So East it's Ouest

Along with the French ideas of health comes the concept of 'catching cold'. Not a cold but cold that makes you not feel well which can be further related to a factor called "le cervical".  Much like the vertebral member it is named after if you are cold around your neck or have wet hair you are at risk for developing the dreaded "cervical" which basically means a stiff neck/cold/swollen lymphs but once again the way it is announced with such dread makes you think it is paralysis.  "Le cervical" is also supposed to come back to bite you in the butt when you get old, all those nights out partying without a sufficient scarf.  Not covering your neck could lead to "catching a bought of cold" (not catching a cold) therefore not covering your neck is seen as another way to weaken your immune system. By the way scarves in France take on massive proportions basically like small blankets swirled around heads and yes men wear them as well although t

Short and sweet. 3 days.  Chez les Sheep.  Returning to aclimate to cold weather by traveling to the south of France to hang with the cool kids in the Avignon english group.  Trains are great👍🏼.  I'm telling ya after this 'sejour' in France I'm so comfortable now changing train stations, taking buses, planning out public transportation.  After getting into Lille at midnight on Wednesday I awoke bright and early to catch the ouigo to Paris and on to Avignon.  It was snowing as I got into the metro so I made an arrangement with Lille that I would come back only when the weather is warmer.  (I'm turning into a cold weather sissy because I don't have my puffy down parka) 4-5 hours later and poof you're in Avignon.  I made my way down to the mirror pools out front of the train station to send another location text to Daniel and Delia when they sneakily peaked around the front gate and scared me.   They helped me lug my bag (full of beer bottles) into the car an

Yes not only does the French school system have Christmas break but also winter break, score!  Last month I was busily planning my 2 week span, I happened to talk to an aquaintance that also wanted to travel so I set out dreamily endorsing Lanzarote in the Canary Islands when she mentioned a little island called Madeira.  Intrigued I looked at some photos and my mind was quickly made over.  It looked like a mini Hawaii.  After much planning (much much) we found a reasonable hotel and means of transportation for a one week trip.  Here was my one day travel itinerary: Saint Amand Les eaux->bus-> train Lille->metro-> Lydia's house-> car-> tourcoing train Paris->bus Orly airport-> flight Lisbon->flight Funchal-> bus hotel.  All of these legs were carefully planned out when of course there were technical difficulties on the trains leaving us in a near constant state of stress; also stressful was the fact that the night before leaving I received an email tha

This is a fun post about 3 major facets of French health to be aware of. 1) -Gelée Royale- 2)-Drafts - 3)-Microbes- Oh Gelée Royale you strange thing that has infiltrated every health conscious French persons' home.  The goji berry of the French household is this prized little package, basically the white stuff that bee larvae live in in the bee hive.  Nutritious, body cleansing, immunity boosting, skin clearing, metabolism kick starting larvae yolk.  It's everywhere in drinks,vitamins, shampoo, health products and of couse fresh, found in small canister like containers refrigerated.  Some local farms that produce honey also sell the royal jelly.  Here's a lady talking about why she likes it:  http://www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/health-benefits-of-royal-jelly.html This one was a shocker for me because of see how much people like to air things out over here: I mean even up here in the north where I I forget where the sun is and it rains for days

Being an Emily in France.   They think of you as having a French name, that's a good thing, t here was also a musical in the 70s called 'Émilie Jolie' (Pretty Emily) when I introduce myself people will often say 'ohhh Émilie comme Émilie Jolie!' That's how they remember it and  right of the bat subconsciously they think you're pretty, boom.  Buuuut also a little girl that imagines hedgehogs and travels in her pajamas... Weird feelings when it comes to spelling and pronunciation: You might not know or realize but the French pronunction and the english pronunciation of Emily vs Émilie are very different.  Try (em-uh-lee) versus (eeh-mee-lee),I normally need to pronounce my name twice once with English pronunciation and the second with a focused French one because people often think I'm named Amelie or some different African name or something.  I know know how it feels to have your name constantly misspelled as well never with a y always with ie, even on so

After a week of pure misery I took the chance and met with Lydia in Lille in order to go together to Charleroi airport in Belgium.  We had a 7:00 flight to catch and a 3:00am bus to catch to get us there.  Angela made us both a delicious dinner and I hungerly ate up my first meal of the week.  That didn't go well and left me in misery for the next few hours, thankfully I caught two hours of sleep and miraculously awoke bright eyed and bushy tailed and so did Lydia.  At the airport I was patted down, I think my bruised eyes and overall druggy look set off some alarms.  We were herded like cattle on to the packed til bursting cheap Ryanair flight to Prague.   What can I say about Prague....  Go there, get your bags packed and get a move on.  I guess I really didn't think that Prague was going to be quite as awesome as it is, I was thinking that it would be starkly communist or dark and gothic but oh no no.  This is the capital of Bohemia everybody and the bohemians don't do s