smoothly. I got some postcards and dinner for later along the way.

Boarding the train went smoothly as well. I was thankful to take my time loading onto the train with Hannah. It was nice not been stressed out and running around! Our train ride went well too. I relaxed, dozed, listened to music, and read again. However, at one point there were these two French guys being very loud and obnoxious and drinking beer behind us. They were making farting noises and laughing hysterically. We went to the snack bar to get dinner with Hannah and were gone for 45 minutes. I headed back to our seats before the other girls to get some sweat pants, and the lady sitting with us starts talking in French to me. I said I spoke English and then she hands me a small piece of paper with phone numbers on it. I first thought the train station was trying to contact me about something because of all that had happened yesterday. I then realize it’s the numbers of those guys behind us. I run back to Rebecca and Hannah and tell them what happened. I didn’t really know what to think, except really? How many guys have bombarded us this trip? We go back to our seats a few minutes later, and we have a broken conversation with the French lady. She asks where we study and what we study, and I managed to say a few things to her! I was proud. At one point, we didn’t understand what she was saying, and one of the guys translated for us. This gave him an excuse to start talking to us, and he said he had been to L.A. and Vegas, and he showed us random videos of it. We had a little conversation, but we eventually go back to talk amongst ourselves. The guys then start being extremely obnoxious and loud again. After a while, we all just leave and find new seats in a new voiture. After that, our ride was uneventful. We get to Lille at 10:40pm, and I expected it to be cold when we got outside, but it was actually pleasant and warm. We took the metro back, which was a nice and easy ride. I wish we had been using the metro more instead of on our last week! We made it home safely, and I pretty much unpacked and went to bed.

Now it is Monday and I am on my lunch break. The weather is gorgeous today, and it is so nice to have this weather in Lille! I absolutely love it, and it puts me in a good mood!

Now back to the previous week. We went out Thursday night to le Network, which was an awesome club! It cost 7 euro to get in, but I really liked going somewhere other than Smile for once. I hope I can go back sometime this weekend. It was bigger than Smile, and had a stage with really steep stairs, so it was scary walking up and down them. I had lost my group for a few hours and was worried I would have to go home alone, but I eventually found Bryan and was so happy to know I didn’t get left behind. We all walked back at some early morning hour. I woke up for my alarm the next day, but decided to skip class. We are allowed to miss two classes, so I just decided screw it, I am sleeping in! I had a relaxing morning of pure nothing and took a nice, long shower. I loved having the morning to myself. I am always so rushed here and busy! We didn’t have an afternoon class, so I pretty much got the whole day off, which was nice. We then went out the night, which really was a bad idea considering what happened with the train. This weekend has been an experience, though! I always knew I would learn a lot about traveling while in France, and this past weekend proves that point.

Another random thing I want to mention. I went to a Modern Art Museum on Thursday afternoon in place of my French Arts class. I really don’t like museums, but I really enjoyed this one. The museum was in the suburbs of Lille, so I loved seeing a different part of town. It also had an outside portion with sculptures, so we just sat on a bench outside along the river some of the time in the nice, warm sun. It was a very pleasant experience overall. We then had a workshop where we made artwork, and I felt like I was in elementary school again. It was a lot of fun actually.

I am so sad this is my last week in Lille. I have three tests and a presentation, but once Thursday afternoon rolls around, I am going to live it up and have an amazing last weekend in Lille!! I then am off to London for the last part of my European adventure!

Back to Belgique!

Today we went on a field trip to Brussels, Belgium, which was fun! It was nice to have a break from class. We left at 7:45am this morning, and we got there around 10:30am. The French Arts class got to go to this comic strip museum (the field trip had to have something educational), which was interesting, but I left after like 30 minutes. All the writing was in French or Flemish, so I couldn’t appreciate everything as much. We then had free time until 4:45pm, so we headed to Grande Place, which is the center of Brussels. It was full of restaurants, touristy shops, and, of course, chocolate shops. The first chocolaterie we went to had a ton of free samples, which I took advantage of! I also bought some hazelnut dipping chocolate for hot chocolate, which I am very excited about. Even though weather.com said Brussels had a 20% of rain (thus I didn’t bring my umbrella), it was indeed raining all morning. I was pretty miserable and was reminded of the awful weather of Bruges. I just dodged around the rain as much as I could, and we ended up finding an indoor mall type thing that was very pretty with its fancy architecture. We eventually found some cheapish food, and I had some sort of chicken sandwich with a Flemish twist and fries. It was just ok, nothing special. It was then my mission to find a coffee shop for some hot chocolate and to find shelter.

