C'est quoi Cheval???

I've been trying to follow the age-old saying "when in Rome, eat as the Romans do". So far this has worked out pretty nice for me. Great cheeses (brie, gouda, camambert, etc, etc, etc), great bread, great beer and wine. So I thought, I might as well continue with this philosophy. It turns out that another french specialty is....horse....meat....(insert grimace here)......

I thought I should take the good with the....not so good and try some of this so-called delicacy. I had it in a sauce that was slow cooked with some tasty Belgian beer and other good stuff (not sure what) and the meat, although a bit tougher than beef, was suprisingly pretty good! Next on the list: frog legs and escargot :)

Went to a really great open air market today for some grocery shopping. I loved it! it was so active with so many different stalls and people all over the place buying food, clothes and all other sorts of stuff at ridiculously cheap prices. I really like doing my shopping at a place like this as opposed to the huge supermarket (Carrefour is the big one here). I feel that I am somehow closer to the source and am supporting small enterprise. Its also nice walking around outside and being exposed to types of food that I have never seen before.

Paris!!!!

Hello folks,

After a long absence from writing, I'm back!! I've been pretty busy over the past two weeks, still trying to settle into the school here. As you might have noticed from my past posts, I have been having some troubles with figuring out my schedule and dealing with the administration in general. I think its a combination of my infamiliarity with the system here and disorganization on their part (no comment on which element of that combination is the most dominant :)

My girlfriend Tanne was here over the past two weeks which has been amazing! We spent some time touring around Lille. We went to the Musee de Beaux Arts in Lille where we found an excellent collection of paintings and historical artifacts from nothern Europe (Holland, Belgium, etc) We also made sure to take advantage of the food and drink available here in Lille, treating ourselves to cheese, wine, beer, bread, sweets and all that good stuff that is so abundant here....

We managed to find a few days to sneak off to Paris, which was fantastic! It being my first time there, I was really excited to see the sites and just experience this place that I had heard so much about. As you can imagine, it didn't disappoint. We checked out la tour Eiffel, Champs d'Elysee, l'Arc de Triomphe, Louvre, Center Pompidou, le Sacre Coeur, etc.. We also did a lot of walking around in various arrondissments. We took a walk around Montmarte, the area around the Sacre Coeur. I found this area really charming. The architecture was interesting and the area had a lot of life to it (as does a lot of Paris :) We also did some walking in the 11th Arrondisement. This is an area often overlooked by tourists, but is also a really cool place. We found a rich ethnic area with cheap goods (Tanne treated herself to a pair of shoes for 8 euro) and services (i treated myself to a haircut for 6 euro) and a plethora of great cafes and restaurants. (see attached photos for an idea of my experience)

Well thats it for now. I will try not to take so long to write again! Hope you enjoy :)

Settling in...still some frustrations....

I've started settling into my place at the Vieux Lille. It is a pretty tiny apartment, that I share with a kitchen, but its enough for me (how much space does one need when they only brought 20kg of stuff with them?) and it is in the most beautiful part of town. I have a huge park 5 minutes from my house that was actually a 17th century fortress.....pretty cool huh?

My schedule at school has proved to be a huge challenge to work out. They haven't seemed to grasp the idea of online registration and class info, so its incredibly difficult to figure out whats available and what works with my schedule. As it turns out, I may have anothertwo weeks off before starting school, which is good and bad :)

I've signed up for a student organized ski trip to the alps! This should be really exciting, they've rented a chalet for the 300 students going, and apparently there are open bars every night. This makes me wonder how many students will actually be on the slopes in the morning....I will defintiely search a balance of ski and party, with the skiing taking the priority (its the alps!!!)

I'll post some pics in the near future of my apartment and the beautiful area its situated in....

Homeless in France!!!

So I arrived here in Lille thinking it would be fairly easy to find an appartment to share with someone. Appartently this isn't the case. After spending 2 nights at an hotel desperately trying to contact people, I stumbled on a bit of luck and random kindness. A girl who I contacted, although already having found someone for the room, offered to let me stay in her living room free of charge while I look for a place. This being someone who I've never met before! It is from here that I write this post.

I think I may have found a place to stay as well! It is a studio in the old part of Lille. This is a beautiful area with lots of bars, restos, and, as you can imagine, old buildings ;) It is a 15 minute walk to school which will give me some exercise in the morning....

School starts tommorow, which is the furthest thing from my mind at this point :) More updates once I settle into my proper space.

New Year in a New City....

I arrived in Copenhagen on the evening of the 27th after a pretty long flight without any sleep. I slept a good 10 hrs that night, which went a long way towards overcoming my jetlag.

It was so awesome to see Tanne again. As soon as I saw her in the airport, her face lit up with a huge smile :) An indelible smile.....the start of a wonderful trip.

On the 28th we spent the day walking around a little bit, exploring her neighborhood. Strangely, I didn't feel that out of place. I guess this was partially because I am staying with Tanne, a local, and she is able to communicate and show me around. The differences are pretty striking though. The language is the most obvious one. Danish is a beautiful language, a little like german or dutch. I've been trying to pick up a few words here and there :) The prices don't seem terribly different from Canada. In general things are a little bit more expensive, but things like beer, wine and cheese are less expensive.

The Danes are crazy about their fireworks! From the day I arrived fireworks were being shot off in preparation for new years. These are not the puny fireworks that we are used to in Canada....but are serious bombs and rockets....

On New Years Eve the sky was alight with fireworks all over the city. After a little dinner party with Tanne, her roommates and some of their friends (See pics) we went out to the city to see some of the show. It was like nothing I've ever seen before. The air was thick with the smoke of the fireworks being set off all around us. We went to a bridge near the centre of the city where people congregate to watch the show, and it was amazing......