Jour 9 - CNOUS et Auntie's Rosie's Birthday

August 29th, Monday

Aira and I had to go to the CNOUS again to fix our health insurances. Er. The horror I tell you. I hate going to that place because (a) it's far away - sketchville and (b) the odor of everyone gets trapped inside!!!!!! I just have to withstand all the odor because the French government is sponsoring our health insurance. That's all I'm thinking of whenever I need to go there @_@

After the CNOUS, we decided to have lunch in the city. It was a cloudy day I must say! 

We couldn't find a place to eat that's in our budget.. So we opted for fast food - Quick! We saw this sign and we thought of just splitting the meal.

 ...And so we did! Haha

 We had gelato (mine was Pistachio and Aira's was Cookie) for desert. 

 Dinner time and Kwi wanted to host a Raclette dinner for Auntie Rosie!

Oh here are the other relatives of Kwi. (L-R: Ronnie, Auntie Evelyn and Vienna). Dinner was good - yes we had Raclette for the third time already but I never sick of the taste :) 

Happy birthday Auntie Rosie!
xx

Jour 8 - Lazy Sunday

August 28th, Sunday

The past week has been too tiring for me. Imagine, orientation week requires me to be in school by 7 or 8 in the morning last week really messed up my schedule. I didn't wake up with my alarm. I guess I was that tired. Anyway, nothing much happened today - Kwi and I pretty much cleaned our apartment (vacuumed and did the laundry). Happy lazy day indeed!

At around 8, Auntie Rosie and Kwi's Aunt and cousins came over. They all came from London and they were all making kwento what happened during their trip. I finally got to meet Kwi's Canadian cousins :)

xx

Jour 7 - Chocolats de Beussent et Le Touquet

August 27th, Saturday

The International Club scheduled a day trip for us. Until that very day it was still a secret. Meeting time was 7 in the morning. @_@ Kwi and I almost didn't make it!!

The road to where we were going was really far! Imagine, I saw this on the way. Yes, we were going to the country side of France.

After an hour something, we came to this chocolate factory. Oh joy! :) :) <3

JTAers + my girls :)

We entered the chocolate shop and oh my! So many chocolate to choose from!!!! <3

Indeed, chocolate heaven!

Chocolate with marshmallows! <3

So the owner of the chocolate factory showed us how chocolate is made. At the end of the show, he gave us fresh chocolate to try!!!

Me and my happy little chocolate :)

Aira was the happier soul. She absolutely loves chocolate!

A sack full of cocoa beans! They were actually giving out cocoa beans for free. And because I'm such a Filipino at heart, I grabbed a bag and filled it up. I'm sure Tita Dimpy can help me do something with them. I couldn't help it but I bought this chocolate praline spread for my family! I can't wait to give it to them once my dad visits me for the sem break. :)

After doing our little chocolate shopping, all of us decided to have farmland-inspired shots! Haha

On the way home, er yeah. Same problem again (if you've been reading my blog for the past few days, the girls and I have this curse). Good thing we had cocoa beans to sniff! >:)

After 30-40 minutes, we went to another place! This time around a beach in Le Touquet. There was even a small skating park.

It was sort of sunny but I could still feel the air. I was freezing! Because the International Club didn't inform us what the itinerary was for the day, I just thought a cardigan would do. :|

Why hello beautiful beach <3

The beach was really huge! The girls and I didn't get to finish walking the end of the beach. Oh there are a lot of beach parks for little kids!

Aira in her boots! Haha

My hands were really shivering that I placed them on top of Kwi's head!

There was a little hill and we were so curious to get there. 

The beach trip was really unexpected. But I enjoyed, despite the fact that I was shivering! :)

For dinner, Tita Rosie (Aira's mom) invited us to eat with them. 

We had salmon! :D :D :D Oh lovely!

And broccoli! :)

xx

Kwi's French Lover

Meet Kwi's first French lover, Cammy <3

xx

Jour 6 - The Other Side of Lille et Raclette Dinner

August 26th, Friday

Today we just had to go to show up for a quick interview with the study department. They were just going to check our schedules for the term. Since we ended early, the girls and I decided to finally go to the CNOUS. And of course I told Aira I was so game to walk around 2 km just to get to the place. Since the CNOUS is far far away from the center of the town, we were able to see the other side of Lille. I guess we were able to see the other side of Lille, it's this side that people don't really go to that often. (now, we know why they don't).

  

This is where they hold plays. The girls and I want to watch at least one show, just for the experience! Even if it's in French. Haha!

After 30 minutes, we were finally at the CNOUS. The CNOUS is a financial aid association in France wherein it seeks to help students for all sorts of financial aid - airfare, health insurance, etc. Aira and I went inside to find out that the person we need to talk to wasn't available on Fridays. So... We have to go back again on Monday @_@

After that, we decided to take a detour going home. We ended up seeing this park called Parc Jean-Baptiste Lebas.

Check out this exotic looking bench! :)

On one side of the park was filled with kiddie rides. Aira felt so young again as she kept on turning around this thingy (I don't quite know what it's called).

Here's a video that will make you dizzy! Haha

This French boy was playing with us hide and seek.

Even little boys are fasyon! Spotted: boy in red rubber boots!

Cool-shaped benches!

After the park, we walked again. We wanted to check out the other side of Lille - the side that not a lot of people go to.

We went back to the center of the city and we came across this bookstore! We were so giddy, especially Kwi, when we saw notebooks displayed.

Apparently, the bookstore was a specialty travelling store. It had so many books, guides for mostly neighboring European countries (all in French).

We saw a Mcdo and we were contemplating whether or not we should try their McFlurry. We decided not today. And plus, it was hella expensive! :|

You know how people say everything is expensive in Europe? Well we found a place that can be comparable to 168 here in Lille. Passage 57 had lots of shops that items made in China. 

The whole day Aira and I were looking for crepes. Finally, we saw one!!!!! 

Kwi and I split a Chocolat Nougat and 6 pieces of Croistillons Hollandais. Aira got her own Chocolat Nougat.

This is the Croistillons Hollandais. I must say I expected too much. The crepe was really messy to eat. Imagine the lady just placed the crepe on top of a flat cardboard. It was good though - I'm just used to having so many toppings/fillings inside. Well now at least, I've tried it in France :)

The girls were so thirsty after merienda (yes, the crepe was loaded with chocolate!) that they decided to buy little slushies, since its cheaper than water @_@ Our random 5 hours of walking was worth it! We saw so many new things!

Louisa invited us for dinner that night. She wanted to teach us how to do a Raclette meal. Raclette is actually a type of cheese (it's actually a bit stinky) that is heated in this machine, along with deli meat, potatoes, and all sorts of things imaginable.

The Raclette machine :)

Ingredients needed!

Aside from the Raclette dinner, Louisa taught us how to bake prune cake :) She used this special ingredient that's sugar with vanilla extract!

We also had salad with vinaigrette!   

...waiting for the cheese to melt!

Voila! A super simple dish to make!

We also had red wine from Bordeaux :)

Happy happy Raclette dinner with Louisa :')

xx