Jours Trois, Quatre, et Cinq.

Jours Trois, Quatre, et Cinq. 3/9/10, 4/9/10, et 5/9/10.

Friday morning, I met up with Monika and we walked to campus together. I needed to meet the international relations people and say I was here and okay and everything. I received a nice little bag (it’s red) and it was full of maps and information packets about Lille, Villeneuve D’ascq, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Université Lille III, just…everything. Very handy. I read through a lot of it last night. Turns out that Lille has the largest youth population in France.

(Bonjour, mes amies!)

We met up with Rosalind, Christine, and Sarah and had another lunch on campus, and then came back before going to the Centre Commercial V2 (again) to go shopping and get our phones. The actual process of getting a sim card and minutes worked out pretty okay for me since we had unlocked my phone internationally before I came, but the three other American girls ended up buying a cheap French phone along with the other two. They really like their phones, so no big deal. :) Having the phone allowed me to set up internet, and I spent the rest of the evening talking to people from home, people not from home, my parents, whatever. I feel like an addict. Ahaha. I finally summoned the courage to go down to our little kitchen and cook myself an egg for dinner. As I was starting, I had to ask a girl for help figuring out which knob controlled which burner. She explained, introduced herself as Assim from Kazakhstan, and then said she lived across the hall if I needed anything. I cut off a little sliver of butter, put it in my pan, and waited for it to start melting. I waited a long time. Probably 10 minutes. Then I touched the burner, it didn’t seem very warm, so I tried the other burner. I waited another 10 minutes. I moved things around, changed the level of heat on the dial, everything. I looked up and saw a button near the stove. I thought to myself, “Hey, maybe I need to press that to turn it on!” and then I thought to myself, “Maybe not, I bet it could be an alarm or something…”. I didn’t press it. After another 5+ minutes, I ventured over to the door I assumed to be Assim’s and knocked; Assim didn’t answer however, another girl did. Assim peeked around the corner and said her friend would help me, which she did. Turns out, I really did need to press that button. After that though, the burners heated quickly, I made myself a scrambled egg, and was successful (at least a little) at cooking for myself for the first time.

Yesterday was the Braderie, the biggest flea market in Europe. Several of us went on the metro to get to the center of Lille, and just…wow. The buildings are beautiful and tall and narrow. The streets are still cobblestone in lots of places. Downside? Everything was so, so, so, so, so cramped. A couple million tourists? Yes. Overwhelming. We had to walk terribly slowly, which was alright while we were browsing, but frustrating when we just wanted to leave and get back to the metro (to me, at least). We stopped at a small café for lunch, and Rosalind and I had our first croque monsieurs (basically a delicious grilled ham and cheese sandwich). We spent hours walking around random streets and looking at the vendors’ items. We all bought a few things. I found myself a lovely green and black scarf, a bag, and some yummy candy (please see video). I think the strangest part of Le Braderie was the number of Native Americans. It really threw me for a loop, but probably 50% of the vendors were selling ponchos and bags and hats in a style I would consider Native American of both North and South America. And, as we were navigating our way out, we passed a huge street performance on flutes by people in full headdresses and things. It seemed very bizarre to me, but maybe the French really find the culture exotic and interesting? I haven’t a clue, really.

(Bonjour, millions of people and la Braderie!)

Monika left us at metro, and Rosalind, Sarah, Christine and I went to Hippopotamus (most excellently named restaurant ever? I think so.) for dinner. I had this delicious “tartare des tomates avec le thon” (tuna on a chopped up bed of tomatoes) and we all split our first crème brûlée (a vanilla custard with caramelized sugar on top) and a plate of 5 chocolate desserts.

Last night was the first time I really felt… alone and strange. Maybe it’s because my room is so small, and seems so cold at night. Maybe it’s because it’s finally sinking in that I’m halfway across the world. I stayed up late to talk to people and try and cheer up, and slept until almost 1pm.. I would’ve stayed in bed longer, but decided that with the start of things tomorrow, I might as well get up and be awake so I can sleep tonight. On the menu for dinner this fine evening in Lille? An egg and a piece of bread with some of that yummy jam spread on it. :)

Tomorrow begins our week of intensive French classes. Our placement tests have (presumably) been graded and we’ve been sorted into varying levels of competency. We’ll be working in small classes, I assume, with other international students from 9am until 1pm every day this week, followed by informational sessions, tours, etc. Tomorrow, the ISEP students have a meeting with the coordinator here at Lille, and we’ll hopefully be getting a lot more information about the steps for immigration, national health insurance, opening our bank accounts, and picking our classes. I’m already anxious and nervous about the exams, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m trying to remain calm.

