Down to only a week...

      Well, believe it or not, I'm on to my last week in France. For me, it seems like I was just counting down the days to coming here. When they say a semester abroad flies by, they were 100% accurate. Except for the whole final exam time thing. Ugh. But that's not the point of this post...hahaha! I find it quite bizarre to think about the concept of going home. I hear the shell shock is just as bad as when you come to another country. For me, I feel  like I've been living in the Twilight Zone for the past 4 months. But I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to come and live abroad for a whole semester. Even though the actual university of Lille III hasn't really impressed me, I have loved the city and all of the amazing and wonderful friends I have made while being here. I have certainly learned a lot about being independent and being completely on your own to accomplish things. I think that I have proved to myself and others around me (and at home) that I can handle being an independent adult. I mean, for heaven's sake, I've lived in a foreign country for 4 whole months!!
      I must say though, I am ready to come back to America. Being in France has definitely taught me to appreciate all that I have and am blessed with in the US. Never again will I complain about Wal-Mart. Hahaha! I also am grateful for Bellarmine. Good grief I am so lucky to attend such a superb institution!!! I think I have found that I value organization...Being unorganized when it comes to things such as academic matters can be terribly detrimental to one's mental sanity and stability. I have really loved meeting so many amazing people. Shout out to Sarah Miller (Ole Miss) who has stuck by me through everything here. She deals with my odd quirks, tears of homesickness and exasperation, as well as some of the best times I've ever had. I'll never forget our (nearly) weekly shopping trips to Euralille and V2. And the delicious pastries and cups of tea that we have consumed in four months! :) She has been my real confidante here and I will surely miss my little southern belle when I go home!
       I am also so excited that I met so many British people and have become such good friends with them. And my many wonderful French friends :) I seriously have never felt so lucky or blessed in my whoooole life. I can easily say that my friends here are like family to me. We all became so close so quickly, and they are the only ones who will truly understand what it is like to live abroad and be in Lille, France. I am a little nervous about my return to home though...For all of you who will see me when I return home, I apologize for not being very talkative about my trip abroad for a little while. However the statement, "So tell me about France!" will not fly. I can't describe 4 months to you. Ask me about something specifically, and I will tell you. But really, this experience has changed my life forever and I can't wait to share some of my stories that I have been to lazy to put up on my blog here.
       I can't wait until Christmas though!!! Since my mom, dad and sis won't be coming to Louisville until the 26th, I will be going to Cincinnati to spend Christmas with Steve and his family! I am SO excited!!!! I hope Santa can find me all the way up there in Ohio ;) And my 21st birthday is coming up!! Two weeks from today! I feel extremely old though...but not as old as BRIAN STACY (if he sees this...fyi it's an ongoing joke.) Anyways, I am so extremely proud of me and Steve for making it through my study abroad semester!!! I will tell the FLIS 201 (study abroad class that I am student advising for next semester) that it IS possible to maintain an awesome relationship while abroad!!! :)
      Hmmm I am not sure where else to go with this post. But this week is going to be extremely busy with exams and packing and moving out. Eeeeek. And then I get to do the voyage to Brussels again next Monday. Pray for no snow. I mean NONE. This world traveler can't afford to miss her big metal bird back to the States. All you people going back to England on a 3 hour trainride: No Pity. Sorry. My total travel time: 25 hours. GROSS. Well, hopefully I'll post one last time before I leave here!
"Oh the sun shines bright on My Old Kentucky Home..."

My life in France...October-November

          Okay, okay. I know. I'm a terrible study abroad student blogger. It has literally been over a month since I last posted anything on here. So, bear with me. It's gonna be a long one! So let me recount my mid-semester break:

Steve and Jason's Visit to Lille

       On October 23rd, I traveled to Brussels, Belgium to pick up Steve and Jason (our friend from Bellarmine) from the train station. They arrived at about 9:30, when my train wasn't actually going to leave Lille until 9:30! Ahhh!! And lo and behold when I get there, neither of them answer their cell phones. *Note to smart phone users: They don't work abroad. HAH. Anyways, I finally found them in the busy Brussels-Midi train station, and it was like a dream...It was one of those uber-cheesy movie moments. I never knew how much I could miss someone. We literally couldn't stop smiling all day...In fact, I think my face hurt from smiling so much. I suppose it was a good thing though :) Steve and Jason then got to experience their first European high speed train as we went to Lille. The poor things looked terribly jet-lagged and I felt bad for dragging them through the Lille metro system...but we eventually made it to their Hotel Ibis in Villeneuve d'Ascq (which is like, a 7 minute walk from Triolo). They slept most of the afternoon, and then we all went out with some of the Americans to Le Zeppelin, just to give them a taste of Lille nightlife! It was lovely.

