6 months. that's half a year. and a little less than 2/3 of the time i will be spending abroad. each day i ask myself how time can pass so fast. sometimes i wonder if i should be pinching myself to prove that this is really real. this is my life. i am living my dream, and sometimes i have trouble believing it.
i feel like i have grown up a lot since being here. changed a lot, and yet remained the same. i am more open minded and down to try new things, in part because that is what this whole experience is about.
i look back and am amazed at how much i have accomplished in the past six months that have sped by while i wish time would slow down just a little bit. i have seen five different countries, and have tickets for a sixth (which happens to also be on a different continent). but more tickets need to be purchased, more cities need to be seen. particularly in france, though i do have tickets to two more french cities purchased already as well at least.
i have learned to call a foreign city home, and try every day to not think about how soon i will be leaving.. though often i fail.
i've eaten foods i never thought i would, and plan to eat more i didn't think i possibly could. escargot to be an example of one i've already eaten. grenouille (aka frogs) as one i know i still need to try.
my french has improved remarkably since being here, though i still want it to be better.
i have made incredible friends, created amazing memories, seen inspiring places, and been truly grateful and thankful for everyone who has made this trip everything it has been.
(for those of you that i have promised to send postcards to, don't worry, i haven't forgotten! buying them has just slipped my mind a little bit in the last couple cities... my bad.)
i am so glad i chose a host family, because i get to experience french life more fully. and i'm glad they were willing to keep me for the year. i really start to feel like i'm part of the family. just today my host mom and i were whispering about there not being any mail today (she has asked me to hide it from my host dad for a few days since i usually retrieve it in the morning and she has a surprise for him), when my host dad walked in. he said something about two friends whispering about stuff like girls do, and my host mom corrected him saying that no we weren't copines, she is my maman-d'accueil. i thought it was so cute :) i remember earlier in the year when i referred to her as my host mom and she had thought it was so kind, a term of endearment i guess. to be honest it had never really occurred to me at first that the term would be anything special, but after learning the relationships others have with their host parents, i was glad she felt so complemented. so i thought it was great when she pointed it out again.
but what have i been up to lately? i have been keeping myself busy, that is for sure. i have been going out on friday and saturday nights, hanging out with americans, french people, and even other foreigners - trying to get the most out of what this city and its residents have to offer. i have been going to classes and doing homework (yes, i actually have homework this semester). participating in p.e. classes and wishing i were more coordinated, but having fun nonetheless.
as far as classes go, it occurred to me i might actually want to be able to look back and see what an assignment looked like when i was here, so i figured (for those of you who speak french), i would give you a little taste. in my creative writing class we were told to write a poem, so this is what danielle, chloe, and i came up with. the guidelines were that it must be 4 stanzas with an ABBA ABBA AAB AAB rhyme scheme, and that each line have 12 syllables. we learned you can play with the syllable part because you can turn one syllable words into two syllable words by pronouncing the e at the end if you need to. i warn you, it is not very good and goes downhill around the end of the third stanza. oh and putting it in a translator makes it sound worse.. but anyways, here it is:
Regarder la pluie, elle tombe du ciel tout gris.
Un vieux couple mignon nourrit les petits oiseaux
Observe les enfants jouant dans les flaques-d’eau
Ignorant leurs parents sous de grands parapluies
Les gros nuages s’écartent, apparaît le soleil
Un arc-en-ciel éclaire doucement le beau paysage
Les enfants maintenant veulent aller à la plage
Le sable, la mer, sont une beauté, une merveille
Une par une les gouttes commencent a mouiller le sol
Un coup de tonnere, les oiseaux s’effrayent, s’envolent
Un éclair frappe le sable, un verre se manifeste
Les parents trouvent le godet ; ils boivent un peu de vin,
Ils invitent les enfants à manger du lapin
Le jour se termine. On ne connaît pas le reste…
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
so many pastries
another week has gone by. another day in the life.
once again i think my schedule will be changing. so i guess those last two blogs saying i figured out my schedule were kind of lying. but this is what happens when you are trying to figure out what you can get to transfer for credit for back home, and then what happens when you realize you aren't sure if you will survive a class that there is only a good probability you can get credit for. oh the joys of studying at a different university.
