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....
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
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.
My thoughts on France...
I find it difficult to believe that I have been in France for a few days shy of a month...As each day passes, I begin to feel more and more like this is home to me. I don't feel nearly as afraid and nervous as I did on Day 1, but what can ya expect? It's France for heaven's sake! Anyways, the past few days have been...well...normal and ordinary! Friday night, Sarah, Brian and I went to this Irish Pub down the road from Residence Triolo and saw an AC/DC cover band...interesting no doubt...the best part was the little 4 year old French boy singing "Highway to Hell" with all his might. I love kids sometimes hahaha. Saturday, was more of a relaxing, I-need-to-catch-up-on-sleep day. Colleen and I decided to head over to V2 Centre Commercial (the mall.) to grab a few things from Auchan. After that, I went back to Triolo and decided to make dinner. I wanted to fry up some chicken with my amaaaazing Provencal spices...but I try to find them, and they were GONE. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper and pouted while slurping up my tomato soup and peanut butter sandwich.
Although, my day was brightened when I got the opportunity to put on a Homework Party at Triolo. (All my BU folk know what I'm talkin 'bout). Anyways, a Homework Party is not exactly a study group because we all study different things at Bellarmine...but we enjoy having each other's company while doing homework and tasks of that nature. So I decided to try this practice on non-BU people. And it worked. I got called a mega-nerd in the process, but we all had a really great time! Most of us worked on Translation hw, and my wonderful 8 year old dictionary got majorly dissed. Even though it's falling apart at the spine, I could never give it away...it's been WAY to helpful.
Sunday morning, I braved the cold rain and went into Lille to Le Pain Quotidien (a bakery/breakfast place) with Rosalind, Colleen, the Brits, and Stephanie. We had a lovely breakfast for Rosalind's 22nd birthday! But unfortunately, the French kinda skimp on their breakfast options...I mean, a pain au chocolat and a Cafe Creme are delicious, but I enjoy my bacon, pancakes and eggs!!! After the breakfast, the Brits invited us to their cute little house for a Sunday English roast dinner. And let me tell you...I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life. True story. We had some roasted chicken that they had picked up from the Wazemmes market in Lille, and it was mixed with soft potatoes, carrots, and PARSNIP! Yum. Parsnip is delicious. We Americans need to expand our veggie views...Anyways, we ended up having another homework party on Sunday night and I definitely got a lot accomplished.
Today I had more classes. My DEFI class as usual (the French extensive course) and in that, my teacher Martine asked me if I wanted to represent the American international students in a film about the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France...and I was like, OUAIS!!!!!! (That means, YEAH, in case you needed to brush up on your French slang...) And I'm starting to feel a little bit more comfortable in that class. I have realized that my epic French test taking skill (hahah) placed me in a high level, and they're going to make me work hard. It is weird though not being like the "top dog" in my French class. So it's humbling me and it's definitely for the better. I am definitely learning a lot and refining my skills, and it's challenging me more than my 312 class would at Bellarmine I think. But I just feel lucky to be here. I also had my Argumentation/Debate class today. I had to do a presentation with 6 other French students on educational reform in a school in Chicago. We each gave our schpeel about the radio broadcast we had to listened to, and then people began to debate...and let me tell you, I never expected the reactions that came from it. People were getting really rialed up and talked loudly over one another. In America, people usually respect when someone else "has the floor" but in France it's a completely different story. I looked at my teacher at one point and wondered if this was normal, and she smiled and said "Welcome to France". Hahahahaha. Classic. But it was very interesting and quite lively!!!
Now that I am feeling somewhat "normal" here in France, I am starting to pick up on quirks and odd things here. It's kind of hard to explain though. Here's a random spew of thoughts and reactions to things:
--I heard Maroon 5 on the metro the other day and totally started rocking out. Looks like the French love them too :D
--People here dress REALLY nice.
--French mayonnaise is NOT the same as American mayonnaise.
--It's impossible to break a 20 euro bill. I don't get it. Americans will throw down a twenty on a freakin candy bar...but nooooo not here.
--Our dining hall on campus is open a total of 3 hours a day. :(
--Laundry machines are highly unreliable. And dryers...what are those?! grrowl.
--It's epically cold and rainy in Lille. All of the time.
--It's not silly for a grown man to have a little yappy puppy.
--Cats aren't nearly as friendly.
--The Triolo metro station is the dodgiest place ever...
--Even at the worst, dodgiest food places, you will NEVER find a bad dessert. Tartelettes aux framboises (raspberry tartes) are as common as a McDonald's apple pie. But ten million times better.
--They don't refrigerate milk and eggs oftentimes...
--Special K is way better here. Hahaha.
--If you take French in school in America and think you're amazing at it, think again.
--Immigration forms in France kill millions of trees every year...can we attend to this problem please??
--The academic system is very bureaucratic.
--Most teachers LOVE anglophones...
--French people are SO nice to you when they find out that you're American.
--Going to Auchan any later than 5pm is the biggest mistake of your life.
--I never want to be in the military...I can never tell military time...which is what they use here.
--McDonald's fries are not good. But their coffee is. WOW.
--Subway is SO GOOD HERE. You can actually get ice in your drink :D
--Converting everything into the metric system is difficult.
--Pain au chocolat is delicious. That is all.
--Flunch is the coolest buffet restaurant ever. They even have "poulet-Kentucky"=Kentucky chicken...which looks more like a chicken patty...haha. Still delicious though.
--I can't understand why people listen to really loud music in their rooms late at night. Grrowl. Not cool.
--It's hard to be bored in France.
--Americans and Brits are extremely similar...
--Prepaid cell phones are inconvenient.
--I think I love it here!
So those are some just random things that I think about and notice, but it's hard to actually make them into a structured blog...C'est la vie! :)
Although, my day was brightened when I got the opportunity to put on a Homework Party at Triolo. (All my BU folk know what I'm talkin 'bout). Anyways, a Homework Party is not exactly a study group because we all study different things at Bellarmine...but we enjoy having each other's company while doing homework and tasks of that nature. So I decided to try this practice on non-BU people. And it worked. I got called a mega-nerd in the process, but we all had a really great time! Most of us worked on Translation hw, and my wonderful 8 year old dictionary got majorly dissed. Even though it's falling apart at the spine, I could never give it away...it's been WAY to helpful.
Sunday morning, I braved the cold rain and went into Lille to Le Pain Quotidien (a bakery/breakfast place) with Rosalind, Colleen, the Brits, and Stephanie. We had a lovely breakfast for Rosalind's 22nd birthday! But unfortunately, the French kinda skimp on their breakfast options...I mean, a pain au chocolat and a Cafe Creme are delicious, but I enjoy my bacon, pancakes and eggs!!! After the breakfast, the Brits invited us to their cute little house for a Sunday English roast dinner. And let me tell you...I have never tasted anything so delicious in my life. True story. We had some roasted chicken that they had picked up from the Wazemmes market in Lille, and it was mixed with soft potatoes, carrots, and PARSNIP! Yum. Parsnip is delicious. We Americans need to expand our veggie views...Anyways, we ended up having another homework party on Sunday night and I definitely got a lot accomplished.