            The next day was terribly rainy and disgusting. We wandered around Villeneuve d'Ascq a little bit, and I introduced them to the V2 Centre Commercial (the mall) and AUCHAN!!!! AHHH! They loved in fact, and don't understand why I hate it. Hmm. Anyways, later that evening, everyone decided to go out to dinner in Lille Centre at a cute little restaurants...and Steve ordered mussels and fries...which is a Lillois delicacy. And they were actually quite good! Never thought I'd say that...Then we took them to the Saloon and watched a little soccer on TV there! We didn't stay out too late because we had to leave early the next morning for LONDON.

Lille to London

           Monday was quite the hectic day. We thought it would be a good idea to stop by Auchan before going to the Lille Europe train station to get snacks and whatnot...we got to the station and Steve's credit card wouldn't work on the kiosks to get the train tickets...therefore, we had to stand in line for a while...and ended up missing our original train. Luckily, my French proved to be good enough for an Anglophone and the guy working gave us tickets for the next train for free :D Yay. However, we had to wait in the train station for nearly 3 hours and it was freeeeeezing in there! Thank goodness for hot tea and crazy picture taking moments...After a little while, we went through customs and whatnot and before we knew it, we were on our Eurostar. Another hiccup occurred when we got to our assigned seats and there were people sitting in them. I explained to them that we paid for these seats and even showed them our tickets...and they were like "well, sorry." And refused to move! Unbelievable...but we ended up finding some seats in an adjoining car and made it through the Chunnel nicely. The thing is, I was kind of nervous about going through the Chunnel (the tunnel that goes underneath the English channel) but I actually didn't realize we were in it until about 25 minutes later...when we had reached Dover, in the south of England. I seriously freaked out the whole way to London just because I was in ENGLAND. It's been a dream of mine for ages to go to Britain, and I finally got the chance. We arrived at London St. Pancras international train station within 90 minutes of leaving Lille. I was SO excited because when we got outside, I looked at the station, and it was the one from HARRY POTTER. AH!!!!!!!!

          We got in a London taxi and it took us to our hotel, which was actually only about 2 minutes from the St. Pancras station. Hahahahaha! We dropped off our stuff and then decided to go exploring. We went to the London Underground station nearest to us, and got passes for the day to go anywhere in Central London. I had heard that Piccadilly Circus was a cool place to visit, so that's where we went. We got off the Tube (which is extremely far underground) and were taken aback by the awesome-ness of Piccadilly Circus. This is the area of London where they have the huge jumbotrons and whatnot, along with the "Broadway" theaters and such. We walked around a little and were just extremely excited to be there! We wandered into this gigantic souvenir shop called "Cool Britannia" and I have never seen so many things that said "London" or "England" on them!!!  And I might add, there were red double decker buses EVERYWHERE in London. It was also quite difficult to adjust to the way people drive...they drive on the left side of the road and it is waaay awkward. I was still in seventh heaven though. After lots of souvenir shopping, we were all absolutely famished, and decided to peruse around Piccadilly Circus for a restaurant or somewhere to eat. We found a really cool pub called Devonshire Arms. We opted to get a sampler of pies (which included, Shepherd's, Steak and Kidney, Steak and Ale, and Chicken and Mushroom) and they were absolutely delicious. For our main meals, we all got fish and chips and peas :D YUM! And for dessert, we got treacle tart, which is a British dessert that almost tasted of butterscotch. Whatever it was, it was absolutely delicious.

         After eating, we decided to walk down the road and see what the area was all about. We saw all of the theaters, as well as Chinatown in SoHo. We wandered into the Rainforest Cafe (which was really cool) and then into Ripley's Believe it or not place, and it was definitely amazing. After a tiring day, we wandered back to King's Cross/St. Pancras and decided to call it a night.