so at this point it looks like i may only be trying to get credit for one of the two education classes i could get credit for while abroad. why? because with the classes i have found, the other one would involve writing a 20 page paper. IN FRENCH. and i'm just not sure i could handle that. especially when i already know part of the paper is going to involve me comparing this class with a class similar to this i've taken at home. problem with that? i haven't taken any similar classes at home.
unfortunately, this will make my hopes of finishing all of my classes by next june even more difficult, if not impossible to accomplish, but i don't think i really feel like torturing myself with a scary class this semester. call it a cop out, call it whatever. but i'd actually like to continue enjoying my time abroad. there is so much more to being abroad than simply the courses i take, and i don't want to forget that.
and i have really been enjoying my time. this past week, i have even been speaking more french! and eating wayyyy too many pastries. i think i'm going to try to not eat a pastry for a week (unless provided by my host parents of course). we'll see how that goes though. they call to me sometimes, i just can't help it.
in part though this whole pastry business has been because my friend minerva left today, and before she did, we wanted to try a few more pastries. most of which were delicious. a couple less so. i've discovered i much prefer flan nature to flan chocolat. and the patisserie near the park that has always looked so delicious, really isn't all it's cracked up to be. especially since it's a little more expensive. but at least now i know!
so friday once again involved pastries and wandering all over town with minerva. one of her last chances to take in this beautiful city before she went home.
then friday evening i headed to samina's apartment for dinner with her, her italien roommate, and her italien roommate's french friend. which meantttt we spent the entire evening speaking french! it was a ton of fun and makes me realize i really wish i had more friends here who don't speak english. i've also discovered i'm a lot more confident in my french speaking abilities when i'm not in a classroom. for some reason when i am, i always seem to choke up a little.
saturday afternoon i had tea at milena's with minerva and patrick. plus milena played her cello for us! it was a lot of fun and a nice way to say goodbye to minerva until the rest of us return to california. though really, this whole people leaving france thing needs to stop.
by the time i got home early saturday evening, i was kinda tired and wasn't sure that i would be going out again that evening. until i realized my host parents were going out, and i felt that meant i should be doing something as well. so i sent chloe a text to see what she was up to, and soon had plans to meet her downtown later in the evening. and i am so glad i did. chloe, her friend, and i bought some wine (breaking one bottle and having to return to the store to buy another - i swear it wasn't our fault. the bottom of the bottle completely came off!) and then looked for a bar where people were dancing. the guy who sold us the wine was super nice though. he even opened our bottle for us and gave us free plastic cups! we are very classy people, obviously.
in the first bar we went to we met a french girl and ended up spending the rest of the evening dancing with her and her friends, at one point even following them to another bar. they were all really nice, but at one point it occurred to me they kind of needed us because there boy-girl ratio was not working in their favor without us! it was also nice to be forced to speak french again since most of them didn't really speak any english. i do hope chloe and i run into them again sometime in the future. we even had such a good time that although chloe and i had already decided we would return home in time for the last metros (around midnight) that as midnight came we changed our minds without thinking twice, and ended up realizing it might be worth it to pay for a cab for once. this was actually the first time i had ever taken a cab by myself!
after such a long vacation, it's been nice getting back into the swing of life in lyon again. yknow classes, going out, and wandering around town. eventually i might actually have a real schedule. this whole picking and choosing classes mess will have to end soon.. i mean we are about to begin week three.
once again i think my schedule will be changing. so i guess those last two blogs saying i figured out my schedule were kind of lying. but this is what happens when you are trying to figure out what you can get to transfer for credit for back home, and then what happens when you realize you aren't sure if you will survive a class that there is only a good probability you can get credit for. oh the joys of studying at a different university.
so at this point it looks like i may only be trying to get credit for one of the two education classes i could get credit for while abroad. why? because with the classes i have found, the other one would involve writing a 20 page paper. IN FRENCH. and i'm just not sure i could handle that. especially when i already know part of the paper is going to involve me comparing this class with a class similar to this i've taken at home. problem with that? i haven't taken any similar classes at home.
