The one with pics of me and embarassing stories

No...not those kinds of pictures and embarassing stories...

The parental units have requested more pictures of me ("Are you the one taking all the pictures? How come you're not in any?!") so I will try to relinquish control of my new camera to others (as tough as that may be)...or just steal pictures from my friends (tee hee). Click on these to see bigger versions...
Dinner at Restaurant le Sud with the UVA group...

Riding the big Ferris Wheel, giddy with being way too many feet up in the air.

Can we ride it again?

So, for the embarassing stories part of this entry....
Today I go to purchase another phone card for my cell. It's like a pre-paid phone deal, you just buy cards of minutes whenever you need them. As I wasnt sure exactly which one I needed, I decide to go to the Bouyges Telecom store. I mean, it would make sense that they would sell recharge cards at the store....right? I figure this will take 5 minutes and as I have the old card with me, I tell myself this will be no problem and if the guy can't understand me, I will show him what I want. Ah no no no.
I ask this guy for a card and instead of asking something like how many minutes I want or whatever, he asks for my identity card and my address. Ok, I think, maybe this is just some weird process of tracking the minutes cards. Then I start to wonder that maybe this isn't right so I show him the thing i have and ask if its the same thing. He says yes, and after a few minutes of confusion with him trying to speak in english and me trying to reply in french (they really should just stick to trying to rephrase it in french), he says this is what I want. Then he asks for my phone and types in a number and frowns. "This...not good," he says, shaking his head at me. I tell him I just want more minutes. He starts tearing up the receipt, looks super annoyed, and says "oh, for this, you have to go to the tabac." That's the tobacco store/newsstand. So, congratulations to me, for successfully annoying at least one person today. And PS, I went to the tabac and it took all of 5 seconds to get the card. But why the telephone store doesn't sell them remains a mystery... Stay tuned for the next 5 months while I attempt to discover why.

Dimanche sur Lyon

A bit of beautiful-and-windy day elation on Sunday morning. That's the Rhone and the Croix Rousse section of Lyon in the background.

The Artisans' Market
Now I might have mentioned the produce market in an earlier entry, but on this particular Sunday I ventured to the other side of the river to the Artisan market. What was I expecting? Suspicious-looking vendors selling handmade jewelry. What did I find? Something much more delightful! The artists of Lyon come out to display their artwork - making this closer to an outdoor gallery than a marketplace! It's truly amazing some of the talent here in this city. Rarely will you see such a melange of artistic styles in the same arena - everything from bucolic pastels to polished wood sculptures to mosaics, african-style paintings, modern and post-modern art. My mouth was gaping open as I strolled through the market. I will have to return in the future so I can see more of what Lyon's artists have to offer.

Scenic views of Lyon
It being such a beautiful day, I could not pass up the opportunity to stroll along the river and take some photos of the Saone river and Vieux Lyon.
The Saone. Presqu'ile on the left, Vieux Lyon on the right.
One of many pedestrian bridges linking the Presqu'ile (downtown) to Vieux Lyon. Ten minutes earlier, there was a little brass ensemble playing music on this bridge, which gave a really festive atmosphere to going to the market.

A postcard-esque picture with Fourviere and the um...mini Tour Eiffel? Its actually used as a communications tower now.


A closer zoom of Fourviere.
The Roman ruins.
It's really neat how beautiful architecture like this church finds itself right in the middle of all these other regular city buildings.

The hills of the Croix Rousse. And birds! It looks smoggy but those are just clouds.
That's my school! Universite Lumiere Lyon 2, on the Rhone river. I think the water here looks much prettier than the Saone.

The Triumvirate of Fun

My 3 favorite things about Lyon
1. The vast array of danse, opera, and theatre to see
2. The delicious and fresh food
3. The fascinating and fun friends I have here

The food and the friends:
Saturday evening was a hit, with the trifecta of fun in full force. My friends and I had a dinner party chez Julia-Louise-Olivia (that's J LO for short). It was really impressive! The food that I brought (tomato bruschetta and a baguette) probably cost me no more than $4, and I got to eat all the other great food that my friends brought. We love food from all over the world - there was thai peanut pasta, salad with balsamic vinaigrette, baked brie with almonds (that was so scrumptious), sauteed pasta, moroccan lentils, and tarte aux framboises. I am trying to remember all the good things I have here so I can bring home some French culture!

