Genovia! Er, I mean, Geneva...

Last weekend, my friend Molly and I took a trip up to Geneva, Switzerland. We took a train from Lyon, which cost about 20 euros round-trip and lasted about 2 hours. Pas mal! We were there on Friday and Saturday, and stayed with my friend Mallory, a friend from high school who graciously opened her dorm to us! It was an adventure of a weekend, to say the least!

It was wonderful to see Mallory again (whom I don't think I've seen since Mercy graduation!), and as soon as we got on the tramway to go from the train station to her apartment, we were talking about how we always think of "Genovia," the made-up country from the Princess Diaries (to those who don't know, the country for which Mia finds out she is the princess). Obviously, this turned into us singing "Genovia, Genooooviiaaa, forever will your banner waaave!" on the tramway, and getting looked at like we were fools from just about every other passenger. So the trip was off to a good start! We stopped at her dorm and put our stuff down, went to a nearby grocery store, and ate lunch to recuperate from our early morning train ride. (We had pasta and carrots, for those of you wondering. Nothing too culturally different/exciting.) Then we were off to explore the city for the day!

The first sight we saw was the supposedly famous Jet d'eau - a man-made jet of water. Luckily it was a really nice, sunny day (although also very cold), and the jet was really pretty. And from a couple angles had beautiful rainbows in it!

 

We spent a fair amount of time here, taking pictures of each other and then awkwardly waiting to work up the courage to ask someone else to take our picture. Geneva is an extremely international city, and Switzerland has four official languages. So, while other people had asked us to take their picture in English, I felt too awkward to assume anyone's mother tongue. Eventually we found a guy with a fancy-pants camera, and when I started to talk to him, he spoke French to us. Good, a language I kind of know! So he kindly took a couple of not-so-great photos (not sure how that works when you seem to have some sort of photographic interest, but okay..), but we finally got a good one. (And I failed on taking Molly's fountain picture...
instead, it looks like she was hungry for bird. yum.)
Oh, and then hung out with some swans.

  

Swiss man's sweet photography skills

After the jet d'eau, we ventured into Old Town, which is self-explanatory - the old part of town of Geneva. Which was up a big hill and reminiscent of Vieux Lyon (just not quite as old, or so it seemed). There we wandered around and happened upon the city's art museum. The outside of the building was gorgeous, as was the art inside. 

I'm too lazy to put up any of the inside art pictures, but they're already on facebook... Plus, there are too many other pretty outside pictures! (Plus, look at the sun!!! I was too excited about this, because it's been so dreary in France lately.) As we exited the art museum, I noticed a cool, Russian-style gold-topped building, which Molly recognized as the Russian Chapel she had found when researching things to do in the city. We walked over and explored that, which was stunning. I even illegally snuck a picture inside that turned out well to show a glimpse of the interior!

view from the museum

intricate gold artwork inside

 

We then walked to St. Peter's Cathedral, which is just a little ways down the street. This one was enormous. The ant-sized creature in the right photo is me, for scale. 

After the cathedral, we got a snack and hung out at a cute park/lookout point over part of the city and the Alps. It was super peaceful and nice to relax for a little bit. More photos! Even though they don't really do justice to the view. (I promise I'll write a little bit after this...)

Okay, so up until this point, everything was going juuust peachy. We decided to head back to the dorm to eat dinner, because it was dark/cold/getting to be dinner time, so we walked down the hill to the main part of town. I had an idea as to where in the city we were, based on where we had gone, but I'm no Geneva expert, so had no clue as to how to get back to the tram that would take us to the dorm. We spotted a lovely group of police officers and decided to ask them the way. We had just gone over the word for 14 in french - quatorze - as numbers are the easiest things to get confused. As soon as I started asking the officer where the tram was, I immediately forgot our review session and asked him about the tramway quarante - NO! that's forty! But "quatorze" had officially escaped me. He told me that "la ligne 40, ca n'existe pas." I turned to Molly in a panic, who just said "fourteen," so the officer spoke to us in perfected franglais. During the course of this two-minute conversation, we managed to switch topics from from line 14 to line 15. So we got directions to the 15 line, unknowingly. We realized the mix-up when we got there, and tried to read the confusing metro system map, to no avail. So we started walking, and ended up asking a local shop owner for directions. He clarified where the 14 stop was, and as soon as we found it, we realized that we were only one stop from Mallory's dorm! Oh, happy day! So we joyfully walked back home, and exhaustedly ate dinner. So concluded our first day, and our first getting-lost adventure in Switzerland.

