Day 2 we started off with a French class, which was a lot of fun. We played a Jeopardy style game with questions about grammar, vocab, French culture, Nantes history and more. Then the instructor had setup a scavenger hunt that took us all over different parts of the city and our prize at the end was a coffee at the nicest cafe in Nantes. Then we had a break before our afternoon architecture tour (which ended up getting cancelled due to storms). I took the break to grab a sandwich and eat it while I wandered around Nantes.

Around this time a storm came through with lightning and dumping rain, so I made it back to the hotel to wait it out. Once the storm passed the sun came out and the rest of the day was beautiful. Since our tour was cancelled, I used the rest of the day to go see Ile de Nantes, which was abandoned shipyards when I was studying here, but has now been converted into an exhibition area with restaurants, parks, etc.

After the museum, I had a meeting with our visiting French instructor who happens to be from Nantes and then I was off to find some dinner. I had seen this creperie the night before, but they weren’t open, so luckily today they were!

After dinner I needed to walk off all the crepes, so I decided to head back to some of the things the bus used to go past on my way to school

I wish I would have had more time to explore this part of town-I did get back the next day (you’ll see tomorrow), but I wish I had even more time!

I mentioned this in a previous post, but in Fall 2003 I studied in Nantes, France, which is on the northwestern side of France. This was one of the most life changing experiences for me because this is where my love of France really became cemented (so much so that after being back in the US for a semester, I came back to France in Fall 2004, but that’s another story). When I studied, I was in an immersion French program for Americans led by IES (which is an American company based out of Chicago). The IES Nantes Institute celebrated their 60th anniversary this year (housed in the same building for all 60 years!) and to celebrate they invited all of their alumni back. I was delighted that it overlapped with my time in France because I haven’t been back to Nantes since I left in December 2023.

So, on Thursday I took a 5 hour train ride from Lille to Nantes to participate in the reunion activities and explore Nantes evolution over the past 20+ years. First stop, was my hotel which was directly across from the IES Nantes center.

The first event was a welcome reception. We were given a tote bag with some Nantes IES SWAG and then told to check our mailboxes. They took the student mailboxes and labeled one for each of us just like when we were there! In mine, was a directory of the students I was with in Fall 2023 and a paper I had written!!!

At the opening reception we got to connect with alumni from many different years, so it was fun to compare notes on classes we took, how the center was setup, how the town had changed, etc. One of the best surprises was one of the women who worked there when I was a student still works there and was there, so it was nice to catchup with her and hear how things have changed from her perspective. She’s now been with IES Nantes for over 40 years! After the reception I went to dinner with 2 other alumni (different years than me) and then back to the hotel.

On Wednesday, the students had the afternoon off from classes for us to do a field trip to Ypres (in French)/Ieper (in Dutch), Belgium. This region was really a central battle point during World War I and has several sites, monuments and museums dedicated to that.

Our first stop was Tyne Cot cemetery, which is the largest Commonwealth cemetery with almost 12,000 graves. Along with British, Australian, New Zealand and Canadian soldiers, there are a few German soldiers who were buried here because this is where they died. What’s more shocking is of the almost 12,000 graves about 8,000 of them are unnamed because they were never able to identify the remains.

After dinner, we headed to the Menin Gate to watch the Last Post ceremony. The Menin Gate is inscribed with the names of over 50,000 Commonwealth and British soldiers who died in World War I and whose remains were never found. Each night since 1928 (except for World War II when they moved the ceremony to another location due to the German occupation) at 8:00pm they have a ceremony called the Last Post. During the ceremony, there is a bugle call, the reading of a few lines from the poem ‘For the Fallen’ (see below), 1 minute of silence, laying of wreaths (by various groups) and then the bugle call once again. These are the lines of the poem they used:

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: 

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.

(Then the crowd repeats: We will remember them)

It was a really moving ceremony and I was glad I got to see it. Overall, a nice day of remembering the sacrifices of those who came before us.

Here’s another look at a typical day in my life. I forgot to take a picture of breakfast, but today was yogurt and granola. I did a better job of taking pictures of my walk today though (which is probably far more interesting than a bowl of granola)!

After lunch I observed a literature class and then after class I went to the grocery store.

Then a friend messaged to meet up for a drink, so I dropped off my groceries and went out to see her. I just got an apricot juice and one thing I love about France is if you go to a bar and order juice, soda, anything non alcoholic they don’t bat an eye-the bar is a space for everyone to hang out (including kids) and so you order whatever drink you prefer and then you can sit for hours with just that one drink. I think it encourages people to be more social right after work and before they go home for dinner.

Then it was time to head home and make dinner.

After dinner, it was time to pack because I leave for Nantes Thursday morning and tomorrow we have an afternoon trip into Belgium and won’t be back until late.

Next weekend, I will be in Nantes (more on that later), so this past weekend was really my last one in Lille. Luckily, Monday was a holiday, so it was a 3 day weekend. On Monday, I decided to go to one of the museums I hadn’t visited yet, checked out the mall, a new park and had dinner with a new friend!

The Musée de l’Hospice Comtesse is a former hospital turned museum. Lille has an overarching theme of “Fiesta” this year, which has turned into a lot of popup art exhibits, which you’ll see in some of these pictures.

After the museum, I went to the mall to walk around because I hadn’t been yet and it was near where I was supposed to meet someone later on. It was just a standard mall, but some of the shops had some neat things. Including a Ticket to Ride-Paris Edition!

After the mall, I met up with a visiting professor’s wife for a garden visit and dinner. The garden we went to is called Jardin des Geants (Giants’ Garden)

Then we had to walk around a bit before the restaurant opened for dinner at 7, so we did some errands.

Finally, dinner time….it was well worth the wait!