London: Day 2

        For our first full day in London, we decided to start it out by going to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the Royal Guard (the guys who wear the red coats and really big black furry hats). We took the Tube and got off at Green Park, and walked towards St. James' Palace and Buckingham Palace. As we were walking down the main road to B.Palace, we noticed a police motorcade type thing, and I thought they were just getting ready for the changing of the guard....As I began to step onto the road to cross over, Steve grabbed me by my jacket and held me back...if he had not, I would have been nearly run over by a dark marroon, shiny ROLLS ROYCE. But you see, that's not the best part...Take a wild guess at WHO was in that Rolls Royce. If you guessed QUEEN ELIZABETH II AND PRINCE PHILLIP, you're right. Yes people, I did in fact see the Queen of England herself. And I nearly passed out. I got a picture of it in time (thank you, reliable Samsung camera). We continued down the road, during which point I was still epically freaking out, and finally found a spot in front of B. Palace to watch the changing of the guards. It was literally the coolest thing ever...and so official! They had a royal band and everything...geez. But basically, lots of marching, lots of horses and police...and that was that. We then decided to walk past St. James' park towards Westminster and the Houses of Parliament. St. James park was absolutely beautiful, even on a cold and rainy day. Even in the midst of a bustling and busy city, there was just this tranquile, quiet, and beautiful park right in the middle of it. About a mile and a half away from Buckingham Palace, were the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. I took millions of pictures and proceeded to freak out. (Note: Thank you to Jason and Steve for not strangling me.) Anyways, we took tons of pictures there, and then noticed Westminster Abbey next to us. I really wanted to visit it because that is where all of the monarchs of England are buried and St. Edward had a huge influence there...So we paid 12 Quid a piece and decided to go for it. Westminster Abbey was sooo amazing. It wasn't as gorgeous as Notre Dame, but it had such a rich influence of history that I was just really in my element. We walked around and saw the tombs of famous monarchs of England such as Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, St. Edward, Henry IV, etc etc. As well as other famous and influential British people. Sir Isaac Newton is there as well I believe. It was an amazing tour, and it took us ages to go through. It was so cool to walk up the aisle where Queen Elizabeth II walked to be coronated, as well as where Princess Diana's coffin laid. It was quite powerful just to be in the place in which so many influential and historical figures had been. Westminster Abbey is one of the oldest churches in all of London, and it was absolutely amazing.

           After Westminster Abbey, we started walking down the street to see what else we could find, but our feet were absolutely starving and wanted to get some sort of delicious food...hahah! We ended up going to Trafalgar Square and eating at Pizza Express (which was AMAZING). We wanted to go to the British museum and National Gallery, but were just too exhausted...London really wears one out! Geez! After resting a bit at our hotel, we decided to go to the original Hard Rock Cafe in London for dinner! It was so nice getting some normal American food and ordering food in ENGLISH. It's really weird ordering in English now that I've been in France for so long...We really enjoyed ourselves at the Hard Rock!!

London Day 3

         On our next full day in London, we designated it to be "The Tower of London" day. And needless to say, it took us nearly all day to see the whole Tower of London. While on the Tube that morning, we passed through the stations that were bombed a few years back...it was sooo weird...and kind of as if one would go through the area of the WTC or something... And we also found out that someone had been pushed onto the subway tracks and was killed by the train, the first night we were in London at our station of Kings Cross. EEEK. Talk about scary. Anyways, we proceeded to go the Tower of London that morning, and I commenced to freak out. Yet again. The ToL was built in 1066 by the Norman invaders in London, and has stood there ever since. It was truly an amazing sight. I was impressed at the fact that it still stood after the Battle of Britain during the second World War. Our tour guide, a Yeoman Warder, was amaaazing. He told us all of the grizzly stories about the Tower of London and all of the Crown Jewels housed by the Tower. We wandered around the grounds of the Tower and were just amaaaazed by everything. We got to see some of the torture tools used during the medieval period rulers and whatnot...Creepy stuff. We also got to see the place where Anne Boleyn and other people were beheaded! EEEEK! After a lovely tour (lol) we decided to eat lunch at the restaurant on the grounds of the Tower of London called "New Armouries Cafe" and it was absolutely delicious.

           After lunch, we decided to go see the special "Fit for a King" suits of armor exhibit in the White Tower. There were hundreds of pieces of armor and military weaponry. There was also a sign that mentioned the giving of some stuff to "the Frazier Historical Arms museum in Louisville, Kentucky, USA." I freaked out when I read that too.  After the suits of armor, we went and waited in an extremely long line to see the Crown Jewels and the Imperial Crown. It wasn’t an insanely extensive collection, but it was just really cool to see the largest cut diamond in the whole world. WOW. As well as the crowns used by monarchs for centuries in England. The Tower of London was definitely an amazing place to visit, and I am SO glad we went there.

                Later that day, after nearly 4 hours at the Tower of London, we decided to head back to Kings Cross (but not until buying a Dr. Pepper and some souvenirs!). We rested, and then decided to head back to Piccadilly Circus to find somewhere to eat on our last night in London. We went to a pub type restaurant and it was complete rubbish. YUCK. But whatever. After dinner, we went to the London Eye, which is this HUGE Ferris Wheel that gives you a view of the entire city of London. It was at night, so the whole city was lit up with lights and it was so clear, so the view was breathtaking. I took tons of pictures of the river Thames and Parliament from the London Eye. It is about a 30 minute ride altogether and it was just absolutely wonderful. I’ll never forget that amazing view! And we didn’t stay out too late, because we had to catch an early train to EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND.

