November is almost up, so I figured a general updates post was in order. A couple weeks ago Elijah, fellow Davidson graduate and TAPIF assistant in Dunkirk, came into Lille for a night to hang out with us. We toured the city, and stopped in to check out Vieux Lille’s church Eglise Saint André, which I bike by almost every day. It has a cool look–awesome limestone façade, brick walls, discordant belltower. I’m just now realizing that it’s probably the namesake for Rue Saint André, which is right next to us and goes south through the Vieux Lille market, past our new apartment, and takes us to the centre ville. The church, where General Charles de Gaulle was baptized (the savior of France and founder of the Vth Republic was born just around the corner from us!), is my Vieux Lille ‘landmark’–the bell tower tells me how far away I am from home. Anyway, I hadn’t been inside yet, and it was...

On Tuesdays, I finish work two hours before the next available train to Lille. This week I had nothing to do, and it was a particularly nice November day, so I decided to explore Dunkirk a little. All I have really seen is the area surrounding the train station, the 20 min route west to my high school, and Grande-Synthe. An industrial port town with typically gray skies, the extensive construction projects currently underway do Dunkirk no favors. My students at Noordover have assured me on several occasions that there is nothing entertaining or interesting in the Dunkirk area except the beach and movie theater. Since Christopher Nolan apparently disagrees, I set out to see the town.

Dunkirk was founded a millennium ago as a small fishing village on sandbanks bordering the North Sea. According to legend, Saint Eloi converted the inhabitants and established a place of worship on the...

Just got back from a wonderful journey that would not end to a place I have been to once before but do not remember much, if at all. Amsterdam is a remarkable place. Though I have never been to Italy, it makes me think of a Venice of the North, with its interwoven waterways and mercantile spirit. The city fluidly embraces both its cultural/religious heritage and (often shocking) social liberalism, all while embodying technological progress.

After a recovery day in Lille, Blaire and I took a train (first thime on Thalys, the main dutch line) to Amsterdam. Built up from a dam on the Aster river, the Dutch capital is a beautiful blend of tradition and modernity. Even the language (which is best described as sounding like German but silly rather than angry) reminded me of the place’s past, as I saw shared roots with English and the key to other Germanic names (Dunkirk = Dun Kerk, Dune...

I added a bunch of pictures to my last post! Check them out. I also tried to add some cultural thoughts, but it spun out of control so I just made a new post:

I thought about something: When Blaire and I grabbed coffee with Charlie, she delivered a rant about how shallow people in France are. This took me aback: there are clearly some superficial aspects of French culture, but I thought back to my outdoor gym in Paris and how people arriving would make sure to shake everyone’s hand before beginning their workout. Even at my new gym in Lille, a guy came up to shake my hand when he walked in last night. Such a greeting ritual seems genuinely gregarious, but Charlie countered that the French emphasis on social ritual was just cursory and perfunctory. This made me think of the distinction between midwestern kindness and Southern manners; kind vs nice; warm vs polite.

Charlie’s tirade also...

I have two weeks off school for «La Toussaint» (in English: All Saints’ day, AKA All Hallows… the day before which is All Hallows Eve, AKA Halloween!). Friday evening Blaire and I went into Paris to join my friend Charlie from Tours (my semester abroad in the Loire Valley) and her cat James Bond Cat for her birthday party.
We met lots of fun Frenchies, crashed at her apartment, and headed back to Lille the next day to receive my parents.

Laura and Peter, fresh from Prague and Strasbourg, arrived in Lille Saturday evening to visit Blaire and me. We showed them the Sunday market, explored the town together, took them to lots of great restaurants, and visited a touring exhibit at the Musée des Beaux-Arts about a painter named Millet and his influence on American art.



Blaire & I playing host
We visited “Aux Merveilleux de Fred” with them, an incredible pastry shop across the street...

I’m getting really behind on these posts, so this may be erratic as I try to catch up:
I’m almost done with my third week of work. The first two weeks I had to just observe classes, but a lot of teachers ignored that and had me answer questions from the kids or participate in activities (thank god). For those unaware, I’m a language assistant for the English department at Noordover High School in Grande Synthe, a community right next to Dunkirk.

My job is basically just to speak English, which is a funny thing to move to France for. Here’s the school:

I only work three days a week, which is convenient because the commute takes a while. I bike 10 min down to the trainstation (Lille has an awesome bikeshare system), grab the 30 min direct train in the morning (hour back in the afternoon), then take the bus 20 min from Dunkirk to Grande Synthe (I may start biking–the Dunkirk...

After two weeks of travel, I got to Lille! One of the largest cities in France, the metropolitan area extends into Belgium, and is a capital of sorts for the Flanders region. The initial plan was to live here for a month then move to Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque. Irksome, I know), where I will be working, but [spoiler alert] we fell in love with Lille and ended up deciding to stay for the rest of the year!

Blaire & I immediately moved into our long-stay airbnb, a small two-room apartment in Vieux Lille (charming cobblestone-street neighborhood just north of city center). We’ll only have it through December since we expected to move, but it already feels like home (and it’s such a relief not to be living out of 3 overpacked suitcases!)

The Eberts came here from Paris while we were in Northern / the north of Ireland, and stayed for a day to help us get settled before they moved on to...

Blaire and I woke up at the arse-crack of dawn to fly to London, where we missed a flight to Belfast and got to hang out for a couple hours!
God she’s beautiful

When we finally got to our destination, we caught the end of Winterfell Fest, a Game of Thrones-themed day of fantasy fun at Castle Ward, where Winterfell is filmed. Although we missed the dogs that play the direwolves, we still had a blast exploring the gorgeous grounds, listening to live music, munching on organic local steakburgers & hog dogs, and checking out the stalls/events as they closed down.

Upon preparing to leave, we realized that our lack of car or cell service might be an issue. Luckily Irish people are incredibly kind, and a local family walking around the castle grounds took it upon themselves to find us a ride. One of King Robert’s guards kindly let us hitchhike with him (he does lots of historical...

Blaire and I made it to Paris! We grabbed food with her parents, who had been visiting for a few days, and crashed (hard) in our hotel near the swankiest of places, Place Vendôme.

The next day we got up surprisingly early (ok, surprisingly not that late) and walked to the Île de la Cité through a gay pride parade and/or techno music festival (we heard conflicting descriptions from natives… maybe there’s not a big difference in Europe?) along the Seine. I showed Blaire the historic English language bookstore Shakespeare and Company–one of my favorite spots in the city as friends of the blog will remember–since she loves literature and is reading A Moveable Feast (she got to the chapter about S&co a few days after).

Then we met up with the Eberts and grabbed lunch on Île de la Cité right across from the Sainte Chappelle, which we proceeded to check out. If you don’t know what this...