Leaving France - Coming Home

Well, I started this blog while waiting for my plane to Pittsburgh from Newark, which was delayed… but now I’m finally back home, in bed and finishing this so I can get some direly needed sleep!

I’ll start with yesterday, Wednesday. I had slept in till about 1:30 pm as I really had nothing left to do aside from go back to the bank to put some money in my account and get the remainder so it is at 0 euros – which will make it easier to close once the Velib issue is resolved. I had scheduled an appointment with the Madame in charge of my residence to check out of my room at 3 pm – but since I had to stay the night still, most of my things were still there but packed up. No one told me that my room had to be basically empty and cleaned or ready to be cleaned by them when I check out… so when 3 pm came around, she refused to check me out! So I spent a good hour and half moving all my stuff onto the bed or out into the hall, cleaning the fridge and the walls and anything else that could be considered dirty. Once that was done, and I had taken some pictures of it all as evidence, I went in search for the Madame so she could then check me out – only to discover that she had left for the day about 10 minutes before!

So I talked with the Madame who’s in charge of both the residences, but only the other side of the residence (the Foyer side). However, she didn’t have the forms for my side of the residence so she couldn’t check me out. She told me that since I left at 5 am, before either of them would be up and about, I would have to have a friend make an appointment and check out my room for me – signing my name on the form. This was the big issue b/c my signature had to be on the form in order to receive my housing deposit back. She did help me in how to turn in my keys because I had to turn them in to her. She gave me an envelope, and told me that when I left to put the keys in the envelope, seal it, and drop it in the locked mail box. But since I didn’t think what she told me to do in regards to checking out my room was right – I first went to find friends to see if they could do that if need be. They told me to go to the AEU office which is in charge of all the residences and talk to them – and they were going that way too and thought it would still be open. So we headed that way.

Thankfully, they were still open – it already being after 5 pm. I was able to explain the entire situation that was going on and asked them what I should do so that I receive my housing deposit back. They told me to write a note detailing that the room was clean, everything was there like when I arrived and to sign it. Then leave that on the table in the room because the Madame will check out the room officially after I’ve left – or at least that’s what they told me and since they are the ones in charge, I would assume they are accurate. They also told me to explain things again to the other Madame and her tell the Madame who has to check me out of my room what is going on in regards to this situation. But I couldn’t find her either when I got back to my room, so I just wrote it all in another note and included it in the envelope with the keys when I left. So that was taken care of – finally. I can only wait and hope this all works out fine.

So now, I finished getting everything all packed up except for a few last minute things like my computer, shower stuff, and alarm clocks. But I ended up not sleeping since I didn’t want to risk missing my train and had to be up by around 4 am as it was. So I just put on a movie and waited… doing the last minute things with my room so all I had to do was pack the last few things and head out.

However, it was then that I just randomly happened to notice one of my friend’s statuses on Facebook about trying to get down to Paris with the strikes going on… and I did a double take. After some intensive research on the net, I finally discovered that on May 22, the exact day that I have had my trip back booked for a good two months now… was the single day that the rail workers and companies in France decided to go on strike! So I immediately started to panic thinking that I would not have a train to get to the airport! I immediately got on their website and checked to see if my train was still running or if I had to figure some other way to get down to the airport… Thankfully, on the website it listed my train as still running but might be a little late. So I figured that so far things were still looking good.

So after showering and doing just that, I ended up moving my stuff down to the lobby and put the keys in the envelope in the mail box like I was told, and called a taxi to take me to the train station. He arrived shortly and after squeezing my heavy big bags into the back, we took off. And it was that short drive that made me remember how crazy the drivers are in France! He was speeding like crazy, driving down the middle of two lanes, taking turns like crazy, etc. Thankfully I arrived at the train station in one piece and paid the driver after he unloaded my bags. I then somehow maneuvered my two very huge checked bags, my overstuffed carry on, my very stuffed laptop bag, plus another bag with my coat and blanket in it – all by myself mind you! – onto the train platform.

I checked the departure schedule, and there was a train scheduled to leave at the time my original ticket was supposed to leave – however the train number didn’t match the one on my ticket. But the train number on my ticket matched the train that was scheduled to leave after the first one. So since I didn’t have that much time to waste – I made sure that the first train was headed to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, and just got on. Naturally my seat number didn’t match up because I was supposed to be in car #17 – only this train only had 8 cars! So I just go in one, put my bags in the baggage rack and took a random seat at the end of the car so I could keep an eye on my bags. I figured it was better to be on the wrong train, headed to the airport and risk either having to pay a fee because of that, or risk being in someone else’s seat than to not get to the airport. Thankfully no one came to check my tickets, and no one said I was in their seat so I had a relaxing ride down to the airport. I made a list of various things that I will miss, won’t miss, regret, am glad for, etc… that I will upload in a separate blog after this one.

Since the train left Lille just after 6 am, I arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport about 7:30 am. Since my plane was not scheduled to depart till 9:55 or so, I had plenty of time to get checked in and figure things out. So I somehow managed to get all my heavy bags off the train and onto a cart, and made my way to Continental’s check-in gate. I knew that the one bag was going to be overweight and I’d have to pay the fee – so when I got to the desk, the French woman helping me took me next door to pay that before we could take care of my tickets and checking in those two bags. But that didn’t take long at all and soon they were checked in and I just had to get through security. So I consolidate the second bag with the blanket, coat and travel pillow so I only had my carry-on bag and my laptop bag, plus a few personal items. I still got odd looks with having so many things, as I had when I was going around with all my bags piled on the cart! After they checked my passport, and waited in line to go through security, I finally was able to go through – and ran into the first problem I wasn’t expecting.

Because I had so many things packed in both my laptop bag and my carry-on, they had to be physically searched through in order to get approved. So I go to the desk to get that done, and the guy starts talking with me! He slowly takes things out of the bags, making comments as about then, asking me questions that were above and beyond the basic “What’s this” and so forth. I could understand having to look at the items in there just to check them out – but this was a lot more than was needed. So finally, a good 15 minutes later and after having to repack my carry-on bags, I was cleared through security. I still had time before having to check in, so after checking which gate I had to be at, I stopped and had a small breakfast of a petit chocolate, banana, and pineapple juice. Then on my way to the gate, I also stopped at one of the gift shops to pick up a few last gifts. I got to the gate, which was of course at the end of the terminal… and they were already boarding so I joined the line and boarded the plane.

It was a Boeing 777-200 ??? so it was huge! There were three sections to the main cabin – and I was in the middle one right at the back of the wing. The cabin had a total of 9 seats in each row – 3, 3, and 3 and thankfully my seat was the window one. But there were a ton of people, so it was hard to find a spot for my carry-on bags. I soon got things all settled and the plane was ready to take off at the scheduled time. Only the pilot came over the speaker and told us that due to heavy traffic at the airport, they pushed back our departure time by about 45 minutes! So we just sat there at the gate till we were able to pull out. Then after the usual taxing time to get to the runway, we finally were given the go ahead to take off. I made a video as we took off – recording my last views of France. Soon enough we were high above the clouds, and on our way back home to the US.

The flight wasn’t too bad – though very long! The entertainment system was nowhere near as good as the one when I flew out to France. This one had channels with preset schedules that just repeated every 2.5 hours whereas the one on the plane I came to France on had a personalized menu where you could choose which movie you watched and at whatever time you wanted. So I watched “Man of the Year” with Robin Williams – and really enjoyed it. After that, since I hadn’t slept yet, I took about a 3 hour nap. I was awoken because of heavy turbulence which we hit around the southern tip of Greenland. One thing cool about the system was that you could actually follow the plane route as we went along – we actually swung up north and followed the UK, Iceland, Greenland, and finally swinging back down the Canadian coast to get to Newark. I ended up taking another hour long nap, but the pilot kept making announcements so I just stayed awake since I had gotten a little rest.

