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!

Expect the Unexpected

The next morning we left a little later than normal; I believe it was around 10:30am, which is late for us! I lugged my heavy bag all the way to the bus, which was long walk over cobblestones, and was worn out by the time I loaded my bag. We rode the bus for like 45 minutes to another town on the beach called Etretat. There is a famous painting of the cliffs there; it was a gorgeous view. The water was aqua blue and there were smooth pebbles instead of sand on the beach. We only had an hour there, or I would have explored the cliffs.

We had a quick lunch (Croque Monsieur- grilled cheese) and headed back to the bus to finally drive to Lille! The bus ride was like four or five hours, so I was ready to get off. As we drove into our home for the next few weeks, my eyes didn’t see the image I expected to see of Lille. I imagined Lille as a mini Paris, but it was more dingy and not as pretty. It was a letdown in a way. I’ll explain in detail later.

We all unloaded our bags and headed to our dorm, which was a mess piling into a small room and getting keys and such. The dorm is seven stories, and I by some random luck I am on the first floor along with Claire! I am very happy about this…very convenient. Unfortunately, everyone else is on the 4^th floor and up, but it hasn’t been too bad to deal with so far. I threw my bags into my room and helped carry everyone’s bags to their floors, and then we immediately had a mini tour of Lille by an American student who has studied here since January.

 The tour was interesting to say the least. Noel, our tour guide, did not sugarcoat Lille by any means. One of the first things she mentioned was that there have been four murders in the past 6 months of young men; not exactly the first piece of info I want to know. She also said that of the dorms at the university, we are in the “nerdy” dorm. Great. There is a zero alcohol policy here and quiet hours start at 10pm. NC State is a lot more lax about these type of things, but I’ll deal with it. I hope my R.A., who haven’t met yet, is a laidback person.

We headed for a big Carrefour, a super market, to buy some things. I got an alarm clock, detergent, wine, hangers, yogurt, and hand soap. The store was super crowded and it took forever to check out. A small group of us headed back to the dorm, and I went to a smaller Carrefour to get a little sandwich to eat for dinner. A few of the girls were feeling the same way as me. They were sketched out by Lille so far and not impressed with the city. They had stronger feelings about this than me, but I could tell where they were coming from.

I finally got back to my dorm and unpacked. Unpacking is all I have wanted to do since I landed in Paris. I love not living out of a suitcase! I have a nice dorm you could say. I surprisingly have my own shower too (someone must love me up there). First floor and shower! Others are on higher floors and have a communal shower. They shower isn’t that nice, but hey I have privacy; I am happy. I have a huge mini-fridge, a big wardrobe, a desk (more of a piece of wood balanced on two legs), and a small but comfortable bed with a pink cover. My walls are mint green; it is quite cute. One problem is my window, though. I am on the first floor and my window won’t lock. I am about 10 feet above the street, but I am still scared someone might break in because if someone really wanted to they could. Overall I have a nice room and it’s a lot better than I expected it to be.

 I then hung out with Pranj, who was upset and overwhelmed by Lille. We talked and she felt better, and we then found some of the guys. I drank some of my wine to just loosen up from this hectic and culture shock of a day. After a while, we went to explore Lille and the nightlife along with Noel from earlier. All the girls left the guys and we found Noel who took us to some bar and we all split a fish bowl drink. I spent 2.50 euros since we split the huge drink! We then went and danced at a club, and after a while me and Pranj got separated from our group. We looked forever for them but had no luck, so we decided to try and go home. Problem was that we had no idea where are dorm was. We asked a girl how to get to our dorm, but the language barrier didn’t help things. Me and Pranj roamed the streets, and I felt so sketched out. We eventually got on streets that were empty, and I was so scared. We just ran down the empty streets to get passed them. Eventually we found our dorm. I have no idea how. Again somewhere up there must love me. I am so glad we got home safe and sound. I left a note on Claire’s door explaining we were safe because I knew they must have been freaked out they couldn’t find us.

I got up and showered today and then headed to an orientation. It was pretty boring, but I met some fellow students in the European Summer Program. They were form Tennessee and Canada. We had a tour of the building with our classrooms and had a free lunch. I am now writing this and meeting up with the girls later to layout at some park.

Lille is not what I expected so far! I have gotten over the initial shock and have accepted that Lille is its own city and shouldn’t be like Paris. For some reason, I feel like Paris was safer. It is just weird being in a single dorm. I am used to being with everyone all the time, so it is lonely now. I guess I felt safer there because I was never alone, and now I am. I am getting used to it though, and I appreciate having my own space. I will grow to like Lille more once I get my bearings and can know where I am at all times. It sucks not knowing how to get around. I learned Paris pretty quickly though, so I am sure I will learn how to navigate Lille soon enough. Paris spoiled my expectations of Lille because I expected Lille to be different. I really can’t wait to fall in love with this city; I am already beginning to feel that way. I just need to get over my initial shock.

Normandy

On Tuesday, we went out for Steve’s birthday. I had a lot of fun! We had a few drinks at the hotel and visited two bars. One of which was a bar in a cave! It was a very cool and fun atmosphere. We then went to another bar that served sparklers in drinks…very entertaining.

We left Paris on Wednesday morning. We took a nice, big tour bus to Giverny first and visited Monet’s house and gardens. The traffic out of Paris was awful. It just goes to show that the metro is so convenient. Anyway, the garden was beautiful. There were ponds, streams, and tons of flowers. The house was fun too; each room had a color theme. The dining room was a pastel yellow, and the kitchen was baby blue and had pretty blue tile all over the walls. We then took the bus for a few hours to Saint Mont Michel, which is a cathedral on a little island surrounded by a small, quaint town.

We were supposed to tour the cathedral, but we ran out of time, so we only got to tour the outside and the little town. I am disappointed because we couldn’t see the cathedral, but at least we got to stay in the town. Our hotel was quaint as well, although small, but we only stayed there one night, so it didn’t matter. We watched the tides, and they were so strong  that we could see it coming in. It was an amazing thing to watch. That night we had a group dinner, and we ate an omelet. It was interesting, but it had this foam and t weirded me out, but I still ate most of it. The girls had a girl night afterwards, and that was fun! You could tell the guys missed us, which was funny because they kept trying to get us to hangout and distract us.

We left early this morning to tour Omaha Beach and this American museum about the fallen soldiers of D Day. It was very interesting and heartwarming. One of the first graves I looked at happened to have the last name of Stinson, and I am curious to see if I am related. I am going to look that up at some point! We are now in this (again) quaint, little harbor town. I have no idea what it is called, though haha. We had fish stew (interesting), veal (sad), and this yummy ice cream and interesting meringue for dinner. We all hung out in one of the rooms afterward and had a lot of fun. The guys were sweet and bought wine for the girls, along for themselves, so we had a good night tonight knowing we could sleep in (compared to this past week) tomorrow.

I love my study abroad group so much! We get along so well; it’s crazy how well we get along. I am excited so much for Lille too. I am tired of moving around all the time and carrying my luggage. I just want to settle down and actually live in Lille and not be a tourist. I can’t find half the stuff in my suitcase, so it will be nice to move into my dorm room and have a place for everything. I am just so happy right now. I love France and I love my study abroad family. J