This weekend I went with my French class to Lille, France and Brussels, Belgium. I have been taking French this semester and it has been quite interesting. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I think it's okay, but probably more often than not it's just stressful. I have learned a lot of French but most of the time I want to give up. I say that I can't wait to get back to studying Spanish. Probably one of the reason's that it frustrates me is because it's not Spanish and I keep wanting to mix Spanish into my French. I catch myself saying "por favor" instead of "s'il vous plaît" etc. I almost said "l'addition, por favor" when asking for the check at a restaurant. Well anyway despite being frustrated with French most of the time, going to a place that spoke it made me want to learn it and motivated me a bit. I had gone to Quebec over the summer and hadn't taking French before and even though we could get along fine and I was able to figure out some French because of my Spanish, going to France and Belgium after some experience with the French language was a neat experience. It was cool to see how much I had really learned and to compare my French level in Quebec from it now. I mean I can hardly understand anything and have a long, long way to go if I ever do decided to continue studying French. But it was encouraging. One problem is that I can never remember what to say when I have to for one but that will go away with some more experience and a better command of the language.
Well anyway on to what I did this weekend! My French teacher is from France and went to University in Lille. It's not a very touristy city but in a way that's nice. It gives one a chance to experience a less touristy view of a culture and for a language learner it's easier to get practice because not everyone knows English. If you go to a big city the moment they realise you don't speak the language they start talking to you in English. A lot of people did know English in Lille but there was still more chance to use French (if my French was a bit better) than in Brussels and probably Paris (I haven't been there yet so I don't know). We took the train from London to Lille. Meaning we went through the Chunnel. We stayed at a brand new hostel in Lille. And when I say new I mean you could smell paint and we were the first people to check in. That new. But it was great! The staff was really friendly and helpful. That first night we went out to a nice restaurant and ate good that night.
The next day was a free day and we went around Lille. There wasn't a lot to do and the museums didn't really interest us so we mostly shopped that day. A lot of the shops were really posh though so we did a lot of looking. We did make some purchases though and had a good day. We also saw the Cathedral. And of course went to a bakery and got some good pastries.
Saturday we took a train to Brussels. One of the first things we did in Brussels was find Belgian waffles. And that we did. I got waffles with hot chocolate on top. It was so good!!! Basically that day we had a lot of chocolate. We went to a chocolate museum and got a lot of free samples of different types there and learned how to make pralines. Brussels is a really cool city. Unfortunately I didn't get to go to the EU centre and Little Europe so maybe next time. The Grand Place is really pretty and cool and there was a cool market. Some of the big things in Belgium are chocolate and lace so there were a lot of chocolate shops and lace shops. And waffles everywhere. We also saw a famous statue called the Manneken-Pis. yeah... not sure how that got to be famous but dignitaries bring clothes for it when they go to Brussels and there is a museum with all the outfits, but we didn't go. I also experienced Ethiopian food, which was interesting. Good, but interesting none the less. My favourite thing to get though was a simple waffle with hot chocolate on top. It is fantastic!!! Unfortunately it was just a day trip and with not being in a city for long you don't get to see everything but it was still really cool. I really liked that city and I'm excited to go back! And eat more chocolate! And more waffles!
Sunday in Lille we didn't do much. It was rainy and cold and we had done everything we had wanted to do so we just went to a market and to get coffee/hot chocolate. The rest of the time we hung out in the hostel with each other.
It was a fun trip and it was good to practice my French, even though I didn't know much to begin with. It was always neat though when I did recognise something in French. I didn't get to go to Paris this weekend but I have plans to go before I leave. But one of the girls on the trip who had been to Paris before said that she like Lille as a city better. I mean there are awesome things to do and see in Paris but it is nice to see smaller, lesser known cities and to see a bit of the culture of Northern France. Brussels was great though and probably one of my favourite cites so far. But I probably say that about a lot of cities. But I can't wait to go back to Brussels!
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