Streets of Louvain-la-Neuve

I’ve been back in Bordeaux for three weeks and while it is nice to be back in the city I love, I’ve gotta admit that I kinda miss Louvain-la-Neuve.

Hmm, how did this happen? Louvain-la-Neuve, not just a campus, but barely a real city. I didn’t like it much when I first stepped into Louvain-la-Neuve, that much was certain. The place felt more like a trap than a comfortable place to live.

It took a while to discover the charm hidden within, a process that required living there for a few months at a time and frequent absence. Gradually I found myself starting to like Louvain-la-Neuve more and more as I found ways to enjoy the “city”, as I took delight in the small, unique things that surprise me.

So, after having written about the streets of Bordeaux, I feel that it is only fair to dedicate a post to the streets of Louvain-la-Neuve 😉

On an unsuspecting Saturday afternoon, if I am not out and about travelling to nearby cities, I like to take slow strolls around Louvain-la-Neuve. Although the area of the place itself is not big, there are so many hidden corners that I seem to have missed during my walks that I slowly discover one by one. It’s always fun to get lost, then find my way again.

If this is the beginning of spring

Two more weeks until daylight saving time begins. Two more weeks until our second annual training school. Two more weeks until I head back to France. Hooray!

I know I mentioned that there hasn’t been much sunshine in Louvain-la-Neuve lately, but when when there is sun, this is quite a relaxing place to be at. Ever since the trip to Ghent, I’ve stayed in Louvain-la-Neuve every weekend – gasp! Weekend afternoon walks became my activity of choice here, especially pleasant during the two weekends when it was warm and sunny out! Spring was definitely coming, right?

Wrong. Weather here fluctuates like the lottery. When I thought the sunny weather meant that it was the beginning of spring, Mother Nature burst my bubble by sending snow last week. Splendid. For two or three days I felt like we were back in that period of time at the beginning of February when Europe was invaded by a sudden cold attack. I almost had to get my scarf and gloves out again. Not amusing.

I am glad, however, that I did take advantage of those warm days and left the house to enjoy the rarity. My favourite place in Louvain-la-Neuve is definitely the lake. When in doubt, you can’t go wrong with the lake for a nice, relaxing afternoon.

On this day, my original destination was actually not the lake. I began by wandering through some residential areas of LLN, stumbling upon some new, unvisited places, before somehow ending back at the lake, as always. Really, how far could you go?

From Quinconces to Garonne

After one week of officially being a grad student, I am already starting to appreciate the weekend. Though the first week consisted mostly of burying myself in literature, I find that both my body and my mind are exhausted by the time it’s 21:00. I have been steadily keeping a sleeping schedule of 22:30 to 6:30 for the past week, and I guarantee this will not last more than a month. Me sleeping early – that’s like snow in Bordeaux (according to my supervisor, the locals are wowed every time it snows in Bordeaux).

Also, I’ve decided to update the blog weekly instead of whenever I want. I’ll put up something new every Saturday or Sunday, so check back or subscribe! 🙂

I’ll start with the pictures this week, because a picture is worth a thousand words but starting an entry with a thousand words may drive away my visitors. This week, I took a trip down to the Garonne, the river that traverses Bordeaux. The weather is gorgeous and a walk sounded like a perfect idea, so why not?

I started my trip at the Place des Quinconces, and this is the first thing I saw when I got off the tram. Trees – lots of trees. I really like this place. Like…really. When I first saw this (which actually was last week) I literally said, out loud, “Wow, this is…nice.” Yes, the ellipsis too. I paused between “is” and “nice”. Anyway, I have a thing for perfectly aligned trees creating a pathway between them. Quite lovely.