i need more weekends like this

I had an excellent week and weekend. It all started with a trip to the St. Quentin on Wednesday. I went there to visit my friend Erika and to check out my favorite Christmas market. We had a wonderful day despite the cold and snow. We enjoyed the sights and smells of the market, made friends with the Canadian guy at the maple syrup stand, checked out the Christmas tavern, ate delicious food, and.... drank hot chocolate at L'Imprimerie! Now, that last one is so exciting, because it was closed recently due to a fire (C. broke the news to me in October). But now, it's back open! I have gone there every single time I've been to St. Q. except in October. Ah, so nice to have it back!

Thursday, I made a last minute trip to Lille with Denise. After a surprisingly not stressful trip to the Prefecture, we did some wandering around and shopping before meeting up with Liz (former Chauny assistant before me) for some lunch and more shopping.

Friday, Hannah and I had a nice chilled out night with our friend Tish. It was good.

Saturday was just amazing. We went to the market in the morning for the first time ever (we've been lazy) before grabbing paninis at our favorite cafe for lunch. Next up, we paid a visit to the library and checked out a used book sale. While there, there was also a store selling their old books, and we decided to go check out the actual shop. We opened the door to a big huge black dog. She was adorable. Deciding that her owner looked very chilled out, I patted the dog on the head, and she instantly became my best friend. She followed me around and rolled over next to me. So cute!

Saturday evening, Hannah and I decided to go. We went for a chilled out bar before inviting Hannah's student J. to the second more crammed bar. We danced a little, had a few drinks, and then headed back to Hannah's. Another friend joined us and fun ensued. Hannah and I attempted to rap along to an old school Eminem song (we sucked), and J. and I got into a discussion on why we love Apple and hate PC.

Today, after a bit of a rough start and doing laundry, I headed into town on a quest for bubble wrap and coffee. I found the (over-priced) bubble wrap and made a dangerous (yet fruitful) venture to H&M. The town was jammed with people today! Where did they all come from? I almost couldn't find a table when I went to meet J. for a coffee (apparently rapping along to Eminem did not scare him off). Poor guy wanted a break from studying and he had to listen to me ramble on in English (he set the language choice, not me!). LOL. I think he understood the majority of it though.

In three days, barring any disasters, I WILL BE HOME!! CANNOT WAIT! Only two more days of work!

I leave you now with what Denise and I stumbled upon in Lille. They appeared out of no where and disappeared a half an hour later. We must have had some good timing.

Yeah, we didn't get it either...