Here and There

white sails

2010-04-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Yellow Bike Afternoon

2010-02-27T22:27:00.001-08:00

madre

2010-02-15T10:37:00.000-08:00

Pre-Wedding (Karen and Will Berry)

2010-02-03T17:30:00.000-08:00

2009-12-23T16:49:00.000-08:00

Govalle Care Center

2009-12-20T16:51:00.001-08:00

Jimmy and Helen

Becky

Wilma

Mary

Sarah

Wanda

FLORIDA

2009-12-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

One Afternoon

2009-11-15T19:17:00.000-08:00

Favorite

2009-10-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

UT Elementary kids clowning around Summer 2008. Unfortunately, all I have is this crappy JPG of the photo that I can honestly say was my favorite out of all the photos I took during my time at the Daily Texan.

Butler Park At Sunset

2009-06-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

Hippie Hollow Assignment

2009-06-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

Photos from a tricky supplement assignment at Hippie Hollow for the Texan. It was certainly among the more uncomfortable experiences I've had :)

the other side of paul chouy

2009-06-15T11:14:00.001-07:00

Fourth of July

2009-06-11T22:02:00.000-07:00

The Junior Prom

2009-06-08T22:46:00.000-07:00

Robe Parisien

2009-06-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

TSM Banquet

2009-05-19T00:51:00.000-07:00

Texas Student Media banquet at the Salt Lick--lots of photogs, lots of fun.

bird on a wire

2009-05-14T18:35:00.000-07:00

the slackline master, eliot meyer.

2009-05-04T20:40:00.001-07:00

Daily Texan Pics 4/24

2009-04-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

The Barbara Jordan Statue Committee practices unveiling the statue for the next day's ceremony.

Community meeting held at Martin Middle School discussing the possibilities of opening up a UT Middle School, which would be mutually beneficial relationship for UT and the population of East Austin.

Sarah and Preston's "So Austin" Engagement Pictures

2009-04-24T11:15:00.000-07:00

beautiful people=beautiful photographs

Recents Sports Shots

2009-04-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

softball

men's tennis

mariachi

2009-04-19T19:27:00.000-07:00

windmill

2009-04-12T22:42:00.000-07:00

Food Shark- Marfa, TX

2009-03-23T12:35:00.000-07:00

This is Food Shark, a lunch truck located right on the railroad tracks that was present only during lunchtime under this overhang with several tables. It was overrun with extra visitors the day we went, but I believe the people pictured are Marfinians (I made that term up I don't know if that's what they call themselves). We ordered the Marfalafel, and it was honestly the best falafel I've had in years.

Junction, TX

2009-03-22T01:36:00.000-07:00

Sunshine Gardens Plant Sale Goods. And Blue.

2009-03-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

I-35 is Zee Place

2009-02-26T22:40:00.000-08:00

(Ms. Dossey)

2009-02-19T08:37:00.000-08:00

Austin Marathon

2009-02-17T12:53:00.001-08:00

Sights at the mile 20 marker at the Austin Marathon, February 15. The atmosphere was extremely spirited hanging out next to Thunderbird Coffee with a band and many, many enthusiastic supporters of the runners (see middle photo).

L'orange Moisi

2009-02-09T12:22:00.000-08:00

Mesmerized?

2009-02-09T12:21:00.000-08:00

Frost Bank Silhouette

2009-02-05T21:07:00.000-08:00

"Horizons"

2009-01-26T09:25:00.000-08:00

Inspired by my limiting circumstances: taking pictures from the backseat of a car.

Indiana Sunset

2009-01-24T16:02:00.000-08:00

It was tres, tres cold.

Mason, My New Best Bud

2009-01-24T12:47:00.000-08:00

Don't let his subdued nature in this picture fool you.

