Living [& Working?] the French Way

Took me long enough

2011-01-10T12:48:00.000-08:00

Simple slide show that I put together with the Trip Advisor movie maker thing. Not too bad, but it'll do.

May 2010: My Eurotrip Adventure Slideshow: Adan’s trip from Brescia, Lombardy, Italy to 17 cities Paris, Naples, Nice, Amalfi Coast, Cannes, Bordeaux, Zagreb, Capri, Carcassonne, Amalfi, Antibes, Arcachon, Pompei, Caserta, Versailles, Plitvice Lakes National Park and Monaco-Ville was created by TripAdvisor. See another Italy slideshow. Take your travel photos and make a slideshow for free.

What should I do now?

2010-11-20T13:45:00.000-08:00

So...as you can see...It has been quite sometime since I have posted anything. Last time, I found myself struggling through my first session of grad school at Middlebury. I am proud to say that after completing my summer of candidacy, I received a letter asking me to return as an official graduate student.

I am now back in Riverside for the year. I have this year off since I did not want to choose the accelerated track for my MA. I could have been in Florence this year, but I decided to postpone it until next year. I want to spend this time in Riverside to think about what I want to do once (and if) I complete my MA. I also want to spend time with my family and friends. My family has suffered some losses and the problems seem to be endless. But, I still love everyone nevertheless.

Let me know what you all think. Should I continue to post on this blog - even though I am no longer in France? I was thinking of just keeping it like a journal for whenever I need to vent...but maybe use it to post and comment on articles I read in French and Italian...

Im open to suggestions.

Back to Reality - Traveling is on hold.

2010-07-16T08:40:00.000-07:00

...So I realize that I never finished writing about my travels through Europe.

Basically, to sum it up:

It was awesome. I want to do it again.

If that doesn't answer your question (if your question is: "How was it?") and you would like more details, then just ask me. I'll be happy to fill in the blanks.

BUT, ITS OVER.

Im back in the States, in Vermont, at a school whose campus is probably bigger than the village/town that it's in, at a "French School" where we do nothing but all things French (i.e. speak, eat, read, write, analyze, research, even celebrate Bastille Day![we did nothing for the 4th of July]).

Realization of the Day:

I just got out of my first exam in grad school - epic fail. :/

I thought I was ready and then after I read the questions - game over. But, I figure we learn from out mistakes (sometimes), so I guess I'll study harder next time.
...
I'm exhausted. I ask myself: "What am I doing here?" almost everyday. But, at the same time, I'm enjoying it.

I'm going crazy.

Back in California - Recap

2010-06-09T23:47:00.000-07:00

So, almost a month and half after my last blog entry - here I am - back at home in California. Its crazy to think that 2 weeks ago I was still exploring Nice - laying out on the rock covered beach and working on getting rid of my crazy tan.

During the month of May, Emily and I traveled all over Europe - well not really. I left Villefranche and head to Brescia, Italy (where Emily was living) via train to Lyon and then overnight bus. on the morning of May 1st, I was picked up by Emily and Marina, her host "mom", and taken to the farm - what would be my temporary home base. That same day, we were dropped off at the train station to take an overnight train to Croatia - destination Zagreb. We spent about 5 days in Zagreb - which was more than enough time. We pretty much saw the city in a day and a half, but had enough time to visit Varazjdin - Croatia's former capital and Plitvice National Park - a park full of paths made of wooden planks that run over and along waterfalls - you can walk on water!

From Croatia, after sampling the famous plum burgundy - rijeka - and drinking cheap Croatian beer, we trained it back to Venice where we had only about 30 minutes to get from the station to the airport to catch our flight to Naples. Luckily, the Marchetto's - an Italian family Emily knows well and that I met in February - had a worker drive us in a company car from the station to the airport for free - talk about private service!

Once we got to Naples, we set off to explore Southern Italy. It was a first for both Emily and I. We had heard Naples was a very dirty city and full of crime. It is dirty, but it wasn't as dangerous as people had described to us. We had a great time. We were able to visit all the amazing churches and historical buildings as well as take some day trips to Capri, Amalfi, Positano, and Pompeii. Not only did we do sight seeing, but we also enjoyed eating the Neapolitan specialty - Pizza.