The End of London/Beginning of Edinburgh

                After an amazing time in London, none of us wanted to go to Scotland. But our train was an early one, but we were riding in first class so we were open to the new experience. And our first class, 4 ½ hour train ride was AWESOME. Seeing the Eastern Coast of England and the North Sea was absolutely breathtaking and astounding. The weather had taken a turn for the better, and it was just so nice. We had an amazing train ride though…unlimited tea! We had turned into tea junkies during our time in London…lol! When we finally arrived in Edinburgh, we were definitely well rested and excited to be there! I had never really learned a lot about Scotland during my years at school, so I was ready for a new adventure! We took a taxi to our hotel in Edinburgh called the Point Hotel. In fact, Sean Connery used to work at this place during his youth! Cool eh? Anyways, the hotel was extremely nice and everything in Edinburgh just went so smoothly! We had literally a two minute walk from the gigantic Edinburgh Castle as well. Our first excursion was the Scotland Museum, which held a lot of the history and artifacts of Scotland. It was really cool, but kind of long and dragging, but we all learned a lot about Scotland; which was good before we actually got a real look at the city…Edinburgh is the most gorgeous city I’ve ever seen in my life. It is just so far north and untainted by industrialism. It retains so much of its “small town” charm and history. Apparently, the Edinburgh Castle is sitting on a volcano…Who’d have known??? I loved hearing people playing bagpipes and wearing kilts everywhere J it was wonderful!  Edinburgh is relatively a close city, and so we just walked everywhere. We went to a cool restaurant for dinner, owned by the Tudor family and then decided to go on a Ghost Walk because it was so close to Halloween.

                The Ghost Tour was absolutely amazing. Our tour guide was also extremely interesting, and her name was Kate! It was more so based on historical scary things, rather than smoke and mirrors, which was really cool. We went to an old cemetery in Edinburgh and it is supposed to be one of the most haunted places in all of Scotland. We also walked up this large hill to wear they used to burn people accused of witchcraft were burned at the stake! Creeeeepy! We got to see a lot of Edinburgh and it was such an amazing tour. I love that city!

Edinburgh Day 2

                On our second day in Edinburgh, we took a free city tour with the same tour guide from the night before. She took us all around the city and showed us tons of sites. Also, we saw the Elephant House, which is the coffee shop where J.K. Rowling wrote HARRY POTTER. Super exciting if you ask me. We also walked down the Royal Mile, which was the street next to Edinburgh Castle with tons of Scottish shops selling kilts, cashmere scarves, and whisky! The Scots do love their whisky. It was an amazing day for the tour and we just saw a ton of churches, the royal gardens of Edinburgh Castle and whatnot. Later that evening, Jason decided to go to a pub with the tour group, and Steve and I had our own date night in Scotland!! He actually gave me a set of pearl earrings and a matching necklace!! And they were REAL . It was so sweet and romantic! We went to this posh little restaurant in Edinburgh, and had an amazing dinner. And we even ate Haggis. Which is a Scottish traditional dish that is everything left in a sheep (its intestines, heart, kidneys, etc ) which are then put in its stomach and cooked. And in fact, it’s quite delicious. It tastes like spicy meatloaf! Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it! And then I had chicken and potatoes and it was just such a pleasant evening! Later on, we met up with Jason and went to a cool pub across from the hotel and then watched some BBC! Good times.

Last Day in Edinburgh

                For our last day in Edinburgh, we had to make sure all of our activities were before 1pm…because we had to catch our plane to Belgium at 4! So, we decided to go to Edinburgh Castle and explore. It almost felt like going through the Tower of London again, but we had some of the most spectacular views ever. The sky was such a beautiful blue that day, and it was just absolutely breathtaking!! We walked around the castle and saw some of the armor from Scotland’s past. Which was really cool.

                After a few hours there, we wandered down the Royal Mile for a bit and then headed back to the hotel to grab our stuff, and have a taxi take us to the Edinburgh Airport. We had a lot of trouble at the airport. Basically: heavy bags, Steve left a huge bottle of Scotch in his carry on, had to go back to the Ryan Air desk and security again, and it was just extremely stressful. After an hour and a half long flight, we arrived at Charleroi airport in Belgium…and it is actually 50 miles away from Brussels itself. By the time we get to our hotel, it’s nearly midnight and our hotel is absolute rubbish. UGH. It was the worst part of our trip, but thank goodness it was only for a few hours, because Jason had to catch an early flight from Brussels National Airport to go back to the States. After saying good bye to him, Steve and I relaxed for a bit in the airport and had breakfast. We took the transit train to Brussels Midi and then were treated very rudely by the woman at the ticket counter. Dislike. Whatever, we eventually made it back to Lille and life returned to normal.

