A run and a hike

Day Fifteen

Yesterday was another good day in class.  We learned a little about the history of the French language and how up until it was established as the official language, there were more than 50,000 different dialects in the territory that is now France.  We went over how to physically describe someone in more detail than I'd learned in basic French, like specifying the shape of someone's face, body, nose, and eyes.  There was a lot of new vocabulary that I learned.  Again, I was pretty intimidated by the vocabulary that I wasn't following very easily.  Thankfully, a lot of other people had the same issue but I'm going to ask my teacher on Monday what she recommends I do: go to a lower level class or stay in this level.  I can handle the day to day lessons but I'm just a little concerned about when the quizzes and exams come around.  After class I went to the youth group and once again, there was a great talk on whether man really has free will.  We had a GREAT dinner of sloppy joe, baked beans, and homemade cinnamon rolls.  :)  I don't think I'll have cravings for American food because I'll get my weekly fill from these group meetings!  The people there are so sweet and very outgoing.  There were three new people I hadn't met before.  One from India, another from the Dominican Republic, and another who was French and wanted to practice her English (which was phenomenal!).  I also found out one of the girls there, Katie, was a runner!  So we made plans to run together the next day.

Thankfully I woke up early enough to wear I could have a small breakfast of some baguette pieces with jam and do my devotional before meeting up with Katie. We met at Place Bellecour and then headed to the Rhône River where we ran all the way to this huge park in the middle of the city! We did a lap around the park (which I know will be absolutely beautiful once spring comes around) and then parted ways, after planning to make this a routine once a week together. I think the run was about 3-4 miles in total. It felt really good; it definitely helps when you have an accountability partner haha. Then I got ready and met up with Amelia for lunch and some shopping at Part Dieux.  On our walk, we found an adorable traditional cuisine restaurant where we had the plat du jour and dessert for 14 euros. The main meal was roasted chicken in a special sauce with vegetables. For dessert I had rice pudding with raspberry--it was amazing. What I like about eating here is that the portions are the perfect size to make you feel content but not like you're going to keel over. And food is an art. Everything is about presentation. Even the water jugs they bring on the table are so pretty! They typically come in a glass wine bottle--just for tap water! We spent a couple hours shopping at Part Dieux to get some things for her. I got a cardigan sweater and knitted hat for 13 euros. This mall is huge as far as French malls go and it had +250 stores with a cinema and a grocery store! I bought some raspberry tea :) We made our way back after we'd bought a few things and after coming home, I started watching a French gameshow. It's essentially "taboo" between two teams but you can only say one word at a time. So the person with the word says one hint and then the guesser has to make a guess and so on. The winner became a finalist for the 50,000 euros. Then, for dinner we had salad and a homemade bread with olive and sausage bits in it. Then fruit and yogurt. Very good, as always. Now, I'm watching the 8th "Champs Elysées" Music Show with the most popular French singers. :)

Lunch :)

Dessert (after I already had a few scoops)

Hotel Dieux (a VERY old hospital that is currently under construction, I can't wait to see the inside after its renovations)

Happy Valentine's Day

Day Thirteen

Woke up, worked out, devotional, and then met up with Amelia for lunch.  We went to Brioche Dorée, kind of like a "boulangerie chain" (bakery).  Got a fresh sandwich, dessert, and drink for 8 euros.  Then I had class with my second professor, Dominique (go by first names here).  She was very sweet but the first part of class was lagging in enthusiasm.  We were given a paragraph by E. Zola in French and it was pretty dense, describing a pressing boutique way back in the day.  There was a lot of vocabulary I didn't understand and when she explained the words, I couldn't understand the French she was using to explain the definition!  I was a little overwhelmed and the comprehension questions were difficult as well.  That got me pretty frazzled, so we'll see if I even stay in this group next week.  I know next Tuesday our professors are going to meet and evaluate if we were placed in the right group level.  I'm in group 12 which corresponds to level B1/B1+.  However, I'm pretty sure I'm the lowest in my class just because everyone else seems to have the ability to flow when they speak French and I have to think a lot before I say anything.  After our break we discussed the different levels of formality in French starting from the most elegant (reserved mostly for literary French), formal, familiar, slang (spoken French), and vulgar.  It was pretty interesting.  There's slang to where some words are inversed in French.  For example, when referring to a bisou (kiss), one would say a zoubi.  Or for the métro, one would say the tromé.  Haha, I had never heard of this before!  Also, spoken French is really hard to follow!!  The French literally start speaking in ungrammatically (sp??) correct French when it comes to day-to-day conversation.  For example, instead of saying "Je ne sais pas" (I don't know), one says "Chu-ai pas".  They blend everything together to the point where it's unrecognizable sometimes!  Ou lala! 