The food was really good though! We were served lunch around noon – I had a salad, chicken with veggies and noodles, plus the roll and drink. The only issue with them serving meals was because there were so many people on the plane it took them a significant time between serving the food and then coming back with the drinks. But they also came around later and served us a snack of potato chips, mustard, a chocolate, and a hot turkey and cheese sandwich roll thingy. I actually wondered why they included the German hot mustard in that – so I opened it up and put it on the potato chips which actually ended up being amazingly delicious!

Soon enough, though it felt like forever on this flight back, we started our descent into Newark. Because we came in to the area from the north, we had to swing around the west of New York City and come in under the city from the west. Since I was on the left side of the plane, I had an amazing view of the New York City skyline during the entire time we came in until we landed. Like when we took off, and partially because I have never seen New York City personally yet, I made another video of the landing, getting the view of the skyline as well. It really was something to see the city and all it’s landmarks like the Empire State Building and even the Statue of Liberty from the air as we came in. I also did not realize the fact that Newark Airport is literally right across the river from New York City – but was one of the nice things to discover!

Soon enough, we landed and taxied into our gate. I called my mom and said we were on the ground – and we actually were only about 15 minutes late despite the fact that we didn’t take off for almost an hour after we were supposed too! I also called because they had announced that you cannot use phones until you are out of the customs area – and I had no idea how long that was going to take and was figuring on it taking around an hour or so. However, after gathering all my things up and getting off the plane, I made my way to the first part of the customs process – the passport check. I ended up having to wait in the line for this, but it moved fast and after about 15 minutes, I was talking with the control agent. On the declaration form, I declared that I did have food since I was bringing Belgium Chocolates back, as well as I declared the alcohol and a few other souvenirs that I still had with me. The control agent asked about the food and after I explained it was only the chocolate, he stamped my passport and I was good to go get my bags.

The second step of the customs process is getting all your bags, and then actually turning in the declarations form and see if they pick you to verify what you are declaring. Since I was already tired of lugging my bags all around, I paid the $3 fee to use one of the carts. So after I piled all my bright blue bags on the cart, and after receiving a few more weird looks with my tiny lone self pushing a cart that’s piled with bags that’s almost the same height as me!, I made my way to the next control agents. The guy first looked at all my bags, and asked if I was by myself. When I said I was, he then asked me inquisitively how long I was abroad – to which I told him I was living in France for 5 months. He then kinda laughed it off as why I had so many bags. After asking again about the food/chocolate thing, he waved me on and wished me a welcome back. So maybe after only 25 minutes to a half hour, I was through customs with no issues at all. I was figuring that they’d go through my bags just because I seem to be unlucky like that, and would end up paying more fees or something. But I went right through without an issue. So after I rechecked my bags, I headed off to see what gate my next flight to Pittsburgh left from, but instead discovered a new problem – I had to go back through security again!

So I headed to the line, and stepped aside while I debated consolidating the third bag so there wouldn’t be an issue – but by the time I figured to not bother unless they same something about it, a huge group of about 40 high school kids came and got in the line for security. So now, I got stuck behind them, as well as the fact I had to go through security again! So after about 10 minutes of waiting in line, it was my turn to go through the scanners.

Being the wise traveler through security areas, I had already moved the items in my pockets to the pockets of my coat, as well as removed my belt and watch. I put my bag up on the thingy so they could scan it, took out my laptop like you’re supposed to, put that in a bin, placed my laptop bag on the belt as well… and figuring I was good to go through… when they stopped me because my wallet had to go through the scanner. So I took that over and placed it in a bin, meanwhile another guy asked if my blue carry-on bag was mine, and if there was an iPod dock or something in it… to which I realized that my iPod alarm clock was in there, so I took that out and put that through. So I went back to go through the metal detector and they stopped me because I hadn’t removed my shoes – so back again to the line. I mean, I had been up for about 24 hours by that point with only about 4-5 hours of naps on the plane over here – so I was a little absent minded! But I finally got through the metal detector, only to have them tell me that they had to look through the third bag with my personal items in it, as well as there was still something setting the machine off in my blue carry-on bag – so it was off to the side things again!

This time though, the only reason the third bag was set off was because I had forgotten about the bottle of water I had bought in Paris at the airport was in there. The other guy checking my blue carry-on bag asked me if there was any other electronic or thing in my bag, to which I didn’t think so. It was only as he was just briefly looking through it, when he found and I realized that I had my external hard drive in there as well! So he took that out, and ran it through the scanner there, did a quick visual check on everything else and that was about it. They were definitely more efficient here than in Paris!

So by now, I checked which gate I had to find on the departure screens… and headed that way. However, my eyes and stomach spied the Starbuck’s right there so I grabbed a Chai Créme and headed to my gate for the next flight to Pittsburgh. So I get there, which of course was the first one on that branch of the terminal, and sit down to relax and call my mom again and spend a good bit talking with her. However, while we were finishing our convo I had noticed that the departure time had changed – which she had noted online as well. Apparently the plane was going to be delayed but at least it wasn’t too bad … so far! Anyways after that, I went in the gift shop next door to grab the usual souvenirs from the area before heading back to wait for the plane. Since I had the time to spare, I pulled out my laptop and started writing this all down.

• Insert Plane trip, and stuff afterwards – now I’m home and finishing this up!

Well, about and hour and half after the plane was scheduled to depart, the plane finally arrived and we were soon able to board. It was a tiny plane, a turbo-prop – which was cool because my window seat was right next to the right propeller. Anyways, they quickly got us all boarded and the plane ready to take off – and we had to wait again! We spent a good 20 minutes just waiting before we pulled out of the gate because of a paperwork error. Then, we finally pulled away from the gate and joined a long line of planes trying to take off amidst those landing. So we ended up spending almost a half hour or so waiting for our turn to take off. When I had boarded the plane, I texted my mom saying that we’ll be leaving shortly and arrive in about an hour and half. Well, I couldn’t officially use my cell phone to send them a message that we were delayed again because we were out almost ready to take off. Of course we were just taking off at the time we were supposed to be landing! Finally though, we were in the air and the trip back to Pittsburgh went by quickly for soon enough we were landed on the ground and taxing into our gate.

I called my mom and said we just landed; of course she was starting to worry and was on the verge of asking the desk guys what was going on with my flight when I had called. So I waited my turn to get off the plane, grabbed my carry-on bag that I had to gate-check, and started walking back to the baggage claim. I come down the escalator to find everyone waiting but my dad – he had been there but had to get to his class since my flight kept getting delayed. So after the normal hugs and everything, we headed over to wait for my check bags to come in. Soon enough, we had those and were able to leave the airport. Thankfully, they parked close to the doors as I was already tired of lugging all my things around for the day! We quickly loaded up and headed out of the airport.

We stopped by Matt’s apartment on the way to drop him off as well as pick some things up to bring home. But after that was taken care of, Mom, Steph and I headed back home. I finally got home around 10 I think… unloaded my suitcases and relaxed. As I had to go to work around noon tomorrow, as well as by this point I had been up for almost 40 hours with just 5 hours of interspersing naps, I’m going to finish this up and then head to bed.

I already miss France!

Uploading Pictures - Last of Them!

Well now that I am back home, I've slowly been able to get the rest of my pictures uploaded as well as the couple videos I took or made as well.

As far as pictures go, I have added some more pictures on my Picassa albums. There are new ones in the "Famous Places Around Lille" album, and new ones in the renamed "My Room in Lille - and the Residence" album.

Famous Places around Lille

My Room in Lille - and the Residence

I have also created the album from the day I went to the "Palais des Beaux Arts" in Lille, one called "My Last Day in Lille", as well as the "Sacre Couer de Lille" ablum.

Palais des Beaux Arts

My Last Day in Lille

Lille's Sacre Coeur

And lastly, there is the album with all my pics of coming home - "Traveling Home"

Traveling Home!

Videos! - Finally!

