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 :)
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