Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Daytrip to Beaune, France

Cool jars in the pharmacie at Les Hospices de l'Hotel Dieu
The usual jumping picture

Cristina in a little patisserie that we went to to get warm


Beds in l'Hotel Dieu. Very typical Medieval architecture, evidently.

An arche in the middle of the city

Colors=very Anthropologie...

A Rose. On a wall.


Hotel Dieu. These tiles are typical of Beaune and are seen on random buildings around the town.

Well, yes, I did go on a daytrip to Beaune, but first I will tell you about Le Mont d'Or, which means Golden mountain basically...On Sunday afternoon I went to these hills right outside of Tassin, where I live, with my French friend, Ludo who showed me around a bit since he is Lyonnais. The hills are named Mont d'Or for the stones that were used to build walls and buildings that turned a golden color from the sun. It was freeeezingggg though---All day it had been raining and then snowing but it cleared up into a beautiful day in the afternoon and we trudged through the snow and mud along these paths with trees covered in snow--it was beautiful, and you could see all of Lyon from the top. The funniest thing though was that some people had lost their little dog named "Jackie," so about 10 people were wondering around calling its name and asking us if we had seen it...we just laughed and Ludo kept telling me "vas y, vas y!"--basically go ahead, they're calling you...I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but a "jackie" in spoken French is basically a guy who plays techno music really loud in his car, which is usually fixed up really nice, and they also dress kind of euro trash--not a nice connotation to my name, eh? This is why I also introduce myself as Jacqueline to French people. I also found out my name is a bit old-fashioned...basically the equivalent to Betty or Shirley or something, but hey, I don't mind! At least with a name like Jacqueline DeMaret Gilles no one could guess that I'm not French...

Anyways, the daytrip to Beaune. My friend Cristina and I were debating where to go for the past week for a little daytrip and finally decided the night before that we'd go to this little town called Beaune, that her French host father suggested, the next morning. It's the capital of Burgundy country and it's about 2 hours by train from Lyon. When I woke up at 6h30 to get ready to go, I looked outside my window and everything was covered in snow, and it was actually still snowing. I was thinking it would be a pretty miserably cold and wet day, but it actually was sunny on and off and the snow made the scenery quite charming :) We got there and just wandered around the streets with no real plan, and so it was really relaxing. We went to the antique market where I bought like 100 yr old postcards from Lyon for 50 cents, went to a wine museum, a basilica, les Hospices de l'Hotel Dieu, which was an old hospital of sorts from the middle ages, and at the end of the night we went to a restaurant where I tried my first escargots! They were in the shell and everything, and quite delicious. We of course had to have some good wine, too, from the Burgundy region--try a Cote de Beaune--and then headed back in the snow to catch our train. It was a great day--just really relaxing not having any set plans and just letting ourselves get lost in a town...today I am just chillin chez moi and getting random errands done. In two days I leave for Barcelone and am getting more and more excited! Mais c'est tout pour maintenant. Bisous!

Friday, March 21, 2008

It's great being an exchange student.

St. Patty's day at Johnny Walsh's

Me and my Kiwi friends. AKA New Zealanders.

At Rachel's 22nd birthday at a Piano Bar. (me, rachel, carol)
photo credit: rachel

Me and Sergio at Rachel's partay
photo credit: rachel
So besides this week being more work-filled than usual, meaning I actually had work to do, it's been pretty great. Been hanging out with some cool people and exploring Lyon a bit more. Last weekend went to a cool Moroccan tea house/hookah bar called "Orienthe" which reminded me of good ol' Kasbah back in Austin, which is the same thing, but the tea here was a million times better (didn't think that was possible!). I was informed by my friend Karen that I was with that went to Morocco last month that it was authentic Moroccan whisky---no alcohol involved since it's a Muslim country, but it was just tea, mint, and sugar--yum! Also went to Parc de la Tete d'Or again and checked out the elephants and bears this time! It happened to be the prettiest day I've experienced here in Lyon thus far, so it was a perfect day to be there. Saturday was nice, too, and I went to a salon du the (tea room) in Hotel de Ville (cool little neighborhood) that literally had a 20 page menu....there were specialty teas, juices, ice cream, coffees...but I so overwhelmed that I just ordered a chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) that I didn't even want. hahaha, oh well. Next time I go there I know I'm getting the vanilla ice cream+fresh orange juice combo...yum!



