A lot has happened since my last blog but I don't have a lot of time to write, which is a good thing! Lille has still been awesome and my classes are long but relatively interesting so thats good.
I'm about half way done with the final paper that is due at the end of the program and I chose to do why Americans are fat and French people are skinny. The research is about what I expected...French eat slower, therefore they eat less, they walk every where or take some other form of transportation other than driving, and a lot of them smoke which decreases appetite. However, as you must know, I am obsessed with working out/how to eat right so that is why I chose this topic. The French here do ride bikes a lot, I think everyone owns at least one, and there a lot of really cool biking trails just around Lille. Also, there are plenty of parks to go running around, and as you know from my previous blogs, they are beautiful.
Other than doing my thing in Lille, I have also been going to a few other cities and countries. I went to Douai and Lewarde which are both about an hour away from Lille. Douai didn't really have much in it and I'm not sure why we went, but we went to an old mining museum in Lewarde which was pretty cool. I also went to Ypres last Thursday and got see a lot of neat WWI stuff, Ypres, located in Belgium, was completely destroyed during WWI. There were no buildings, trees, or vegetation of any sort left as Ypres was the city that the Germans tried to pass through in order to invade France. Belgium was a neutral country during the war but the Germans made it hard for them to stay that way. Ypres was a medieval city and was beautiful. So after the war, they rebuilt it brick by brick to resemble exactly how it looked before the war. It really does look like a medieval town today even though the buildings were built in the 1920's.
On Friday I returned to my roots by going to Germany! I went with Morgan and Kristin. I left French class a little early on Friday and caught the 12:30 train to Brussels, changed trains, and headed to Cologne. Cologne is a beautiful city! The first thing we saw when we got off of the train was this huge cathedral! It is by far the biggest one I have seen in my entire life. The Germans call it the Dom (Cathedral, how original) and it is the largest Gothic churches in Northern Europe. It is also a World Heritage Site.
According to Wikipedia, the church is the seat of the Archbishop of Cologne, under the administration of the Roman Catholic Church and is renowned as a monument of Christianity, of Gothic architecture and of the faith and perseverance of the people of the city in which it stands. For four years, 1880-84, it was the tallest structure in the world, until the completion of the Washington Monument followed by the Eiffel Tower. It has the second-tallest church spires, only surpassed by the single spire of Ulm Cathedral, completed ten years later in 1890. Because of its enormous twin spires, it also presents the largest façade of any church in the world. The choir of Cologne Cathedral, measured between the piers, also holds the distinction of having the largest height to width ratio of any Medieval church, 3.6:1, exceeding even Beauvais Cathedral which has a slightly higher vault. [2] Construction of the Gothic church began in 1248 and took, with interruptions, until 1880 to complete – a period of over six hundred years. It is 144.5 metres[3] long, 86.5 m wide and its two towers are 157 m tall.
As you can see, quite impressive. In all honesty, I had no idea it was there and I was stunned when I came out of the station.
My first adventure in Germany was attempting to find my hostel, Black Sheep Hostel. We came relatively unprepared with no map and no idea of where to go except for an address and some general directions if you took the metro...well my friend Morgan had just had her wallet stolen the day before and was very very low on cash so we decided to save a few euro and go on an adventure of trying to find our hostel by walking. The way we did this was by looking at the various but randomly located city maps that perused the city. It took us about 30-45 mintues but we found the hostel!! The actual walk is more like 25 mins so not bad for our first time. The hostel was brand new, only open a month, and very clean. We got situated there and then went out to explore the town!
The first night we decided to go to dinner then to go back to the cathedral and watch the sun set. For those of you who have never been to Europe, the sun doesn't set until about 8:30 or 9:00 so its pretty late. Or at least around this time of the year. We ended up eating at this restaurant that I can not pronounce but the menu was in half in German and half in English so thats why we chose it. I got an authentic German cuisine with sausages, sauerkraut, potatoes and baked egg as they called it. I also got the local beer, cheapest drink on the menu, for about 1.50 Euro and it was delicious! I didn't see anyone drink anything but beer in Germany, it was crazy. I enjoyed my dinner but I didn't finish the huge helping sauerkraut, it did taste good on my meat though. After dinner, we walked around this huge outdoor mall for a bit before finding a Hagen Daz (Sp), that's German right? The ice cream was delicious and we headed for the cathedral to catch the sunset. Unfortunately around this time, it started to get cloudy and we didn't see much of a sunset over the Rhine, but we did eat our ice cream outside of the cathedral which was beautiful in itself. After that, we did a little souvenir shopping, as those were the only shops still open, and headed back to our hostel.