La Maison de la Danse:
Compagnie Kafig was incroyable! I was really blown away - by the musique, par les danseurs, by their muscles, tout! To explain, Maison de la Danse is a classy venue where all kinds of danse troupes perform - everything from ballet to modern danse to hip-hop, like Compagnie Kafig. This particular group had a modern/hip-hop/acrobatic twist in their show, Terrain Vague, with latin/electronica inspired music. I particularly enjoyed the music, but also interesting was the set design. The set - movable fences - was fully incorporated into the danse, as were the streetlamp poles - giving meaning to the name Terrain Vague - in that the purpose and use of those elements is ambiguous. The name also seemed to reflect the "terrain vague" of street culture - that there is an element of solitude, danger, mischief, flirtation, warmth, cruelty in everything. Sometimes all at once.

Crepe-A-Mania 2006!

I would like this evening to discuss a very serious topic with you. And that is the delicate task of French crepe-making. Crepes are no ordinary food. Nay, they are a culinary art form. French cuisine at its zenith. A delicassee fit for kings.

And you can spread Nutella on them. That's really the most important thing.

Ce soir, after a stroll about the city in search of a cool place to hang out, we all decided that the best post-stroll activity would be some serious crepe nourishment. This was prompted largely in part by Louise's purchase of a book quite aptly entitled "Oui Chef!". For those of you who are on the next plane out for being dumb, this means Yes Chef! Clearly, it's a classy book.

Time given by recipe to prepare crepes: 10 minutes.
Actual time to make crepes....after about 3 lumpy burnt ones, a few raw ones that stuck to the pan, and a few bowls of melted butter... about 1 hour.

So today, we applaud you, Ms. Foreign-Student-Hungry-Crepe-a-Nutella-et-Sucre-Maker. For realizing that the crepe is only ready to flip when it is cooked all the way through is a secret known only to geniuses of our age, and you.

In other news, I'm done with PRUNE! No more class until Jan 30!! Now if the French department will only post their class schedule! What's that you say? No scheduling online? No COD-like brochure? Mais non. En France, university students are basically given a pre-made schedule at the beginning of the semester of all the classes they need to take for their major, and that's it. So they have no need to go course shopping or pick classes or know when times are or any of that crazy stuff. It's us lucky international students (I attribute anything I do, whether stupid or brilliant, to being international) who get to figure out on Wednesday before classes start when and where and what the classes actually are. As soon as I can get that done, I'm off to Geneva!

My new apartment and other highlights of my 3rd week in Lyon!

Lots has happened in the past week. To begin with, I finally moved out of Les Carres Pegase, carrying about 80 pounds of luggage (it's good...builds character), into my new apartment that I'm sharing with a French student, Caroline. I live on pretty busy street, with lots of patisseries, chocolateries, and bridal shops. Those are pretty tempting to walk by every day (especially discount bridal, I just get the urge to elope with someone all the time - too bad for Rob). It's about a 20 min walk to Lyon 2 from here, so it's a perfect location.

These are the views from my window!




But let's not forget the best part, the marble fireplace.



The day I moved in, we ended up having a little soiree that a lot of my American friends came to - it was fun, I got to show off my new apt and then go out this place that Caroline had been raving about, le Sirius. It's a dance club...on a barge. How awesome is that? They also played some really dance-worthy music, not just the typical hip-hop stuff you get at parties back home, so I had a great time.

On weekends, the local merchants have an open-air produce market. It is really crowded and all the little old ladies bring their snazzy little wheelie bags and lazy dogs. The farmers bring all their produce, but not only that, they bring fresh cheese and sausage too. I'm not so hot on buying meat there, but everything else looks so delicious and fresh! You can buy a huge bowl of [insert vegetable here] for about $3-4 and have a meal for an entire week out of it. Scrumptious!