We ended up finding one eventually, and I made a big fool of myself ordering the hot chocolate in French. We wanted the Chocolate Maison, but we wanted to have whipped cream as well. So I ordered a Chocolate Maison avec Chantilly. The waiter was confused at my lack of French and apparently the next item on the list (Chocolate Maison Viennois) was what we wanted. Oh well, at least I tried! I looked up viennois in my dictionary and it said that was a crescent, so I am not sure how this translation works haha. We stayed in the coffee shop for a good two hours, and the weather was semi-nice and sunny-ish by the time we left. I got some souvenirs and then split a waffle with chocolate sauce and whipped cream with Claire, soooo yummy! I had to get on more of those while I was in Belgium. I have been to Belgium three times this summer, and my last trip there was today, so it is sad to think about. I wonder if I will ever find my way in Belgium again?

I thoroughly enjoyed the bus ride back to Lille. I love bus rides because it is one of the seldom times I can relax, sleep, listen to music, and read. I just love to do nothing, especially since I am non-stop all the time in Lille! I signed up for an option couscous dinner when we got back to Lille. I was expecting a mediocre dinner at le RU, but I was so wrong. We went to this North African (I think) restaurant and had grand meal. Grand is the perfect word! We had couscous with chick peas, carrots, onions, sausage, and all sorts of yummy additions. The waiters kept bringing more and more food, so I was full. They also brought this jug of white wine, which was amazing. I wish I knew what type of wine, so I could go by some at Carrefour. We then had mint tea and little desserts. I don’t like tea, but this was tasty! I really want to buy some and bring it back to the States.

Now to rewind back to Monday and Tuesday of this week. On Monday, we had International Night. The whole European Summer Program had a reception and had a pot luck meal. We were supposed to bring a food that represented our country. I just bought some cheap cookies from Carrefour, so I hope that was good enough! The food was good, though. I ate way too many sweets! I then watched people do some performances that represented countries, and those were entertaining.

I also booked a trip to Marseille, France that night! Wooo-hooo! The lack of summer weather here is really getting to me, so I splurged a booked a trip to the beach with Hannah and Rebecca. We are so excited to just go to the beach all day and get some sun and be warm! The weather is going to be 80 degrees and sunny, so perfect. We leave at 6:45am on Saturday and get back at like 11pm Sunday. The train ride is like 6 hours long, but we’ll just sleep. I like train rides anyway, so I can just relax as I said before.

Tuesday was an exciting day. There was a huge music festival throughout the country of France. It is to celebrate this first day of summer (which I now realized it is summer now!), and random bands play throughout the streets. It is basically a big party throughout the city. I got a bottle of wine with the girls, and we just wandered all night. I had a lot of fun. We wanted to dance, but no one was really dancing, which was unfortunate. Overall, it was a cool experience, and I walked on streets I had never before, so I got to see the city! Apparently, the heart of the festival was in Vieux Lille, which I was unaware of, so we never made it that far. Oh well.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Well Bruges was a good trip overall. I am exhausted right now because I didn’t have a very nice traveling day, but back to the beginning on Friday…

So I left class at 3:30pm and ran up to my room to get my backpack and some last minute things and met up with the group. We walked to the train station in the cold rain, which set up the weather for the rest of the trip L When we got to the train station, we didn’t actually have our tickets, just this ID number. We had to get in line to print them, and then we waited for our train. While we were waiting, I learned that the train is somewhat like a metro. It goes on multiple stops, and it is up to you to get off at the right time. I was under the impression that trains were direct, so I thought that was interesting.

