Thursday, January 31, 2008

last minute trips...

just to let everyone know, i made the last minute decision to go to paris this weekend, so i will not be available via skype nor email. sorry parents! we will talk during the week though. also bought my tickets for geneva next weekend! and maybe going to berlin the weekend after that! and then maybe ireland! on verra! a toute a l'heure!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

it really could be a mugshot, eh?

It's actually my ID photo that I had to take, and I found it a bit amusing. You're not supposed to be making any expression in the picture, but I'm hoping I don't look this hopeless when I put on my blank stare face in the metro everyday...Anyways, had a really good past couple of days. Been dealing with a lot of French beaurocratic stuff (of which there is a lot here...) but hopefully it'll be done tomorrow when I finally get my bank account and student card stuff straightened out. Anyways, something interesting---I had my first kebab yesterday. These kebab places are everywhere here by the way....I've even seen 4 of them next door to each other...I was craving something greasy, cause these things are basically like gyros with fries on them, (not the kebabs that are basicaly grilled stuff on sticks), but came to find that it still had a good amount of vegetables, which were delicious, but still a little disappointing as I didn't get my greasy food fix that I've been having ever since I got here since I don't have it too often anymore...later on I walked from Vieux Lyon to Bellecour and along the river (the Saone), and it was BEAUTIFUL. The city can look pretty depressing on a cloudy day, and not very pretty, but when it's sunny---man, it made me feel happy to be alive. Ended yesterday and today reading up on the Fourviere hill at the roman ruins (pictured in previous post...). Especially yesterday, it was beautiful and I could see the alps in the distance as the sun set. It's nice to go up there where it's quite just to relax the mind.
I've realized that I really need to start being more intentional about learning French...The longer I've been here the more I speak English, and I've really come to a standstill if not gotten worse with my language. Luckily I've made a couple French friends, so that helps a lot when I'm around them. I went bowling with some of them on Saturday night, and it was really funny because most of them had only bowled like once in their lives...I stepped up on my first bowl (and usually I'm really horrible or pretty good) and I got a strike. I turned around to see their faces like this :O which slowly melted into smiles and comments like "of course you got a strike...you're american." Someone even claimed that bowling was the most preferred sport in America, or something to that degree....it was also really interesting because they were making fun of my accent, which I took offense to at first, but then realized that I do it too, but of course it's not in a mean way at all. As one would say here "on rigole" or i'm just joking around...anyways, must get up for a 16th century lit class in the morning...YIKES!! A toute a l'heure!

Saturday, January 26, 2008

just some pictures around the house on a saturday.

First, before you gaze upon these pictures, I would like to pass on the big news in the house---Amelie, their oldest daughter, is pregnant. Found out yesterday I believe. Everyone is excited...and Perrine just loves kids. Donc, continuez!
Jacques put on an apron that Intel gave him and showed me around the kitchen. These are the vegetables they were going to use for their pot-au-feu, a traditional French meal that was started by one of the Henri's (a king) that was to be eaten every Sunday.

Very enthusiastically showing me la viande, the meat. Once la mousse (the foam) covered the top, he removed it and then...did something else. Took like 3 hours to cook!

Jacques and what he calls his first masterpiece. He first gave me a tour of the kitchen and then showed me all of his statues, purely for my camera's sake. He asked if i was with "la presse," and I said, oui, avec Le Monde.


Figs thawing on the table. There were going to be for the dessert, and I think I ended up seeing them on yet another beautiful tarte.


One of Jacques' sculptures. "toujours une femme" is what he said. aka always a woman.

Me in their salon. aka drawing room.

Took this picture purely to show you Perrine's hat for her first daughter's wedding and some of the wedding photos.


Pilar eating her last yogurt and sugar. It's what we often have for dessert. (She's leaving tomorrow to travel around Europe for a couple months).


Jacques et Perrine, they were preparing for a dinner party they were having tonight.

The three colicatrices...aka roommates. Pilar, Janine, et moi.

Un orange that I bought at Casino, the grocery store. Many of them still had the leaves on them, and i enjoyed this.


The doorway and Paille passing by. Love that dog.

