In (and out of) Bruges

Hallo iedereen! Bonjour a tous! Hello everyone! So this weekend was my first fin de semaine leaving the country and what better place to start traveling Europe than Belgium?! Due to the fact that it's only an hour and a half away to get to Bruges, it made for a perfect one night getaway. Driving an hour and a half away from Tatamagouche ALMOST gets you to Halifax. Here, it can get you to another country. Europe is wonderful. Saturday morning myself and two other Canadian girls went to Lille Flandres to buy our weekend passes. Upon buying my ticket, I came to discover that it would only cost 20 euros to go there and back. Crazy! 20 euros, another country... deal! The train ride was nice and short and we got to see a more rural side of France and Belgium. Some was nice, some not so much. Once we got to Bruges we hopped on a bus and asked the bus driver if he spoke English and if he could help us. He replied "English, French, Spanish, you name it!" It's so amazing to me that so many people in Europe can speak multiple languages. I would be happy if I could fluently speak French, let alone four different languages! I guess with the different lifestyles and close proximity, it's only natural. It took us approximately 15 mins to reach our stop and when we did, there were two girls from Argentina who were going to the same hostel, so we found it together. I was actually really surprised at the shape the hostel was in. It was my first experience staying in one and I wasn't disappointed. We shared a room with an American, three Australians, and two Brazilians. After checking in and getting ourselves situated, we took out our map and made our way to the centre of Bruges. We ran into the girls from Argentina again so we decided to explore and take pictures together. I couldn't (and still can't) believe how beautiful Bruges is. It is an adorable city. The cobblestone roads, gable roofs, old architecture, and canals made for an extremely picturesque place. After wandering around and looking touristy (which was what the majority of the people in Bruges looked like), we decided it was time to get something to eat. After passing multiple tourist traps, we decided on a little stand that had hot dogs, burgers, and fries. The three of us got fries which were delicious! They come with different sauce options too. So good! We then made our way back to the hostel so we could meet the three other Canadians, an English girl, and a Hungarian guy who drove into Bruges. Once we met them, the eight of us decided to take the free 2 hour tour that the hostel provides. During the tour, we learned about the old buildings, where they shot scenes from the movie "In Bruges," where to eat, some history, etc. It was a great way to learn about the city. We also stopped at a bar called Druid's Cellar for about 20 minutes so everyone could have a drink. Most people opted for a beer that you could only get at that bar but I was unsure as to what to get as I am not a beer fan. Due to the fact that we were in Belgium, I felt like I couldn't not get a beer, so I asked the tour guide and he suggested a cherry beer. To my surprise, I actually liked it and drank it all. I'm thinking I could handle it because it only has a hint of the beer taste haha. Hey, at least I can say I had a beer in Belgium! Once the tour dispersed and we thanked our tour guide, we decided to head to another bar. As there was no room at the bar that carried an 12% beer, we just went to one with enough room to fit eight people. After a few drinks, we tried the first bar again but it had closed. The boys in the group decided to go for walk around but the girls decided we were too cold to walk (it was freezing the WHOLE time) and we went back to the hostel. In the morning we all got up and took off in search of a good waffle place. Gotta have a waffle if you're in Belgium! I ordered a waffle with fresh strawberries and a hot chocolate. It was expensive, but so worth it. Next we walked around the city to sightsee and take more pictures. We also got to see Michaelangelo's Madonna and Child, the only piece that left Italy after his death. It was smaller than I expected but the detail was amazing! It was awesome to see a piece of history. After that we walked around in search of the only brewery in Bruges - "De Haalve Man," which translates to the half moon. We just missed a tour so we thought it would be a good idea to go get some Belgian chocolate while we waited for the next one in an hour. I bought two little chocolates for 1 euro. I forget what was in them but they were delicious. One was in the shape of a mouse so I of course got that one, regardless of what it was filled with. We then walked back to the brewery for a 45 minute tour. Again, I am not a beer fan, so my favourite part of the tour was when we stood on the roof of the building and got a stunning panoramic view of Bruges. Our last stop of the day was to see the windmills. It was around 5pm when we decided to was time to head home to Lille. Luckily, Bruges isn't a big city so we were able to walk around and basically see everything in two days. It's a great city to go to first if you don't have a lot of travel experience (like me). It's a good way to get into the swing of things. We parted ways with the five who came in the car and took the bus back to the train station. We got there in time for the next train that was due to leave in 15 minutes. Because the names were all in Dutch, we had to ask someone at information for help. We were getting fries again when we realized she said something about switching trains but we didn't quite catch it. We got back in a different line and asked a man for the details and he said we didn't have to switch trains, so we boarded our train ready for the hour and a half journey home. The expected hour and a half turned into 3 hours. Something wasn't right, all the signs were still in Dutch. One of the other Canadian girls took out her map and discovered we had travelled all the way to Brussels and we were on our way back to Bruges again. Awesome. We decided it would be best if we got off in Ghent and try to catch another train to Lille. We unfortunately missed the train which normally wouldn't have been a problem because they don't stop until midnight but it was just our luck that the transportation in all of Belgium was going on strike from 10pm that night until January 31st. Double awesome. Our only options were to spend two nights in Ghent and get a train after the strike OR take an expensive cab to Lille. The first option would have been impossible because there was a huge festival taking place in Ghent. We never would have been able to find accommodations on such short notice. We also figured that spending two more nights would have been more expensive than splitting a cab ride three ways so, we chose the latter. We asked how much it would cost to get to Lille and the cab driver said he could do it for 120 euros. One of the Canadians, impressively, got him to take us for 100 euros. Our cheap weekend ended up costly much more than expected but at least we were getting to go home. After arriving in Lille we thanked the cab driver and decided to take the metro to residence instead of walking the 25 minutes because at this point, we were exhausted. At the end of the day, I figured that at least we got to experience something going wrong and know that we could handle it. Better to stay on the sunny side of the adventure than dwell on the mishaps of the trip. Overall, it was a wonderful weekend. I can't wait for my next trip which just so happens to be Austria! Yay! 