Sheer joy after finding the "Stand" tram stop.

Now, on to day 2. Day two in Switzerland was when I realized that I am slowly but surely adopting a French viewpoint on life. (The one that says France is better at everything.) We'll start with breakfast. If you could call it that... We went to a bakery down the street for food, where we got overpriced chocolate crepes. Now, I thought it was impossible to go wrong with a crepe, but boy, was I wrong. These crepes were not fully cooked, and just overall were not good. We did all we could to try to eat them, because we spent money on them, but it just wasn't happening. Here's some photo evidence of our misery. (Crepe on left, Molly's "I'm gonna kill someone" face on the right.)

 

After "breakfast," our two goals for the day were to see the UN and to go to the contemporary art museum. We took the tramway to the train station where we were supposed to connect to a different tram in order to find the UN. Not too surprisingly, the 15 tram line was not where we expected it might be. Out of frustration and fatigue, we went on a mission to find a Starbucks, which would supply caffeine as well as a taste of home. Luckily, we "only" had to take a lap or two around the train station before we found it. Obviously, it cost about a million dollars (Starbucks is even more expensive in Europe than it is at home), but we needed the break, so it was worth it. After resting for a bit, we worked up the energy and motivation to find the #15 tram and venture to the UN. Unfortunately, it was a Saturday, so everything was closed. It was still awesome to see, though!

we took a picture of ourselves this time, instead of
awkwardly waiting to ask someone else to take it

After the UN, we went back to the center of the city, because it was getting near the time we had to catch our train back to Lyon. We still had a little bit of time left, though, so we went searching for the contemporary art museum. We had the mentality that if we couldn't find it, we would just get our stuff and go home, no big deal. But we did find it! Hallelujah! We were excited and SO proud of ourselves for navigating Geneva so well (for once). Then, as we were walking up to the building........ It was CLOSED. What. I have no words to describe this moment, other than utter disappointment. If a picture is worth a thousand words... this should get the job done:

giving up on Switzerland

Then it was really time to just give up on this city. We went back to Mallory's dorm to pick up our stuff, and headed back to the train station, where we ate greasy comfort food from one of the overpriced food stands. I had some extra Swiss Francs to get rid of, because Switzerland doesn't use the euro, and these would be worthless once I got back into the eurozone. Oh, and here's a picture of the money! At least it was really pretty. And super colorful. Are you sure this is real money, Switzerland??

We were SO happy to be back on the train to go home. Since I've been sounding like a negative nelly, Geneva wasn't completely awful. It was actually extremely beautiful. There was sun everywhere, and I loved the location of the city on a lake and in between the mountains. I was content with this having been my first trip outside of Lyon, and outside of France. While everything didn't go completely as expected, I still had a lot of fun. I also realized a lot about my experience in Europe so far. I am sooo grateful to be in France, and I appreciate all that this country/the city of Lyon has to offer after having gotten back. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder - that's a little bit too cliche/extreme, but it took getting out of Lyon for me to realize how much I love it here. The food is fantastic, everything is less expensive, and it's beyond great to be back in a familiar city. I'm so grateful now to have an understanding of the layout of the city and the public transportation system - not getting lost is a huge plus! So, all in all, I'm super happy that I took this trip. 

