Coming into the home stretch...

Well it is December - I only have 2 classes and 4 finals left for school. Things are ramping up and winding down. On Monday & tuesday I have my last 2 classes then it's a bunch of studying.

On Saturday I had my first real adventure outside of Lyon. It didn't involve washing dishes - I went to Avignon with one of my friends. It was really neat. First - I got to drive. I haven't driven since the end of August & I had never driven in France. The last time I drove in a foreign country (Czech Republic) I got pulled over & the policeman took all of my money. That didn't happen yesterday. I also didn't kill anyone and we all made it in 1 piece. I did get my picture taken - flashed - a couple of times because I was speeding - but good luck finding me... All in all it was a successful trip. It was 2 hours away. The day started off kind of chilly but it was a sunny day. Since we were further south it was a little warmer. Avignon is a walled city. One of the popes built the walls. It is one of the best examples of tourets and something else still standing in the world. Like everything else here it was really old. They have a palace of the popes there. In 1309 (700 years ago!!!) a pope (Clement V) built a castle/palace and in 100 years 9 popes lived there and the castle expanded. In the 1400's there was a fire & then the church turned over the property right before the Feench Revolution. It only took 29 years to build - Amazing since some of the walls are 17ft thick. I learned a lot of things. Like the pope was the only person allowed to have his own knife during dinner parties. Also you were only allowed to eat the food that was directly around you - no passing. The dinner parties were between 4 and 9 courses. In 1352 the papal mass for All Saints Day was held there. During a papal installation ceremony dinner they used 39,000 eggs - lots of other stuff too but I only remember the number of eggs for some reason. We toured the palace - it was nice. It was also the first place that let me use my student card to get a discount - I finally wasn't too old to get it!

There was also a bridge there. It starts across the Rhone river but after a great flood - much more than half of it disappeared & I guess they just never fixed it.

When we got back to Lyon - this weekend is the fete des lumieres. The festival of lights. People create light installations on buildings & stuff. There are like 2 or 3 million people here to see it. Too many people in my opinion. What I saw I wasn't impressed with but I didn't really see much. On Tuesday the 8th is the official day so I will see what I can see then. Hopefully all of the tourists will be gone.

Sunday - today... We were supposed to go watch fireworks but it was raining so we didn't go. Annabelle made an onion tart for dinner. It was really good. It's not something I would have done on my own - but it really worked. All that was in it was a crust, onions, cheese & black olives. Simple but delicious! Then we started hanging up Christmas decorations.

More later... Happy St. Nick's Day!

38 days...

For anyone who reads this - that means that I can still recieve mail or packages or money for the next 38 days! just putting it out there. I am thankful - please don't get me wrong. Very thankful for those of you have sent me things or helped me out - but I am still here for 5 1/2 more weeks! That's all. Happy Thanksgiving!!! It will just be thursday here.

Friday...

It was one of the girls' birthdays so we had a little surprise party at her apartment. My surprise was the Red Bull & Vodka I decided to buy. It did the trick. I am so late to the pre drinking thing. I wish I knew about it much earlier in life. When you don't have an in with the bartender - it can cut your drinking budget in half!! Its amazing all of the important things I am learning over here!! So we went out & it was a good night. SO good I didn't really get out of bed the next day. Needless to say we decided to postpone the hockey game for another 2 weeks.

I am starting to realize that I am running out of time here. I already know that I have run out of money but as of today (11/25) I only have 38 days left. Its going by fast. Some days too fast - others not fast enough. I bring this up because there is a list of things that I would like to do before I leave. My roommate Annabelle is from Lyon. She has lived here all her life - with the exception of the year she spent in Australia. Anyways I ask her questions about stuff to do here all the time & it turns out that she has never been or seen or done them - so I am turning her into a tourist here in Lyon as well. Its good, she gives me inside information about where the cheap stuff is or how to get places. Its like having my own personal tour guide.

Algerians...

Monday was an awesome day. I was messing around on line & then I checked the school website only to discover that my class was cancelled. Damn - that's so sad. Well it was like 70 degrees and not raining for once so we went to the park. It has a zoo in it. It was really neat to see all of the animals & the gardens - on such a beautiful day.

Tuesday - I had another French test. Not going to comment on it. There were some surprises though.

