The Week in Review

Lundi/Monday
For the life of me, I can't remember. I think I just went to class, slowly died inside for six hours, and then came home. Yep, that seems about right.

Ooh! I did make my first trip to the discount grocery store, though, where I managed to get lunch (an apple, a yogurt with chocolate-banana granola included, and a six-pack of some weird chocolate-dipped waffle snacks) for a grand total of 1,88 €. Hooray for bargain shopping!

Mardi/Tuesday
The same, except today class lasted 45 minutes longer (and started 45 minutes earlier) and I only spent like 0,84 € on lunch, although after class I went out with some friends and bought a 1 € pastry, which I would have paid for in exact change had I not dropped my 50-cent piece into the grate surrounding a tree's roots as I waited in line at the outdoor counter. Boooooo. The people in line let me get back in my spot, though, after I ran to go get my purse (I'd left it with my friends while I waited in line). It was cool to be walking around Lyon that afternoon because there was a HUUUUUGE football (soccer) match that night, and Lyon was playing Munich, I guess to qualify for the championships or something. (I dunno, I don't follow sports...in this country or any other!) Anyway, there were tons of German fans in Lyon, wearing their colors, singing, chanting, and taunting the Lyonnais people walking by. There was definitely a buzz of excitement in the air, which was really fun.

I wanted to go to Place Bellecour that night and watch the game on the big screens set up there (not so much for the game itself but for the crowd and the noise and the fun), but we (Corinne, Philippe, and I) had been invited to dinner at Caroline's family's house. I figured if I could make it to Place Bellecour afterward, great; if not, tant pis ("too bad"). I never made it to the game; we were at Caroline's apartment until just after midnight, and it was a very pleasant evening; in addition to our two families, Laura (another friend from the group) and Prof. Tarnowski were there. We all had aperitifs and Caroline and her père unveiled the "Welcome, Prof. Tarnowski" sign they'd made together. (Seriously, the two of them are thick as thieves. It's adorable.) We had a very pleasant (and delicious!) dinner, and the dessert was especially good. I'll probably dream about that dessert for the rest of my life.

The downside was that little me couldn't handle my liquor. I didn't drink to excess and I didn't embarrass myself or anything - over the course of the evening I had two glasses of champagne and a glass of wine - but since I'm small and don't drink often my tolerance is basically nil. Unfortunately, alcohol doesn't really make me tipsy or silly or fun, it makes me incredibly sleepy and sometimes a little dizzy. I managed to bypass the dizziness, but it was hard to keep my eyes open from about 11:00 on.

But at dinner, Corinne said something that absolutely made my night. She said that they think I'm "the best," and that essentially I'm a good person to have around. "Bravo à tes parents," she said. (I don't think I have to translate that one, do I?) That put a huge smile on my face. =)

Oh, and by the way: Lyon lost. Boooooooooo. (It was the one time I actually cared about the stupid automated football-and-rugby-score texts that are constantly being sent to my phone at inconvenient times.)

Mercredi/Wednesday
Had class in the morning, spent lunch walking around with Kelly trying to find a suitably cheap and filling lunch (since we weren't near the discount grocery store...the reason why will be explained in a minute). We ended up each getting an avocado. I subsequently discovered that I don't really like eating plain avocados.

Anyway, that afternoon we were scheduled to visit the museum about the French Resistance movement in Lyon during WWII (or, as it's abbreviated here, la 2ème GM - for the deuxième Guerre Mondiale). So we got lunch nearby and ate in the plaza outside the museum, sitting and lying on the cobblestones to soak up the sun and the 80-degree weather. It was quite warm and lovely. The museum, however, while warm (it was super-hot and a little stuffy, probably because the AC isn't on this early in the season and it was hot outside), was not lovely. Not that there was anything wrong with the museum, just that the subject matter was grim. Mme. Villard let us get English audioguides because, she said, it's important that we understand everything. We walked around the exhibition, then watched a film of the trial of the Nazi Klaus Barbie in the late 1980s, and then we met with a Holocaust survivor who told us the story of his arrest and imprisonment by the Nazis. I was really impressed - this man, who is in his 80s, spoke animatedly and in detail about his experience, standing the entire time he spoke to us (maybe 30-45 minutes? I'm not sure, I'm a terrible judge of time) and gesturing to punctuate his points. I didn't understand a lot of what he said, since my French is still not up to par, but it was cool to hear his story and meet him.

I can't remember what I did Wednesday night...I guess it must not have been all that important?

Jeudi/Thursday
On Thursday we started class at 9:15 and ended at 13:45, but it felt SO SHORT compared to the three long days we'd started the week with (Wednesday lasted from 10 am until almost 5 pm). I got out of class and some of my friends were talking about going for runs, so I got inspired and decided to take one myself, since it was sunny and 80 degrees again. I ran up the Saone and crossed the pedestrian bridge on Quai Saint Antoine over to Vieux Lyon and ran back along the river on the other side, crossed back over at the other pedestrian bridge, then took a roundabout way back home to avoid getting ogled again at the construction site near the apartment. (And also because I was in the zone, man. Kidding(ish). Ha. Imagine if I were really like that.) Anyway, it was a nice run because there was a strong, cool breeze to cut through the 80-degree heat, and it was nice to be outside, looking at the trees blooming along the river and listening to my ipod and just kind of letting my mind wander. It wasn't a super-long run - three kilometers, tops - but it was quite pleasant.

I got back to the apartment, did some sit-ups, etc., cleaned up a bit, and then looked at the clock - it wasn't even three yet. I was like, "Oh my God, I've had so little free time in the afternoons that I've forgotten how to use it!" So I did what I always do - played around with facebook (the biggest time-suck I think I've ever encountered in my entire life).