Back in Lille…my time in France

                Having Steve in France with me was really weird, but I really liked it. It was like having a piece of home with me here! J However, I had midterms and such that week, and was quite busy. But he was very helpful with doing things for me and helping me the best he could! It was definitely extremely sad when he left L

                I actually became extremely homesick the week after he left. I suppose it was just the low point of my time here in France. It was also a very stressful time with homework and such, but I finally pulled out of it and have been having an awesome time!! I am so lucky to have met so many amazing people here, whom I hope to be friends with even after we all leave France in a little under a month. I have so much to see and do before I leave…And I’m sorry I haven’t blogged in ages…it’s a busy life being an exchange student! Phew! xoxo

Inconvenient Truths.

        If it wasn't already apparent, France has been experiencing unrest from the recent strikes throughout the country. The strikes began about a month ago, and they're over the law that President Nicholas Sarkozy is planning to put through Parliament that will increase the retirement age from 62 to 65 and the state pension age to 67, I believe. (Sidenote: I don't quite understand this to be a problem for the French; they already have the youngest retirement age in the world, they have 35 hour full time work weeks with 2 hours for lunch everyday, and more vacation time than anyone in the world...hmmm.) But annnways, strikes have been occurring throughout the country, and recently things have escalated and gotten much worse. In northern Paris, there have been riots against the police and military police. They even had to bring in the French version of a SWAT team...
       Some French people are blocking France's oil/gas companies as well, and 1/4 of the gas stations in France are without gas...which is quite problematic. Along with using blocades against oil and gas, they have also blocaded the schools. The high school near Lille III has been blocaded for several days now, and there has been talk of Lille III being blocked. And yesterday, they voted to make that happen. So this morning, the school was basically fenced off with protesters and the like. Apparently this happens from time to time in France, and I don't see the point of blocading school 2 days before mid-term break. Hmmm whatever.
       In addition, yesterday all of Lille's modes of public transportation (run by Transpole) were completely shut down and closed due to a few acts of violence against Transpole workers. One bus driver was apparently held at gunpoint, another Metro worker was shot, and something else but I don't remember! They reopened today and life is continuing as normal, but there are helicopters flying all over Villeneuve d'Ascq...BUT I also heard that SNCF train workers are striking (they run the TGV) and that could be a problem because I have to go to Brussels on Saturday morning to pick Steve and Jason up from the train station...My fingers are crossed. But that is a happy thing to think of! I can't believe that time has flown by so quickly! Is it really time for mid-term break??? AH! And my little sis is gonna be 18 soon :( sad face. But now she can go to big girl jail...HAHAH! Well tonight is the Halloween party held by the Club Angellier (english dept club) and hopefully I can find some sort of costume for that...we shall see! But as for my safety here, don't fret kids, I'm fine. I'm a smart cookie, and I can handle whatever life throws at me! :)

And so my life in France continues!

