Review: Best Coffee Places in Lille

(This is the street that most of the listed coffee shops are on.)

I've been back in the United States for about two weeks now, so it's time for--you guessed it--nostalgia posting. This was something that I was planning to post when I was still in Lille, but like many things I plan to do, I didn't do it. Well, better late than never. Also, it's a good excuse to relive the days when I used to go camp out in cute coffee shops because I didn't have working wifi at my residence hall.

April 1st at a Primary School

Honestly you don't even need to continue reading. This picture tells you all that you need to know.

8:00: I guess you could call any school day a battle. Sometimes the kids are challenging, sometimes they struggle with the material, sometimes they don't like your lesson plan and let you know it,sometimes you don't prepare enough material and have awkward extra time at the end of the class where you don't know what to do so you just play hangman. Fridays make things a little more difficult, because now suddenly you're the only thing standing between the students and two days of freedom. Fridays before breaks are worse, because now you're standing between them and two weeks of freedom. Today is one of those Fridays, a Friday before a break. It's also April 1st.

Today will not just be a battle. Today will be a war. 

If I should fall today, remember me. Know that I fought valiantly. Know that I defended myself and my honor until my final breath. 

But if I make it, I'm totally down to hang out tonight, just text me.

Marché de Wazemmes

If you visit Lille, you will end up visiting some sort of open air market. It's Northern France and that's just what's going to happen.

The Braderie de Lille is the largest and most famous of these markets, and it happens once a year, in September. I, of course, arrived in Lille a week after the famous Braderie, so I did not get to experience wonders such as the mountain of mussels.

However, I've still been checking out other markets around the city, like this one. The Marché de Wazemmes is open three times a week, but it's at its biggest and best on Sundays. This place has everything. Seriously. It holds the honor of being the only place in Lille where I've seen a pumpkin.

Lille Marché de Noël

There are a bunch of different lists that claim to be the "definitive list of Christmas Markets in France." Strasbourg tops every single one of them, partially because it's the oldest, partially because it's one of the largest, partially because it's really close to Germany and therefore has a leg up on everywhere else. But quite a few of these lists also include the Christmas Market here in my home-for-the-year of Lille. Some even rank Lille in the top five. These, my friends, are the lists you should trust.

There's even fake snow!

Lille has everything you want from a good Marché de Noël. It smells like sugar and pine, there are 83 different booths all nestled together in Place Rihour like a cute little village, there's a giant ferris wheel and a giant Christmas tree a few steps away at the Grand Place, and it's a five minute walk from the train station and literally right in front of a metro stop. It's perfect.

Saint Maurice

They say the best adventures usually happen close to home. Actually, that might be what they say about car accidents. Either way, I found an adventure close to home in one of my first days here by going to Église Saint Maurice. 

It's a church that's really close to where I'm staying here in Lille. I can actually see it from my window. And if you think the outside is beautiful, check out the inside. 

TAPIF: Week One

I didn't know what to use for a photo so here's a map of the town where I teach, Loos. 

I'm done with my first week as a teaching assistant, although I didn't actually assist with teaching anything. TAPIF has us do two weeks of observation at the schools we've been assigned to before we get into full gear.

My schools have taken this as a chance for me to learn about the French school system. I haven't necessarily been observing English classes, but I've gotten a chance to sit in on a class in every primary school level: CP, CE1, CE2, CM1 and CM2. I'll mostly be working with CM1 and CM2 kids. I've gotten to see pretty much every subject, too, from math to geography to gym and art (where I learned that if you have twenty two students doing a project involving mixing paint, there will be at least one spill).

Update: I am in Lille

From a festival last night. Still not really sure what we were celebrating but whatever it was fun.

Full days spent in Lille: 4
Hours in transit to get to Lille (plane/cab/train): About 11
Hours spent waiting in airports and train stations: About 7
Days in Reykjavik for stopover: 1.5
Snapchat stories that failed to upload due to lack of wifi: upwards of 20
Average number of hashtags per Instagram post: 3
Time spent worrying about lost retainer that I actually just left at home: too much
Baguettes eaten: 1...okay 2.

Ready or Not

Here's a picture of Tyler Clippard, because his walk up song when he was on the Nats was "Ready or Not" by the Fugees. Also because I miss him. And look how happy he was in a Nats uniform!

I think I've packed everything I need.
I think I have all of my paperwork.
I think my photo for this long stay visa looks better than the last long stay visa I got.
I think.

All that I know is that in a few hours I'm leaving to start an eight-month adventure teaching English in Lille. No turning back. No changing my mind. No chickening out. This is happening.

I think I'm ready.