Today I had more classes. My DEFI class as usual (the French extensive course) and in that, my teacher Martine asked me if I wanted to represent the American international students in a film about the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France...and I was like, OUAIS!!!!!! (That means, YEAH, in case you needed to brush up on your French slang...) And I'm starting to feel a little bit more comfortable in that class. I have realized that my epic French test taking skill (hahah) placed me in a high level, and they're going to make me work hard. It is weird though not being like the "top dog" in my French class. So it's humbling me and it's definitely for the better. I am definitely learning a lot and refining my skills, and it's challenging me more than my 312 class would at Bellarmine I think. But I just feel lucky to be here. I also had my Argumentation/Debate class today. I had to do a presentation with 6 other French students on educational reform in a school in Chicago. We each gave our schpeel about the radio broadcast we had to listened to, and then people began to debate...and let me tell you, I never expected the reactions that came from it. People were getting really rialed up and talked loudly over one another. In America, people usually respect when someone else "has the floor" but in France it's a completely different story. I looked at my teacher at one point and wondered if this was normal, and she smiled and said "Welcome to France". Hahahahaha. Classic. But it was very interesting and quite lively!!!
Now that I am feeling somewhat "normal" here in France, I am starting to pick up on quirks and odd things here. It's kind of hard to explain though. Here's a random spew of thoughts and reactions to things:
--I heard Maroon 5 on the metro the other day and totally started rocking out. Looks like the French love them too :D
--People here dress REALLY nice.
--French mayonnaise is NOT the same as American mayonnaise.
--It's impossible to break a 20 euro bill. I don't get it. Americans will throw down a twenty on a freakin candy bar...but nooooo not here.
--Our dining hall on campus is open a total of 3 hours a day. :(
--Laundry machines are highly unreliable. And dryers...what are those?! grrowl.
--It's epically cold and rainy in Lille. All of the time.
--It's not silly for a grown man to have a little yappy puppy.
--Cats aren't nearly as friendly.
--The Triolo metro station is the dodgiest place ever...
--Even at the worst, dodgiest food places, you will NEVER find a bad dessert. Tartelettes aux framboises (raspberry tartes) are as common as a McDonald's apple pie. But ten million times better.
--They don't refrigerate milk and eggs oftentimes...
--Special K is way better here. Hahaha.
--If you take French in school in America and think you're amazing at it, think again.
--Immigration forms in France kill millions of trees every year...can we attend to this problem please??
--The academic system is very bureaucratic.
--Most teachers LOVE anglophones...
--French people are SO nice to you when they find out that you're American.
--Going to Auchan any later than 5pm is the biggest mistake of your life.
--I never want to be in the military...I can never tell military time...which is what they use here.
--McDonald's fries are not good. But their coffee is. WOW.
--Subway is SO GOOD HERE. You can actually get ice in your drink :D
--Converting everything into the metric system is difficult.
--Pain au chocolat is delicious. That is all.
--Flunch is the coolest buffet restaurant ever. They even have "poulet-Kentucky"=Kentucky chicken...which looks more like a chicken patty...haha. Still delicious though.
--I can't understand why people listen to really loud music in their rooms late at night. Grrowl. Not cool.
--It's hard to be bored in France.
--Americans and Brits are extremely similar...
--Prepaid cell phones are inconvenient.
--I think I love it here!
So those are some just random things that I think about and notice, but it's hard to actually make them into a structured blog...C'est la vie! :)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
First Week of Classes...Finished!
This week has definitely tested my patience. I suppose that is why I'm here after all. So, first day of classes went really well with my DEFI class and Argumentation. However, Tuesday was a different story. I walked into my Translation class with a few other ISEP and Erasmus students (there were about 15 of us) and the teacher comes in and takes roll of the enrolled students. Then she inquires about the international students. We raise our hands...and she says "Well, no offense or anything, but please find another class that is not mine." And we just kind of go quiet and look at each other wondering if this woman is serious...But she can get over it. I'm staying. Anyways, we translated text from French into English which was pretty easy. And then the teacher announces that if we Anglophone students take Version (the translation course from English to French) we WILL fail. No ifs, ands, or buts. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure every one of us was freaking out. After the class finished. Another teacher came in the room and began speaking French very rapidly and I just sat there, completely lost. It's one thing having American professors speak French to you throughout your entire academic career, to having a real Native French speaker teach a legit class in French...it was insanely difficult.
Wednesday, I showed up at 4:45pm to my 5:00 class...I had a lot of trouble finding my classroom, but I made it with time to spare. However, about 16 other students and I waited for our Film Studies prof to show up...and we waited until 5:45...Ridiculous. So I ended up not having class on Wednesday! Woohoo! This morning, at 8am, I had my Great Britain Literature and Civilization class...which has probably been my favorite class so far. We're studying the Renaissance, Revolution, and Restoration of England. Soooo interesting, not even kidding. Thank you Charlie Shircliff for 7th grade English history :D I was surprised at how much I remembered and how confident I felt to actually respond to questions in the class! Woohoo!! Talk about an A for participation ;) Anyways, we talked about the beginning of the Renaissance and Henry VIII (I couldn't help but snicker when I thought of the song "I'm Henry the Eighth" by Herman's Hermits...lol), and we also read some of Twelfth Night by Shakespeare (which I read Junior year at AHS!) And it was definitely easy and interesting!! Can't wait to see how the semester goes!
So, I emailed my advisor back at Bellarmine, Dr. Carriere, and he was extremely helpful with trying to figure out credit transfers and everything...I think now I can relax and just enjoy my classes now that most everything is figured out! Hooray! And tonight, me and some of the other Americans are fixing tacos for our British friends :) What fun! :)
Wednesday, I showed up at 4:45pm to my 5:00 class...I had a lot of trouble finding my classroom, but I made it with time to spare. However, about 16 other students and I waited for our Film Studies prof to show up...and we waited until 5:45...Ridiculous. So I ended up not having class on Wednesday! Woohoo! This morning, at 8am, I had my Great Britain Literature and Civilization class...which has probably been my favorite class so far. We're studying the Renaissance, Revolution, and Restoration of England. Soooo interesting, not even kidding. Thank you Charlie Shircliff for 7th grade English history :D I was surprised at how much I remembered and how confident I felt to actually respond to questions in the class! Woohoo!! Talk about an A for participation ;) Anyways, we talked about the beginning of the Renaissance and Henry VIII (I couldn't help but snicker when I thought of the song "I'm Henry the Eighth" by Herman's Hermits...lol), and we also read some of Twelfth Night by Shakespeare (which I read Junior year at AHS!) And it was definitely easy and interesting!! Can't wait to see how the semester goes!
So, I emailed my advisor back at Bellarmine, Dr. Carriere, and he was extremely helpful with trying to figure out credit transfers and everything...I think now I can relax and just enjoy my classes now that most everything is figured out! Hooray! And tonight, me and some of the other Americans are fixing tacos for our British friends :) What fun! :)
Monday, September 20, 2010
First Official Day of Classes?
