I dreamt in French last night!!! Well, half in French, half in English - so I really dreamt in franglais, in which I am pretty sure I'm fluent. Anyways, dreaming in a language is usually a sign that you know it well, so that was a plus! It was a really weird dream though, as are most dreams. I will recap it briefly for a select few of you who will appreciate it (Grandma, this is for you!) : I had just flown into the US from France, and I was in an airport in Chicago or some city that's not where I live... and I dropped some sort of baseball ticket voucher on the ground (I vaguely remember that the Cubs were involved!). A very kind french man and his son picked it up, looking around and thinking that it must have belonged to someone. They were discussing this in French, and I said, "Ah, c'est à moi, merci !" ("Oh, it's mine, thanks!"). And then I talked to them a little bit in French/English/switched back to French. Then I woke up SUPER excited that I dreamt in French. And that's all the exciting news that I really have for the day. I also find it funny that I dreamt in French about baseball - about the most American thing there is. Ha.
In less exciting news, I've been trying to take it easy this week. I've had classes for the past three days, but don't have any today or tomorrow (four day weekend!). On Monday I went to class out at Bron, then had 6 hours to kill before my next class. I hung out around school for a bit, then came home and relaxed here. Monday night I had class from 6-8pm, which isn't an ideal time, but it's all about the US Supreme Court, taught by a French guy in English. I'm really excited for this class. On the first day, he talked about a bunch of cases that I knew about from fundraising for the ACLU (even got an ACLU shout-out from the prof! holla GCI friends!) but he went much further into depth than what I had known. All in all, I'm stoked about this one.
On Tuesday I had class in the afternoon, which is called "Lyon, ville d'histoire." It's a history class about the city I'm living in, and we had a field trip to the Fourviere Basilica and the roman ruins. I have a couple of friends in this class, which definitely makes it more fun. Especially on this field trip day, because the professor was in a hurry, so we were basically walking around, trying to listen to/hear him talk, walking some more, etc. After class, we went to one of the pubs in Vieux Lyon for a drink - happy hour time! I then went home for dinner, talked with my host family, and went to bed relatively early. Yesterday (Wednesday) was kind of similar. I had a translation class with a ton of american friends that I've met here, and afterwards a few of us went to the cutest cafe in town. Shout-out to Katherine for this one! It's called "raconte-moi la terre" and is a global bookstore/shop kinda thing with a cafe in the back. Complete with wifi! New favorite cafe potentially? Part of the goal here was to plan our winter vacation (in february) travels! Molly and I are planning on going to Barcelona and Madrid in Spain, and then heading over to London! My first European travel extravaganza is in the works.... So after cafe-ing, I headed home and had a delicious dinner with my family - we made crepes again! I had one with ham and cheese, and another with salmon and creme fraiche. And dessert crepes with nutella. I was in heaven. After dinner it was chill time/bed time. So, those are what my typical days are like!
I have a couple more blog post ideas.. one about my day last Saturday, which was spent at a manif or demonstration and was a blast. I'm waiting for photos from a friend, though, because I somehow managed to bring a phone charger instead of my camera charger... so my camera has no battery at the moment. Another may be my observations of France and how life here is different from in the US, as I've seen it so far... One of those may be written right now! We shall see. :) Oh, and a food post will be coming. That's très importante.
I've been feeling pretty upbeat lately, as of course I'm in the "honeymoon phase" with France. The fact that I've made some good friends here has also helped a lot. But I am feeling a tad bit homesick today, so if you're feeling like it, I would appreciate a comment/facebook something/email. :)
Last, but certainly not least, for this post: a 21st birthday shout-out to Chloe! I wish I could be home with you to celebrate! I'm going out tonight for one of the Oregon students' birthday.. you better believe that one of my drinks will be dedicated to you! I love you!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
First week of classes!
Bonjour, tout le monde! I know I said I was going to try to update you each day this week about classes, but obviously that didn't happen.... This week was crazy. It was a whirlwind of great things, exhaustion, excitement, and disliking the french, sometimes all at once. And at the end of it all, I'm still not positive as to what my schedule will look like. (Although I do have a better idea now!) I guess the beginning is a very good place to start. (Sound of Music, anyone? maybe? hehe)
Lundi
On Monday, like I last wrote, I went and checked out a few classes. "Couple, famille, et genre" seemed pretty interesting, so I may stay in that one. The awkward began, though, because the professor called roll and asked everyone their age and why they chose this course. After she finished her list, she asked if there was anyone there who wasn't on her enrollment list. I wasn't, because I can't register ahead of time. Luckily I wasn't the only one, though. A few french students rambled their answers real quick, and I timidly raised my hand, and told her that "je suis une étudiante d'échange." I'm prettttty sure I embarrassed myself a little bit after that because I misunderstood one of the questions she asked me. After I replied, she was like, "no, but this is what I'm asking you." Oops. Had to get that out of the way, I guess.
After that class, I had an awkward two hour break to eat lunch, but I was out at the Bron campus, so I didn't know if anyone else was there. I think I was walking around like a lost little puppy dog. That was fun. Then on my way to my next class, I ran into another American student from UPenn. We were going to the same class, but no one else was outside the classroom. French universities pretty much do whatever they want, so they change rooms unexpectedly, especially on the first day of class. We figured this had happened, so we searched for the bulletin board, and yep! the room had changed. Luckily it was in the same building, so we made it on time. But the class was kind of a bust for me. The topic still seems interesting - religions and laicites in contemporary societies - but I couldn't handle the professor. He was real boring. I also think I took a class too similar to this to get credit for it at SLU. So no big loss there. Finally, I had another two hour break, so the other student and I traveled back to the downtown campus, which took about half an hour. When we got there, I walked around and found a snack - the bakery where I went had a "buy two croissants, the third is free" situation going on. You better believe that I was ALL over that. By this time it was about 5pm, and my class was supposed to start at 6. (It's a 6-8pm class because it's an elective, so they want to make sure it doesn't interfere with students' other required courses.) I waited around and read some of the newspaper, and eventually ran into a few of the other American students from my orientation. Eventually one of them said that the class, "la cour supreme," was cancelled for the night. We waited around for a little bit, but to no avail. So we ended up going to a little restaurant/bar a couple blocks down the street for a sandwich (camembert cheese and butter) and red wine. Yum. I ended up getting home around 8:30, chilled out in my room for a tiny bit, and passed out. But, I had made it through my first day of french university!
Mardi
Tuesday was another long day - rather, I thought it was going to be. In the morning, I went to a class called Gender and Politics - which was fantastic. I'm going to take that one this semester, for sure. The professor was really kind and the topic seems really interesting. And the first class, the professor talked about the background of gender and politics, etc., as an introduction, and I knew most of what she was saying already! woo! AND I could understand almost everything she said. Double bonus. After that class, I got lunch with a couple of friends from stage, and was killing time because I didn't have another class until 4 o'clock (the other one got out at noon). It got to be almost four, so I found the classroom for the other class (which was a history of photography class or something of that sort), but the classroom was a music room - like, for choir and piano and stuff. This wasn't right, so I went to find a secretary for the department (the only place to get info about classroom changes). They told me that all of the photography classes were at Bron - which is 30 min away. great. What did I do to relieve the stress of a) not knowing where my classes were. bah. and b) having two more hours to kill now? Went shopping. Duh! I was off to Place Bellecour, which is where most of the shopping is. I went into H&M for a little bit, walked around, was going to try some stuff on... but the line was too long. So I just bought two things - pants and a sweater - because they were 15 euros total and I could return them. (They ended up not fitting properly, of course.)