(Au revoir!)

Please enjoy the photos I’ve stolen from my friends and placed into the written update, and this super awesome video I made of my room:

:)

Jour Deux.

Jour deux. 2/9/10.

Très fatiguée. Je suis trop fatiguée.
Last night, Christine and I finally gathered the courage to ask the red-headed lady at the front desk how we get to the metro…and it’s a good thing we did! We braved the metro together, found Université Lile III’s campus (just off of the metro stop at Pont de Bois), and then took a metro in the wrong direction before getting back. We went to le Centre Commercial V2, located at the Hotel de Ville station. We had some absolutely delicious pizza for dinner and I had never been in an Auchan before, and I’m not so sure I want to make it a regular happening. It’s a super Wal-Mart on les drogues français ou quelque chose comme ça. The Auchan in the mall is 2 floors. Haut: clothing, cooking/kitchen, bed/bath, school supplies, books (and while there today, I did indeed spy the rest of the Harry Potter series that I need to buy...), cars, luggage (good to know, as my suitcase broke on the journey over), and, well, vraiment presque tout. Bas: food, makeup and toiletries, cleaning, et presque tout les choses qui n’étaient en haut. The entire experience was overwhelming. I tend to loathe going grocery shopping with my parents, and I’ve never had to go grocery shopping by myself or for myself. That has certainly changed. Last night, I bought some awesome Special K cereal (with both French and Arabic on the box), some small, unrefrigerated bottles of milk (I DID refrigerate after opening though, as directed), a loaf of bread (“style américain”), hand soap (note to self and others: don’t buy vanilla scented handsoap; it just makes you want to eat vanilla flavored things as soon as you use it…), toilet paper (buying my own makes me feel weird and grown-up), yogurts (“yaourt” may be one of my favorite French words), and confiture trois fruits (it’s just fruit preserves/jam, mais delicieux!). Glad I can take care of the basics for myself… I happened to go back to Auchan today, and I managed to spend too much time there, to buy cooking supplies (a pot, a set of two skillet things, a spatula –red!, and a lid), some trashcan bags, and eggs (which I can now cook with my cooking supplies!), to be approached and asked if we (myself and another girl) would like to sign up for Auchan Rapide (a sort of…personal price gun thing to total the costs as you go, and then you basically just print and present a receipt plus rapide than going through a regular check out. We said no, but only after we stared at him blankly, he asked where we were from and kind of stared and decided to explain in French anyway…), to get lost/separated from the group of four other girls with whom I went, to correctly tell the man in line behind me what time it was (I probably wouldn’t have noticed what he was asking if he didn’t point to his wrist –sans montre) to accidentally make the cashier think I was harboring stolen goods in my green backpack (“Excusez-moi, est-ce que je peut voir votre sac?” “Oh, désolée, désolée!” –Smooth.), and to find Monika, the Polish girl who had disappeared within Auchan while we were shopping with three Brazilian girls (Carina, Christiane, and Taynà, the last of whom lives practically just across from my room), and to almost forget my eggs (thank goodness for Monika!) So yes, in all, Auchan is a place I don’t want to visit too frequently.
But enough of Auchan. This morning, Christine and I met the aforementioned three Brazilian girls and the Polish girl and led them to the university via metro. We arrived without problem, found the room for our test, discovered that our test would be in the afternoon, and waited for a welcoming/informational session to begin. Mainly confusing and completely in French, the session felt long and made me more tired than I really wanted. Afterwards, we ventured into the newly re-opened CROUS restaurant (Cheddar panini? Delicious.) and the computer area for International Relations. Our test lasted nearly two hours and was nothing short of unpleasant and tedious, complete with fill in the blanks, a short answer, and a great little essay complete with six arguments and three examples of a side about whether or not the European Union should have just one language. I lost everyone but Carina, Christane, Taynà, and Monika after the test, and so we walked back to our dorm, gathered our things, and went back to the Auchan, which I’ve already described. I tried to buy a French sim card and minutes for my phone, but the man wanted my passport and I will have to try again tomorrow, this time with my passport. Also tomorrow morning, a trip with Monika over to the International Relations office so I can introduce myself and get lots of wonderful information about school, Lille/Villeneuve D’ascq and use the computers. Once I do get my French cell number, I will be able to have 24h internet access (Libre! C’est bien!) and then subscribe for internet in my room for 20€ a month.
An aside:
Today at Auchan (See, it’s overwhelming: taking over my daily trips, my money, and my blog post…), Taynà pointed out Becherelles (I think?) dictionaries and grammar books, telling me how cheap it was here for €89, because in Brazil, they cost 50 (I can’t even imagine how to spell the currency of Brazil, and without internet, it is not easily available, so forgive me, s’il vous plait.). I thought I was misunderstanding, because Taynà kept going on about it not being as expensive as Brazil. It wasn’t until about 2 minutes of her going on I realized that the Euro symbol (€) comes AFTER the main amount of money, and it was really 7€89, not simply €89. Now I’ve noticed at least, so I’ll stop thinking of it like the $ which comes before every number…

