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!