After Naples, we spent 2 days in Brescia before leaving once again. We gave ourselves just enough time to wash our clothes and pack them up again. We left from Milan on a direct train to Paris. Emily had never been to Paris and there was no way I was going to let her visit France without visiting. Fortunately, we were able to save some money - my friend Thibault, who I met in Bordeaux in 2008, was living in Montmartre and offered to host us during our stay. Montmartre is my favorite place in Paris - and its an ideal location to get from one place to the next - so I think. After seeing the sights for 4 days, we went to Bordeaux - the first city of France I lived in.

It was nice to go back and see how much Bordeaux changed within the last 2 years. Plus, it also helped that my host parents, Daniel and Claire, offered us a place to stay. Emily and I were welcomed and fed delicious food for the weekend. Sarah, a friend I made in Bordeaux from UC Davis, was also there - she is now living in Bordeaux with her boyfriend. She helped me give Emily a tour and had a party where we were able to talk to the UC students that were there for the year/semester. It was cool to be back and say - I remember this...I remember that...

To be continued...

What's Next?

2010-04-24T04:05:00.001-07:00

So, here I am – once again in the same state of mind I was in 2 years ago when I was getting ready to go home after my semesters abroad. I feel like I just got settled in and can handle staying longer, but I have no choice but to leave.

In all honesty, I am afraid to go back home. Nothing is guaranteed. I have no idea if I have been accepted into grad school. If I don’t get in, then I plan on just looking for job and make some money while I work on applying to other programs. Also, when I say I am going home, I actually mean home home. I will be living with my parents again. I love my parents, don’t get me wrong, but I will have to put up with curfews, demands, and explanations. Plus, not to mention the pressure – What did you do while you were there? Didn’t you make a ton of money? – Not that these will be the questions they will ask, but will probably be asked in a different way.

I also know that everyone at home has continued to live his or her lives. I am always afraid of going home to things being completely different. But I guess that is life – nothing remains constant. I have to accept the fact that just like I did, people have also moved on in their lives and have done so without me being around. But, I guess this just helps with the whole, ‘find out who your true friends’ are. I’m sure I have nothing to worry about since I have great friends, but I still worry.

Anyways, my contract will end April 30^th. I still cannot even believe that the 7 months I was given to work is over. The first few weeks made me think that I would be here forever. But, everything slowly started to pick up the pace. Before I knew it, it was Christmas, New Year’s and then, Easter.

Overall, this job has been a great experience. First of all, it was nothing like I expected it to be. I had no idea that this “job” would be the longest, paid vacation of my life. Never in my life will I find a job like this. So, I can’t complain. I was supposed to work 12 hours a week, but since the break in December, I had one hour taken away – and never replaced. At first, I worried that I would get into trouble with the administration for not working – but, I realized that the administration doesn’t even know when and how often I am supposed to work. I met the principal of the school once – on my first day when I was presented to him and had to sign my contract.

Also, I consider myself to be hardworking – so whenever I missed an hour or a teacher would cancel my hour, I would ask if they wanted me to make it up by doing some extra work or rescheduling but, none of the teachers cared. So, why insist?

I was lucky to have been placed at this school. Granted, the students are not the best (I once went into the teachers’ lounge and found several teachers trying to cheer up a history teacher who had just been insulted by a student) and I can say that this school would be considered a ghetto school in the States (in comparison to the other high school in Villefranche and the school I worked at for a week in Lyon). But, the English staff are really nice – Since day one, they have always been made sure that everything is going well for me. For example, Denise, an English teacher who has worked at this school for years (one of old students is actually a teacher now at the school too), took me to a furniture store to buy some things that I needed for my apartment. She even lent me some money while I waited for my first paycheck. Gilles, the only other male English speaker, took me on a wine tasting tour around the Beaujolais area. Maryse, who I can say is like a buddy, is always making me laugh and warning me about the teaching profession. She was also nice enough to pay for my dinner when we went out with the other English teachers and even gave me a gift card for the FNAC at Christmas. Estelle, who has got to the be sweetest person I have ever met, never gave me any trouble the times that I would ask her if it was ok that I didn’t show up for class – I work with her on Thursday afternoons and that is usually when I would leave on trips since it was the cheapest time to do so – but like I said, she didn’t care and would even let me know well in advance when I would not be needed in class.