We found her just sitting like this. So funny.

Friday, January 25, 2008

Tony Parker Sings.

So I got a bit worried about taking 2 classes in French (i.e. with actual French students) when I went to my first class, which was geography, and the prof literally came in, sat down, and droned on non-stop for 2 hours at an incredible speed of French about percentages of populations in different areas of the world and their corresponding climates. I suppose the subject itself was pretty interesting, but this lady didn't have slides or even a projector--just these sheets of paper for herself to read off. Anyways, the next day proved to be a lot better. In my French culture class I paired up with a girl from Georgetown to do a presentation on the Beaujolais wine country, which kills two birds with one stone as I'd been talking with people to do a wine-tasting there, as my Frommer's suggested. After that me and a girl from Georgia went to a cafe that I had gone to before in Bellecour where we (rather she) felt the wrath of a lady whom I believe to be the owner. I ordered the plat du jour, and Crisitina ordered a sandwich, and it was amazing to see the change in expression on the lady's face from friendly to completely baneful. We figured out later that the sandwiches were "a emporter" which means take-away...She would come and give everything I needed to me with a nice friendly smile, and then would completely avoid eye-contact with Cristina and watch her steadily from afar...it was quite scary.
After that we went to another geography class about the EU with some other American girls and because we were one of the only ones in the classroom before the class started, the professor discovered we were American and continued to ask us (in English) where we were from, our disciplines, etc. Nice guy. Then, once class started, he was so excited to have us in his class that he kept making example involving America and would look at us and say things in English and laugh. This was all very nice of him, but it immediately put us on display in front of all these French students sitting behind us (because we were on the first row...), and I felt somewhat like the time I did when my dad brought me to court when I was little, and at the end the judge announced my presence in the room to everyone and I was extremely embarassed. Anyways, I'm definitely staying in this class because although he spoke very quickly, he approached us during the break and offered a bargain to us to speak for an hour a week about the course material in English so that we could know better what going on and he could practice his English for a conference he is speaking at in Boston in the Spring. Nice guy.
Finally, we have my european avant-garde art class, which seems like it'll be interesting, but honestly i'm not so sure I like the art itself, although it is interesting to find out that the stuff Andy Warhol was doing had already been done 50 years before.
Outside of school, other interesting things that have happened is that Perrine made chesnut ice cream the other night, which was ridiculously delicious. She made it from this sugared chesnut paste, so someone please find that recipe. Also, off-topic from that, when I was on the metro the other day, a man got on with an electric guitar and a portable amp in his backpack and just started singing, what else than Juanes. Reminded me of salsa nights back in Austin. Oh! One more thing. Jacques told me last night his oldest daughter, Amelie, got invited to both of Tony Parker and Eva Longoria's weddings because she used to produce his music here in France or something (who else knew that Tony Parker recorded a French album???). And somewhat related to that, I found out that Carla Bruni, the Italian supermodel turned French folk singer is going to marry Sarkozy, the French president. Random. That is all for now! It is a beautiful day here once more (got the windows open again) so I must go take advantage of it. Ciao!

Monday, January 21, 2008

beaucoup de photos.

