Zut!!! Il ne reste que quelque jours….

Merde there’s a whole (two) week(s) to catch up on. Its been such a fou fou last three weeks here in Lyon. Its not over yet, so I’m not going to get all nostalgic and stuff give yet, I have to raconte some stuff. So here goes! Highlights edition from last week:

Monday the 4^th:

Hung out with Kate and Maggie dans l’apres-midi! We met at Zara, took a trip to Rafael’s apartment where Maggie was staying, and then ran off to get food at Lidl (cheaper than Monoprix, but its also an experience haha) on the quai! Had a little pique-nique and watched some pre-pubescent skaters and the one older biker do some sweet tricks on the skate holes near pont Guillotière…clearly one of my favorite past-times.

Après ca, I went to meet the rest of the group at L’atelier des Chefs for our cooking class! It was def one of the coolest things I’ve ever done (considering I don’t cook). We got split into two groups, and mine did the wine-tasting with Monsieur Gateaux (translation: Mister Cake….non, vraiment). He was super chouette and had us smelling pamplemousse, pommes, and fragrances and stuff that I didn’t realize was in wine (grapes, no?). then we headed out to make the entrée, some ratatouille, and the desert, a cherry pastry of some sort. So great.

Since it was America Day, we decided to celebrate the night at Cosmo, the American bar at the bottom of our petite colline. Its honestly not my favorite place (not enough dance floor due to awkward placement of bar), but it was so fun this nice. It was a lot of people from the 4 and 6 week program together, just having a good old time, dancing like fools, comme d’hab. Success

Tuesday the 5^th:

Nothing that exciting happened during the day, other than class.

That night however, Katherine James and I made plans to go play on the quai together. She plays fiddle and we were just going to have a jam sesh near the water on the rhone. We cross Guillotière to find literally hundreds of people sitting there chillin out. Kate had told me it was the thing to do in Lyon, mais I didn’t think there would be this many people there. Everyone was either playing instruments, just hanging out, or cheering on the 60 year old man who runs along the Rhone every night. We get there and Kate and Maggie arrive plus tard, and suddenly we’re on our way to Rafael’s apartment. So we go in they are having a typical French soirée, obviously with real French people. Katherine and I felt super awkward at first because we really didn’t know anyone other than Maggie and Kate and Rafael (and Katherine had just met them all that night), so we planned to leave when Kate left (it was her last night in Lyon waaaaah), but Rafael convinced us to stay and play there. We wanted to practice first so we went into the hallway. But then didn’t get up. FOR THREE HOURS. Literally jamming for three hours. But it was magnifique. Ukulele and fiddle is such a great combination. We had really awesome conversation in the hall with whoever was passing, and some French guy made me sing to his best friend through his phone. Normal everyday life occurrence.

Wednesday the 6^th:

Nardone! Nard’s (fyi, no one actually calls it Nard’s) is considered the best ice cream in Lyon, and we were getting three boules (scoops) fo free!! Miam miam, as the French say. I got rose, caramel (not the best choice), and strachiatella.

Went to go hang out and play on the quai with Maggie on her last night in Lyon waaaaaah. It was super chill, minus the creeper that tried to sit with us. Maggie shut that right up though, and we on y va-ed to a different spot on the quai It was super chill but super nice. She walked me back to Pont laFayette (I am the queen of these Rhone ponts) and then I trudged back up the hill). Early night.

Thursday the 7^th:

La pluit est stupide. Ruined my plans to go to Vieux Lyon and Johnny’s and listen to my main brazillian guitarist Jose. But n’importe quoi, We were leaving for Annecy the next matin, so I got to do some much needed homework. Rained-out.

