Good morning everyone!

As I've said before, I'm going to make more of an effort to document my every day life here...not just the big trips and group excursions. However, with only 3 days here before I'm off to Prague and Budapest, I'm feeling like I'm often out on a big trip more than here living a normal, easy going life. :P

Each day is different, as you can imagine, with classes varying day to day. Plus, what I want to do varies quite frequently. Sometimes, I want to go check out a museum or one of the exhibits featured in the Biennale Festival. Other days I just want to relax in my apartment, get some stuff done (budgeting, blogging, etc.) and go to class. And on certain occasions, I like to go check out the mall. What ever it is that I choose to do each day, I try to make each day an adventure and not wasted. Sometimes, though, a girl needs her day off and those are perfectly fine with me.

Back at home, I used to be an early morning person...but it was more by force than anything. I usually had 8 am classes because I needed to leave the rest of the day open for work. Although I wanted to sleep in more than anything, I was always grateful that I had a full morning to do things. I felt very productive, even if I was half asleep. Here, however, I have a very different schedule. First off, all of my classes are in the evenings: my first class on Tuesdays is at 6 pm, 4 pm on Wednesday and 2 pm on Thursday. Mondays and Fridays I have a class required by the program (language and culture) so I don't count them as MY academic courses that I'm taking by choice. But even those classes begin at 2 pm and 2:30 pm, respectively.

This means two things: 1) I have an entire day to be productive--see sites, run errands, shop, etc. 2) I sleep in until AT LEAST 10 am. I can't really complain because sleeping in is something I've always wanted to do, but I've tried to break this awful sleeping schedule many times. Since I wake up so late, I don't usually go to bed until 2 am which just restarts the cycle all over again.

But with the start of my morning (even if it's really almost noon), I always begin with breakfast. I make myself a cup of coffee or tea, eat either cereal, eggs & toast or Nutella and a piece of a baguette. Then, I go for a run around my neighborhood to explore what's around me (this isn't everyday; I'd say more like every other day or every 2 days). So far, I've found a really beautiful cemetery (from the 17th century), a beautiful park, a street that reminds me of home and a trail for bikes, full of jumps and hills and cool places to do tricks and stuff. Recently, the weather has dropped significantly (40ish degrees!) and it takes everything inside of me to get dressed and run in the frigid weather. But I do it because it's a main priority for me to get to know my neighborhood pretty well. By running and getting somewhat lost, I find cool pockets of my town that I make mental notes of so that next time, I can visit as a customer...not a jogger.

[One of the exhibits featured at Biennale; Nicolas & Max]

[Another exhibit of the Biennale regarding the unemployment in Paris just a decade ago]

[One of the installations...it was like a huge chicken coupe for humans]

Then, I'll come back and make myself something for lunch. It varies but it usually involves pasta or rice, veggies and a fruit. Lunch is probably my smallest meal since I'm usually running out the door to do something. After lunch, I get dressed and ready for the day (including class).

When I come back to my apartment (around 8 pm), I go around the house lighting candles and incense and make myself a yummy dinner.

[My dining table :)]

The other day it was a chicken breast, white/brown rice and LOTS of brussel sprouts. (I usually buy my produce at the markets that are near my neighborhood...they're there everyday but Mondays!)

[Yummmmmmmmmy!]

After dinner, I Skype with friends or family. Then, if I can bring my procrastinating self to it--I study. These few days I have before my long break are crucial for studying since I doubt I'll do any studying while I'm traveling.

[My reading corner/study chair; it's right next to the heater :)]

On the weekends, there's always lots of stuff to do and go explore. For example, I haven't seen the infamous wall murals in Croix-Rousse yet or the troboules (secret tunnels) in Vieux Lyon/Croix-Rousse. What I have done is go to the artisan market on Sunday mornings, see a classical concert at the oldest cathedral in Lyon, stock up on food at the food markets that line the river, etc.

[Artisan market on Sunday morning]

[Some of the artists' works]

[Street musicians]

[This is where I went to the classical concert and
heard 3 women with beautiful voices sing for 2 hours]

I'm really loving Lyon and feeling at home with this beautiful place. They (EAP counselors) warn us that the moment we start feeling comfortable (get the hang of the language, fall in love with the city), it's time for us to come home. I'm sure that is true but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the short 2 months I have left here.