So thanks everyone for all your encouragement! Just wanted to say that. Things with school are fine I think. Knowing people are taking the same classes as you helps a wholeeee lot. Anyways lots to tell---Saturday Janine's Uncle Akho had us over for lunch, from which we left at about 5pm. Long lunch, eh? He and his wife, Monique (she's French, he's from La Cote D'Ivoire), and their daughter Noemy (sp?) served us pre-lunch pastries, mixed fresh vegetables, baked chesnuts (DELICIOUS), potatoes, chicken, pineapple, cheese course, and coffee. That's why it took so long. They gave us lots of advice about Lyon, what to do in France, etc. Basically we got to practice our French a LOT. Then, after that, we got to go home to Perrine's cooking. And that night was amazingly amazing. She fixed a tart with zucchini, onions, carrots...geez, wish i remember exactly what was on it. and then! these pastry things with cheese and cooked egg inside them i think...FORMIDABLE! and then she had cooked this beautiful fruit tarte.
Anyways, later that night as well as the next morning, I found out how much I hate the bus schedule late saturdays and on sundays. Saturday night, missed it and had to wait 45 minutes for the next one. Sunday, was going to go to church...the same thing happened. So I got up realllyyy early and just enjoyed the beautiful day with my windows open doin homework instead! It was in the 50's which was refreshing for us. If I were in Texas I would've found it too chilly, but I just wore a tank, blazer and scarf and was fine! Unheard of in the winter here! Anyways, Perrine's "filleule" (goddaughter---she had to say godmother in english for me to get that one...) came over for lunch, and we had pork (i think), potatoes, dijon mustard---which is ridiculously strong here...just a bit of it made pain shoot up my nose! and to top it off, Perrine made a Apricot tarte with homemade vanilla ice cream and rasberry ice cream with raspberries from their garden. Afterward Janine and I went to le Parc de la Tete d'or (park of the golden head) because we had to se promenader a bit since it was so nice. But I need to explain that this park is no regular park...it's the largest urban park in France at about 290 acres...there are animals---like zoo animals---elephants, giraffes, crocodiles, monkeys....and there are also botanical gardens and greenhouses and huge fields to play and eat in. It reminded me of the movie "La gloire de Mon Pere" (My father's Glory) where all those people back in the late 19th, early 20th century in France just walked around parks dressed in their Sunday best, because everyone and their dog (and kid) were there at that park yesterday.
Anyways, today was my first day of class, and I was 20 minutes late. I'd like to say it was only due to the fog, but alas, I was also late and underestimated the amount of time it takes to get there...which is way too long. Like 35 minutes? Yeesh. It was just a French grammar class with other foreign exchange students, so not too embarassing. So you know how basically expressed much hate toward the French university system? Well, just for now, I am kind of liking it, because although the classes are 2-3 hours long apiece, it means that I only have to go once a week, which means right now I have Tuesday and Friday off. Let's hope that Friday stays open for traveling. Speaking of which, I'm hopefully going to book a ticket soon to go to Barcelona in the next couple weeks! Should be amazing. Anyways, that's it for me tonight. Enjoy the pics!


bad picture of the stairs i have to climb everyday to get to my room. but you get the idea.


me and noemy


Monique, Janine, and Akho


vive la france! un lycee on the way to the parc de la tete d'or.


Janine in one of the greenhouses.


sun through some grass


a deer!


me in the reflection of the ocelot cage i believe. actually i have no idea what those things were but they were cool.


people picnicking. that will be me very soon.


one of the greenhouses and some houses and apartments next to the park.


seulement moi.

Et Des Photos de la Famille.


Theophane et Paille. Elle est un grand bebe.


Victorine et Paille.

Friday, January 18, 2008

this is getting harder

Because I guess I'm getting busier? I guess since the last post I went to the Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon with a couple girls from Georgia, and it was an amazing, amazing, museum. First of all, it's huge. We were there for 3 hours and didn't even look at everything...Second of all, it was extremely interesting. Many, many artifacts in the permanent collection, including money that is over 2,000 years old...YEAH 2,000 years old. It also had paintings and much pottery, furniture, even jewelry, and I enjoyed that they had many things specifically from Lyon (evidently including paintings of Perrine's grandfather, Tony Tollet, who was mentioned in my previous entry). My favorite part though was their new exposition on Ancient Egypt, and I got to see a mummified head and hand just sitting in a glass case in front of me! Plus lots of scarabs, sarcophaguses, statues, canopic jars, etc...all that stuff that I learned about in 4th grade and have been fascinated with ever since. I used to be so smart... :)
anyways, the next day (Thursday) I had my orientation, and man, was that a tiring day. First, everything was in French since I'm in the DEUF program and not the SELF program, which just means I'm not taking all of my classes in English. Second, I'm pretty sure the word organized does not exist in French. I apologize, that was dramatic. But the way they do things at least at my university (or at most universities here from what I've heard) is extremely different and not as concrete or clear. The only thing that comforted me was that it seemed like every single other student was feeling the exact same way. What we have to do is search for classes we want to take at random bulletin boards around campus and try them out for 2 weeks and then decide whether we want to keep them. Nothing's online and most of the credits don't match up with the number of hours my university requires. So after finding out that that was how the next couple weeks were going to look like, we had to take a French test for 40 minutes. I was ridiculously exhausted by the end of the day. I'm having to learn to take things with a more "French attitude" and relax and know that everything will work out in the end. Today was beautiful, and I just went to school with my roommate Pilar to try to find some more classes and then met Janine and her friends at Bellecour to take advantage of the soldes some more. They just keep marking off more and more each day! Anyways, tomorrow Janine's Uncle Acco has invited us to lunch with his wife and daughter, and then we're going to go shopping for shoes because I'm wearing mine out! Until then, I will be sleeping oh-so-unsoundly on my flat French pillows. Tomorrow---Carrefour, here I come for some new squishly pillows.