Anyways, I headed back to campus, which was only about a 10-15 minute walk away, if that. I made it back into the sketchy basement where my next class was. It was "Economy and Sociology of Music," which sounds really interesting, but wasn't so much in practice. The class was for first-year music students, so as a third-year student looking for a fine art elective, I already felt out of place. The professor was this old man who spent the entire time describing what sociology is, and the students kept laughing at him, but I didn't catch what was going on. I'm pretty sure that sometimes he made jokes, and sometimes they were like - wait, did he just say that? So the whole time, I'm thinking that I'm not gonna take this class. Nope, wasn't working for me. So THEN - this is the best part - he gives an example of "sociology" - as if it's this really difficult concept to get. He asks the class what color the french don't like. They take a minute, and then one girl says, "yellow." He's like, "Yeah! you're right! This and that reason why! - And look, there's only one person in the class wearing yellow!" Guess who that person is. YUUUUP. Me in my brand new (adorable) yellow scarf. So, spotlight on this girl. Then he asks me if I have french origins - "if I may ask." I said, "non" and went about my business writing "notes," aka occupying myself/trying not to fall asleep/die of embarrassment. So that was fun. It was like a fun game of "let's point out the foreigner in the room." Good times, music prof, thanks.
Needless to say, that class didn't work out, and after a long, exhausting day of not knowing what to do or where to go, I went home (after class got out at 8), had the food that my host mom kept warm for me for dinner, while talking to her, which was très sympa. I had had enough of the day, so I fell asleep again pretty early.
Mercredi
Wednesday was definitely better - and less stressful - than Tuesday. I went to "Genre et litterature francophone," or Gender and French-speaking Literature (not French lit, but rather french-written lit from Northern Africa). One of the Oregon students was there with me, so it was reassuring to have someone else there and to help clarify anything if I needed it. This class seems realllly difficult, but really interesting. I may take it without taking a grade - every. single. time. I forget the word for this. Oh, well. After that, Charlotte and I both went to a translation class for exchange students. Almost the entire Oregon program was there, and it was super nice to know that I knew almost all of them, and I met a couple people that I hadn't yet, too! Then, instead of going to my third class in a row without food, I went with a couple of the students to grab lunch. There's this little cafe in the hospital next door, but it's separate from the hospital - not a nasty hospital cafe - and the food there is soo good. I got an "indian" sandwich that had chicken and curry on it, from the advice of one of the other students. Best decision ever, it was delicious. Out of the four of us there, two had classes after that, but I was calling it a day. So I walked around with one of the students I met, Molly. We went to a pharmacy (which are EVERYWHERE, by the way. I think it was something to do with their socialized health care. just look for the flashing green cross) and then went shopping. Again. hehe. I ended up buying a sweater and a shirt, which I'm obsessed with, and Molly bought her first dress in france. As we were wandering/shopping/talking, we found out that we're pretty much the same person. Yay, friends! so that was awesome. Then, we went to a bar down the street from me for a beer, because it was happy hour, and because why not!? Then we both went home for dinner, and I ate with my host family and my "host grandparents" - the parents of my host mom are in town for the weekend, because both parents are out of town for work. I like talking to them because they tend to speak more slowly. But I also feel worse asking them to repeat themselves, so a lot of times I just smile and say "oui" and hope that they didn't say something to which that's not an appropriate response. lol woops.
Jeudi
On Thursday, I had my classes out at Bron again. The first one was "Anthropologie de la parenté," or anthropology of kinship. There was another UPenn student in that one - bonus for continuing to have fellow exchange students in my classes! This class is interesting, but I think is a broader introduction to the topic, but is similar to my other class, couple famille et genre - the monday class is more specific. So, I'm thinking that I'll stay in the monday class and not this one. I then had a break and had lunch with the Upenn students. After that, I was waiting outside the "amphitheatre," or lecture hall, for my next class. I made small talk with a french boy standing outside because I asked him which class he was there for, to double check. One of the first french people I've met! yahoo! Then a few of the Oregon girls came down the stairs, and it turns out one of them was going to the same class! It was "Problemes politiques de la mondialisation," or Political Problems of Globalization. The subject matter is pretty interesting, but I was fed. up. with the class by the end of it. I've never experienced this in either American nor French university classes, but the ENTIRE duration of the course, everyone was talking. Like, whispering, but louder, so no one could hear the professor. It was so frustrating. It's also a weird course that has a lecture + discussion section set-up, but some weeks you have to go to two lectures and the discussion? It's weird. prolly not gonna stick that one out. So that was weird and frustrating.
After class, Charlotte, the oregon student, and I made our way back downtown. We were going to meet up with Molly for dinner, but had time to kill and were hungry. So we bought a baguette from the best bakery in town (according to both Charlotte and my host mom) and some camembert cheese (my new favorite). We walked around eating bread and cheese and it was so wonderful. Minus the cold temperature. Then we went to the St. James's pub in Vieux Lyon and met up with another friend there. Eventually there was a group of five of us who ate dinner at this charming Indian restaurant down the street from my apartment (in Vieux Lyon). I've had more Indian food here so far than I ever eat at home, and it's all been delicious. After dinner, Molly and I hung out and had a few more drinks, then went to one of the boat bars - the Rhone river has a number of boats that are night clubs/bars. It was fun, but we didn't stay for too long, and then walked home.
Vendredi
Then on Friday, I didn't have any classes, so I slept in for forever, after this exhausting week. Eventually I got up and went out - I returned my clothes to H&M and bought a few notebooks/pens for school. Then I ate dinner with my family and we hung out and watched a movie. We watched For a Few Dollars More, which I had never seen before. It was so bizarre to watch a Clint Eastwood western movie, in french, and not comprehend hardly anything. It was frustrating, but probably mostly because the movie didn't interest me a ton, so I wasn't trying too hard. Everyone was just shooting everyone else. So that's cool.
I slept fabulously last night, and am off to adventure the city today! I will be sure to update you all on that, as I'm hoping it's an exciting day. Happy weekend to you all!
Lundi
On Monday, like I last wrote, I went and checked out a few classes. "Couple, famille, et genre" seemed pretty interesting, so I may stay in that one. The awkward began, though, because the professor called roll and asked everyone their age and why they chose this course. After she finished her list, she asked if there was anyone there who wasn't on her enrollment list. I wasn't, because I can't register ahead of time. Luckily I wasn't the only one, though. A few french students rambled their answers real quick, and I timidly raised my hand, and told her that "je suis une étudiante d'échange." I'm prettttty sure I embarrassed myself a little bit after that because I misunderstood one of the questions she asked me. After I replied, she was like, "no, but this is what I'm asking you." Oops. Had to get that out of the way, I guess.