Until next time,

<3

Lyon to Lille to Paris in 48 hours

So my ridiculously crazy weekend started off with a definite boom. My friend Jessica left for Lille, France (where the Phoenix concert was) on Friday morning at around 10 am. The train ride takes a total of 3 hours so she had the day to explore Lille and get to the concert early enough to find a good spot. For me, I couldn't leave until the afternoon because I had a medical exam at 1:30 pm for my visa (a stamp that validates my visa so I can leave the country!). The plan was to take a train out of Lyon at 3:30, get to Lille at 6:30, drop my bag off at the hotel and meet Jessica at the venue around7:30, giving us 30 minutes before the concert started. Although the morning went well and I was very productive with errands and arriving at the train station on time, to my dismay, my train was delayed an hour and 15 minutes. This meant that I would probably arrive in Lille at 7:45 or exactly at 8 pm, ruining all of our plans for the evening. It was definitely annoying but I just decided to take it in stride and not stress to much over it. After all, what more could I do at that point? Getting angry or discouraged wouldn't make the train leave any earlier. Plus, I was simply thankful for the fact that my train was not canceled completely like 2 of the trains around that time had been.

After an hour and fifteen minutes of aimlessly wondering around the chaos-stricken train station, it was finally time to board the train. I pretty much fell asleep the moment I sat down. The times that I was actually awake, I was contemplating whether or not to drop my huge backpack off at the hotel or go straight to the concert. The concert was a 5 minute walk from the train station but the hotel would take an 15 extra minutes each way. I couldn't imagine squeezing into the tightly packed venue with a backpack that could fit a small person in it. When I got to Lille, it was 8 pm and the first act had already began performing. I got a quick bite to eat for dinner and I asked if the train station had lockers. They said "yes" which got me really excited until I realized that the lockers were out of order. By the time I left the train station, it was already 8:20 pm and I knew I had to just go straight or else I'd miss Phoenix playing too. After being lost for about 5 minutes, I finally found the entrance and to my surprise and utter happiness, there was a coat/bag check. All my worries were solved :-) At around 8:45, I squeezed my way through the crowd (bagless) and met Jessica who was excitedly standing in the front and center.

The concert itself was soooo awesome. Phoenix is great live and the music just felt so good. Unfortunately, we were standing in the front and center so a small moshpit had formed. I was not OK being pushed around and almost falling to my death multiple times. Therefore, I scooted back about 5 feet and the crowd was much more mellow. Jessica joined me 20 minutes later after getting her dose of moshing.

I don't have pictures of the concert...I thought it was too dangerous and too squished to try and lug my huge Nikon camera. Jessica has a bunch on her digital so once I get those uploaded, I'll post them on here.

After the concert, we went back to the hotel and got a good night's rest for our big days on Saturday and Sunday in Paris. The next morning, we woke up at 9:30, went to the Museum of Beaux Arts, had a quick breakfast, checked out of the hotel and ran after our train to Paris (we made it by 4 minutes). Although I didn't get a chance to see much of Lille, what I did see was beautiful. Lille is an hour north of Paris, close to Brussels so it has a Brussels feel to it (mussels and fries are a Lille specialty). Our train to Paris was only an hour long but Jessica and I used every minute of it to nap.

[Palais de Beaux Arts in Lille]

[How statuesque of me]

Once we got into Paris, we checked into our hostel, dropped our bags off and walked down Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. We stopped and shopped a little bit in some of the stores. It was Jessica's first time in Paris so her shrieks of "OMG!!!" and "Get out of here...look how beautiful that is!" were quite amusing and fun to be around.

[Jessica & me in front of the Arc de Triomphe]

After about 15 minutes at the Arc de Triomphe, we walked down to a famous patisserie (a dessert shop), called Ladurée. They are famous for their DELICIOUS macaroons so I ordered a large café macaroon. 4 euros for that baby. You bet I savored each bite of that macaroon, making each of the 4 euros absolutely worth it. If you've never had one, let me try to explain. French macaroons are not the same thing as those coconut macaroons that you and I see in grocery stores in the States. They are very different. For a more detailed description, read this blog entry: The Ultimate Macaroon. I can't really put into words what the mouth experiences when it takes a bit out of a macaroon but just know, it's heavenly. There's this flaky outside, mixed with a gooey inside that makes each bite wonderful, amazing, unforgettable. I'm sure you've seen pictures of French macaroons here and there. They are little round colorful circles. I'll try my best to bring some back but I'm not sure if that will make it past customs.