We were exhausted from our day and wanted to sleep but that was not going to happen. Turkey won their soccer game and you would have though that we were in Turkey by the way the Germans were celebrating. It was so loud in the streets that it was nearly impossible to sleep. This went on for awhile and I finally had to result to putting in my head phones to drown out the sound. I wish I had been more awake so I could've joined the celebration, but this was definitely not the case.
The next morning we woke up and got ready by 10:30. We decided to go to the chocolate factory and take the tour. The walk there wasn't too long but now I had my book bag on and it was a little heavy. We got there around 11:00 and realized that it didn't open till 11:30. Luckily it was located on the Rhine so we were able to sit and look out over the water, it was beautiful! By the time it opened we went in to see how much it would cost...too much for our taste so we just glanced around and decided to find a cafe. We ate at this adorable place on the Rhine and got coffee and cake for 4.50 Euro. The men beside us were already drinking beer when the waiter brought out this long wooden plank with holes in it. There were about 13 holes, each had a beer it in...this was at 11:45 in the morning...4 men lots of beer. They had their ipod plugged into a radio thing and were jammin out to some ACDC.
After our petite dejuenr, we just walked around and asw more of the city before leaving. I would go into detail but this post is already way to long...basically we walked across the bridge to see more of the Rhine, went to the main square and saw people singing/people statues, saw a Roman museum and went into a few more shops! Overall, Germany was a lot of fun and I'm glad I was able to experience it!!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Monday, June 16, 2008
Belgium!
Lille has been awesome so far! The classes last longer than I would like but at least we don't really have homework.
The other day I went on a field trip to Bruges! This was awesome. This city dates back to before Jesus' time and it was definitely rich in history. My favorite part about it was the canals that ran through the city! I got to go on a boat ride through these canals and it was awesome! Unfortunately it rained some but the beginning of the boat ride was nice and after it was over, most of the rain had passed. During the boat ride I saw a lot of beautiful architecture as the houses come right out onto the water. Also, the natural scenery was stunning. I talked a little to the boat guide in English as we were told ahead of time that this part of Belgium was not to fond of the French due to historic occupation that forced them to speak French. However, the boat guide said it wasn't the French he minded, being Flemish, but those damn Welsh! Who knew?
After the boat ride I signed up for a walking tour with a guide named Martin...he is British, had a lot of knowledge concerning history, and quite anti-American. When I told him I was from North Carolina, he pointed up his nose and said, "I'm sorry." Earlier he made comments about how where he lived was only minutes or hours away from beautiful, timely cities or monuments but what did America have? Only the Grand Canyon! Well excuuussseee me! Anyway, he took me and a few others on a walking tour of Bruges and it was beautiful! I saw a vile of Christ's Blood in their church...or at least it is believed to be, I don't really remember the story well, but it has something to do with an exchange through King's and it ended up in Bruges. The vile itself was pretty, bejeweled and such, but the blood was nasty! I mean I know its very, very old, but it looked like dried up sausage...not what I was expecting. I also saw Michelangelo's Madonna and Baby sculpture...the original! It was beautiful! It's one of the few works of Michaelangelo that is outside of Italy. We also passed by a famous school where they only accept 300 students or so and it is very prestigious. This is the type of school you would go to if you were interested in working in Politics or having some high position in society. You have to speak two languages at least, I believe French and English, and it is very tough.
Belgium was definitely beautiful and I can't wait until we visit Brussels so I can see more of the country!
The other day I went on a field trip to Bruges! This was awesome. This city dates back to before Jesus' time and it was definitely rich in history. My favorite part about it was the canals that ran through the city! I got to go on a boat ride through these canals and it was awesome! Unfortunately it rained some but the beginning of the boat ride was nice and after it was over, most of the rain had passed. During the boat ride I saw a lot of beautiful architecture as the houses come right out onto the water. Also, the natural scenery was stunning. I talked a little to the boat guide in English as we were told ahead of time that this part of Belgium was not to fond of the French due to historic occupation that forced them to speak French. However, the boat guide said it wasn't the French he minded, being Flemish, but those damn Welsh! Who knew?
