Best Western La Metaire Gosnay

Hé hé !

L'Amérique latine, nous voici nous voilà très très bientôt !!!
Plus que quelques heures avant le décollage...
L'excitation et l'appréhension sont 2 émotions qui se battent en duel en ce moment.

Le départ est prévu à 20h ce lundi 7 décembre de Paris CDG et l'atterrisage le mardi 8 décembre à Buenos Aires.
Nous en avons rêvé et ce projet va enfin devenir réalité.

Nous partons tout équipés : les 2 v ...

... the amazing Louvre, with the Mona Lisa and thousands of other pieces of art, as well as the Chateau de Versailles. Anyways, Paris was amazing, and now I'll be in Lille for a couple of days..

My European trip is coming to an end in about 2 weeks or so, when I leave from Dusseldorf on the 8th of December to Fort Myers Florida. But before that I still have a bit of Netherlands and Belgium to enjoy..

... soldier'. Again, it was pretty sobering, seeing all these graves.

We managed to all get completely soaked today, and it was freezing cold and windy as well, so it wasn't particularly comfortable. After that, it was back to Calais, stopping at one more of the massive French hypermarkets for a few souvenir pieces of food, then back onto the ferry back to Dover.

So, that was the Crumball Rally over! We did ...

... in the last two weeks:
A hell of a lot of rain,
Starting back at school and having loads of lessons cancelled / teachers not turning up (wooppee!!)
Erin's 22nd birthday and a night in the sleaziest French club I will probably ever come across (and will most likely not return to)
The purchase of a printer
11/11 - Remembrance day in Lille (photos attached)
Confiscating a girl's phone in a lesson and then hearing my own go off in my bag!
Preparations to go to Paris!!

... towns had 20 names while others had hundreds. In Ypres there was a large arch that led the way into the center of town. Upon closer inspection this arch is covered in all the names of all the soldiers who fought to keep Ypres free from the Germans occupation. It was November 8th so when we went to the arch there were already many poppy wreaths for the upcoming Remembrance Day.

The town of Ypres is small but its town square is looked ...

... art" exhibition with Annabelle, the teacher in charge of me at school and a good friend. We went to see an exhibition by Peter Klasen, a German artist called "Retrospective". This was by far the most bizarre "art" I have ever seen in my life, ranging from photo collages to toilets with ultraviolet lights to a mock-up of "The Penal Colony" by Franz Kafka, a short story which I read last year for University and found most disturbing! I'm sure you ...

... examples of lesson plans, which is really useful.

At the weekend Erin's boyfriend arrived in Lille for a visit, so we did a bit of exploring of parts of Lille which we had yet to visit, such as the Citadelle, a massive architected park just on the other side of Vieux Lille. The Citadelle is really popular with sports enthusiasts such as runners and cyclists, and you can also hire scooters to whizz around on!

On our way into the ...

... and go to school. There was a nice little Canal down the middle of the town and very cute shops and restaurants for all. We then piled back on the bus one more time and headed for the WWI memorial Museum in.... I dont remember. It was equally as awesome and housed some great war paraphernalia.

All in all, this was a great trip. Very exhausting, we were always on the go, but very helpful to understanding every aspect of architecture.Stay tuned for Amsterdam!!!

... a street stall and took a walk around Vieux Lille up to the Catédral Notre Dame de la Treille which is an incredible building. It was built during two different centuries and the modern front of the building has only been finished for ten years, having been completed in 1999.
Monday eventually arrived and it was back to work for both of us; I was up at seven to catch the metro and eight to be at school by nine. This week I have only been observing classes, however not only English ...

... it was very relaxing traipsing around the site. Pool Of Rememberance We came here in '98, and it was dark, both in the sky and the feeling. The tunnellers had dug in over 50 metres, then the sappers laid around 18 mines. 17 went off, one remains still to this day. In the crater, a pool had been created, and fish now swim. It felt so different this time. There was life all around, unlike the deathly feel from last time. Homewards As we neared the border to ...