Wednesday - Another class was cancelled today - more sadness... There was a bus trip organized by the school to Beajoulais for the Beajoulais Nouveau celebration. I really wanted to go but the tickets were sold out before I could get one. Oh well. So I wen tout for dinner with some of my friends. While we were walking from Bellecour to the restaurant we noticed that there were alot of police out. Tey also happened to be dressed up in their full riot gear. Wierd but that didn't stop us from finding soething to eat. It was at a "traditional' Lyonaise buchon. I had a salad Lyonaise & a steak with some pepper sauce. It was pretty good. After dinner we went to a bar to watch the France vs. Ireland match for the a spot in the 2010 World Cup. THe bar was crowded & I couldn't really see the tv - except to see Ireland score. I left at halftime. On the way back home it became evident to me why exatly the police were dressed up... that night also the Algerian's were playing Egypt in Sudan for another spot in the wold cup. Well aparently the Saturday before when they played the Egyptians attacked the Algerians. There were 17 people killed (fans) and 3 of the players were injured from rocks being thrown at their heads. Well the match ended with an Algerian victory around 8:30. It was about 10 when I left the restaurant and before I got to Bellecour you could hear all of the cheering. There were people running in the streets with Algerian flags on. They were driving their cars all crazy in the street honking their horns and blaring their music with flags tied to their cars or haanging out the window. When we got to Bellecour -that's when it got scary. There were so many people. They were burning things in the square, they were all over the place & just yelling & being loud. Poeple were blocking traffic in their cars & standing all in the street. It was like a car wreck, you didn' want to stand there in watch but you couldn't help yourself. I decided that it was a good time to get on the Metro. I would rather get home before them :) So that's what I did.

Thursday - I heard that there were a total of 20 cars burned by the Algerians in Lyon the night before. I can't even imagine what would have happened if they lost. So today was the first officialy day of the Beajoulais Nouveau. I went to celebrate with my friends. I was told that it would be like a free pub crawl - it wasn't free & the wine wasn't that good. So we we ended up finding some cotton cavity instead & watching all of the drunk frenchies. Then it was time to go home before the Metro stopped running. All & all a good night.

Gargoyles

On Saturday Annabelle & I went on a walking tour in Lyon. It was to see the gargoyles that are on the various buildings around Lyon. They were mostly on and inside the 3 main churches. It was very interesting. I learned more about the history of Lyon. I didn't know that the gargoyles were used as gutters and thier life span is only about 150- 200 years. Most of the ones now are purely used as decoration and have no legit purpose. It was still neat to see them. The ones inside of the Cahedral St. Jean were really neat. I don't know how long it took someone to find them & the stories that went along with them were really cool too. It's really amazing how old this place is.

Sunday I went to Annabelle's family's house for dinner. They are so nice. I guess after Annabelle told them that I was moving in with her they were curious about me. She told them about all of the problems I've had since I 've been here - but I am sure that they were still concerned. I would have been too. Well they were great. We had a wonderful meal. I had pumpkin gratin for the first time & it was really good. Her mom is a great cook. Then we went to see 2012. It was in French & I didn't understand most of the dialogue but I got what was happening. I just didn't know why. So after the movie she filled me in. It was a great day but it made me miss my family.

It's been a while - Sorry...

Ok so school is still boring - not much to update. I don't think anybody really wants to hear about that anyways.

Other stuff... It rains too much here but I'd rather have rain than snow. its not cold enough for that yet anyways but its been cold & rainy for the most part. Last Satuurday I went to a tiny tiny cafe to watch Annabelle's advisor play with his band. He is also an english teacher and his songs were in english. It was good - just cramped. Then I met some of my friends for a birthday celebration. I only intended to stay out for a little while but I ended up getting home around 6am. That way I just waited for the Metro to start running again & I didnt have to take a cab. It was fun but a long night. Sunday I didn't do much & was very lazy which set the mood for the rest of the week. I felt like I was coming down with something but it has yet to turn into anything. I just feel shitty & tired & very unmotivated.

This weekend I am going to meet Annabelle's family. They invited me over for dinner on Sunday. Should be fun - I'm looking forward to it.

New Address

Here is my new address in case anybody wants to send me anything...

Please address it to Annabelle Kay - otherwise the mailman won't know what to do with it. You can put my name on it somewhere, just not the first line please.

Annabelle Kay
29 rue des charmettes
69100 Villeurbanne
FRANCE

Thanks!!