All in all a great day and a good mix of culture, outdoor time and great food!

Roubaix is a city in the suburbs of Lille about 30 minutes by metro from the Lille city center. It’s most famous for it’s art museum, La Piscine, but it was a fun (less touristy) place to explore on a Sunday.

We decided to walk to a different metro station to get back to city center in an attempt to see more of the town.

On the way back to my apartment I finally stopped at Aux Merveilleux de Fred, which is a pastry shop. They created a pastry in Lille that is now sold at their shops throughout France called Le Merveilleux (the Marvelous), which is a combination of meringue and whipped cream that was so light and fluffy (and marvelous!). This might be my new favorite French dessert!

I spent a lot of time observing classes at the end of last week, so there wasn’t much to report, but on Friday I observed the World Class Museums course. This is such a neat course because pretty much every class they go out to a different art museum or do a town walk to talk about architecture. I got to join them at Palais des Beaux Arts (the art museum I was at the first weekend). Even though I had been to the museum before this professor only focused on paintings on the 2nd floor, so I got to learn about some other pieces. Below are a few of the paintings we saw/learned about.

Saturday, I went to the big bookstore to make some purchases and decided on the way home to stop at the covered market. I ordered a pizza to take back to my apartment for lunch, so while I was waiting I walked around and took some pictures of the market. You can get fruits, veggies, meat, seafood, baked goods and more Tues-Sun in this covered market.

To start the day in Bruges we all did a boat tour (some of the pictures I posted yesterday I took on the boat, so there aren’t as many today). Bruges is surrounded by a canal, so boat is a great way to see the town!

After the boat tour a bunch of the faculty/staff decided to find coffee. One of the professors has been on the program before, so he recommended this place and specifically the marocchino, which is espresso with chocolate and frothed milk-very well made! And a wonderful break from my instant cappuccinos!

After coffee, it was off to explore and do a little bit of shopping. The teacher I was walking around with wanted to show off the wall of beer…(it keeps going a lot further than this picture can show

…but I was more interested in the Tintin statue!

Then we found The Chocolate Line, which was the chocolate shop recommended to us by one of our tour guides/staff members from Lille. They have all kinds of interesting flavors-I decided to get a small sampling box that had 8.

Now it was time to find some lunch. We ended up sitting outside at a restaurant that served some traditional Flemish dishes. I had what they translated to “Chicken Stew”, but it was more like chicken and biscuits, but with super flaky biscuits and it also had little baby potatoes in it. It was very tasty!

Then I decided to head to the Lace Museum, since I had been to Bruges previously and wanted to see something different.

After the lace museum I had some time still, so I went to see the Basiliek van het Heilig Bloed (the Basilica of the Holy Blood), which has some amazing architecture and artwork.

Then I decided to sit in the courtyard and listen to the carillon tower with a waffle. This waffle was terrible-the worst one I’ve had anywhere I think, so that was disappointing. The carillon was lovely to listen to though-it’s up in the bell tower and looks a lot like an organ but they are triggering the ringing of bells. They play all sorts of music from the tower and walking through town one of the songs I heard playing was “Be Our Guest” from Beauty and the Beast, so that was fun!

All in all Bruges was a success (other than the waffle)-it is such a cute town even with all the tourists-I highly recommend!

Bruges is such a cute town in Belgium-it’s really touristy because it is so picturesque, but we were there mid-week which helped. Today, I’ll leave you with some beautiful pictures of Bruges and then tomorrow I’ll detail what I did while I was there.

So cute!! More on what I actually did there coming tomorrow!

I thought you guys might like to see/hear what my days look like, so here is a day in the life. If you like this kind of post let me know and I can try to do a few more! This was my day on Tuesday, June 3rd.

First up was breakfast-croissant, yogurt and cappuccino. I can’t find coffee creamer here (which I knew would happen), so instant cappuccino it is because I can’t do black coffee.

Then it was time to walk to the university-it takes me about 15 minutes to walk. This is the last stretch before I got there (I forgot to take a picture sooner), just after the black building (that says Vauban) I turn left and the building most of the classes are in is there. We each have a badge and we have to badge in and out of every building (and sometimes rooms within buildings), which seemed strange at first, but now it just feels normal.

First observation today was a French Language class. This was a just above beginner class, so the teacher asked me to jump in and do some activities with them, which was fun! I’m really loving sitting in on the French classes even when they’re lower level.

Class goes from 9-12 and then the next class starts at 1:15, so when I have 2 observations I’ve been getting lunch at this boulangerie, which is the best one I’ve found in Lille, so far. Lunch today was un sandwich au thon (tuna sandwich-my go to here) and un chausson aux pommes (a very flaky pastry with an apple filling-the closest thing we have would be an apple turnover). It was a sunny day again, so I decided to sit in the courtyard of the main university building on a bench to have lunch.

After lunch I went to observe an Environmental Science class, which is my first observation of a class in English. I was able to follow most of the lecture without knowing much about science (beyond high school) and then we moved to the lab. In the lab she had them (and me) looking through water samples for microplastics, which were challenging to find because they were so tiny, but it was incredible how “plain” water could be filled with them!

After the lab, I walked back home to drop off my big bag and rest for a bit (I also did some dishes) and then I headed back to the university for International Night, which was fantastic! They had wine and cheese and appetizers for us to snack on and then several groups of students performed something from their culture. One of the students from India did a really impressive martial arts presentation.

Then it was the walk back to my apartment and time to make dinner (at 9pm no less-very French!). My apartment has an oven, but no baking sheets, so I’ve taken to cooking everything on pieces of foil, which limits what I can cook, but at least cleanup is easy!

After dinner it’s off to read and then bed because I have an early morning tomorrow to catch the bus to our next field trip to Bruges!