The picture that sums up our trip
and our journey back home

So, keep in mind that I'm having these thoughts while we're on the train (seen above). Overall, grateful for the experience, but happy to be going home. You'd think that the adventure was over at this point - but if you do, then think again! Mid-train ride, the train stops, and the overhead voice man tells us that there's an "aggravation" in Lyon (maybe because of traffic? or snow? we weren't sure) and that we would be stopping for awhile. So we ended up taking about an hour delay in some random city, as we were about 20 minutes from Lyon - so close, yet so far! This could have been worse, but it was just another annoyance when we wanted to be home. And the saga still continues! Eventually we made it back to Lyon. We stopped at the bathroom in the train station, and then Molly realized that she had left her phone on the train. Noooo! As soon as we went back to the platform, the train closed its doors and pulled away to its next destination. THEN the adventure was over. So, a terrible crepe, getting lost, some pretty sights, and a lost phone later, and we had finished our Swiss adventure. I can't explain how happy I've been to by in Lyon since then! 

It's been real, Geneva ~~ kind of. 

PS: Dad, I found this bar for you! I present you all: The Lord Jim Pub

Petites Observations, Round 2

Just a short list of other things that, throughout the past few days, I've realized that I left out of my last post of this sort!

- At a meal, it's acceptable to put your bread on the table, rather than on the side of your plate. I'm not sure why, but it's the opposite from anglo-speaking countries, again.

- I forgot to mention how bread and butter seriously seem to be in endless supply at my house. I don't know how it's done, but it's magical and I love it. I'm also still going to promise a food post in the future - it will happen soon, I promise!

- The stereotype that all French people smoke is pretty much true. I mean, not everyone smokes, obviously, but a LOT of people do.

- The stereotype that all French people are mean, however, is NOT true. I mean, sure, there are rude people here, just like anywhere you would go. But, for the most part, I've found the French to be a kind group. If I ever don't understand what someone says to me, they'll either kindly repeat themselves and try to help me understand, or, if they had asked me a question, they'll pick up from my accent that I'm foreign and realize right away that, no, I can't help them find "la rue de la beouf."(It is flattering, however, to be asked for directions - I think it means I look like I know what I'm doing.) The other scenario is that they'll know that I speak English and proceed to try to talk to me in English - even though I almost always respond in French. It's been working out for me so far. Anyways, the people are very friendly and accepting. I think if one tries a bit to speak the language and not be rude all the time, they'll cut you some slack.

- Everything organized in France is not actually organized at all. The university system, for example, consists of every student having to fend for themselves for the most part. Each department releases their course info, and students have to find it themselves, and find the classrooms, etc., even if the classroom has changed for the day. I haven't had many problems with this (except for the occasion when class was cancelled and I had no idea), but course info is definitely not all in one place like it is at home. Even the French themselves will agree that they're terrible at designing things. Also for school, we have a "bureau virtuel" or "virtual office" - it's like SLU Global or Blackboard, but worse. One of my professors said, "We designed it ourselves, so it's impossible to navigate," or something along those lines. My conclusion has been that the French just do what they want, when they want. More power to them, I guess!

- Trying to speak French and to switch back and forth between french and english has been detrimental to my english speaking abilities. Yesterday I tried to say "shop" and said "stop," then switched and tried to say "store" - which came out "shore." This is probably something I would do anyways at home... But there have been countless other occasions during which I have not been able to think of the word that I want to use in english. Not in French, in English. Maybe forgetting your mother language is a sign of improvement in a foreign language? Sure, we'll go with that. Cool.

- Public transport here is great. I'm also amazed at the system of Metros/metro stops. They're underground and huuuge, and if I start thinking about it, I really can't fathom how they built it. I guess they organized that one thing right. 10 points for France!

- Coffee is tiny. I'm pretty sure it's based on Italian coffee. Everything is like the size of a shot of espresso - and it is stronger. So I guess it is espresso. But it's pretty rare to find an actual "normal" (american) sized cup of coffee - unless you go to Starbucks. Which is even more expensive here than at home. The plus side of the little coffees are the coffee vending machines. They're all over the cafes on campus, and only cost 40 cents. Or 50 cents if you get a mocha/other flavor. I'm a fan of that.

My brain may be officially fried now. I said I was going to sleep after my last post, and I have no idea how I made it this far, but now I reallly, really am going to bed. There will probably be more posts of this nature in the future, but for now, goodnight again!