Friday the 8^th:

Got up early to do the packing for Annecy that I didn’t do the night before. The bus ride was fun. I meant to start on my etre francaise paper, but I ended up showing Emily all the stupid yet hilarious pictures that I collect on my computer. Standard. Then we watched this French movie called le Nom des Gens. I knew what Pierre was trying to do, making us do some learning and cultural analysis on the way to Annecy, but en fait, it was actually a pretty awesome movie. And then we get to Annecy. They literally just dropped us off and said, see ya on Sunday. Donc, a completely unstructured weekend. OH MON DIEU. It is legit the most beautiful place ever. It’s in the Alpes, pretty close to Switzerland. Words cannot express. Luckily stolen pictures can. I had pretty awesome roomies too, Rudhdi and Katherine James. Due to my violent sleeping habits, I got the twin bed while the two of them shared the double (still don’t understand why we didn’t have three beds, but its whatever). We went to a Jazz concert. Kinda…my group caught the last two songs, and the other group caught the last two bars of the encore haha. But we all just sat out by the water and chatted. The night was a little gaté thanks to some really obnoxious French men that came by. They started nice, trying to get us to go discotechque-ing with them, but then it got kind of rude and vulgar, and we weren’t having any of it. It wasn’t threatening, just a little annoying and disconcerting. Its this weird thing that we’ve experienced here,  where it seems that a large number of French men think that American girls are all sluts and salopes, and thus they feel like talk to us however they want. I really wonder if they ever give French girls the kind of crap that they serve to us on a platter sometimes. But rant over, the rest of the night was great because we went back and slept.

Saturday the 9^th:

Gah this place was so great. We went pedalo-ing (paddle boating) in the morning, then biking in the afternoon before getting crepes for lunch. I had a great conversation with the owner of the crepe place about France and America and cars and driving. Tres chouette.  Apres I’m pretty sure I did some work, before dinner, and then karaoke that night. Pretty sure we crashed a bachelorette party at the bar we went to, but Natasha, Mary, and I got up to sing summer nights anyway, and got a cute applause afterwards. Then I spend most of the time outside with Rachael, Sarah and Shannon talking to French people.

Sunday the 10^th:

Clearly I’m getting annoyed at writing and I’m not putting as much detail into it anymore. Des (as in desolée). Sunday we went to the chateau and then walked around the ville before heading back on the bus at 5 and going back to villemanzy. Seeing as it was the beginning of my last week, I couldn’t think of anything better to do than sit in my window in my underwear with my ukulele and watch the river at night from my view. Literally one of the best things ever. Les voisins noticed I think, but je ne care pas. I decided to write a song about them. The creative juices were just flowing and i finished most of it that night. Les Voisins.

I’ll try and recap my last week, but it’ll probs be after I get back. I’ll get super sappy and stuff, so that’ll be fun.

French-Cute or Genuinely Attractive?...Week-end libre a Lyon

So this weekend is the only free weekend of the trip, as in there were no mandatory cultural events scheduled, and everyone could basically do what they wanted. I was all about sortiring de Lyon and exploring the South of France, but given the money situation, it wasn’t gonna marche at all. And also, after I thought about it, I realized that it was probably mieux to stay in Lyon (for me anyway). It’s our last real weekend here, and since j’adore this city, I knew I was gonna make the most of it (when I wasn’t doing work). So while a bunch of people voyager-ed this weekend, A handful of us girls decided to stay and just Francais it up right in our own backyard. The group was me, Becca, Karen, Rudhdi, and Hannah. Suffice it to say that it was a pretty stellar group. It was great because we basically just took our sweet French time faire-ing whatever we wanted, but still getting up, walking and moving about. So here goes!

