Lille, France

SO....on Thursday Sept 21 I was able to go to Lille France with my class on the Eurostar. It was my first time on the Eurostar and I really enjoyed it. The only bad thing was we had to get to Ashford (which is 1/2 an hour from my city) by 7am, so it was a very early morning. This trip was ok getting to the eurostar station because there were 6 other people on the train from Canterbury so it was nice to chat with them on the way.

The trip from Ashford, UK to Lille, France only took an hour so it was a nice ride. I didn't even think we had been on the train that long by the time we got there. When we arrived I was amazed by the sites and everything around me. The buildings were so old and huge, and gorgeous.

The funny thing is that the buildings are so old, yet the shops in them are very modern and it looks a little strange but cool at the same time. I was very surprised and happy to see that they had one of my favorite stores!!!

BUT...they do not carry the make-up I use!? What is the point of having a Sephora nearby, if I cant get the make-up I use. I was still happy to be able to go in and look around.

One of the girls in my class, Katy and I, stayed together the whole day and did some sight seeing and had a good time looking in a lot of different stores and boutiques. Oh yes, we did go on this trip to France for educational purposes, to find some good authentic French resources we could use in lessons for school. So during our time looking around we were able to find some good resources that will make good use of some important topics in classes.

This was a beautiful buidling. It used to be the city hall but now it is used a commercial building and there are many shops all around.

Elephant!!! We were walking down the street and we walked into an elephant. Who puts an elephant in the middle of a street? The fence! I though it was neat because you don't usually see a statue of an elephant and this one was HUGE!!! I am standing beside the elephant in the picture!

The opera hall. I thought that the architecture on this building was amazing. There is so much culture in Europe and I am happy that I am getting to experience it. There is also the clock tower that you can see at the left hand side of this picture which is one of the landmarks for this city.

The Eurostar station in Lille. These flowers were so cool that I couldn't help but take a picture because they seem a little out of place. It is funny to look at the new modern part of the city, the eurostar station, then turn around 180 degrees and you see these old buildings dating back to the 1600's.

Overall this trip was a lot of fun. I was exhausted after we got home, which wasn't that late, around 5pm but still it was a long day of traveling and walking and taking everything new in so it really tired me out.

Oxford UK

Saturday Sept 16 I went to Oxford with some of the other girls from school to see the sights as well as shop a little bit. Yes, I mean a little bit, I only bought a pair of shoes and a t-shirt. It was really nice to see this beautiful city. We had a tour of Oxford university and I was surprised how old this university was. The earliest written proof it was an educational institute was in the early 11th century. There are over 20 colleges that make up the university itself and we visited Christ Church College, which is the biggest and also where some of the filming took place for Hogwarts (in the Harry Potter films) took place. We were able to see the dining hall which was used as the idea for the dining hall in the movie, as well as the courtyard that was used for filming as well as the staircase where the first years met Prof McGonagall.

We also were able to walk around the city was well which is beautiful. I am loving seeing the new and old architecture mixed together. We were only in Oxford for a limited amount of time so I am sure I missed a lot and I would love to go back to see the things I was not able to see this time.

My new home...

Canterbury is such a beautiful place. I can't believe that I am living here still. It is gorgeous and all the old buildings and everything. I still feel like it is a dream sometimes walking down the street.

This is the Cathedral in the centre of the city. It is gorgeous and you can see it from everywhere in the city. It is massive and beautiful. Walking down any street almost feels like you are being transported into another time. I could sit at an outside cafe all day just looking at the architecture around the city. It is amazing to see how much detail is in every part of this city. Just so you all don't think there are only old buildings (which there are for the majority) there is also modern architecture mixed in, as well as other staples from our culture such as Starbucks and H&M.

Some of the girls decided to take a boat tour around Canterbury a little bit and it was very interesting to know some more about the history about our new home. The boat tour was just a short ride with a tour guide Adam who had to row the boat around and there were 12 people in the boat. It was a lot of work. Here are some of the more scenic pictures.

Canterbury

So my new home is starting to actually feel like home now. I am getting adjusted well to everything here. It is so different than at home but yet it is the same thing?! Kind of weird but I am finally starting to feel like less of a tourist, which is a good thing. For all my UWO peeps the campus is nothing like home and I am missing the atmosphere from home. The one good thing is that classes are usually in the same room all day and the campus is super small!


Here is my room. It is not like my room at home but I am trying to make it as much like home as possible. It is nice and cozy, those of you planning on coming over will get to see how cozy it is!




Last week there was a Japanese night at the student union and some of the Canadians decided to go and check it out. It was actually a lot of fun. We ate some japanese food and played some games. It was nice meeting some other people from school.

This week was the first week of classes so it was nice to start getting in a routine because up until now Monday it felt more like a vacation than my new life. Classes are really good and my tutors are really nice. I have two groups for school, which means only two classes. It's nice except they are all day, usually from 9am-4pm. One group is professional studies which focuses more on general teaching strategies and there are people there who are going to teach all different subjects. Then I have a subject studies group with focuses on MFL (Modern Foreign Languages). Both my groups are really good. The people are great and the classes are really good. They are taught through activities and discussion so it is nicer because no one is lecturing to you.

Leeds Castle

On Saturday Sept 2 my mom and I went to visit Leeds Castle which is close to where I am and it is where the Queens used to live after their husbands had died. It was a gorgeous Castle. We had a lot of fun. There were 6 queens that had lived there but the decortations that were still in the castle are from Mrs.Baillie who was the last person to live there. She lived there with her two daughters and then sold the house to the conservation of English Castles.

We both really enjoyed our time at the Castle, even if it was raining the whole time. Good ol' English weather which I can look forward to until the end if June next year!!! It wasn't that bad though, but an umbrella did come in handy!

Uk with my MOM

My mom and I arrived in London on Tuesday morning and then went to our hotel so we could rest, shower and change before going into London. We took the undergroung all the way to Picadilly Circus and walked around there for the afternoon. It was a lot of fun and I loved the way everything looked! Not like Canada at all!!!

Then on Wednesday there was little problem with our alarm clock so we missed our taxi to Canterbury and I had to call them and beg for another one. It was not a very good morning but we managed to get another cab down to Canterbury and we arrived there by 5:30pm. I met one of my roomates and the three of us had a good time going out for dinner. My first week in Canterbury consisted of a lot of running around but it was really nice. Canterbury is such a nice city. I love it because we don't have history like that in Canada so it was nice to walk around and look at everything.


Then on the weekend all the Canadians...9 in total...went out to a few pubs and it was a lot of fun getting to know everyone. The weekend was nice and relaxed because the school told us that we were not going to be starting anything until the following Thursady, instead of the Monday so we had another couple days to get organized.