          It's been quite a while since I've updated my blog, so I'm taking this opportunity to do so...At this point, I feel as if I have reached a sense of normalcy with my life here in France (if you didn't think that was possible, it definitely is). As far as school goes, I added another class--Etudes Irlandaises, in which I will study Irish literature and civilization. I frantically ran around Lille III last Tuesday trying to find my classroom and finally stumbled upon it, and even managed to beat the teacher to class ;) She was sooo welcoming though, even though I was three weeks late attending the class! Several of my L3 French friends were in there, so I definitely felt comfortable and ready to take on the class. My first lesson in the class was about the economy in Ireland back in the 18th century...and we learned about the Guinness brewery...haha! Definitely an interesting class!
           My DEFI class decided to stress me out a lot by giving me this silly paper assignment requiring us to be like journalists...so I got to break out my AP stylebook knowledge from Winnie Spitza's class last year...thanks for that one. Anyways, it was a tough assignment, but it was even tougher because I had stayed out the night before attending my first club! My British friend Victoria was turning 21 so everyone went out to celebrate with her! It was so fun! I had no idea what to really expect when going to a club...there were a lot of people at La Boucherie (which is where we went) and they played the best music ever!!! And everyone just had the best time dancing and being all together!! But needless to say I was completely exhausted and danced out by Friday morning! We ended up going to La Boucherie again on Saturday night just because we could! And we missed the last metro at Gare Lille Flandres, and ended up catching a taxi back to Triolo...and I didn't get home til 5am. UGH! I'm such an old woman...staying out late isn't my forte if you will...
          Yesterday I had my medical appointment at the immigration office. It was definitely interesting trying to get there. But I had to first buy some stamp that cost 55 euros!!! AHHHH. Ridiculous if you ask me. Anyways, I had to take the metro to the Gare Lille Flandres station, and then track down the tram...which i found thank goodness!!! I then rode it to the immigration office. I arrived at 12:40ish for my 1:30 appointment just because I didn't want to be late. But to my surprise, the office was closed until 2pm...Isn't that interesting. A lot of other people showed up at the office and we were all equally confused. Rosalind ended up coming as well so it was nice to have a friend there!! They ended up opening just before 1:30 so we didn't have to wait all that long...After handing the receptionist my paper work, I went to a sitting room with a bunch of other people looking to get their visas verified as well. When I was sitting in there, I saw another American...I knew she was American because she was wearing EXPRESS jeans!!!!!!!!! I got super excited! As for the medical exam, they put me through an xray machine and measured my height and weight, and asked me if I smoke....eeeasy! Afterwards, Rosalind and I travelled back to Euralille and had a petit cafe creme and a pastry to celebrate the end of immigration stuff. It was lovely :) I then took the rest of the afternoon to look around Euralille.
         OH! I almost forgot! So, Tuesday i was doing laundry. I put my things in the dryer and go upstairs to my room to watch an episode of Gossip Girl while I was waiting. When I returned to the laundry room, to my dismay, my University of Kentucky laundry bag and most favorite Express shirt were missing in action. I was definitely not a happy camper. I looked all over the room and they were just gone. After crying a little bit, I decided that they will be remembered fondly and life goes on...because yesterday at Euralille, I went into a store called Andiamo and found the CUTEST laundry bag ever!!!! It's a black and white print of London and it has red telephone booths on it. So there. Yesss for problem solving and making things better.
          Thursday night was the International Soiree, which was a huge party organized by the Ulysse Association at school! We all dressed up and looked faaaaaabulous and met up in front of the Palais des Beaux Arts to all walk together to Duke's club. Everyone was there and we all ate a small dinner before the party actually started. We had something that reminded me of Jambalaya and sarah, brian and i all recognized the smell...it smelled like New Orleans!!!! :D but sadly I think it was paeya. But it was still delicious! After mingling a little while, we finally hit the dancefloor to some AWESOME music. Since I was missing Ball on the Belle at BU, I had to make this dance count!!!! But it was definitely the best night in Lille so far!! They played tons of my favorite songs, and I got to dance with some of the amaaazing friends that I've met here in Lille. I'll always remember that night!!
         So that's all I can think of right now....Lots of things coming up soon though! Brian's birthday party tonight...and Steve is coming to France a week from today!!!!!!!!!!! :D Bon week-end :D

"We'll always have Paris"..."Paris, je t'aime"..."An American In Paris"...