Oh, will try to start taking more pictures.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

new scarf?



so there's really not too much new that's happened---still haven't started school. my orientation is on thursday. yesterday stayed in (bad weather again) and just went to the post office to get a stamp and wasn't successful. by the time the guy finally understood that i just needed a stamp for the united states, i realized i had no money, and so he reluctantly let me put .85 euros on my card which didn't even end up working. emmmmmbarassing. but no biggie...now i know what to do at the post office. i went to casino to get some oragina, a baguette, and some camembert to soothe my soul...and it worked. perrine made the most delicious lemon tarte last night...i feel like i live in bakery. we at it with this stuff called le petit suisse which was yogurt-like stuff...delicious! then jacques showed us around le salon (living room?) and showed us these two paitings with a crazy story behind them---one day someone called him asking if he wanted these paintings of his relatives (the de lafarge's) and he said he did so he and perrine went to pick them up. they were of two of his relatives sometime before the first world war, and upon examing the painter's signature, they discovered that perrine's grandfather, who was a painter, had painted them! what are the odds??? probably close to a hundred years ago...he also showed us the two huge albums of their first daughter's wedding 2 years ago...everybody had these great, huge hats!





anyways, today i woke up and went to le fac (school) to make a payment but they were busy so i ended up going to bellecour to do some shopping....poor me! nothing to do except shop! i ended up re-finding a scarf i had wanted at united colors of benetton in the US, pictured above (the white balance was off but i kind of like it that way...). i am happy. i am also itching to take photographs. i am becoming more comfortable being here, so maybe more of that will happen soon. perrine made a lyonnaise dinner (aka specialties of lyon), and it was delish. pumpkin soup, potatoes au gratin (with gruyere--not as good as yours though, mama!), fresh sausage and a delcioussss apple tarte with creme anglaise...i have no idea what that would be in english...sorry. i've noticed that the french don't necessarily eat extremely healthily (well, compared to most americans they do but...). anyways, lots of bread, cheese, and pastries and no non-fat anything. i guess the key is that they walk a bunch, don't eat between meals, and eat small portions. c'est bon. et c'est tout pour moi ce soir. lataz.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

C'est Bon.


Josh in Barcelona and me in Lyon! I promise he was happy to be there...
So yesterday Josh got to Barcelona, and I talked to him on Skype. I only put this up here cause it's the only new pic I have. Anyways, c'est bon. That's my new favorite thing to say btw---in my head it's the equivalent to "it's all good, man." Anyways, yesterday I literally did nothing until dinner where Jacques and Theo made lots and lots of crepes. Theo had some friends over, and they were re-enacting scenes from stars wars with the corresponding movie soundtrack playing very loudly...reminds me of some Arrested Development episodes I've been watching...Anyways after that Janine and I went to Vieux Lyon to an Irish pub for Sarah's going away party where we met lots of nice people. The place was packed, and there was live music from an Irish guy playing some good songs from the White Stripes, Neil Young, Van Morrison...even some Velvet Underground! It was fun, and a drunk Irishman even borrowed the mic for a bit and sang some Irish song...felt so close to my roots! Not really though. haha! It does make me want to visit Ireland though...I really might! But Janine and I ended up missed our bus and ended up taking this taxi thing that was actually a bus, and us and about 5 other people we didn't know crammed into this little car and his route dropped us off like a mile from the house...mais, c'est bon. We made it home no worries.
Today we went to and Anglican church with Sarah, and it was really great! Really diverse, nice group of people, and we ended up going out to lunch and movie with a bunch of them. Some were from Scotland, England, New Zealand, Australia...fun people. Anyways we met the pastor and he's a really funny guy...his name is Chris Martin, but sadly he is not the Chris Martin in Coldplay. We saw Atonement, and I let out a sigh of relief when I realized it was subtitled and not dubbed! It was a great movie, but extremellyyyy heavy. If you've seen it you know what I mean. We all went out for un cafe afterwards at this nice little restaurant. It was the first time I didn't feel totally ashamed or nervous about speaking English in public....which could also be something not so good for ameliorating my French. Ah well. Anyways, turns out school might not start tomorrow but Thursday, so I will once again have to find things to do. There's an Egyptian exhibit at the Musee des Beaux Arts de Lyon, so perhaps I could check that out. Once more, on verra. Ciao!