So the day has finally arrived...the reason why I have come to France in the first place. SCHOOL!!!! Life up to this point in France has just been trying to adjust and meeting a lot of great new people :) But now the work starts! It's been a crazy week trying to pick and choose which classes to take, and it's definitely more of an adventure trying to navigate myself around this huge school with tons of people and randomly labeled classrooms....Anyways, my schedule will be (most likely) as follows: DEFI (which is my French extensive course), Argumentation (Is a License 3--aka Senior year--level debate class, which is taught in English. I'm taking it because they love Anglophones), Traduction (Which consists of 2 different classes: Thème and Version. It is a translation course of taking French texts and translating them into English), Film Studies (pretty much self explanatory...), Great Britain Culture and Civilization, Tandem (which is where I will have a partner who is French speaking and we will speak in English and French to each other in order to practice and become mildly fluent), and 19th century novels with a focus on the works of Jules Vern (taught in French).
My first class today was my DEFI class, which I have been taking for over 2 weeks now...and am still convinced my teacher dislikes me for some unknown reason. Whatever. Anyways, after frantically grabbing a sandwich from Brian in the Ulysse Cafe, Lauren and I trekked around Building B to find our Argumentation class. Talk about confusing. We finally made it to our room with time to spare, and our teacher comes to the door and looks at the two of us and says, "You aren't French, are you?" And we were like, "Nope! American and Canadian" And our teacher was like, "Be prepared to speak a lot." Greeeeat. So the classroom was filled with French students, and the teacher, Mme Ullmo starts speaking to us in English :) It was wonderful. Ahahahaha. She pointed out to the class that Lauren and I are Anglophones and made us come up with topics to debate...And then she wanted to talk about Obama...hahahah! So next week, I am with a group and we have to listen to an American radio show and come up with a presentation about it. I'm really kind of excited to have an easy class, but I feel like I can really help the French students with English, and vise versa. So I'm definitely looking forward to this :) It's about time school started again!
Today is Colleen's 20th birthday so we're all going out to a potato place for dinner! I'm so excited!! i am definitely adjusting to living here and am almost starting to call it home. I definitely am in need of a care package from the USA! Hahaha. And a Bellarmine course catalogue? ;) I'm having a good week, and it's only Monday...this is a good sign ;)
My first class today was my DEFI class, which I have been taking for over 2 weeks now...and am still convinced my teacher dislikes me for some unknown reason. Whatever. Anyways, after frantically grabbing a sandwich from Brian in the Ulysse Cafe, Lauren and I trekked around Building B to find our Argumentation class. Talk about confusing. We finally made it to our room with time to spare, and our teacher comes to the door and looks at the two of us and says, "You aren't French, are you?" And we were like, "Nope! American and Canadian" And our teacher was like, "Be prepared to speak a lot." Greeeeat. So the classroom was filled with French students, and the teacher, Mme Ullmo starts speaking to us in English :) It was wonderful. Ahahahaha. She pointed out to the class that Lauren and I are Anglophones and made us come up with topics to debate...And then she wanted to talk about Obama...hahahah! So next week, I am with a group and we have to listen to an American radio show and come up with a presentation about it. I'm really kind of excited to have an easy class, but I feel like I can really help the French students with English, and vise versa. So I'm definitely looking forward to this :) It's about time school started again!
Today is Colleen's 20th birthday so we're all going out to a potato place for dinner! I'm so excited!! i am definitely adjusting to living here and am almost starting to call it home. I definitely am in need of a care package from the USA! Hahaha. And a Bellarmine course catalogue? ;) I'm having a good week, and it's only Monday...this is a good sign ;)
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
le 13 septembre 2010 :)
So it's been a little while since I've updated this, but I had a very enjoyable weekend in Lille! All of us anglophones went shopping at this huge mall in Lille called EuraLille. I bought an awesome winter coat and some other things! I am definitely loving France for all of their desserts and pastries. I think it's funny that even at the sketchiest of places here, you'll always find FABULOUS desserts. Some that I've had so far is a Tartlette au Frambroises (raspberry tarte), chocolate and coffee eclairs (delicious), a chocolate and banana crepe (which I had today in a Creperie), and tons of pain au chocolat (its like a croissant with chocolate in it). I really enjoy Lille Centre. The architecture of the buildings are sooo French and just absolutely gorgeous. It makes my little suburb of Villeneuve d'Ascq look awful lol! Anyways, I got to stroll around Lille Centre with my friend Brian on Sunday, which was very enjoyable! He was actually a student at LSU previously, who decided to transfer to Lille 3 permanently! It's nice to know people who can show you around! Anyways, I got to go to the Citadel, which was built in 1670 by Louis XIV who had recently conquered the land and wanted to build a fortress there. The French Military still uses it today for intelligence related things, but most people just stroll along the path, or ride their bikes :)
I am definitely tired of the French class that I'm having to take. It's pretty tough and my teacher openly like, criticizes me. It's something that I'm definitely not used to, and don't think I will ever be. Whatever. Nevertheless, it's nice to be done with classes for the week. I still don't know when my actual classes start because the professors haven't posted the schedules...hmmm...Yesterday however, I made the most fabulous dinner for myself: It included, chicken that I fried on my skillet with yummy herbs from Provence; a salad with cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese and honey mustard dressing; and finally bread...with PEANUT BUTTER on it. It's quite fascinating how much you miss peanut butter when you don't have it. I found some Skippy's, along with Dr. Pepper and Hellmann's Mayo in the "international foods" aisle in Auchan :) I was the happiest camper yesterday.
Today hasn't been too entertaining I guess. Me, Colleen, Lauren, and Sarah went into Lille centre to try and retrieve our bankcards from the BNP Paribas bank...and apparently they weren't ready...contrary to what our mail had said. Oh well. C'est la vie. We did however, go into this really cool department store called Printemps (which means Spring in French) and it was pretty much like Saks 5th Avenue with tons of designers and whatnot. PS--I also boughy a water heater so that I can make hot tea!! Woohoo! Except I forgot sugar...Oh well.
Being here is definitely really difficult. It's hard starting completely from scratch with things...Like, plates and utensils and cookware seem so negligent because they're so readily available for us at home, but here, you have to just buy everything new because there's no way for you to just go home and get what you need. It's definitely an adjustment, but I am doing so much better and finally finding normalcy in my life. I am definitely making some great friendships that I'm sure will last me a lifetime :) No one can possibly understand what exactly it is I'm doing here except for them. I can blog all I want, but it's still way different. I'm quite content now. And ready for classes to start! Geez Louise!! :)
I am definitely tired of the French class that I'm having to take. It's pretty tough and my teacher openly like, criticizes me. It's something that I'm definitely not used to, and don't think I will ever be. Whatever. Nevertheless, it's nice to be done with classes for the week. I still don't know when my actual classes start because the professors haven't posted the schedules...hmmm...Yesterday however, I made the most fabulous dinner for myself: It included, chicken that I fried on my skillet with yummy herbs from Provence; a salad with cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese and honey mustard dressing; and finally bread...with PEANUT BUTTER on it. It's quite fascinating how much you miss peanut butter when you don't have it. I found some Skippy's, along with Dr. Pepper and Hellmann's Mayo in the "international foods" aisle in Auchan :) I was the happiest camper yesterday.