          And if you couldn't tell from the title, my post today is going to be about my AMAZING trip to Paris on October 2nd. We had the opportunity to take this trip because of our international students club thing--Ulysse...and they planned everything! So here's the story:
         Since we had to be at the Pont de Bois metro station at 6:30am, I had to wake up at 5:30! ARGH! Sarah, Colleen and I walked together from Triolo to the station, where we found a large double decker bus waiting to take us to Paris, as well as about 30 other international students and Hamid, the President of Ulysse. We met Rosalind and Raashnie at the bus as well and then headed off for a 3 hour ride to Paris. Driving through the northern French countryside was beautiful though, even at 6 o'clock in the morning...Driving on a highway in France is so much different than in the US. The sides of the roads aren't as tainted with tacky billboards and the land is just so unscathed and it's beautiful! We eventually arrived in Paris after a long and unexciting bus ride. We passed the Charles de Gaulle airport (the biggest airport in France) and as we were approaching a tunnel, a huge American Airlines plane was landing right on top of it...we were hoping it would land on us! AH! Anyways, We took the scenic route into Paris so that we could see Sacre Coeur and other famous Parisian monuments. It was kind of an overcast day, but the temperature was just perfect! Our first stop of the day, after riding down the Seine River, was of course the Eiffel Tower. As we got off of the bus, a lot of guys started coming up to us and trying to get us to buy souvenirs and stuff and they were REALLY annoying. "5 eiffel tower keychains for 1 euro!!" and Sarah and I both broke down and bought some, just because I needed to get souvenirs for people :) Even though I had seen the Eiffel Tower before when I last came to Paris, seeing again was just as majestic. There's something about it that just takes your breath away and makes you insanely dizzy when you are under it looking up! We didn't have enough time to go up to the top, but we walked around and went to Trocadero Square to take more pictures of the tower and see everything. That area came back to memory so quickly! But this time it felt different...and I'm not sure why! But the Eiffel Tower will always be one of my most favorite icons of Paris.
          We boarded the bus oncemore and it took us around the city and showed us the Conciergerie (where Marie Antoinette was held captive before being beheaded), les Invalides (famous building in which the architecture of the dome was actually used when building the state capitol building in Frankfort, KY!), l'Arc de Triomph (which is the large arc on the Champs Elysees that Napoleon had built to honor his war victories; too bad he died before ever seeing it...), la Musee d'Orsay (the impressionist museum), and then finally arriving at La Cathedrale Notre Dame. Notre Dame is another one of my favorite places in Paris. I love the Gothic architecture of the building with it's rose window, flying buttresses, and gargoyles of course! Sarah and I decided to not go into the church because the line for it was as long as the Ile de la Cite! ahh! So we decided to make that happen on our next trip to Paris. So instead, we walked behind the cathedral and into its beautiful gardens. There weren't many people around the sides of Notre Dame, so we really enjoyed the peace and scenery. And looking onto the Seine was really cool too. We then decided to hit up the touristy shops on the street facing Notre Dame...and it was awesome!!! I bought quite a bit for everyone back home :) as well as a French flag and a Paris sweatshirt for myself :) After being touristy, we grabbed some paninis from a little shop, and decided to just chill and eat them in front of Notre Dame...just because we could :) We then proceeded to take part in a tradition...chasing the pigeons in front of Notre Dame. And it was hilarious!!!!!! We then met the bus again and we headed to another destination in Paris. But it took us down the Champs Elysees (the most famous street in all of Europe, with tons of shops, restaurants, etc etc). An interesting fact: Paris was designed in a very geometric fashion. The Champs Elysees is on straight line, with major monuments and buildings following in that exact line. It starts with La Defense (this large square building in the downtown district of Paris), and then goes to L'arc de Triomph, la Place de la Concode (in which a large obliesk sits where a lot of the beheadings of the French Revolution took place), then the Jardin des Tulieres (a large beautiful botanical garden), l'Arc de Triomph du Carrosel (a smaller version of the arc de triomph), and then finally Le Louvre (the greatest and one of the largest art museums in the world that houses many of Da Vinci's work, and many many other famous paintings and sculptures). It's quite the interesting street :)
           We got dropped off in the Place de la Concorde, which is a very busy roundabout in Paris. But before getting dropped off, we also got to see the Opera Garnier, one of the most beautiful opera houses in all of Europe, as well as the most expensive shopping district in France...with names like Chanel, Dior, Bvlgari, and Hugo Boss on top of the doors. I was in HEAVEN needless to say...After getting dropped off though, I noticed a black Mercedes Benz sitting next to the entrance of the Jardin des Tulieres, and it said ELLE on the side...as in, ELLE magazine...I got seriously excited...and then I noticed the large tents being set up...Interesting...We walked into the gardens and I saw loads of people with cameras and such...and then I saw tons of top models walking towards this building in the gardens...and then it donned on me...IT'S FASHION WEEK IN PARIS!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHH! I seriously freaked out. I saw Agnyss Deyn, a very very popular British model, as she was walking towards the building. And I couldn't even process it all. Geez. We also heard the runway music start up from the fashion show being held inside. Oh goodness...it was awesome, seriously. But we had better things to do...so we started walking towards le Louvre. The jardin des Tulieres was absolutely beautiful and the flowers were so colorful, and you'd have never guessed it was October, the way they looked. Wow! We walked underneath the Arc de Triomph du Carrousel, and it was definitely amazing, but seeing le Louvre in front of me with the large pyramid was even better :)
           We didn't have time to wait in the immensely long line for le Louvre to go in, but instead just took pictures and looked around. Except, as soon as I lifted my camera to snap a picture of it, my camera died. Needless to say, I was NOT a happy camper. Oh well. C'est la vie! After a few minutes, we thought it would be cool to stroll along the Champs Elysees :) I was definitely ok with that plan! We were going to walk to the Arc de Triomph, but it's a heck of a lot farther than one might think! So, I grabbed a banana and chocolate crepe (which was the best thing I've ever eaten in my entire life! YUMMM!!!!) And then strolled along the beautiful but busy street! The trees were beginning to turn yellow, and it was just absolutely amazing. We saw the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, as well as the awesome statue of Charles de Gaulle (who is from Lille...YAY) as we walked. Sarah and I decided to wander into Gap and then we headed back to the Place de la Concorde to wait for the bus. As we sat on the curb, we noticed a lot of couples getting their wedding photographs taken in the Place de la Concorde and it was actually really cute to watch!! I'm so doing that when I get married. Just saying.
          After waiting, we finally boarded the bus and headed to Montmartre. We passed the Moulin Rouge and then were dropped off on the street. We all started walking up the large hill that led to Sacre Coeur (the really large white church in Paris)...and we regretted our decision after seeing the 12 flights of stairs to get up there...but it was worth it when we had the most spectacular view of Paris in the world. There was someone singing to a crowd on the steps of Sacre Coeur, so it was definitely an amazing experience! AH! And then we were hungry and decided to get food at L'Atelier before getting on the bus to head back to Lille. Unfortunately, we were MAJORLY pressed for time, and had to meet our bus back at 6:45...so we scarfed down our oinon soup, lamb and french fries at 6:44 and ran down to meet the bus, only being 5 minutes late! Phew! Traffic getting out of Paris was completely ridiculous and took AGES. I think we literally sat in traffic for an hour and a half. But we got on the road again and got back to the Pont de Bois station at about 11:15pm or so. We were definitely tuckered out from this long day, but I love Paris, and can't wait to go back in a few weeks!!!! :)

Interesting times in Lille...