Afscheid, au revoir, and goodbye :)

Ps, sorry for the novel of a post!

Fallen Empires

Salut mon amis! This past Friday was my first night going out with only French people and it was an absolute blast. One of my classmates messaged me to hang out with her and some of the other girls in the class for the night. I of course said yes. Before going out to three different bars, I went to their place which was less than a minute walk from my place. I was nervous about the possibility of not being able to find it easily until I realized how close it was. All of them could speak fluent English which was great as my French is pretty rusty. That, and I am nervous to speak the French I do know. I plan on getting over that by the end of the month! After some great hospitality, we drove to the area where all the bars are. Let me just say, I don't know how people here manage to squeeze their cars into such tiny spaces. I don't know if I could ever drive here. I guess if I plan on living in France someday, that's probably something I would have to get used to. The first bar we went to was called Magnum. It was ridiculously crowded. We didn't stay long there because we were approached and told that we had to have a drink if we were going to stay. Next was Le National, a club with several stages, grey goose decor, and dark red velvet couches. To my surprise, the girls informed me that at this particular bar on Fridays, they serve women free champagne until 2am. Good strategy to get both guys and girls to come to the club. After having some champagne and dancing a lot, we moved on to Smile, one of the most popular clubs in Lille. Like Magnum, Smile was very crowded, but still a great deal of fun! There was a mix of French and English music which I really enjoyed. The selection of English music was both interesting and awesome. The songs varied from a Grease medley to The Beatles. I didn't know any of the French songs but I improvised. The girls told me that when they are singing along to an English song and they don't know the words, they just sort of hum along and make up the words. They compare it to eating yogurt because when you try to speak while eating yogurt, your words are unclear. I found the comparison both clever and hilarious. So, as the French songs were playing, I was the one who sounded like I was eating yogurt. I did, however, learn the chorus to one song that went "je ne suis pas un heros." I enjoyed trying to learn the lyrics :) At around 2:30/3am, we decided to call it a night and walked home. Saturday I spent the day relaxing and watching movies. On Sunday, I took my second ever trip to the Wazemmes open air market. This time I bought carrots, strawberries, and apples. After about a half hour of pushing my way through the crowds, I was getting overwhelmed so I decided to head back to my room. The market is great to get a rotisserie chicken or fresh produce but it can be stressful due to the vast amounts of people. Today, Monday, I had my first class at l'Universite Catholqiue de Lille or, the "Catho" - business negotiation. It was almost as thrilling as the name! It was basically a 2 hour class of fill in the blanks and matching business terms with their definitions. At least it will be an easy exam, j'espere! After class I got a delicious sandwich avec jambon, fromage, et cruditees (lettuce, tomatoes, and egg), a coke, and a pain au chocolat for dessert. I had a meeting at ISTC to arrange to extend my visa at 2pm and then I went to Carrefour for some groceries. I still find grocery shopping here pretty interesting, I mean, there's a whole isle devoted to cheese. How does one choose!? I have class again tomorrow (another early morning to look forward to...) but other than that there isn't much planned for the week. Guess I'll just play it by ear :)

Bonsoir a tous! 

