Departure on the way...

5 days only....

Time passes so but so quickly. I can't even realise that i was here for 10 months and now the day of my departure is very close. It seems like a big dream. The feeling is very weird. 

I am not sad, but i am not happy either. I think that the best word to describe my situation is :greatful.
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened" said Dr Seuss. So , yes, i am so happy that i lived this experience. I met interesting people, new ideas, i discovered places, i grew up. I stopped believe in stereotypes and judge the people by their appearance. I changed . I succeded my lessons and i took some very important knowledges. In 10 months i managed to become more mature.

I believe that erasmus life has some "cliches ", but one thing is sure. It is a very big experience that offers you some very unique opportunities. Grabbed them before it's too late!

For me Lille, is the town of my erasmus. It is a town that has a special place in my heart. I believe that it's my second home. Sometimes i feel more french than greek. Anyway it's hard to end this.

But always after an end, there is a start. So here it is. I found my great perhaps and know i am ready to live the rest of it.

An erasmus "en train de partir",
Danae

The number of 10 and a thanks

Yeap actually is not that i forgot about this blog. It is more that i decided to stop writing the moments and try to live it a bit. To create great memories, to explore the town, to meet and make new friends, to study, to travel and to grow up.

We are reaching the end of this chapter, of this book, of this big adventure. I have only 10 days left before my return in Greece. Ten days, dix jours, c'est rien. It's so little amount of time. I cannot simply believe that this thing is ending.

But before I start, writing the difficult parts of the ending scenes of my Erasmus, let me just remember the five most memorable moments of my 10 months here in Lille.

1) My arrival day.
I was in a roller coaster (litterally 'cause the metro of Lille has no driver, and the first wagon looks really like you're in a roller coaster) that only went up. From the very first moment that i arrived in abroad i was seeing things that they were so different from my country. I remembered that i hane no internet in my residence the first days, so i went to a commercial center around my area, and i went to a huuuuuge supermarket (first meet with Auchan) . I think the appropriate name isn't "supermarket" but "hypermarket". I was socked. I spent like 2 hours in it, only admirind the french food and it's products. And then that night, i ent out with my erasmus buddy in a bar, our bar, and it was fulled by french youngsters who were most of them drunked, and they were singing and the atmosphere was so good and "agreables". I was thrilled!

2)My courses
I remembered all the classes of litterature and our teacher's knowledges and passion. I was going in the lessons, and i was exited to learn. This year, it was the first time in my 3 years od studies, that i was enjoying so much, the fact that i was learning, the fact that i was a student of french culture.

3) Nights in Post
Well im not the typical party-animal erasmus, but i like drinking alcohol (when i'm not broken and i have money to spend). Nights in Post, our bar, had often two people...Clara and Cagan. My erasmus buddy,and the guy that introduced the system of buddies, in my buddy. (rich vocabulary :p) Some times, i was seeing the  cool friends of Clara, and i was getting more happy. Post for me, means pastis and having fun.

4)Travelling
Well i think that it doesn't need to explain me more. Travelling with friends, or bymyself really broaden my mind. Thank you ryanair!

5) Days at the Park
Although the weather in Lille, is like the weather in London, we had very sunny days. I love parks just because you can sit there and be calm, read a book, listen to music and think. Sun makes us think positevely.For some seconds, we believe that this world, is really beautiful.

This experience will become a memory very soon. But it will be the mest and the most powerful experience of my life, i think. Lille for me it's not simply a town in the north of France. Lille for me is a second home, the birthplace of my new self, a town with feelings, friends, colors, places. The home of my little adventures.

Thank you Lille,

Danae

#Excitement

Day #Excitement

Hey fellows!Happy New year! I just lost the counting of days...I'm not very good with numbers. So i decided instead of numbers to put a hashdag of the general feeling of the day.
And today was a very very good day.

Well i think that Thursdays are my days!Everything exited or good had happen a Thursday.
Today i had two lessons of litterature. As an erasmus, i'm very afraid when i have to go for the first time and attend a lesson. I'm afraid for two reasons. Fistly, i don't know if the teacher will be nice and polite. And seconly, i don't know if i will enjoy the lesson,it's subject. Thank god, that both of the lessons that i attended today, was good. Actually, the second one,was not only good, was amaziiiing!

Ok I admit i have a passion for the 18th-19th century of french litterature.And i love poetry a lot. And Baudelaire.So in this lesson, we will study the poems of Baudelaire and Appollinaire. So only from that, i was exited. But also, the teacher was beyond cool. She has so many knowledges of french litterature and the things that we analysed were so interesting and so philosophic ,that they amazed me. When the lesson finished i was speechless. And imagine, that was only the 1st lesson. I love that. I thing that erasmus apart from the classic chances that it gives us, it also offers to us the huge opportunity to attend classes,with maybe different content that in our country, and with different ways of teaching something. I'm so lucky. 