Rosalind, Sarah, and Christine (the three other girls from the US and ISEP that I’ve met) just stopped by, saying they’d been looking for my most of the day. We’ve been talking for a very long time, and it’s now 11:22. I’m exhausted, but can sleep in a bit tomorrow. I’m actually looking forward to a bowl of cereal in the morning, this time with cold milk.

This weekend is the famous Braderie, a giant flea-market/festival thing throughout Lille. We’re really looking forward to going and buying souvenirs/useful items. It lasts the entire weekend, and I’m excited to go see downtown Lille and old Lille, as we live and will go to school in a smaller (but still very pleasant) suburb, Villeneuve D’ascq. I’m also going to try and get in touch with my penpal Camille, as soon as I have internet, to see if she’ll show us some interesting, local (and possibly inexpensive) restaurants, grocery stores, places to relax, etc.
Alors, c’est tout. This language thing is getting to me already. I keep throwing French words into English sentences, or the inverse, without noticing right away. I told my story about the Auchan Rapide man by telling the ISEP girls, “It’s an inscription…..What? I mean registration for…” I also said something along the lines of, “We should wait for her ici.” I suppose that mean something in my brain is working, yeah? Oui? Oh, and more languages? All around. Taynà taught me, “Oi. Como vai voče?” and she, Carina, Christine and I have all studied Italian, so when we talk about it we use that too. So much German and Italian that I’ve noticed, outside of French. Even some girls from somewhere in the UK with very…distinctive accents. It really makes me wonder what other people think, or if they really understand, if we use English in public, or if they hear us stuttering through French (as I do with Monika and Taynà, as they aren’t so comfortable with English and I clearly know nothing more than a few words of Polish or French. But enough.
Sleep. Le sommeil. Even without Ben the Frog and with only one pillow and a foam mattress, sleep comes easily in my exhaustion.
Bonne nuit.

Jour Un.

Jour Un. 1/9/2010.