Ok, what I'm going to be posting are all the videos that I took during my time and travels in Europe on YouTube, then embedding them in this blog - I hope it works!

But first, here are the two videos that I had to make for my Performance Artistique class.

Qui Est La?
This video is the court mettrage I had to film - the one that gave me all kinds of hell that you can think of. No matter how hard I tried, there always was a "ghost" clip included in the final movie... so I just said fine and turned it in like that. However now, almost three weeks after I turned it in for a grade, I was able to get rid of that "ghost" clip and can now show the movie in the original intended format. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKk8MXBYRo0


Bruit
This one is the other project I had to do for that class. We were all given one word and we had to then come up with a way to present images that somehow incorporate our word. My word was "bruit" which means "noise." Watch it first and then if you don't understand the message I am trying to convey then read the little bit at the bottom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUBouSkHDVo


Trip Videos

Paris

These are videos from Paris, most are self-explanatory:

- View from the Eiffel Tower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkooeTGDsm4

- Eiffel Tower Lit Up at Night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrygfXujXEs

- Elevator Ride to 1rst Floor of Eiffel Tower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9CGwHK2T2E

- Elevator Ride from 1rst to 2nd Floor of Eiffel Tower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp9puiR8wUo

- Elevator Ride to the Top of the Eiffel Tower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hz4GJzyQvM

- Bells of Notre-Dame Ringing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SHSeWwPkI4



London

These are the videos from my two trips to London, again most are self explanatory:

- Olympic Torch Arriving in Trafalgar Square
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oESOS_MuHuA

- Panoramic View of Stonehenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hIUPM7hDBM

- Another Panoramic View of Stonehenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4l5H1AY3YA

- Big Ben Ringing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOz4_6QXOq4



Scotland & Ireland

These are clips from when I was in Scotland and Ireland:

- Scottish Glen and War Memorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7hMtxDesvw

- Ferry Disembarking from Belfast to Stranraer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gf7pZoGoGs

- Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ix7nhRF6Ih0



Misc

These are just random videos I uploaded:

- Gala Fashion Show (loud sound! FYI!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v_1Z_sdR-w

- Performance Artistique Class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JubIc0hYrw

- My Room
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JF9owKE6x8



Well... that hopefully is all the video clips that I have from my semester abroad. I do hope the links work! If not, then just let me know and I can try to fix them! Laterz!

Update time!

Well, I realized that the last time I updated my blog was last weekend after going to Parc Asterix... So, I think I'm due for another one!

This week went by really fast! The weekend was just another normal weekend, I didn't do anything special aside from walking around Lille, taking in all the sights that I won't get to see again. I've been having issues with a company in Paris trying to say I owe more money than I should, so I've been working to sort that out in order to get my French bank account closed before I leave France. I also mailed the second package of stuff home too. Right now, my room is mostly taken down and either already semi-packed into my suitcases or lying around in piles waiting to get packed. It's hard to think that in only 4 days, I fly back home and leave France. The fact that my room is really feeling empty with things taken down, doesn't help the disappointment. But at the same time, it will be nice to get back home and not have to deal with so many things I've dealt with while here.

I'm just relaxing right now, and going to get some work done later today as far as packing goes. I'm going to aim to get absolutely everything packed up and sorted out... then only take out the things I need for the rest of the week and basically live out of my suitcases. It will make it even more depressing but also easier because I won't have to rush and get things packed at the last minute too!

This past week was rather uneventful, part of why I forgot to update this blog till now! Monday, was another holiday, so I headed out into the city again just to walk around the Grand Place and shops near there... only on my way back, I stopped through a smaller park on Rue National where there is the P'tit Quinquin statue as well as a small quaint little park. So I followed that the whole way up since it was a gorgeous day, and ended up at the Citadel! So I headed over that way as I was not in the mood to go back to my room when it was such a lovely day out! I stopped by the Zoo again, and spent a good hour there taking even more pictures because the animals were up and about... and who can't have a fun time while at the Zoo?! After the Zoo, I ended up walking around the entire outer walls of the Citadel in the Bois de Boulogne, which is the oxygen center for Lille because of the many species of trees planted there. It was a quiet, peaceful walk around - so I just meandered my way around the path taking in the gorgeous scenary. After I did that, it was getting around dinner time so I headed back to my room.

Then, Tuesday morning started my final exams. I only had one on Tuesday around 11:30, and that was for Geography of France - which actually was a half hour oral exam. So I studied my notes and memorized the facts and figures... only to go into the exam and end up only saying three things about the class in the whole half hour! The rest of the exam was just talking about my time here in France, what I was studying, which lead to us discussing theater in London and in general... basically nothing at all to do with the classwork!

Wednesday, I had two exams and that was my longest day. I had a 3 hour final in the morning at 8:30 am for Travail du Spectateur. We watched the first ten minutes of Ariane Mnouchkine's "Tambours sur Digne" which was a really cool production because it used the idea of puppets ... only actors played the puppets, so there were puppeteers behind them dressed in black, and if that wasn't enough, the voices of the puppets were even different people offstage! So we had to analyze that for the rest of the exam. Only, we started an hour late because of technical difficulties with the projector. But I just wrote about how even though it is unique and avant garde, the production upheld the ideals of Classisim. I think I did really well on that exam.

Then, in the afternoon, I had the Greek History exam - which was 4 hours long! All of us in that class had figured that we would only be tested on the stuff we learned after the midterm - and since that was only women in Ancient Greece and slaves... it wasn't too much info. Though, I decided to take a gander and focused mainly on the women aspect figuring I would probably have to do a dissertation on the role of the woman in Ancient Greece for the final. As such, I only briefly glanced over my notes on the slaves. So I go into the exam, after already spending 3 hours writing another exam... and turn over the paper with the questions on it - and was forced to make a double take. The first of our three options we had to pick one from to answer, was a dissertation on the different ways and rights of citizenship in Ancient Greece - material we studied at the beginning of the year! The second question was a commentary on text and images provided about the war conflicts of Ancient Greece - something we only briefly mentioned here and there, never really studied! And the third option was a dissertation on Slaves in Ancient Greece! Not a single thing was on the role of women, or could even be angled from that viewpoint... so I ended up forcing myself to recall all the things I could about slaves in Greece and wrote about that. I ended up taking just over 3 hours to write it as I actually organized my thoughts and did a rough draft before finally copying it over to the actual test booklet. I ended up being the last one to leave that exam - but I really feel that I was able to put enough information in the paper to get a great grade on it!

Then I ran into a dilemma. Thursday morning at 10 am was due the Rattrapage paper for History of France, which I was forced to take as I had gotten a 4/20 on the final because I had studied just about the opposite of what she ended up asking up on the final. But, at the same time, I had to study for the two finals I had Thursday morning starting at 8:30... because I had to do good on those too. I ended up sitting down and started answering the Rattrapage questions, but after I had finished the first questions it was already after midnight! Knowing I needed to get some sleep, plus study for the two exams that morning... I did some quick thinking. I looked at all my classes to see if I really needed to pass the History of France class. But what I realized was that since I had dropped the Modern Lit class, I still had 12 classes left. Most international students had about 8 or 9 classes which was enough to transfer back home, and here I am being the overachiever and trying to pass 12 classes! After looking at the grades I recieved for those classes, or at the least figuring that I would get the passing grade for the class to transfer back, I opted to not do the History of France Rattrapage and instead focus on studying for the two exams that morning as I would still most likely pass 11 classes.

So Thursday morning came around and I got up to go to those exams. Both of them were 2 hours long, and they were for the Analyze Textes and Practique du Jeu classes - basically theater classes. The professor had already told us hints about what they were going to be on, and since I went up to her after the last class and asked, she gave me a little more info to help me study. The first one was two questions, one analyzing the Theater styles and theories of four well-known names in the theater world and if their theories could still be used today. I ended up focusing mainly on Jerzi Grotowski, a Polish director and theorist who created a form of acting and theater that I have already studied and tried to follow - so that essay was really well. The second part of that exam was to basically come up with a plan for a Happening - which is an art form that uses the audience and normally has a message to it. I really liked mine called, It's Only Paper!