The afternoon, i went to a concert of the University Orchestra de Lille which is consisted by amateur students and stuff of Lille's univerities (Lille1,Lille2,Lille3). The concert was a trip to different countries in each of it, they were playing a representative piece. We "travelled" to Chech Republic, Spain, Arab desert and....Cuuuubaaa! It was so itend, so good, that i wanted to stand up and dance to each and every one of the pieces.I loved them. Imagining that they were all amateurs, it was the thing that amazed me the most.

I forgot to note, that i also see my friend Clara and some other french friends that I enjoy them a lot. I love speak french with french and have fun. This is one of my target,after all.

No i'm a bit tired, but all this exitment doesn't let me sleep. Though my bed asking for me.Well that was it for today.I will close my writing with something that this so inspirational teacher told us in the class:       
            " La difficulté est toujours une élévation" ,

which means that the difficulties are always something that improves us. 
We don't earn nothing with the easy things. 
So yeah, all the difficulties that i had in the 1st semester, really helped me to step outside, to grow up and most of all to understand who I am,and who i can be. Because i have potentials. I only need to be decided and to find my path. And it rests 5 more moths ,i mean this is it!

Oh and in this point i would like to say to Stavros, Lydia, Aspasia, Dimitra, Alex, Thanasis, Antonis that i love you and i miss you a lot. Only that.

Goodnight my dear people. 

Day trip to Cologne

Day #103

Hello again my dear friends!
Today i will describe you another one of my little adventures,my day trip to Cologne.
Well ,thank god,in the university that i'm doing my erasmus year,there is an asociation that organises trips for the students of the uni. And thr prices are really good. So i decided to go.

The fact is that when i was little,my dad was going every year to Cologne for an exposition of food,and every year he was taking one member of the family with him. I was like 6 years old (i think),when i had the chance to go with him.And the only thing that i was remembering was a big street with a lot of shops, a mc donalds, a balloon that someone gave me and i wanted to take it with me in Greece, the kidengarden that my dad had left me,when he was in the exposition, a weird apple juice (carbonate) and the shops that selling french fries in a paper.Oh and one weird bottle of evian,that my dad has bought me and i was hanging it everywhere (that i take it back to Greece :p).
Nothing else.

Well, the weird but extremely amazing thing,was that i actually revived some of the previews memories in this trip. I ate the classic french fries and i saw these big central streets (i don't remember the name) with thousands of grand marks shops.But i also saw other worthy things. Cologne for me is the best town,for the people who love christmas. It's everything so christmacy.There are like 7 christmas markets in the town,and they are grand and unique.I visited only 3,well we didn't have a lot of time.And also,it was so crowed that we couldn't even walk. The first one was near to the Dom, a big church.The classic monument. Well i entered there,but i didn't see it all,because of the crowd.And also my friends were hungry,so we left. The next one ,was like a fairytale,with a vintage carousel and with a tree with hanging hearts.I bought the classic hot wine,it was the appropriate thing for the cold weather.Then we went to another market,that it has an ice skating floor and you could or do ice skating or watch the people that they were doing it.I did the second one. I don't have a good balance. I loved it. The last market that we have visited it was the one with angels and stars hanging from the trees. Magic!

Well i didn't see much of the ville, because of the markets that they were in the grand places and also because there were a lot,but a lot of tourists. I would like to visited like in spring or in the summer again.To explore it, a little bit more.

Well it was a good trip.The only disadvantage was the cold. The temperature was very low,and as you know i'm not a person who loves cold.And i didn't have gloves,and it was like  -2 degrees,and i was freezing.But i used my scarf for gloves and i found a solution.

That was it. A very good pause,in my stressed life. Tomorrow i have my exams in dutch and ok i have studied a bit. But in Wensday i have exams in linguistics, and the lesson is soooo difficult,i don't understand anything and i don't have any idea how the heck i'm going to pass it. Pfff i'm really freaking out....I hate exams.

Patience...i only need a little bit of patience.And then...Athens,Rhodes, here i come!

Woop Woop

Day #95

"-so speak greek!

                       -but i don't have anyone to speek greek with!

-speak with your-self!

                      -how?if i speak with myself they'll think that i'm crazy!

       -so what?!You are crazy!!"

Finally,after 3 months living in abroad, someone actually understand the real character of me.I never believed that a foreign language could be a barrier to understanding the character of another person. But yeah,it does. I can't express myself in french.I think everyone thinks that i'm quiet,antisocial and not a party animal. Three things that they are completely opposed to my character. 
Me, quiet??!No,no,no! 
    I speak french and yeah i can communicate, i can participate in a dialogue but no i can't be me. No one understand my jokes, or my sarcasm, or the times that i want to do and say crazy stuffs. No one except my new friend. 

   Yesterday i had soooo much fun. I realised who i am and how much i have missed being me.The little things, are the most powerful. I missed being crazy, and don't care about anyone and nothing. And with this girl, that we don't ressemble a lot, i feel that i can be myself. She listens me.She doesn't ignore me.She is there. That's the most amazing thing. The point is to find people that we're completely different. 

The same, is boring.

