Week 19: Enjoying break - and welcoming the newcomer!

As 2014 has come to a close, I just can’t stop thinking how blessed I am for all the opportunities I’ve had so far. From the foundation of getting to study abroad at all this semester, to getting to study in Europe, to picking Lille and having all these amazing experiences - I am truly so appreciate and so grateful. And so my stay at Amandine’s has ended, with many fun experiences throughout… oh, I must have forgot to mention something. What was it? Certainly I should remember…

Of course! Alex is now here in Lille! I can’t even describe how excited I am that she’s here in words! Story to follow. (Warning: there will be a lot of enthusiasm involved. :))

Monday picked up right where the weekend left off (funny enough), relaxed and fun. Amandine’s friend Marie came over in the early afternoon, and we decided to make an apple cake from a family recipe, and also some Ch’tiramisu, which is just like a regular tiramisu except the layers consist of crumbled Spéculoos, a cookie typical of the north of France, and cream made with chicorée liquide, which is a coffee-flavored syrup that is made from chicory, another typical product of the region. (For the record, I absolutely adore ch’tiramisu, and I hope I can find similar ingredients in the States to make it, so that my family knows how wonderful it is!) After putting the cake in the oven and setting the ch’tiramisu in the fridge, the three of us sat down at the table and played Jour de Paye, the French version of Pay Day. After we had our turns saving up money and whatnot (all in French), we decided to watch Astérix et Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre, which made all of us laugh more than once. The film was very interesting to me because a few times Amandine and Marie were nice enough to pause the movie and explain all the references to French culture in the movie that made it even more comical than what I could already understand. By the end of the movie it was getting pretty late, which wasn’t too much of a problem as Marie was staying the night, but as we all were chatting just before bed, Amandine and I realized that we had both mentioned over the break that we wanted to go ice skating, and that we probably wouldn’t be able to unless we went soon, so we laid down some plans to wake up a little early and try to make it.

In the morning, we actually made our way to the patinoire, and got to take some laps around the ice! (Tragically, my skates were too dull and there were way too many people for me to safely perform any tricks… but such is life. Apparently the ice rink is a popular choice on the second-last day of the year.) For those who don’t know, years ago I took lessons with my sisters in competitive figure skating, and so I relished this opportunity to get out on the ice once again with Amandine, her brother Antoine, and Marie. We had a great time dodging back and forth to avoid people, and I was happy just to have fun with Amandine and her friends.

Having fun at the ice rink!

After we ducked out of the rink a tad early to avoid the rush of people, we ran some errands, such as getting Amandine a phone case so she’d have a nice new one to take to the United States for next semester, and by that time Marie had to make her way to Paris to join her family, and so we dropped her off at the train station to meet her carpool. We then stopped to visit Amandine’s grandparents who live not too far from Amandine and her family to collect some coquilles de Noël, loafs of bread formed in the shape of baby Jesus. We had a lovely chat about Amandine’s impending trip to Shreveport, Louisiana for next semester, and also my experience in France so far, with a few current events sprinkled in. It was a very nice time, and as always, Amandine’s grandparents were very hospitable and kind. We then returned home for the night, where we had another wonderful dinner, and then I watched Rain Man for the first time, en français! What a wonderful day before New Year’s Eve.

Wednesday was a little bit of a blur for me… mostly because for the majority of the day I was focused on getting ready for Alex’s arrival! I packed up my suitcase, or at least tried to organize myself a little bit to have space for all her luggage since she would be staying the next night at Amandine’s house, and so the day passed very fast. (There was probably (hopefully) some work on my blog somewhere in there.) Then, on Thursday, it was finally the day: Alex arrived!

Finally here - yippee!!!

As some of you might have already seen on Facebook, I wanted to perfectly record the moment, and so after getting dropped off at the train station, hopping on a train and making it to the airport, I stood as close as I could to where I would meet Alex, with my phone poised and ready to capture the exact moment she would come through the doors. I was indescribably happy in that moment, and in all that followed. Although I hadn’t been too homesick, I had been missing my family a little bit… and here she was, the closest person to me in this world.

The moment of arrival.

After our grand reunion, we went to go find some chairs to sit in while we waited for our train back to Lille. While we waited, we called our parents, and they were happy to hear that Alex was on the ground in France. Then, we just talked like we hadn’t in so long… even though we had messaged, Skyped, and talked on the phone the whole semester, it felt like I hadn’t done any of that, and that this was the first time I was talking to her in so long. As is natural for us, we did get quite the case of the giggles, which really made it hit home for me that she was here. In France. After waiting through an extra half hour delay for our train, we finally hurried onto the train to the blowing whistle of the conductor, and then Alex caught a little bit of shuteye on the train to be ready to meet Amandine and her family when we got to Lille.

Looking adorable while waiting for the train <3

Amandine, Antoine, and their mom were all waiting for us when we got back to Lille, and so Alex got to meet them all right away. They loaded her big suitcase, carry-on suitcase and backpack into the trunk, and off we went back to Amandine’s house, with one additional VIP passenger. Once we got back to the house, we unloaded Alex’s things, and then we immediately dove into another round of meeting lots of French people! I met even more relatives of Amandine’s that I hadn’t met during Christmas celebrations, and Alex got to try her hand at giving and getting some bises right away in greeting with many new French people. We actually met all these new people as they were on their way out the door, but we did get to chat a little bit before they left, so Alex really did jump right into authentic French family culture.