          So things in France have become quite interesting lately...if you haven't been reading the news...Apparently Paris is on the list for the next terrorist attack? Hmmm..well don't fret, kids. The French Intel are all up on this. Besides, they did find out about the Cuban Missile Crisis on accident right? Anyways, don't worry. Everything is fine. Although, my poor friend Adam in Ecquador is probably going to see a coup d'etat of their government. Gulp. Kudos to ya man, be safe!
        Enough of the craziness....the past few days have been quite interesting! Wednesday night, my American Film Studies prof actually decided to show up...and she taught 80% of the class in French. However, my comprehension skills have SKYROCKETED since I've been here, so I caught pretty much everything she said. And it's going to be an interesting class! We're studying Hitchcock films, and a few others. I'm excited. Also, Wednesday night was the Angellier Soiree (English club/department) at Saloon (this American-esque place). I got to meet several French people and they were all excited to talk to me about the US. Haha. Anyways, it was definitely funny to see a bunch of French people wearing cowboy hats...I just couldn't take them seriously! But it was definitely a good time. Except when we got caught in the rain...again.
          Thursday has been a relaxing day! I had my 8am Great Britain studies class...and then came back to Triolo and took an EPIC nap. AH! It was great. And then I caught up on the latest episode of Supernatural :D Then my friend Brian (the dude from LSU who now goes to Lille 3 officially) and I got some pizza from Triolo Pizza down the road, and he led me in a crash course in French...I had to meet his French host family...Talk about nerveracking...But before we went there, we walked around Lille centre and it is seriously the most gorgeous/European-esque city ever. I mean, it's not ginormous and overwhelming like Paris; it's just a typical European city with a lot of history and charm. Seeing the Lille Opera building lit up is just absolutely amazing. And don't even get me started on the Palais de Beaux Arts with the foutain in front of it...Ah!! But we walked past the Gare Lille Europe (where I arrived at) and I saw a TGV coming in and it made me nostalgic :) haha...24 more days until I'll be on one of those to pick Steve up from Brussels :D Anyways, the city was absolutely majestic tonight. We headed down the road to Caulier, where his host family lives. We get to this really random, very Northern France looking house (it has 3 levels), and I was immediately overwhelmed..."Je vous presente ma copine, Christine", says Brian. Oh lord. And immediately, his host dad is super excited and starts speaking to me in French, and all of the sudden it donned on me, Hey, I can understand this guy! I also met his host mother. They were absolutely adorable and soooo welcoming! They gave us some water, and a million different syrups we could flavor it with...hahah that was hilarious. It was interesting trying to explain that we don't normally flavor our water in the US. And then the host dad was like, "Oh tu es Americaine? Comme Brian??" "Oui, Monsieur." And then he grabbed his huge map of the US and asked me to point out Kentucky. And so I pointed out good ol' Louisville, KY! And he thought it was cool that we have a legit airport...Then we talked about fried chicken...it's inevitable. And then I showed them Hammond, LA where the rest of my family lives. He was fascinated by that. Hahah!!
           After listening to him give Brian a funny grammar lesson, I began to feel a bit more comfortable! I definitely got across what I wanted to say in French, and I understood his questions, as well as the rest of his conversation between his wife and Brian. Oh goodness. I was also telling him about being here for Christmas and having my birthday the day after and he insisted that I join them for Christmas if I ended up being all alone! How sweet eh?? I love the French, they really will do anything for you. After spending an hour there, we decided that it would be best not to catch the Metro back to Triolo too late. I am pretty sure that I did not breathe through that entire encounter...I was soooo nervous! It's just intimidating for me seeing someone like Brian, who is American, speaking French so quickly and with such ease, and then listening to myself trying to string sentences together. Geez. But I made it back to Triolo safe and sound and am now enjoying a Kinder Bueno bar...I think as Americans, we need to embrace the taste of Hazelnut. It is AMAZING. Speaking French for a long time really does wear one out. Although, I feel like I am definitely getting used to it, and have much more confidence now after being put in those weird situations! Another adventure for the books I guess....

This Just in...

.....I found KFC in Lille. And ate there. Update: Disappointing. No mashed potatoes and gravy, no mac and cheese, no buttermilk biscuits...Epic Fail YUM brands.