Burgundy Pants!

Alright, so I have finally figured out my courses! I am now taking four courses at ISTC - communication internationale, communication interne, mecenat et sponsoring, and communcation et development durable, two courses at l'Universite Catholique de Lille - buisness negotiation, and intercultural communication, AND I'm taking the distance course "Love" from the Mount. Phew, glad to have that all sorted out! Since my "les soldes"post, I haven't been doing too much. I had a really relaxed weekend that consisted of sleeping and eating. I was going to go to the market on Sunday but when my alarm went off, I really didn't feel like getting up. Later on in the day I realized that I should have gone to get some food because there really isn't much open on Sundays. I survived though! On Monday I went to Carrefour to get some groceries. One thing I was sure to pick up was honey nut cheerios. Since I've come here, I've been so addicted to them. They taste different than they do at home. I love them in Canada too but they taste better here in my opinion. Another thing I've been eating a lot of is bread with nutella. Now I know I can do this at home too but the bread is sooo much better here. Absolutely delicious! On Tuesday I had my second class since I got here but this time it did not go by as fast. Halfway through I got extremely bored and just wanted to take a nap. Good thing I only had one class this week! That night I went out with some friends to the bar, Les Pirates. We ran there because we only had 5 minutes before happy hour ended. We arrived just in time to order the 2 euro 50 "jupiler" beer. I was feeling adventurous so I decided to get one. An hour and a half into the night and I was still only about 1/4 way through my beer. Looks like I'm not even going to be able to make myself like beer in France. After Les Pirates we went to a friends place for a few drinks. I ended up getting back to my room around 2:30am or 3am. I was one of the ones who left "early" too. There are two other Canadian girls who live in my residence so it's nice to have someone to walk back with late at night as I've heard it is not safe to walk alone after dark here. On Wednesday, there was a mixer for students in my year at ISTC. I got to meet a lot of nice people who were extremely welcoming. We all walked to a bar called "La Pearl" and had a few drinks. I settled for a coke of course. It was really nice to socialize with my classmates because I have only really met two of them officially. They introduced me to "saucisson," which dry sausage. It was so delicious! Today I woke up fairly late and took my time getting ready for the day. I didn't have anywhere I needed to be so I decided to go check out some stores around Grand Place. I got some postcards (which I plan on sending once I find where to do that haha), a shirt, and a pair of burgundy pants! I've been eyeing them since I got here and I finally bought a pair. I'm really happy with them :) I AGAIN found a jacket that I would have loved to buy but AGAIN, it wasn't in my size. It was the perfect style, color, and it was only 50 euros with 50% off! I'm sure I'll find what I'm looking for eventually. Tonight, I am taking it easy and catching up on some shows. I think tomorrow a bunch of us are going out so I'm going to need my sleep!

A la prochaine!

LES SOLDES!

Still in the process of figuring out my courses. ISTC is seeing if I can take courses at l'Universite Catholique de Lille. If that's not possible, then I am probably going to take distance courses from the Mount. Everything happens for a reason, so I am just trying to go with the flow! In other news, I spent a good 4 hours at Euralille, a mall here, today. Since today was the start of the "solde," there were SO. MANY. PEOPLE. I think I spent the majority of my time in a line. There were some crazy sales too. For the most part, it seemed to be 30-50% off (as I mentioned in my last post) but some places had up to 80% off. I ended up buying 4 shirts, 2 scarves, and a pair of sneakers. I still want to buy a bag/purse, boots, a Lille football (changed my lingo while here) jersey, and a jacket. I found the most amazing jacket that was exactly what I had been looking for but the only sizes left were small and large. Sad. I'm hoping I can find a similar one elsewhere. I'm sure I'll be able to find one seeing as I will now be here until the end of May/beginning of June. I guess I should explain that. So I could get more credits here, I had to sign up for a course that has an exam at the end of May so I'll be staying even longer! Both exciting and sad as I absolutely love France but I miss my friends and family. Now, back to the mall. Not only was I having fun shopping the sales, but I was having fun people watching too. Everyone is so fashionable here... well, almost everyone! I got a lot of ideas for things I wanted to buy from people I have seen since I have been here. Everyone at school is really fashionable too. I don't think anyone here would ever be caught dead wearing jogging pants to school. At exam time, the Mount tends to be a sea of people in sweats. I didn't bring a single pair of sweats but I'm still scared I look like a slob haha. Tomorrow I am going to meet up with a girl who went to high school with my friend from the Mount! Small world!