Sights at the Farm Christmas Day

2009-01-08T00:44:00.000-08:00

butter churns chez moi

Look Closely

2009-01-07T00:20:00.000-08:00

My Favorite Subject

2008-12-12T10:35:00.000-08:00

Brian "Bydeeman" Joseph, a local Austin artist. This is the first day we met on the corner of Lamar and Barton Springs on Labor Day. Wonderful person--visit his gallery on East 11th street.

KU Game

2008-12-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

touchdown! my man ogbonnaya!

Cinq Plus.

2008-12-01T15:10:00.000-08:00

next to the maritime museum in south norwalk, CT

snipe action-ing the pops in grand central station, NY

nice coat

aaron amongst the CT trees

WOB V

Thank Goodness for Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T14:58:00.000-08:00

afternoon shadow in south norwalk, CT

back in time, NY

NYC on edge of central park south

will-ster in conneCticut

lovely lillian lane.

a couple of assignments.

2008-11-21T12:38:00.000-08:00

Nacho Perez. Sculptor of Olmec Head replica in background.

Cap Metro strike. This wasn't the one that ran...I've been bad at getting names lately :(

on the road to kansas

2008-11-16T21:18:00.000-08:00

These are in reverse order. I love weather--all the bizarrely shaped clouds that are pictured are from the edge of a cold front that we drove into. They look far more ominous than they actually turned out to be, luckily. However it still made our entry into the midwest just as stereotypical as I had hoped (Wizard of Oz anyone?).

Le Camping.

2008-11-16T18:20:00.000-08:00

abstract shadow art?

lovely hill country scene

jordan against on the other side of the tent.

campsite

cactus.

Done with Europe pics, Moving On to Life in the US Now.

2008-10-19T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sarah defying gravity

What country are we in?

Local Austin artist I have befriended. He is from Trinidad and invented those people in the painting he calls "Bydee people." "Bydee" stands for "BYDEE- Bringing You Delightful Entertaining Experiences" and "their philosophy transcends all races, cultures and political beliefs because they involve the relationship of man to man, woman to woman, man to woman, parent to child, children to children, human beings to nature and one to self. Their philosophy involves family, friendship, diversity, love and happiness." source: http://bydee.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=34&Itemid=65

The artist with his art. Lovely window lighting.

In local art book store called Domy for a story.

So I really should be keeping up with this even though I am not longer thousands of miles away because I'm still shooting all the time, mainly for the Daily Texan newspaper. So here are some recent favorites.

more praha

2008-07-28T19:51:00.000-07:00

looking for the royal gardens

jumping in a tunnel inside prasky hrad

hazy day

perfect day on charles bridge

loved this day

praha

2008-07-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

main square

great architecture everywhere

hymn books in prasky hrad

prasky hrad (prague castle)

cathedral inside prasky hrad

back in america...

2008-07-17T10:15:00.001-07:00

Ya ya ya you can hate me all you want for being disappointed for being back, but it's just how I feel---la france me manque beaucoup! Basically I've been back for about a month and a half now and the culture shock is wearing off, but I still miss it terribly...I'm just no longer complete. I no longer say "pardon" or "excusez-moi" in public places and have stopped staring at everyone in awe of how they're AMERICANS (oh my!) and speaking my language, but I miss my friends, my cheese, my wine, my trips and my family to bits. Speaking French is already harder again for me, which is a really depressing and hard fact to accept. I plan on going back in a year, but will I ever be able to spend that much time in a French speaking country again? We'll see. For now though I'll be posting my favorite pictures (starting with the ones that I haven't posted from the end of my trip) again as well as places I'd like to go in the world. So here's the first, and guess where it is?: http://voyazine.voyages-sncf.com/destinations/france/limousin/brive_la_gaillarde/idees_vacances/la_correze_mille_delicieux_paysages/?prex=T_D1P1_0807_37973

My Journey

2008-04-27T15:53:00.000-07:00

So, I got back into Lyon last night after my 2.5 week long journey around Europe. I made a little map complete with short explanations with google maps so that you can better see where I was:
<http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113355030386816916635.00044bddb8493e76c68d8&ll=45.282617,6.075439&spn=3.455127,7.426758&z=7>

I'm hoping that works. That should satisfy you until I've gotten the chance to go through my 600 photos I took...YIKES! But yes, although there was some doubt in your minds whether I was alive or not somewhere between Budapest and Milan, I am in fact quite happy, healthy, and tan after this amazing, amazing trip. I will be posting basic summaries as often as I can in the coming days. Post soon!