Friday

Becca and I decided to get some food down the colline and on the Rue de la Rebuplique at this cute place called La Croissanterie. They had a sweet deal where I got a plat + dessert+ boisson for about 7 euro, and I was so down. I got a parisien Panini, a tart au fraise, and jus d’orange. It was parf (parfait). We sat in the window and did some intense people watching (what I like to call “Cultural Studies”). We then went back up that blasted colline to pick up the rest of the gang to go faire les Soldes aka shopping during the government ordered country-wide summer sales. Karen went to go work in Starbucks, but me, Becca, Rudhdi, and Hannah went on to meet Katherine James to hit up some of the stores. After two hours I was exhausted and had only bought a pair of boucles d’oreilles (earrings) , but I think right before we leave I’m going to go and get one big thing that I want. We stopped at this precious homestyle place and got some café and chocolat chaud for me, and my first croissant in france! It was just so nice to sit and chat, and I think the delirium made everything a little bit funnier. Rudhdi’s creeper voice came out, which is how ever conversation or event in general should end haha. We then went back and chilled before having dinner all together on the rez de chausee of Villemanzy. Calvin came and joined too! I made some tortellini that I’d just gotten when we stopped by Monoprix. I swear I could eat tortellini every day of my life and not get bored with it. Non, mais vraiment. We then decided that its always a good idea to go get some glace, so we hiked further up the Croix-Rousse to the other Regal Glace location. Literally this place is heavenly. I got stracciatella and citron and it was incroyable. I also managed to be trop awkward, and pointed at the guy from the Regal glace on Rue Merciere (I guess he works both locations) right as he was turning and probably (as in most definitely) saw me. Smooth (je ne suis pas). He was definitely a 2 though, so I’m not really bothered, he probably knows he’s good looking haha.

I probably have to explain this system we have come up with. I know I’ve mentioned the notion of French cute before, but haven’t really delved into it. So what we’ve been noticing is that not all French men look like Guillaume Canet, Yoann Gourcuff, Thierry Henry, or Gilles Marini (below is a sampling of these men). 

I dont really know who home-garcon on the right is, but he can stay.

Titi, forever a gunner to me :)

Zizou! like a fine wine, this one is.

But now its almost like we are too conscious of that. To the point that we have decided that a lot of the guys here are French Cute; as in they are cute probably because they are French, or look really French, but we probably wouldn’t know what to think if we were back in the states or at UVA. So now went we are doing our “Cultural Studies” we’ve been playing the great cultural game, “French-Cute or Genuinely Attractive…or Other”. To be more discrete, French-cute is 1, Genuinely Attractive is 2, and other is just other (it’s a wide spectra really). You can potentially get a 1.5 if you’re walking the line though. It’s really just silliness, but it helps pass the time haha.

But basically we ate our glace at the top of Croix-Rousse overlooking the city and it was glorious. But once again, I haven’t fully evaded the black lung yet, so I needed to get out of the cold and just go to bed, which is what I did.

Saturday

What a good productive jour this was! I got up a little early to do some work for Pierre’s class. Love the man, but damn, he gives a lot of work. But I was very proud of myself because I actually made myself a good breakfast (yogurt, and melon) and took some medicine, so I was buzzin’ and in a good mood. We went down the colline again for a lunch at the place next to the Hotel de Ville whose sign says “S, M, L, XL” as the name of the restaurant. It was actually amazing. I got a pesto-parmesan pasta (I literally just discovered pesto and I’m all about it, its my confiture). And then of course we sat and did the French thing of not moving for another 45 minutes just chillin. Home-garcon next to us was a solid 2, and we were impressed by him just splashing out about 15 euro on himself; he got an entrée, plat principal, and then a dessert as well. After lunch the others decided to go to the Contemporary Art musee, but I decided to stay behind and finish up my work. I’m trying to profiter de la ville de Lyon as much as I can during the week next week, so I’m trying to get on my study and homework grind now. I got it all done for the most part, and then headed down at 8 again for dinner with les filles. I had….yup, guessed right. Tortellini again! Its so bon fromage. The night got hopping later though. Becca, Hannah, and I decided to go to Johnny’s again (my favorite establishment), even though Jose the Brazilian wasn’t there. Kate had just gotten back from the south so we were going to meet up with her around 11:30. It was a pretty great night! My favorite creeper balding man, Simone, was there again because I have the worst luck in the world. However, he was preoccupied with creepin with another femme, so I wasn’t bothered. But Fearless Kate had a mission for me to dance with someone that night. There was the most adorable muffin of a boy in a Stade Toulouse t-shirt (favorite French rugby team? Check plus) sitting on the other side. I jokingly told Kate I would give her 2 euros if she was my wingman and and brought him over to us….so naturally, Fearless did it! He was super nice and was trying really hard to speak English, so I told him we could speak in French if it was easier. I was very proud of my French speaking skills that night, especially since there was a very loud Irish band in front of us. I left our new friend Yannick to go find the girls who had moved to a table in the back. But then Hannah, Kate, Kate’s german friend, and I decided to get up on the stage and dance! Its so funny because its such a small stage, and you’re basically in front of everyone, but it just didn’t matter because we were having such a good time. And then Fearless pulled Yannick into our little dancing group and he was just having the time of his life. Muffin does not even begin to describe this guy. Later on I lost part of my earring while dancing to “Highway to Hell” which was tragic. That’s what I get for buying cheap earrings I guess. But whatever. We left soon after and walked home through Vieux Lyon because Hannah had never been. It was so gorgeous je ne peux pas meme le decrire. It was just one of those nights that i love you know. As much as I love discotecque-ing and dancing like a maniac, I also love semi chill nights, where everyone’s just kinda listening to a band and talking amongst friends (and you know, getting up on  stage and dancing every once in a while haha).