This week was mainly spent working on a project for my geographie regionale class on the EU--really great class. Me and a German girl, Alice, that I met through my old coloc (roomie) Sarah did our project together. We had to research the relations between Maghreb, basically some countries in Northern Africa (la Tunisie, le Maroc, l'Algerie et plus) and their economic relations with Europe. It was funny to research because Sarkozy, the French president, is proposing this new accord with Maghreb for better trade and relations, etc., but it becomes more and more apparent as you read on that no one, not even Maghreb and definitely not Europe is latching on to the idea...great to do a project on a soon-to-be non-existent idea, eh? It was great though because Alice and I spoke mostly French when we were together (because she speaks English as well---like nearly everyone in europe) and it was amazing the improvement in my French that I felt throughout the week and just the ease of speech that started. Also saw a French movie called "Les Femmes de l'Ombre" about women of the French Resistance during WWII, and it was awesome cause I felt like I understood nearly everything!


On Thursday though we had to present our project in front of our discussion class of about 40 people, which had to have been one of the most intimidating things EVER....presenting in front of all French students in a language that is not my own...I just prepared myself mentally for the possibility of laughing and talking--I mean I'll admit it's funny/ cute when foreigners speak your language...luckily no laughing occured though--Alice said she saw them flinch ever so often at our perhaps atrocious grammar though...There was this one row of guys that I noticed were quite attentive at the beginning, but by the end their faces were turned every which-way staring off in to space...I'll admit it was very boring since we were just reading out of this 10 page document that we had to write for it...I'm so happy it's done with now though!


I suppose my reward for that hard week of work (hours upon hours in the library researching a non-existent topic) and the main reason for the title of my blog is that I realized on Wednesday that I will not have school until the 1st of April...muahahahaha! We have Monday off for Easter, and my classes on Tuesday and Wednesday were all coincidentally cancelled and THEN I'm headed to Barcelona from Thursday morning to Monday morning, so I'm definitely PUMPED about that! Josh, (friend from Texas) and Jesus (Spanish guy who was studying at Texas last semester) are going to show me around the whole time, and Jesus is going to take me salsa dancing! (we went a lot back in Austin)...my friend Izzy will also be there. So it will be a super weekend I'm assuming.


As for other travel plans, I'm looking into going to Prague, Budapest, Italy, and Nice for my 2 week April break....trip of my dreams! Orginally wanted to go to Greece but it was trop cher...oh well, as long as I end up at a beach SOMEWHERE I will be happy...no more of this cold, cloudy business! Although the longer I'm here in Lyon the more I love it---I'm just sad that it doesn't look like anyone is going to make it here to visit me :( Now that it is spring all these beautiful flowered trees are blooming, more people are out shedding their coats for spring jackets, and cafes put out tables and umbrellas in the Place de Terreaux--feels more "European" and it just creates a general atmosphere of "le bonheur" or just having a good time. I will surely miss France and am starting to get somewhat upset whenver I think about leaving. If only I didn't have obligations back home this summer (and the complete lack of money to stay!!!!) I would search for an English assistant job. Ugh, I don't want to leave! I just love Europe! Travel is so addicting--sometimes when I'm here at home in Lyon I start missing the sound and feeling of being on a train or the ridiculous uncomfortableness of sleeping on an airport floor or the ability that one develops while traveling to fall asleep anywhere in any position...good skills to learn. Now my main goal in life is to make/save enough money to travel where I want-next on my list in Australia and India [Aunt Susie...should we talk? :) ]. I feel like it's an attainable thing if one saves enough. Perhaps not as many late-night ice cream/Kerbey Lane runs when I get back home? We'll see. As for now I need to go to sleep because I'm getting up way early to meet a couple friends at the markets on the Saone for Easter. It's suppose to snow, but let's hope la meteo is wrong! A bientot et je vous souhaite de joyeuses fetes de Paques!! (Happy Easter) Bisous a tous!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Days 7-9