Les Francais

2008-04-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

See the red flag? That's the protest leaving the Place de Terreaux.

Dim and Cristina studying some French

Tables Cafe Leffe. You can also see the pretty fountain in the middle of the Place.

Enjoying a pastry from the boulangerie next to my house.

Janine with her shadown and mine...saturday afternoon photo session taking advantage of some good light!

colocs.

So, it was absolutely beautiful here yesterday. I got out of the house and headed to Place de Terreaux to meet my friend Cristina and her French bf to study some French grammar...woohooo! We have a final exam tomorrow, so we found a nice cafe with tables out in the plaza and looked over our work, with the help of Dim, the French guy. However, I had my camera and did more picture-taking and people watching than studying. The sun was so warm and everyone was out walking around---I just loved it! It was one of those "wow, we are in France" afternoons because we were sitting in the place at a cafe surrounded by people speaking French and witnessed a "manifestation" or protest, which are VERY popular here in France. Also witnessed a parade of different kinds of bicycles persuading people to take bikes more. Also a parade of unicycles. Can you see why I was a bit distracted?

The other night my school organized a pub night for all the study abroaders here with all the French people that will be studying at their schools next year, and I met two girls, Elodia et Charlotte, that will be studying in Austin. They're both so sweet, and I'm looking for to hanging out with them and hopefully speaking French as much as possible :) I also really enjoyed bragging about Austin and UT for a night :)

Really though, as my "sejour" (stay) here is coming to an end, I've been thinking my general opinion of it, and I've decided that I love France. At the beginning of my stay here I had a lot of issues getting used to the culture, especially the people and their ideas of doing things here. In fact, I pretty much went through a "I hate France" stage. But now, I know I want to live here again. I just love the people--the things that originally annoyed me (like their strong opinions on EVERYTHING) now amuse me greatly. Of course I've always loved the food, and the country itself is just amazing. So much history and beauty and things just so unique to such a small place. It's coming to the point of "now or never" since I'm really only going to be here for 1 more month (in France specifically) since I'll be traveling so much. It's almost painful to think about leaving, and I apologize in advance for any pouting or grieving I might do for the months following my retour...Just know that if you ever want someone to go to France with, or even just a French film, you know who to call. Tear. Gros bisous de la France!

BARCELONA

2008-04-05T02:02:00.000-07:00

Tiles at Park Guell

Place Espana from the top...this was definitely zoomed in!

Enjoying my paella in Barceloneta

Izzy, Josh, and I...Longhorns in Spain!

On a balcony of one of the towers at La Sagrada Familia

La Sagrada Familia...just one side...when it's finished it's going to be absolutely surreal!

Lookin out on BCN

amazing view!

Xus (Jesus), me and Izzy

Park Guell

Xus and I at Mojito, the salsa bar.

So, it's actually been nearly a week since I've gotten back from Barc, and I have failed to write this probably because I've been too exhausted from the trip...it was a great time---people don't lie when they say the party starts at 2am there!

Anyways, I stayed with Jesus, my Spanish friend who studied at UT last semester, for the whole weekend. He came picked me up at the airport and we met up with my friends Izzy and Josh a little later...I'm amazed that by taking an airplane for an hour will get you from still winter "foliage" to palm trees! Unfortunately the weather wasn't that great most of the weekend--cloudy and a bit chilly. Luckily though the last full day I was there it was a lot warmer and sunny--evidently the real Barcelona.

