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:

  

These two are pictures of the Saone River, which is closest to my house. 

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. :)

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. 

L'Université Lumière Lyon 2 - my school's main campus on the river

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.

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!