I couldn’t sleep on the plane. I tried and tried, I really did. My eyes were heavy, my body wanted sleep. I couldn’t supply. I probably managed a total hour of the trip asleep/napping; the other seven were basically spent staring blankly or having my eyes closed, wishing I could sleep.
Customs was no problem at all, neither was claiming my checked bag. I ended up having to wait more than an hour to get to meet Christine, the ISEP student from Bellarmine University in Kentucky. We went downstairs to get tickets for the train, which was an interesting experience. After we made it to Gare Bruxelles-Midi , we spent a lot of time trying to figure out ticketing and then our actual train platform. We made side trips for some coca-cola and the bathrooms (paying .50€? Ridiculous Europeans..) and made it to our TGV to Lille just in time. We were in separate cars. I asked a young man for help to tell me if I was getting into the right car and how to read the seats, and a nice elderly man helped me figure out where to put my bags. I was really confused trying to make it off the train at Gare Lille-Europe, but a nice girl probably my age or a little older offered to take my carryon so I could manage to get off. I met up with Christine again, and then we went to find Emmanuel (the man wearing “une veste beige”). Successful. He drove (quite insanely) down some French streets and asked a few questions, led us to our residence hall and showed us our rooms. Rooms? Tiny. Tiiiiny. Lots of storage space, honestly, but tiny. A girl who studied here before said the bathroom made her feel like an astronaut, and … Let’s just say it’s “One small step for Europeans, one giant leap for Colleen.”
Christine and I are going to investigate a little bit, try and find some dinner and groceries and figure out how in the world we’re meant to get to campus tomorrow for our French placement exam (10am. Wonderful.) and our orientation/introduction type things.
Some downers:
-I broke my suitcase. Twice. A wheel popped off while we were taking a ton of steps down in a train station. When I started unpacking things, I discovered another foot of the suitcase has been broken off and the other is only half on. Too rough trying to use public transportation with a 50 pound suitcase, a 30 pound carryon, and a huge backpack, I guess.
-The ONE stupid bottle I should have wrapped in a bag, I didn’t. And it exploded. Actually, I don’t even think it exploded. It was body wash and I think that the top must’ve pressed open. Everything inside my toiletries bag was soaked, as were a few clothes items (only three really, luckily). I spent all my unpacking time hand-washing everything in my little astronaut sink. My room smells like the body wash though, so.. that’s a plus?
-I don’t have an awesome view out of my window, just some fire exit stairs (I think).
-There was a little flyer for 24 hours of free internet at the front desk, but it ran out yesterday and I don’t know how I’m supposed to get internet in my room.
-My building is sooooo confusing. And the steps are tiny. And spirally. I almost died getting up here, and I’m on the 1st floor (by French standards. That’s 2nd floor, for you Americans.) Pauvre, pauvre Christine is all the way up on the 4th (Now remember, that means 5th) floor in another part of the building.
-My room is basically part of the stairwell and there’s an entretien (janitor’s closet) next to me. Cool.
-I’ve spent all my allotted time before 3:30 (it’s 3:10) unpacking and quickly typing this up. This means no nap, I guess. :[ I woke up around 8am EST Tuesday morning, and it is now 9am EST Wednesday. I’m exhausted.
Some uppers(?):
-The only time I’ll have to use that suitcase again is when I come home or when I go off to Israel, ideally, and it smells lovely.
-Not a lot of my things were ruined, just … kind of soapy.
-I have a window. And it is beauuuutiful out. Probably 70 and sunny and breezy.
-This morning, I stared out the window and watched the sun rise over England. And France. And the English Channel. Amazing.
- I watched the end of Happy Gilmore in French on the flight, which is still making me laugh. (“‘Appee! ‘Appee!”
-Having a friend here (Christine!) is really making everything a lot more comfortable. I’m glad we were able to talk about studying abroad, what to do, where to go, how to meet and now we can brave it all together, and maybe with a few more people once we meet them.
-Even though I have knots of anxiety and butterflies in my stomach, I believe that this can be a really great year for me.

A tout à l’heure.

Day of Departure

So. My bags are packed. I went down to a smaller suitcase because the large one was throwing on extra weight I didn't want to have complicate baggage regulations. My carryon is stuffed full, and I'm afraid of how much my backpack will weigh, but I packed it full of Arabic notes, my French Harry Potter books, an iPod Touch I've bought from my brother and named Mr. Touchy-Feely, and some other things. I need some snacks. And I brought all of that in case I don't sleep, but if I don't sleep, it'll be me awake for a good 24+ hours.. I won't get into (one of) Lille's train station(s) until what is really 6am EST. Then I've to go figure out other things and ahhhh!

It's okay. It's going to be okay.

It's almost 10am, I woke up around 7 and couldn't sleep after a weird dream combined with my anxiety. Today, I leave for France. I've been waiting so long and I'm so excited, but my nerves are killing me. My stomach is in knots. All I've been able to think are all the possibilities of things and plans going wrong, not just for travel, but also for the entire study abroad session. 10 months is a long time. 10 months gives me a lot of opportunities to screw up and and to end up hating everything.

But I guess 10 months is also a lot of time to take a breath, think rationally, and have a wonderful time. I hope that by the end of the 10 months, I won't want to come back, but I will be prepared to come back and tell everyone about my stay.

I guess it's really just going to be another 10 months until I see which happens.

But I'm hoping for the latter option.

Preparation Panic

Bonsoir, bonsoir, jusqu'au "au revoir"...

Today is August 18th. My flight is August 31st. That's 13 days from now.
18, 31, 13. Ridiculous. It feels so close, too soon. I'm starting to panic.

That's me. I always panic. I'm such a hardline, efficient type of person that the least bit of uncertainty makes me panic. I've planned everything as well as I could, right?

