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.
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