Lille was the beginning of this train, so we got first pick of the seats. Hannah and I got a 4 person seating area with a little table, so we had plenty of space. The ride was an hour or so, and I wish it was longer. It was so relaxing just to chill, read my book, and listen to my iPod. We finally got there and had to figure out how to get to the hospital. Jackie had planned our route out, so we had a general idea of where to go. Bruges is the shape of a circle with a canal surrounding it, so we had to walk around the edge of the circle to get to the hostel. It was about a 20 minute walk. At one point, we had gone too far, and this lady could tell we were students searching for the hostel and told us where to go. We were so fortunate to have her help; she randomly volunteered to help us when we didn’t even know we went the wrong way. People are so nice sometimes.

We got to the hostel and checked in. Hannah, Victoria, and I were in a 4 person bedroom, so we had the potential to get another roommate, but we never did. The room was nice enough; 4 beds and a bathroom. The others were in a 4 person room that they filled up. We only got our room the one night because the internet said the hostel was booked up for Saturday, so we planned on just piling up in the other’s room Saturday night. There were cameras everywhere, though, so we felt sketched out, but we decided to worry about that later.

We then headed to town to explore and get something to eat. Walking to town took like 20 minutes, but it was a straight shot, so that made things simple. We couldn’t find anywhere to eat that was under 20 euros, but we eventually found a Pizza Hut. I didn’t really like the idea, but it was the cheapest option. It ended up being an extremely satisfying meal. I got a salad from the salad bar, pizza, and ice cream. I was so hungry, so everything tasted delicious. We walked to the center of town after to see the Bell Tower, which was beautiful. We then headed back because we were tired. It had been a long day.

The next morning we started to worry about the room situation because sharing a twin bed with two people didn’t sound too appealing. We eventually just asked if there was extra room and booked a 6 person room. We were worried about having potential roommates again, but we never did! That’s luck! This room was the same, but there were 6 beds and a communal shower in the hall. The night before, Hannah and I had seen a tanning bed and salon nearby the hostel, so wanted to go there. I have always been against tanning beds, but Europe has been cold and rainy the entire time I have been here. I miss the sun and warmth, so I had become desperate enough to use a tanning bed. Unfortunately, we never got the chance to use it. When we walked in, we discovered it was a self-operating tanning bed where you put money in and then go into a room with the tanning bed. The whole shop was in Flemish, so we didn’t know how to read the machines. A guy eventually walked out, and we asked what we had to do. He spoke a little English and said we had to get these cards from a nearby gas station to use them. We headed over to the gas station, and asked about the cards, but the guy said you had to have a Belgian passport. What complete B.S… America would never turn down business! We then learned you had to make an appointment with the salon a month in advance…our plans had been ruined.

We headed into town and met up with the rest of our group by the Bell Tower to have lunch. We went to some cheap fast food place with only fried food. I had a turkey stick and fried cheese patty for lack of a better word. It was ok…enough o fill me up. We all went up the Bell Tower (336 steps), and we got to see a full view of Bruges. It was an amazing view, although extremely windy! I then wandered around town shopping and looking around and dealing with the horrendous weather. It was cold and rainy. The weather was bipolar. It would be sunny and five minutes later rainy and extremely windy. I hated it, and that partly ruined the whole trip for me. I ended up sitting in a café with Amelia for over an hour just to not have to deal with the weather. My goal for the trip was to relax anyway, so that is what I did. We eventually met up with everyone and went back to the hostel. We rested up and then went to town again for dinner and going out.

We had dinner at a Chinese place, and I had chicken fried rice for under 10 euro. It was different than the fried rice I am used to, but I still loved every bit of it. I also drank fizzy apple juice, which is good too. We then headed to a bar that was listed on this free map of Bruges called Bras. It was pretty cool. It had crazy lights, good music, and a lot of people. I drank this cherry beer, which tasted really good! No one was really dancing, but we had our own little dancing party. We headed back to the hostel afterward and crashed.