unfortunately, this will make my hopes of finishing all of my classes by next june even more difficult, if not impossible to accomplish, but i don't think i really feel like torturing myself with a scary class this semester. call it a cop out, call it whatever. but i'd actually like to continue enjoying my time abroad. there is so much more to being abroad than simply the courses i take, and i don't want to forget that.
and i have really been enjoying my time. this past week, i have even been speaking more french! and eating wayyyy too many pastries. i think i'm going to try to not eat a pastry for a week (unless provided by my host parents of course). we'll see how that goes though. they call to me sometimes, i just can't help it.
in part though this whole pastry business has been because my friend minerva left today, and before she did, we wanted to try a few more pastries. most of which were delicious. a couple less so. i've discovered i much prefer flan nature to flan chocolat. and the patisserie near the park that has always looked so delicious, really isn't all it's cracked up to be. especially since it's a little more expensive. but at least now i know!
so friday once again involved pastries and wandering all over town with minerva. one of her last chances to take in this beautiful city before she went home.
then friday evening i headed to samina's apartment for dinner with her, her italien roommate, and her italien roommate's french friend. which meantttt we spent the entire evening speaking french! it was a ton of fun and makes me realize i really wish i had more friends here who don't speak english. i've also discovered i'm a lot more confident in my french speaking abilities when i'm not in a classroom. for some reason when i am, i always seem to choke up a little.
saturday afternoon i had tea at milena's with minerva and patrick. plus milena played her cello for us! it was a lot of fun and a nice way to say goodbye to minerva until the rest of us return to california. though really, this whole people leaving france thing needs to stop.
by the time i got home early saturday evening, i was kinda tired and wasn't sure that i would be going out again that evening. until i realized my host parents were going out, and i felt that meant i should be doing something as well. so i sent chloe a text to see what she was up to, and soon had plans to meet her downtown later in the evening. and i am so glad i did. chloe, her friend, and i bought some wine (breaking one bottle and having to return to the store to buy another - i swear it wasn't our fault. the bottom of the bottle completely came off!) and then looked for a bar where people were dancing. the guy who sold us the wine was super nice though. he even opened our bottle for us and gave us free plastic cups! we are very classy people, obviously.
in the first bar we went to we met a french girl and ended up spending the rest of the evening dancing with her and her friends, at one point even following them to another bar. they were all really nice, but at one point it occurred to me they kind of needed us because there boy-girl ratio was not working in their favor without us! it was also nice to be forced to speak french again since most of them didn't really speak any english. i do hope chloe and i run into them again sometime in the future. we even had such a good time that although chloe and i had already decided we would return home in time for the last metros (around midnight) that as midnight came we changed our minds without thinking twice, and ended up realizing it might be worth it to pay for a cab for once. this was actually the first time i had ever taken a cab by myself!
after such a long vacation, it's been nice getting back into the swing of life in lyon again. yknow classes, going out, and wandering around town. eventually i might actually have a real schedule. this whole picking and choosing classes mess will have to end soon.. i mean we are about to begin week three.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
the park and scheduling
i spent practically the entire weekend at parc de la tete d'or. it was so beautiful out this weekend, i just couldn't stay away.
at lunch my host mom even pointed out it was sunny out and asked if i would be going to the park. she knows me so well. of course i said yes! marc-philippe, who was home for the weekend, said he never goes there, not since he was little. i really don't understand this! why do the locals stop going when they reach a certain age?!
saturday i went with chloe. we told ourselves we were going to walk all over, but the sunnyness of the grass called to us, and we figured why risk having to walk through the shade for awhile? as we took off our coats because it was so warm we didn't need them, i wondered why i hadn't thought to wear a t-shirt. so i rolled up my long sleeves and was just so happy that it seems like spring might finally be arriving (i am trying not to think about the fact that i am not in california, which means the cold could return).
we regretted not thinking to bring a frisbee or a soccer ball (though neither of us owns a soccer ball), but decided that soon we would return and get a game going. assuming it stays warm, i will probably find myself at the park quite often :)
as the sun started to go down we wandered over to the islandish thing in the lake and watched the sunset. but mannn the temperature drops when the sun sets.
meanwhile, chloe demonstrated the rules to badminton for me so that i would be prepared when we took that class later in the week. more on that later.