Today hasn't been too entertaining I guess. Me, Colleen, Lauren, and Sarah went into Lille centre to try and retrieve our bankcards from the BNP Paribas bank...and apparently they weren't ready...contrary to what our mail had said. Oh well. C'est la vie. We did however, go into this really cool department store called Printemps (which means Spring in French) and it was pretty much like Saks 5th Avenue with tons of designers and whatnot. PS--I also boughy a water heater so that I can make hot tea!! Woohoo! Except I forgot sugar...Oh well.
Being here is definitely really difficult. It's hard starting completely from scratch with things...Like, plates and utensils and cookware seem so negligent because they're so readily available for us at home, but here, you have to just buy everything new because there's no way for you to just go home and get what you need. It's definitely an adjustment, but I am doing so much better and finally finding normalcy in my life. I am definitely making some great friendships that I'm sure will last me a lifetime :) No one can possibly understand what exactly it is I'm doing here except for them. I can blog all I want, but it's still way different. I'm quite content now. And ready for classes to start! Geez Louise!! :)
Friday, September 10, 2010
Woohoo! Night out on the town!
Today was my last day of my super intense-intensive French class. Thank the Lord. It wasn't a very entertaining day really; I finally got to eat at the Forum, which is like Lille 3's version of Kosters, but with gourmet desserts :D And it was actually really good. I think I'm finally getting my appetite back on track...it's really hard adjusting to things here. People think I'm on some lovely vacation while I'm here...that is absolutely false. Living in a different culture is waaaaay tough...but it's fun to meet up with a bunch of friends for a fun Friday night out ;)
We all decided to meet up with our British friends, and head to some local pubs in Lille. We had such a wonderful time and really got to see the city when it wasn't jam packed with La Braderie stuff! Tomorrow we're all going to EuraLille to go shopping :) EuraLille is like this massive mall type place and it has all kinds of shops and things :) I'm so pumped. Anyways, I don't really have much to say, but today was a really good day! :)
We all decided to meet up with our British friends, and head to some local pubs in Lille. We had such a wonderful time and really got to see the city when it wasn't jam packed with La Braderie stuff! Tomorrow we're all going to EuraLille to go shopping :) EuraLille is like this massive mall type place and it has all kinds of shops and things :) I'm so pumped. Anyways, I don't really have much to say, but today was a really good day! :)
Thursday, September 9, 2010
A whole week in France? Already?
So it's official: I've been in France for a full week. To me, it feels like it's been at least a month...I've never been so busy in my life. I am so unbelievably sick of my intensive French course...seriously...4 hours a day, all this week. It's also really hard being in a class full of Europeans who speak French nearly perfectly. I'm quite intimidated. I thought I spoke it really well in the USA, but coming here is a completely different story. OMG. Lille 3 is so chaotic and completely unorganized. I now have a new found respect for Bellarmine. BU is sooo helpful to their international students, as well as their domestic students. For us here, the classes won't be posted until the first day of school (which is still TBD for some departments) and they don't post the room locations until that time either...which is highly inconvenient. I can honestly say that I miss Bellarmine right now! Being in France is an insanely difficult experience, a good one yes, but the hardest thing I think I've ever encountered...and classes haven't even started.
On the bright side, my my I have met sooo many amazing people!!!! Last night, my lovely English friends, Georgie, Laura and Katie had me, Colleen, Sarah, and Lauren over to their cute house for dinner! We always have the most interesting conversation and they are just soo sweet! We promised to make them a Thanksgiving dinner when it comes around :) Also, Lauren, my friend from Canada, is soo nice. All of us ISEP students have been really working together to try to get all of our Visa stuff and OFII stuff done so we don't get deported :) yess for all being in this together. I honestly don't think I could do this without them. When everyone else around you is speaking a different language, you don't really realize how precious it is to know someone who speaks English :D
I really dislike Auchan...the French wal-mart...it is truly a nightmare and I really try to avoid it, but unfortunately it's nearly impossible...Also, it rains a lot here...It's like London, or so i've heard. I did laundry today for the first time in France too...coincidentally, it's quite easy here. With the exception that it costs money :( I also bought a new comforter...it makes my room feel a little bit more like home :) I am definitely sick of hearing my Lebonese neighbor's arabic music at 2am though....OMG! Well tomorrow night I am heading into Lille centre (like, downtown) with a bunch of my friends for a night out on the town! I'm super excited so we'll see how that goes! Last day of my intensive class is tomorrow...thank the Lord!! C'est tout!
On the bright side, my my I have met sooo many amazing people!!!! Last night, my lovely English friends, Georgie, Laura and Katie had me, Colleen, Sarah, and Lauren over to their cute house for dinner! We always have the most interesting conversation and they are just soo sweet! We promised to make them a Thanksgiving dinner when it comes around :) Also, Lauren, my friend from Canada, is soo nice. All of us ISEP students have been really working together to try to get all of our Visa stuff and OFII stuff done so we don't get deported :) yess for all being in this together. I honestly don't think I could do this without them. When everyone else around you is speaking a different language, you don't really realize how precious it is to know someone who speaks English :D
I really dislike Auchan...the French wal-mart...it is truly a nightmare and I really try to avoid it, but unfortunately it's nearly impossible...Also, it rains a lot here...It's like London, or so i've heard. I did laundry today for the first time in France too...coincidentally, it's quite easy here. With the exception that it costs money :( I also bought a new comforter...it makes my room feel a little bit more like home :) I am definitely sick of hearing my Lebonese neighbor's arabic music at 2am though....OMG! Well tomorrow night I am heading into Lille centre (like, downtown) with a bunch of my friends for a night out on the town! I'm super excited so we'll see how that goes! Last day of my intensive class is tomorrow...thank the Lord!! C'est tout!
Monday, September 6, 2010
First Day in a French Classroom
Today was certainly one to remember. So I met Rosalind, Colleen, and Sarah down in the Triolo lobby so that we could head over to Lille III together for the first session of our 4-hour a day, 5 day a week intensive French course. We arrived at school just in time to check out where we were supposed to have our class. Colleen and I were lucky to have the same class together, but we didn't sit next to each other. Our teacher came in and introduced herself, her name is Martine, and everything was in very rapid French. I ended up sitting by a girl named Solina and she is from Romania. We got to know each other, and worked on some exercises in grammar and listening comprehension. It was definitely difficult, but nothing I couldn't handle. I think it's just weird actually having a class completely conducted in French with absolutely no English spoken. I also met this other guy, whose name is Jeremiah and is from the University of Nebraska, and he was one of the other Americans whom I had yet to meet. He was really nice and definitely full of energy!
