Ypres

              So, Monday and Tuesday didn't have much going on really. Monday had the usual class stuff and the ESP (European Summer Program) people had dinner thing for the large group again. ESP is the thing the NC State group is using for our time in Lille. Last night our specific NC State group had our own dinner together at this place called Flam's. It specializes in Alsatian-style pizzas. We had about 4 or 5 kinds and then a dessert pizza. It was quite good and I enjoyed it a lot. Today, we went into Belgium again. We went to a World War 1 cemetery and the town of Ypres, which entirely destroyed during the war and then entirely rebuilt afterwards by its inhabitants in its exact pre-war style. The cemetery we went to is the world's largest World War 1 cemetery for soldiers of the Commonwealth (The United Kingdom and all of its former colonies who recognize the current British Monarch as their Head of State [like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand]). It's really a powerful place to visit because it's located on the exact site of one of the largest battles of the war and over the course of 100 days over 500,000 British Commonwealth soldiers died in the immediate area of the cemetery. In Ypres, we visited a World War 1 museum that is really quite exceptional. It is a very interactive museum and really involved the visitors. I found it fascinating the learn more about the First World War. I bought a book at the museum's gift shop about how the war impacted how the United States deals with those who die in war. After the museum, I walked around the town and saw some of the main monuments of it. I somehow managed to miss the town's main cathedral, which surprised me a bit because I love European cathedrals and would have had a particular interest in the one at Ypres. I'll be there again someday though. It was surprising to hear about how the city had been entirely destroyed during the war, but the inhabitants came together at the end of the war to rebuild to city as it was before the war. We had dinner at a restaurant along one side of the museum and then we went to hear the Last Call at the city's Main Gate. The Last Call is a memorial service that has been going on every year, with the exception of four years during the Second World War when the city was under Nazi Occupation, since 1929 to honor the soldiers of the British Commonwealth who died fighting in Ypres and whose bodies were never recovered and properly buried. The Main Gate was erected to honor those men, as well. Once that was over, we headed back to Lille. And, that brings us up to what's been happening since the last time I posted on here. It's been a good few days so far. I bought my tickets to Luxembourg recently. I forget if I already posted on here about that, but I'll do it again anyways if I already have. And, it happens that I'll be going to Luxembourg during its national holiday, so that'll be fun and exciting. But anyways, that's all for now.

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