Erasmus in Lille WS 2007

Sorry everybody, but this entry is going to be in English. It's been for almost a year now that I wrote my last entry, but there has been so much happening in 2007. I started my second year at the university, I was away almost the whole summer and I think I have spent as much time in Germany this year as I have spent in other countries. The 6 weeks in Tunisia were my best summer for a long time and when I got home in August I already had to get my stuff packed for moving to Lille, France. The Erasmus semester started like always with me being "en retard", because the "two other German guys" had two wait for 30/65 minutes until my car joined theirs to cross the border to Belgium. When we than arrived finally on our new campus/university/home we realized that it won't be easy to break the language barrier and that (as expected) nobody here is willing to speak English. After some time and the help of another German girl "Isi" (her French is excellent) we got our room keys and could move in. I think it is hard to imagine for someone who did not at least spent one night here how our rooms look like. For 200€/months we have a 9 m^2 room with a bed, a desk, a fridge, 2 heating plates, 2 sinks, one cupboard, three shelfs, one closet and a window. The best thing is that I can turn my fried potatoes and stir my soup while I am sitting on my desk writing this blog :D What else do you need to live??? Right, a toilet and a shower. The sad thing is hat each floor has to share them with everybody else who is living on the floor. My advise for everybody is not to even look at the toilets on Sunday evenings, because the cleaning lady's do not work on the weekend. After 4 months I still have not figured out how the shower system is working exactly... you always have to push a button and hope that the water won't be to cold and after 4-10 seconds you have to push it again. (I think on my last shower will put on my stereo and sing along with the chemical brothers "push the button") Nevertheless "c'est la vie" you get used to everything and learn to adept. Some useful things I found out for example are: that you can light a cigarette on your cooking plates, that soup in cans is wonderful, a sandwichmaker and a poker set can make you much more popular amongst your neighbours, with more than four beers you can speak and understand almost every language (but don't wonder when nobody will understand you), being quite with Italians doesn't work, you should always have a camera with you, you should never shout something to people when they are drunk and outnumber you 4 times, you forget eating when you have nothing to do, cleaning your room is easy when you should study, nobody likes it when you're always late,^^ you should relax the evening before an exam but not drink more than 4 beers, speaking English is good but not if you are in France, not all Russians drink vodka (but Lithuanian girls can sometimes drink more than you), in Hungary they do not always ride with horses they have cars (in Amsterdam and London some people still use horses in the city), smoking is bad, but no smoke in clubs and bars is not always nice because use smell other things, people get angry when you don't invite them personally for evening activities, there should be a Laser-game in Germany, potatoes need to be cooked before you fry them, Sauce Andaluse is great for fries, Zepellinas are really difficult to make, If I were a "Hero" I would be "Peter Petrelli", Italian is a nice language and you can speak French with it, German sounds like "GRMPFTBEG" It takes only 1,2 hours to London and one hour to Paris from Lille by train, Happy-Hours are great, Baileys with too much ice can be expensive, Skype can be very good for organizing activities, when you are used to the Internet you can hardly live without it, when there is a fire alarm the first thing you do is ask people in skype if they smell something, always collect the home-country-addresses of your friends you might visit them, be always open minded for other opinions, political discussions should be discussed via skype, write a diary or you will forget things to easy, everybody likes Jägermeister (but if none likes it don't drink it alone or you will forget things...) If you think people don't like you talk to them, because they might say they do, "live every day as if it is your last one" (but do a break sometimes), Studying with others is easier than alone, the bed is to small, always ask your profs if they make the test easier for you as a foreigner, I could cross of at least one thing on the "things-to-do-before-I-die list", if you feel bad when you ate chicken wings just drink so many shots till you get better, Christmas is at least on 4 different days, tequila-party's are fun but tequila-bum is loud, never tell in December that you haven't been drunk all year(you might end up sleeping in the hallway), people in Brazil are Americans too, Christmas markets are nice to go to, but not if you stay over 6 hours, people won't understand a language they don't speak at all even i you say them louder very time, you should wash your dirty clothes as soon as you have enough for one machine, otherwise your room will be filled with wet t-shirts, socks, jeans,... if you are the host of a room party try to be more drunk than everybody else, don't always go to the same club (the music might annoy you after the 5th time), but always go to the same bar if you lke it and the beer is cheap there are beers that might have another alcohol level than you are used to, I can understand some dutch^^, a baker that sells you croissants at four in the morning can be your best friend after a long night, in France they put fries in a Kebab, some people actually like German music, if you change the people you hang around with the most, never lose contact with the friends you made, some Bulgarians nod when they won't to say yes (some shake their head), be always nice to friends f friends they might let you sleep in their apartment in Paris when they are not there, French people are nice too and not all of them eat frogs, you can shower with cold water, it's very nice to eat together with many people on Sundays, a poster from places you have been to always looks good in our room, do not overload your fridge, things can get bad, take of the license-plates of your car or thy might be gone the next day, anything can happen, but everything has an end (but don't count the days to it...) I want to thank everybody I met here in Lille for meeting him or her. I learned many things from most of you and can't think of anybody I didn't like (even my first controlling prof turned out to be nice at our test). I hope you enjoyed your time as much as I did and I wish everybody a nice trip home, good luck with your studies in Lille, at home or your future workplace, good health, many children, many more good experiences and I hope that it is true that you always meet twice in life. As you know I live in Germany so don't ever hesitate to call or write me when you are there. When you go home to your friends it is probably not them who changed, but you yourself. some more pictures: Paris Toons/7heavens recipe for my salad-sauce: Milk, ketchup, bit of sugar and salt, oil, vinegar, and some herbs. To stay in contact you can use Dominik's address reminder system www.corepro.de.vu and sign up there (it's in many languages). Join the group "erasmus" there the password is "toons". TO WRITE A COMMENT CLICK DOWN HERE ON "Kommentar schreiben" than write in: "Name:" your name and in: "Email:" your email than in the Text field your comment and don't forget to tipe in the "Verifikationscode:" the letters and numbers otherwise it won't save. Than press: "Kommentar senden"