Amazing detail work in Sainte-Chappelle

Mmmm ya my jaw dropped when I walked into this room.
Josh et moi a Sacre Coeur in Montmartre!
Perfect Parisian photo? I think so.

Josh and me at the Tuileries right outside the Louvre

Josh, Cristina and me at the Tuileries. It was a perfect afternoon!

Ciao perfect apartment with beautiful, huge, mirrored doors!

Man, I apologize for how this entry has taken me. I've been SO busy with school...but more about that later. For the last weekend of my trip I will just give a brief overview:

So I finally got my flight out with about 4 hours of half-awake sleep in me by the time I got to Paris. It was a bit difficult transition back to the French, but I realized I had really missed it while I was gone. Anyways I made my way from one terminal to another one in search of my friend Cristina to meet her up at her gate since she was getting in from Dublin, but instead a really really rude lady stopped me from going to the next terminal, talking bad about me in French to her friend probably not knowing I understood her...me, with not much sleep or patience was not to friendly to her in French back. But because I couldn't meet up with Cristina I made my way into Paris by train/metro to meet Josh, who was flying in from Barcelona, at the metro stop near the apartment we were staying at. Miraculously we found each other, because I was an hour later than I said I'd be. That mission accomplished, we then had to figure out how to meet up with Cristina whose phone had died and whose minutes had run out. So we found a cafe in our neighborhood and ate lunch, and lemme tell you, this neighborhood was great! Not very touristy, even though it was RIGHT next to the Seine (2 minute walk), and they had all these really nice, really French little cafes and patisseries and shops, and it was just perfect. Miriculously enough again, as soon as we walked up to find the apartment, Cristina walked up with her brother and all was well until they left to get a sandwich while we waited for the caretaker to come and let us in. Bad news. She was this older Portuguese women named Lidia, and she came in and I had to have a 15 minutes long explanation/argument-discussion in French with her about me and Josh being there--evidently she had misunderstood that there would be 4 people and not 2, and she pointed to me and Josh and said in French "YOU staying in hotel. NOT HERE!" Perhaps it was the look of utter shock/disbelief on my face of how much we would've had to pay to find a hotel that day for a weekend in Paris, or perhaps it was that tiny, tiny bit of kindness that existed inside Lidia's heart, but whatever it was she left and came back with a key to the apartment saying "ok, you can stay here, because I'm NICE..." After complementing my French and telling Josh that he spoke bad Spanish (which isn't true---she just would mix her Portuguese and Spanish together!) she insisted that the garcons (boys) sleep on the couches and the two girls in the bed together and NOTHING ELSE...I half expected her to come in and check on us while we were sleeping....

Anyways, we showered up and rested for a couple hours as Josh and I had both sleep at airports the night before, Cristina had flown in with 3 hours of sleep from having to get up so early for her flight, and Jamie her brother had just flown in from Georgia. We walked to the Eiffel Tower and then went to the supermarche to but groceries for the weekend, strolled home along the Seine, and made some delicious, delicious pasta with great wine, cheese and bread. Cristina and I wanted to make it as French as possible (besides the pasta part!).

Anyways, to summarize, we saw A LOT that weekend, but it was one of the best/ relaxing weekends I've ever had at the same time because we just took our time and tried to really enjoy and experience Paris without exhausting ourselves. Finally went to the Louvre for the first time in my life, saw Sainte-Chapelle, Arc de Triomphe, Place de la Concorde, Sacre Coeur, Tuileries, and I'm sure there's more, but I just can't remember. I felt a lot better by the end of the weekend because I rehydrated myself and slept a lot more. All-in-all it was an incredible trip, and now all I have to do is start planning my 2 week long April trip! woohoo! Enjoy the pics and I'll attempt to keep this more updated...Bisous!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Days 3-6


Me and Big Ben in London!