This morning, I woke up and used the communal shower. It reminded me of my freshman year using the shower in Tucker. I am glad I don’t have to deal with that anymore. I then had breakfast at the hostel, which was pretty good. They had cereal with cold milk (cold milk is unheard of in France), bread with nutella, an orange, and orange juice. We all headed to town, and I planned on renting a bike, but it was way too windy to be enjoyable. Hannah, Bryan, and I just sat at a café for two hours waiting to meet up with everyone again. I then had lunch at Subway, and the bread was so much fuller and fluffier than America’s! The guys working there were really nice, and one of them told us his uncle owns a pizza place in Lille, and he told us to buy cheap chocolate at any supermarket instead of the touristy, expensive chocolate shops. I took his advice and bought the brand he suggested later on, and it was so good! I stayed at Subway for well over an hour just to avoid the weather…again. I then did some shopping for my family and we all headed back to the hostel.

We were there for a few hours waiting to leave for the train. We realized we could have visited Bruges in a day instead of a weekend because it only takes a day to do everything. Oh well.

It hadn’t rained all day today, but (with our luck) it started to torrentially downpour right as we left the hostel for the train station. I got completely soaked even with my umbrella, and me and Hannah eventually stopped at a store to wait the rain out while everyone else continued on. At this point, I was very distressed and pissed off. The weather was completely sucky all weekend, and that was the breaking point for me.

Once it stopped raining, we headed for the station cold, wet, and miserable. The whole walk there it was windy, and I was just really angry and fed up with Belgium in general. We got to the station and rode our first train to Ghent. We then can’t find out train and have to ask someone to learn the tracks were messed up, so we had to take an extra train to some random town, and then to Lille. A perfect way to end the day…uhhg. We got to Lille around 9pm, and walked back. I am just tired right now and glad to be (somewhat) warm and dry. I had a good time in Bruges, but the weather was ridiculous. Hannah and I have decided we really want to go to the south of France next weekend. We just want a warm day on the beach! I really hope that works out. I need to research prices…

From Bad to Good

Yesterday was a good, but loooong day. I had French from 9am-12pm and then a lunch break until 1:30. I then had French Arts until 2:30, and a museum trip from 3:30-5:30. Then a dinner with my French conversation student teacher in Vieux Lille, and then we went out for Amelia’s birthday. Time goes by so fast here, and I am always extremely busy. It also doesn’t help that it doesn’t get dark here until like 10:30pm, and I am still not adjusted to that. I really like it though!

I am glad I got to see some of Vieux Lille (Old Lille). That has been my mission this week, but I, unfortunately, didn’t get to go. I am definitely going next week, though! Vieux Lille is an historic part of Lille that is beautiful, and it reminds me of Paris. Le Catho isn’t in the nicest part of town, so I love going downtown and Vieux Lille just to look at all the buildings. Anyway I think I had dinner in Vieux Lille. I at least saw signs pointing towards it, so I know I was close at least. The restaurant I ate at was nice. We got there around 7pm and were the first customers. That’s also a strange thing in France. Restaurants don’t open until later and all the shops close at 7pm. America is 24/7, so it is an adjustment to not be able to go shopping/eating whenever I feel like it. I got lamb for mon plat, and I don’t think I will get it again. It was mainly fat and bones, not much meat to eat. The dessert was yummy though! French toast and caramel ice cream. That was my favorite part.

Going out was fun as usual. I felt a bit down yesterday, partly because of the things I mentioned above. I was missing the luxuries of America, but I knew going out would put back in a good place, so I could let loose and enjoy myself. I feel fine now! We all went to La Plage first, and I conquered the Triple Dragon. I had to do it once while I was here, and now that I have done it, I won’t do it again. It is basically three consecutive shots of nasty liquor with inhaling alcoholic vapor in-between. We then made our way to Smile and danced! I got home with a big group of people and crashed.

I am now on my lunch break. French was slightly difficult today because I was tired, but I enjoyed the lesson overall. I really like my French class. Since I have it 3 hours a day 5 days a week, I can tell I am improving, which makes me happy! I wish I could continue a class like this forever, and I would learn French so much quicker. Fortunately I am taking a French class next semester, so I hope to improve throughout the semester as well.

I am so excited about Bruges, Belgium this weekend! I am glad I finally planned a trip last minute. It would be nice to stay here for the weekend, but I am glad I took advantage of traveling. This is more first time to Europe, and when I come home, I will be able to say I went to Belgium three times! (Ieper, Belgium last week, Bruges, and Brussels next week). I have decided I want a relaxing weekend of eating, shopping, and taking tons of pictures because I know Bruges will be beautiful. I found out this morning Madame Beckman is going to Bruges too, and she told me to take a boat tour and climb up the bell tower, so I definitely want to do those things. My French conversation teacher told me Belgium has cheaper shopping, and that the French go there to shop because of that, so I am hoping this is true!