I could have extended an additional month, but I will be traveling with Emily for a month – during the month of May. We are going to Zagreb, Croatia for a few days, heading to Italy, Southern Italy to be exact, and then going around the good ol’ Hexagon a.k.a. France. She recently came to visit for Easter and I think she enjoyed her time in France – it was her first time. I was able to show her everything in Lyon, got to visit my little town of Villefranche, checked out Annecy together, and spent an afternoon in Geneva, Switzerland. She hasn’t been to Paris, so we will be doing Paris, Bordeaux, Carcassonne and Nice, before heading back to Milan and flying home.

That month of constant moving will be a real test. I have never done anything like it for that long, so we’ll see how much my traveling expertise takes me. I know that it will definitely be a learning experience too.

Marseille – The French Version of California

2010-03-04T04:49:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know…I just got back from spending a week in Italy and I left again! Only this time, I stayed in France and went South – to Marseille.

It was my first time going to the Southern Coast of France. And, I’m glad I made the last minute decision. I didn’t have anything planned for the trip, but Rania, the German assistant, told me that she was going to go alone. She didn’t know what she was going to do, but she wanted to do some more traveling since her time is almost up. She is leaving on April 10th, so she wants to make sure she does enough traveling to make her stay in France worthwhile.

I didn’t have much money, so that was the only thing holding me back. But, after talking to Rania, I decided to go. I only have about 2 months left in France and since I am already here, why not take advantage of the already being in Europe. I mean, I don’t know if I’ll have the same opportunity ever again. I have plenty of time to plan trips, so there should be nothing holding me back.

So, after getting our train tickets and packing, we woke up early on Wednesday morning to start our journey to Marseille. We had to take the 6:27am train to Lyon and then wait about 30 minutes to catch the TGV to Marseille. Thanks goodness for the high speed trains – we made it at 9:30 am. But, on Friday, to come back “home” we started our journey back at 3:35 pm and made it back to Villefranche at 10 pm.

Anyways, once we got to Marseille, we walked to the Tourism Office, got our maps and information and made our way to Mazargues – a neighborhood in Marseille. Once we made it there and left our stuff, we made our way back into the city center. We started at the Vieux Port and then made our way up to the Basilique de la Garde – its up on a hill and can be seen from the city. But, as we made our way up to the basilica, it started to get windier and eventually started raining. A storm came in and made it difficult for us to enjoy the view from the top. Once were finished there, we took a bus to the Abbaye de St. Victor – an eerie abbey located near the Vieux Port. When we walked out of there, we were ready to call out tourist plan quits – we couldn’t walk in the rain…

But, once we got back to the port and stepped off the bus, the sun was out and shining! So, we continued to the Hotel de Ville and started out walk around the Panier – the oldest neighborhood in Marseille. It was nice to walk through the small streets and look at the old fisherman houses. The best part was turning the corner and seeing the Cathedrale de la Major – a beautiful multicolored church. We also discovered the Chartite – a old hospice that housed people with difficulties. Walking through the halls felt like we were somewhere in Greece – the stone used to build it and the weather made us feel like we were no longer in France.

We then took bus number 83 along the coast and walked back to the city center along the beach. Seeing this made me feel like I was back in California. The weather is what I imagine it’s like back home right now at this time of year. Plus, it was good to see the ocean again. I’ve gotten used to seeing nothing but mountains around me, and having to deal with cold weather. The only thing that helped me snap back into reality was the fact that I had to speak French.

The following day, we left the city and went hiking in the Calanques – a set of mountains and cliffs that are along the coast of Marseille. These mountains were amazing. They were white and speckled with green plants and trees. The best part about them was the views that we would find after hiking up and down along the path. These drained us completely, but once we made it back to the bus stop, we headed for l’Estaque – another quarter in Marseille known for being the place of inspiration for artists such as Cezanne. We did the Chemin des Peintres – the Painters’ Trail to see the views. It was a bit gloomy when we were there, so it wasn’t as great as it could have been. But, it was still good. With the little bit of energy we had left, we went to the train station to try and change our tickets so we could be back home earlier – but it was good that we didn’t do it because we would have not gone to Cassis – my favorite port town.

Cassis is known by many for being a gem along the coast. And, I can’t say that they are wrong. After checking out from the hostel, we took a bus to Cassis and as soon as we got there, we knew we had made a good choice. For the first time since we got there, the sun was out and shining with no clouds in the sky.