After that class, I had an awkward two hour break to eat lunch, but I was out at the Bron campus, so I didn't know if anyone else was there. I think I was walking around like a lost little puppy dog. That was fun. Then on my way to my next class, I ran into another American student from UPenn. We were going to the same class, but no one else was outside the classroom. French universities pretty much do whatever they want, so they change rooms unexpectedly, especially on the first day of class. We figured this had happened, so we searched for the bulletin board, and yep! the room had changed. Luckily it was in the same building, so we made it on time. But the class was kind of a bust for me. The topic still seems interesting - religions and laicites in contemporary societies - but I couldn't handle the professor. He was real boring. I also think I took a class too similar to this to get credit for it at SLU. So no big loss there. Finally, I had another two hour break, so the other student and I traveled back to the downtown campus, which took about half an hour. When we got there, I walked around and found a snack - the bakery where I went had a "buy two croissants, the third is free" situation going on. You better believe that I was ALL over that. By this time it was about 5pm, and my class was supposed to start at 6. (It's a 6-8pm class because it's an elective, so they want to make sure it doesn't interfere with students' other required courses.) I waited around and read some of the newspaper, and eventually ran into a few of the other American students from my orientation. Eventually one of them said that the class, "la cour supreme," was cancelled for the night. We waited around for a little bit, but to no avail. So we ended up going to a little restaurant/bar a couple blocks down the street for a sandwich (camembert cheese and butter) and red wine. Yum. I ended up getting home around 8:30, chilled out in my room for a tiny bit, and passed out. But, I had made it through my first day of french university!
Mardi
Tuesday was another long day - rather, I thought it was going to be. In the morning, I went to a class called Gender and Politics - which was fantastic. I'm going to take that one this semester, for sure. The professor was really kind and the topic seems really interesting. And the first class, the professor talked about the background of gender and politics, etc., as an introduction, and I knew most of what she was saying already! woo! AND I could understand almost everything she said. Double bonus. After that class, I got lunch with a couple of friends from stage, and was killing time because I didn't have another class until 4 o'clock (the other one got out at noon). It got to be almost four, so I found the classroom for the other class (which was a history of photography class or something of that sort), but the classroom was a music room - like, for choir and piano and stuff. This wasn't right, so I went to find a secretary for the department (the only place to get info about classroom changes). They told me that all of the photography classes were at Bron - which is 30 min away. great. What did I do to relieve the stress of a) not knowing where my classes were. bah. and b) having two more hours to kill now? Went shopping. Duh! I was off to Place Bellecour, which is where most of the shopping is. I went into H&M for a little bit, walked around, was going to try some stuff on... but the line was too long. So I just bought two things - pants and a sweater - because they were 15 euros total and I could return them. (They ended up not fitting properly, of course.)
Anyways, I headed back to campus, which was only about a 10-15 minute walk away, if that. I made it back into the sketchy basement where my next class was. It was "Economy and Sociology of Music," which sounds really interesting, but wasn't so much in practice. The class was for first-year music students, so as a third-year student looking for a fine art elective, I already felt out of place. The professor was this old man who spent the entire time describing what sociology is, and the students kept laughing at him, but I didn't catch what was going on. I'm pretty sure that sometimes he made jokes, and sometimes they were like - wait, did he just say that? So the whole time, I'm thinking that I'm not gonna take this class. Nope, wasn't working for me. So THEN - this is the best part - he gives an example of "sociology" - as if it's this really difficult concept to get. He asks the class what color the french don't like. They take a minute, and then one girl says, "yellow." He's like, "Yeah! you're right! This and that reason why! - And look, there's only one person in the class wearing yellow!" Guess who that person is. YUUUUP. Me in my brand new (adorable) yellow scarf. So, spotlight on this girl. Then he asks me if I have french origins - "if I may ask." I said, "non" and went about my business writing "notes," aka occupying myself/trying not to fall asleep/die of embarrassment. So that was fun. It was like a fun game of "let's point out the foreigner in the room." Good times, music prof, thanks.
Needless to say, that class didn't work out, and after a long, exhausting day of not knowing what to do or where to go, I went home (after class got out at 8), had the food that my host mom kept warm for me for dinner, while talking to her, which was très sympa. I had had enough of the day, so I fell asleep again pretty early.
Mercredi
Wednesday was definitely better - and less stressful - than Tuesday. I went to "Genre et litterature francophone," or Gender and French-speaking Literature (not French lit, but rather french-written lit from Northern Africa). One of the Oregon students was there with me, so it was reassuring to have someone else there and to help clarify anything if I needed it. This class seems realllly difficult, but really interesting. I may take it without taking a grade - every. single. time. I forget the word for this. Oh, well. After that, Charlotte and I both went to a translation class for exchange students. Almost the entire Oregon program was there, and it was super nice to know that I knew almost all of them, and I met a couple people that I hadn't yet, too! Then, instead of going to my third class in a row without food, I went with a couple of the students to grab lunch. There's this little cafe in the hospital next door, but it's separate from the hospital - not a nasty hospital cafe - and the food there is soo good. I got an "indian" sandwich that had chicken and curry on it, from the advice of one of the other students. Best decision ever, it was delicious. Out of the four of us there, two had classes after that, but I was calling it a day. So I walked around with one of the students I met, Molly. We went to a pharmacy (which are EVERYWHERE, by the way. I think it was something to do with their socialized health care. just look for the flashing green cross) and then went shopping. Again. hehe. I ended up buying a sweater and a shirt, which I'm obsessed with, and Molly bought her first dress in france. As we were wandering/shopping/talking, we found out that we're pretty much the same person. Yay, friends! so that was awesome. Then, we went to a bar down the street from me for a beer, because it was happy hour, and because why not!? Then we both went home for dinner, and I ate with my host family and my "host grandparents" - the parents of my host mom are in town for the weekend, because both parents are out of town for work. I like talking to them because they tend to speak more slowly. But I also feel worse asking them to repeat themselves, so a lot of times I just smile and say "oui" and hope that they didn't say something to which that's not an appropriate response. lol woops.
Jeudi
On Thursday, I had my classes out at Bron again. The first one was "Anthropologie de la parenté," or anthropology of kinship. There was another UPenn student in that one - bonus for continuing to have fellow exchange students in my classes! This class is interesting, but I think is a broader introduction to the topic, but is similar to my other class, couple famille et genre - the monday class is more specific. So, I'm thinking that I'll stay in the monday class and not this one. I then had a break and had lunch with the Upenn students. After that, I was waiting outside the "amphitheatre," or lecture hall, for my next class. I made small talk with a french boy standing outside because I asked him which class he was there for, to double check. One of the first french people I've met! yahoo! Then a few of the Oregon girls came down the stairs, and it turns out one of them was going to the same class! It was "Problemes politiques de la mondialisation," or Political Problems of Globalization. The subject matter is pretty interesting, but I was fed. up. with the class by the end of it. I've never experienced this in either American nor French university classes, but the ENTIRE duration of the course, everyone was talking. Like, whispering, but louder, so no one could hear the professor. It was so frustrating. It's also a weird course that has a lecture + discussion section set-up, but some weeks you have to go to two lectures and the discussion? It's weird. prolly not gonna stick that one out. So that was weird and frustrating.