I have made a 180 degree turn from yesterday. I am very happy right now, so I am glad I snapped out of my bad day so quickly. I am not bringing my computer this weekend, but I will update my blog on Sunday night about all my adventures in Belgium!

Just Another Day in Lille

Today has been awesome so far! I had French Conversation instead of my normal French class, and we weren’t in the classroom today! We got to go to the zoo and then explore downtown Lille. This has been what I have wanted to do since I have been here: explore Lille instead of class because we are in class all day every day.

The zoo was really cute! I was a lot more up close and personal with the animals compared to American zoos. American zoos have huge cages and the animals are so far away, but in Lille, they are smaller, so you can see the animals better. Their cages aren’t too small; they’re still a good size, but it was nice to be able to see the animals clearly. The zoo had monkeys, rhinos, a peacock, gerbils, an owl, a porcupine, and all sorts of critters. I really liked it.

We then headed to the Tourism Office of Lille. I really want an I Love Lille T-shirt, but they didn’t have a good selection. I will definitely go back later and hope they have more options. I bought two postcards, though. We then went to a six story bookstore, and I bought a map of France to hang up on my wall when I get home. Our leader, a French student named Mathilde, then took us to some vintage boutiques! They had all sorts of random shirts from American Eagle, Hollister, Aerpostale, and then some random college shirts. I have no idea how these stores get a hold of these clothes. One of the girls in my group told me that apparently the city of Lille has a huge sale at the end of June, so I may wait to buy clothes then.

We then headed back to le Catho (Université Catholique de Lille) and had lunch at the cafeteria. And now I am here writing this.

Yesterday was a good day too visiting SKEMA! I forgot my camera, and I am so annoyed about that. The lady said their campus is open until 10pm, so I am definitely going back to pictures. Maybe today actually. SKEMA is located in downtown above the downtown Carrefour (French supermarket). The campus is kind of strange because it is located in one tall skyscraper type of a building, but it looks pretty nevertheless. I found out the school has 2,800 students, so it is really small. When we first entered, they had TV screen welcoming the NCSU students, so I felt special! I quickly learned SKEMA is really proud to have partnered with NC State, and it is really competitive to apply and study abroad there.

One girl from le Catho went with us, and I learned she is studying abroad at NC State next semester. It was nice to get to know here, and I got all her contact information, so I can see her this fall. We also met a SKEMA student who was in Raleigh this past semester, and she was really nice too. I wish we had met more SKEMA students, but oh well. I tried talking to another student there, but he didn’t speak English.

I booked a trip to Bruges, Belgium this weekend. I have been told it is the Venice of the north, so I am excited to go there. It was relatively cheap and close to Lille, so I am happy I bought tickets to visit there. I loved Ieper, Belgium, so I am sure I will love Bruges as well.

Paris Take 2

Well my weekend in Paris was epic! I had a good time. We boarded the bus and left late (not surprising), and took the 3 hour bus ride to Paris. We did a tour of Paris on the bus when we got there, so I got to see all the major things that I saw last time. I enjoyed site seeing though! We arrived at the hostel, and it wasn’t that bad. I roomed with Kim and Rebecca, and we had a basic hotel room with our own bathroom and shower, which I wasn’t expecting.

My main prerogative in Paris was to go to the market, so that’s what I did. Madame Beckman told a group of us where to go, so we took like an hour long metro ride to the opposite side of the city. This market was not what I was looking for. We were in the sketchy ghetto part of Paris and the market was like that too. There was old furniture, old DVD’s, random electronics, thong underwear, and just a lot of run down items. We left after five minutes. I was peeved we had wasted so much time on the sub-par market.

