Château de Versailles: 29 October, 2013

The château 

I have always wanted to visit the famous Versailles, and I am very thankful for being able to see it :) 

I went to Versailles with Jenny, my sister's officemate (Ate didn't want to come with me because she'd been there twice already yada yada yada :P ). So I met up with Jenny at the RER Station near Notre Dame in the morning and off we went! 

France with My Sister: 28 October - Le Mont Saint-Michel

My sister has been to France numerous times, but she never had enough time to visit Le Mont St-Michel, one of the most beautiful sites in the country. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, LMSM has a Benedictine abbey perched on it's peak, with a small surrounding village. I didn't see any monks, what I did see, though, were about a million Japanese tourists, all trying to communicate that they want to buy all the souvenirs in the shops. It's so funny how they think French people can understand Japanese. 

France with My Sister: 27 October - Paris

Pont Alexandre III

My sister's a lawyer and her firm has these annual trips to some European country, and this time around it was France again (the original plan was Germany in August, but half of the firm missed the flight because of the floods, so the "unlucky half" were sent to Paris instead). So of course, I met up with my Ate!! We hadn't seen each other for almost two months. The plan was to meet her in Paris Sunday, then we both go to Le Mont St-Michel Monday, I go to Versailles with her officemate Jenny Tuesday, then I leave Paris Wednesday.

Stockholm: 17 to 22 October, 2013

My only relatives who live in Europe are my cousin Karol and her family, who live in Stockholm. I hadn't seen them for around 5 years, so I was determined to see them.

Ate Karol, her husband Pele, and the younger of her two sons, Uriel, live in Sundbyberg (her older son Michael is currently studying at Parson's in NYC).  Sundbyberg is a municipality in Stockholm county, just north of downtown Stockholm city. It is a part of the Stockholm urban area, so it is still served by the Stockholm city metro (or T-bana).

Revelations

I've been here in France for almost 3 months, and I have since been enlightened about some things :P

• My "French speaking skills" can't really be called skills, because I'm not as good as I had thought.

• Cooking rice without a rice cooker is hard. Hard. Just like my rice after I cook it.

• If needed, I would rather die than interact with people--during my first few weeks in France, I hated doing groceries and going to the boulangerie because I would have to speak (bad) French.

• I walk very slow. On my way to school everyday,  I always find myself being last of the crowd to arrive.

• I cannot survive without conditioner--I had trouble finding "après shampoing" the first few weeks, and I wanted to cut my hair off!!

YOU

Belgium Escapades with J: October 2013 - Ghent

Belgium has plenty of cool old cities. And I love old cities. And I love Belgians. So of course I went. Of course with J.

Belgium Escapades with J: October 2013 - Antwerp

"I love you" - Under a bridge next to Antwerp Berchem train station

 Jarne lives in Antwerp, with his twin brother. The headquarters of Jarne’s company, Twinski, is based in A-town.  Twinski creates websites, apps, and other cool digital stuff :3

So I paid Jarne a visit and he showed me around his turf :P

Belgium Escapades with J: October 2013 - 2nd trip to Brussels

Parc du Cinquantenaire

For my second trip to Brussels, I didn’t ride a train. I carpooled with Aurelie, a Belgian lady who was headed to Brussels after her weekly visit to her French boyfriend. I use covoiturage.fr to find carpool opportunities—some cost only 5 euros, which is a third of the price compared to TGV.

Belgium Escapades with J: October 2013 - 1st trip to Brussels

The famous pissing boy of Belgium, Manneken Pis

What I wanted to see the most in Brussels (besides Jarne :P) was Manneken Pis. I think it's a good representation of how I see Belgians--they're naughty, sometimes they're annoying, but in the end, very loveable. The story of this statue is interesting, because there are many. The most prevalent legend behind the boy is that a long time ago there were two troops battling, and the duke of one of the troops was a 2 year old boy. The troops put the young duke in a basket and hung it in a tree for encouragement.  From the tree, the duke peed on the enemies which led them to lose the battle :P

La Piscine, Roubaix with J: 2 October, 2013

La Piscine, the only tourist attraction in the city I live in (Roubaix), is an old indoor swimming pool turned into an art museum. I went with my boyfriend Jarne :) Have you guys met him yet?

Confession

I love Jarne

Amsterdam + Zaanse Schans: 5 to 6 October, 2013

CICE Voyages (a travel organisation for students in the North of France) had a trip to Amsterdam for only 45 Euros, so I invited my German friend Laura to come with me. She brought along Beatrix for more fun! The CICE bus left Lille at 7am, so I had to get up at like 5am since the meeting place is an hour away from my place. I had just come back from Brussels the night before, and I was dead tired, so I was like a zombie the next morning.

Bruges: 14 to 15 September, 2013

In Bruges

Belgium! The land of chocolates and fries and beer!

Going to Belgium from Lille is cheaper than going to Paris, so why not?! In fact, I can drive to the Belgian border from Roubaix in 15 minutes! I went to Bruges for the weekend with my fellow Lasallian exchange students. I don’t get to see them a lot, because they live in Lille (in a really nice apartment). 

Paris I: 7 to 8 September, 2013

Dream. Come. True.

Tita Juliet

Every Lasallian and Atenean that has ever been an exchange student in Lille knows Tita Juliet (well, those who went to France after 2005). Tita Juliet is a very nice Filipina lady who has been living in France for around 20 years with her French husband.

Roubaix and my place

I'm staying in a small city called Roubaix. It's next to Lille (20 minutes by metro). I'm renting a room from the Dassonvilles, who are friends with a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend of a family friend. HAHA! Connections! Everything is included with the rent (electricity, water, wifi). I'm gonna have to cook for myself, though (good luck to me!). Here's some pictures of my place and the surrounding areas.

Welcome day at ESPEME

There are a total of 6 exchange students (including me) from my school in the Philippines currently in France. The other five are in IESEG, which is in Lille. I'm the only one that chose ESPEME, which is in Roubaix (because they start classes at a later date). My school is called EDHEC, and I am in the undergraduate program called ESPEME. EDHEC is a "grand école," which is supposedly where the "future French elite" get their higher education.

Main campus of EDHEC

MNL-PEK-CDG-LIL

I'm in France!

Preparing for France: 1 Month Departure

Exactly one month to go before I leave for Lille, France!

In honor of this, I've decided to compile all the things one might need to have settled before going to France (as a student):

Road to France as an Exchange Student

I've always wanted to live in France. I've always wanted to become an exchange student. 

I never expected either of those to happen. But I guess dreams really can come true (you may cringe at the cliché), because both of those things will be my reality, at the same time (September to December 2013 to be exact)!!

Here's a timeline of my (ongoing) (I'm using way too many parentheses!!) road to studying in France:

Welcome!

Hi guys! I'm Kimy. I'm an accounting student in Manila and a future rockstar.

I shall leave you guys with an inspirational sloth, as my first post seems so sparse.