Our class went from 9am to 1pm, with a 20 minute break, and then we had a meeting regarding sports at Lille III. Apparently we can get credit for just going :) Anyways, for some reason, most of the English speaking people sat around each other, so I got to meet several people from England. We also then met Lauren, the other ISEP student from Canada, and she was really nice and just as confused as the rest of us. So, my fellow Americans, Lauren, and several British girls decided to walk to L'Etudiant to get lunch before the ISEP people had our meeting with Isabelle (she's in charge of us). So we sat around this table outside of this off the wall little cafe and had an awesome time! We talked to the English girls about different things and I was curious as to what they were taught about when the American Revolution was brought up in their history class...they said it didn't. Hahah!!! After lunch, the 7 ISEP students (including myself) went to meet up with Marine to go over our French Social Security stuff, our banking info, and registration. Isabelle, the ISEP coordinator for Lille III also eased our worries. Apparently we have absolutely free range of the courses that we want to take at Lille. And we can tell the professors that we are from ISEP and they will give us a take home paper to do instead of the in-class test :D yay. So she basically made our lives a million times easier.
After a super duper long day of stress and business, we all decided to head to the centre commercial for dinner. Sarah and I went to Pizza Pai and had spaghetti :D Jeremiah and Lauren went to Auchan, but I was in no mood to take that on tonight. Yuck. After walking back to Triolo, we all decided that it would be best to just take the night easy. And now my next door neighbor is listening to Justin Bieber. I guess there are Beliebers in France too... :)
Our class went from 9am to 1pm, with a 20 minute break, and then we had a meeting regarding sports at Lille III. Apparently we can get credit for just going :) Anyways, for some reason, most of the English speaking people sat around each other, so I got to meet several people from England. We also then met Lauren, the other ISEP student from Canada, and she was really nice and just as confused as the rest of us. So, my fellow Americans, Lauren, and several British girls decided to walk to L'Etudiant to get lunch before the ISEP people had our meeting with Isabelle (she's in charge of us). So we sat around this table outside of this off the wall little cafe and had an awesome time! We talked to the English girls about different things and I was curious as to what they were taught about when the American Revolution was brought up in their history class...they said it didn't. Hahah!!! After lunch, the 7 ISEP students (including myself) went to meet up with Marine to go over our French Social Security stuff, our banking info, and registration. Isabelle, the ISEP coordinator for Lille III also eased our worries. Apparently we have absolutely free range of the courses that we want to take at Lille. And we can tell the professors that we are from ISEP and they will give us a take home paper to do instead of the in-class test :D yay. So she basically made our lives a million times easier.
After a super duper long day of stress and business, we all decided to head to the centre commercial for dinner. Sarah and I went to Pizza Pai and had spaghetti :D Jeremiah and Lauren went to Auchan, but I was in no mood to take that on tonight. Yuck. After walking back to Triolo, we all decided that it would be best to just take the night easy. And now my next door neighbor is listening to Justin Bieber. I guess there are Beliebers in France too... :)
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Jour 5 en France...
Well needless to say, I was quite unproductive today. I needed to be. I slept until about 2pm :) And it was totally worth it! I eventually got to talk to Steve on Facebook...I really miss him :( We talked for about an hour and I got to tell him about my France adventures thus far :) It's hard to believe our 1 year anniversary is on Saturday :) My, how time has flown! Anyways, tonight I was hungry, so I decided to make a voyage to McDonalds in Villeneuve d'Ascq. Normally to get to McDonalds, I have to walk through the Centre Commerciale...But seeing as how it is Sunday, everything was closed, so I had to walk around this gigantic shopping center. I felt sooooooooo lost. But eventually found the golden arches and all was well. I walked into McDs, and it was pretty busy in there! Apparently, you can order your food while you wait in line. A guy came up to me with a little PDA and started asking me what I wanted. I ordered a Royal Cheese (quarter pounder for all you Americans) and fries, and a Coke. He gave me the price and a number for when I reached the counter. I paid for it and voila! It was interesting. And another interesting fact about the French...the use ketchup for fries, but mix it with MAYO. Hmmm...I stuck to the ketchup just so it could taste a little like home. All in all, it tasted pretty similar to McDonalds at home, but it was definitely different. I couldnt figure out how to exit the McDonalds either...you just had to be there. It was weird. Finally after getting out, I found myself getting lost oncemore trying to get back to Triolo. Never was I so glad to reach that stupid winding staircase. OOh! I made an awesome drink discovery today!! It's called Oasis and its a juice made by the Schweppes Ginger ale company! And it has raspberry, apple and blackcurrant flavors...don't knock it til you've tried it. It was delish. Well I guess that's all I have to say for today! :)
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Day 4...La Braderie
So today was an eventful day! Colleen, Sarah, Monika, Rosalind and I met up to head into downtown Lille for the Braderie...It's the biggest flea market thing in the world. And they really do mean it. The small Lille metro system was packed and I felt like a sardine...Anyways, after arriving at the Lille Flandres metro station, we exited and were astounded by the crazy large mass of people that awaited us...but that was just the start. Lille itself is absolutely beautiful with tons of buildings; it reminded me a little of Paris, but more subdued and less hassle. We started walking towards the masses of people just to start exploring the gigantic flea market. It kind of reminded me of the Gas Light festival on MAJOR steroids and everyone speaking in French. The main theme of food was mussels and french fries...yuck, no thanks. Instead, we meandered to a small cafe and had ham and swiss cheese sandwiches :) yum. After that, we roamed the extremely crowded streets of Lille. There were vendors EVERYWHERE. They sold things like purses, cheap shoes, awkward underwear, cool French antiques, and cool trinkets.