Me and Hannah eventually met up with Kim and Rebecca. We headed straight to a café near the Notre Dame to take a break. Paris was SO FULL with people. It was way more crowded than last time. This weekend was a long weekend with a bank holiday on Monday, so it was annoying dealing with the crazy crowds. After our break, we headed toward Moulin Rouge. It was a lot smaller than I expected, but I am glad I got to see it. Sacre Coeur was nearby, so we wandered around town and eventually found it. That side of Paris is really nice. It is full of restaurants, bars, and cute shops, so I didn’t mind wandering around. Sacre Coeur was, of course, amazing as usual. I am glad I visited it again.

We went back to the hostel and started to drink wine the boys bought for us. The plan was to “pre drink” before our visit up the Eiffel Tower. Our reservation was for 11pm at the Eiffel Tower, so we ended up there at that time. I wish I had brought my camera because it was beautiful seeing the view of Paris at night. Before I knew it, we had to leave, and we ended up following a girl in our program to a street with bars. The street was lame and the bars were too, but we ended up at one bar with some dancing, so I danced for a while. The metros were closed, so we had to take a bus back. Somehow we figured out which one to take and got home safe and sound.

I woke up early the next morning and headed to breakfast. I ran into some people going to Versailles and decided to tag along since I knew my roomies would sleep in. A small group of us headed to Versailles, and the metro to get there took so long. I was tired from the previous night, so I napped. The metro was full, so it was crowded when we all got off. I assumed the metro would take us right to the palace, but there was a town first. We decided to buy tickets before we got to the palace and waited a while for that. I paid 16 euro for a ticket to the palace and later learned I could get in for free with my French student ID, so I am mad about that. We waited like 1.5 hours to get into the palace. The line to get in was sooooo long, but luckily, it moved pretty fast. We finally got inside, I pretty much saw everything in 45 minutes. There were hordes of crowds in there and you could barely walk, so I was glad to leave. I honestly didn’t think the palace was that amazing. It was so touristy, and I felt like I was being herded down the halls the whole time. I am glad I saw it, but I don’t want to go back again. The whole process getting there and back and the amount of people made the experience not as good as it could have been.

It was a long day, so I was glad to get back to the hostel and relax. Luckily, my roommates showed up soon after, and I was glad to see them since I hadn’t all day. We walked around the area near our hostel and bought some alcohol. We then stopped at restaurant across the street from the hostel and had dinner. I had spaghetti fruits de mer; it was good. It was nice to have a break from a sandwich and crepe haha. We then got ready and met up with some of our group and headed towards Moulin Rouge for a bar crawl we found in a brochure.

We showed up late, but somehow found the people organizing the event. You had to pay 12 euro to go to three bars and night club and you got a free shot with when you bought a drink and you didn’t have to pay the cover to get into the club. I decided to not buy into it, which ended up being a cheaper decision for me. The bar crawl was a lot of fun! All the bars had a lot of people and I met a lot of people in the group. I met some guys from University of South Carolina, which was nice to meet someone who knew where I was from. I snuck into the night club successfully so I didn’t have to pay haha. I had the most fun at the club. I just danced the entire night, which was fine by me!

Today I was just tired and didn’t want to do a lot. I ended up fowlloing people to see Jim Morrisson’s grave. We got lost but eventually found it. It was cool. I didn’t really care. I just wanted to find somewhere to sit and relax and that’s what we did. We found a little restaurant and had crepes. I had cheese, egg, and mushrooms. It took a long time but tasted so good! I love crepes so much. I wish America was more into them. We headed back near our hostel and stopped at a café for hot chocolate with extra whipped crème. That was so yummy too! We continued our food escapade and bought chocolate croissants at a bakery. The last thing I did in Paris was visit a cute, little park near the hostel. It was beautiful. I love the parks in France. They are just so pretty and right in the middle of the city!

I slept and read on the bus ride back. I am now back in my dorm. I had a good weekend. I am glad to be back and get some rest though. Tomorrow I visit SKEMA!!! I am very excited. I may get dinner downtown and visit H & M. That’s the plan at least!

Au Revoir until Monday

I am going to Paris this weekend! Actually in 30 minutes I will be on a bus en route to Paris. I am happy to go back to the city. I had a great experience last time I was there! My goal for this weekend is shopping and hopefully finding someone to go with me to Versailles! I am very excited about shopping. I have bought a few things here and there, but I want to go all out this weekend. I want to get some european clothes; clothes that I can't get in the States. We'll see how successful I am with that!