Sunday

So today was more “wake up and do homework” kinda thing. I honestly was gonna do laundry as soon as I woke up, but the waking up part was harder than expected. So when I did finally get out of bed, I started on Poetry stuff for Tuesday. Then at 11 the girls met up to go to the marché on Croix-Rousse. Its so great how much stuff I can get for not that much. Today I got a quiche, couscous, potatoes, and half a chicken for like 6,50 euros. I came down with Karen and then did a little bit of work that required internet. I then went back up the hill to “read” and play ukulele. I actually did do some Lire-ing, but I’m saving the rest for later haha. Hannah came and joined soon after, so I just serenaded her and everyone else on that overlook of the city. There was a guy up there busking for money with his guitar that was totally stealing my thunder, I was not amused haha. But then around 4:45 we went back down to go with Rudhdi and Becca to the Book marché on our Side of the Soane. I didn’t get anything, but it was so interesting seeing all the French books laid out. You could tell which ones were the yard sale rejects, and which were probably actually really legit books. After a bit of browsing, we were obviously in the mood for glace, so we tried to hit up Nardone on the other side of the Soane. Its said to be the best ice cream place in like all of France or something, and that was clear from the lines. We decided it wasn’t worth the wait since we were getting it for free this week as part of the program, so we wandered back across the Soane and went to our classic favorite place, Regal Glace. We sat down in the store across from Regal and since I’d brought my uke I gave Becca, Rudhdi and Hannah another free concert (…and everyone else at Regal). We then walked back up to Villemanzy and took a two hour repose before dinner. At dinner of course I found out that I had even more work to do, and did that before we headed out for a chill night at Flanagan’s. Funnily enough, the same band from Johnny’s the night before was the one playing at Flanny’s that night. So we just sat back and took in the music for a while before calling it a night. 

2 more incredible (j'espere) weeks left!

Cheers,

Abena

A week's worth of recapping...

So I knew this would happen. I knew that at some point I wouldn’t be able to keep up with this blog. But here I thought it would be because I’m just a lazy old cow who gets sick of doing things. But its actually been quite a busy week, what with school and all (again, with the study part of study abroad). So I’m going to go through the important parts of the last week, with stolen pictures from facebook obviously 

Sunday highlights:

-          Musée Gadagne with David, Rudhdi, Becca, and Calvin! We had to go for our Poetry class, and it was actually really awesome. I’m such a museum nerd, but it was so cool. We basically got to see what Lyon was like during the Renaissance, and how and why it became such a cultural and historical hotspot of France at that time.

-          Basically a whole lotta nothing haha. We all sat around for a bit writing our commentaries on the museum, and pretending to read the poems (which are super dense)

-          Degustation de Fromage! We got to taste a whole bunch of stinky cheese and decide which one we liked the best. Since I’m no food critic, my critiques went as far as “bon” et “pas bon” et “degoutant”. But basically, Beaufort was the best, and Chevre was the overall favorite type

mmmmm....fromage

-          I ended up giving an impromptu ukulele concert in the lobby of Villemanzy. I didn’t play too many of the weird ones, but people seemed to appreciate what I write, which makes me really happy :)

aaaah where's my hand?