After class, Charlotte, the oregon student, and I made our way back downtown. We were going to meet up with Molly for dinner, but had time to kill and were hungry. So we bought a baguette from the best bakery in town (according to both Charlotte and my host mom) and some camembert cheese (my new favorite). We walked around eating bread and cheese and it was so wonderful. Minus the cold temperature. Then we went to the St. James's pub in Vieux Lyon and met up with another friend there. Eventually there was a group of five of us who ate dinner at this charming Indian restaurant down the street from my apartment (in Vieux Lyon). I've had more Indian food here so far than I ever eat at home, and it's all been delicious. After dinner, Molly and I hung out and had a few more drinks, then went to one of the boat bars - the Rhone river has a number of boats that are night clubs/bars. It was fun, but we didn't stay for too long, and then walked home.
Vendredi
Then on Friday, I didn't have any classes, so I slept in for forever, after this exhausting week. Eventually I got up and went out - I returned my clothes to H&M and bought a few notebooks/pens for school. Then I ate dinner with my family and we hung out and watched a movie. We watched For a Few Dollars More, which I had never seen before. It was so bizarre to watch a Clint Eastwood western movie, in french, and not comprehend hardly anything. It was frustrating, but probably mostly because the movie didn't interest me a ton, so I wasn't trying too hard. Everyone was just shooting everyone else. So that's cool.
I slept fabulously last night, and am off to adventure the city today! I will be sure to update you all on that, as I'm hoping it's an exciting day. Happy weekend to you all!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
My last weekend before classes!
Tomorrow is my first day of class here. I'll be in classes all in French (except for maybe one in English..) with French students. The way that class scheduling works for international students is that we "shop" for classes for the first two weeks, and then turn in a registration form by the first week of February. My "advisor" here, or my program director, Laurie, suggests going to as many classes as possible to see which ones will be feasible. So, this week will be hectic and tiring, but I'll get to see which classes out of those that seem interesting actually will be interesting, and which professors I can understand well enough to succeed in the class. I actually quite like this idea, so we shall see how it goes!
My plan for tomorrow looks like this: (I'll give you all updates throughout the week!)
A class called "couple, famille, et genre," or "couple, family, and gender" that is a women's/gender studies type of class; and "religions et laicites dans les societes contemporaines" - "Religions and secular-things (la laicite in french is the separation of church and state, or secularism, I suppose) in contemporary societies" - a sort of political science-y class. Those are both at the Bron campus of Lyon 2, which is out in the suburbs. It will take about a 25-30 minute tram ride to get there. My first class there is at 10am, but I'll have to get there a bit earlier to make sure I can find my classrooms! Then, at 6pm, I'm going to a class called "le Cour Supreme," which is a course all about the US Supreme Court. This is the only one that's taught in English! It will be downtown near the main Lyon 2 campus, but it's at the Political Science Institute of Lyon, which is a separate, but administratively linked, institution.
I've had a particularly difficult time deciding which classes to go to this week, because I have found a ton that look interesting, but I can't go to all of them because some of them have conflicting times, and some are right after each other, but are on different campuses. So I can't go back and forth between campuses for each class, because I don't have time to make the 30 minute trip (in a 15 minute break between classes.. duh. not possible). Anyways, I'm still trying to figure the rest of the week out, but I'll try to post again tomorrow to let you all know how the day goes! and which classes I'm looking at for at least Tuesday, if not for the rest of the week. It will be interesting, to say the least!
To give you all a little update on my weekend (as I entitled this post), I had fun on Friday night - I went over to the hostel where my friend is staying and had a few drinks. The hostel has this awesome atmosphere, with a kitchen area and a lounge area, complete with a bar. So we hung out and chatted with some of the other people staying there. I ended up getting up really, really late Friday night, and slept in until about 3pm on Saturday. It was glorious. I have been super tired my whole time here so far, so it was really nice to be able to sleep in forever. Then on Saturday I didn't do much - just ate some "lunch" in the afternoon, and dinner later with my host family. And hung out on the computer and reading, etc. It was super low-key, but good to relax.
Today, I went exploring with one of my friends, Jill. We went to the gallo-roman amphitheater, which was the center of life in Lyon a couple centuries ago. Lyon was the capital of Gaule (France, before it was France). Pictures are the only good way to show how it was! (It was a bit rainy, so the pictures aren't the best, but here they are:
From here we walked to the "Basilique Fourvière" - the Fourviere Basilica. It's also on top of this huge hill (obviously) and is absolutely gorgeous. I'll come back here when it's sunny, too. And I'll go inside next time. :) but the outside is great! These are all the front of the Fourviere:
My plan for tomorrow looks like this: (I'll give you all updates throughout the week!)
A class called "couple, famille, et genre," or "couple, family, and gender" that is a women's/gender studies type of class; and "religions et laicites dans les societes contemporaines" - "Religions and secular-things (la laicite in french is the separation of church and state, or secularism, I suppose) in contemporary societies" - a sort of political science-y class. Those are both at the Bron campus of Lyon 2, which is out in the suburbs. It will take about a 25-30 minute tram ride to get there. My first class there is at 10am, but I'll have to get there a bit earlier to make sure I can find my classrooms! Then, at 6pm, I'm going to a class called "le Cour Supreme," which is a course all about the US Supreme Court. This is the only one that's taught in English! It will be downtown near the main Lyon 2 campus, but it's at the Political Science Institute of Lyon, which is a separate, but administratively linked, institution.
I've had a particularly difficult time deciding which classes to go to this week, because I have found a ton that look interesting, but I can't go to all of them because some of them have conflicting times, and some are right after each other, but are on different campuses. So I can't go back and forth between campuses for each class, because I don't have time to make the 30 minute trip (in a 15 minute break between classes.. duh. not possible). Anyways, I'm still trying to figure the rest of the week out, but I'll try to post again tomorrow to let you all know how the day goes! and which classes I'm looking at for at least Tuesday, if not for the rest of the week. It will be interesting, to say the least!
To give you all a little update on my weekend (as I entitled this post), I had fun on Friday night - I went over to the hostel where my friend is staying and had a few drinks. The hostel has this awesome atmosphere, with a kitchen area and a lounge area, complete with a bar. So we hung out and chatted with some of the other people staying there. I ended up getting up really, really late Friday night, and slept in until about 3pm on Saturday. It was glorious. I have been super tired my whole time here so far, so it was really nice to be able to sleep in forever. Then on Saturday I didn't do much - just ate some "lunch" in the afternoon, and dinner later with my host family. And hung out on the computer and reading, etc. It was super low-key, but good to relax.