After class I went to a crêperie (crepe restaurant) with Amelia and it was pretty good. Although I know next time, I'm ordering nutella instead of dark chocolate. But, you can never go wrong with chocolate! Tonight the student association for the French language immersion program set up a French movie night. It was called "Hollywood" and was a hilarious comedy of a French voice-over actress who comes to Hollywood to get the actress she voices over to remain a TV actress. Because if she quits, the French woman no longer has a job. You could definitely tell it was a foreign film because the American actors weren't the greatest and the humor was a little different, but it was still a fun time. I saw some of my Japanese friends from the scavenger hunt yesterday, so it was nice to see them! After that, went to dinner at a really great restaurant in Vieux Lyon called Le François Villon. It was really tiny and cozy and we thought we'd need a reservation but we didn't because there was more room than we'd assumed--in the stone basement! It was a really great setting and for 16 euros I got a great meal. Had my first glass of wine here, a nice glass of white wine! Had saucisson brioché fort the first course and for the second course, I don't even know what it was called! But it had sausage, potatoes, mushrooms, and cheese in a cream sauce that was really amazing and cooked in a stone pan. I also had a chocolate cake with fruit. Great way to end the day!

Lunch!  The raspberry tart was delicious!

Crêpe and cider!

A gorgeous rainy night with the basilique in the background from a bridge view!

Dave, the other cadet with me here on semester abroad

The cute restaurant!

 

Urban Land Navigation

Day Twelve

So I thought the cultural event today started at 1000 but actually it was set for 1315.  So, the morning opened up and I decided to watch a movie.  My excuse for the excessive amount that I watch (and will watch this semester) is that everything is in French with French subtitles!  Another method of learning :)  I watched Happily Ever After, it was cute.  I did a little walking around when I stopped by the school early and happened to walk upon another beautiful church!  What gets me though is how sad it is to see so many beautiful, large churches but to see them so empty.  :/ 

Anyway, the movie was long enough to keep me busy until 1315 where I met everyone to go on a "monument scavenger hunt" to further discover Lyon.  Putting my land nav skills to the test, granted we had a map and all.  They tried to put people with others of varying experience with French and I was in a group of four.  Two girls were Japanese, two were American.  We spoke mostly French and some English to complain on how freezing it was.  My competitive nature kicked in but we also had questions we had to answer, some of them impossible without actually asking a local.  It was freezing outside and part of me wanted to just say good day and be done with it, but we kept going.  I had seen most of the places on the course from my own exploration so that was helpful in leading some of the way.  It took us almost an hour and we actually finished first!  We didn't answer 3 questions becuase we weren't able to find the answer but we still ended up getting the prize!  (and were able to warm up with cookies and snacks)  We mingled with each other and that was really cool.  Most people reverted back to their native languages but French would come in just as easily too.  Made some friends and exchanged numbers, always a plus.  It just blows my mind that in a group there was a Mexican, Americans, and Japanese girls all speaking French with each other.  We planned to meet up for dinner sometime and I can't wait!  Today was a very good day (despite the weather).  Now I'm warming up with tea and about to start another movie, this time an authentic French film.  Tomorrow is my 3rd day of class and I'll be with a new teacher.  One teacher takes us Monday & Tuesday, the other on Thursday & Friday.  Very excited!!



Beautiful church

 

Pretty large as well and you can see how the street signs are on the actual buildings at each corner

My dream house would have a cobblestone neighborhood!

"If you're not first, you're last!"  Haha just kidding.  But we actually did get 1st place and here's our prize!