While I was there, though, we walked along Ramblas--this long, wide street with lots of shops/restaurants and street performers---tourist central. Also did some beach action but didn't get in of course because it was too cold--what a shame, too. I'd love to go back in the summertime. Barcelona seems to be a very nice, clean city...at least the parts I went to. Other "guiri" things (spanish word for tourist) that we did were go La Sagrada Familia--a church partly designed by the famous architect, Gaudi, that has been under construction for over a 100 years now...it's the COMPLETE opposite from any traditional cathedrale...honestly, quite weird, but amazing at the same time. Also went to the Museu Picasso, Place Espana--it's at the top of this hill called Montjuic and we watched this huge fountain show with lights and music, Park Guell--yet another crazy creation of Gaudi. It's this crazy looking park that overlooks Barcelona, and you can see the whole city nearly and the coastline from certain scenic outlooks.

Really though, a lot of my time spent there was spent eating...haha, perfect for me! I had the best tapas--potatoes bravadas were my favorite, but we also had octopus, squid, fried mussels, tortilla, and many, many more. We also had the most delicious paella in Barceloneta by the marina. Even tried arroz negre, which is black because of squid ink! Another very Spanish drink which I learned to like immediately was called clara--half limonade (carbonated lemon drink) half beer. It's a good thing I'm not living there---otherwise none of my clothes would fit me anymore!

One of the best parts of the weekend though was meeting lots of cool people---we hung out with Josh's exchange friends and his Spanish roommates a couple nights, and they were all really fun, nice people. There were actually lots of French people there, and it's possible that I spoke more French in the first couple of days there than I do on a daily basis here in Lyon---and what I mean by that is long conversations...The last night Jesus and I made it to a salsa club, too, and went dancing like we did back in Austin. Made friends with a nice girl from California and also saw some GREAT dancing! Anyways, I also really enjoyed being reunited with my friends from home, including Jesus. Just a good weekend. Even learned some Catalan! Even though everyone says I should be able to understand it pretty well since it's a mix of French and Spanish, that language is a bit too crazy-sounding to follow. I understood a lot of Spanish though, which was surprising.

Anyways, what's on the plate for the next few weeks? I'm heading out this Wednesday for our 2 week April break, and I'm going to Prague, Vienna, Salzburg, Budapest, Italy, and hopefully Nice! Sounds like a crazy amount, and I'm sure it will be. I'll have to really make an effort to take care of myself so I don't bottom out like last trip...Anyways, must go and study for a final exam I have on Monday. Ciao!

Daytrip to Beaune, France

2008-03-25T07:27:00.000-07:00

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!

It's great being an exchange student.

2008-03-21T06:43:00.000-07:00

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!

Days 7-9

2008-03-18T17:48:00.000-07:00

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!

Days 3-6

2008-03-10T14:45:00.000-07:00

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!

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

2008-03-08T16:07:00.001-08:00

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!

les vacances!

2008-02-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

So this week has been an interesting mix of fun and not fun. I've been sick (no worries, people, I'll live!), so I haven't been feeling so well and i've been resting at home. I actually got it from Theophane, Victorine and Jacques, and at any given time in the house you can hear one of us coughing...At the dinner table they jokingly separate "les malades des pas malades" or "the sick from the not sick"--it's funny cause it's 4 and 4 right now. so that's the not-so-fun part, but on the other hand, the kids have off from school so they've been home a lot more than usual. This means many things...first, everyone is a little more light-hearted. Dinner-time is especially fun because the kids don't have to go to bed early for school, so we take our time discussing things and joking, and for the past few nights we've all stayed up watching movies. The first night we watched un film qui etait tellement beau that was called "Les Choristes," which was a somewhat well-known French movie about this all boys school where a choir was started to help them shape up...sort of. The next night we watched Jurassic Park, then Shrek 2, (all in french--interesting) and tonight we watch the Lyon vs. Manchester United football match that's actually here in Lyon tonight, and it's a big deal because Lyon is the best team in France and ManU is a really good team as well...

