Odds and Ends

Today marks the official 4 week mark of my exchange so far.  By Sunday it will technically be one month!! My my what an incredible 4 weeks it has been.  It's so weird to think back to my first day of arrival and all the thoughts and feelings and emotions I was having, compared to now.  It's amazing to me how much I've already adapted to my new life here. Also it amazes me what great friendships I've already begun to develop! I have friends inside of school and outside with who it feels like our friendship has been going on much longer than just 4 weeks.

I've done some pretty awesome stuff in the past couple weeks that I haven't had the time to post about so I'm gonna do a little cutting and pasting and make this post into one big article on the fun little odds and ends I've been up to.

Hanging out in Lille with Rika, Liz, and Gabby the day before school started!

Marie Jose and Yann took me into Belgium one day to see a bunch of cool things! It was a special weekend when access to tourist places was free and there were things open that you wouldn't normally get to see, so it was exciting not just for me but for all of us!

Yann checking things out in Belgium

Marie Jose climbing up the tower

Yann was pretty stoked on everything we could see.  Like me he'd never been up there before

VIEW. BELGIUM.

MORE VIEW. MORE BELGIUM.

I have absolutely not a clue what the thing I am standing on is and I'm pretty sure it was borderline going to fall to pieces (Siobhan quit being a tourist and doing things you aren't supposed to) but it looked like a giant hamster wheel or something so this is me "running" on it.  A questionable photograph at best...

HEY IS THAT BELGIUM AGAIN

YES IT IS

Then Gabby and Ty both celebrated birthdays within the first 3ish weeks of exchange so their families got together to host a bit of a party for them! Lots of people were there.  There were exchange students, French students, host families of exchange students, families of french students, and also French friends from Lycee.

note: on the left. guy in green shirt...

GABBY!!!

yahoo exchange friends! 

The weekend after the one I mentioned above, and the Sunday after the party with my friends, Marie Jose and Yann took me into Douai (in France) because entry was once again free! We got to see a lot of cool things but my favourite was the Beffroit:

Beffroit

Waiting for somebody to give me a ball gown and commence project this-room-was-amazing-and-there-should-be-a-ball ASAP

And here's a cool photo I took of tea. I apologize if it feels a little anticlimactic at this point...

And the last thing I have to talk about is Marie Jose's birthday! She was out all day and Yann invited all her friends to dinner without her knowing so she came home to a lovely surprise.  I helped Yann out a little in getting organized, and I rearranged all the appetizers on the plates before we ate (in other words just ate... a lot... and occasionally made something look nice)

That's all my updates for now folks! Until next time! Bisous!!