Monday highlights:

-          Lowlight: having to wake up early to sickness and the black lung apparently. My nose was running like it stole something, and I was coughing like a chainsmoker. Pas bon fromage.

-          Meeting with the American Consulat in Lyon. We got to talk to the Consul Mark Shapiro and another guy in the office Victor Vitelli (silver fox) about the diversity initiatives that they are starting in Lyon. We branched out and ended up talking about diversity in france in general, gender roles and treatment, affirmative action, and so much more. It was so interesting! Although I’m the opposite of political, all this culture stuff really sucks me in, so I was bombing them with a lot of questions (that they evaded like good politicians), but it was also obvious that they seemed genuinely interested in the diversity initatives.

-          Lowlight: basically being sick for the whole rest of the day. I went to bed around 3pm on my floor because I was too weak to make it upstairs to my bed, and then later on at 9ish Megan (who is my mother on this trip) gave me some Theraflu. No sortir-ing that night. 

Tuesday highlights:

-          Taking the metro and the tramway to class for the first time because it was hot as balls. Like literally 97 degrees outside

-          Wow I guess Tuesday wasn’t really all that eventful

-          Watching Geordie Shore with Hannah. Or rather, watching like 5 minutes of Geordie Shore at a time with Hannah because the internet is sooooo slow was actually really fun.

-          I wanted to go out, but my body was telling me:

 SSo naturally, i listened.

Wednesday Highlights:

-          Meeting with Emmanuelle quelquechose and Mark Villarubias about Diversity programs for Pierre’s class. Seriously, We are getting to meet so many awesome people. Mark was like the French version of a new Yorker, fast talking and all. (A little silver foxy as well if you’re into like an old version of Zorro…he had that soulpatch going on) But he was so intelligent and knowledgable and it was so clear that he had given this type of presentation before. I’m gonna try and get to know him so that I can interview him for my final project.

-          Couscous dinner! It was in a very Maghrebin area of Lyon, and the food was awesome!

-          We decided to go over the ponts (bridges) and just sit by the Rhone and chill after couscous. Like I’ve said before, Lyon is beautiful at night, and it was awesome just sitting, chatting, and playing in the playground with a small group of us from the program

Thursday Highlights:

-          Longest day of my life, but also really awesome. It was Poetry all day with Karen James.  We went up to Fourviere first. Saw the view of the city,  and had class up by the Greco-roman ampitheatre. Then we went to Karen James’s house and had lunch with her lovely precious family, and then visited the Musée d’Imprimerie (the printing museum). We had a walking tour with this chic French woman (sidenote- when I’m past thirty, I’m moving to France so I can learn how to be chic and stylish as I get older. Literally, all these French women have it down pat) and this cute younger guy, probably our age. It was super interesting knowing what used to be where in this city that has changed so much (yet so little) over the years. 

at the top of fourviere!

Senior Portraits

View of the city behind us

hard at work reading poetry

awesome apple tart that Katherine James made

Musee d'Imprimerie!

outside

history

one of the printing presses that they used

picture of the class with the stylish older french woman, veronique

-          Getting crepes with Blake and Hannah was lovely. We (and Karen and David) tried to go to the fancy crepe place but it was closed and I almost cried….no, but really, I was like devastated. So we went down the hill to find cheap ones. The waiter was so pleasant and nice it was really just peachy.

-          The hotel was dead, so Becca and I headed out to Johnny’s! I’d been raving about Johnny’s forever to everyone so it was nice to finally be able to take someone from the program with me! The atmosphere was great, of course, Jose the brazillian guitar player was awesome as ever. We got hit on by this balding man in the corner, which was just lovely (as in not at all, but quite amusing). He invited us to sit at the table with his significantly more attractive (french cute though) friends. I told him we would discuss it, but in actuality we basically just peaced. 

I can't believe that its the halfway point of the trip already...I could stay here forever haha. I'll get back to more regular updating (of yesterday and today) after I finish some work.

Cheers

Abena