Au revoir!

Premier jour de classe - first day of class

Just as the title of this post says, today was my first day of class - communication internationale. It was a lot different than I expected. In orientation, international students were told that in class, barely anyone speaks. This was not the case for my class. I guess I'm not in typical French classes though. ISTC is a private school and I am taking classes in English so perhaps that is why it was different. It was a 3 hour long class but it went by pretty quickly. A girl who did an exchange at the Mount last semester was in my class which was a nice surprise. It was great to see someone I knew and to have someone who could introduce me to other people. We started class off with a little multiple choice quiz to see how much we knew about other cultures. Due to the fact that I was the only one in the room who had English as their first language, I was the first one done. The professor came up to me and asked if I was finished and I said yes. When it was time to answer the questions, I was the first person she called on. She said she wanted "the girl who was done forever" to go... embarrassing. Guess I dove into class head first! After the first hour and a half of class we took a break and another girl came up to me and introduced herself. She was extremely nice and she told me she liked my accent haha. She said that at first she thought I was American but the more I spoke, the more she could tell I was from Canada. After class I went to lunch with the girl who went to the Mount and her friend. We just got something to go and went to her apartment. They spoke both French and English around me but I was too nervous to speak French to them. I need to get over that soon if I want to learn! The other girls had class at 2pm so we parted ways and I went back to my room to take a nap or "faire une sieste" (one of the new phrases I have learned here). Tomorrow I have a lot to sort out with my courses because I found out 1 course here does not equal 1 course at home. I may only be able to get a half a credit while here because they don't offer many courses in English this semester and my French isn't nearly good enough to pass a course in it. Wah wah. I hope I can get more than half a credit! I guess I'll figure it all out tomorrow when I meet with someone from ISTC. After I've sorted all that out I'm going to do some retail therapy at the mall during "la solde." La solde is basically a huge sale that only happens twice a year. Everything is going to be 30-50% off I guess! I definitely need some clothes because I packed so lightly. Let's hope I don't get crushed by the crowds!

A bientot!

"2am! THAT'S when we're going OUT?"

I've been here just over a week. Crazy, huh? Since my last post I've been pretty busy. I spent a lot of the week exploring Lille even more and I must say, I love it here. It's such a cute city and I love the lifestyle. I may just be in my "honeymoon" phase but I really am enjoying myself! On Thursday I went to an orientation for international students at the Universite Catholique de Lille. It was three hours long but it was a good way to meet other international students. There were students from everywhere - Canada, America, Norway, South Korea, India, etc. It was neat to see the levels of french that people had and to see that there were other people in the same boat as me. Unfortunately, I was the only international student there who is going to ISTC. I'm fairly certain that there is only two of us this semester (me and a guy from Quebec). I think I'll find out for sure on Tuesday when my classes start, je ne sais pas! After the orientation, me, two people from Alberta, a guy from Quebec, and a guy from Hungary all went sort their French phones out and then we went to a little cafe for supper. It was the first day that it was rainy AND windy. It was SO cold but the rain didn't last long. On Friday I slept in as I had nothing planned and then me and 3 other Canadians went to a house party. At the Universite Catholique de Lille, they set international students up with a French "buddy"who can show them around and help them out with whatever they need. Since they don't do this at ISTC, the other Canadians invited me along so I could get to know some more people. I was nervous going to the party because I was scared that everyone would only be speaking French. Luckily for me, it was a mix of both French and English. Everyone was extremely nice. There were people from France, Canada, Hungary, Korea, Belgium, England, and Slovakia. Whenever someone has a party here, each person brings something to drink and then everyone just ends up sharing it all which is nice. I stood around and talked to many different people for about 4 hours when it was time to go home... or so I thought. To my surprise, I found out that 2am is generally when people go out to the clubs here. At home, we usually get together around 9pm and are back in bed by 2 or 3am (generally). Here, that's just when everyone is getting started! We ended up going to a club called Smile, but me and the other Canadians only stayed for about 15-20 min because we were exhausted. For the most part, you don't have to pay cover here so we didn't feel too bad about leaving so soon. One girl from Alberta lives in the same residence as me so we walked back home together and when we got back into residence there was a group of people in the foyer. We asked them if they were just getting in but, of course, they were just heading out. I'm going to have to get used to the late nights here. Looks like I'll be napping after supper until 9pm haha. On Saturday, I met up with two Albertans. We had lunch and then walked around Vieux Lille. It is so cute! It has all cobblestone streets and old buildings, it makes for great walking and great for window shopping! After that we met up with another girl from Alberta, a guy from Belgium, and a girl from England to have some McDonalds (weird choice, I know). We then decided to go to a bar called "Les Pirates." During the happy hour for beer, you can get a large glass for beer for 2 euro 50 and for the "aquarium" happy hour, you can buy a fish bowl (literally) for 15 euros. It's nuts. There ended up being a big group of us there from Canada, Belgium, England, France, Korea, and Hungary. At around 1:15am we decided to call it a night, which was early for a lot of people. Today, me, two other Canadians, and a girl from England went to the market they have here 3 times a week. You can pretty much buy anything at this market, it was a lot different than I imagined. There were fresh vegetables, toiletries, blankets, clothes, shoes, craft supplies, etc. You could buy stuff to make at home or to eat there. I bought a baguette, some potatoes, and naan bread with melted chocolate in it. Yum! For the rest of the day I spent my time napping and watching movies. It was nice to have some down time after two late nights. This week should be good because I have my first day of class and there is a HUGE sale on everything here on Wednesday, I can't wait! More details soon!