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Who are these people?


Just kidding, I know who they are. I went to the Insitut Lumiere yesterday, which is a museum telling all about these two men above (the Lumiere brothers) and their advances in early moving pictures. If I understood correctly (everything was in French there....) they made the first film EVER, and I think it was of workers leaving a factory? Don't take that as fact though, cause I could've misunderstood. Anyway, the museum was really interesting, and they actually had many, many other inventions (they seemed to be quite the geniuses...) like the autochrome, which is what the first picture is. They chemically added color to photographs, and until the 1930's that was the only form of color photography. Evidently the movie The Illusionist tried to create the look of an autochrome. What was most interesting to me though was that they traveled all over the word recording different cultures, so seeing Mexico, Africa, and Morocco so long ago was just really...crazy. Anyways after going there I went to some friends of Janine's apartment for dinner with a bunch of people, and it was fun. Nice people. It was also nice to hear English again after listening to French alllll day. Anyways, not sure what's on the plate for today, but tonight my roommate Sarah is having a going away dinner with her friends at a Creperie (a place with crepes...) and then drinks . Should be fun. The only annoying thing here is that the buses and metro end at midnight and 1am, and since I live in Tassin, which is considered a suburb, there is no other way to get home unless we want to pay a lot for a taxi. Or if we want to walked for 1.5h....no thanks. Anyways, a bientot!

Thursday, January 10, 2008

a round of applause please...


reallly amazing marble roman columns. there were some ampitheatres but i didn't get any decent pictures of those.



the basilique from the ruins. i walked there afterwards.


the old men playing petanque!


the cemetary


told you it was huge! this was only a little section of it.


to all my family and friends out there (read the bench). love and miss y'all!

Today I finally ventured out of the house and explored by myself, and it was really fun. It was a beautiful day today, so I decided to go up on the Fourviere hill again (where the Basilique is) and explore up there. On my way there I discovered the metro line that would take me to the Roman ruins, and I'm glad I did because it was beautiful up there and I got to take lots of pictures. I kept walking down a path because it led to a cemetary that I had seen on the map and on the way I walked through the town and saw old men playing petanque, and talked to an older French lady who was very nice (who has a cousin in Dallas...everyone knows where Texas is here!). I finally got to the cemetary (Cimitiere des Loyasses) and it was huge and absolutely beautiful! Unfortunately I wasn't supposed to take pictures, so I only took one. I walked all the way back to the ruins (to insure that I didn't get lost) and just kept walking to these gardens and then to the Basilique. So I walked for like 2 hours today...my legs are going to be sore tomorrow. It was just really good to go somewhere where it was quiet...it's never quite here in the city. At least I know where I can go when I need it. In other news, french pillows are terrible. My roommate and two other girls from my program agreed---they're squares and really flat. Hurts my neck. Oh! Other cool thing...I went to a fromagerie in Vieux Lyon today on my way home. Ended up buying a local cheese (it was cheaper than the rest!) and it's ridiculouslyyyy delicious! It's cow's milk with pepper, and it definitely has green mold growing on in...I'm just going to trust the guy...haha! But anyways, for those of you that don't know, Lyon is the gastronomical capital of France...lucky me! I read that this is true simply because it's in a prime location---it's very near the best chicken, beef, vegetables...on and on and on. I'm not sure of the details---mama, you could look it up in that "taste of france" book cause that's where I found it. Anyways, enjoy the pictures!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Rien de Nouvelle? Nouveau?

