Days 57-59: Whirlwind Weekend Part 1: Brussels and (Gi)Lill(i)e

       I’m splitting this post up to make it more reader-friendly, this is Part 1: Brussels and (Gi)Lill(i)e

        After a long week of playing catch-up with school work and other odds and ends that piled up from being out of town for 6 days, I’m finally getting the chance to sit down to tell you about my first trip out of Spain! Not only was I getting to visit two new countries, but my main reason for going was to FINALLY see one of my best friends, and my room mate from last semester, Gillie! We saw each other nearly everyday for a semester, and to go from that to not seeing each other for almost 4 months was odd. This trip marked some important firsts as far as my traveling experiences go: first RyanAir flight, getting from point A to B in a country where I can’t speak the language, using a French ride share system, and my first CouchSurfing experience. Of course there were many more firsts, but these were the major ones that had me feeling a little stressed before going. Oh yes, I guess there is another major event to tell you about: getting over a foot of my hair cut-off!

        Gillie is studying abroad at a university in Villneuve d’Ascq, a small town just outside of Lille, France. The cheapest way to get from Sevilla to that part of France was to book a RyanAir flight that goes to Charleroi Airport in Belgium. Since my flight was getting in so late (21:30), getting to Lille from Charleroi wasn’t an option on the day of my arrival (Wednesday), so I looked into finding a place to stay the night through the website www.couchsurfing.org. (If you’ve never heard of this project you should read up on it, it’s a fascinating idea that connects people all over the world who don’t mind hosting travelers http://www.couchsurfing.org/about.html) I lucked out in finding a really great person who lives in Brussels, Julie, who was willing to host me for that night. The next task would be getting from Charleroi to the Brussels Central station before the last bus of the night.

        So how was my first RyanAir experience? Well I was terrified of getting charged with erroneous fees that these budget airlines are so well know for, so I read up on the do’s and don’t’s of using these companies. Technically my travel backpack isn’t within their strict baggage requirements, but I decided to risk it anyway. I would rather know now, before I go off on my month long excursion around Europe, what exactly I’m going to be charged for. My baggage worries were quelled when I met two Spanish travelers waiting for the same flight to Charleroi, Maria and Rafa. They both were sporting backpacks like mine, except that they had even more things stuffed in them, so I asked them about their experiences on RyanAir and the luggage they were carrying. Rafa, who’s done extensive travel using budget airlines, assured me that they never (or rarely) check backpacks and that he’s never had any trouble while carrying one. Sure enough he was right, the lady at the counter didn’t even measure our packs and we three got on to the flight with no problem.

        I spent much of the flight chatting with my new friends who were also going to be going to Brussels Central that evening, they invited me to tag along so that we could find our way together. When we arrived in Belgium we caught the bus to Brussels Midi from the airport, and walked our way to Brussels Central (which turned out to be a bit longer than anticipated, I’ll use the tram next time!). We managed to unintentionally find our way to the famous Brussels Grand Place (conveniently located next to Brussels Central), which was almost deserted at that time of night. If you find yourself in Brussels I’d recommend that you go here at night, seeing all of the centuries-old Gothic and Flemish architecture lit-up without having to deal with the crowds is quite nice. It was a brief moment of peace and quiet after a long day of travel.

        I managed, again by some stroke of luck, to catch the last bus of the night that took me to Julie’s neighborhood. I arrived much later than I anticipated, it was 00:30 when I finally rang the doorbell at her apartment, but Julie was still waiting up for me and welcomed me at the door. We sat in her living room and got to know each other, she’s a teacher at a primary school who hails from the south of Beligum, she’s been involved with the CouchSurfing project for a little over a year and was an absolutely wonderful host. She offered me a yummy Belgian abbey beer (meaning was brewed by monks), called Grimbergen, let me try some Belgian Easter chocolate, and had my bed ready for me. 

View of the morning light on the buildings from one side of the apartment.