Anyways, yesterday I went to this really cool Salon de The or tea room with my friend Frank called Arabesque that's a flower shop with the tea room up top. They have all these teas and drinks with flower flavors like mimosa and even geranium, and they served everything with rose petals. It was really schnaz. I'm trying to find more interesting things to do outside now that it seems to be getting warmer....of course, when I leave this weekend it's goign to be in the 60's here! I can't wait for spring! Well I must go to sleep now. Bonne nuit!

what's new?

2008-02-17T10:15:00.000-08:00

j'ai de la chance, let's just say that.

where we ate lunch

mmm karen and i with squished sandwiches!

taking a break on a blue

this is where we took the break...imagine falling down that...

I guess I haven't given a general overview lately...My old Mexican roommate, Pilar, moved out, and a girl named Cristin moved in about 2 weeks ago, and she goes to Westpoint. Another girl from Westpoint moved into the house across the street, along with a British girl, who is really fun. It's nice to have a tiny population of study-abroaders here in our little suburb of Tassin...

I finally got all of my classes figured out, and I will now being taking an Avant-garde art history, an International Finance (both in English), a geographie of the EU in french, a French as a Foreign Language class, and a translation class. I think my favorites are my EU class and the translation class. I'm meeting people from all over the US and mainly the UK, New Zealand and Australia.

Anyways, I'm nearly done planning my upcoming one-week long trip to Ireland, London, and Paris! I'm flying into Dublin next Saturday and staying there until for 4 nights in the Brewery Hostel (evidently it's right next to the Guiness storehouse) and then flying to London for 2 nights (staying with the cousin of a friend), then going to Paris for the weekend to meet my friend Josh from home (staying in an apartment that a friend's family rented out). I'm SO excited to be going back to (one) of my homeland(s)! Not really sure what all we'll be doing, but i think it'll be great!

As for this past weekend, what the pictures are from, me and 6 others went skiing in the alps! We skied at Les Carroz, which appears to be right on the Italian border. For only 35 euro we were able to take a bus which gave us a ski pass and skied all day. Unfortunately we had to get up at 4 to be there on time, and now I've never been so tired and sore in my life, but I don't regret it at all! The scenery was breathtaking, and I've never felt more like I was in a dream than then...I ended up improving a bit and went on some blues by the end of the day. All in all we had a great time though! Now just 6 days till Ireland....

si beau, si cher

2008-02-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

view of lake geneva from the cathedral. and, of course, the jet d'eau.

rachel, cristina and me in front of lake geneva...beautiful day!

cathedrale saint-pierre

zee alps...notice the difference in the roofs of the old city right in front and the rest of the city farther away?

Broken Chair statue in front of the UN (photo credit: marni)

snowwww!! on top of the mountain. (photo credit: marni)

amazing view of geneva from the telecharger on the way down the mountain...i'm sure you can see the jet d'eau if you look closely.... (photo credit: rachel)

so, i just got back from geneva yesterday, and it was a really nice trip! All 9 of us left at 13h on Friday from the Lyon train station. As you can imagine, going on a trip with 9 girls is a bit difficult, but imagine when that group of 9 girls does not get on the correct train--rather, the correct CAR of the correct train...evidently our car separated and left us behind at some point. Anyways, around the time we were supposed to be arriving in Geneva (according to our tickets), we began texting each other (since we couldn't sit together) a bit concerned if we were actually on the right train as our station stop was not announced...so I finally got an urgent text to get off at the next stop, and so all 9 of us followed this nice French lady who was also going to Geneva. Turns out we were in a town called Annemasse on the border, so we took a bus, walked over the French-Suisse border and then took a tram into the city. This killed our afternoon, but I think we were just happy to be where we were supposed to be. Our hostel wasn't fancy, but it definitely wasn't bad, and it included breakfast so that was AMAZING! No more wandering the streets in search of cheap food like we did in Paris...