Racontes-moi un histoire...

Soooo I'm just chillin' at a cafe - the awesome one called raconte moi la terre. (Well, I was when I started writing this post. Now it's a few days later and I'm sitting in ma chambre.) Therefore, what better thing to do than write a blog post about all the hilarious things that have happened to me so far?! Some of these are at my own expense, I think.. so, enjoy!

1. So I bought a purse and a wallet here during the first week of les soldes. They were both necessary purchases, but one and/or both of them have proven to give me difficulties here. Repeatedly. About one in every three stores that I walk into, the security alarm goes off. On my way IN to the store. Now, were I in America, okay, it'd be annoying, but I could deal with it. But here, I just stare awkwardly at the occasional security guard, or stand there awkwardly for a second while no one does anything and keep walking, perusing the store. Twice, the security guards have told me to just tell them when I'm about to leave. So I've therefore had lovely parting words with them: "Je vais partir, au revoir!" - alarm sounds - look and make awkward eye contact - "merci, au revoir." Day in the life.

Then, last week, I was shopping with my friend Molly (hey girl). My bag and/or wallet didn't set the alarm off at Zara, one of the pretty common clothes stores here, until I went to try a few things on. They have a security scanner on the way into the dressing room. Of COURSE, my bag sets the alarm off, and I can't understand a thing the worker is saying to me in his lightening-speed French. One girl asked if I had a laptop - I understood that, and said no. Then I awkwardly waited because I didn't know what they wanted me to do... Eventually a security guard came and checked my bag, and repeatedly told the dressing room man that there was nothing in it. Okay, cool, so I go and try some stuff on. With no luck, so I left the store empty-handed. And minus a piece of gum... Here comes the good part.

Molly bought a dress, and the friendly security man told us the check-out line upstairs was shorter. Apparently this was the same guy who checked my bag earlier, but I didn't realize it. Then, we're ready to leave. Aaaaand, guess what. My bag sets the alarm off. COOL. So this dude is asking me if I had bought anything at Zara, which I hadn't. I kept saying that yes, I bought them here, as in, in France, and I told him the name of the stores where I bought them. Then Molly translated and asked me if I had bought them at Zara - oooooh. No. So after a minute or two of having me walk through the security thing without my purse, and him taking things out of my purse to wave them through security (none of these things set the alarm off, by the way), he pulls out my pack of gum, and says "le chewing gum, non?" I was kinda like, yeahhh.. I don't think that my gum is setting the alarm off though? So then, dude asks if he can take a piece. So I said, "oui?" He took a piece of gum then let us go on our way, wondering what in the world had just happened. One of the weirdest encounters I've had with a security guard ever, regardless of the language.

2. The other night, a group of us went out to dinner for a friend's birthday. The waiter kept telling us about which bars we should go to. We walked by the one he was talking about, but weren't feelin it. As we walked back past the restaurant, he was standing outside on the phone. He took a break from his phone call as we told him where we were going - the Beers, one of our usuals in Vieux Lyon. (Side note: yes, there is a bar called "the Beers." In English. They serve over 50 types of beer - parents, you would BOTH be in heaven!) So the dude asked if he could come there and join us after he got off work. This isn't that funny, I guess, but I found it amusing that our waiter invited himself out to get drinks with our group! Maybe it's the French way??

3. The other day as I was sitting outside at that fountain (see picture from previous post) and some older guy had one of these:

And he was just walking along, throwing the small (right) version up into the air, and then it would expand, and he caught it. This repeated while he threw it up in the air for a minute, then threw it at some other people sitting on a bench across from where I was.... I tried to get a picture of him, but it was too blurry. :( He was a cool dude, though. I haven't seen one of those things in years. I aspire to have as much fun with the little things as he has!

