Dunkerque 9.2.06 - 9.5.06

So, somehow I made it from Hillsborough to Calais. If Caro and Manu had not have been there I really don't know what I would have done; I was pooped! We did a miny car tour of Dunkerque to show me around a bit and help me to get my bearings. We stopped at the sea and dipped our feet in the water for a moment. The sand was very soft there and it felt great on my tired feet. The water, however, was not nearly as plesant. Caro and I got them a little wet, but the water was freezing! We strolled a bit and then went back to the house for dinner. Dinner was fun. First, I tasted a couple of beers that Manu really enjoyed. Apparently, French beer isn't that great and the people of Northeren France are so close to Belgium they claim a bit of that culture in the beers they enjoy. Both of the beers we tried were lighter colored; one was a bit more amber. They were both really good. Which is a big thing coming from me because I don't usually like beer at all. The first was Duvel, I favored this one, and the second was Delerium Tremens. This got it's name from drinking it and experiencing hallunications, such as the pink elephant on the lable. We had potatoes that had been boiled. OK that doesn't sound that great yet, but they had this big hot plate and we took the potatoes and put them on the hotplate. Then we took cheese and put it in a little individul pan and put mushrooms on the cheese and heated it up on the hot plate. Next, I took the pototes off of the hot plate and peeled thm individually, pour the cheesy mushrooms on the freshly peeled potatoes, and voila! We had a coupld of different thin cuts of meet on the side. Most were a bit raw for me. A saw this a lot and avoided these meets from then on. I mean, I like a medium rare steak, but this was a little too raw for me. Overall, it was a wonderul first meal inFrance!

Caros friends met us at the flat, Delphine and Alex, and we all shared little deserts. Del spoke a bit of English, Alex not at all. There is a term that I can't remember right now and I was talking about it with someone right before I left. Everyone in the world has someone that is their twin. A person that is so much like them, but they never meet. Feel free to comment on what this term is! Del reminded me of Shannon and Caro reminds me of a girl I did my internship. It's odd because of the similaraties, but then the fact that they don't even speak the same language.

Afterwards we got ready to go to the disco about 1 hour away. This was a wonderful disco/club/rave party. The first thing I noticed when we got there was how young everyone was, especially the guys. Maybe I'm just getting old. The other thing I noticed was the amount of security, which, with me being a stranger in a strange land at a disco tech in the middle of nowhere on no sleep, made me feel comfortable. My hosts made me very comfortable, but itwas still very comforting to have that security there. We danced the night away in multiple dance rooms with hip hop, 2 techno rooms, 80's French and American music and other hodge podges of music. The music was great, the bass bumped and everyone danced the night away. To promote the club they did many giveaways throughout the night. Caro won me a cute little green back pack that allowed me to send home the one that I had brought, but didn't like very much. (But what sucks is that on the train from Dunkerque to Paris the zipper broke, so now I have no bag from home because I mailed it back, and one backpack with a broken zipper. :-( )

We arrived back at the flat around 4am, I did a bit of writing in my jounral, as not to forget anything, popped a couple of Tylenol PM's, which I don't think really work, and laid down for my first nights sleep in France. I have been awake for 54 hours! I don't remember the last time I stayed awake that long. I was probably 17, almost 10 years ago.

The next day, la Bradiere de Lille!