After the boat ride I signed up for a walking tour with a guide named Martin...he is British, had a lot of knowledge concerning history, and quite anti-American. When I told him I was from North Carolina, he pointed up his nose and said, "I'm sorry." Earlier he made comments about how where he lived was only minutes or hours away from beautiful, timely cities or monuments but what did America have? Only the Grand Canyon! Well excuuussseee me! Anyway, he took me and a few others on a walking tour of Bruges and it was beautiful! I saw a vile of Christ's Blood in their church...or at least it is believed to be, I don't really remember the story well, but it has something to do with an exchange through King's and it ended up in Bruges. The vile itself was pretty, bejeweled and such, but the blood was nasty! I mean I know its very, very old, but it looked like dried up sausage...not what I was expecting. I also saw Michelangelo's Madonna and Baby sculpture...the original! It was beautiful! It's one of the few works of Michaelangelo that is outside of Italy. We also passed by a famous school where they only accept 300 students or so and it is very prestigious. This is the type of school you would go to if you were interested in working in Politics or having some high position in society. You have to speak two languages at least, I believe French and English, and it is very tough.
Belgium was definitely beautiful and I can't wait until we visit Brussels so I can see more of the country!
Monday, June 9, 2008
Running in Lille
Lille is a strange city to live in weather-wise. Some days it is cold and rainy and the very next its mid-70's and sunny or should I say 25 degrees C? On these nice days, I like to go running, and on the cold ones I don't like to but I do it anyway. Today's post is inspired by my run this morning. I woke up at 7:00 in the morning not feeling so motivated but I went for a run anyway. I am so glad I did. I went down to park where the zoo is and went for a bout a 2 1/2 mile run as I was pressed for time. It was gorgeous! The sun was beaming down through the trees and looked like something you only see in paintings. There was this one part on the path that was particularly beautiful and a Frenchman running in front of me literally stopped, held out his hand to slow me and said "C'est Magnifique!" I couldn't have agreed more! This city is really very beautiful...when its not raining. I can't wait for my boyfriend Tim to get here so that we can maybe have a picnic in the park as it seems to be popular among French couples!!! I only have about 17 more days of waiting for that!!
Living in Lille!
Soo I have been in France now for about 15 days and so far so good. I left Paris about 5 days ago and since then I've been to a couple of awesome places and I am now in Lille, where I will be studying the next few weeks.
The first cool place I visited was St. Mont Micheal. This place was awesome!! The church is on top of this massive hill and the whole city has about 20 people who actually live there and all the others are tourists. Our guide told us that they have tourists come from all over the world and also people who are on pilgrimages since the church is considered one of the closest places to God since it is so high in the air. For all those non-Catholics that read this blog...if anyone reads this blog...St. Micheal is considered the connector of heaven and earth. He is also commonly referenced as the Saint that kills Satan or forces him back into hell or something along those lines. That is why whenever you see a statue of St. Micheal he has a sword in hand and is standing on a serpent or dragon or something else ferocious. Also, all churches named St. Micheal are high on a mountain or hill indicating the connection between heaven and earth. So back to my point, tons of tourist come from all over the world either for the religious aspect or historic. St. Mont Micheal also has tons and tons and tons of steps that you get to climb when you visit, which I did. I'm not sure exactly how many I climbed but I was little sore at the top. The church itself is really cool because it has been rebuilt a couple of times and the church that is there now has architecture from both the Gothic and roman periods. This is because the structure wasn't built correctly at first and certain parts of the church have collapsed into the crips below them and were rebuilt architecturally different later on.
The next place we stopped was at the D-Day beaches. I saw the memorial, beaches, and of course graves. The area is beautiful and its hard to picture what happened there. However once you see the 9,000 graves placed in the middle of this huge field it makes the picture clearer. This day was the most depressing one but I am very glad I saw it and recommend the experience to anyone, it makes you appreciate the young men who lost their lives even more.
