Week 15: This one's for the girls!

For the most part, this week belonged to the girls! More than one night was filled with laughter and conversation between me and my friends here in Lille. But, to start off the week, there was a very important event: I finally got to the Spanish Consulate in Paris on Monday to get my visa for next semester!

To clarify, I didn’t actually get everything sorted per se, but I did get to actually hand them all my paperwork and they said they would call or email me when I could come back to get my actual visa. Compared to what I went through six months ago to get my French visa, this seemed like a breeze (other than paying 50 euros for a roundtrip train ticket from Lille to Paris, that is). I took the 5:51AM train from Lille to Paris for the third time, got there with plenty of time to spare, and made my way by metro to the Consulate. It was actually somewhat far from the Gare du Nord, but I made do. The only thing that was really stressing me out was that I had to use my other card to get cash from the ATM, and I wasn’t sure if it would work because I hadn’t had to use it until then, but it ended up working just fine, and I paid my visa costs and gave all my paperwork to a pretty friendly lady, and it went very well.

After I handed everything in at the Consulate, I headed over to the Eiffel Tower, because the only other time I had seen it was when I was a little too intoxicated to fully enjoy it. I even climbed all the stairs up to the second level – which was way more of a workout than I initially thought – and enjoyed a nice raspberry tart while looking out over the Seine and Paris in general. It was certainly a wonderful experience…but I’m saving the trip to the top for when my twin gets here – which is exactly a month from today!

Even though the day wasn't pretty, the Eiffel Tower was still magic as usual.

Then I headed over to Notre Dame Cathedral, because that was another big tourist to-do in Paris that I hadn’t done yet. It was cool to finally see one of the greatest (and most famous) cathedrals in the world, and it was even more beautiful with a giant Christmas tree outside and also a giant Advent wreath with big electric “candles” and everything.

Notre Dame!

Looking down the Seine

The last item on my list was a very personal one, if a little shallow: I wanted to see and explore Alésia, a neighborhood in Paris. This ended up being my final stop of the day, as I spent lunch there and then an hour or two afterward just walking around and taking it all in. It ended up not being the nicest neighborhood, but it was still cool to see a place that shares my name (and my real name how it’s truly spelled, not the more general “Alicia” that I see everywhere else). I even made it pretty far down the rue d’Alésia (after taking some selfies of course), and settled on lunch from a grocery store, as has become pretty much the norm for me. It ended up being a pretty cool experience, after which I made my way on the metro back to the Gare du Nord where I awaited my train to come home. A day in Paris (no matter how foggy or overcast) is always magical for me. When I made it back to Lille, I dropped my things in my room, and then not too long after I went to a movie night with my German friend Nele, and we saw “L’Auberge Espagnole” which turned out to be a pretty funny movie and very applicable to all of us foreign exchange students. So this Monday was a long day…but definitely a good one!

I walked by the Floriste Alésia on my way down the Rue d'Alésia.

I saw my name everywhere!

A street named after the chief of the Gauls, the ancestors of the French people.

Tuesday brought a couple classes as usual, and then I went to the university cafeteria with Fatima and Ellen, my lovely Belgian friends, for dinner. I always have a great time when those two are around, and this one was no exception! J And Wednesday was much the same – I had a few classes, and then afterward I headed to the cafeteria again actually with the two Belgians, and this time we were joined by two Austrians, Anna and Dina, and we all headed to Fatima’s apartment for a girls’ night with some mocktails (of which my new favorite is a Nottingham Sunset, thank you Rob… I have got to find out if they sell black currant syrup back in the States!). The night brought more laughter and fun, and we even came up with a few more inside jokes, which are always fun to share with friends. Thursday was a little less fun, what with an 8:00AM class and two exams (English to French Translation and French as a Foreign Language), but in the context of how much fun I had the rest of the week, it was a small price to pay.

Those crazy Austrians... :)

With love from Belgium and America!

Friday brought lots of fun! (Which is quite common if you don’t have any classes ;)) I did actually get my butt out of bed before 8:00AM so that I could do some much-needed laundry, and then after folding and hanging everything up, I headed out to the Christmas Markets in the city center with Katherine and our Polish friend Katia. It was a nice break from studying and thinking about how the end of the semester is coming soon (and God knows I’ve been doing the latter too much lately…and not enough of the former). Seeing as finals are coming up soon, Katia had a lot of work to do, and so we regrettably had to say goodbye to her after the Christmas Market. While spontaneously deciding to both try some marrons, roasted chestnuts, and then head to the movie theater to watch “Astérix: Le domaine des dieux”, Katherine and I ended up having a fabulous afternoon.

Finally, we had a big soirée to attend: a Christmas party hosted by AEU! I had such a fun time watching some performers on the stage (Gospel singers and a dance team) and dancing the night away with friends. The day really helped to kick-start my Christmas spirit, that’s for sure…although it was also bittersweet, as it was the last get-together with almost all of the international friends I’ve made here. All in all, it was a great event, and we all had a marvelous time – a great way to spend one of our last Friday nights here.

The Brits getting their Christmas on :)

A Gospel choir even sang some Christmas carols!

Saturday morning was a little bit of a letdown after the excitement and celebration of Friday night – I actually had class, Teaching French as a Foreign Language, for three whole hours. The funny thing is, I have this class this coming Monday in the morning, and then the exam the same day, in the afternoon. So, let’s hope I will have actually learned something in how to teach French, from a native French speaker, by the end of all this :) After that, I had a pretty relaxing afternoon…I tried to study a little bit, seeing as exams really are quite imminent…and then in the evening Rob and Yuli made some curry and I got to have my first ever taste of the dish. It was a little spicy, but it was delicious! And so I finished my Saturday night, peaceful and satisfied.

I actually made it to Mass at the Cathedral in the morning! I really enjoyed it because the atmosphere is pretty close to St. William, my home parish. After Mass, I spent a few hours (avoiding) studying, and then before I knew it, it was time to go to see Le Petit Prince at the Opéra de Lille! Grace, my two Belgian friends Fatima and Ellen, my Portuguese friend Karla and I all went together and made sure we dressed up, and we all enjoyed the show. I thought it was a little too modern, i.e. the music was atonal and less like a musical in the theater than I had expected, but then Karla reminded me that that is what opera is, and I realized that even if the music wasn’t exactly what I was used to, I did enjoy seeing all the characters interact on stage (and my favorite is still the little renard, the fox!). It definitely brought me back to my junior year of high school, when we read Le Petit Prince in class. Fatima, Karla and I then ended up going to a café afterwards to engage in some discussion and in general spend some time together, and then Fatima and Ellen came to my residence for dinner to study for exams, and we had a great night. What a great week!

This week has brought lots of fun and a little bit of stress with exams coming. I’ve been studying with some friends and trying to prepare on my own as well, but in the end I think I know as much now as I’ll ever know, which makes studying difficult sometimes… we’ll see, I guess. I’m also starting to make some travel plans over break, which include traveling to Slovakia! We’ll see how it all goes from here…but for now, à bientôt!