The NC State group is also going to go up the Eiffel Tower tonight  believe. This is one of the things we didn't do last time, but I am excited. I will take tons of pictures!

Since my last post, not much has happend. Clases are going well. I enjoy my French class, and I hope to learn a lot. ICC is going well too, but I only have one more of those classes and then the final exam. I haven't had my elective since my last post, but I hope that gets better. The first class was not fun or interesting at all.

I haven't really explored Lille, so my goal next week is to do that. A few of us looked up things to do, and so far we want to go to Vieux Lille, a shop where you buy clothes by the kilo, the free zoo, and the Cathedral de Lille. Viuex Lille is Old Lille, and from looking at pictures, it looks so cute and quaint like all the other towns I have been too. I am so excited to see it! The shop by the kilo looks like a thrift store where you literally by clothes by the kilo; should be interesting. The free zoo is well free, so I am down for that anytime! And I don't know much about the cathedral, but it is like a 10 minute walk from my dorm, and the whole fortress is shaped like a star!

Another thing I am extremely excited about is visiting SKEMA next Tuesday! SKEMA is a french business school that has campuses across France, and it recently has partnered with NC State and some of its students studied abroad at State last year. My current life goals are to go to SKEMA for grad school, so I am going to talk to whoever I can to get information on that! SKEMA is located in downtown Lille, which is a really cool location and one of my favorite areas of the city that I have visited so far.

Overall I really love Lille, and I hope to come back someday if at all possible. I finished my first week of class yesterday, which is so sad to say! Only 3 more weeks of class, and then my little trip to London and wherever else. I don't want it to fly by like my trip has so far! I will post Monday night most likely to discuss my adventures in Paris Take 2!

Belgium

This morning I had a French conversation class. I was with five other students and a native French girl, and we just practiced French the whole time. The class was good; I understood about 50% of what she said, so hopefully I make progress.

We then went on a field trip to Ieper, Belgium. I have never heard of this town before, but I LOVED it. It was so amazingly beautiful and quaint! I can’t describe how pretty it was. We were supposed to go to a museum, but a lot of us skipped that and explored the town. We all bought Belgian chocolate! I got a small bag of truffles, yum! We then found a cute coffee shop. I ordered a hot chocolate, and it was the best hot chocolate ever. It was served in a glass of warm milk and then there was a block of chocolate on a stick that you dipped into the milk to melt. A caramel, some chocolate, and some chocolate coffee beans were served with it as well. I liked dipping the block of chocolate into the milk; it was so fun haha.

We had dinner at a really cool restaurant called like Markt 22. It had a blue and black color scheme, so it looked really modern and hip. We had this pastry and chicken pot pie dinner that was tasty and then a spiced cookie yogurt dessert.

When we got back tonight we started planning our weekend trips. There is so much to plan and it is so expensive last minute. I should have planned earlier, but I didn’t want to plan things with people I didn’t know. It’s looking like we may go to Belgium again because it’s cheap, and I don’t mind at all. I want to go back!

And Class Begins...

Yesterday morning we took the French placement test. I was nervous because I haven’t had French in over a year, so I expected to not do as well as I should. I ended up getting in level two, and I was initially upset because my goal was level three or four. I had my first French class today, though, and I realize I belong in the level two class! I think it is a good fit, and I hope to learn a lot. My teacher spoke French the whole time, which is a good thing. I am actually excited to be taking French again. I was relieved when I dropped my French minor a year ago, but I am happy I have added it back since then. Being here has rejuvenated my desire to learn French, and I hope someday I can be fluent! I love France, and I love Lille, and I hope to come back some day!

I had my other classes as well today and yesterday. Yesterday I had an Intercultural Communications class. We basically talk about French culture compared to everyone else’s culture. I was excited for it, but after the class, I am not as excited anymore. It seems kind of pointless and annoying, but I will deal with it I guess. I just don’t like humanities courses. I am a business girl!