The title of this reflects how I feel about my French skills at the moment. Not good. I look forward to the day where I'm not embarassed to speak in public. Anyway, I got up early this morning and Perrine and I drove to le Part-Dieu for some shopping on the first day of the soldes. It was complete madness...you would think that they would be only lasting for a couple days...not a whole month. I had really boring things to get like an umbrella and slippers, and I searched for a pair of those killer boots that everyone has here, but none of the ones I liked fit correctly. Lucky for my bank account...for now. I did end up spending quite some time there, however, just looking at all the different shops. Janine met me there and we went to Casino once more on our way home...this time sans chaos. And then I sat around all afternoon, ate dinner, and that's it. I can't wait to meet more people so I have things to do. Again, I have no idea what i'm going to do tomorrow, but maybe I'll go to the Parc Tete d'Or where there are plants and zoos and people...I wonder how the French feel about having their picture taken? I'm afraid to find out...Ciao for now!

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!!

So today I was going to go to the campus to take care of some stuff, but due to jet lag that I thought I'd shook and extreme hunger, I wasn't able to fall asleep till after 3:30AM and therefore didn't make my 8AM wakeup call. I felt sick so I ended up sleeping till noon unfortunately. I researched some classes, sent some emails about school, broke/melted my cheap converter, and then Sarah, my Australian roommate and I went to la boulangerie once more where I got bread with discs of melted goat cheese on it basically...delicious...After that I was once more complaining about my lack of caffeine, so Sarah suggested we go to the new Starbucks. Yes, there is a Starbucks here ("they're everywhere"), and yes, I know it's too soon into my trip to reward myself with an American mecca such as this, but I just wanted to go somewhere where I could say "un cafe s'il vous plait" and I would get more than a shot of espresso. It was PACKED and everything was the same as aux Etats Unis. The French all looked so excited to take their oversized muffins and sugary fraps back to their seats. The sizes were still in English, so I had to figure out how to say "Tall" with a French accent. Muy difficile because she had no idea what I was asking for...what kind of coffee? Black? With milk (aka the latte)? Normale? J'ai dit "noir" (black), and then she clarified for me the correct way to say "tall." We walked around that area called Bellecour some more, which is just a busy area with lots of stores and apartments and a ferris wheel, and then headed home for dinner.


Dinner was hilarious as usual---I really love the family. They like to laugh a lot, and all treat each other so nicely...they're just really relaxed. They were telling stories about when Jacques and Perrine met so long ago, and Victorine ran and got a picture of Jacques when he was younger and skinnier (their observations, not mine). They compared young Jacques to the handle of a spoon, and present Jacques to the wider part that you put your food on. Seems to be a common joke in the family. Theophane was being dramatic and was jokingly swooning over Jacques' beautiful bleu eyes, and Jacques was talking about his motorbike that he had at the time and continued to recount everything that Perrine was wearing when they first met. It was cute. The conversation somehow moved to all the different parts of a pig one eats, and Perrine cut it off at the discussion of the liver.


Tomorrow the soldes or sales begin, and Perrine offered to drive me to le Part-Dieu, the big mall early tomorrow morning, because we agreed that shopping is worth the early hour, and i'm sure it'll be chaos there. I've included a picture of Janine, my roommate, and I. She's great and we've been getting along really well. Anyways, a bientot!
Janine and I. She's from North Carolina.

