Given that the Iraq war is happening as I write this, I am not really in the ideal place. A Brit in France is not really well accepted at the moment, due to France being so anti-war and the state that the war graves in Dunkirk were left in yesterday.

I live in Lille, a large city in the Nord region of France. I study at the university Charles de Gaulle, Lille 3 and hate it with a passion! I can't wait to get out of this country and back to what I call civilisation. I guess if I were French I would probably be really happy to be living here, but being used to English standards I have found this year abroad extremely difficult and unfriendly.

I don't really have much else to say as I did most of my ranting and raving about this place in my op on the university, although I have to say that I was amazed to learn that Lille will be European Capital of Culture 2004...strange!

There are very few good things to say about the area, but the Christmas markets are beautiful, as are the lakes just outside Villeneuve d'Ascq.

Hope this helps some of you decide not to come here!! Sorry about the lack of positivity, I'll probably change it when I get back to England and have had time to think more about things.

25/07/03 - so, I'm back in England for good now (well apart from the month I'll be spending in Germany). I'm still as unhappy about the time I spent in France as I was when I was there. Looking back I realise that despite all the problems I encountered from being English, I am proud of myself. I'm very surprised that I didn't throw in the towel and head back across the channel.

France is a completely different way of life - regarding bureaucracy especially. Make sure that you have all necessary documents with you (passport, translated birth certificates, 'A' level certificates, driving licence etc.) and that you know everything you'll need before you get there. Accommodation can be hard to find when you're a foreign student and expecting some sort of quality. I went through their uni and ended up living in somewhere not fit for anyone to inhabit. Has no-one heard of toilet seats, fridges and the dangers of plugs that spark? Despite all the negatives I enjoyed the social aspect of playing ping-pong and watching the anti-British TV programmes.

All in all I would recommend France, but not this area. Lille simply isn't meant for us Brits and I just hope that if you do choose to go that you do not experience anything as bad as I did. Abuse on the streets, on the metro and even in the residence is just too much to handle when you're trying to get used to not seeing your friends and family for months on end.

SECOND UPDATE: 29th March 2004

I thought I should probably update again, as I really didn't give you much to go on in the first or second version.

I'm less bitter now about everything that went on and that I experienced in Lille...in fact, everything just feels like a distant memory now. I met up with one of the people who I was there with, and we discussed about how we did have laughs and how it wasn't all that bad...but it really wasn't anything like England. I craved for all things English...just like the others did. Not just things like music and TV, but food and the culture. I can hear you shouting 'What culture?!?' at me through the computer screen. Well...it is impossible for a country not to have a culture, and England is no exception. In fact, the culture here in England very much depends on which area you live in. I personally love the way that here in Yorkshire you can just strike up a conversation with a complete stranger in a shop and how you automatically say 'Good morning' to people who walk past you, even if you've never seen them before in your life.

In France I was lucky to get a grunt. I'm in no way saying that every region/city/town is like that. In fact I have spent some wonderful time in France before now...but Lille to me was a very daunting and unfriendly place. Perhaps I'm just not used to living in a city so big...Lille is the size of Leeds.

My worst experience had to be living in the student halls, if you could call them that. I have talked a bit about it previously, but I would like to add that I hate the fact that people smoke dope everywhere. I had to move rooms because my asthma was affected. Several people on my corridor would smoke it with their doors and window open...so when it was hot, what could I do? I couldn't open my window unless I passively smoked it and the same went for the door. It's ridiculous. No-one seemed to give a damn. The French students were definitely the main priority.

Anyway...this review is just about living abroad. I realise I haven't covered every single aspect...but the purpose of this op was to let you all know about my experiences. If you want to know more about my university experiences, then there's a separate op on that.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to read this - much appreciated x