Once everyone had left, we sat down at the dinner table and as always, ate some delicious food. I could not stop thinking: She’s actually here! Where I’ve been staying for the past few days, meeting the people I’ve been staying with, and starting to make friends with the friend I’ve had for months now! How amazing is this?!! It was a singular moment in my life - I hadn’t seen anyone in my family in so long (at least in person), and here she is. Wow. So, after getting over my initial reactions to Alex finally being here, we all chatted for a while about the similarities between Alex and myself, and then we got to talking about French culture as well. In the holiday spirit, we even toasted with some champagne, both to the new year and to Alex’s arrival. By the time we finished chatting and eating, Alex was just about at the bottom of her energy level, what with the time difference and meeting everyone, and so we chilled on the sofa for a few minutes, and then went right up to bed, where we all fell straight asleep.

The next day, Alex and I wanted to get a jump on things, such as unpacking and getting Alex a French bank account, but before we left, we had a wonderful lunch with Amandine and her family. It took me an hour or two to collect all my things and get all packed up, but I was finally ready to go, and Alex was right behind me. We said goodbye to Antoine and the house, and then we got in the car to get to Alex’s residence. Once we got all of Alex’s bags out of the car (much like the previous day), we bid a heartfelt farewell and lots of good wishes to Amandine and her family, as we wouldn’t be seeing her again before she left to study in the States. Then after we settled all our things into Alex’s room, we both sat down on the bed and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Finally, everything was perfect: Alex had arrived safely, she had even gotten to meet Amandine and her family, and, most importantly, she was all set to go for the semester ahead. I was so happy to have been able to guide Alex through things as simple as getting off her plane and to the train to Lille, and as tiring as starting the process of getting her own French bank account.

Once everything was settled, Alex and I made our way to Vieux Lille, where only a few weeks ago I myself had been living, to meet up with my Belgian friend Fatima at a place called Café Oz Australian Bar. I had wanted Alex to meet Fatima before spending a whole weekend with her, and it turned out to be a great introduction! We chatted about Belgium, the United States, and all the stereotypes in between, as well as the past semester from both my perspective in France and hers back in the States. Alex also compared notes with Fatima and me on what I had told her about the people, travels, and events of last semester. When ordering our drinks, we heard one of the bartenders, who was from Mississippi, claim to have dated Brett Favre’s sister in high school. (Who knows if that’s true or not…) We ended up having a great time, but before we knew it, it was time to go to bed, because we had a very early train the next morning!

At the Australian Bar!

Saturday morning, Alex, Fatima and I hopped on the 6:40AM train to Paris, to introduce Alex to the lovely city that is Paris! I taught Fatima how to play Contract Whist on the way there, with a game to be continued on the train back to Lille the next day. Before we knew it, we arrived. After buying our day passes for the metro, we had a little bit of trouble figuring out where we were going at first, but eventually we made our way through the cold and the rain to our hostel, unfortunately located in the sketchy Montmartre area right around Sacré Coeur. (First and last time booking a hostel before reading the reviews... oh well. We made the most of it.) From our hostel, we got on the metro and made our way to Café Angelina, which, if you’ve read or heard anything that I’ve said about my previous trips to Paris, has been a must for me each time I visit. (World’s best hot chocolate and all that :)) We walked next to the Louvre and through the Jardin des Tuileries to get there, as it’s located right across the street, and we were happy to get into the warmth and out of the rain. Almost nothing is worse than freezing rain when you’re traveling to Paris... almost. We sat down and had some lovely hot beverages and macaroons to split, while trying to take in all the warmth and dryness that we could before we had to venture out into the rain and the cold again.

Twins in the tea room ^_^

Soon enough, we made our way down the street to the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. It was still as magical for me as it was the first time, and it was only made better by seeing Alex’s impressions of her very first time there. I relived the same feelings that I had told my friends about after my first time in Paris, seeing them on Alex’s face: we had been waiting for over seven years to experience these moments. We had been learning about all these monuments and sights and all this history in French classes for seven years, and now here we are in France, finally getting to experience everything! In the midst of all this awe and wonder, Fatima, Alex, and I made our way down the famous street. We stopped into an H&M to get Alex some new, dry shoes (yes, the rain was that bad), and then we made our way to the Arc de Triomphe. Fatima and I both had our French student IDs and so we got a reduced rate, and we all made our way under the busy street and up the stairs to the top, to be able to see all of the city. Unfortunately, clouds go hand in hand with rain, and so we didn’t see too much of the city from the top, but what we did see was amazing.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

View of the Eiffel Tower from the Arc de Triomphe. Lots of clouds!

A very hazy view of Sacré Coeur.

