Tis true...

French people do smell bad. BUT for a good reason- apparently water is very expensive in France so most French people limit themselves to 2 or 3 showers a week. Talk about water conservation. Thus, as I walk through le supermarche, I get deep wiffs of wonderful, awesome, nose-tingling B.O.

That has absolutely nothing to do with my experience here but I thought I should get that out of the way since I'm sure you were all dying to know.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Lyon is a beautiful city. I mean, it is gorgeous, rustic, quirky and just absolutely beautiful. However, you would never know that by living in the temporary residence that I'm in for the next 2-weeks. During our intensive language program and orientation meetings and such, I am staying at the Centre International de Sejour de Lyon...or CISL. These dorm-like rooms are very tiny and very basic. In addition, the neighborhood is what many of you may know as the "boonies." They even warn us: "Don't be discouraged by what you first see. Lyon is not the prettiest city." Well, hello Education Abroad Program! With 63 students paying close to $800 for this 2-week stay of ours, it is very possible to provide better rooms and a lovelier, maybe livelier, place. And if I may, I would like to correct you in saying that Lyon is beautiful...just not at the CISL.

Lyon is beautiful and it deserves to be known, especially in Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon). After a 4 hour tour (yep, that's right...four hours), I saw the most amazing buildings, tunnels, doors, windows, hills, flowers, everything! And the best part is (but still unconfirmed), I may have found an apartment right near Vieux Lyon! Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days...as all of you already know, pictures never do the place justice but if you can just try for a minute to put yourself on those cobble stone streets, I'm sure you can find yourself in a magical place, as I did today :-)

(Sneaking a picture on private property for an awesome view)

(Same picture without my big head!)

(Random street but awesome)

(L'eglise Fourviere)

(Me, Emily Adams- who looks/acts like Amy Adams, and Jessica Huang)

(Clearly, I can't over the rustic colors and cobble stone roads)

(A pleasant little surprise as I turned the corner...presenting Lyon)

(a window.)

(C'est moi!)

Ok, to be honest, I'm too tired to write anything right now. All I can say is that my home for the next 4 months is gorgeous. C'est la vie <3

Enjoy the pictures until next time...And the rest of the pictures can be found in my newest album on Facebook. I'll post them on Flickr too for those of you who don't have Facebook.

au revoir.