[Waiting in line at Ladurée]

[So excited for our goodies!]

[Anticipation is killing me]

[The 4 euro macaroon. It's a lot bigger than it looks]

After Ladurée, we met up with my other friend Jess and tried to find a restaurant for dinner around the Pantheon. We decided on this Greek restaurant that was a total mom & pop place. It was definitely authentic Greek food. I had tzatskiki sauce for an appetizer, moussaka (lasagna with eggplant instead of pasta) for dinner and fresh fruit for dessert. We talked about our weekend, enjoyed our food and just enjoyed each other's company. Looking back, I realize how "French" we've become--Unknown to us at the time, dinner took us 2 hours! That's something I never thought I could do before haha.

[Place de la Concorde]

[The city of lights <3]

[Oh, you know, just another hotel in Paris. No biggie]

By the time we got to the hostel, it was already 12 am. We went back to Champs-Élysées for a couple of hours and hung out a lounge. Around 3 am, we were exhausted and headed back to our hostel. On Sunday morning, we shared a Nutella crepe, drank some coffee and ate lunch around the Saint-Michel area. After lunch, we went to Notre-Dame. Then, we got some more coffee and took a stroll through the Luxembourg gardens. The leaves were changing and the day was beautiful and warm. People were sprawled out everywhere, napping, reading, studying or just enjoying the sun. It was beautiful.

[Our wonderful crepes being made]

[Notre-Dame on a beautiful Sunday morning]

[Luxembourg gardens. People resting, leaves changing]

[No matter what age you are, you're never too old to nap in the garden]

[Jess & Jessica soaking in the sun]

[Jess & me]

[Jessica & me]

[Jessica with cute little French boy scouts; look at the little boy's frown]

After the gardens, Jessica and I went to the Orsay Museum where they have a lot of art from the Impressionism era. That is one of my favorite styles of art so I got to see Degas, Monet and Toulouse-Lautrec. After about 2 hours of walking around, our feet were hating us and our bodies were absolutely exhausted. We were going to meet up with Jess at the Lafayette Galleries (huge shopping area) but it was closed on Sundays. Instead, we met up at the Eiffel Tower, took some sweet pictures and headed to a nearby café/restaurant for some dinner. For dinner, I had this DELICIOUS beef stew, similar to beef bourguignon, called pot au feu. It was tasty, hot, delicious, nutritious and everything I needed. Dinner ended around 7:00 pm so we headed back the hostel to check out, get our bags and make our way to the train station for our 9 pm train ride back to Lyon.

[At Musée d'Orsay]

[Degas]

[Les chambres des fêtes: The party rooms]

[Us girls in front of the Eiffel Tower]

[My delicious, mouth-watering pot au feu]

We all arrived in Lyon safe and sound. Although I was absolutely exhausted last night, I am so thankful for the beautiful weekend and all the wonderful memories I made with Jess and Jessica :-) Now, it's 3 days of normalcy before going back to Paris on Thursday to fly out to Prague on Friday.

Until next time, bisou <3

Exhausted but a quick update.

Hi all...

I just got back from a fun-filled weekend in Lille and Paris and I'm absolutely exhausted. I only had about 4 hours of sleep. My apartment is freezing and as much as I'd love to call home and skype with my family, post pictures, update my blog with an extensive description of my weekend, all I can think about is crawling into my bed for a good night's rest.

But just a quick update before tomorrow's "real" post: this weekend was beautiful- starting with a night of great music (the one and only Phoenix), a morning in quaint Lille and a massive 2-day run around in Paris made this weekend one of the best, most memorable experiences to date.

Here are a couple pictures to hold you over until next time. Look at the beautiful changing leaves :-) It makes my heart flutter with joy and excitement for the beautiful fall/autumn that is already here. Although that means VERY cold weather (40 degrees), it also means trees changing colors, bundling up, more tea and coffee and some toasty nights in my apartment.

[do you see that in my hand? yep, Starbucks. First one in 3 months :-)]

Ok, bed time now. Until tomorrow, love ya!

<3

Warning: This is a long post.

