How To: Survive OFII

A long stay in France requires a trip to the Office Français de l'Immigration et de l'Intégration, or OFII. It's a process that we were warned about in our information packets, a process that we received a lecture on during orientation, a process that I believed I should be freaking out about. In reality, though, it's not too scary. It just involves a lot of waiting. Here's how to (barely) survive.

Playlist: January

Here it is: the first playlist of 2016. Inspirations include but are not limited to: open mics, David Bowie, cold weather, nights in with friends, and throwback dance parties. Shuffle and enjoy!

Update: I'm Still Here

Number of New Years Resolutions made: 7
Number of New Years Resolutions kept: I think we're down to like three now.
Was blogging more often one of these resolutions: No
Should it have been: Probably
Excuses for not writing: I'm busy. I have too much other stuff to do. The only warm place in Lille is my bed. This whole business of a website where I just talk about myself feels weird and I'm getting self-conscious. The novelty of France is wearing off and it's finally not feeling like I'm just visiting. It's finally feeling like I live here and I have a job and friends and a life here. It's feeling less like a foreign country and more like home.
But do I want to write: Yes
So am I going to stop making excuses and write: Yes

Expect more posts in February, everyone.

Playlist: December

Happy New Year, everyone!! Here's the last monthly playlist of 2015, inspired by:

- The director of one of my schools saying that he's a huge Bruce Springsteen fan and that he wants to teach the kids The River in choir (all the teachers were like "director no" but I was like "DIRECTOR YES")
- Songs that we hold very specific memories and emotions for everyone who listens to them.
- Finally getting back into the mandolin madness of Judah and the Lion
- New music from The 1975
- Getting introduced to Grimes (thanks Beth!)
- Hearing a surprising amount of Édith Piaf in Paris
- And then just a bunch of Christmas songs I like

Shuffle and enjoy!

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.

Review: Six Disposable Cameras Used in Spain

I like taking photos. I like to think I take good photos. I love to use sites like Instagram and Flickr and this blog to share my photos. It would be terrible for me if, say, I were to accidentally put my photo-taking apparatus, my iPhone, in the washing machine the night before a 10-day trip through Spain. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened.

A trip that I'd hoped would include some wonderfully Instagrammable moments turned into a foray into the world of disposable cameras. And now, finally, after the three weeks it took for Carrefour to develop the film and the three more weeks I just flat out procrastinated writing this post, I can finally share that foray with you. This post is part "let me review something and help you if you're choosing to buy it" and part "I didn't get to post these on Instagram but I still need to feel validated so I'm posting them on my blog and forcing people to see them that way instead." I'm not even sorry.

I ended up using six different types of disposable cameras on my trip. Here's how they all fared.

Playlist: November

This is a shorter playlist than past months, because unfortunately some of the songs that defined my November (Taylor Swift's song 22 and Adele's entire album 25) are not available on Spotify. But I hope you enjoy the songs that are available! This month's music was inspired by:

- Hearing songs that I had listened to in French class...in real life?
- Finally getting around to listening to Hotline Bling...and then not stopping.
- MADE IN THE A.M. (I like One Direction in case you hadn't noticed)
- Wondering if the All-American Rejects were still together and finding out they released new music LAST MONTH.
- Vitas becoming important in my life again.
- And Braden Holtby.

Shuffle and enjoy!