Jours Six et Sept. 6/9/10 et 7/9/10.
Monday morning began our intensive French classes before the start of the regular school year. Christine and I happened to place into the same level, along with fellow ISEP student, Jeremiah. We’ve met a few other classmates, but it doesn’t really help to make the class periods pass any quicker. 9am to 1pm with one break is still pretty unpleasant, even if our instructor looks like Mrs. Seltzer from 7th grade Health class and Oscar from Uruguay interrupts with strange comments pretty frequently. After class on Monday, a ton of the international students were shoved into this awesome café which is run by the organization for international students called Ulysse, but more about Ulysse later. A few people made small presentations/introductions about the sports available to us this week and then for the entire year. It was at this time that we met most of our new friends from the UK (I think) and met our Canadian ISEP student, Lauren. After sports stuff, Christine, Jeremiah, Lauren, and I had lunch with Georgie, Laura, Katie, and Charlotte (Maybe? I think? I’m really sorry if you read this at some point and I’ve gotten your name wrong.. :/) at a little place near to the school. I’m on a tuna craving, seriously. I had wanted it last week, and since I got it at Hippopotamus on Saturday night, I just want it every meal. The food was good, and we had fun getting to know one another a bit more before we ISEP students had to head out and meet our coordinatrice, Isabelle. We didn’t meet Isabelle right away actually, but had to go sort of monetary things with Marine (Or is it Marie-anne?) and then we eventually made it back to Isabelle, set up our bank accounts (which will be ready for operation sometime next week) and then had to fill out registration forms and hand over copies of passports and visas and too many things for me to keep track of, really. The meeting took about 4 hours. Though I wanted to come home and eat, I decided to stick with the 7 ISEP students and walk to the Centre Commercial V2 again (Don’t worry, I successfully avoided Auchan) to find some dinner. Rosalind, Raashnie, and I had some Chinese food, but their pricing per 100 grams really threw us off. Raashnie is the final ISEP student, hailing from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. (I consider it a small triumph. There’s also a guy named Brian who works with Ulysse.. In fact, I really have no idea what he does, but he’s very nice and welcoming… and he’s from Pennsylvania too, except closer to me, from around York. :) Pennsylvanians are clearly going to become as numerous as the Germans, Italians, and Spaniards here. Hah.) I guess if you were here, you’d understand that’s a joke. I suppose it’s mainly because they are three of the really big, populous countries bordering France, but I swear 50% of my French class is Italian, 30% is German, 15% is Spanish, and the remaining 5% of us come from other places… Anyway, had dinner, walked home. Via Skype, I was able to briefly speak to some of my relatives who had been over to celebrate Labor Day at my house.
This morning was more of French class, interrupted by a coffee debacle (Thanks a tonnnnn, Jeremiah, now my bag smells like coffee….) and then we had lunch again with Georgie, Katie, and Laura. More on UK students in a (hopefully) short video to wrap up the post. Following that, I tentatively picked a list of courses to take this fall with Isabelle’s assistance. So far, I’m looking at taking the equivalent of 12 credits in the US system, with this intensive French course (the one I’m in currently, which will go down to 2 hours once a week during the school year), Tandem (a sort of partner thing, where I’ll be paired with a native French speaker learning English), a dual set of English to French and French to English translation courses, a history of the French language course (taught in French, of course…), Arabic (though I’m unsure if I’ll be able to enter into their second year course, I’m really thinking about brushing up on what I learned last year..) and some sort of Ancient Egypt/Egyptian history/Egyptian religion course. I also think I might audit beginning Hebrew to be able to learn it without the stress of grading and credit transfer, but it really depends on how the rest of my courses go.
Oh, and I tried to send out my immigration forms and things at what I believed to be a post office (it wasn’t) and the lady told me to go somewhere else (a post office I don’t know how to get to) but probably not today since everyone is striking all over France. If you haven’t heard, the French government wants to raise the age at which one can retire/receive pension from 60 to 62 in an attempt to save money. I figure it sounds like a pretty decent idea, but the US already has the age set at 65. French people are pretty touchy about their lifestyles and that they have a lot of time off for vacation during the year, not as many hours in a work week, etc, etc, so I guess it’s not too ridiculous that they’re against this as well.
Sidenote: Ulysse at Lille is going to be great, I hope. I signed up today. They organize some parties, trips within France (Paris, Aix la Chappelle, Versailles, and Disneyland Paris) and even trips abroad to Brussels, Luxembourg, London, Amsterdam, Bruges, Cologne, Venice, and very possibly Prague. Organized trips for a set fee and with a set number of available spots to go. It sounds pretty cheap and pretty great to be able to have transportation figured out for us and to be able to go traveling with my new friends!
Here goes my video, I think it was a bit necessary, just to explain things quickly:
I hope you’re all enjoying reading my updates. They’re really entertaining to write, to be honest, and it’s quite nice to know someone is there reading from across the ocean, wanting to know what life is like here in Lille and how I’m adjusting.
A bientôt.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Sunday, September 5, 2010
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:
:)
Friday, September 3, 2010
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.
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.
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.
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