It's 3:30 pm on Sunday afternoon. I'm sitting at my desk (with internet), looking out of my 6-foot windows, in awe of the rolling clouds, turning leaves and radiant blue sky. How am I living in such a beautiful place? How can a simple state of existence make me this happy? France makes me happy. Lyon makes me happy. And for no reason in particular. Just being here, just because the city exists and it is beautiful and it is my home, I am happy. Then, I receive text messages from my friends asking me what I'm doing later this afternoon or if I want to go to a café with them. My happiness then settles into gratefulness as I reflect on all of the beautiful people I've met here, people who I will have long-lasting friendships with. I cannot begin to explain how deep my gratitude goes for the opportunity to live here and fall in love with the city just a little bit more day by day...

This morning, I woke up at 9:30 am, had some breakfast, drank some tea and got dressed to go to the aristan outdoor market and the fresh produce market just across the river from me. I met up with a new friend, Annie. She's here as a graduate student from Florida. We walked around, admiring the gorgeous art, jewelry and crafts. Leaves fell on our shoulders, the breeze gave us goosebumps and the sun counteracted the chill. It was a beautiful morning. After the arts & crafts market, we went across the street and had cappuccinos, getting to know each other, talking about traveling and plans after school. Before we knew it, two hours had passed so we made our way to the fresh produce market where I bought 5 grapefruits for 2 euros and a baguette :-) I tried all different kinds of cheeses, smelled the different cured meats, heard the vendors shouting prices and enjoyed every minute of it. After my purchases, I came back to my apartment, made some lunch and now, I'm relaxing. Later this evening, I will be meeting with a few people to listen to live classical music at a renaissance festival.

I realized that the things I blog most about are big and important events, excursions, travels and occurrences but sometimes, the best indication of my life here is through daily activities that are almost not worth mentioning about. It is, in fact, those daily events that keep me going, making my experience what it is: beautiful and wonderful. So here we are :-)

I will definitely make more of an effort to take pictures of daily, regular things such as my walk to and from school, the university that I attend, my favorite cafés, my view every morning, etc. Actually, I'm going to take a couple of days to explore the stores, restaurants, cafés directly surrounding my place so that I can get a good grasp of what's around me. I'm so used to going to the "usual" places but if I don't explore, I'll be missing out on a lot...especially places right across the street from me!

Yesterday was yet another remarkable day. It's not the "normal" life that I have; the program went to Cerdon, a beautiful town an hour out of Lyon, towards Geneva. First, the bus ride was absolutely spectacular. The views of the green hills, vineyards and little cottages made my heart jump. When we got there, we went to a copper factory and took a tour of the area. We watched as the guides shaped copper into measuring cups and we observed how the machines worked. After the tour, we had an aperitif before lunch. I'm not sure if you remember my description of the food from Beaujolais (our other group excursion) but without a doubt, we get the best meals on these excursions. Not only are they delicious, mouth-watering and tasty, they are multiple course meals that make me très heureuse [very happy]:)







For lunch, we had salmon pâté, salad, scalloped potatoes, guineafowl (what I thought was chicken), fromage blanc (tastes like yogurt) and an apple tart. I didn't get as belligerently stuffed as Beaujolais but I was full and satisfied.

[Family style dinner]

[Scalloped potatoes and guineafowl: good!]

[A sure sign that the food was good? Unbuttoning pants like Brittany!]

[Vanessa & Jessica comparing food babies]

After our lunch, we went to the grottos (underground caves). It was so neat to experience nature, the beauty of stalagmites and stalactites and so on. Needless to say, we walked off all our food, going down many, many feet, climbing back up, going back down and finally, climbing back up and out. By the time we were finished, it was 6:30 pm and we were beat. But it really was such an amazing experience. The pictures never suffice but they can provide you with some insight on how massive the grotto was.

[This is the entrance to the grotto]

[A little pool of calcium deposits]

[Do you see the little bodies at the bottom? That's our group. What a vast and ginormous cave!]

[Brittany, Jessica, Cyan and me]

[A beautiful rose for a beautiful day!]

The drive back was nice- I knocked out the moment the bus moved. There's something about overcast/rainy weather, on a bus with people you like, listening to music on your iPod that's very heartwarming. I get so comfortable and cozy so even though I would have loved to stay up and see the view of the drive home, I couldn't help myself. I had to nap.

It truly was a beautiful day.

Until next time, ciao <3