Since we were short on time, we just walked around the port and walked to some beaches and were even able to do a little hike along the Presqu’ile – the peninsula. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Since the train station in Cassis was far from the city, we had to leave at 3:35 to get to the train station in time to catch a train at 4:03 back to Marseille. We then had to wait about 20 minutes before we were able to get on the train going to Lyon Part Dieu. That train took about 3 hours – once we got to Lyon we waited for about another 30 minutes and ran into Leigh – the other English Assistant. All 3 of us then got on the train and made it back to Villefranche – to get ready for the last weekend off and get ready for the last 6 weeks of work.

My time is almost up.

Una settimana in Italia

2010-03-04T04:31:00.000-08:00

It’s hard to believe that it is already February. I feel like I have finally settled in and now I have to start thinking about what I’ll do when I go back home. But, since I have this awesome job, I also had another 2 weeks off – my 3rd paid vacation.

Originally, Guillaume and I had wanted to go to Amsterdam for a few days. But, the bus and train tickets were way too expensive. We probably would have had better luck if we had planned it a little earlier.

Fortunately, I was able to find roundtrip tickets from Lyon to Milan for 54 euros with Eurolines – the European equivalent to Greyhound (But, don’t worry – Greyhound is still way more ghetto in comparison to Eurolines). I didn’t mind taking an overnight bus and jumped on the deal.

Luckily, Emily is working in Brescia, Italy – an hour away from Milan. We had been emailing each other to plan our trip in May, but after I found the tickets, I asked her what she had planned. She had about a week off so it all worked out. I would leave on Wednesday night of the 10th and get to Milan on Thursday morning. I would then spend the day in Milan and then head to Padova the next day. Emily would get on the same train and then, we would leave our bags in Padova and go to Venice on Friday afternoon. We would then come back to Padova and stay the night at Emily’s friend’s house and then head to Florence the next day. We would spend about a day and a half in Florence with Emily’s friend, Cat, and then spend 2 days in Siena before ending back in Milan.

For the most part, that was exactly how the trip went. Except, Guillaume joined us and accompanied Emily and I around Italy. I told him about what I had planned and asked him if he wanted to come along. Fortunately, it wasn’t too last minute and we were able to find accommodation for all 3 of us – THANKS TO EMILY AND HER AWESOME FRIENDS!!!

So the trip went like this:

Wednesday, the 10th – I went to work only to find out that I would only have one class since the teacher for my first two classes was sick. After work, I went over to the other language assistants’ apartment and had brunch with Sara (Spanish) and Rania (German). After eating, we played card games for about 4 hours before I realized that I should probably go home and finish packing.

Once I was finished, I went to the train station and took the train to Guillaume’s apartment. Luckily, there is a train stop/station right around the corner from his place. I went there since the bus wasn’t scheduled to leave until midnight. While he packed, I skyped Emily and talked about the final details of the trip. Around 11pm, we left his apartment and took the tram over to Perrache, checked in with the driver and got on the bus to Milan.

Thursday, the 11th – Felt like the longest day ever! I mean, besides not having slept very much on the bus, I was able to see all the snow that was falling on the way. The bus made several stops. We stopped in Grenoble, Parma, Torino and finally, in Milan.

We got to Milan around 8am and set off to find the hostel in Milan. We got to the hostel and left our bags since we could not check in until 2pm. We stopped at a small café called The Hemingway and had our first Italian caffe lattes of the trip. This place would be our favorite since we came back to this café 3 times in 24 hours.

The weather in Milan wasn’t that great. It was raining and snowing at the same time. Everything was wet and the day was gloomy. It reminded me of the first time I went to Milan – same kind of weather. I guess maybe it’s just a curse. At least this time, the Duomo wasn’t under renovation. I was able to take a picture and see what it really looks like. Guillaume and I went inside and admired the art and architecture. The Duomo in Milan is very dark and gothic but beautiful nonetheless. After going around and taking pictures (which we thought was not allowed), we walked out and went through the covered hallways of the Galleria – a shopping area next to the Duomo. While we walked through we noticed that there was something being filmed because there were huge cameras right in front of us – then we realized that the women in walking in front of us was the subject of whatever they were shooting. Maybe we will be in an Italian commercial!

From the Galleria, we found ourselves right next to the Teatro della Scala – the world famous opera theater. We made our way through the pink snails that were around the square (they were huge plastic, bright pink snails) and went into the Museo della Scala – but, we didn’t get to see the stage lit up since they were testing the lights for a performance. I snuck a picture and then we finished going through the museum. Once we left the museum, we walked around the curving streets and tried to make our way to the Castello Sforzesco.