That day was also eventful because ever-smiling MaryJoBateman from UVA took everyone out to lunch in Vieux Lyon. That was the first time I had been to the historic district! It's great! It's a little touristy (i mean, come on, the shops are open on sunday!) but it's really quaint, and a nice place to take a little stroll. Again with the crepes and the free food. Man, I love meals that UVA pays for. BTW, this woman from uva has a great job. She gets paid to visit exchange students in France. That's her job...I mean, for real? Can I major in that?

It was the last week of Prune, so that was not so eventful...I'll miss Herve and his grimaces though. And even Parry and her ugly sweaters, in a way...Okay, really not that much when I think about all the plans we had to write.

French entertainment:
While Ive been here, Ive had the delight, urm, right, of seeing many American tv shows and movies dubbed into French. Now while this might seem comforting at first, it is a little unnerving, because there I am, watching Lord of War (good movie, btw) with Caroline and her friends, expecting to hear the voice of Nicolas Cage, but no, it is some French voice-over actor whose lips don't match up. I say it is far more satisfying to see real French movies, because the lips and the dialogue make a little more sense. Plus it seems to me that French entertainment doesnt have as many convoluted subplots as American shows do, so it is easier to follow. The other night I watched a movie called Tanguy,which is about a guy who has been living in his parents house too long and they want him out. That's the entire movie. Seriously.

Now for another night, UVA decided that they just have too much money and wanted to take us out to eat AGAIN. Well, fine. Be that way, rich university. See if I care. So it was a lovely affair at one of Lyon's best restaurants, with all the courses and forks and waiters necessary. I had a Moroccan-inspired dish, which was dee-lish (I love me some couscous). Photo ops ran rampant...





A lovely evening it was, and it was clear enough to afford us some truly stunning views of Lyon, we put our fear of heights behind us and rode....

Le Carousel Allemand....





Scottie and Laurel can't keep away from each other.

Fourviere and Vieux Lyon at night (the most magnificent architecture in Lyon, in my opinion)


Upcoming plans: Maison de la Dance, and maybe the European Figure Skating Championships? Geneva (where maybe I'll learn to ski), and Paris? Barcelona sometime in the future?

My first weekend trip!

While I'm here in Lyon, I'll have plenty of chances to travel. My first trip, taken with the rest of the people from my Prune course, was to Bourgogne (That's Burgundy to you Anglophones) to visit the towns of Beaune and Dijon. We had a great day tasting wine and walking around the city, and it was only a couple hours away by bus.

First stop: Beaune.
This is where they make the famous Burgundy wine! At this time of year, the vine-covered hills are blanketed in snow (it's amazing how much snow you see outside of Lyon, which is completely dry!). We had the pleasure of taking a tour of one of the local wine cellars, given by the owner himself.

That's gonna make a lot of French people happy. There are rows and rows of these wine storage down in les caves (wine cellars). I don't know how old some of these are, unfortunately. But I just think it's really amazing that one day someone is going to drink all of these!


The caves are of course, really dark, wet, and therefore moldy like a forgotten lump of cheese under the sofa cushions. I could definitely smell something reminiscent of wine, but it was much more pungent and musty. The walls were orginally made out of brick, but I couldn't even tell because of all the layers of mold. Hmm, it actually rather looks like soap. Who wants a bubble bath?







Now for the wine tasting. We tried the Chardonnay and the Pinot Noir (along with some complimentary cheesy bread), all of which gave us happy wine faces.

Louise and Julia B, lookin' fierce.

Laurel does the cuter version of the wine face.

So after all this, we were hungry for some Beane cuisine, so Julia F, Louise and I found this cute salon de the where we had crepes and tea. They had a tea menu to rival C-ville's Tea Bazaar.

So...Dijon. Surprisingly, it ain't all about la moutarde. It actually is of some historical significance to the region...And here are some pics...

This is the chouette, the owl, that people have rubbed for years for good luck.


Just a good example of some of the cool architecture here. This is now the tourism office.

Half-timbered houses - so French.
Check out the roof on this.

EDIT: Stole some more pictures from my friends! Now there some more of me...Yes, I actually did go on this trip!
Lauren, Emily, and I in Dijon.