Speaking of wandering the streets in search of cheap food, that's exactly what we did Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and lemme tell you--we did not succeed. Rather, we found food that was cheap by Switzerland's standards. I was able to get a plate of fried rice for 11 swiss francs (CHF), which is about 10 USD, and that was a miracle. The norm it seemed for a modest (in size and taste) meal was about 20 CHF---about 18 dollars. Otherwise a nicer meal was getting into the 40's...

Besides that initial shock though, Geneva was beautiful. On Saturday we woke up pretty early and walked around lake Geneva. It was so blue, and just beautiful with the mountains in the background. They have this fountain that's called le jet d'eau that's basically a giant man-made geyser, and it sounds pretty unimpressive, be we realized after going to the tops of mountains, cathedrals, and different parts of Geneva that you can really see it from anywhere! Anyways, we made our way into the old part of Geneva to go to the Cathedrale Saint-Pierre, and it was nice, but what was even better was the view from the tower. Town, lake, mountains, trees...you could see everything! After that we went to a restaurant that supposedly had the best vin chaud (hot wine) in all of switzerland. Vin Chaud is popular around here and basically it's hot, spiced wine. We ended up eating there, too, because we saw a sign for "Sandwiches---3.50" which was an absolute miracle to find food for that cheap, and just when we were relieved to finally be getting a deal of food they brought us out our sandwiches which were literally little circles about 3-4 inches in diameter. Incroyable. Anyways after that we made our way to the UN (where the league of nations was supposed to be) and then we went to the museum of the Red Cross, which was really, really interesting. Later on we went to dinner (some had swiss fondue) and then saw an Aussie Irish rock band play at a pub near our hostel. They were...interesting. What was really interesting was that we mets some Croats there, and one of the guys used to live in Texas City near Houston!

Speaking of Texas...the next morning I met a girl in the bathroom of our hostel who was from Brenham, Texas, which is roughly an hour away from College Station, not to mention that she was friends with a guy who is working in the Domican Republic with the organization that Dominican Joe benefits! It's a small, small world. Anyways, to finish off our day we took a bus to the French-Swiss border to a small town of Veyrier and took a telecharger (a gondola?) up to the top of this mountain about a kilometer in the air....it was beautiful!!! You could see all of Geneva and the Rhone valley....It was kind of by chance, too, because we just decided to take this bus to wherever it stopped randomly not knowing where it went...

Needless to say, it was a great trip, and all of us enjoyed the pretty scenery, which was a nice break from the grey skies, bare trees and concrete of Lyon. Hope everyone who's reading this is doing well, too! Enjoy the pics!

C'est Paris!!!

2008-02-04T14:27:00.000-08:00

perfection.

FONDUE! me, cristina, and emma

the infamous baby bottles (photo provided by: kim)

market right next to the bastille! lots of people...

Churros from the market! (photo provided by: cristina)

me on top of the arc de triomphe. beautiful (but windy, cold) day!

impressionistic picture of the louvre?

4,20 euro coffee at Les Deux Magots

chairs in Saint-Germaine-des-Pres

I'll let you take a guess what this is

so, paris was great. i went with 2 other americans--cristina and kim--and an australienne--emma. we got in on friday afternoon at about 2 and went straight to Mary's Hotel on Rue de Malte...couldn't tell you exactly where it was, but it was pretty nice for only 20 euros a night. from there we walked all along the seine to l'isle de la cite where notre dame is, and by about 16h the rain/clouds has cleared out and it was blue skies and sunshine! we walked around some more with cristina's friend that is studying in paris, then walked around le louvre and had some dinner. by that point we were really tired and went back to the hotel and watched star academie--the french american idol. loveeee that show. and mathieu, my fav, got to stay on.