Stereotypes & Traditions

Day Eleven

It looked drabby today so I stayed in and did an Insanity workout, devotional, and made my own lunch.  Nutella, jam, and banana sandwich :)  I'm becoming French, though, since I followed up with bread, cheese, and yogurt!  Then I went a little eary to the school so I could get some paperwork from Dave.  Since we're in the intensive French immersion program, we have four hours of instruction on French language on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.  On Wednesday, we have a cultural class where we have the opportunity to choose and put in our preferences.  I put mine in and we'll see what I get!  That starts next week.  Then I met up with my classmates and we started class!  Today we started off with a dessin (a cartoon) of a French caricature.  I included a picture and it literally had every "typical" thing one would associate with the French.  We identified them, described them, and explained why they seemed significant in groups. 

Everyone is so friendly in class, I love it!  I can totally get used to this.  We then watched a cartoon video of the practice of (faire un bisou), where the French kiss each other on the cheeks as a greeting.  And really, unless you're family, they just do cheek-to-cheek.  It was hilarious because it explained where is commonplace to do it, the number of times that is normal, etc.  We had to fill out answers as the video went on and it spurred on a conversation about our first reactions to it.  For my professor, she said it is normal for kissing on the cheek as a greeting and it's bizarre to give a hug as a greeting.  Haha, I told her the opposite for the US.  After discussing our stereotypes for France, we had to write a short poem on one of the items in the cartoon and make it into a drawing of the item.  Of course, I automatically chose the frog (la grenouille) because with all the spirit posters I've done for my company back at WP, I know how to do a decent sketch.  :)  My classmates asked me to help them draw a snail and mouse (for cheese) once they saw my artistic abilities (ha...).  We also did some oral/written comprehension with a workbook for a little bit.  I loved class today.  Man, if all I could do was study French--I'd be a happy girl.  It's nice to not have to worry about things I could care less about, like IT305/EN302/etc, etc.  :)

After class I asked my teacher about the family vacation next week.  I told her I live with a host family and I was invited to spend next week with them skiing in the Alps and she said no problem, that's fine.  Am I DREAMING?!  When I explained it to my host family, they said it's normal because I'm here to learn French and so the teachers understand there's no better way to learn French than to spend time with your host family.  Now I'm worried about the skiing part.  I can count the times I've gone skiing on one hand and the duration in hours on one hand as well, lol.  That's a worry for another day, though. 

Also, tonight was a success at dinner!  I was able to explain everything that happened today.  We had the typical salad, bread, yogurt, and fruit.  For the main dish, it was Greek cuisine.  I can't remember what it's called.  But if I understood correctly, it was like a casserole of beef, eggplant, tomato, and other vegetables.  It was really good and I actually got too much on my second round, but of course I finished my plate.  That's one thing, the family always cleans off their plates (as in, uses bread to literally finish all the sauce from the plate).  I've done so as well.  Also, for each course, they wait for everyone to finish.  I'm a slow eater, so it's made for some awkward moments haha.  But they're nice and I'm not always the last one to finish.  I definitely appreciate having home cooked meals and being able to really indulge on traditional French cuisine!

The cartoon, some notes, and my frog poem!

First day of school!

Day Ten

Today was a lot more productive in the morning because I finally rolled out and went on a run!  Alongside the river there's a pretty large sidewalk for bikers/runners to use and it probably goes on forever.  I probably ran 2-3 miles, realizing that I would rather run WP hills than run along a river in an urban city.  I miss the change of terrain and the distraction of nature (mountains of trees, animals, etc) when I'm running.  So, it'll be a challenge to motivate myself but don't worry, during my time here I'm going to be spending a week doing training with the French military--so I'll stay in shape!  It is difficult, though, to do the Insanity workouts in an apartment when there's a lot of jumping movements, haha.  (I am conscious of the people living below me so I don't jump).  So, I did that and then came back and got ready for school which was easy because I already had my outfit picked out ;)  As a cadet, this moment was very sacred because I was able to experience something so normal but so unique--a first day outfit that wasn't a uniform!!  (picture to follow)  I got in a good devotional and then met up with my friend Amelia for lunch before we both headed to our afternoon class. 