We were really overwhelmed with everything so new around us (I suppose I should get used to the feeling!!) There were literally swarms of people though...wow. But anyways, I bought a few trinkets, like a cool Indian looking purse, a scarf, a fun little brown floor mat for like 2 euros, and some souvenirs for people back in the good ol' US. Haggling with vendors is definitely not my strength though! Hahah!!! Sarah is definitely the pro though...After wandering around for a few hours, Sarah and I bought Belgian waffles dipped in melty warm chocolate. It is heaven. Seriously. They were delicious!!! Haha. Shuffling through crowds of people definitely wore all of us out, so at about 5, we headed back to Villeneuve d'Ascq. Monika went back to Triolo and the rest of us went to a restaurant called Hippopotamus. It was amaaazing. I had this steak kabob thing with a salad and it was sooo good to finally have a legit, good steak again!! We all split a creme brulee and an assortment of chocolate desserts. So now I am back at Triolo sitting back and relaxing! Tomorrow I plan to just do nothing but sleep in and meander around Villeneuve d'Ascq. Unfortunately, most things in France are closed on Sunday, so I guess I'll just chill before my weeklong intensive French course starts...oh joy. But lucky for me, I get credit for it. My room is definitely starting to looked lived in :) I feel like I am starting to fit in here in France, and I am sooo glad that French people are so awesome and patient :D It drives me seriously crazy when people say that the French are so rude and the other stereotypical comments, but I honestly think that the people of Lille are almost nicer than Southerners in the US...Its true. So forget all of those stupid stereotypes, people. They are completely inaccurate. OK thanks. Well, that's all I've got for today :)
We were really overwhelmed with everything so new around us (I suppose I should get used to the feeling!!) There were literally swarms of people though...wow. But anyways, I bought a few trinkets, like a cool Indian looking purse, a scarf, a fun little brown floor mat for like 2 euros, and some souvenirs for people back in the good ol' US. Haggling with vendors is definitely not my strength though! Hahah!!! Sarah is definitely the pro though...After wandering around for a few hours, Sarah and I bought Belgian waffles dipped in melty warm chocolate. It is heaven. Seriously. They were delicious!!! Haha. Shuffling through crowds of people definitely wore all of us out, so at about 5, we headed back to Villeneuve d'Ascq. Monika went back to Triolo and the rest of us went to a restaurant called Hippopotamus. It was amaaazing. I had this steak kabob thing with a salad and it was sooo good to finally have a legit, good steak again!! We all split a creme brulee and an assortment of chocolate desserts. So now I am back at Triolo sitting back and relaxing! Tomorrow I plan to just do nothing but sleep in and meander around Villeneuve d'Ascq. Unfortunately, most things in France are closed on Sunday, so I guess I'll just chill before my weeklong intensive French course starts...oh joy. But lucky for me, I get credit for it. My room is definitely starting to looked lived in :) I feel like I am starting to fit in here in France, and I am sooo glad that French people are so awesome and patient :D It drives me seriously crazy when people say that the French are so rude and the other stereotypical comments, but I honestly think that the people of Lille are almost nicer than Southerners in the US...Its true. So forget all of those stupid stereotypes, people. They are completely inaccurate. OK thanks. Well, that's all I've got for today :)
Friday, September 3, 2010
Well...I made it...
After much hassle, frustration and worry, I have now made it into France. I feel like I don't know what to say, but I'll go ahead and say what i've been through thus far.
Day 1: Arrival into Brussels. My 7 hour flight really wasn't that bad...although my plane was relatively small for a transatlantic flight...and the pregnant italian lady sitting next to me wasn't very friendly...The food on the plane was not the greatest...but what can you do?? Anyways, it was the most gorgeous sunrise and completely clear so that we could see the bright lights of London and Southampton, England below us...it was serioulsy the coolest thing I've ever seen...And flying into Belgium was seriously spectacular...everything is so green and beautiful, I just couldn't believe my eyes! Customs in Brussels was a hassle though...but I met this really sweet American couple who apparently have a daughter that studied in Paris a few years ago before Med School. Anyways, after that I finally found my super huge suitcase and Colleen!! She's my friend who goes to the Univ. of Iowa! We planned to meet up at BRU (Brussels airport) and take the train to Lille together. I was wrong in thinking that navigating Brussels was going to be easy...but then I realized, I don't speak FLEMISH. OMG!!!!! Ridiculous. As we got on the train to get to the Brussels-Midi train station, I started to feel stupid about bringing the biggest suitcase I could...luckily, people were very friendly and I got a few minutes to relax and catch my breath on the train to the station. Brussels is not exactly the most picturesque city in the world, but I did see several lovely buildings! When we got to the Brussels-Midi station, poor Colleen lost a wheel on her suitcase on the way down the stairs...oops. And navigating the train station was also interesting...especially when lugging around a 60lb suitcase and a smaller one. UGH! We bought our TGV (train a grande vitesse) tickets and then finally bought a Coke. I have never needed one more in my whole life. We boarded our train at 11:20am (which, to me, was 5am...without sleep...) I was having a lot of trouble getting my suitcase onboard, but luckily this cute little French family helped me. They were so sweet and their daughter (who was about 3) probably spoke French better than I did! But I managed...when we got to the train station at Lille-Europe, Colleen and I were completely tuckered out. We met Emmanuel, the guy who was going to pick us up. He was so nice and took my big suitcase and we just followed him. He drove this van thing made by Renault...it was so weird! And I think French drivers are craaaazy!!!!! AHH! But we made it to our residence hall, Triolo, in like 15 minutes. The building is seriously confusing. Each section is named after a famous French philosopher, poet, or writer. I live in Stendhal...on the fourth floor. But the thing is, they don't have elevators...Only this tiny winding staircase...it is so lame. I checked in with this red-haired secretary...she wasn't exactly the friendliest...But it's whatever I guess. She gave me a key to my room and a key to my own fridge! Woohoo!! My room is pretty cute though! With TONS of storing space :D (eat your hearts our BU people hahahaha) I also have my own bathroom...but its like a capsule...and the shower is awkward, but i like it! My desk is gi-normus! My bed is like a foam mattress, but after being up for nearly 36 hours, I'll take it :D I sat in my room and kinda freaked out for a few minutes. It's the jetlag...it does things to you. After a quick nap, Colleen and I decided that we wanted to go exploring. The thing is, we had no where to go...We asked the mean red-haired lady where the Metro was and she gave us these odd directions, but we eventually found the centre-ville (like, downtown of our suburb that is called Villeneuve d'Ascq.) We found the Metro and rode it around just to get used to it. Afterwards, we headed to the V2 Centre Commercial (the mall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Seriously, its like heaven to me there. And then we got some pizza at Pizza Pai (Kind of like Sbarro). We then discovered Auchan. Its like the French version of Wal-Mart. It's 2 floors...on the top floor they have like non-food things...I bought a comforter for my bed which turned out to be really thin...lol! I then bought some Special K (and seriously, its soooooooooooooooo good.) Also some H2O and stuff like that. Auchan was seriously crazy. I don't even wanna think about it. We also walked around Villeneuve d'Ascq just to see what we were in for. I really had an overwhelming and stressful day, but it was just that first day experience. I survived.
