Realizing Backstreet is not coming back...and it's not alright.

Week two of work is officially almost over and, as expected, I continue to have no idea what my schedule is. I’m not really sure what happens now, because we don’t actually have classes again until November 2^nd. I really really think that it’s reasonable to assume I will know by then, but I have zero expectations.

This week I’ve been half observing/teaching/trying to pretend I’m doing important things. Despite this overall lack of organization, I had a great time interacting with the students. Most professors this week asked me to introduce myself and do a Q&A with the class. They were generally hesitant at first but after some overzealous, persistent prodding, I was able to get them to talk. The questions were pretty standard; I was only stumped when a student asked me if I knew any celebrities.

...Certainly I knew one celebrity, but I drew a blank. This made me feel like I wasn’t fulfilling my American duty for whatever reason, until I later had the realization that I had just met the Backstreet Boys this summer. (Okay, so it was two Backstreet Boys, but I’m willing to bet that’s significantly more than these kids have met).  I was kicking myself all day... this was my in. Think of how incredibly cool I would seem if they knew that my boyfriend played with the legendary Backstreet Boys and I witnessed it all! The French love 90s American music... surely the Backstreet Boys are an equally huge deal over here. 

Luckily, this is apparently a very common question, because later that day a student asked me the same exact thing.

Cue redemption time!

“Great question!” I responded, “It just so happens that I recently met... pause for effect...the Backstreet Boys.”

They were so amazed by their newly discovered second degree of separation that they fell silent. Or that’s initially what I thought. I then realized they were just staring blankly.

“You know.. the Backstreet Boys.. the 90s boy band..”

Silence.

“They were like, THE BIGGEST deal in the 90s. Super famous. They more or less defined my generation... so, kind of your generation too?”

Silence.

The teacher tried to help me out by showing a picture of the band... which did not help at all. The class immediately started cracking up. It dawned on me that these kids were born in the 2000s and had never heard of nor seen the overly-groomed, middle aged men on the screen.  The teacher leaned over to me and said, “probably a little dated for this group.”

Bottom line is I am old. 

Anyway, teaching  has been a lot of fun and French kids automatically think Americans are cool, so it turns out I didn’t really need to pull the Backstreet Boy card (admittedly not even my card to pull).

Speaking of... Carson’s been having a good time at his school as well and even got a job on the side tutoring. It’s looking like he has several prospective students and I am very proud of his go-getterness. To celebrate his successful endeavor, I decided to revive our old tradition of taking each other on small dates to places the other person has never been. I chose (I think) the perfect Carson date location: a beer cave. The name is L'Abbaye des Saveurs and it’s probably the most beloved beer cave in Lille. It’s also on the most adorable street on the planet (pictured below) and about two feet from our house. They had pretty much everything there, even IPAs, and certainly lived up to its hype.

 

The tiny flags almost take the whimsy too far

In other news, it is now cold. All our friends agree that in the past two days, it randomly became fall. Carson and I felt the dramatic change in the apartment; our giant windows are whimsical and all... but regrettably not great for insulation. However, we decided on Tuesday night to hold out on turning on the heat because we are hardcore (and cheap). It took until about Wednesday morning for us to abandon entirely our noble attempt.

Since we have this week off, we’re just going to hang around Lille (in our now warm apartment) and do a bit of travel planning. We’re probably going to go to Amsterdam for Halloween weekend with one of our teaching assistant friends to visit one of our most beloved mutual friends, the beautiful Sean Cheatle. The bus ride there is short and cheap and since we can stay with Sean for free, we’d basically be wasting money by not going.

More updates to come and happy almost weekend to all!

(Also, Carson insisted this picture of glorious pastries and awkward me be shared)