Bisous!    

‎"Give me a break, you're on a 4 month blessed vacation!! Get a job you bum!!"

Bonjour a tous! Last night was my first night sleeping in residence and it went well! It's a super quiet building (so far) which is nice. I let myself sleep in today because yesterday took a lot out of me. When I did get up I got ready for the day and took off to ISTC to meet an advisor so I could chose my courses. Once I found where I was supposed to be, I waited around for about an hour and a half. Everything shuts down and everybody takes off for an hour or two at lunch. That, and no one is really all that punctual. If I didn't know this before, it was certainly confirmed today. When the advisor got to his office, we starting speaking in French. It quickly turned into English as I have a lot to learn still! We ended up narrowing my schedule down to the three courses that I need. Much to my surprise, I learned that I basically have February and April free, and a good chunk of March! I see traveling in my future! The school system works differently here. If you were to take 3 courses at the Mount, you'd be taking 3 half credits, going to those 3 classes twice a week, and be going from the start of the semester till the end. Here, I am taking 3 courses but because professors come from all over the world, sometimes they have to cram a course into 3 days! Luckily for me, I am taking a course that lasts 4 weeks, a course that lasts 3 days, and a course that last 2 days. Each course is a certain number of hours so I could be at the school for an hour a day or from 8:30am - 6pm, it all depends! My first course doesn't start until January 10th so I am going to explore the city more and look into getting a job tutoring English or working at an Irish pub that hires international students who are here for short periods of time. We shall see :) After choosing my courses, the advisor showed me around the school. It's really small but I like it a lot! I think it's going to be an awesome experience! When I was done at the school I went to a store called Carrefour. It's basically like a Walmart, only bigger. There I bought a pot, a pan, dishes, some food, and a pillow. Carrying all that back to residence was not fun as it's about a 20 - 25 minute walk. I made it work though! On the way I walked past a woman walking a tiny dog with a fur jacket on. It was both adorable and hilarious. After dropping all my stuff off in my room I went to another grocery store to stock up. I love how different it is here. It makes you really stop and look at what you're buying. I ended up getting about 20 dollars worth of groceries for 6 euros! Food is SO cheap here, I love it. I'm off to go eat now though because 1 - I am hungry and 2 - all the lights in the hallways are timed so as I sit here, writing, I have to keep getting up to turn the light back on so I'm not sitting here in the dark haha. Good thing they're not like that in the rooms and bathrooms!

Adieu!