saturday evening i found myself bursting at the seems as i left minerva's apartment after she had fed a few of us an amazing dinner. turns out she will be returning to the states instead of staying for the rest of the semester, so she had a lot of food in her freezer to use up. and by a lot, i mean enough for 5 of us plus some left overs. and alllll of it was delicious. i was still full hours later! duck. potatoes cooked in duck fat. home made baguettes. lentils. palenta. chocolate cake. pumpkin pie. some almond cake dessert. and some other chocolate cake that patrick had brought.
then sunday after lunch i found myself returning to the park. it wasn't quite as warm as the day before, but it was still a perfect day to wander around. i even visited parts of the park i had never seen before!
but even with the park and sunshine trying to take my mind off school, knowing i still needed to figure out my schedule for the semester plagued my weekend. i wish there were two of me so i could go to all the classes i want at the same time so that i could make a decision without having to miss classes. my schedule has probably changed 5 million times at this point. why? because my classes are at two campuses on completely opposite sides of town. so even if my classes aren't actually at the exact same time, it makes classes that are back to back impossible to get to unless they are at the same location.
so after two weeks of classes and having been to a few extras/missed the first week of one class, i think i have finally figured out which classes i will be taking. notice it's a little different than when i was so proud that i had figured it out before classes had even started. why am i even surprised? so i am taking:
theme: traduction francais -> anglais
psychologie: education-formation
psychologie cognitive: education
version: traduction anglais -> francais.
so two classes that i am hoping will help me make progress toward my education minor, and two classes to help improve my french (seeing as i can't get any other classes to go toward my major/minor anyways).
and then the sports classes get involved. i am officially taking salsa dancing. never did i think i would ever say that, but hey, this i'm in france, and why not? this class wasn't a problem to get into because i managed to make it the first week.
but i am also trying to take badminton and table de tennis. because once again, why not? badminton got complicated when chloe and i showed up to a time that worked for us and found that class was already full. unfortunate but not entirely surprising since we missed the first week. yknow, because we were more concerned with figuring out our regular classes than making sure we got first dibs on sports classes. its a brutal cycle, really. butttt luckily. we showed up to a class on wednesday that had space in it, and were able to ask the teacher if there was actually space on monday, and he said yes! so i will be playing badminton monday mornings :) table tennis wasn't a problem at all to get into. sam and i showed up, asked if there was space, and we were in! sweeeettt. only problem was that for this week at least, i played an hour and a half of ping pong. then directly after an hour and a half of badminton. which means.... my shoulder really hurts. awesome. good thing they will normally be different days!
looks like this is going to be an ok semester :)
plus. now i can start making weekend travel plans!
at lunch my host mom even pointed out it was sunny out and asked if i would be going to the park. she knows me so well. of course i said yes! marc-philippe, who was home for the weekend, said he never goes there, not since he was little. i really don't understand this! why do the locals stop going when they reach a certain age?!
saturday i went with chloe. we told ourselves we were going to walk all over, but the sunnyness of the grass called to us, and we figured why risk having to walk through the shade for awhile? as we took off our coats because it was so warm we didn't need them, i wondered why i hadn't thought to wear a t-shirt. so i rolled up my long sleeves and was just so happy that it seems like spring might finally be arriving (i am trying not to think about the fact that i am not in california, which means the cold could return).
 |
| chloe and i are in love with the sun :) |
as the sun started to go down we wandered over to the islandish thing in the lake and watched the sunset. but mannn the temperature drops when the sun sets.
 |
| the badminton court, of course |
then sunday after lunch i found myself returning to the park. it wasn't quite as warm as the day before, but it was still a perfect day to wander around. i even visited parts of the park i had never seen before!
but even with the park and sunshine trying to take my mind off school, knowing i still needed to figure out my schedule for the semester plagued my weekend. i wish there were two of me so i could go to all the classes i want at the same time so that i could make a decision without having to miss classes. my schedule has probably changed 5 million times at this point. why? because my classes are at two campuses on completely opposite sides of town. so even if my classes aren't actually at the exact same time, it makes classes that are back to back impossible to get to unless they are at the same location.