My basic idea was that it would last over 5 days in Times Square in New York City. The first day at noon when everyone would be out and about, you would toss 1,000 pieces of green paper cut to the size of dollar bills off the roofs. The people would first think they're money and try to get them but soon realize that it's only paper and just toss them on the ground. The second day, you do the same exact thing - but people won't even notice much because they were conditioned to not are because it's only paper. The third day, however, you would actually toss 1,000 dollar bills instead of paper. People would quickly realize this is actual money and try to grab as much as they can. The fourth day, you would go back to tossing green pieces of paper - and the people below would soon realize it's only paper again and ignore it. The last day, you toss green paper and they don't even realize it because the've been conditioned to ignore it. The whole point of the Happeneing is the fact that the dollar bill is really only green paper that has an association with the economy. People show by their greed in trying to grab the actual dollars on day 3 that we as a society are conditioned to want as much money as we can get our hands on. But when it's only just green pieces of paper, they have no value so the people just ignore it! I really thought it was a cool idea!

Anyways, the second exam was for Practique du Jeu and this one was rather simple - we just had to discuss Bertolt Brecht's theory of theater and the Brechtian Actor by using examples form texts and shows we've seen. Since I had done The Threepenny Opera in Fall of 2006 at Clarion, I really knew what Brecht's theater style was like as that's one of his most well-known productions. So I tied that into the whole paper, organized it and ended up with a well written paper. After that was over, I went back to my room and took a nap!

Friday morning was Suzanne Bray's French to English Translation Final, which I really couldnt' study for - so I just woke up and went into the hour and half long exam at 8:30 in the morning. But that was my only final for that day so afterwards, I came back and again took another nap as I was worn out from the week of finals. Now, I only have the English to French Translation final tomorrow (Monday) afternoon at 1:30 and then I will be completely done with my finals!

So, since it was my last weekend in France - and it was the same for others as well, we all decided that we should go out and have a fun time this weekend. So Friday night, the plan was to start off here in the Residence having a party and pre-gaming, and then go out later to a bar or club. So around 11 pm, I joined everyone else on the second floor where we had music playing and of course were drinking and just having a good time. The entire Spanish population of the Residence was out in the hall as well doing the same so it was rather fun. Time ended up flying by and by 1 am we started getting ready to actually go out. Only that was when one of the cleaning ladies (who I guess are also in charge of the residence or something) decided to come on up and crash the party by trying to give everyone avertisements - basically trying to write us up. So we all split different directions in the chaos that ensued. The Spaniards started arguing with the cleaning lady, some people wanted the blame put on them... but it was being put on innocent people... all in all not a good time. But a small group of us ended up on the fourth floor in Eve's room where we waited in terror if the cleaning lady would come around to all the rooms like she kept threatening... but she never came thankfully. Only a few other friends of ours came by and we jsut kinda kept the party going quietly in there. By now it's going on 3:30 in the morning, so we of course realized we weren't going to be going out and ended up heading back to our separate rooms... where I just crashed.

Only, I didn't get much sleep because I had to wake up and get to the bank to talk to them before they closed at noon... so I dragged myself out of bed around 10 am, got ready and headed on over there. Only, when I got there they were closed! Another one of these random French national holidays that keep popping up everywhere - and of course on the days when I have things I have to do! So that ended up being a waste, so I just headed on over to the Grand Place as I wanted to get some postcards of Lille from the Furet du Nord - as well as enjoy the area for another last time. While I was there, there was a festival thingy going on in the Place Rihour next door - so I took my time to walk through the stalls set up. I ended up buying an ice cream cone with Grand Marnier flavored ice cream - it was incredible! I'm going to miss the ice cream for sure! I then ended up walking to Carrefour to grab a few things like bread and something to drink for this week, before coming back to my room and relaxing. Since we hadn't actually gone out the night before, we all planned on going on tonight - so I tried keeping on the ball with those plans while just relaxing the rest of the day.

We ended up going out about midnight. The first stop was a bar called Pirates, which is themed to the Pirates of the Carribean... only there was no room for all 11 of us to squeeze inside that tiny place - a bit upsetting because I actually haven't been there before where most of the others had. So we headed over to Rue Solferino where most of the bars are to try and find one that would work for our large group. After ruling a few out because they just had no room, we called some other friends who were already out at places to try and catch up to them. So that took us to the Shower Bar - which was small but a really cool place. It was themed like a shower and was more of an adult bar as there actually was a shower above the bar where they had people go in from time to time and perform some rather risque shows while showering! We all had a blast while getting drunk and it ended up being a really fun time!

After that, we headed over to the Tchouka club to dance and continue the night - by the time we got over there (which was around 2 pm) it was already packed and had a really good party going on. So we just joined in on the fun! I think we spent a good two hours there just dancing and having some more drinks. By the time we actually left, we were all getting tired and were ready to leave. So we said goodbye to part of the group who were going a different direction, and the rest of us from our Residence headed back through the streets of Lille at 4 am in the morning! So naturally, I came back to my room and just crashed!

I had intended to wake up this morning to get to the Sunday Wazemmes Market for one last time before leaving France... and even though my alarms woke me up in time to do so... my body was in no mood to actually move itself out of bed! So I ended up sleeping in and woke up after it was already closed - oops! But I had been to the market many times before so I really wasn't missing too much. And now, I've just been sitting here updating this blog, finishing uploading my pictures online and will start packing things up here.

My time in France is very quickly coming to an end. I have one last final tomorrow afternoon, I have my room check-out scheduled for Wednesday at 3 pm... and I leave France on Thursday morning. Aside from the miscellaneous things like closing my bank account and packing, I'm done - all I will have to do is some last minute hanging out with friends whom I probably will never see again, and that's it.

My train leaves Lille on Thursday morning at 6 am, and is a direct train to the Charles de Gaulle Airport outside of Paris. I've given myself almost three hours to get checked in and everything at the airport before my plane leaves Paris at 10 am. Then, 8 and half hours later, I land in Newark around 12:30 pm EST where I've also given myself a little over three hours to get through customs and onto my next plane home. I leave Newark around 3:30 pm EST and arrive back home in Pittsburgh at 5:15 pm where I'm sure my family will be waiting anxiously for me in the baggage claim.

Well... as this is a long blog like usual, I should get going as it's already 7 pm and I would like to get everything packed up and all that figured out by tonight! Not sure if I will have another blog before I leave France - I'm thinking I might make one on Wednesday... but just in case I don't.... this shall be my last blog from France....

Alors... Au revoir France! Je t'aime et tu me manques!
(Therefore... Goodbye France! I love you and I will miss you!) for those who don't speak French!

Photos all updated!

Alright, so I finally was able to get all my pictures up-to-date online! My one album for Saturday in Paris is mostly art work and that is what took me forever as I had to translate all the titles of the works!

But here are the links to the albums. (Note: all can be accessed if you just go to my main picassa page, but this is all the ones that I have updated)

Paris Trip

Wednesday April 16 - Paris

Thursday April 17 - Paris!

Friday April 18 - Paris!

Saturday April 19 - Paris

Sunday April 20 - Paris to Lille

Panoramic Pictures in Paris

(there will be more to add to this when I get them finished!)


Bruges Trip

A Day's Trip to Bruges, Belgium

Miscellaneous Since Paris

Parc Asterix!

Lille has a Zoo!

Lille's Zoo - Take 2!

A Sunday in the Park of Pont Bois

Last Weekend in Lille

Albums I've Added New Pictures Too

My Room in Lille - and the Residence

(This used to be called My Room in April - but I renamed it and put all the pictures of my room for the entire 5 months in here to make it easier)

Market Wazammes

(The last half are new)

Gala a Lille!

