Bienvenue à Lille

Welcome to Lille, land of low temperatures, beautiful architecture, pleasant and friendly locals, common co-ed bathrooms, sky-high, oh-my-God-you-can’t-be-serious-in-Manila-that-only-costs-like-this-much prices on everything, couples very, very, very publicly displaying their affection, the habitual dog poo on the streets, walking absolutely everywhere, delicious bread that’s very hard to chew and hazelnut spread, Winny (my favorite brand in the supermarket because it’s cheaper than everything else), drunken concerts outside your window especially during weekends, colorful striped scarves wrapped around girls’ necks, hypermarkets, abundant carbohydrates in all forms, double-cheeked hello and goodbye kisses, a massive community of smokers that suddenly appears at the quad at school in between classes (yuck), expensive and funky tasting Coke Light with Lemon, stores that all close on Sundays, MSN Messenger instead of Yahoo!, good-looking men and women, first floors that are actually second floors, second floors that are actually third floors (and so on), fun and incredibly colorful carnivals with wild rides, computer rooms at school that are open 24 hours a day, bakeries that smell absolutely divine as you walk by, incredibly delicious mussels and fries, huge killer mosquitoes that you have to step on to kill because some are too obese to fly any higher than the floor, gorgeous museums packed with even more gorgeous paintings, and sunsets at 8:30 p.m. To some, this small town may seem too quiet and unexciting, but after a while, you discover how alive it is, from the quaint place at the town square that sells old books in the afternoons to the row of bars that start throbbing with music at night. One month has passed since I first arrived in Lille on the train and I’m only still grazing the surface of this rich place. I’ve been having the greatest adventures and misadventures here. One minute I’m looking at the Lille Opera House, with statues of the muses of music and theatre; the next my friends and I are dazedly sprawled on the floor because my bed had suddenly broken. I wish I could tell you every single thing I’ve seen and experienced here, but somehow I can’t capture it all.

So I’m delivering the next best things – pictures! Here are a few glimpses into Lille.