Villeurbanne, Welcome to the Family

so yesterday was my last day in the dorms. kinda sad. i'll miss living with my eap friends, but yknow, its time for an even bigger adventure. butttt as a last day together before being separated, some of us wandered all over the city and got to know lyon a little bit. and by got to know, i mean i still have no idea where anything is, and probably won't until i'm wandering around by myself and in charge of the directions. we saw an amazing view, checked out a church, and looked at some roman ruins. and wished that it didn't manage to be hot only when we were walking all over town. then a couple of us headed back to the dorms for a little rest time before the evening festivities. for dinner, we went to a restaurant downtown that had a three course menu for 13.50 euros. it was AMAZING. i definitely plan on eating there again at some point. i had ravioli something for the first course. chicken milanese for the second. and this amazing chocolate mousse for dessert. seriously. so. good. we did the french thing and were at the restaurant for almost three hours, eating, chatting, and generally having a good time. the evening continued at a bar with dancing and then one of the rivers. i really think i need to learn to tell them apart, but i'll deal with that later. the night ended late and we ended up getting about four hours of sleep before we had to get up early and get breakfast and finish packing because host families were arriving at 10am this morning.
my host mom and dad (veronique and francois) were some of the first to arrive. they drove me to their home, making a stop to pick up some bread for lunch, as well as being sure to point out things such as the post office and tram stations, and attempting to explain the tram map to me - though francois will be accompanying me the first day to make sure i don't get lost (well for the first day at least. lets be real. it is me). we got to the house and i was given a tour. its very cute. three stories. and of course my room is on the top one. 36 STEPS. that's right.36. steps. turns out i wont be getting fat off of french food after all, because i'll be getting a workout just going up to my room. but i've got lots of space, including an extra bed if i were to have a visitor. it was amusing to watch the guys (emmanuel and marc-philippe) carry my massive suitcase up these stairs after a delicious french lunch. oh yea. veronique and francois have three children, though one is married (caroline) , one's moved out (emmanuel), and i believe marc-philippe will just be here until he starts school. but hey, i could be wrong. i never really know what's going on until the last minute anyways.

this family is very nice so far though, and asked what i might like or dislike for food. i was quick to mention that i really don't like apricots, but mostly i'll be open to trying new things :)
oh and they say my french is very good, which makes me happy. but we'll see how that translates to a placement test and then actually being able to take classes at the university. but at least for now, if they talk to me, i can understand and do my best to respond and be understood. if they talk to each other, i smile and nod and pretend i know what's going on, until they explain anything they might have just said. 

oh. for those of you who are interested. i finally posted some pictures on facebook. if you don't have facebook. find someone who does and is friends with me? otherwise maybe i'll figure out how to post a few select pictures on here.