Karina and I in front of the Tower Bridge in London

King Lear's tomb at Tara somewhere in the Irish countryside...

A little Leprechaun click o' the heels at Tara!

climbin' on some ruins

Celtic cross from the 10th or 11th century

At an old cemetary

cold and wind.

Cemetary and way weird tree

This was not fun to climb up going against some serious wind...

St. Valentine looking down on me....

Cristina and I at Trinity College

Tour guide showing us part of Dublin Castle

Different Guinness bottles throughout the years

View from the Gravity Bar at the Guinness Storehouse

Day 3: Guinness...and other things....
So on my third day there we got up and went to Trinity College, which is a very old and very pretty university in Dublin where people like Johnathan Swift went to school. It's also where the Book of Kells is, which is this really old illustrated book. Haha sorry, I can't tell you anymore because it was 10 euro to go on a tour or just 7 euro to go look at the book, and I didn't think that either would be worth the money, so Kim and I headed to the Chester Beatty library to see some manuscripts, but it was closed so we just decided to go see the relics of St. Valentine instead (which I was pretty excited about, I won't lie). Anyways, we walked around some more, met Marni who had flown in from London, had lunch and then headed to the Dublin castle. In true Ireland fashion it began to rain with ridiculous amounts of wind, so having an umbrella turned out to be more of an embarassment than a help (I didn't have one) because they would constantly turn inside out...luckily by this point I had decided that I wouldn't care what I looked like on this trip due to my lack of hair products and overused clothes...Anyways the castle was cheap to get into, beautiful, and really interesting. There were even Viking walls underneath it! There was a guy from Houston on the tour wearing an A&M hat on the tour who didn't end up being very friendly....not a true Aggie, or Texan even...I mean we're all the freaking way in Ireland for gosh sakes...at least act like it's a little cool to see someone from your home state! Anyways, after that we headed to the Guinness Storehouse after that to take advantage of the "free" pint you get at the end. The tour was kind of lame but the Gravity Bar at the top was really cool because it had a great view of Dublin since it was all windows. And guess who was there? More French guys. I'm guessing they were with the other ones. Anyways later we went out and had some Irish food---stews and meet and vegetables....I feel gross just thinking about it. Haha! We met up later with Catherine's friends and went to this club called Crawdaddy's...who in their right mind would name a club that I don't know, but the name equalled the atmosphere in my opinion. I just don't think I'm a "clubeuse" as the French say...I pretty sure it's the music and the somewhat creepy guys that tend to hang out there that I'd prefer not to dance to or with...
Day 4: wind and Irish countryside
This day was rough. We had booked a tour for about 9 in the morning around the Irish countryside, but we were all so tired that we got a late start and were sprinting through the streets of Dublin still quite hungry cause we didn't get to each much breakfast, and we were also freeeezing cold because the wind and temperature were the worst yet of the trip. We finally got there and it ended up that the tour guide was 30 minutes late anyway, so that was a good and bad thing. Anyways, he got there, this older, (very) Irish guy, and took us around to see all kinds of ruins of monasteries, cemetaries, and remanents of the ancient celtic civilization like tombs and also their largest colony, Tara. Tara was beautiful because although it seemed quite low, it is one of othe highest points in Ireland and you could see 26 counties looking in all directions. King Lear's grave was there as well as other remaining artifacts. Really though, it was just beautiful, and I felt so refreshed to be in the countryside seeing some of the greenest greenery I've ever seen in my life. The wind was miserable though, and we were playing games like who could lean furthest into the wind while it supported you without falling....rough! The hardest part the whole day was getting out of the van at each site and feeling that cold wind hit you..brrrr. Needless to say when we all got home to the hostel we were wiped out from the lack of sleep and the wind, and we ate at this cute art cafe down the street that reminded me a bit of Austin. Lights out were at 10h30...I hadn't gone to sleep that early since junior high!
Day 5: I'll miss you dearly, Ireland!