After leaving Normandy, we finally made it to Lille. The days being in Lille, about 5 now, have been crazy. This city is definitely...colorful. When we first arrived, it was over-cast and chilly. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting. Then we went to our dorms which are, in all honesty, crappy. The rooms are very small (I was lucky and the biggest out of the group so I can't really complain), to turn on the shower you have to push in a button so the water turns off on you constantly and the light is time sensitive so every shower so far has resulted in me being left in the dark, and I found out that instead of two classes I have four!! Needless to say the first couple of days were a little hard to adjust too, but now that I have, I really like it here!! The main issue is the rain but when its sunny and warm, those are the best days.
Sooo some crazy experiences:
Gay Pride Parade: This was an intense and unexpected experience. A couple of days ago me and my girls - Kelsey, Katie, and Morgan - were out shopping (where I got this beautiful dress for 19 euro!) and then stopped for lunch at a creperie where we got the best pizza I have ever tasted. We started hearing all of this music coming from outside the window. When we eventually made it out of the restaurant, we were in shock. They were transvestites everywhere! Men dress in two pieces and other attire. Clothing that resembled a man's member and a lot of public gay affection. We started walking and eventually caught up to the back of the parade. The music was so loud on the first "float". On it people were dancing like they do in this form of dance called "Teck-tonic" which is all the rage here...its interesting to say the least. Everyone in the streets around it were dancing too. The music was like thud thud thud and everyone was jumping up and down. There were gay right signs everywhere and a lot of people were wrapped in rainbow flags. So naturally me and my friend joined in. We went crazy dancing...well sort of, not compared to the actually members of the parade...and then we ran into some other kids from our group. We were jumping up and down for awhile but then it happened...a horrible burning sensation hit my eyes, throat, and nose. I thought someone had blown a lot of cigarette smoke in my face or something but I looked around and everyone was making a similar face. We think it was pepper spray or something from a protester. The burn lasted for awhile but no one got it too bad. However after that we just walked along side the parade and enjoyed from distance....
Fishbowls - so there is this bar here called Pirates and it is themed after pirates of the Caribbean movie. When you go there you can order this drink called a fishbowl which about 4 or 5 people can drink from. It is basically a bowl full of different types of liquor and yummy stuff to make it taste good and gummies! So this is a must try! Me and my girls went out one night with our new friends we met in our dorm named Kurby and Derek and got two fishbowls...one for us and one for them. They were more daring. When it came and we tried it for the first time, we all knew we had made the right choice! It tasted so good and it was cheaper than everyone buying one drink! Needless to say fun night and that fishbowl will probably not be my last.
Well there have been more adventures but this blog is long enough so I'll post more later!
The first cool place I visited was St. Mont Micheal. This place was awesome!! The church is on top of this massive hill and the whole city has about 20 people who actually live there and all the others are tourists. Our guide told us that they have tourists come from all over the world and also people who are on pilgrimages since the church is considered one of the closest places to God since it is so high in the air. For all those non-Catholics that read this blog...if anyone reads this blog...St. Micheal is considered the connector of heaven and earth. He is also commonly referenced as the Saint that kills Satan or forces him back into hell or something along those lines. That is why whenever you see a statue of St. Micheal he has a sword in hand and is standing on a serpent or dragon or something else ferocious. Also, all churches named St. Micheal are high on a mountain or hill indicating the connection between heaven and earth. So back to my point, tons of tourist come from all over the world either for the religious aspect or historic. St. Mont Micheal also has tons and tons and tons of steps that you get to climb when you visit, which I did. I'm not sure exactly how many I climbed but I was little sore at the top. The church itself is really cool because it has been rebuilt a couple of times and the church that is there now has architecture from both the Gothic and roman periods. This is because the structure wasn't built correctly at first and certain parts of the church have collapsed into the crips below them and were rebuilt architecturally different later on.
The next place we stopped was at the D-Day beaches. I saw the memorial, beaches, and of course graves. The area is beautiful and its hard to picture what happened there. However once you see the 9,000 graves placed in the middle of this huge field it makes the picture clearer. This day was the most depressing one but I am very glad I saw it and recommend the experience to anyone, it makes you appreciate the young men who lost their lives even more.
