Erasmus in Lille is a different matter

Hello everyone!

The year I went on Erasmus was 2010-2011. Before telling you about my experience in Lille, I will talk to you about the Erasmus grant and encourage you to go.

The Erasmus grant is excessive, wherever it is you may be. You will have a great time, you will make friends from all over the world, get to know another culture, party a lot, study very little (generally), you'll have incredible travels, one short year away from home - freedom. This; amongst many more things that you will discover on your Erasmus adventure.

Right, finally - Lille is a small city, situated in the centre of Europe and very easy to adapt to if you come from a big city such as in my case. It is completely flat which makes the bike the best form of transport. It has a metro too, green areas to enjoy and super nice and welcoming people, who will try to help you when you need it. Lille's inhabitants are the Cht'is. They have a very peculiar French accent and the rest of the France laughs at them. However don't worry because the accent is perfectly understandable and it will not give you any problems.

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The majority of the universities are in the city centre and it doesn't take long to get to them with the metro. This is except from mine which was a business school, Edhec, and it was in Roubaix, on the outskirts. It was slightly rotten luck because it took an hour to get them and another to get back but the university was amazing.

The accommodation: in my case, I was in a private residence which I got on the internet from Madrid. I was very comfortable but it was one of the errors of my erasmus because I paid in advance and couldn't change it. I paid nearly €500 a month and it is amazing. My friends looked for shared flats and paid €200 for a room with a shared kitchen and bathroom. Then there was the CROUS but they have to accept you, otherwise you'll have no other options. It's crazy to go to a hostel in an unknown city with your suitcase but... we're young, Erasmus and crazy, so I encourage you to go with nothing and start looking for a flat in the streets. You can find real bargains.

The trips: Lille is in the centre of Europe and you can travel around Europe on the train without difficulty and at a good price. You will travel to Belgium, London, Amsterdam, the rest of France... at low prices. And not as the star of the travels... The Charleroi airport in Belgium! Only two hours from Lille is the Ryanair airport, where you can come and go to Spain and the rest of Europe at unbelievable prices.

The parties: It's a small city... There aren't joints like in Madrid haha. However the majority of Lille's pubs and clubs are concentrated in the rue Solferino and this is where you will spend the majority of your partying nights. The Vieux Lille neighbourhood is also important, to have spectacular beers in really cool places.

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There is also the Wazemmes neighbourhood to have Sunday beers in the very cool Lille sun.

Finally, I am going to leave you with two youtube links so if you have a short while and are interested, watch them and they will make you make a decision already. I am sure that when you (who I don't know) come to a finish of reading this earful, you will start applying or packing packing your bags with these two great videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuXnH-NARmM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUh5-3sDJXQ

Thank you so much for this time you've dedicated to read my experience and I hope that yours is just like mine because it's impossible for it to be better.