Monday, January 7, 2008

Uh Oh

Sorry, no picture today because the internet is being slow and won't upload. So today was a really good day, depending on how you look at it. It was finally sunny, therefore much warmer luckily. It was really the first day that I was actually excited about being here...don't hate me, please. I had some caffeine (i think...it was this stuff that you mix into hot water so i'm not sure...) and I was looking forward to meeting the people in my program. So Janine and I went to the orientation, and after sitting there for awhile talking to a nice Finnish girl named Hainie, I found out that I'm actually supposed to be here a week later than now since I won't be taking all my classes in English. Yes, you got it---I could've booked my ticket for a week later than I did, and now I have nothinggg to do for a whole other week. That may sound awesome, me being free to explore wherever for a whole other week, but at that point I had not really met anyone so all I could think about was that I was going to be alone without Janine (since she was in the right place) left to do who knows what. But, I decided to be calm, cool, and collected about it and went on a tour that I wasn't supposed to be on with a crazy Polish student as the guide who spoke fluent French, English with a British accent, and popped out a bit of German to a German student in the group, too.
I must tell you, the French youth here are quite intimidating. They have impeccable taste in clothing (always wearing black with amazing leather shoes/boots) and they smoke and their hair is always perfect (especially the men---always have product in their hair) and they just look really cool like they stepped out of a magazine. All of them. Not exagerrating. The stereotypes are in fact true. Anyways I met another girl from Georgtown who was in the same boat as me (I wasn't the only one---like 10 other people had the same misfortune) and we are hopefully going to hang out this week. The de Lachaise famille didn't see it as a misfortune at all when I got home and told them..."one more week of vacation!" they said, "Ce n'est pas une probleme! Go to Paris for a day! Shop les soldes!" which are giant sales that France has during certain period of the year since their sales are regulated. They are hilariousss by the way. The kids were bargaining with their dad how much weight he should lose for the daughter's wedding this summer. He said 5 kilos, they said 20. So, we'll see. I'm going to a meeting tomorrow to check out some classes and then we'll see what happens. A demain!

Sunday, January 6, 2008

La famille


cool red door close to the house


Notre Dame De Fouriere...the Basilica. This picture does not do this thing justice....it was absolutely beautiful!


The picture really isn't as great as it could be, mainly because it was taken quite sneakily since I didn't know if pictures were allowed. Mass was in session...


Me in front of the city


The city. I'm not sure yet whether that's the Rhone river or the Saone (there are two in Lyon). You can also see le Cathedrale Saint-Jean in Vieux Lyon.

So I've had a request to tell a little bit more about the family, which I will gladly do. I'll start with Pie, the dog. He's a yellow lab and I'm glad he's around even though he smells. Then there's Jacques, the dad. He is a very friendly man who works in computers and is also an amateur artist on the side...he enjoys doing paintings and sculptures, of which there are many around the house and they're actually very good in my opinion. He joked that Colombine and Victorine were his best sculptures, though. He always has a smile on his face. Perrine, the mom, is so friendly and so very petite for having had 5 kids...and of course her style is superb. Her parents were over for lunch today and I came down looking for a spoon and she invited me and Janine to come have some food, which was bread with Roquefort and achovies, white wine, and then Au Gratin Fruits de Mare which was just a bunch of seafood in a cream sauce over rice. Thankkkk goodness because it was 2pm and I hadn't had anything to eat because I'd slept through breakfast. The kids are really funny. Colombine is 18 and she's very sweet and could be a model in my opinion. She's been studying hard for her Bac and gets out in March...crazy! Victorine is 12 and she is a character and very cute. Theophane (je ne sais pas comment on ecrit cela) is 13 and very much a 13 year old boy---goofy all the time. He cooked "un galette des rois" , aka king's cake, today which is a cake for Epiphany, and whoever finds the bean that's hidden inside become the king or queen and choses his/her king/queen to give a kiss. Victorine climbed under the table and shouted out who got the next piece while Theo passed out the cake. In the end, Victorine became queen and chose her papa to be her king. Tres mignon. In other news, Janine and I went to the Basilique today and I will attach some pictures. I'm guessing my posts will be shorter after today as school starts tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have more to do to fill up my time. A bientot!