   So yesterday we went to an exposition,that we don't really enjoy, so we decided to leave and go to the nearest commercial center. Here in Lille, the winter is definately here. The temperatures are so low, that we loose our envie to go out. And I, personally, hate cold. And i moan a lot. But i thought that i have to stop moaning and find a way to resist. Because i'm Human Sunshine,according to Stargirl (my new friend). And as human sunshine, i have to find the sparkl in everything that annoying me,or that i hate. And then, change them, so i can live with them. I have to find a way to like the cold. Basically i thought to become one with the cold. I will start drink granitas so much that my body temperature start to fall...and then i'll be cold as much as the cold outside :p .
Or i can start drinking.Yeah and we arrived at the commercial center and we bought granitas (resistance) , and we enter to a photo booth and we take pictures and then....she had to go,because we're both tired and we've both so much work to do. 
But yeah i laughed so much,woop woop! 

Now unfortunately, back to my stress. I have to finish a dossie with a difficult subject and i'm freaking out. Jesus, the person that said that if you're an erasmus, you don't have to study,said the biggest lie ever!Thankfully in two weeks,i'll go back to home,so patience,is the only thing that i have to do. Oh and study.
Patience and study.

Badass traveller

days 82 and 83

Hello again my dear readers (if i have any). This was the best week-end of this month. The greatest last week-end of November. I lived a great adventure, that is definately worth two pages, of my adventure book.

Why? Because I travelled. I travelled not only in a different town, but i also travelled with my mind,discussed with myself and finally,found the little sparkle that it was missing from my life.

Well, i visited Paris. 

It's funny, because for some reason i thought that Paris is a bit bigger than Lille. But i was wrong.Paris is HUGE! My first hours, i was socked. 

Paris is a beautiful town, a very historic place and a grand cultural influence. It was amazing to walk there, that a huge revolution happened, there, that grand artist and poets, have lived. This feeling, so precious.

Of caurse, time wasn't enough to visit all the things that i wanted. But I did the classic sightseeing ,so i'm happy.And i don't live so far from Paris. So I can visit it again. I will visit it again.

Before go to my trip,i bought a map. Well, i found maps very useful. If you are alone, they are your company,your safe. But this time, this map wasn't my friend. It was aweful. I got lost most of the time. Thank got i know french and i can communicate. But i count this ,as the funniest little adventure of this trip. I rememered the times that i got lost and i laugh. And you know is not that bad,to getting lost. I can say, that is better. Because you see things, that nobody know. And you're not litterally lost. Every road leads, where you want to go (open translation from greek).

I found the shop from the film "Amelie" and i got so exited. For a minute, i felt like i was her. And then i woke up.

I also experienced the french ghettos. Yo. I was living in the residence of a friend from Rhodes, that he is studying this year,also in France. We had great time i think. We kind of experience the same weird things,of a first year student in abroad, and this is so funny because ,each has something different to narrate to the other. Though i believe, that his experiences are definately more awesome than mines.But ok.I'm still proud.

The most important thing of this adnevture, is that i remembered my goal of this year, that i have forgotten. And my goal was to travel. To see new things ,to meet new ideas ,new culture,different ways of life. Neither to find international friends for life nor to find the love of my life. My soul is desperately seeking new routes. This is my sparkle. That is when i'm fearless and ready for everything.

My old me is finally awake!I start to search my new destination and prepare my new little adventure.This is the point of this year. I forgot it,but i have time to fix it. 

So for this reason, i found my optimistic side again. And i'm feeling so badass.And yeah,i am!

No more problems.Ok the money for travelling, might be a problem, but i will find a solution.

Yeah!

Now the badass traveller,have to go to the super market :P . Yeah, we can't survive without food. Hahaha.

Goodmorning my fellows,

it's a new day,it's a new start.

Go for it!

Day #76

Well this is not exactly an adventure...But is the most wonderful thing,that i heard this week.
It came from the mouth of a young french guy,friend of my erasmus buddy. Well this guy,he has a girlfriend,that he seems to love her a lot.So today, he was saying goodbye at her,and after that he came to us and said "shh don't speak,so you can hear the heartbeats of a "falling in love" man".

I'm dead. What a nice thing he said. So romantic,so naive. Ι want this man!!!

Everybody says,that in erasmus you can easily find your other half. Well i thought that it will be like this. But yet,nothing special happened. Exept that i kissed, an aweful guy with pink t-shirt (JESUS)!I don't say that i'm desperate and i want to have a man here. I'm just saying,that i prefer the french or the spanish guys and here, there are a lot. So,where the hell are you my dear,romantic,other half ??Stop hiding,i need to get over the previous love.

So that's for today.I'm happy that i have to write only the epilogue,to finish my first dissertation (3 more left...). Though i said,that i'll wrote it today,i did nothing (classic) :p Exams in less than one month,i'm getting a bit freaked out.

Oh i just remember one little adventure ,that i'll be lucky to participate in. I will play in a scene of "La leçon" de Ionesco,in 10 days in our university.We will have an international week,and all the classes of foreign languages here at the uni, we will play the same exact scene,in different languages. I will play it in french, but there will be also in greek. Isn't it that sooooo amazing??!YEAH!!

Well, à bientot!!