Julia making fun of tourist photographers, me and Laurel just happy we're touring a wine cellar.

Salut tout le monde!

Hi everyone, thanks for visiting my new travel blog about my semester in Lyon! I'll post lots of fun stories and pictures about my adventures here so you can keep up with what I'm doing! So for now, a recap of all the things that have happened in the past 2.5 weeks without a travel blog...

It was pretty overwhelming. My flight went okay, but when I got to the hotel (the classy Carre-Pegasse), I was so exhausted that it took me 10 whole minutes to figure out how to unlock the door. I arrived on New Years Day, which was not only a cold, cloudy Sunday (the shops here shut down on Sunday and Monday), but a national holiday. It was so odd arriving in a big city with no one around and nothing at all open. I felt toute seule...

Luckily, things went much better after that. I met all the other girls in the UVA program, and everyone was so nice and fun to hang out with, right from the beginning. There are about 15 or so of us here from uva/w&m's program. It's really great how most of us have bonded and everyone has lots of interesting stories about their backgrounds and where they've traveled. I'm amazed at some of the places these girls have been to! My lovely Lyon ladies are sort of like a little family away from home.

Lyon itself is pretty large, but I have explored the right bank of the Rhone (where my school and apt are located) and the Presqu'ile (the downtown area) the most. The Rue de la Republique and Place Bellecour are beautiful - Rue de la Re is a big pedestrian street with lots of shops and lots of people-watching, and Place Bellecour is a huge square in the middle of the city. Then on the other side is the bank of the Saone, where I've seen some really pretty views of Vieux Lyon, the historic part of town. Pictures coming soon...

I had to stay in Les Carres Pegases for about 2 weeks until Caroline's colocataire/cousine moved out. Number of times the maid came to bring fresh towels: 3.

In that time period, I started PRUNE (which is about as fun a name as the prep classes themselves are) and given the um, intense, workload, I had plenty of time to walk around Lyon with my new friends. In Prune, I had to take Oral (taught by the entertaining, balding Hervé), Ecrit (writing, taught by the ugly-sweater/pointless lecture poster child, Mme Parry), and Litterature, along with 2 conferences on Architecture and Secularism in France. They were at times boring and repetitive, but I did learn some things about the French grading system, and if anything, I got used to listening to a teacher for 3 hrs a day, in French and taking notes again.

The people of Lyon are really nice, and I haven't run into any "anti-americanism" yet. On the contrary. They like to practice their English, so they will sometimes start speaking to me in English. Of course, that completely confuses me, trying to switch back and forth! I practically forgot to sign a credit slip the other day when a salesperson suddenly started speaking to me in English. At one little sandwich joint, my Carres-Pegase partner-in-wine-crime Louise and I started talking to the owner about how we liked Lyon, and he even gave us free croissants as we were leaving! So I feel pretty safe here. There are of course some parts of town I wouldn't walk alone in at night, but every city is like that, and there are lots of ways to get home safely as well.

So about the FOOD! Lyon, as you may know, is considered the gastronomic capital of France, and therefore the world. I have had the pleasure at dining at some fine establishments during my stay here. The main street for dining is Rue Merciere, lined with classy restaurants. I went to Le Winch there a couple weeks ago, where they serve big, heavy salads (with lots of meat and cheese) and great Creme Brulee. I also went to an italian-style restaurant, where the most memorable thing was the waiter with a shirt so tight, his man-pecks were popping out. In another twist of irony, we went to a Tex-Mex place afterwards... I swear, I really am in France. But seriously. Every week at the grocery store, I've been trying a new type of cheese - my new favorite is Beaufort, which is similar to Comté and Swiss (but with no holes).

Fashion is another thing of distinction (and distraction) here. French women wear huge scarves, wrapped around their neck multiple times and then knotted. it's great! Then let's not forget the boots! So hot right now. Soldes are going on- by law, they only have sales twice a year, so everyone is going crazy and shopping everywhere! I made a few purchases so I'll have some fun souvenirs :)

Thanks for reading - keep checking for updates and pictures!!