(I added a few from friends)

La Citadelle

(Added some at the end)

Jardin Vauban

(I added some at the end)

My Time In Lille

(The whole last half are new)



I believe that is all the new pics I have uploaded - which brings me up to date!

Parc Asterix! ... (and today too!)

Well today was the day of the Foyer's Trip to Parc Asterix... only we had to be in front of the Catho at 7:15 am! So I get up, get ready,... and drag myself over there and meet up with everyone one else going on the trip. I saw a lot of faces I recognized but only knew a small bunch - mainly those that I hung out with throughout the day: Kyle, Alex, Erika, Helen, Even, (a girl I don't remember her name!), and Danielle...

So we all get on the bus... and start off on the 2 hr bus ride down to the amusement park which is down near Paris. I got stuck sitting next to Danielle and as most of us were tired still, some took naps or just listened to music and relax... only Danielle had to keep talking even after it was obvious none of us were paying attention to her. I had pulled out a book and started reading - a clear sign that I didn't want to be bothered... and what does she do? She starts asking me a million questions about the book to which I finally just kept muttering simple answers and didn't bother paying attention... and I pulled out my iPod too which shut her up! It was a long bus ride but we did stop at a truck stop, and I got a coffee from the vending machine to help wake me up! Then it was back on the bus for a bit till we got to the park.

We finally got there and it was cool! Though we ended up waiting in line to get in for a good 15-20 minutes but once we were in, and given a map of the park - our group of 8 was off! We were told that the best bet would go wait in the line for "Tonnerre de Zeus" (The Thunder of Zeus) which is the parks only wooden roller coaster but also the third longest in Europe too! So we got there... and the line was already out of the queue! But we still waited in it, which went right under this huge statue of Zeus (which included some flowery underwear too! Haha!) We had a good time waiting in line though, talked about a bunch of things and unlike most queue lines that just weave back and forth in a huge open grid, all the queue lines at Parc Asterix wove through the trees and the ride. Finally we got to the station, which was built like a Greek Temple, and got in line for the trains. We had to split up naturally and couldn't all get on the same car either but that happens with large groups! The interesting thing though was that we had to take our bags and purses and stuff with us on the ride! The ride itself was really fun, had a nice steep hill that went down into a tunnel and many banks and small hills. It was a little rough though but that's common with wooden roller coasters! Overall we really enjoyed it!

What was funny though, was when we went to look at the pictures! Some of the girls in our group (which was mostly girls save for me and Kyle) had worn strapless dresses... and during the ride some of them had slipped down! I think it was Erika's dress happened to be too low when they snapped the picture! So we got a good laugh out of that one!

After that, we decided that we should go and ride the other cool looking roller coaster, as well as we were told it normally gets a long line too! However, to get there, we had to go all the way around the lake, backtracking our steps untill we could go in the right direction. But we made it there and of course saw some cool things along the way too. We were walking along this one place and I recognized the music... but was a bit confused because it was the opening number from Riverdance! Then I looked at the map and there was some Druid thing for kids in that area which kinda explained it then.

We got to the next coaster, called Goudurix - this one was a steel roller coaster that had 7 inversions where you were upside down! It looked really cool while we were waiting in line. Right as we got to the line, Danielle said she needed to find a bathroom... but the rest of us were fine so she told us to go on ahead and she'll catch up to us. We all were thinking "Finally, we got rid of here" thinking that they wouldn't let her cut all the people behind us in line... unfortunately somehow she weasled here way to us after we had gone through a good 3/4 of the line - but the time without her was amazing! (None of us really like her and unfortunately I am the one who can at least look like I put up with here so I ended up being her ride partner for most things.)

The nice thing though was that this time, the line was only about a half hour wait and it moved fairly quickly too. We finally get to the station which was a Viking Boat, and again had to split up to get on the ride. We had figured that since you go upside down, there would be a place to leave your bags and stuff... nope! You were again expected to just wrap the straps around your legs and take it with you! Thankfully I had my knapsack with me so I could just put the strap around my waist and the bag between my legs. While this coaster looked like a blast - it was not. It was very rough and tossed us around along to the point it hurt a little, and it was actually very slow for a coaster too. Overall, we were disappointed.

By this point, some of the girls were getting hungry and had either eaten the food they had packed, or didnt pack a lunch like we were suggested to do. So we headed back towards the entrance trying to find a place they saw for pizza, but it was a sit down restaurant. Luckily there was a burger place right next door so we went there and waited forever in line to get food. Helen and I had brought a lunch and still had ours by then, so we waited outside at first eating our lunches... then we realized that we could use a cold drink so we joined the others in line and waited our turns for drinks - which took forever! Then my drink wasn't even filled up all the way to the top! But I just dealt with it as I did not feel like going back and cutting to the counter to have them fix it or dealing with them either.

While we were sitting down and they finished eating, we talked about what we wanted to do. As it was hot out, we all wanted to go on a water ride. Since there was still the whole other side of the park that we hadn't been to yet, we figured we'd head that way since there were two water rides. So we headed out that way and came into a different themed part of the park.

Quick note: There are five themed areas in the park - The Greeks, Romans, Gaul, Vikings, and Crossing the Times. The Roman part was what we walked through first (and we actually didn't go on the roller coaster in that region b/c we ran out of time) and the Greek part was with the Wooden roller coaster. We were now heading to the Gaul area (Gaul is the region from which modern-day France was founded.)

They had a huge boat splashdown ride - but it was closed! So we took the next best thing... the Menhir Express which was your old fashioned log ride! We got in the long line, but it moved fairly fast despite waiting a good half hour in it. The whole place was themed really well and we couldn't wait. Then we started noticing the people getting off - they were soaked! ... Then we realized what seemed to be common here - you took your bags with you! So we arranged ourselves into two boats of 4 and they of course put me in front figuring I'd take all the water and block it from the girls! They did the same thing with Kyle in the other group! We finally got down to the deck and got into our boats and started off on the ride.

It was a really cool ride, you went up a small hill and then slowly glided down along the path through the woods, getting a little splash here and there. Then we went inside a dark building and we heard the other group scream ... so we figured there was a hill.... and there was! It was a rather steep drop in complete darkness... but there was no water when we landed so we didn't get wet... this time! We then weaved around again like before until we came to another dark tunnel thing... this time when we came out we were going up the main lift hill! The other four were in the boat ahead of us so we got to see them go down the huge hill and get wet... then it was our turn! And yeah we got wet! I had covered my bag up and arranged it so it wouldn't get too much water - but as I was in the front of the boat I got most of the water (but the others still got wet too! hehe!) It was hot out, so being a bit wet actually felt good because the water was cold!

There were some of the Spanish kids who had come on the trip with us that had been in the line in front of us so they waited for us afterwards figuring we could all join together in a group. But we were a bit too big and they actually had gotten in line for the next ride before we did - so we kept apart! The next ride we went on was really really really fun! It was another roller coaster, and since weak, anorexic Danielle got "whiplash" on the last steel roller coaster, she sat this one out. Once we were in the line and out of her sight, we all kinda celebrated a bit because we had probably a good hour without her - and we all hoped that she'd get bored and go off to do something else! And no, we're not mean - it's just that is how annoying she is, and how much none of us can stand her.)

We had a good time again waiting in line, though this was definitely the longest wait we had all day. One interesting thing was that since we were all speaking to each other in English (why not since we all could and it was our native language!), there was a group of French guys ahead of us in line that kept making comments and talking about us. I didn't hear them say things personally but others did - however, after Kyle noticed it, he started talking to them ... in French! They obviously were quite shocked and embarressed because we all knew what they had been saying! (It's fun when you can do that!) Apparently, there were talking just general things about foreigners and why were Kyle and I so lucky to be the only guys in a group of girls, etc, etc....