New home for the next 4 months

Last night was a prime example of how jet lag can really mess with you. I went to sleep around 11:30pm or 12am and then BAM, I was wide awake at 3am. There was no going back to sleep for me. I may have gotten another hour before getting up for the day but it was not much of a sleep at all. I got up at 8:30am to have breakfast which consisted of pain au chocolat (yum!) and yogurt, then I went back to my room in the hotel to pack up. Once I checked out I grabbed a cab which took me into the centre of the city. There, I got insurance for my residence room and then went to get my keys at the housing office. I was lost for a bit but I managed to find my way around with the help of a kind French woman. I was pretty impressed with the fact that I accomplished everything all while speaking french! Next it was time to find my residence, so off I went with my huge suitcases which took up a good chunk of the sidewalk. When I arrived at my residence there were two cleaning ladies who gave me my keys, showed me my room, and showed me around the residence. The building is quite old and nothing like the residences at the Mount. Instead of being on a campus, residences are scattered all around the city and different schools use them, not just one. There's no wifi in the bedrooms but I am close enough that I can get a weak signal. There are one or two bathrooms and showers for each floor and a lot of people share them. There is a room where they serve breakfast in the mornings and a kitchen where you can cook the rest of your meals. There is also the option to buy tickets for the cafeteria located down the street. It was all a bit overwhelming, I think the reality of being here really sunk in today. It's amazing but a little intimidating when you can only speak some of the language. It's much different than home but I'm embracing it! When being showed where and how to use the wifi, I met another Canadian. It was really nice to have someone to speak English to for a bit and to explain things to me. He told me that he was going to meet another Canadian at the train station and asked if I wanted to come for a tour on the way. I of course said yes because I was not going to pass up the opportunity for someone who knew what they were doing to show me around. We left at 2:30pm and walked toward the train stations. Along the way he showed me where the market takes place, the shops to go to, the mall, where to avoid, and La Grand-Place (probably the most photographed place in Lille) where there was a huge ferris wheel. All the old buildings were really beautiful so I acted like the tourist I am and took lots of pictures. Once we arrived at the train station, we were surprised to see we missed the other Canadian, so plan b was to go to the housing office to see if we could find him. After checking the building, we went outside to wait when we saw him crossing the street. Lucky that we spotted him! The rest of the afternoon/evening was spent touring around and eating (yes, this means more baguette). After supper we all parted ways and I unpacked my room now I'm just chilling. I'm thinking an early night is in order!

A tout a l'heure! 

In France at last!

So my life in France has begun! I am so excited! Luckily, my visa arrived on December 28th so I left on Friday, December 30th, as planned. I flew from Halifax to Montreal then from Montreal to Paris with no problems what-so-ever! The whole process felt so quick (despite it being around 13 hours). When I got to Charles De Gaulles one of my best friends, Morgan, was there to meet me. It was wonderful to see her for three reasons: 1- it had been 6 months since I had last seen her, 2 - it was nice to see a familiar face, and 3 - she was able to show me the ropes! After an excited greeting, we took the metro to Gare du Nord, a train station in Paris. There I bought my train ticket for a few hours later then it was off to eat and hang around Paris! We went to a cafe just outside of the train station where I got to enjoy a ham and cheese sandwich on baguette. Delicious! After that Morgan helped me get a french phone (can't be without communication for long haha). Next, it was time to walk around Paris. We walked around the area where the cabaret Moulin Rouge is located. I also got a glimpse of Sacre-Coeur, one of the most beautiful sights in the world in my opinion. Because it was a little rainy out, we decided to sit inside a cafe across from Moulin Rouge to have a hot chocolate. It was soon time to make our way back to the train station so I could catch my train. Morgan walked me to my train and helped me with my luggage then we said our goodbyes. By this point, the jet lag was beginning to set in so I was looking forward to a nice, quiet, hour-long train ride to Lille. Unfortunately, quiet was not what I got. Just before the train was about to leave, two guys sat behind me and for almost the WHOLE train ride, they were barking and making fart noises. I was not impressed. Good thing it was only an hour long! Getting off the train and finding a taxi was easy as well. It took about 15 min to get to my hotel which is good because I was SO tired. Once in my room, I threw my stuff down and got online so I was able to tell people that I arrived safe and sound. I then slept for a few hours but then woke up at 11:30pm (oddly enough). I guess France wanted me to be awake to bring in the new year! I had planned on getting up early this morning but my ear plugs and jet lagged body had other ideas. I slept till 12:30, which was needed. When I was ready for the day I went downstairs to get a map of Lille and then took off to explore. People in France take their holidays a little more seriously so there wasn't much open. I walked around for about an hour until I found a place to buy a baguette and something to drink. I then walked back to my hotel because it was rainy and nothing else was open. The rest of my day was spent relaxing and watching some French TV. Tomorrow I get to meet people from ISTC, my new school, and move into my room in residence! Can't wait!

A bientot!