4. Some of you may know that I am terrible at having seen movies. Chances are, if you ask me "Have you seen ______?" the answer will be "no." Whoops. :/ It's not because I don't like watching movies, it's just because I've never taken the time to see many of them! My bad. So, with this in mind, the other night the boys (my host brothers) were going to watch a parody of James Bond, called "00" I think... I told my host mom that I would watch it, but that I had never seen a James Bond movie. She went on about a 5 minute rant about how I'm not cultured in movies (because she already knows that I've never seen Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and probably other things. I did get points for having seen Forrest Gump, though.) and she told me that I'm not allowed to leave France without seeing more movies. And I can't leave without watching a James Bond movie. sooo that was fun. Looks like I'll be watching some more movies in the future!

5. Some fun/nice stories from my host brothers - even though it's awkward most of the time, because I'm afraid to speak with them, they're super sweet. I know I shouldn't be afraid, and should just talk to them, but that's easier said than done. Anyways, I'm pretty sure we have a special bond, regardless. Every time I see the middle brother in the house, he has the biggest smile on his face. I just return the smile, and say hello, etc. and his giant grin always manages to brighten my day. Then, the other day as I was getting ready to leave for a friend's birthday. My host mom asked when my birthday was, and I told her (she actually told me how to say this twice) - au mois d'août. The youngest boy was sitting nearby, and was so upset that we wouldn't be able to celebrate my birthday here! So we decided that we'll have to celebrate it early. I suggested my half birthday in February. My host mom said that that was pushing it.. and was a little too early (a girl can try, though, hein??), but that maybe we could celebrate in June before I leave. :)

6. Last night (Monday) in my Supreme Court class, my professor was listing random cities in the US, as in "it doesn't matter if you're in X city, or K city, or H city," and the first one that he said was Cincinnati!!! I felt like a celebrity. (Hello family and friends at home! This made me think of all of you!) Eventually he got to your typical "New York, LA" thing, but the 513 shout-out came first! Nothing too grand or extraordinary here. But the French know that we exist!

This one doesn't even deserve a number. "Fun" story from the tram today. On our way back from class, we had to take the tramway home because it's the ONLY way to get to the Bron campus (which is super annoying because it gets really crowded). Usually this takes about half an hour - but tonight I spent a grand total of 1.5 hours traveling. First, the tram was stopped, packed full of people, by campus, and a large group was waiting for the tram to leave and the next one to come. Meanwhile, surprise rain shower! So we waited inside one of the "student lounge" type of areas for the next tram - also too packed - so the next tram. Successfully made it out of the rain and on our way back to the center of town. And then the tram stopped. Twice. For about 5-10 minutes each time. Because of "traffic" or something. It was a royal pain. I finally made it home and ate dinner (thank goodness, because I was hungry and tired to the point of being almost super cranky...), but this is to demonstrate that not every day is all sunshine and rainbows and flowers (actually, hardly any days have been sunshiney. The beginning of today was! and then it rained). 

Today is also my one month anniversary from having arrived in Lyon! (Happy anniversary to you, too, France - thanks for that horrid tram ride!) It's crazy to think that one month has passed already. On one hand, it has flown by, and I can't believe that I've been here for that long. On the same note, I can already see the rest of the semester continuing to fly - which I hope doesn't happen too fast! On the other hand, though, I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the city, and it almost feels like I know certain parts of this city like I've been here for wayy longer than just a month. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the fact that most of my friends have been here for 5-6 months already? Who knows. It's probably just part of the adjustment and/or life and the concept of time being weird. It is what it is, I suppose!

I'm off to bed now, because today/this week/this month have been exhausting. And it's night-time/bedtime here. And I have class in the morning. Yay! Hope you enjoyed the stories, and sorry that I got side-tracked at the end there. (It's my blog, and I can do what I want though, right?) 

Goodnight, world!

Petites Observations de la France

 I have a camera chord!!! Thanks to the best mom in the whole wide world for sending it! Therefore: more pictures will be coming soon (maybe even in this post, if you're lucky)! Not much has been going on here. I've just been sleeping a lot. And yesterday I decided to go wander around the city a little bit. I ended up getting a coffee and hanging out at Place Bellecour for a little bit, and then by this fountain on one of the main shopping/pedestrian streets, la rue de la Republique.