Today, I went exploring with one of my friends, Jill. We went to the gallo-roman amphitheater, which was the center of life in Lyon a couple centuries ago. Lyon was the capital of Gaule (France, before it was France). Pictures are the only good way to show how it was! (It was a bit rainy, so the pictures aren't the best, but here they are:
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| The walk was quick from my house, but was ALL uphill. Up a steep, steep hill. |
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| It was worth it! |
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| You can look out over the entire city from here. I'll go back when it's sunny! |
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| As seen from the roman theater ruins |
And these are all from a platform next to the church, looking out on the city.
So those were my adventures for the day! We went and got coffee after this, because it's a tad bit too cold outside. Then I hung out for a little bit, and just ate dinner with my host family. For the rest of the night, I'm going to go out for a little bit with some fellow students - but for too long! I have classes tomorrow, so I'll be back at a reasonable hour. Then I'll be off to bed and to school in the morning! eek!!!
Much, much love to you all!
Friday, January 18, 2013
Week 2 of Orientation Stuff (& more pictures!)
I am so glad that this week is over. It's been exhausting (actually more frustrating/annoying than anything). I had my second week of "orientation"-y classes, and a ton of welcome meetings on top of that. I had a big meeting for all exchange students yesterday, a meeting today about picking my classes (more to come on that...), and then another information meeting. Those of you who know me and/or have spent a lot of time around me may know how much I detest being in large groups of people. Groups that move slowly, and where no one really knows a lot about what's going on... I just don't do it very well. I get cranky and blah blah blah. So I'm glad it's over. Oh! And then on top of that, after my last meeting today, I got on the tramway with a couple of friends to go home, and it was PACKED. Like, after the first stop I was literally shoved in between like 4 people. And then at the next stop, which was my stop, the tram stopped before it got to the station and we were waiting there for like 5-10 minutes before the driver came and opened the door to let us off. It was great. Then we got off the tram to get onto the Metro, and the train wasn't running. I have no idea why... it was 4 in the afternoon, on a Friday, and it was super crowded. There could have been something mechanically wrong, or the drivers could have been on (a very, very brief) strike. I have no clue. About an hour later it was running. (It also wouldn't have been far to walk, by the way. I'm just venting about it now because, like I said, I'm SO glad it's over.)
aaaaaaaaaanyways. This week was long. But I did have some time to wander around and take some more photos. And it snowed the other day! Here are the pictures of the view out of my window of the hill, complete with snow. They're when I look directly out the back window, when I lean out to the right, and lean out to the left, respectively:
I also finally took some pictures of my apartment - mostly of just my room and the kitchen. I'll probably upload those to facebook, and maybe in a later post here, but the uploader for blogger is being a pain, and I don't feel like dealing with it. hahah I'm still just as lazy here. :)
To end on a bit of a higher note (not that the pictures aren't great, but because of my not-so-hot beginning...), I did get to go out and have a good time in the European style. :) On Wednesday after classes, my German friend, Ebru, and I went to a pub to grab a beer, and then went back to her hostel and hung out. The hostel has a great little common room/kitchen/lounge situation, so we hung out and drank wine, and talked to people who were travelling from all over the world, it seemed like. I spoke in French most of the night, while the people I met replied in English, as they're learning English. (Thanks to my friends wine and beer for the comforting feeling that I can actually communicate with people in French. I even got complimented on my French skills!) Soooo I had a lot of fun, meeting new people, speaking the language, etc., etc. And it's Friday evening now, so I'll have dinner with my host family soon, and then maybe go out somewhere tonight/tomorrow. We shall see! I'll keep you posted. :) Oh, and I just remembered about the whole classes thing. I'll write another post soon about that whole process. It's delightful. :)
Have a good afternoon to everyone in the States! I love and miss you all!
aaaaaaaaaanyways. This week was long. But I did have some time to wander around and take some more photos. And it snowed the other day! Here are the pictures of the view out of my window of the hill, complete with snow. They're when I look directly out the back window, when I lean out to the right, and lean out to the left, respectively:
These two are pictures of the Saone River, which is closest to my house.
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| This is Vieux Lyon, again. The Fourviere is on the top of the hill. As well as the Lyonnais knock-off of the Eiffel Tower. In accord with the Lyon-Paris rivalry, my host mom told me that if you measure from the level of the Saone to the top of their tower, it's taller than the Eiffel Tower. :) |
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| The Saone with the Croix-Rousse neighborhood in the background |
On the day that it snowed, there was un petit peu of sun in the afternoon. I took some pictures then of the Rhone river, right after I left school for the day.
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| L'Université Lumière Lyon 2 - my school's main campus on the river |
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| Traffic + buildings on the Rhone. The building in the background is the tallest in Lyon. They call it le crayon, or the pencil. It really is about the only really tall building in the city. |
To end on a bit of a higher note (not that the pictures aren't great, but because of my not-so-hot beginning...), I did get to go out and have a good time in the European style. :) On Wednesday after classes, my German friend, Ebru, and I went to a pub to grab a beer, and then went back to her hostel and hung out. The hostel has a great little common room/kitchen/lounge situation, so we hung out and drank wine, and talked to people who were travelling from all over the world, it seemed like. I spoke in French most of the night, while the people I met replied in English, as they're learning English. (Thanks to my friends wine and beer for the comforting feeling that I can actually communicate with people in French. I even got complimented on my French skills!) Soooo I had a lot of fun, meeting new people, speaking the language, etc., etc. And it's Friday evening now, so I'll have dinner with my host family soon, and then maybe go out somewhere tonight/tomorrow. We shall see! I'll keep you posted. :) Oh, and I just remembered about the whole classes thing. I'll write another post soon about that whole process. It's delightful. :)
Have a good afternoon to everyone in the States! I love and miss you all!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
One more post for the day...
It's about 9 o'clock here, but still pretty early in the afternoon... 3 in Cincinnati, and 2 in St. Louis, if my calculations are correct.. First, have fun! to everyone who's returning to STL for the spring semester. I'm missing campus and all of you already. Party it up for me. :) Second... just thought I'd write a bit to tell you all about my day today! Since my other posts...
I decided to just walk around town a bit. I went to places that I've already been, so I didn't explore anything new, but I also didn't get lost. I took the long way to the Rue de la Republique again, and just walked around and looked at everything on my way. I ended up walking south from the Hotel de Ville down to the train station closest to my house. I went into a few of the stores that were open today (as much is closed on Sunday, except I found that a fair number of stores on the main stretch were open). In one of the stores, I set the alarm off on my way in. This is the second time this has happened to me in five days. Apparently it's my thing. It's always fun trying to communicate with the security guard (in French) that I don't have anything that should set the alarm off. And then having to tell them that I'm leaving, but don't have anything illegal in my purse, and setting the store alarm off again. It's always something, I swear.
Anywaayyyys, nothing too exciting, just strolling the streets of Lyon! I took a screenshot of the city on Google maps so you all have an idea of the places I'm talking about.
