I arrived on a cool, damp, typical day in Lille, and - despite the shamefully continuing language barrier - felt swiftly at home. It's now hot and sunny, and the exchange students have all settled in. Tomorrow, they have some city tours and such to keep them occupied; I have the gay pride parade! In the meantime, here in my very basic dormitory room, I am sipping a very fine and very cheap glass of wine; tonight, I'll be heading out to the Lille Opera to see Carmen with a Welsh colleague who works with this same summer program. It's rough life ...

I'm saving the kilt for next week, when I lead the students on a field trip to Tyne Cot cemetery near Passchendaele and on to Ypres, where we will visit the museum "In Flanders' Fields" and - aftr supper - hear Last Post played at Menin Gate. I suspect that the experience (not to mention the sight of me in a kilt!) will encourage a few more students to join the optional field trip the following Saturday to les boves and the Wellington Quarry museum in Arras, the French national cemetery at Notre Dame de Lorette, and of course Vimy Memorial...