Just livin' la vie française

I also popped back into what has possibly become my favorite clothing store here, Camaieu. They have super inexpensive clothes, especially during the sales. I've bought a scarf, a nice shirt, and a sweater there so far... This is one of their two locations that I've perused so far. 

Oh, and I also found this store yesterday! It's a wine store named "O'Quai Wine." It's right on the quai (banks) of the Saone river, and the name is thus a clever jeu de mots, or play on words. Get it, like, "okay wine"?! ...Maybe I'm just too easily amused. 

Anyways, other than that I figured I'd just give some random observations about the differences I've noticed between French life and American life - before I become too accustomed to them and forget. And some random stories/things about my life here. So, here goes nothin. Things I've noticed so far, in no particular order. 

- Lyon is a fairly big city, so people don't really say hello to each other in the streets or in passing, and pretty much the only such interactions are to say "pardon." However, everyone always says "bonjour" to the store owner/cashier when walking into a store, and always "au revoir" when leaving. 

- In France, it's polite to eat with your hands ON the table, rather than in your lap or below the table, as is polite in the US (and I think in England). This was weird to get used to, but I think I've adjusted and would feel uncomfortable with my hands under the table now. That was fast...

- Even though I'm in the middle of the city, a rooster lives behind my house. Every once in awhile, if I'm awake at the right time (I've heard it at 10am), I can hear the rooster say good morning: "cocorico" in french!

- People act the same everywhere. The language is just different. But they all interact the same way and have the same mannerisms, etc. (example: the way my host family interacts with each other. or how friends talk and laugh, etc.) This was kind of a weird thing for me to realize, but, duh.. it makes sense. People are people. 

- The movie Bring it On is called American Girls in France. Not Les Filles Americaines, just "American Girls." Because, you know, all american girls are like that, right?

- To all those who were concerned, the professor who said that the french don't like yellow is just crazy, I think. The french are known to wear darker clothing more often, but I have seen my fair share of yellow around this city. And in the stores. And, as my host mom told me, if people didn't buy it, they wouldn't sell it. Also, I found this thing yesterday at a little "Lyon" souvenir store near my house that says (in the middle line on the right) that yellow is my color. So, there's that, I guess. 

- The streets and sidewalks are really tiny. Especially in Vieux Lyon. Like, really tiny. When my host parents first picked me up the day I got here, I saw two guys walking on the sidewalk while we were driving by, and I literally thought to myself, "How are they walking there!? And they're not afraid that they're going to get hit? What!?!" But I've gotten used to that, too. It's just the sidewalk. Sometimes it's too skinny and you have to walk in the street for a second, but you just have to watch for cars. Don't worry, I've been looking both ways!

- There are definitely some foods that I've fallen in love with since I've been here. The obvious ones are bread and cheese. Duh. But also butter. I looooove me some butter. (My host mom confirmed the Julia Childs thing that butter, butter, and butter are the three secrets to french cuisine, as seen in Julie and Julia). Also, spinach, mushrooms, and Indian food. For no particular reason. 

- Speaking of cheese. I got yelled at last night (not really but it freaked me out for a second haha) for almost cutting the cheese the wrong way. Forreal. There was a beautiful piece-of-pie-shaped brie on the plate. I learned that you CAN. NOT. cut the front off like one would take the first bite of pie. You have to cut it diagonally, because otherwise the end piece will be only brine and no cheese. Which makes sense. I guess some things you have to learn the hard way. 

- The French really aren't mean and nasty. Almost every person I've come into contact with has been really friendly. Except for when you're in someone's way in the street, but that's not exclusive to french people; everyone gets grumpy then. I've had an overall positive experience with the French here. and even one or two "Oh, you're American?! How cool!" situations. Mostly, though, if I can't understand what someone in a public place/store is saying, they can pick up my american accent and will try to reply to me in English so I understand. To which I try to reply in French. I've got this system down... Or something.

That's all I can think of for now, although I'm sure there are many, many more things. To follow soon (either today or another day in the near future) will be a post about funny stories that are related to nothing but are funny, and the ever-important french food post. It deserves its own. For now, I'm out to go do something with my day. Hopefully. 

TTFN!