My class has around 25 people in it, which I haven't seen since high school. The most you can have in a class at WP is 18! I'm the only American in my class. Everyone else is from China, South Korea, Colombia, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia. The most interesting thing is that there's a man who is 56 learning French! I find it very admirable to see someone of his age still so eager to be a student and try something new like a language in an abroad program! My teacher is hilarious and she seems to really want the class to be an environment where people feel comfortable to talk. She is strict and I can't imagine people skipping class, being late, or texting. But that's not a problem for me. I'm so excited. I've been waiting so long for school to start and to only focus on French is AMAZING! At WP, all I wanted to do was just focus on preparing for semester abroad but that wasn't even slightly possible because of all the demands that come with 21 credit hours, etc, etc. Now, that is the case and I'm so happy. We started off with a sheet of various ice breaker questions and we had to go around and ask different classmates their responses and write down their name, age, and nationality. After, we went through and each person would stand up and the other students would basically throw out things they learned about that person. It was really fun. Everyone was super nice and enthusiastic. Also, it gave our teacher the opportunity to take note of who the introverts/extroverts are in class. I was a bit timid but after stuttering a little in French, I managed to participate a lot to avoid classifying myself as an introvert. They all got excited when I said I was from NY, haha. Later on, someone from class came to me and showed me his jacket that had a NY Yankees symbol on it but unfortunately I couldn't share much since he wanted to talk about baseball but I have no idea about any of it! Overall, class was a great success! I hope everyday is just as fun :)

The game!  Can't beat these seats for 12 euros!

Me & Dave cheering on Lyon!

First day outfit photo :)

Allez Lyon!

Day Nine

This morning I woke up and got ready to check out the Sunday market right outside my apartment and along the river.  It went on forever!  The types of products sold were repeated with multiple different vendors but that way, things were pretty cheap!  Essentially the local farmers' market with fresh produce, meats, cheese, bread, flowers, seafood, etc. etc.!  There were some samples too.  I tried a sample of cheese and wish I had known ahead of time that it was either sheep or goat (both don't agree with my taste buds).  I kept walking and tried to find a trash bag but to no avail.  So, I just tried to quickly swallow the cheese and I almost gagged, lol.  Bleghhhh!  Everything that I've eaten in France has been good except for that selective type of cheese.  Note to self: be wary of free, unknown cheese.  The flowers were so pretty and so bright!  I bought 14 roses for 6 euros!  I'm going to try and hide them and give them to my host mom on Valentine's Day...and if they look like they won't make it, maybe tomorrow lol.  I keep forgetting to give them their housewarming gift (a WP embroidered blanket), so that'll go nicely together.  I also bought some macaroons!  I've never had them but I remember reading about them in the play The Dollhouse in 11th grade English class!  Haha.  The wife was always eating macaroons.  I chose the 4 euros special and was hoping to get a good sample, but I was only able to have four.  That's okay though, I guess that's cheap for French bakery specialties.  I bought chocolate, pralines, vanilla, and caramel.  They're extremely sweet, almost too much to handle haha.  I'm torn between pralines and caramel as my favorite flavor.

I'm about to head out to the international church and then afterwards, Dave and I are going to see a football (soccer) game between Lyon and Lille!  I'll put pictures of that up probably tomorrow.  It's going to be a late night and since tomorrow is my first day of class, I'm going to head straight to bed!



View from the outside, it got really crowded in there!

The bakery vendor where I got my treats

Yum yum! 

They sold rotisserie chicken for 8 euros!!  It smelled so incredible!

Il y avais beaucoup du fromage!  [There was so much cheese!!]

Here are the roses and macaroons that I bought!