so after two weeks of classes and having been to a few extras/missed the first week of one class, i think i have finally figured out which classes i will be taking. notice it's a little different than when i was so proud that i had figured it out before classes had even started. why am i even surprised? so i am taking:
theme: traduction francais -> anglais
psychologie: education-formation
psychologie cognitive: education
version: traduction anglais -> francais.
so two classes that i am hoping will help me make progress toward my education minor, and two classes to help improve my french (seeing as i can't get any other classes to go toward my major/minor anyways).
and then the sports classes get involved. i am officially taking salsa dancing. never did i think i would ever say that, but hey, this i'm in france, and why not? this class wasn't a problem to get into because i managed to make it the first week.
but i am also trying to take badminton and table de tennis. because once again, why not? badminton got complicated when chloe and i showed up to a time that worked for us and found that class was already full. unfortunate but not entirely surprising since we missed the first week. yknow, because we were more concerned with figuring out our regular classes than making sure we got first dibs on sports classes. its a brutal cycle, really. butttt luckily. we showed up to a class on wednesday that had space in it, and were able to ask the teacher if there was actually space on monday, and he said yes! so i will be playing badminton monday mornings :) table tennis wasn't a problem at all to get into. sam and i showed up, asked if there was space, and we were in! sweeeettt. only problem was that for this week at least, i played an hour and a half of ping pong. then directly after an hour and a half of badminton. which means.... my shoulder really hurts. awesome. good thing they will normally be different days!
looks like this is going to be an ok semester :)
plus. now i can start making weekend travel plans!
Friday, February 4, 2011
life is good
what a lovely friday. i woke up at 9, before my alarm had even gone off. considering how much i have been not liking my alarm lately, this was a great way to wake up! plus the fact that i knew it would actually be kind of nice out today, not completely freezing. with even more sunshine in store for the weekend i believe! considering how cold i have been lately, this was great news.
i ate some breakfast, and found myself in a studious mood, so i actually read an article for a class i might take! impressed? i was. i read it, defined vocab i didn't know, and then wrote key points in english on the back so i could review more quickly later. plus this sometimes helps the info stick in my head a little better.
since it was still fairly early, i killed some time before meeting up with minerva and milena for lunch. i saw minerva first, and she handed me a box of hot tamales! she had told me before that she had remembered to bring me a box, but i had completely forgotten about that until she handed them to me. i was so excited! having friends return to the states for winter break does have its advantages lol.
once we were all together, we walked around looking for a cafe to eat at, and soon found ourselves at one that was quite crowded (we figured we didn't want to eat at a place that had no customers). i ordered the lyonnais salade, though i've decided as much as i like this salad, the end is too salty. but i did love the fact that once again water was free! a luxury i have not had while traveling to other countries. for dessert i had some chocolate cake thing with cream. yummmmyy. i hadn't eaten out in lyon for awhile, or seen milena or minerva much in a while, so this lunch was quite enjoyable :)
next up we wandered around awhile walking off our lunch and doing a little shopping since the sales are still going on.
soon milena had to leave us, and minerva and i wandered all around town exploring and checking out more stores. neither of us ended up buying anything, but when you have an afternoon free to do as you please and it's really nice out, you might as well meander from store to store enjoying the sunshine in between them. by the time we had wandered all the way from hotel de ville down to perrache and back to hotel de ville (check out a lyon map if you dont know what im talking about), we had decided we were ready for a snack. which meant it was time for some flan nature! minerva had also decided she wanted to compare flan at different places, so it seemed to make sense. and that was dessert number 2 for the day. well technically 1 1/2 because we split it, but still. we weren't done yet. oh wait, we had also split a pain au chocolat. anyways, we knew it was a good thing we were doing a lot of walking hahahah.