Then we made our way via metro to the Eiffel Tower! It proved to be a little bit of a difficult journey, not in terms of navigation, but just dealing with the harsh weather, but c’est la vie when you’re in Paris. We climbed all the stairs to the first level, where we admired the view through the rain, and then quickly ducked into the souvenir shop. Alex, Fatima and I picked out a few overpriced souvenirs, and then the three of us prepared ourselves mentally to climb to the next level. It really is a workout - we definitely got our exercise for that day! When we finally reached the second level, huffing and puffing, we danced our way in between the raindrops to get an even better view of Paris and all it has to offer.

After the Eiffel Tower, we trekked across the city to find a grocery store for a cheap (and very late) lunch. We enjoyed a rest for a little bit, chatting about what we would do next while regaining some energy, and then we made our way back across the city on the metro. Our next destination was Sacré-Coeur, but before we made it there, we ran into a sight that Fatima had just been mentioning to us along the way - the Love Wall. All over this one random wall, very near to Sacré Coeur in the Montmarte district, is written “I love you” in a bunch of different languages (and even different dialects of different languages!). We snapped photos of all the “I love you”s we recognized, and then we followed the hill up to the top.

I love you.

When we finally made it to Sacré Coeur, it was just as it had been about a week ago for me - stunning, and amazing. We took a while to just sit and take it all in, and then we walked around the basilica a bit to see all the amazing details up close. After we had taken enough time to let it all sink in, we decided to try to see more of Paris before our day was up. Unfortunately, Alex had overused her feet, and so we took a while to rest in the hostel and have a night in, and ended up going to bed early. We chatted a little bit about our plans for the next day, which for Alex and me included going to Mass in the morning, and then we turned in. The had already been so amazing that it certainly made up for the early evening!

We got up pretty early to be able to make 8:30AM mass at Notre Dame Cathedral, while Fatima took a stroll around the nearby area and took lots of photos. This was another sight that Alex had been waiting to see, and once again, her reaction was similar to my own, but she seemed to be even more awed and excited by the experience. After the quaint mass with a gathering of elderly people, which was another amazing mass in French, Alex and I made our way to the Louvre. Since it was the first Sunday of the month, we got into the museum for free! We saw the history of the Louvre palace, how it used to be the seat of the royal throne, and of course the Mona Lisa, for a couple highlights. It was so amazing to experience such history in the place, and just like last time, it was cool to experience this part of French culture.

The Cathedral itself!

Later in the day, in all its glory.

Just like in "The Davinci Code"!

After the Louvre, Fatima met up with Alex and me just outside the pyramids, and then we walked a little ways down the street to grab some lunch. Then, after making sure we had our plans straight for the rest of the day and learning about the Belgian government from Fatima (6 different Parliaments and all, my goodness), we made our way to the Centre Pompidou, the famous modern art museum with the pipes on the outside. Alex’s feet were once again starting to hurt, and so Fatima and I explored the museum of contemporary art for a few hours. What an experience - just another layer of richness in my French cultural experience. We sat down in a theater-style room to watch an artistic video, and had fun coming up with different interpretations of this man who seemed to be fighting with the air on the screen. I even got to take part in an interactive exhibit with chalk!

Centre Pompidou.

We then decided to find some dinner, since we were all hungry again, and we wandered around for a little while to see what we could find. Alex insisted on having some crêpes while it was still her first time in Paris, and so we found a relatively inexpensive place to have both dinner crêpes and dessert crêpes. We also conveniently got to charge our phones for a while, as mine and Fatima’s batteries had been rapidly running out with all the navigating we had had to do (and the quick Facebook checks every few minutes). Once we finished our French food, we walked over by Notre Dame and the Seine again, and we realized that there were two things we wanted to see before we left: Shakespeare & Company, a tiny little bookstore of considerable fame in Paris, and of course the Eiffel Tower at night. We made our way over to the little cramped bookstore, and we found it charming - it offered a considerable amount of variety within its tiny walls, and even had two different reading rooms on the upper floor.

Last but certainly far from least, we made our way over to the Eiffel Tower for one last look. Alex and I shared some moscato while we took in the light show (and avoided the street vendors), and we all sat on a bench and reminisced on our past semester (two of us in Lille, the other in Wisconsin). After such a wonderful evening, we headed straight back to the Gare du Nord, forgoing a visit to the Moulin Rouge in order to be sure we would make our train, and then we were chugging on our way back to Lille, and Fatima and I wrapped up the game of Contract Whist we had started the morning before. After such an eventful day (and weekend), we collapsed into bed and got lots of sleep before Alex’s first day of classes. What a weekend!

Night at the world's most iconic symbol. Santé!

I have thought so much about this week before it came - how it would be when Alex got here, how I would be moving out of my residence, how my great times with friends in Lille would be ending - but now that it's all here, it’s just such a different and wonderful experience. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it has been such a long time since I had been looking forward to something so much, and now BAM - it’s all here! Getting to see Alex in person for the first time in months, getting the opportunity to stay with Amandine over break… this has just been it for me, in the best way possible. I can’t even really be too sad that my time in France is soon coming to an end - I have had way too many amazing experiences to remember. With that, I’m off to help Alex get everything set up in Lille, and then to Lisbon for the weekend! Until next week - à bientôt!

P.S. You can follow Alex’s account of her adventures in France so far on her blog, Letters from Lille!