DAY 2: Thursday was interesting...Colleen and I met at 8 to head over to Lille III (my school, Universite Charles de Gaulle) to take the Test. We met some cool Brazillian girls in the lobby so we all walked over together. The campus of Lille III is really quite dull looking...its kind of like just a bunch of gray buildings with a concrete quad. lol. After downing an Orangina (fizzy orange juice), I was ready to take this on. We walked into this big auditorium that had like 150 people in it...all speaking different languages. Definitely a unique situation. Anyways, we sat in there for like an hour waiting for Nadia (our international coordinator) to give us a presentation. In the meantime, I met a few new people! Sarah, is from Ole Miss, and she is sooooo fun! Full of energy and her southern charm was definitely appreciated especially seeing as I am a southerner too ;) I also met Monika, who is from Poland! She is sooo nice!!! And I finally met Rosalind, a girl from UofK (I have to distinguish now between UK and UofK because here UK means united kingdom...lame). Anyways, the meeting that we had was completely crazy. Nadia spoke French soooo quickly and I caught maybe half of what she said. UGH! And did I mention how WELL French people dress???? I felt SOOO frumpy in my tennis shoes and crops the other day...it was AWFUL! I never ever thought I'd feel frumpy. On the other hand, after the test, me, Sarah, and Colleen ate lunch at the cafe Flores on campus. It was soo amazing. I guess I'd describe it as Cafe-Ogle-ish? I dunno, but they had great food. I ate a panini du jambon (a grilled sandwich with ham, melty cheese, and tomatoes.) it was DELISH. And I had a banana and a bottle of water. Then we went back to the main building and found out that apparently there is a computer lab for international students. SWEET. But its kind of a long wait to get one. And the French keyboards are sooooooo weird. After that, we had to take this French proficiency exam in the auditorium. It actually wasn't bad...I guess it was about as hard as Dr. Carriere's in 212...but the essay was completely ridiculous...Should there be one language in the EU? No. Easy. But I think I did alright! After the test, Sarah and I went upstairs and I registered with the international office to say that I was there officially and whatnot. They gave me a sweet bag FULL of stuff about Lille and Lille III! I feel so much better about everything that i have to get done. I appreciate the patience that people have had with me back in the States; getting internet is complicated here in France. But I have it :D After registering, me and sarah ventured down to the Ulysees' club room. Ulysees is a club thing for international students and there's this cool cafe/hangout spot for just international students where you can get food and drinks! (Sidenote...there is actually beer on tap at the cafe Flores. true story) anyways, we joined that and started talking to some Lille students hanging out there. One's name is Brian and he actually went to LSU!!! He was SOOOO nice and incredibly helpful. He offered to show me and Sarah how to get to Triolo by walking from Lille and then to the Metro station closest to Triolo. After that long afternoon, Sarah, Rosalind and me went out exploring and found a cool chinese restaurant called Asian (i know, quite original) and had dinner there. The people of Lille are seriously SO cool though. Everyone is quite polite and really helpful! We kind of got lost on our way to the restaurant, so we stopped in a Pharmacy and the pharmacist gave us directions...she was awesome. After dinner, we walked around some more, and the climate is definitely significantly cooler here than in Louisville. WOW. BRRR! But it was quite pleasant. We then went back to Triolo and all sat in Colleen's room for a few hours just talking and laughing like we had been best friends for years...even though we'd only met that day!!! Good times. Gotta love the bonds made with other Americans going through the same thing you are. It's comforting. I slept for 11 hours. Epic.
Day 3: Today was also reeeeeeallly fun. Me, sarah and rosalind decided to meet at noon and then head over to school to get some internet time and I had to take passport pictures...there are literally photobooths EVERYWHERE. i LOVE it! So we spent some time at Lille III and met up with Monika and Colleen. After that, we all went to the Centre Commerical to go to Orange (the AT&T of France) to get cell phones. It actually wasn't too complicated either. Thank goodness. My american cell phone is apparently locked so I had to buy another cell phone but it was waay cheap. I got a prepaid deal, so it was not bad at all. We had to have a french telephone number in order to get internet. yeah, true story. I am definitely starting to feel more comfortable with France now. It's not nearly as overwhelming and I am starting to become familiar with places here. And did i mention that the shopping is AMAZING? It is. Wow. Ok so anyways, I also decorated my room with pics of my friends, Steve, family, KY, etc...It's cute. After Orange, we went and had a cafe (coffee) at a cafe (it is what it is). I had a cafe creme (coffee with milk) and 2 sugars in this tiny little cup but it was delish. There was this cute little French woman sitting next to us (she was probably in her fifties) and she heard us speaking english and started speaking to us in french and was just so fascinated that we were American and one Polish. She told me that i was really pretty! HAhAH! And told Rosalind that she looked like Hillary Clinton...which is odd because Rosalind has red hair...lol. Anyways, she was asking us all about Obama and his healthcare bill, lol. I had actually expected this to happen to us in France. But she was sooo nice and told us how sweet we were and how well we could speak french! I liked being told that by a native...TAKE THAT, AP FRENCH EXAM! After an interesting discussion with the French woman, we headed to Auchan again to get groceries and whatnot. I bought some pots and a bowl, as well as milk and cereal. You wanna know something interesting? They do not refrigerate their milk in France. Its really weird but apparently they don't need to! BTW: Charles de Gaulle is from Lille, and Louis Pasteur went to Lille III. Ok just thought I'd throw that in there. After Auchan, we walked back to Triolo and went our separate ways for the evening. And here I am. That is my life from the past 3 days. Tomorrow I am going to the Braderie tomorrow (it's the biggest flea market in Europe!!) and it's held here in Lille this weekend. I can't wait! I need a new purse...I've been carrying around my red Lille bag...lol! Well I guess that's all i have to say for today. It's been a crazy journey getting here, but I am definitely glad I'm here. :) Bon soir!
Day 1: Arrival into Brussels. My 7 hour flight really wasn't that bad...although my plane was relatively small for a transatlantic flight...and the pregnant italian lady sitting next to me wasn't very friendly...The food on the plane was not the greatest...but what can you do?? Anyways, it was the most gorgeous sunrise and completely clear so that we could see the bright lights of London and Southampton, England below us...it was serioulsy the coolest thing I've ever seen...And flying into Belgium was seriously spectacular...everything is so green and beautiful, I just couldn't believe my eyes! Customs in Brussels was a hassle though...but I met this really sweet American couple who apparently have a daughter that studied in Paris a few years ago before Med School. Anyways, after that I finally found my super huge suitcase and Colleen!! She's my friend who goes to the Univ. of Iowa! We planned to meet up at BRU (Brussels airport) and take the train to Lille together. I was wrong in thinking that navigating Brussels was going to be easy...but then I realized, I don't speak FLEMISH. OMG!!!!! Ridiculous. As we got on the train to get to the Brussels-Midi train station, I started to feel stupid about bringing the biggest suitcase I could...luckily, people were very friendly and I got a few minutes to relax and catch my breath on the train to the station. Brussels is not exactly the most picturesque city in the world, but I did see several lovely buildings! When we got to the Brussels-Midi station, poor Colleen lost a wheel on her suitcase on the way down the stairs...oops. And navigating the train station was also interesting...especially when lugging around a 60lb suitcase and a smaller one. UGH! We bought our TGV (train a grande vitesse) tickets and then finally bought a Coke. I have never needed one more in my whole life. We boarded our train at 11:20am (which, to me, was 5am...without sleep...) I was having a lot of trouble getting my suitcase onboard, but luckily this cute little French family helped me. They were so sweet and their daughter (who was about 3) probably spoke French better than I did! But I managed...when we got to the train station at Lille-Europe, Colleen and I were completely tuckered out. We met Emmanuel, the guy who was going to pick us up. He was so nice and took my big suitcase and we just followed him. He drove this van thing made by Renault...it was so weird! And I think French drivers are craaaazy!!!!! AHH! But we made it to our residence hall, Triolo, in like 15 minutes. The building is seriously confusing. Each section is named after a famous French philosopher, poet, or writer. I live in Stendhal...on the fourth floor. But the thing is, they don't have elevators...Only this tiny winding staircase...it is so lame. I checked in with this red-haired secretary...she wasn't exactly the friendliest...But it's whatever I guess. She gave me a key to my room and a key to my own fridge! Woohoo!! My room is pretty cute though! With TONS of storing space :D (eat your hearts our BU people hahahaha) I also have my own bathroom...but its like a capsule...and the shower is awkward, but i like it! My desk is gi-normus! My bed is like a foam mattress, but after being up for nearly 36 hours, I'll take it :D I sat in my room and kinda freaked out for a few minutes. It's the jetlag...it does things to you. After a quick nap, Colleen and I decided that we wanted to go exploring. The thing is, we had no where to go...We asked the mean red-haired lady where the Metro was and she gave us these odd directions, but we eventually found the centre-ville (like, downtown of our suburb that is called Villeneuve d'Ascq.) We found the Metro and rode it around just to get used to it. Afterwards, we headed to the V2 Centre Commercial (the mall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Seriously, its like heaven to me there. And then we got some pizza at Pizza Pai (Kind of like Sbarro). We then discovered Auchan. Its like the French version of Wal-Mart. It's 2 floors...on the top floor they have like non-food things...I bought a comforter for my bed which turned out to be really thin...lol! I then bought some Special K (and seriously, its soooooooooooooooo good.) Also some H2O and stuff like that. Auchan was seriously crazy. I don't even wanna think about it. We also walked around Villeneuve d'Ascq just to see what we were in for. I really had an overwhelming and stressful day, but it was just that first day experience. I survived.
