19 07 2008 Lille- first week

On Monday afternoon I arrive in Lille. The sun is shining, people in the streets and in the parks are enjoying the bank holiday. A parade is walking through the street. And Jochen is cruising with his inline skates through the city. Everything seems so calm and pleasant.
This is the sunny side of life.
At 8pm Jochen arrives at the Appartcity hotel. The room is tiny, the kitchenette incomplete, neither internet nor telephone are working. Sadness arrives. And with it a lot of open questions. Am I just a political subject here in France? Did they just want to search for a cheap solution to do a shitty job nobody wants to do?
Questions amplify on Tuesday morning, arriving at work. Nothing is organized. Neither a phone line, nor a PC, nor anything from the HR side. I am walked through the building by my French boss, introduced to my project for 2 hours….and then its loneliness again “Debrouille-toi”. Do, as you want to, we’re having confidence in you. If it would be really this, everything would be fine. But….I assume it’s more about not wanting to spend any time on sth nobody is interested in….At lunch time, I eat a snack in the supermarket. 6€99….Shocked again by the prices. At 7pm I leave the office to do some shopping. Shopping Carrefour. Queuing for over ten minutes make me wonder once again about the French way of life.
I got to bed late and hardly can sleep.
On Wednesday the weather is still bad, but my mood is going up. My despair is going away and I’m once again motivate to live the moment.
Dinner with Vincent on Wednesday evening, Couchsurfing meeting on Thursday evening (quiz about geography and travel destinations). Work is still not perfect, but I’m positive again. Friday evening brings me back to heaven. First Inline-Night. Cruising with 300 other people through the streets of Lille, the traffic stopped for us. At 11pm arriving at once of Vincent’s friends place…party and playing “Loup garou”.
Discussing with all the French guys about France, Germany, politics, alcohol. At 6am I’m in bed…I wake up 11 hours late. Crazy life!!! Being abroad is strange…cos it makes you change your habits so much. In the early evening I walk through the streets of Lille.
This town is really really beautiful. Pittoresque! Soooo many colourful pubs, old buildings.
Shame that it’s not always that sunny as today. This must be an amazing place to study.
I reserve the evening for the first time free. Free for me. Free for writing down all those emotions I always have when changing places.