After leaving Normandy, we finally made it to Lille. The days being in Lille, about 5 now, have been crazy. This city is definitely...colorful. When we first arrived, it was over-cast and chilly. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting. Then we went to our dorms which are, in all honesty, crappy. The rooms are very small (I was lucky and the biggest out of the group so I can't really complain), to turn on the shower you have to push in a button so the water turns off on you constantly and the light is time sensitive so every shower so far has resulted in me being left in the dark, and I found out that instead of two classes I have four!! Needless to say the first couple of days were a little hard to adjust too, but now that I have, I really like it here!! The main issue is the rain but when its sunny and warm, those are the best days.
Sooo some crazy experiences:
Gay Pride Parade: This was an intense and unexpected experience. A couple of days ago me and my girls - Kelsey, Katie, and Morgan - were out shopping (where I got this beautiful dress for 19 euro!) and then stopped for lunch at a creperie where we got the best pizza I have ever tasted. We started hearing all of this music coming from outside the window. When we eventually made it out of the restaurant, we were in shock. They were transvestites everywhere! Men dress in two pieces and other attire. Clothing that resembled a man's member and a lot of public gay affection. We started walking and eventually caught up to the back of the parade. The music was so loud on the first "float". On it people were dancing like they do in this form of dance called "Teck-tonic" which is all the rage here...its interesting to say the least. Everyone in the streets around it were dancing too. The music was like thud thud thud and everyone was jumping up and down. There were gay right signs everywhere and a lot of people were wrapped in rainbow flags. So naturally me and my friend joined in. We went crazy dancing...well sort of, not compared to the actually members of the parade...and then we ran into some other kids from our group. We were jumping up and down for awhile but then it happened...a horrible burning sensation hit my eyes, throat, and nose. I thought someone had blown a lot of cigarette smoke in my face or something but I looked around and everyone was making a similar face. We think it was pepper spray or something from a protester. The burn lasted for awhile but no one got it too bad. However after that we just walked along side the parade and enjoyed from distance....
Fishbowls - so there is this bar here called Pirates and it is themed after pirates of the Caribbean movie. When you go there you can order this drink called a fishbowl which about 4 or 5 people can drink from. It is basically a bowl full of different types of liquor and yummy stuff to make it taste good and gummies! So this is a must try! Me and my girls went out one night with our new friends we met in our dorm named Kurby and Derek and got two fishbowls...one for us and one for them. They were more daring. When it came and we tried it for the first time, we all knew we had made the right choice! It tasted so good and it was cheaper than everyone buying one drink! Needless to say fun night and that fishbowl will probably not be my last.
Well there have been more adventures but this blog is long enough so I'll post more later!
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Last Days in Paris
Soo today is my last full day in Paris, we leave tomorrow at 8:00 in the morning. I have seen so many great sights while here and all of the people in the group are awesome! It has been a wonderful experience. I am happy I will be returning on the 27th to meet up with my boyfriend Tim to see a few sights I missed out on this trip like the catacombs and some others :-)
Since my last blog, I have done several things...for one I finally went shopping! Good for my dad but bad for me...I barely found anything at all. In fact I spent a total of 25 Euros and some of it was on presents for other people..I know how could I be so selfless?? haha More like nothing fit or was too expensive. I will be getting into some more shopping in Lille where I'm sure the prices will be a little bit more reasonable. My whole time in Paris..about eight days...I spent about 200 Euros which I am really excited about as a couple of other group members are pushing the 3 or 4oo mark. The secret is buying food and wine at the market instead of paying for it at cafes.
When you go to cafes here, you are really paying for sitting there and enjoying the atmosphere as well as the food so it can get pricey fast. You will usually sit at a cafe for at least an hour and it seems like the waiter barely pays any attention to you. This is because they are supposed to give you space to enjoy the conversation and also the tip is included so they do not have to impress you. Even if the tip is not included, you are not supposed to leave one...so don't! But every place I've been to has included a hefty tip so I don't feel bad for not leaving extra. Also, if you're trying to be quick don't expect that to happen. The other night when I went to see Sex and the City a day before it came out in the States, Paige and I were trying to eat quickly and get out of there...oh no no! There could be none of that. Our waiter practically told us we couldn't have our check until we were completely done with our food! It was so frustrating! I know he was just being nice and saying no no take your time but we finally had to tell him we were catching a movie and for him to bring us the billet...check. He finally did and we were able to make it in time for the movie but it was very frustrating.