DAY 2: Thursday was interesting...Colleen and I met at 8 to head over to Lille III (my school, Universite Charles de Gaulle) to take the Test. We met some cool Brazillian girls in the lobby so we all walked over together. The campus of Lille III is really quite dull looking...its kind of like just a bunch of gray buildings with a concrete quad. lol. After downing an Orangina (fizzy orange juice), I was ready to take this on. We walked into this big auditorium that had like 150 people in it...all speaking different languages. Definitely a unique situation. Anyways, we sat in there for like an hour waiting for Nadia (our international coordinator) to give us a presentation. In the meantime, I met a few new people! Sarah, is from Ole Miss, and she is sooooo fun! Full of energy and her southern charm was definitely appreciated especially seeing as I am a southerner too ;) I also met Monika, who is from Poland! She is sooo nice!!! And I finally met Rosalind, a girl from UofK (I have to distinguish now between UK and UofK because here UK means united kingdom...lame). Anyways, the meeting that we had was completely crazy. Nadia spoke French soooo quickly and I caught maybe half of what she said. UGH! And did I mention how WELL French people dress???? I felt SOOO frumpy in my tennis shoes and crops the other day...it was AWFUL! I never ever thought I'd feel frumpy. On the other hand, after the test, me, Sarah, and Colleen ate lunch at the cafe Flores on campus. It was soo amazing. I guess I'd describe it as Cafe-Ogle-ish? I dunno, but they had great food. I ate a panini du jambon (a grilled sandwich with ham, melty cheese, and tomatoes.) it was DELISH. And I had a banana and a bottle of water. Then we went back to the main building and found out that apparently there is a computer lab for international students. SWEET. But its kind of a long wait to get one. And the French keyboards are sooooooo weird. After that, we had to take this French proficiency exam in the auditorium. It actually wasn't bad...I guess it was about as hard as Dr. Carriere's in 212...but the essay was completely ridiculous...Should there be one language in the EU? No. Easy. But I think I did alright! After the test, Sarah and I went upstairs and I registered with the international office to say that I was there officially and whatnot. They gave me a sweet bag FULL of stuff about Lille and Lille III! I feel so much better about everything that i have to get done. I appreciate the patience that people have had with me back in the States; getting internet is complicated here in France. But I have it :D After registering, me and sarah ventured down to the Ulysees' club room. Ulysees is a club thing for international students and there's this cool cafe/hangout spot for just international students where you can get food and drinks! (Sidenote...there is actually beer on tap at the cafe Flores. true story) anyways, we joined that and started talking to some Lille students hanging out there. One's name is Brian and he actually went to LSU!!! He was SOOOO nice and incredibly helpful. He offered to show me and Sarah how to get to Triolo by walking from Lille and then to the Metro station closest to Triolo. After that long afternoon, Sarah, Rosalind and me went out exploring and found a cool chinese restaurant called Asian (i know, quite original) and had dinner there. The people of Lille are seriously SO cool though. Everyone is quite polite and really helpful! We kind of got lost on our way to the restaurant, so we stopped in a Pharmacy and the pharmacist gave us directions...she was awesome. After dinner, we walked around some more, and the climate is definitely significantly cooler here than in Louisville. WOW. BRRR! But it was quite pleasant. We then went back to Triolo and all sat in Colleen's room for a few hours just talking and laughing like we had been best friends for years...even though we'd only met that day!!! Good times. Gotta love the bonds made with other Americans going through the same thing you are. It's comforting. I slept for 11 hours. Epic.
Day 3: Today was also reeeeeeallly fun. Me, sarah and rosalind decided to meet at noon and then head over to school to get some internet time and I had to take passport pictures...there are literally photobooths EVERYWHERE. i LOVE it! So we spent some time at Lille III and met up with Monika and Colleen. After that, we all went to the Centre Commerical to go to Orange (the AT&T of France) to get cell phones. It actually wasn't too complicated either. Thank goodness. My american cell phone is apparently locked so I had to buy another cell phone but it was waay cheap. I got a prepaid deal, so it was not bad at all. We had to have a french telephone number in order to get internet. yeah, true story. I am definitely starting to feel more comfortable with France now. It's not nearly as overwhelming and I am starting to become familiar with places here. And did i mention that the shopping is AMAZING? It is. Wow. Ok so anyways, I also decorated my room with pics of my friends, Steve, family, KY, etc...It's cute. After Orange, we went and had a cafe (coffee) at a cafe (it is what it is). I had a cafe creme (coffee with milk) and 2 sugars in this tiny little cup but it was delish. There was this cute little French woman sitting next to us (she was probably in her fifties) and she heard us speaking english and started speaking to us in french and was just so fascinated that we were American and one Polish. She told me that i was really pretty! HAhAH! And told Rosalind that she looked like Hillary Clinton...which is odd because Rosalind has red hair...lol. Anyways, she was asking us all about Obama and his healthcare bill, lol. I had actually expected this to happen to us in France. But she was sooo nice and told us how sweet we were and how well we could speak french! I liked being told that by a native...TAKE THAT, AP FRENCH EXAM! After an interesting discussion with the French woman, we headed to Auchan again to get groceries and whatnot. I bought some pots and a bowl, as well as milk and cereal. You wanna know something interesting? They do not refrigerate their milk in France. Its really weird but apparently they don't need to! BTW: Charles de Gaulle is from Lille, and Louis Pasteur went to Lille III. Ok just thought I'd throw that in there. After Auchan, we walked back to Triolo and went our separate ways for the evening. And here I am. That is my life from the past 3 days. Tomorrow I am going to the Braderie tomorrow (it's the biggest flea market in Europe!!) and it's held here in Lille this weekend. I can't wait! I need a new purse...I've been carrying around my red Lille bag...lol! Well I guess that's all i have to say for today. It's been a crazy journey getting here, but I am definitely glad I'm here. :) Bon soir!
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