        The next morning I was up at 7:00 since Julie had to leave early to teach. I watched the sunrise from her top floor apartment as I ate a bowl of Golden Grahams. Since my ride-share didn’t leave til 11:30, I had the morning to walk around the Center and see some sights:

Easter chocolate.....yes that's chocolate. Despite it's cuteness, I wouldn't be able to restrain myself from devouring those cute little chocolate duckies.

Hôtel de Ville (Town Hall)  tower in Grand Place

Maison du Roi (House of the King) also in Grand Place

I think it looks like he's shooting that poor bird...

        My stop in Brussels was short, but a good one. The people were friendly, there was lots to see, and plenty of food and drink to try. I hope to come back some day to tour this little country a bit more. 

        Since this part of the world (aka Northern France/Beligium) is fairly expensive, I did some research on alternative (and safe) ways of transportation. Gillie recommended I give the French ride share website www.covoiturage.fr a try. I don’t speak French, the most I can say is “Hello, my name is Josie, I don’t speak French, goodbye”, but I managed to find a ride to and from Brussels & Lille for 7 euro each way. The drivers and passengers all spoke varying degrees of english, so it was interesting finding ways to communicate. On the way to Lille I spoke mostly in spanish with a French student named Nolween, who offered to show me the way to where Gillie would be meeting me. 

       I arrived in Lille and, with Nolween as my guide, walked toward the meeting point. Before I had even made it across the street I heard my name being called and looked up to see Gillie’s smiling face running through the crowd towards me. From that point on I couldn’t stop smiling. The semester before this one Gillie and I had talked about being able to see each other in Europe, and here we were actually doing it; we had found each other in the north of France, on a abnormally sunny day, after four months of being apart. We have been trying to keep in touch, despite our shoddy internet connections, but we still had a lot of catching up to do, so we headed to a restaurant with outdoor seating to enjoy some fresh French cuisine and to enjoy the sunny day together. 

(Gillie in case you have forgotten....that is mango)

This was my dish, yes that's goat cheese

       After lunch we made our way via metro to Villeneuve d’Ascq where Gillie lives, works, and goes to school. We went to the international café where she works and we made plans with some of her new friends to get bubble tea with them later that day. I enjoyed a delicious espresso prepared by my own personal barista, Gillie, and took a moment to read a bit while she worked. 

Rose bubble tea, refreshing & delicious, and the perfect excuse for an adorable photo opportunity

       We made our way back into Lille to get bubble tea, go grocery shopping, run some errands, and see the sights. I had been traveling for what seemed 24 hours straight so that night we stayed in and had a lovely quiet evening. We cooked dinner, drank Chi ‘ti beer (typical of the area), watched a movie, and enjoyed being room mates again. 

       The next morning we slept in and had a breakfast of (two) pain au chocolat (commonly (and incorrectly) referred to as chocolate croissants) and blood-orange juice; two of my favorite buys from our shopping trip the day before. We eventually got motivated enough to get dressed and head back into Lille to run some errands, the main one being to arrange a hair appointment for me.

       While in the center I bought a brown sugar crepe from a street vendor. The guy who made it for me made it look too easy as he spread the delicate mix on the hot plate, skillfully flipped it, topped it with brown sugar, rolled it up, and handed it to me on a paper plate. The sugar proceeded to caramelize from the heat of the crepe. Yes, it was delicious, almost too sweet, but realllly good. 

       We eventually found our way to the hair salon and I managed to snag the last open spot for the next day at 11am. Afterwards we stopped in the Eglise du Sacré-Coeur (Notre-Dame du Pentecote). It was chilly inside, so much so that I could see my breath. As we walked around the nearly empty church you could hear the pigeons cooing from the bell tower; this place was impressive. 

(More photos at the end of this post) 

View of the cathedral as we walked to it.

       That night we met up with some of her friends and went to Guapa Bar where they played really fun music, i.e. remixes of James Brown and Michael Jackson. After some dancing I found myself incredibly exhausted despite it being early (2am), so we ran to catch the night bus back to Villeneuve. 

Check back for Part 2, it'll be up soon!