the next day we got up really early to grab some "breakfast" at les deux magots, a famous cafe where 20th century surreal artists like satre and picasso used to hang out...it was ridiculously expensive, but the only reason we went there was because emma and cristina are doing a project for a class on famous french bistros and cafes. from there we went to Saint-Germaine-des-pres, the oldest church in paris, and then went to a market to search for food for a picnic in front of the eiffel tower...after a lot of waiting and walking along the seine we got there and ate our selection of cheeses, bread, meat and wine...c'etait superbe! we then went to la coupole, another famous cafe where other artists used to hang out...brancusi evidently painted some of the columns...the coffee there felt amazingggg after walking around in 30/40 degree weather all day, and we snuck some of our cookies from our picnic in. after that we headed to montmartre to see the sacre coeur, which was lovely at night. there were lots of people, and maybe i didn't go to the right places, but it was pretty touristy. still fun though.

after that was my favorite part of the trip...we went to this tiny, tiny restaurant called refuge des fondus where we ate sooo much fondue (with gruyere cheese i might add!!), meat, and other random appetizers that i felt sick afterward....the most interesting thing about the place though was that they served the wine in baby bottles. it was really bizarre, but the atmosphere was so fun as everyone was crammed next to each other (no private tables) and had to climb over tables to sit down! after that we wandered over to the latin quarter and then went hope because we were EXHAUSTED!!! we had been out for over 12 hours sans repos!!

the next day we slept in a bit and went to a market that was near the bastille to catch some breakfast/lunch. the market was huge, and newspapers were everywhereeeeee with the announcement of sarkozy and carla bruni, the model turned singer turn first lady of france...i don't like her so much anymore. anyways, i got some paella, bread, and a pastry, and we set off (in the MISERABLE WINDY COLD i might add) to the arc de triomphe and the champs elysees. there were lots of people about, but not too much since it was sunday and really cold. left that area and some people went to the musee de branly while me and some others went back to la coupole for some hot drinks...i just couldn't handle the cold anymore. had some dinner after that and then took the 22h train back home!

final thoughts: i've never walked that much in my life. i have legs of steel right now. also, paris is SO expensive, but i also couldn't get over the amazing amount of things to do. also, i can't believe how incredibly lucky we were for the weather we had. anyways, enjoy the pics and i'll talk to you soon!

last minute trips...

2008-01-31T12:48:00.000-08:00

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!

it really could be a mugshot, eh?

2008-01-29T16:15:00.000-08:00

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!

just some pictures around the house on a saturday.

2008-01-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

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.

Tony Parker Sings.

2008-01-25T03:47:00.000-08:00

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!

beaucoup de photos.

2008-01-21T14:28:00.000-08:00

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.

this is getting harder

2008-01-18T17:19:00.000-08:00

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.

new scarf?

2008-01-15T14:03:00.000-08:00

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.

C'est Bon.

2008-01-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

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!

Who are these people?

2008-01-12T04:06:00.000-08:00

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!

a round of applause please...

2008-01-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

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!

Rien de Nouvelle? Nouveau?

2008-01-09T16:10:00.000-08:00

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!

THEY'RE EVERYWHERE!!!

2008-01-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

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.

Uh Oh

2008-01-07T15:00:00.000-08:00

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!

La famille

2008-01-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

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!

Fiasco in the supermarche

2008-01-05T10:53:00.001-08:00

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

Je suis ICI

2008-01-04T15:27:00.000-08:00

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!

Day at the Farm

2007-12-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

Lots of cousins, some disc golf, and an amazing sunset.

Winter Sky

2007-12-23T18:29:00.000-08:00

reflection of mi madre fixing christmas eve food. The bright light in the top right is actually the moon.

So I did "auto color" for this one, and it's actually the color that the moon was casting. I got lucky.

The only reason I like this picture is because it is actually pitch black...the wonders of slow shutter speed and a tripod.

Yeah, winter skies are the best.

Conclusion: I am upset that I will not have my tripod with me in France.

I'm new at this.

2007-12-23T00:23:00.000-08:00

So this is me, and this is what I do. I will try my best to keep this thing up to date.