Another day another sandwich....

Saturday I spent my day as a tourist. It was kind of fun. I saw all kinds of really cool stuff. I haven't taken my pics off the camera yet but I will post 1 0r 2 when I do. Lyon has 2 parts the old & the new. The new part looks like most other european cities I believe, nothing exciting really. That's where my school is & the other students from my school live there too.

The old part however is fantastic! There are tons of shops & restaurants & fountains. I also found the farmer's market. It was amazing. It is about 2 blocks long & it is right along the river. The one that starts with the S. I don't have my map in front of me (I don't want to butcher the name). Back to the Farmer's Market. That alone was one of the reasons I came. I was looking out my window on Saturday morning & saw it. I was excited that it was so close. They have everything there. I didn't take any pictures because I couldn't explain myself in French yet & I didn't want to have any issues. I saw the biggest Necarines I have ever seen in my life they were ginormous!!! They had everything there. Olives, fruits, veggies, cheeses, meats. I saw chickens with their heads still attached. They sell pigeons too. The flowers were so beautiful & relatively inexpensive. Definitely worth it. If I had someplace to stay I probably would have bought some. I can't wait to get settled in so I can go buy stuff & cook. I bought some raspberries & cherry tomatoes. All of the sandwiches I have been eating lately make me feel like I need to eat some veggies. They were delish! I believe that it is open every morning too. It was my first trip but definitely not my last.

Saturday night I met up with the other students from my school, Stephanie & Daniel and we went out for dinner. There are so many restaurants here its really hard to choose. Most of them have their menu's out for you too look at. Some specialize in different cuisines or ingredients. We decided to pick the busiest one cuz it had to be good. It was. I had chicken with a white wine sauce & some shallott thing that tasted like stuffing sort of but had a really different texture & it had a piece of bacon in it. Pretty tasty - the bacon made all of the difference. Doesn't it always? We skipped dessert because we were going to go out drinking. I decided that as long as I am at this hostel I can eat whatever I want. There is this hill that I walk down to get to everything it's about 1/4 mile long & its VERY steep. It makes for a ridiculous workout.

Sunday - was a sleeping day. I got in at around 6 this morning & slept until 4 pm. I felt bad for sleeping the day away but its not very restful. There are 3 other people that sleep in my room so there is a lot of moving around & noise. I can't wait to get in my own room somewhere.

Tomorrow I have to go to school for orientation, pay my French Social security and hopefully get my housig situation straightened out. Franck gave me the # to one of his friends who I will call. He rents out apartments - hopefully I can find a great one for a steal if the family doesn't work out tomorrow. We'll see. I keep telling myself this is going to be the worst part & it is going to get so much better from here. I am trying to be patient.

So I have to go to school tomorrow & I heard that the Metro is going to be striking. The Metro is the train/bus/tram people. If they are not running I have to walk all the way across town & it could take me an hour to get to school - or longer I'm a slow walker. I talked to the guy at the front desk & he said that the line I have to take is pretty automatic so it shouldn't be affected - but if I do have to walk it wouldn't surprise me... It would be pretty typical of the trip so far.

Well hopefully I will have some exciting news tomorrow - unitl then I am going get some more sleep - I've got a big day ahead of me!!!

Calluses

So...

I am still alive. I have some new calluses from schleping my luggage but I am no longer homeless (temporarily). I am having a weekend experience at a hostel. So far so good. It kind of reminds me of that call phone commercial about vlad & deter. It's amusing.

I took a short nap when I arrived & then made myself to exploring. It was like 7:30 when I left so I didn't venture out too far but I saw some really cool stuff. Tomorrow is going to be a good day. I ran into a guy singing in a square. It was nice - then he busted out some Bob Marley & told me that everything's gonna be alright. I'm choosig to believe him. I am very much looking forward to a good night's sleep. I am sure there will be some improvement on my attitude. All in all I think I'm handling this pretty well.

It's funny that I haven't talked about the food yet. Well earlier today I was sitting in Mc Donalds - out of necessity! They have free wi-fi & they are right around the corner from school. I had no desire to see if "French" fries taste any different. Anyways since I've been here all I've eaten has been sandwiches. Wierd I know cuz I don't really eat them at home. What I've learned is that they are #1 cheap #2 pretty good! The ones from the bakery are definitely better than the crappy one I had from the gas station so no more gas station food for me (hopefully). Maybe tomorrow I will venture out & eat something off of a plate!!! Who knows what's going to happen.

Here we go...

Got on the plane - no problems. That's where it ended. I made it to London with little sleep on the plane.

I had a super long layover & couldn't stay up so I found some chairs that didn't have an armrest & took a series of cat naps. Then it was a short ride to Paris. I found my way to the train station and called my family before I boarded the last train of the evening to Lyon.

The Larabas... Well they weren't aware that I was coming. They didn't speak english. I tried to convey to the woman that her daughter gave me her call phone # & told me that they would pick me up from the train station. Then I told her my train got in at 11 pm. I would be the one with the huge orange suitcase. I guess out of that conversation she got my train would arrive at 9pm so that's when she went to collect me. Needless to say - I wasn't there...