Vieux Lyon-Quarantaine is where I'm living, on the east side of the Saone river (on the left). The presqu'ile is the part in the middle that's in between the two rivers. The Saone is the river on the left; the Rhone is on the right. And my university is on the east side of the Rhone. The "A" marker is a little bit north of where the Rue de la Republique is; if you can find the square of open land just above the "2e arr." text, that's the Place Bellecour - the 2e arr. is the "deuxieme arrondisement," or the 2nd neighborhood of the city. Each city is broken up by "arrondisement." And the Fourviere is the basilica that's on top of the hill in a few of my pictures.
So, the rest of my night consisted of walking around, deciding that I wanted to buy a bottle of wine for the night since my family's gone, finding said wine at a corner store close to home, and making myself dinner. Dinner was an interesting feat, because the directions were all in French... but I made some sort of beef/hamburger thing? and "pommettes." Pomme de terre is a potato, so these are like little potato rounds of some sort. Dinner complete with le fromage et le pain - cheese and bread, of course, and an orange to top it off. I'm no lyonnaise chef, but it was pas mal, as the French would say!
At the little store I found, I bought an inexpensive Sauvignon Blanc and some chocolate - dark chocolate with almonds:
I can't figure out how to rotate the photo! sorry!
Soooo, this will be the rest of my night!
Bonne soiree to all!
Photos, finally!
I promised to add some more photos to this blog in an earlier post. It had been super gloomy outside for the whole week, but I tried to take some pictures nonetheless. Then, yesterday we finally had some sun (and freezing cold temperatures). Conveniently, I also went on a walking tour of Lyon yesterday. There are a few other American universities who have programs in the same school (Université Lumière Lyon 2 is my school here), and the students from the UPenn program arrived on Friday and had a tour yesterday. The program director there invited me to come along, since I am the only one here from my group who arrived this semester. It was very nice! I got to see some new things, although a lot of them were places I had already been to. I.e. we met at the Place Bellecour, which is pretty close to me, and spent a lot of time in Vieux Lyon, or the old quarter, which is where I live. It was good to explore some new parts of Vieux Lyon, but also a little bit repetitive. More so it was kind of nice to know that I'm already getting to know the city (or parts of it at least) even though I have only been here for a week!
Here are some photos of Vieux Lyon (definitely one of my favorites, if not my favorite, parts of the city so far):
These are both of the Cathédrale St. Jean-Baptiste, the church where my host family goes every week. It's about a 10-15 minute walk down the street from me, and very beautiful! (the front is the left photo; the top photo is one of the sides)
Speaking of which, I'm going to try to do some exploring right now. I have the apartment to myself today (because my host family is in Paris to demonstrate against same-sex marriage.... there may be another post sometime to discuss that aspect of the political climate in France right now. But that's another story for another day). Anyway, I'm on my own schedule, which is nice. It's just a bit difficult because almost everything is closed on Sundays here. So I may just walk around and enjoy the slow pace of the day. :) I'll let you all know how it goes!
Here are some photos of Vieux Lyon (definitely one of my favorites, if not my favorite, parts of the city so far):
These are both of the Cathédrale St. Jean-Baptiste, the church where my host family goes every week. It's about a 10-15 minute walk down the street from me, and very beautiful! (the front is the left photo; the top photo is one of the sides)
The Saȏne River (the smaller of 2 in Lyon)
My apartment building! (the tallest pink one in front)
St. Georges Cathedral (left), and the Fourvière Basilica in the top-right. All on the Saȏne.
Two staircases of buildings as seen from their courtyards, in Vieux Lyon
The rest of these are other pictures, either from the tour or other happenings of life in Lyon...
From outside of the front of the Lyon 2 (university) building,
the Rhone River looking onto the presqu'ile (the "almost-island" in between the two rivers),
with the Fourvière Basilica on the hill in the distance
Opera house on the left, Hotel de Ville (city hall) on the right
aaaaaand my first legally bought alcoholic drink ;)
a glass of wine enjoyed with my friend Ebru at her hostel!
(Steve, and anyone else, you can make fun of me if you want - I know "that ship has sailed" for many at home!) I've been having a lot of fun here, though. Everything is so old and beautiful. I've been a little bit homesick, but have talked to a few of you from either Cincinnati or St. Louis, which has been refreshing. :) While I miss you all dearly, and have some difficulties with the language/life adjustment, I am trying to stay focused on the positives - just look at all the gorgeous things that I have seen so far! And I have so much left to discover here.
Speaking of which, I'm going to try to do some exploring right now. I have the apartment to myself today (because my host family is in Paris to demonstrate against same-sex marriage.... there may be another post sometime to discuss that aspect of the political climate in France right now. But that's another story for another day). Anyway, I'm on my own schedule, which is nice. It's just a bit difficult because almost everything is closed on Sundays here. So I may just walk around and enjoy the slow pace of the day. :) I'll let you all know how it goes!
Love and bisous (kisses) from France!
My Week of Stage (Orientation) Classes
It's been a little bit of a stretch since I last wrote a blog post (almost a week, I think), so I figured I should post an update for you all!
I have been taking orientation classes all this week, which aren't what I would call orientation classes at home. They're for international students, so they're in French, covering mostly the style of the French universities and an overview of modern French social/political issues. So, they're kind of an introduction to, "Here, this is where you'll be living and how you'll be studying for the next semester." I'd like to say they are super helpful - don't get me wrong, it's good to have a transition between winter break and classes starting - but my French 410 class at SLU was about modern France, so a lot of the social stuff, we covered there. But it's not bad to have a refresher course.
A typical day this week has consisted of going to class in the morning (at 10 am, usually), having an hour break for lunch, and then having class again from 1pm-3pm, or 2-4pm, or something like that. An afternoon class. For lunch, I've gone to the little university cafe every day. They have sandwiches, salads, some hot entrees, and fruit, I think... I've just gotten a sandwich so far. And coffee. The sandwich is apparently the French lunch staple. They're a bit different though - usually a baguette cut in half, with a little bit of something on the inside. Tuesday I had a ham sandwich which was literally a piece of ham and some butter on a baguette. Then Wednesday or Thursday, I had a ham and cheese sandwich, which left out the butter, but had lettuce on it. Woohoo, livin' big! (The food at my apartment has been much better!)
After classes I've done a few different things. Mostly run errands to get myself settled here. On Wednesday, I actually didn't have any classes, so I tried to pick up my credit card from the bank, and then get a cell phone (for which I need said credit card). Wednesday was also the first day of "les soldes" here (tangent on that to follow), so I was going to go shopping. I therefore left my passport at home, because I had heard some horror stories about people getting their wallets stolen with their passports in them. Turns out, I needed my passport to get my credit card. And a copy wouldn't suffice. So, I couldn't get my credit card or my cell phone. Luckily, I made sure to remember my passport on Thursday, so I got both of those things taken care of, accompanied by my fabulous program director, Laurie, who assisted if I needed any translation help. Conclusion of this story: I have a credit card and cell phone now! It's like I really live here! :)
"Les soldes" are a fabulously exciting, also sometimes stressful, French phenomenon. Stores are legally not allowed to have sales whenever they want. (Solde = sale; les soldes = the sales.) The French government regulates that they can have sales twice a year, in January and in July. So the winter sales started this past week, on Wednesday! They last about 5 weeks. I hit a few of them up on Wednesday, but am SURE to return later, as they keep reducing the prices. On Wednesday things were on sale between 30-50%, but they lower them to around 70%, my host mom told me. I bought a few things I "needed" on Wednesday - a wallet, a large purse (which I will use as a school bag. backpacks aren't very common here.), a French- French dictionary (very exciting), and a sweater for 50% off (because I actually only brought 2 by accident - if you know me, you know how much I adore sweaters. this was a must)! It was a pretty productive day! :)
La rue de la République - one of the major commercial streets, where I did my shopping. (note: the French equivalent of canvassers to the left. I was so excited.) It was super busy.