I do have a warning also about the markets. One you have to bag your own groceries and two, there are places where you have to pay for the plastic bag..extra thirty cents or something. When they told me this I thought they were messing with me because I'm American...so I got that American attitude with them. I felt bad later when I found out that yea they actually charge you for that crappy plastic bag.
As far as the food, other than the es cargo, it is the best food I have ever tasted. The fruit is juicer, the bread is softer, the wine is perfect, the cheese is delicious, everything tastes better here. I even tried steak tar tar (raw meat) and that was delicious! Really just about anything you order here can do you no wrong.
Some of the other sights I saw since my last blog were the Louvre, Notre Dame (where I lit a candle for my grandpa and grandma), Rodin Gardens (I saw the thinker and the gates of hell), and Musee D'Orsy (I saw a lot of impressionist work, Van Gogh and Monet mainly). They were all beautiful and I would recommend them to anyone traveling here. I also took a trip to Giverny where I saw Monet's gardens and house. This is where he painted his famous water lilies and the bridge picture. It was beautiful and I want to have my wedding there...daddy pleaseeeee :-)
Well that's it for now! Tomorrow I leave for St. Malo, Mont St. Michel, and the Normandy Beaches!! Can't wait to get out of the city and into some nature!!
Since my last blog, I have done several things...for one I finally went shopping! Good for my dad but bad for me...I barely found anything at all. In fact I spent a total of 25 Euros and some of it was on presents for other people..I know how could I be so selfless?? haha More like nothing fit or was too expensive. I will be getting into some more shopping in Lille where I'm sure the prices will be a little bit more reasonable. My whole time in Paris..about eight days...I spent about 200 Euros which I am really excited about as a couple of other group members are pushing the 3 or 4oo mark. The secret is buying food and wine at the market instead of paying for it at cafes.
When you go to cafes here, you are really paying for sitting there and enjoying the atmosphere as well as the food so it can get pricey fast. You will usually sit at a cafe for at least an hour and it seems like the waiter barely pays any attention to you. This is because they are supposed to give you space to enjoy the conversation and also the tip is included so they do not have to impress you. Even if the tip is not included, you are not supposed to leave one...so don't! But every place I've been to has included a hefty tip so I don't feel bad for not leaving extra. Also, if you're trying to be quick don't expect that to happen. The other night when I went to see Sex and the City a day before it came out in the States, Paige and I were trying to eat quickly and get out of there...oh no no! There could be none of that. Our waiter practically told us we couldn't have our check until we were completely done with our food! It was so frustrating! I know he was just being nice and saying no no take your time but we finally had to tell him we were catching a movie and for him to bring us the billet...check. He finally did and we were able to make it in time for the movie but it was very frustrating.
I do have a warning also about the markets. One you have to bag your own groceries and two, there are places where you have to pay for the plastic bag..extra thirty cents or something. When they told me this I thought they were messing with me because I'm American...so I got that American attitude with them. I felt bad later when I found out that yea they actually charge you for that crappy plastic bag.
As far as the food, other than the es cargo, it is the best food I have ever tasted. The fruit is juicer, the bread is softer, the wine is perfect, the cheese is delicious, everything tastes better here. I even tried steak tar tar (raw meat) and that was delicious! Really just about anything you order here can do you no wrong.
Some of the other sights I saw since my last blog were the Louvre, Notre Dame (where I lit a candle for my grandpa and grandma), Rodin Gardens (I saw the thinker and the gates of hell), and Musee D'Orsy (I saw a lot of impressionist work, Van Gogh and Monet mainly). They were all beautiful and I would recommend them to anyone traveling here. I also took a trip to Giverny where I saw Monet's gardens and house. This is where he painted his famous water lilies and the bridge picture. It was beautiful and I want to have my wedding there...daddy pleaseeeee :-)
Well that's it for now! Tomorrow I leave for St. Malo, Mont St. Michel, and the Normandy Beaches!! Can't wait to get out of the city and into some nature!!
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