Saturday, January 5, 2008

Fiasco in the supermarche


So today has been pretttyyy low-key as compared to yesterday. I woke up at 12h30 on accident when I meant to get up at 10 (I really really did!) and didn't end up leaving the house until about 14h30 or something like that. I've been soooo tired lately because 1) the jetlag of course and 2) I haven't drank coffee in the morning because they don't make any at the house...basically hell on earth for me. Ok, so I'm being a bit dramatic but I'm just so tired that it's even harder to think in French constantly. Anyways, Janine and I were going to go to the scenic overlook at a beautiful basilica in Vieux Lyon (the same quartier that we went to last night) and stopped at a boulangerie on our way to the bus stop. During that trip we decided that going to the basilica might have to wait as the weather was pretty gross...cold of course and then it started to rain. So we decided to go to Casino, which is the supermarche really close to us, to get some snacks and stuff since we only get two meals a day, and pretty much the main reason that I was a bit afraid to go there in the first place came true...so I got some fruit and other things and brought them to the checkout where the guy said something to me about the fruit which i didn't understand, so he called "Sophie" who took them to label the price evidently, and while I was waiting, my roommate Janine came to stand with me in line and the alarm went off. The checkout guy then proceeded to ask her to empy alllll of the pockets in her huge coat and her purse, and as he took her coat from her to check it out himself I noticed one of those tags that Old Navy puts on all of their clothes to prevent shoplifting, which is what caused the alarm to go off. SOOOO embarrassing because everyone was looking at us and it was a big scene and I just was not in the mood to understand any French or respond. "Typical Americans," i'm sure they were thinking...I mean...what are the odds? Anyways we went back to the house and watched about 3 hours of Arrested Development on my computer (I'm really making an effort to learn more French, aren't I?), and I thought the day was going to be pretty eventless but then Pilar invited us to go to dinner with her Mexicaine and Japanese friends again a l'Hotel de Ville (some neighborhood....dunno where). Funny thing---we were going to go to a Japanese restaurant but it was closed, so where else did we go but "El Tex Mex." We figured it was appropriate since there was a Tex (moi) and some Mex (Pilar and her friends). Can't say the food was especially Mexicain, but it was definitely better than Tex Mex I've had up north (in the US). I even had a brownie for dessert (pronounced "broonie"). I kept forgetting that I wasn't back home besides the fact that we were all speaking French. and English. and Spanish. and some Japanese thrown in by Shoko. interesting, interesting times. Ben, c'est tout pour maintenant! Je vais prendre plus de photos hier quand je vais au Vieux Lyon. Bonne nuit!

The Culprits

Friday, January 4, 2008

Je suis ICI





au debord, c'est moi sans sommeil dans ma chambre et puis c'est la vue de ma chambre le premier jour.
basically, that's me in my new room after not sleeping for like 30 hours and then it's the view from my room. Today the jetlag was pretty bad, and even though I got over 13 hours of sleep I felt PRETTY crappy. But me and the two other exchange students (one from mexico one from north carolina) that live in the house I'm living in went to Lyon and got various necessary things--a card for the bus, le metro et...I think that's it. Then me and Janine (the American girl) broke off and went to a cafe where I ate a brie sandwich which was just bread and brie, rien d'autre...let's just say it was too much brie. Then we met a good family friend of hers who was a lifesaver...he found a bank for me to use and took us to get les telephones portables at the Part Dieu which is the biggest mall in France, evidement, which has like 400 stores...incroyable! He took us to his apartment and he bought us pastries and tea...SUCH a wonderful guy. We headed home and I had my first dinner with the family. They are GREAT by the way...it's Jacques and Perrine de Lachaise, and they have 5 kids but only 3 are living here in the house. They're very nice and very funny...I think I'm going to like it here :) Finally, to top off the day, me, Pilar, and Janine went to Le Vieux Lyon, (the old Lyon) and had some drinks with some Mexican and Japanese friends of Pilar's...it's interesting when that's the main language that you have in common with people....it's so hard using French all the time mainly because I'm just so tired still and obviously not so good at it yet. School starts Monday, and I guess tomorrow I'll just go to the grocery store or something. I don't really know what to do yet. Maybe I'll stake out a French boyfriend...I'm PRETTY dang impressed with zee guys ici. They just dress so well...Anyways, that's it for now. It's late here. Bonne nuit!