This post is getting somewhat long - sorry, and hope you're sticking with me! On Friday after class, I went to grab coffee with a couple of other international students - one from Germany, one from Australia, and one from China. We have quite the diverse group going. :) It's really fun to chat with them and learn about the differences between all of our different cultures. Oh, and to talk politics, of course. Because that's what I do... I found out that it's mandatory to vote in Australia. Like, if you don't, you get fined. This system obviously has its flaws, as does every system, but I find this better than trying to restrict people's right to vote like we do in the US.... I digress. Anyways, it's been cool. Also, I think the US is the only country ever to have such a high drinking age. And apparently American zippers are backwards. The important things I've learned so far.
I'll add another post shortly with some more pictures! If you haven't seen them already, I posted an album of photos on facebook: this link should work!
A toute à l'heure!
Emma
I have been taking orientation classes all this week, which aren't what I would call orientation classes at home. They're for international students, so they're in French, covering mostly the style of the French universities and an overview of modern French social/political issues. So, they're kind of an introduction to, "Here, this is where you'll be living and how you'll be studying for the next semester." I'd like to say they are super helpful - don't get me wrong, it's good to have a transition between winter break and classes starting - but my French 410 class at SLU was about modern France, so a lot of the social stuff, we covered there. But it's not bad to have a refresher course.
A typical day this week has consisted of going to class in the morning (at 10 am, usually), having an hour break for lunch, and then having class again from 1pm-3pm, or 2-4pm, or something like that. An afternoon class. For lunch, I've gone to the little university cafe every day. They have sandwiches, salads, some hot entrees, and fruit, I think... I've just gotten a sandwich so far. And coffee. The sandwich is apparently the French lunch staple. They're a bit different though - usually a baguette cut in half, with a little bit of something on the inside. Tuesday I had a ham sandwich which was literally a piece of ham and some butter on a baguette. Then Wednesday or Thursday, I had a ham and cheese sandwich, which left out the butter, but had lettuce on it. Woohoo, livin' big! (The food at my apartment has been much better!)
After classes I've done a few different things. Mostly run errands to get myself settled here. On Wednesday, I actually didn't have any classes, so I tried to pick up my credit card from the bank, and then get a cell phone (for which I need said credit card). Wednesday was also the first day of "les soldes" here (tangent on that to follow), so I was going to go shopping. I therefore left my passport at home, because I had heard some horror stories about people getting their wallets stolen with their passports in them. Turns out, I needed my passport to get my credit card. And a copy wouldn't suffice. So, I couldn't get my credit card or my cell phone. Luckily, I made sure to remember my passport on Thursday, so I got both of those things taken care of, accompanied by my fabulous program director, Laurie, who assisted if I needed any translation help. Conclusion of this story: I have a credit card and cell phone now! It's like I really live here! :)
"Les soldes" are a fabulously exciting, also sometimes stressful, French phenomenon. Stores are legally not allowed to have sales whenever they want. (Solde = sale; les soldes = the sales.) The French government regulates that they can have sales twice a year, in January and in July. So the winter sales started this past week, on Wednesday! They last about 5 weeks. I hit a few of them up on Wednesday, but am SURE to return later, as they keep reducing the prices. On Wednesday things were on sale between 30-50%, but they lower them to around 70%, my host mom told me. I bought a few things I "needed" on Wednesday - a wallet, a large purse (which I will use as a school bag. backpacks aren't very common here.), a French- French dictionary (very exciting), and a sweater for 50% off (because I actually only brought 2 by accident - if you know me, you know how much I adore sweaters. this was a must)! It was a pretty productive day! :)
La rue de la République - one of the major commercial streets, where I did my shopping. (note: the French equivalent of canvassers to the left. I was so excited.) It was super busy.
This post is getting somewhat long - sorry, and hope you're sticking with me! On Friday after class, I went to grab coffee with a couple of other international students - one from Germany, one from Australia, and one from China. We have quite the diverse group going. :) It's really fun to chat with them and learn about the differences between all of our different cultures. Oh, and to talk politics, of course. Because that's what I do... I found out that it's mandatory to vote in Australia. Like, if you don't, you get fined. This system obviously has its flaws, as does every system, but I find this better than trying to restrict people's right to vote like we do in the US.... I digress. Anyways, it's been cool. Also, I think the US is the only country ever to have such a high drinking age. And apparently American zippers are backwards. The important things I've learned so far.
I'll add another post shortly with some more pictures! If you haven't seen them already, I posted an album of photos on facebook: this link should work!
A toute à l'heure!
Emma
Monday, January 7, 2013
My "American Day" in Lyon
Today was my first day of real adventures in Lyon. (I'm writing this as it's almost 10:30pm in Lyon, but in the middle of the day back in the Midwest.) I went to the university for the first time and met the on-site director of the study abroad program from Oregon (which is how all of my stuff was arranged for my time here). I spoke English with her most of the day (which was a nice relief, but also a little bit weird to switch back), and then had coffee with a couple other American students who are in Lyon for the year. When I told my host parents about my day, they said that it was my jour américain in Lyon! And also that today was my last jour américain here. :)
I've had a few accomplishments in the last couple of days - the first was that we made crȇpes for dinner last night as a family - each person made their own - and they were delicious, of course. Then, today my host mom took me to the school for the first time, but after that I got to wander in the city by myself for the first time ever! I found two petits marchés and bought shampoo, soap, a notebook, and pens all by myself! I'm a big girl now! And at the end of the day, I walked back through the city to get home. And I didn't get lost!
Classes at the Lyon 2 University don't start until January 21, so I thought that I was going to have to find something to do to occupy myself for two weeks (rough life, I know...), BUT I found out today that I'll be taking "stage" classes, or orientation classes, in the language institute. They'll be over French language and culture. It should be nice, because SLU doesn't accept the credits, so they don't count for anything really, but I can get accustomed to the language and the school and such. Donc, my first day of classes is demain (tomorrow)! We'll see how that goes! Oh, and I have to get to school by myself tomorrow. I got home today, so my hope is that it will go smoothly.
I still have yet to take any pictures... I'm working on it. (And don't particularly want to be too touristy around here.. gotta fit in. haha) But my camera is out on my desk, so hopefully I'll remember to take it with me soon. :) A bientȏt, tout le monde!