 I had French Art and Society today, and it was my least favorite. My teacher droned on and on about paintings, and I fought the urge to sleep the whole time. I was so glad to get out of there. I hope it turns out better. We even had a homework assignment…blehhh! We had to write a one page paper on our favorite artwork in France. First of all, I don’t really like art to begin with haha. I already wrote the paper anyway and chose one from the Musee d’Orsay.

The worst thing about these classes is I have two 3 hour classes a day. I feel like this is way too much class, and I haven’t had so much school since high school. College has spoiled me. I hope I get used to it because today was our first full day, and it was hard. I feel like I am wasting my day away being inside instead of exploring Lille! I really do like my French class, but I could do without the others. I will just have to deal with this I guess. I am used to not having class, so I just have to get in the mode.

I did my laundry for the first time yesterday. Claire and I went to a Laundromat near the Carrefour. The washing machines were so tiny, but I managed to fit my clothes in there. A lot of the boys showed up later on, so we had a laundry party. My washing machine ended up leaking everywhere. I am not sure if I didn’t close it right, or if it was just faulty. It was difficult figuring out how to operate the machines since everything was in French, but we did it! Claire, Bryan, and I shared a dryer. The dryer is a complete rip-off; one euro for 10 minutes. After 40 minutes, we gave up because our clothes were still not dry and it was getting expensive. I covered my dorm room in half-wet clothes to air dry. I am glad I did my laundry, though!

I had an hour and half lunch break today. I ate a quick lunch, and Rebecca and I headed to the market. My goal was to get some cute gladiator sandals, but I didn’t find any. I did buy a cute shirt for six euro though! It’s scary buying clothes because you can’t try them on, but the shirt fit me fine and I really like it.

Tomorrow we are going to Belgium for a field trip about some WW1 thing. I am excited about Belgium but not the WW1 thing. Hope it is fun!

Acclimating to Lille

Laying out was fun. No one else there was in their bathing suit, but I didn’t care because I wanted some sun! We laid out for an hour or two, and I had a tan line, so I am happy. The park was so beautiful! It is one of my favorite places in Lille so far. We then had dinner somewhere downtown. The restaurant was super HOT and miserable. The service sucked too. It took forever; I was so hungry and ready to leave when we did. Dinners here take like 2 hours; I kinda hate it haha. I think one hour is perfect, but it’s the French way, so I need to get used to it. Downtown Lille is really nice and pretty. I looks like a mini Pars! I love it there. There is good shopping, bars, food, and lots of people. Afterwards I went to Bryan’s room with a few people uploading pictures for a while. All of us had decided to not go out that night, but then randomly we heard people were, so I got ready in five minutes to join them.

We headed towards After Hours, which supposedly has international students, but it was closed for some reason. We kept walking on and found another bar that was full of cute French guys, so I was happy. I met a Piere, and he was so interesting to talk too. I just asked him all about France, his travels, and studies. A small group of us then followed another French guy to show us more nightlife, and I had a blast. I felt like a VIP because this French guy knew of where to go and could get us into places that we otherwise couldn’t have.

This morning we went to the Sunday market! It was so cool. There were so many people and vendors crammed together and lots of amazing shopping. The clothes and shoes were so cheap. I bought a pair of what I call gypsy pants. They are so unique, European, and comfortable! I am getting shoes next time for sure; they were only six euros! I got lots of cheap and yummy fruit too. I am glad the market is open three days a week!

We headed back to the park again in hopes of laying out, but it was too cloudy. I had fun regardless; we all just talked and had fun. We explored more of the park and we discovered a canal and there was a little carnival for kids going on. We saw a man dressed up in a chicken suit performing and singing; it was cute. We then headed to downtown to see a movie. We saw Very Bad Trip 2 (aka The Hangover). The movie theater was a little different than what I am used too. The theater and screen were smaller, and people chatted a lot through the commercials, so I was worried they would continue to do so during the movie, but luckily they didn’t. I fell asleep during the movie. The lack of sleep caught up to me, so I just let myself pass out. I am mad I didn’t really watch it, but I can see it again someday. It was also weird because you had to exit at the opposite entrance from where you entered. We made fools of ourselves trying to get out the wrong way but quickly learned.

Now I am back. I am soooo tired. I have not gotten a proper night’s sleep since being in France, so I am retiring early!