Lille Lately: Loving every minute

Sorry it’s been a while since the last post! I’ve been pretty busy with orientation and all the fun activities the International Club has planned for us here.  The past week has been SO much fun and has definitely gotten me excited for the months to come!

During the days this week we did a bunch of more administrative stuff and paperwork, but at night the International Club members have been showing us around town.  I’m glad that those of us on our program get the opportunity to get our bearings before school starts, knowing where all of our classes are and where all the fun bars and clubs to go to are.  It will be really interesting, though, when the rest of the school gets here and there will be 20,000 or so more students at our campus.  Lille has about one million inhabitants but 300,000 of them are students, so it’s a very young city with lots of nightlife.  

The beach at Touquet

During the day yesterday, the International Club brought us to Bethune; a little city close by that surprisingly had some sort of Elvis Presley event where there were several Elvis impersonators and a lot of muscle cars blasting Elvis music.  After visiting that town we went off to the beach!  The city was called Touquet and the coast was absolutely gorgeous but the water was really cold, of course.   It was so fun being with all the international students and at one point a large group of us were sitting on the beach and we all sang our respective national anthems.  I tried my best to represent our country’s anthem but I’m afraid I’m not the best singer… but together with Molly and Andrew singing it with me, the others said they enjoyed it.  I’m loving getting to know these students from all over the world. 

Before coming to Lille I had found from my research and heard from several people that the café to go to is PAUL (of which there are several in Lille), but until recently I hadn’t found one.  Finally, the other day, I was able to find several as Molly and Andrew and I explored parts of the city we had not been to before.  I ended up going to PAUL that day not once, not twice, but THREE times!  It is absolutely phenomenal.  The best quiche Lorraine I have had to date, awesome macaroons (but very sweet), and surprisingly reasonable prices.  We have officially found our new lunch place for the next four months!  The first time we went we were somewhat overwhelmed by the amount of amazing looking things they had to offer, so I got a vanilla macaroon and a palmier, figured I couldn’t go wrong.  Then we went in further toward the main city square and by that time we were ready for lunch.  We ran into another PAUL café and so decided to get lunch things there – quiche Lorraine and an orangina.  By the time we had walked back and were passing the first PAUL we were at, we decided there was no way we could not get some things to go for later, so I ordered another quiche with vegetables and a pizza aux fromages which I intended to heat up later but ended up eating on the walk home… it’s that good (and of course, I was that hungry).  I also got an amazing rhubarb tart that was very sweet but very tasty. If you ever find yourself in Lille, go to PAUL. 

This morning I was able to go back to the Wazemmes market but with Molly, Andrew, and Deborah (who is from Scotland!) and get some more ribs as well as a rotisserie chicken.  The food at the market is absolutely amazing and it’s nice to get something hardy to eat.  While I love croissants, croque monsieurs, and baguettes, I definitely am getting cravings for things that are hard to find around here.

Today is also the day that Molly, Andrew and myself are heading to Belgium!!! On the itinerary is Bruges for three days and two nights followed by a trip to Brussels for three days and two nights.  I’ve been doing some research on places to go but PLEASE if you have any suggestions for places to go, let me know!!!  I’m absolutely stoked to tour around Belgium.