I've had a few accomplishments in the last couple of days - the first was that we made crȇpes for dinner last night as a family - each person made their own - and they were delicious, of course. Then, today my host mom took me to the school for the first time, but after that I got to wander in the city by myself for the first time ever! I found two petits marchés and bought shampoo, soap, a notebook, and pens all by myself! I'm a big girl now! And at the end of the day, I walked back through the city to get home. And I didn't get lost!
Classes at the Lyon 2 University don't start until January 21, so I thought that I was going to have to find something to do to occupy myself for two weeks (rough life, I know...), BUT I found out today that I'll be taking "stage" classes, or orientation classes, in the language institute. They'll be over French language and culture. It should be nice, because SLU doesn't accept the credits, so they don't count for anything really, but I can get accustomed to the language and the school and such. Donc, my first day of classes is demain (tomorrow)! We'll see how that goes! Oh, and I have to get to school by myself tomorrow. I got home today, so my hope is that it will go smoothly.
I still have yet to take any pictures... I'm working on it. (And don't particularly want to be too touristy around here.. gotta fit in. haha) But my camera is out on my desk, so hopefully I'll remember to take it with me soon. :) A bientȏt, tout le monde!
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Bonjour from Lyon!
I made it to France! I am in Lyon safe and sound, in one piece, and I only got lost in the Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport once! And for that reason, it was a pretty successful trip in my eyes.
I left the US at 6pm Cincinnati (eastern) time, and got to Lyon around noon. With the time change. And I slept a total of maaayyybe two hours on the flight over the ocean. Needless to say, I am exhausted. But, I'm settling in to my apartment here. My host family and I had lunch a little while ago and are about to go explore part of the city - Vieux Lyon, which is where the apartment is. Small increments for today. My host mom told me I had to stay up until at least 7 o'clock tonight, so that I can adjust to the France time schedule and not have jet lag too terribly.
The family is suuuper nice - maman, papa, et les trois garcons (they have three boys)! I brought them one of my mom-mom's Cincinnati cookbooks, and the host mom here loved it! She's started reading the introduction and said that she loves to cook! So we're off to a good start :) (Joy, this is for you!) The boys are running around in the hallway right now playing. They're making up for my lack of energy at the moment. :)
My room is so precious. and French. It's at the back of the apartment and has a view of this ginormous hill in the back yard, which is wild growth kinda, with a castle-y figure at the top of the hill. The other side of the apartment faces one of Lyon's two rivers, and we're on the 6th floor so we have a view! Everything is so beautiful, and I've hardly even seen anything yet.
More information (including pictures!) to come. Just letting you all know that I'm safe and loving it so far! While adjusting to the language... but I've been able to communicate with the family thus far. Hooray! Sending so much love back to the US! Bisous!
I left the US at 6pm Cincinnati (eastern) time, and got to Lyon around noon. With the time change. And I slept a total of maaayyybe two hours on the flight over the ocean. Needless to say, I am exhausted. But, I'm settling in to my apartment here. My host family and I had lunch a little while ago and are about to go explore part of the city - Vieux Lyon, which is where the apartment is. Small increments for today. My host mom told me I had to stay up until at least 7 o'clock tonight, so that I can adjust to the France time schedule and not have jet lag too terribly.
The family is suuuper nice - maman, papa, et les trois garcons (they have three boys)! I brought them one of my mom-mom's Cincinnati cookbooks, and the host mom here loved it! She's started reading the introduction and said that she loves to cook! So we're off to a good start :) (Joy, this is for you!) The boys are running around in the hallway right now playing. They're making up for my lack of energy at the moment. :)
My room is so precious. and French. It's at the back of the apartment and has a view of this ginormous hill in the back yard, which is wild growth kinda, with a castle-y figure at the top of the hill. The other side of the apartment faces one of Lyon's two rivers, and we're on the 6th floor so we have a view! Everything is so beautiful, and I've hardly even seen anything yet.
More information (including pictures!) to come. Just letting you all know that I'm safe and loving it so far! While adjusting to the language... but I've been able to communicate with the family thus far. Hooray! Sending so much love back to the US! Bisous!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Here We Go....
Hi friends and family!
So, if you didn't already know or couldn't tell, I'll be spending the next five months of my life in Lyon, France. No, it's not Paris, as there is more to France than the Eiffel Tower, but it is about 5 hours (by car; 2 by train) from Paris. Map for reference:
Aaaaanyways, I don't have too much more to write for now, other than the crazy mix of emotions I'm feeling right now. I'm leaving the U.S. on Friday, the 4th, which is like... tomorrow. I go through hourly/minutely phases of a few strong emotions: being super stoked to leave and wanting to be in France already; apprehension about the French language (I've studied French for 6 years, but not this past semester so I'm out of practice. I should be able to pick it up okay, but I'm still really nervous because I don't want to sound like a bumbling idiot and fear that I am going to forget every single vocab word that I ever learned in a French class... sorry French teachers!); freaking out about all of the stuff that I think I still need to do to get ready; telling myself it will be fine and everything will work out; and, again, the excited anxiety to get on a plane and be there right away. So, that's a minute inside my head for the past week or so.
My hope for this page is that I keep up with it somewhat regularly. I'm not going to promise any sort of incremental posting, because I don't know if I will actually keep up with it, but I will try! I'll shoot for a weekly post, but again, no promises... If you are reading this right now, I will miss you dearly during my time abroad! (Oh yeah, that's another one of the emotions.) I hope that this bloggy thingamajig offers you some insight into my adventures, and bonne chance with the next few months wherever you may be! Au revoir !
Lyon is the second largest city in France, and is the food capital of the country! I'll be enjoying great food, learning the language, and living a fabulous French life. I'm living with a host family and taking classes (in French!) at l'Université Lumière Lyon 2. I'll probably be taking classes in Women's/Gender Studies, French, political science, and a fine art credit. I'm not positive yet what they'll be, because the system works differently than in the U.S. So, more to come on that in the future.
Aaaaanyways, I don't have too much more to write for now, other than the crazy mix of emotions I'm feeling right now. I'm leaving the U.S. on Friday, the 4th, which is like... tomorrow. I go through hourly/minutely phases of a few strong emotions: being super stoked to leave and wanting to be in France already; apprehension about the French language (I've studied French for 6 years, but not this past semester so I'm out of practice. I should be able to pick it up okay, but I'm still really nervous because I don't want to sound like a bumbling idiot and fear that I am going to forget every single vocab word that I ever learned in a French class... sorry French teachers!); freaking out about all of the stuff that I think I still need to do to get ready; telling myself it will be fine and everything will work out; and, again, the excited anxiety to get on a plane and be there right away. So, that's a minute inside my head for the past week or so.
My hope for this page is that I keep up with it somewhat regularly. I'm not going to promise any sort of incremental posting, because I don't know if I will actually keep up with it, but I will try! I'll shoot for a weekly post, but again, no promises... If you are reading this right now, I will miss you dearly during my time abroad! (Oh yeah, that's another one of the emotions.) I hope that this bloggy thingamajig offers you some insight into my adventures, and bonne chance with the next few months wherever you may be! Au revoir !
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