But while the others were starting to get impatient because it was such a long wait - I didn't mind! I actually enjoyed watching the coaster because it is a rather unique one. It's a bobsled coaster - which is a rather rare design. The trains are made up of 7 cars, each one holding up to two people who sit one in between the legs of the other and the bar comes down in front of you. The track however, is not typical of a coaster. Instead of the usual two rails the train follows, the track was actually a bobsled track, or similar to a body waterslide - there is no set path to follow as long as you stay in the track, and the track banks around the curves. So when we're on it, it's like you're in a bobsled! It really was cool, and since without Danielle there was only seven of us - I ended up going by myself. We all really enjoyed this ride the best, and it was definitely worth the long wait!

After this, we got off, and looked at our pictures - which all were great this time (no shirts slipping down!) Then we headed on off to figure what to do next. We didn't see Danielle at first so we thought that she just went on... then she found us again... erg. We kept on going around this side of the park and after realizing the other coaster over there was one more for kids, we opted to go on the L'Oxygenarium which is a huge water slide. So we headed up towards that which took us into the Through the Times part of the park. There were arcade games, and a restaturant complex set up like a street of Paris, and a huge circus tent restaurant. We got in the rather long line for this water slide thing and waited - but it moved really fast too. Danielle had gone off with one of the Spanish girls to smoke so again we got rid of here - and were all grateful! As the inflatable tubes you ride down on are huge, we figured we could fit all seven of us in one - but we soon realized that you only get six in one... so since there were two of the Spanish guys a little bit ahead of us, we invited them to come back and join us so we could split up - 4 and 5.

So we finally got to the deck, and since I was in the group of 4, they asked if there was a group of 2 - which there was, so they joined us as well... a little awkward! But the others were in the raft behind us. The ride was not too bad, though really short. You basically go up the lift, and then start going down the huge slide as the whole raft spins in circles. We got to the bottom and then just relaxed as we floated around and waited our turn to get off - till the guys in the other raft starting splashing us! We weren't too happy as the water was dyed some bluish color - and a lot of us were wearing white! But it didnt' stain thankfully!

We got off of that ride and since the huge swings were right there, we got in line for those. Like normal, we didnt see Danielle so we figured we had gotten rid of her for good. Well... what do you know, she spots us in line - she was ahead of us in line! Thankfully she didn't come back to us though so we still had some time without her! The swings were fun, like the usually are. Afterwards though, we looked at the time and only had about 45 min before we were told we had to be back at the bus at 5:30 pm to leave by 6 pm. So since it was gettting around dinner time, most of us started wanting ice cream or something - I actually wanted food! But after looking at one of the ice cream stands where we were, we quickly realized that it was a better deal to go back to where we ate lunch and get sundays there for the same price. I was happy b/c I could get a sandwhich too!

So we went back there, only to discover they didn't have chocolate left for the sundays - so most got caramel. I got strawberry and a chicken sandwhich - both of which were delicious. Danielle started her usual "Ooh... what's that taste like" routine but I did not give in at all and thankfully she never asked for a bite - which I would have refused her anyways. After the day trip to Bruges with her and then the whole day today with her... I was to the point if she had asked me that... I would've snapped and told her my real opinion! But that didn't happen ... who knows if it might in the days to come though!

Since I had still wanted to look in the shops for my playing cards and shotglasses I get for souvenirs, I first asked if anyone else wanted to join me... but after no one wanted to, I headed off to shop! (Well, I stopped at the bathrooms first!) And of course, I looked in all the shops along the main entrance, of which there were many... and each had cool things in it (even some Egyptian things but I forced myself to pass them up without even looking!) but I couldn't find any playing cards or shotglasses! inally, in the last store in the area and of course the last one I looked in - I found them! But the shotglasses came in a set of 2... so I got them anyways along with the playing cards and a couple postcards too.

By this time, I had to head back to the bus as it was almost 5:30. I got there and the others were there waiting... Danielle had come back off the bus to chill in the sun with two of the other girls... and she told me that she had saved us a seat. So I got on the bus... asked the others on board which seat Danielle was in... and promptly took my seat a few rows back! I was in no mood to deal with her for the whole 2 hr bus ride back! Thankfully, even after everyone was on the bus, she stayed where she put her stuff and I actually had the seat next to me free! So, I pulled out my iPod and my book and settled down for the trip back. Then the bus driver put on some French dubbed movie that was really loud... and that no one seemed to watch... so i just turned up my iPod a little and tuned it out. Others slept the way back and this time we didn't stop.

Soon enough, we were back in Lille, and the driver actually parked only a block from the residence so we didn't have to walk very far. Some of us though went to Marche Plus (a local supermarket) up the street to get something to drink and some food, which I went along with. The Spanish guys were all going out later that night - while the rest of us were way too tired from having to get up at the crack of dawn and the long hot day to even think of going out! So we came back to Foyer and split our separate ways. I came back to my room... talked to people online, called Mom and talked with her for a bit... and ended up putting a movie in my computer but actually fell asleep before I even started it!

So since this is a day late in getting online, here's what happened today too! I woke up around 9 am when my alarms went off... and went back to sleep! I finally got up around 10:30 - 11ish and got ready as I had to get to the post office before they closed at noon. So I grab my heavy box of souvenirs I'm mailing home, and head on over there. I finally get to the counter and first pick up money that was sent to me - of which it seemed like the woman at the desk didn't know what she was doing cause it took forever! Then, I asked about some Colissomo International boxes they had displayed, wondering if it might be cheaper to buy two of those and repack my box to mail home on Monday. It ended up being only like 10 euros cheaper and since I had already brought the box there, I figured I'd pay the extra and mail it... then she tells me that it's too late as by now it was quarter after noon - even though she started helping me before noon! Thankfully though, the manager said the post office on Rue Gambetta was still open today till 5 pm! So I picked up the heavy box and headed out that way!

After a couple stops, and switching positions of carring it, I finally got to the Gambetta Post Office and went inside to wait in line. Since my box hadn't been officially weighed anywhere yet, the guy took it back and asked me how I wanted to send it. Then I asked him if it was cheaper to send it in Colissimo International boxes, or as is... and after finally speaking a mix of French and English, we realized that like before it was not much cheaper at all. So, i just filed out the paperwork and paid for the package which was only 89 euros (a lot just to mail a package internationally but definitely not the 150 euros I was originally told when I tried to get an estimation!)

After that was done, being much lighter now!, I headed out towards the Grande Place since it was a beautiful day out and everyone was also out. After stopping at the Tourist Office to pick up some souvenirs from Lille, as well as looking at some other shops on my way, I headed off to Carrefour to do some small shopping. There, I picked up a few more things that I wanted to bring back as souvenirs, mainly a bottle of Pastis and one of the local beers. I also picked up a Mosquito repeller that you plug in the wall. I have been eaten alive by mosquiteos the past few days to the point my arms and hands are covered all over in spotches from their bites! It's been really hot, and since there is no air conditioning in the residence, I have had my window open even at night... So hopefully this repellant thing that you plug in will do it's job and I can be mosquito free!

I then headed to the train station to see if they had a few souvenirs that the Tourist office didnt' have... which they did thankfully! I also printed out the ticket I had already bought for my train from Lille to the Charles de Gaulle Airport for the day I leave France. I need my French bank account card to get it, and since I will be turning the card in a few days before I leave in order to close my account, I had to get this ahead of time! Then, even though it was a long walk, I walked back to my residence since it was still nice out. I did stop and pick up my French and Belguim flags that I had found at a small store. So now, aside from one or two things, my souvenirs are done! Now, it's time to keep working on getting pictures uploaded, studying every now and then, and packing things up...

It's hard to think that in 12 days I will be leaving here going home... they're coming very quickly! But they will also go very fast because starting on Tuesday, I have about one final exam each day to not only study for but that will take up my time too. Well, I shouldn't keep talking and actually do some of those things I need to get done! So till next time!

Day Trip to Bruges!