but back to adventuring. we decided to head to vieux lyon since neither of us had been there in awhile. i loved seeing the cobblestones again, but also appreciated that most of the city isn't paved with them. we located a bunch of buchon de lyon cafes (cafes with specifically lyonnaise food) and i decided that i must return there at some point to try them. and i am sure you can guess what followed this bit of adventuring. that's right, more dessert! minerva got another flan (to continue her comparison of course), and i got some pastry i don't remember the name of. and i forgot to take a picture of. it is white with drizzled blackness on the top. a fairly sugary frosting. then it has multiple layers of pastry and cream. delicious. though i had to save some for later because at this point i was super full off lunch and too many desserts in one day. after sitting and chatting for awhile, i thought to have us head over to the rhone river to get a picture of it for nathan. how nice of me right? he had been asking for it, and i figured as long as it was dark out and i was nearby, i would try again to get him his starry night picture (without stars since we were lacking in that department).
here's what i'd gotten him before that wasn't quiteee right:
here was my new version:
who knows if i'll ever get it right. maybe i'll just have to stay in lyon forever. i do love living in a city with rivers :)
after awhile we both headed home because our feet were exhausted from walking around all day. i have to say, this is my idea of a good friday. no class. good friends. adventuring around the amazing city that lyon has to offer. multiple pastries. relatively warmish weather. it is a good start to the weekend :) now if only i can find a way to keep myself busy like this every friday, that would be just amazing.
i ate some breakfast, and found myself in a studious mood, so i actually read an article for a class i might take! impressed? i was. i read it, defined vocab i didn't know, and then wrote key points in english on the back so i could review more quickly later. plus this sometimes helps the info stick in my head a little better.
since it was still fairly early, i killed some time before meeting up with minerva and milena for lunch. i saw minerva first, and she handed me a box of hot tamales! she had told me before that she had remembered to bring me a box, but i had completely forgotten about that until she handed them to me. i was so excited! having friends return to the states for winter break does have its advantages lol.
once we were all together, we walked around looking for a cafe to eat at, and soon found ourselves at one that was quite crowded (we figured we didn't want to eat at a place that had no customers). i ordered the lyonnais salade, though i've decided as much as i like this salad, the end is too salty. but i did love the fact that once again water was free! a luxury i have not had while traveling to other countries. for dessert i had some chocolate cake thing with cream. yummmmyy. i hadn't eaten out in lyon for awhile, or seen milena or minerva much in a while, so this lunch was quite enjoyable :)
next up we wandered around awhile walking off our lunch and doing a little shopping since the sales are still going on.
soon milena had to leave us, and minerva and i wandered all around town exploring and checking out more stores. neither of us ended up buying anything, but when you have an afternoon free to do as you please and it's really nice out, you might as well meander from store to store enjoying the sunshine in between them. by the time we had wandered all the way from hotel de ville down to perrache and back to hotel de ville (check out a lyon map if you dont know what im talking about), we had decided we were ready for a snack. which meant it was time for some flan nature! minerva had also decided she wanted to compare flan at different places, so it seemed to make sense. and that was dessert number 2 for the day. well technically 1 1/2 because we split it, but still. we weren't done yet. oh wait, we had also split a pain au chocolat. anyways, we knew it was a good thing we were doing a lot of walking hahahah.
but back to adventuring. we decided to head to vieux lyon since neither of us had been there in awhile. i loved seeing the cobblestones again, but also appreciated that most of the city isn't paved with them. we located a bunch of buchon de lyon cafes (cafes with specifically lyonnaise food) and i decided that i must return there at some point to try them. and i am sure you can guess what followed this bit of adventuring. that's right, more dessert! minerva got another flan (to continue her comparison of course), and i got some pastry i don't remember the name of. and i forgot to take a picture of. it is white with drizzled blackness on the top. a fairly sugary frosting. then it has multiple layers of pastry and cream. delicious. though i had to save some for later because at this point i was super full off lunch and too many desserts in one day. after sitting and chatting for awhile, i thought to have us head over to the rhone river to get a picture of it for nathan. how nice of me right? he had been asking for it, and i figured as long as it was dark out and i was nearby, i would try again to get him his starry night picture (without stars since we were lacking in that department).
here's what i'd gotten him before that wasn't quiteee right:
after awhile we both headed home because our feet were exhausted from walking around all day. i have to say, this is my idea of a good friday. no class. good friends. adventuring around the amazing city that lyon has to offer. multiple pastries. relatively warmish weather. it is a good start to the weekend :) now if only i can find a way to keep myself busy like this every friday, that would be just amazing.
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