Last day in Dublin....tear! What I mainly remember about this day is feeling nauseous most of the time because I think I was dehydrated...traveling is rough! Anyways, we got up and went to St. Patrick's and then the National Gallery, which was really nice. Saw a painting or two from my Avant-Garde art class which was cool. I also found my new favorite store...Top Shop! I just moped around knowing that I couldn't (and still can't---what torture to be in France and be a poor student/have the American dollar as your currency!) afford to buy clothes let alone fit anything in my ridiculously stuffed backpack...Anyways we had lunch and then Karina and I caught a bus to the airport to London...too late. The bus took three times as long as it should've and we missed check-in by 4 minutes...!!! GRRRR RYAN AIR....je te deteste. We had to pay 75 euro to get another flight out a little later...there goes another weekend trip somewhere....Luckily though we still made it in around 8 and Karina's great aunt and uncle were SO nice enough to pick us up at Heathrow and took us back to their home near Kent and fixed us delicious, delicious Indian food. We went to bed early knowing the next day would be insanity...
Day 6: the most insane sightseeing you've ever...seen.
Karina and I got up and took a train into London and saw everything we possibly could within a matter of 6 hours. I honestly can't even remember everything that we saw, but here, I'll try: Trafalgar Square, The National Gallery, Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St. Davis Park maybe?, Buckingham Palace, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, London Bridge and....that's when we headed home. I was wrecked and still suffering from dehydration/exhaustion I think, so we headed home and I slept and ate a bit before they took me to the tube which I took to take a bus which I took to spend the night on the floor at the Luton airport to go to Paris...Such a surreal day. I got about 1 or 2 hours of light sleep at a time, about 4 sessions in total the whole night. I felt so horrible but managed to get through it by getting on the internet and paying way too much (in pounds) for a muffin and yogurt, but at least they made me feel better. It was actually pretty fun even though I was by myself---a little adventure :) I mean, I made it from a tube station, walked around the streets of London at midnight, got my bus, slept at an airport and made my way to Paris...where could I go by myself next??? I think now the possibilities are ALMOST endless :) Anyways, Paris is the next and final installment. Enjoy these pics...they're my favorites!

Saturday, March 8, 2008

So you wanna here about my trip to Ireland, etc?



I think this is Grafton Street, a great place for shopping.



A Bog person's hand! I got this picture from National Geographic. I just had to give you an idea of what I saw...



Statue-ish thing right outside of St. Stephen's Green. There was sunshine! No more rain!



That's what the inability to travel with hair products due to airport laws will do to one's coiffure. St. Stephen's Green



Terribly focused (no on knows how to use my camera) but it's the first Guinness of the trip! Slainte!


Ok, well I'll tell you. Sorry it's taken awhile to get this up here. I'm going to do this in installments as there's lots to tell.
Day 1:

So I left Lyon on Saturday, the 23rd of February with just a backpack (a normal one, not a backpacking one) for 8 days of travel to Dublin, London, and Paris...it was quite an accomplishment for me :) I met 3 other girls---Karina from Georgetown, Catherine who goes to uni in Vancouver and Louise from New Zealand---at the train station in Lyon to take a train to Grenoble, a small town not too far from Lyon, to catch our "cheaper" flight out from the airport there. The ride was less than 2 hours, and once we got to Grenoble we then had to take about a 40 minute bus ride to the airport. And this aiport was TINY--people were just crammed everywhere, and everyone had these terrific sunburns/tans from skiing since the alps aren't too far. They seemed to be mostly Brits and other English speakers down for holidays. Anyways we waited there for about 2 or 3 hours until our flight finally came (never take Ryan Air!!!). There was no announcement of a delay of any sort, nope! After being randomly told that I was a "jeune fille avec beaucoup de charme" (basically a young girl with charm) by a creepy security guard, we progressed into the waiting area and just sat for an additional hour hoping we hadn't misunderstood any of the thick-accented announcements in english that were happening periodically amid the roar of too many voices of too many people crammed into this tiny waiting area. Finally our plane came and we arrived in Dublin around 11pm. One girl went to her hostel for the night while me and two others took a bus to UCD (University College of Dublin) where we were going to stay that night with a friend of one of the girls that I was with. It felt so weird being on a real college campus again because I don't know if I've mentioned this, but Lyon 3 is actually an old tobacco factory, "la manufacture tabac" or "la manu" for short, so it's actually quite tiny and doesn't feel anything like what I'm used to a college campus being like. In fact, it's quite ugly, haha. Anyways, we stayed up talking to this guy we were staying with and his German roommate, explaining such things to him as March Madness and why Karina (who is Indian) and I are so dark even though we're American...haha.
Day 2:

We woke up to see the most amazingly green grass you'll ever see in your life. I just love that about Ireland. We made our way by double-decker bus to the City Centre (downtown basically) to catch another bus so that I could check into my hostel. Just to warn you---if you ever go to Dublin, do not expect a good transportation system...at all. Lots of connections and you have to pay for each bus each time...That being said, it was coollldddd out that day. It was actually pretty cold everyday in Ireland, but the reason it was so cold was because of the ridiculous wind and---yep, humidity. The humidity pretty much made you feel like you hadn't put on tights, pants, a sweater, a coat, a huge scarf on and gloves. Yikes. We went to my hostel called "The Brewery Hostel" to check in and Dave, the long-haired nice Aussie, checked me in. It was a smaller hostel, kind of like an old house with 4 large floors with about 6 bunk beds and an ensuite bathroom in each room. The coolest part was this large comfy common room with a bunch of nice big couches and tables and a free computer where peolple just hung out day and night. There we met up with Kim and Cristina who had just gotten in from Amsterdam, and we headed to the National Museum taking the scenic route down Grafton street by the Molly Malone statue. The National Museum was pretty awesome. They had artifacts ranging from ancient gold celtic jewelry that was unlike anything I've seen to Vikings artifacts from when they were in Ireland to....my favorite part...BOG BODIES! You should really read up on these things---They are these 2,000 year old bodies that were found in bogs in Ireland that are amazingly-well preserved. Experts are not quite sure what happened to these people, but it seems that they were tortured and killed for sacrificial reasons. Anyways, you just go and look at these bodies in glass cases right in front of you...I've got to admit, it's pretty creepy. Basically though, the museum taught me that Ireland has a very very ancient history that I had no idea went as far back as it does.
From there we headed to St. Stephen's Green, this beautiful park near Grafton Street where we ended up meeting this 30 yr old American guy, Ryan, that had been living in Dublin for about a year, and we walked around with him a bit and then he took us to this small "authentic" Irish pub to get our first pint of Guinness in Ireland! He was a funny and interesting guy, and when his friend came to meet him for dinner you could tell that he was absolutely smug to be seen chilling with 6 cute college girls....
Later that night we went to Temple Bar, a really touristy area of bars and the Temple Bar, and of course what nationality was the group of guys that we ended up next to? French. They were Parisien in fact. We cannot escape these French people :) So we got to practice our French some in Dublin even though they were in Dublin to practice their English...c'est la vie. We also met some hilarious Italians from Torino who were using us to practice their English as well. I've never seen anyone gesticulate like these Italians...hilarious! Anyways, we made our way back to the hostel where I went to sleep I cuddling with my purse that had my camera in it since there were no lockers. Interesting hostel, this was. Donc, c'est tout pour maintenant. Je vais finir vous expliquer mes aventures plus tard quand je suis pas si fatiguee. A bientot!