My parents are taking me to the airport. I'll arrive in Brussels at 7:30am on the 1st of September (HELLO, BASICALLY LIKE GOING TO HOGWARTS ON THE FIRST DAY OF SEPTEMBER!). I'll get my bags, go through customs, and meet my new friend Christine (!) at the bottom level of the airport. We'll take the train to Brussels-Midi station, and then another train to Lille-Europe station. We've emailed the International Relations/Incoming department at Lille 3 to let them know we're arriving at the train station in Lille at 12pm on the button. Then... Then things are bit up in the air.

I don't know if people from the school will be taking us onto the campus, or to our residence hall. (Katie Wollan, if you're reading this, I hope you know that I now call it a 'residence hall' instead of a 'dorm' because of you..) I don't know when we'll be able to go shopping, or where to go shopping, or how to really situate myself upon arrival. I'm supposed to go with the flow, but that's always the one thing with which I'm the least comfortable. I'll learn. I have to learn.

That's the whole point of going, really. I want to be able to learn to control myself rather than the situations around me.

In other news, I have been commanded (by my loving parents) to clean out/tear apart my room. A week or two ago, I went through all my clothing. I have this problem where I will slowly acquire articles of clothing little by little, just a few a year, but never throw a thing away. I really did just sit in my room. I've gotten rid of 75% of my clothes, honestly. Donating about 75% OF that 75% and am throwing the others out because they're useless or ripped apart and things. It was exhausting and distressing...so then I went out and bought some newer clothes. ;] This morning, I wrapped up and packed away snow globes and music boxes and little figurines that had been given to me as gifts when I was little. I feel there's still so much to do, but I'm so lazy and resistant to actually going through my belongings bit by bit. I can't let myself run out of time.

13 days.

Since the last post...

I've opened up a checking account and ordered a debit card, two things I'd never done before. It was pretty simple, though my name is written last name first on my card... Dad added me to his American Express credit card account and just got me a card, in case something really large or an emergency comes up. My dad's cosigned to my savings and checking accounts, and I'm on his credit card, just in case we need money transferred while I'm in France.
My visa worked out completely and looks very nice stamped into my passport.
I'm finally active on Lille 3's social networking group, which has been pretty interesting so far.
I watched Amélie. (That counts for something, right?)

And today, I ordered 1000 euros. I debated waiting to exchange my dollars for euros.. At Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and AAA, the exchange rate is pretty competitive at $1.35 for every 1Euro. So in all, I lost about $350 in the transaction. I decided on the 1000Euros cash to take, for a few reasons:
-I have to pay for French health insurance when I get there: 200Euros
-I have to pay a housing deposit when I get there: 200Euros
-I'm trying to decide on whether I should just get an unlimited student metro pass for 10 months: less than 200Euros
-The French bank account I'm required to open (for direct deposits of my meal and housing stipends from Lille 3) may take a few weeks to actually set, so I should have spending money for my meals when I arrive, just in case: 200Euros?!!?
-The hugest, apparently most awesome flea-market type festival thing ever ever in Europe/the WORLD (maybe I'm exaggerating) is in Lille during the first weekend of September, and helloooooooo, I'll want to buy things: !?!!??!

SO YEAH. It seems like a lot of money. It totally is a lot of money. But I have my reasons, and it should all work out.


Coming up:

Tomorrow night, my family is taking a family portrait for the first time since I was born, probably. My dad knows a lady who's giving us a discount, blahblah. We're making it a family night and ordering pizza and stromboli (Mmmmmm...) and maybe watching a movie.
I currently have plans to spend this Friday with some pals in New York City. I am obsessed with going to Central Park for a while. :D
I have a doctor's appointment on the 23rd, a dentist appointment on the 25th.
I'm going to attempt packing my bags a few times to see which items I can take, how much extra room I have, how much...uh, not extra room I have, if I should bring some more personal items/comforts from home/whatever.
My mom's side of the family is having a "Bon Voyage, Colleen" party on the 28th. We're making a rainbow cake. (Google it.) ((And yes, my mom is beside herself with pride for calling it a 'bon voyage' party...))



That's all, that's all. This feels too much, but I'm really hoping this blog can be a resource for any students going on an ISEP program or any sort of France exchange program in the future.

I'll hopefully update right before I leave with some more concrete information and updates.