Vendredi/Friday
Got out of class at 13h00 (wooohooooo!) and got pasta at a pasta take-out place with Nayab, Jake, David, and Rachel. Then they wanted to see Iron Man 2 so we checked out movie times. I had no particular desire to see it, but I figured I'd hang with them until the movie, since I had no other plans and let's face it, they're delightful company. We hung out in McDonald's for a little while, using the wifi, playing with dice, and doing card tricks, and then we walked to Parc de la Tête d'Or, which was near the movie theater. (It wasn't the closest movie theater by a long shot - there was one literally across from the McDo's, but all the theaters were showing the movie around the same time so we figured we may as well go to the one across town, since we could kill time in the park until the movie started.) We got to the park and went to the zoo, which was fun (still haven't seen all of it, though). Then we walked to Cité International, where the movie theater (and a hotel and some cafés and a casino) is. We got a little lost on the way but still managed to get there in time to see the movie (which I caved and watched, since I'd already come all that way and the ticket was only 5,95 €). The movie...meh. It was a lot of action, which is not really my thing, but I did enjoy staring at Robert Downey, Jr. for two hours. Yum.

After that, we took a quick look in the casino, walked back through the park (it's so cute!), and then I splurged 1,60 € on the metro to get home in time for dinner with my host brother, Jacques, as Corinne and Philippe went to the country this weekend to do work on the house. Jacques and I get along fine but never really hang out, so I wasn't quite sure how a dinner with just the two of us was going to go. (In the past when Corinne and Philippe have gone to the country for the weekend, Jacques's friends have come over for dinner or one or the other of us has eaten out.) But it was fine - first we bonded over our shared aversion to Justin Beiber, who was being interviewed on a French talk show, and then I told him about frats and sororities at Dartmouth, since they're a much bigger thing in the States than they are here. I spent the rest of the night just kind of hanging out around the apartment.

Samedi/Saturday
Slept in, studied, skyped with Mom, and then at night went to Place Bellecour to meet Kelly, Amanda, and Nayab to go out someplace. As I sat in Place Bellecour (I got there early), two French guys came up and sat on either side of me, and one said something to me in French, to which I quickly responded "Je ne parle pas le français" ("I don't speak French"), as I was not in the mood to be chatted up by random guys (which I thought was somewhat apparent from the fact that I was texting and listening to my ipod). At any rate, this fix didn't work since the other guy spoke English, so I ended up talking to them for a couple minutes, which was awkward a.) because I am a somewhat socially awkward person, b.) I never know how to react when I'm being hit on (which I was), and c.) I was really just not in a particularly chatty mood. At any rate, I was still polite and everything, but when they asked if I was in the city on my own I made it very clear that I was waiting for friends and then they sort of figured I wasn't interested and went on their way. Not taking any more chances, however, I pretended to call a friend and had a fake conversation until my actual friends arrived.

We decided to go to a karaoke bar, and we found one in Vieux Lyon. My virgin piña colada was definitely not worth the eight (EIGHT!) euros I paid for it, but we had fun singing karaoke and making friends with the bouncer, who insisted that we come and get him when it was our turn to sing. We accidentally forgot to get him, so he missed our screamy rendition of Mambo #5, but before we left he got the DJ to bump us up to next in line so we could sing agian. We sang "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, and our bouncer friend danced. It was insane.

Walking home in the rain without an umbrella, though, was less fun. I returned home looking like a drowned rat, with my hair matted down and my brand-new, off-white shoes (the ones I bought in Paris) a mess. I washed them in the sink and used shampoo to clean off some of the dirt, which seemed to work (kind of). They're gonna be wet for like the next week and the next time I wear them in the rain I'll probably leave behind a trail of shampoo suds, but whatever, at least I salvaged them.

Dimanche/Sunday
Woke up on the late side, did not study, took a shower, and then headed out to meet my friends for lunch at a bouchon Amanda had made reservations at. After a long wait despite the reservation (the restaurant was very small and there was another big party before us that took a long time to leave), we were seated and a very nice waitress (who actually reminded me a lot of my host mom) took our orders. I had a Salade de Chevre Chaud (warm goat's cheese salad), which was one of the only vegetarian things on the menu, but it was really good - lettuce with dressing and three pieces of toasted baguette with melted goat's cheese. Corinne had made this to go with dinner once and it was really good - even better than the restaurant's, I think. (Corinne's food is better than most of the food I've eaten here, and that's really saying something, since almost all the food in France is delicious.) For dessert, I had fondant chocolat et crème anglais, which was like a very fudgy brownie with an eggy vanilla sauce. I did get to try other people's desserts, though - Amanda's tarte au citron (lemon tart), Marielle's tarte aux pommes (apple tart), and Jake's pain perdu (France's version of French toast - it translates as "lost bread" since they use yesterday's baguette, and it had chocolate sauce on top). All in all, it was a great lunch (I ate a ton of bread, both on its own and with the cheese I stole from Amanda and Marielle) and I was full all afternoon.

I came back to the apartment, procrastinated for several hours (see previous post), did a little studying, ate dinner with the family, studied a bit more, and then decided to write another blog entry "real quick before heading to bed early." And it's now twenty of one. Fabulous. I gotta go. Need to get up in time to get ready before the cleaning lady gets here tomorrow - last week I forgot to eat breakfast before she got here and when I got to the kitchen all the chairs were piled up on the table and there was no way I was gonna be able to sit down and eat breakfast that day. But not this week. I will outfox you this time, Nice Cleaning Lady! (Or, you know, just try not to forget that you're coming. Whichever.)