Ok, time to talk about my day trip up to Bruges, Belgium! Danielle, a semi-friend here at Lille had mentioned making a day trip up there on Sunday, so since it sounded interesting I said I’d go along. So we got the tickets and got things planned out, and I spent some time online reading about things to do so we aren’t completely clueless when we got there!

So, since the train left Lille at 9:06 am, she stopped by my room about 8:20 and we headed on out. I was running a little behind but no more than 5 minutes! But we hopped on the metro and made it to the station before the train did so we had some time to just wait. We finally get on the train and they check out tickets, when we hear over the loudspeaker that we’ll have to change trains at some city. We had booked tickets for a straight shot to Bruges so this threw us off. Well, we asked the controller what was going on, and apparently there was an accident with trains somewhere near Antwerp or something – so trains had to be re-routed. Didn’t seem like a huge deal… then we got to the station we had to change trains at. No one seemed to know what was going on, and after asking a couple of times, we finally were told which platform we had to take. So we get over there and when the train arrives, we double check and the controller then tells us we have to get off and switch trains again at the next stop! This train was so full, we ended up standing between the two cars – but it was only about 10 minutes so it wasn’t too bad.

We then ended up in Gent, where we had to get off and after asking again which platform we needed, we got to the right one and waited for the train to come. Like the last train, there were no seats left (The trains we took were local commuter trains where you don’t have to have a seat reservation) So we ended up standing again though this time it was for about 20 minutes. Finally, we arrived in Bruges, Belgium only about a half hour later than we were supposed too.

Bruges is one of the most beautiful cities in Belgium, and we could definitely see why right off the bat! It is also nicknamed the “Venice of the North” because there are so many canals throughout the city. Part of the reason the town is gorgeous is because it actually was behind the times and didn’t go through the industrial revolution when the rest of Europe was – and it’s because of this that the entire city center, which is still surrounded by the city walls!, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

So the first stop we made was in the new modern concert hall, which is where the tourist office was. I had looked at a guidebook online so I had wanted to pick that up – and I did along with a small foldable map of the city. Once we got those, we kinda set up a general plan for the day since it was already 11:30 am. We figured we would take the canal boat trip to see the city, and then walk around the city center seeing those sites, then after grabbing a bite to eat rent a bike and do the bike tour in the guidebook that takes you around most of the city including along the city walls. So, we made our way to the nearest canal boat point!

Quick notes: the skyline of Bruges is dominated by three steeples: The steeple of St. Saviour’s Cathedral, the steeple of the Welcome Church of Our Lady, and the Belfry. Also, Bruges is in the Flemish country which includes part of Belgium and even part of northern France! The Flemish culture is very unique.

On our way to the nearest boat trip point on the canal network, we first came across St. Saviour’s Cathedral which is Bruges’ oldest parish church. However there was nothing memorial about it other than that – and since it cost to get inside, we skipped it! But we did walk around it and through some smaller side streets on our way to the other major church in Bruges – The Welcome Church of Our Lady.

We did go inside here because you could get into the church itself for free. (The museum part of the church, which unfortunately included the choir and the back half of the church, cost to get in.) The main reason I had wanted to go hear, aside from it being one of the landmarks of Bruges, is that it is here where you can find Michelangelo’s Madonna and Child statue which is world-known. It was set up in a huge side altar dedicated to the statue. It actually was rather small, but beautiful! Unfortunately it was kept behind bullet-proof glass and you couldn’t get closer than 15 ft – but it was still impressive to see! It was the only statue of Michelangelo’s that left Italy during his lifetime. After walking around and looking at the beautifully sculpted choir screen and pulpit, I figured that I could afford to not pay the 2.5 Euro charge to go see the choir and the tombs of Charles the Bold and Maria of Burgundy in the museum part. So, since that was about all to see there, we headed out!

And we were right next to the canal – yay! We went and paid for a ticket to take the half-hour guided cruise along the canals and waited for the next boat. There was some Spanish tour group that weaseled its way in front of us but I guess that’s what happens when you book a whole boat! But we got on the next one and were off on our ride!

It really was a good time – not only was the views superb, but the commentary was great as well. As Belgium officially has three languages: Dutch, French, and English, the guide spoke all three and would explain what we were looking at in all three languages! Talk about skills with language! I could explain a lot about the boat tour, but I’ll do that in my pictures when I get them uploaded. I’ll have them in the order of the path we followed so it will kinda be like going on the trip at the same time! But we were able to see most of the landmarks of Bruges from the water as well as some interesting things too.

But that trip ended quickly, and we were back at the dock getting off the boat. From there, Danielle and I decided we should walk over to the Market Square to see the Belfry – so we headed off! After going behind the Welcome Church of Our Lady, and getting stuck behind the same huge Spanish tour group (we had to wait about 15 minutes for them to take a group picture on the only bridge crossing the canal in that area… ) we made it to one of the major streets along the canals. From there we followed part of the walking tour in the guide book which took us along the canal, so I was able to get some better pictures of some things. My, was it beautiful! We ended up crossing through a small area of restaurants before crossing over the canal into one the Burg which is one of the major open areas. Here, there is the City hall and other major buildings of administration for the city. Also, as we later discovered, it included the Basilica of the Holy Blood tucked in the corner. But we kept on walking up the street to the Market Square and the Belfry.

This was an interesting place! The architecture of the buildings were very colorful and Flemish in style, but of course the 83 meters high Belfry and the Halles (their stalls for trading during the older times). I naturally wanted to climb them because the view would be impressive – and who wouldn’t want to climb to the top?! Well, Danielle wouldn’t – so she was the party-pooper and sat out while I climbed to the top. That was quite a climb though, and not so easy either! In total there are 366 steps to the top, most of which are fairly steep, narrow and they spiral their way up. To make matters even worse, there was only one set of stairs to get up to the top or come back down! So often, it became a game of finding the corner so you can let those coming down pass and vice-versa. But on the way up there were different levels which had things like the old Treasury, and the mechanism for the impressive clock outside the Belfry, as well as the 47 bells that make up the Bruges carillon! I was quite tired by the time I got up to the top – but as usual, it was completely worth the exhausting trip!

The view from the top was so impressive and really gives you a different look on the city. Of course, I took tons of pictures! I mean, it’s me! Unfortunately, there were these huge green rope nets that covered the bells so people wouldn’t climb up on them, as well as the windows had a fence thing that stopped people from jumping or something – but I was easily able to slip my hand and camera through to get pictures without them! However, as it was nearing the hour – I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be up there when the clock struck the hour! So I began my descent. If anything, going down was harder! The steps were that steep and because they curved, there was not much to the steps themselves. Add to that the fact that so many people have climbed them over the years, they have become rather smooth and you can easily slip down them – which is of course exactly what happened to me! I made it a few steps down and suddenly slipped and lost my footing… and ended up sliding down about 15 steps before it came to one of the small landings along the way. It did kinda hurt but thankfully no one was coming up! The rest of my descent – which I took more carefully! – went smoothly and without problems. And when I got down to the ground level, Danielle was outside just chilling.

After that, we went back to the Market Square and went to the TinTin shop there. TinTin is a widely known French comic book character so it was cool to see that, and Danielle bought a shirt for her little brother. After that, we started walking around the Market looking at the buildings and restaurants along there. We figured we probably should head over to the Basilica of the Holy Blood since it was in the area, so we headed that way. And here is where the map was not so clear! It showed that it is located on a side street between the road we were on and the Burg… but it was only after we had reached the Canal, had I realized this road must not exist! So I looked at the map and figured it must be over in the corner of the Burg… so we started going that way.

But first, we stopped in a few souvenir shops along the way just to look and start pricing some things so we weren’t ripped off when we actually bought things! We also stopped in a tea store! That was fun and I loved the smell of all the kinds of teas – as well as all the fun teapots they had! When we got out there, I consulted the map again to make sure I was right… and Danielle must’ve not believed me or something and ended up taking the guidebook and map from me and tried to figure it out… Only being the ditzy girl she is, she wasn’t even looking at the right place! She thought we were a good couple blocks over and got “confused” when the street we were on was not where she was looking…. By this time I was agitated and tired with her to the point I almost grabbed the map back and just started walking… but I told her I know exactly where we were and where we had to go. So, I took it back and headed on the way … and of course I was right! Tucked in the corner of the Burg was a really detailed façade that ended up being the entrance to the Basilica of the Holy Blood.