J'adore cette vie

Day Eight

I've been meaning to update the blog but I try to do it at the end of the day and then at that point, I'm too tired or I forget.  So a quick recap of the past few days.  On Thursday I did some more exploring looking for museums.  All the national museums in France are free to students, which is amazing!  Apparently, before this was the case--university students never visited museums because they were too expensive so the government decided to make them free.  I visited le Musée des Beaux Arts, the second largest art museum in France after le Louvre in Paris.  Everything was so beautiful.  There were ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, Egyptian artifacts, Renaissance paintings, etc etc!  There was so much to see and I did my best to read the French informational captions.  The museum is located at Place des Terreaux, another large historical square.  There's a beautiful monument and on the other side is the City Hall, from what I gather.  Here's a picture:

The Museum (the building was a huge square with a large open courtyard in the middle)

Place des Terreaux

Eglise St-Nizier (was on my walk to the arts museum)

 

On Friday I had a meeting at school and boy, was it really inefficient.  It was essentially an informational meeting filled with admin and things we can do at the school.  Like our placement exam, everything was explained in French, Chinese, English, Spanish, and Japanese.  It took forever!  We could've just had a powerpoint or pamphlets and we would've been set!  Everyone was really bored and a lot of people actually left early, which was rude on their part but still.  Then they dismissed us and outside the auditorium, there were tables of snacks and sign-ups for travel excursions through the program.  There's a trip to Florence, Italy for 200 euros for 4 days all-inclusive!  And one to Paris for a weekend for 90 euros!  I'll probably go on all of their trips becuase they're such amazing deals!  I decided not to sign up for them just yet, I still have time to plan out all the logistics.  But during the meeting, they failed to tell us where our schedules would be posted with the classes we're in.  So, Dave and I went down to the English speaker and we heard the information from someone already asking the same question . We turned around to see 5 other Americans who were just as confused, haha.  We ended up finding our schedules and lo and behold!  I have classes everyday...starting at 1330.  Life is too good.  Classes should be about 4 hours long.  I really need to get some discipline though to make sure I get a morning routine of a devotional, working out, cooking, getting ready, and reading or something productive. 

 

During all of this, we met a girl named Amelia who's an American and we all hung out the rest of the day.  We went to find a place for lunch and ate at The Hippo, lol.  It was like typical steakhouse food and I got a fixed menu deal for 18 euros I got a main meal (le plat principal), a dessert, and a drink.   From the options I had, I decided on a steak with fries, crème brûlée, and a fanta.  I've tried the dessert before but have never really liked it.  I figured, might as well try the dish at its birthplace!  It was super good and I had a large portion.  Not the cheapest thing around but that's pretty much the normal.  The thing about France is that taxes and tip are included--which is nice.  We then looked around shops trying to kill time before we watched a movie, Happiness Therapy with Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence.  I thought it was a really weird movie.  It got better at the end but I wouldn't see it again.  Afterwards, we parted ways and I made my way to the international church's young adult Bible study.  I got off at the right metro stations and then realized I had no way of finding the address.  Thankfully, I walked right into a girl from the church!  It was such a great time!  We had salad, spaghetti, bread&cheese, and homemade oatmeal &chocolate cookies!  We had a great study on relationships and marriage and then just hung out afterwards. 

 

Dessert :)

Today I looked up a site for skiing on the Alps that Dave recommend to me.  It's 38 euros for a day all-inclusive (with travel)!  That's pretty legit.  But I talked with my host family and they're going on a week vacation to ski in the Alps that they invited me to as well!  I would just have to pay for my ski lift tickets but that's it--they even have clothes for me to borrow!  I'll only be able to go for a few days since I still have school but I'm looking forward to it!  I'd like to go again though sometime with friends, so the site is still a good resource.  I had lunch with the family and Hermine, one of the daughters who I finally got to meet.  For the l'entrée (appetizer) I had half an avocado with mayonaise, a main meal of baked bread with a sausage in it (really good!), bread & cheese, and fruit.  It was very fulfilling!  Then I looked online at the Lyon Opera's shows this season and the game schedule of the local football team, Olympique Lyonnais.  I went to meet up with Dave to buy some groceries, toothpaste, and try to find a sports store for cold weather gear.  I bought some French cookies (I am SUPER cheap when it comes to buying anything with my own money, so I got the cheapest versions of whatever I was looking at).  Haha but it's nice to finally eat cookies!  My host family is very healthy so the only thing I have to snack on is fruit and yogurt (which isn't bad at all, but sometimes you just have a sweet tooth craving!).  It was snowing AGAIN!  Three days in a row, and I was told it hardly snows here.  After freezing outside, I came back and made some tea and started working on those cookies!  :)