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!