This is somewhere I really wanted to go because not only were the descriptions beautiful, but it also is home to the relic of a vial of Christ’s Blood. Though, no photographs were allowed in the upper chapel – it was gorgeous! You walk in and are surrounded by the Flemish colors all over, and the actual woodwork of the neogothic style was equally impressive. For a Basilica though, it was very tiny in comparison to others I have been to (Sacré Cœur for example). There was a podium area in the side chapel where a Church official looked over the relic of the Holy Blood as people were allowed to walk by and venerate it. So, partially because I wanted to see it up-close, and because most people in there were doing the same – I walked up there to see it. It was really tiny and kept under a glass lid, but was really impressive to see. Whether or not it is actually Christ’s blood, to think that an entire place was built for it here is just astounding. Again, Danielle was the party-pooper and didn’t follow – oh well!

After we left the upper chapel, we went into the lower chapel which is very Romanesque and gorgeous! There was not anyone down there from the church, so I was able to take some pictures. The interesting things down there were a Piéta, a painted wooden sculpture from the 1300’s, a statue of Christ, and a Tomb of Christ caved in wood. Though, once a huge group of noisy Spanish people came inside – we left!

Since it was getting late in the afternoon, we figured we would head to the Choco-Story which is a museum about Chocolate. But on our way there, we passed up a cool lace store so we went in. Lace is another product of the area, one which it is known for. It was all gorgeous but lace is very hard to buy! However, Danielle must have not trusted the fact that I knew how to get to the Choco-Story Museum … because she asked the store owner how to get there! Another reason why she ticked me off! But he didn’t help her find it, and instead told us about the best chocolate store in Bruges. Since we wanted to get to the Choco-Story before it closed, we held off on looking at this chocolate store!

The Choco-Story was rather cool as it talked about how chocolate was first used by the Mayans and how it evolved throughout times till today, as well as it explained how chocolate is made. Built in an old four story house in as tiny side street, it was mostly dedicated to Belgium chocolate (obviously as we were in Belgium!) but I was a bit disappointed in it overall. It mostly was like a museum where you walked around and read about the exhibits, and they only had some examples of things. Then again, I’m comparing it to the Hershey museum which is very commercialized! It was cool at the end though, because they had a live demonstration of how pralines are made – including a sampling of them afterwards!

Now that we had done that, we sought out this “best chocolate store in Bruges” that we were told about – which ended up being really close by! We went inside and it was completely impressive, and smelled all over of chocolate! Yummy! There were so many kinds of chocolate that it was hard to even pick – and what really made it nice was that it is a family run store and the owner was right there. So, after asking questions about things like what kind were those, and which did she recommend (to which she replied that she wouldn’t sell something that wasn’t good!) we ended up buying some Belgium chocolate. It ended up being a great price as well – and very delicious too! Hehe!

By now, it was after 5 pm, so I was getting hungry and we both wanted to taste some Belgium beer. So we ended up going right across the street to the Brasserie right there. After looking over the menu, I ended up getting a medium glass of the local beer (Bruges Zot) and a meal of a cheese croquette appetizer, Flemish Beef Stew for the entrée, and chocolate mousse for dessert… and Danielle got only a coke. Being the mooch she is (which is why most people here do not like here, myself now included…) she asked to taste some of my beer (which I did but shouldn’t have…) I should also mention that she’s completely anorexic and doesn’t eat anything unless she mooches it off someone (part of why people won’t answer their doors if she knocks because she will hunt out for your food and eat it without asking!) Then, as if that wasn’t enough… there was an older gentleman sitting at the table next to us who had ordered mussels, and as the waitress who brought out the food hadn’t taken our order, there was some confusion at first to who ordered it… which lead to Danielle talking to this guy who only spoke some English… and as Danielle mentioned she wasn’t sure if she had had mussels before, to which we started talking about them… the gentleman offered her some mussels! Which, most people would be polite enough to turn down as this guy was actually eavesdropping on our conversation… but not Danielle… she not only had one, but a couple! Talk about being a mooch!

However, we were slowly running out of time and had to ask a couple times for our bill. Originally, the guy had said they accepted cards, but when I went to pay for it with my card (Danielle just gave me the 2 euros her drink cost) he said that it wasn’t enough to pay with a card! Thankfully Danielle had a 20 Euro note! Since my share was 19.50 euros, she gave me .50 euros and I told her I’d give her a 20 Euro note after I went to an ATM. Then we headed on our way back to the train station and planned to stop by some tourist gift shops on the way back to buy souvenirs.

It was only about 6:30, so it came as quite a shock when we discovered most of the souvenir shops were already closed! Thankfully, the first one we had looked in was still open, so I stopped and picked up a few souvenirs from Bruges. Then we kept walking on our way back to the station as I got some last pictures of Bruges. We got to the station in plenty of time to catch the train back, so I stopped at the restroom first.

I should’ve just waited on gone on the train! It cost me .40 euros to use the restroom (which is a very common thing over Europe for it to cost to use public restrooms) but when I gave the lady a 50 cent coin, instead of giving me a 10 cent coin back – she gave me a 5 cent, two 2 cents, and one 1 cent coin! I asked her why she gave me those back and not a 10 cent coin like she should’ve… even going as far to explain that I couldn’t use those tiny coins anywhere! Which is completely true, not even the machines at the metro stops here take coins smaller than a 5 cent coin so they’re completely useless! She started babbling on about how people give them to her, etc, etc… I ended up just muttering whatever and walking away ticked off. I’ve been keeping those tiny valued coins in a bag this whole semester and with these new additions I believe I’m up to about 80 cents now and will not feel sorry at all for the store that receives them when I pay with the whole bag!

But after looking at which platform we needed, we got on our train back home and started on the ride back. Thankfully, we didn’t have to switch trains this time so it was a nice relaxing ride back home. We just talked about random things… and Danielle kept on bragging about some relative having this company, another doing this… blah, blah, blah. I kinda wonder if she’s a pathological liar as well as anorexic because if she’s telling the truth, she has an uncle who owns a top of the line sunglass store and is invited to parties thrown by high end designers all over Europe, an aunt and uncle who own their own candy business that has made them rich, and so much more! The only thing that kept me from pulling out my iPod and listening to music is the fact that I try not to be that rude … but she almost had me there!

The ride back was only about an hour and half, and it stopped a couple places along the way – but soon enough we were back in Lille and on the metro on our way back to our rooms. It was only when we got back here that I remember I still needed to give her 20 Euros, so we headed back out to an ATM down the street to do that. Then I said bye to her and went to the peace and solitude of my room where I just relaxed the rest of the night. I also called home too and talked to people online which was nice! I had put a movie into my computer to watch while falling asleep but I was so tired from the hot day and little sleep the night before that I crashed before I even started it! Well, that was my day trip to Bruges.

Just a quick addendum here about today before I go. I had planned today to go mail the large box I have packed up to send home. It’s mostly souvenirs so I don’t have to deal with them going through customs, but ended up being really heavy! So I head on out carrying this box to go to the post office… only to find that it is mid-afternoon and they’re closed! Figuring maybe it was just that post office, I walked further along to the next one only to realize that most things were closed today! So I came back to my room with sore arms from carrying this box around and looked up online to see if there was a reason – and of course there was! Today is VE Day, which is the day when fighting during the World War II in Europe ended with the unconditional surrender of Germany. I’m not a history major, so I wouldn’t have known otherwise! So I spent today, just relaxing and will work on getting all my pictures online … and get ready to go down to Parc Asterix outside of Paris tomorrow morning!