When I arrived in Lyon I went outside to try & find here but I had a feeling that she wasn't there. I went to the office at the train station & they didn't really speak english but they knew who I was. The kept trying to call her cell phone but she didn't answer. I was very very very tired from the 24 hours I had spent travelling already & asked the ladies at the train station if there wasa a hotel nearby. Fortunately there was one they were overbooked but because I was pathetic, they gave me one of their rooms. It was 70 euros. OUCH!

I dragged all 100+ lbs of my luggage to the hotel & the man at the front desk was very very nice & helpful. He spoke english so he called Mrs. Laraba and let her know where I was. My laptop battery was dead by this time & my phone for some reason doesn't work over here. JOY!!!!!! I never could have imagined that I'd have such bad karma. I plugged in my laptop when I got to the room but the coverter I bought didn't really seem to get along with the outlet or the plug. It kept getting really hot & wasn't doing much of anything. I thought it might have been because of the dead battery - I foud out later when I was sleeping that wasn't the case when the thing popped/exploded & shot out of the wall. Its broken now. I'm just glad my room didn't start on fire.

Anyways she called & said she would pick me up in the morning. I got up & went downstairs and said bye to the nice man that helped me & she came & got me. She doesn't speak english - did I mention that? The conversation was interesting & frustrating but we very slowly started to understand little thigs about each other. She brought me home, I put my bags in the house & we had some breakfast. Coffee, which was much needed & some bread. I must say it was pretty tasty. Then she did some things around the house & we finally headed out to go to school. She had told me again that the woman at the french school had never confirmed that I was coming to stay with her.

We got to school and there were a lot of people in the International student registration office. I was happy when I ran ito the other 2 students from my school. It sounded like they got into their apartments ok but there were others who were having problems. Mrs Laraba went in the office & talked to the housing woman. I didn 't understand what was going on. Then the housing woman said that I never sent her a confirmation & I was to go back to Mrs. Laraba's house & get my bags & she would find me a new place to live when I got back. Huh???? What the French??

Talk about an uncomfortable car ride back home... Then she tells me its going to be ok - don't worry , no problems. What the hell ever. She speaks french, she has a place to sleep tonight! So then she dropped me off back at school & I had to drag my 100+ lbs of luggage around again. Did I mention that I had to vacuum my clothes in space bags to get them to fit into my suitcase the first time & since I had to get into them to get my pajamas last night - now everything doesn't fit anymore so there are clothes hanging out while I'm wheeling my stuff around. Got back to the International Student Registration office and alas - It's lunch & they are closed. UNTIL 2!!! The woman asked me if I wanted to come back - except it wasn't a question. I left my luggage there & walked around trying to find somethig cheap to eat for lunch. I found a gas station & got a sandwich & a cherry coke (it doesn't taste the same - not a fan FYI) then I wandered back over to the school.

So the housing woman said that she's working very hard to find me a new family. She's called & left messages for the new one but they haven't called back yet. She said that she would send me an e-mail & let me know something - otherwise on MONDAY she will work on somethig else.

Now I am sitting at McDonalds (they have free wi-fi) waiting until 5 pm so I can go back to school to get my luggage. I don't know where I will go with it when I get it. She gave me the address to a youth hostel - if I go there I have to be there by 8 pm.

I am running out of words. This is truly unbelieveable. I keep telling myself it has to get better but it has yet to - there just keeps being more of the same or worse...

Last minute packing...

It usually works out ok until the weight limit realization sets in.

1st attempt my dad had to sit on my suitcase just to get it closed. Then it was weighed - it could have had its own social security number, it weighed 92 lbs. For those of you that don't know 50 lbs is the free weight limit. If you go over 50 you have to pay and you can't go over 70 lbs or the bag can't fly. I think you might have to buy it its own ticket.

The 2nd attempt resulted in 74 lbs. Close but not close enough.

Now my suitcase weighs 67 lbs and I no longer know if my clothes match. I'm sure there will be more later I still have 3+ hours until I leave...

Away we go...

Well I leave in less than 24 hours and my suitcase is still empty. I'd say that is pretty typical of me. I think that from all of the travelling that I did for work, packing is one of my least favorite things to do. Either way - I know that it will get done tomorrow.

The last few days have been really good. Its been nice to be around my friends & family. I feel like I'm ready to go & start my adventure. I still have a couple of errands to run & things to do tomorrow before I leave. My flight leaves O'Hare at 10 pm. It's my first time flying out of the International terminal. I'm excited. I have already checked in online, picked my seats & checked out the in flight movies. There are a couple I haven't seen yet that I have wanted to so that's good news. British Airways makes for quite the expensive movie theater - but as long as it keeps me entertained - it's all good.

I have heard from my family. I don't know if they speak english or not but they did say they were picking me up from the train station. I am flying from Chicago to London then I have a 6 hour layover and fly to Paris. When I ge there I need to clear customs & catch a superfast train to Lyon & I should arrive there kind of late Thursday night.

I am going to school Friday to check in & whatever else I need to do - not sure right now. I was checking the weather & it supposed to be HOT - like 96 with sick humidity. Kind of like NC. I can't wait for fall. Hopefuly it comes quick.

Well I guess you'll hear more when I do!!! Look out France ~~~ HERE I COME!!!