Once we got to the Castello Sforzesco, we paid 1.50 euros and had access to 5 museums. Walking around the old fortress was great. We got to see the old halls and even got to see a frescoed ceiling painted by Leonardo Da Vinci. Once we went around, we decided to head over to Chiesa Santa Maria delle Grazie to check out The Last Supper, Da Vinci’s famous fresco.

After taking pictures of the church, we walk in, only to find out that we need reservations in order to go in and see it. I go up to the front desk and ask if we can make a reservation at that time but was quickly given a slip of paper with a phone number and website that we had to call in order to make a reservation. The fact that there is a reception area is pointless!

Once the small annoying incident passed, we took a tram back to the Duomo and saw Chiesa di San Satiro hidden among the buildings surrounding it. We walked back to the Duomo and had a sandwich at a small café right off the Piazza.

After lunch, we went to the Duomo and climbed to the top of the roof. We were up there for a while and soaked up the views of the city. Guillaume and I were also very surprised that there were soo many statues on every single spire that stuck out from the Duomo. Once we were back onto solid ground, we headed over to San Ambroggio – a very old church made of brick. Once we walked out, it was already getting dark, so we decided to go back to the hostel, check in, and hang out there for a while before going back to the city center to see what it looked like at night.

Once we were in the hostel, Guillaume and I realized that we were doing the same thing – we were both listening to out IPods and writing down what we had done. After doing that for about an hour, we checked the time, and were shocked to find out that it was only 6pm!

We left the hostel around 7pm and went back to the Duomo to see it at night. I expected it to be a little more exciting, but it wasn’t as great as I thought. We then made out way back to the hostel and had dinner at The Hemingway – a small pizza and a beer for 6 euros. It was a great deal!

After dinner, we went back to the hostel and got ready for bed. Guillaume and I talked to our roommate and found out that he was from Finland and was traveling for a few weeks before his classes started in Basel, Switzerland. He spoke English really well – he studied in Indianapolis for a year and had done quite a bit of traveling in the States. Just when we were ready to go to sleep, an older Italian guy came in and took the last bed in the room – lucky for us, he got ready for bed and instead of falling asleep right away, he turned on the radio and listened to the same song several times before starting to snore and keeping us up. It was great!

Friday, the 12th – we woke up at 9am and got ready to leave. We had bought out tickets to Padova before we went to the hostel the day before and knew where we had to catch our train. Once we checked out, we went to The Hemingway and had our last latte before getting on the train.

After about an hour, we got to Brescia and I got off the train to find Emily. We quickly got on the train and found Guillaume and our seats. Once we got to Padova, we left our bags at the station (we had to leave our bags overnight since they closed at 6pm – I carried my toothbrush around all day), and decided to go into the city to get some gelato before the next train to Venice (which was in 30 minutes).

As we walked to a gelato place, I was able to recognize some of the things I had seen when I first went to Venice. After waiting for Guillaume to get some cash and eating our gelato, Emily pointed out that we only had 5 minutes before the train left so I’m sure that we burned the gelato off since we had to run from the center to the train.

Once we were on the train, we were off to Venice. It was a beautiful day. The sun was out and there was no rain at all. Once we got to Venice, we were able to walk around comfortably since there were not a lot of people. We walked along the canals and over bridges, ate some pizzete with some hot wine, and got to see some of the Carnevale festivities at Piazza San Marco. Overall, it was a great experience to see Venice again and during the pre-Lent festivities. We even bought some masks to fit in!

Once we got back to Padova, Carlo picked us up from the station. We stayed the night with the Marchetto’s – a family Emily met through the EAP program. When Emily studied in Padova, she was put in contact with Gabriele, Carlo’s son, who was going to study at UC Riverside. Emily’s family also spent Easter with the Marchetto’s. Needless to say, they go way back.

It was about 10:30 or 11 pm but, Bruna, Carlo’s wife insisted that we have dinner. It was great to be welcomed by this family. We truly got to experience the Italian hospitality. Not to mention I was able to practice a little Italian (I really need to do some review).

Saturday, the 13th - After sleeping for almost 12 hours, Guillaume and I woke up and got ready to head to Florence. We showered, got dressed, and had an amazing lunch prepared by our Italian mom (she adopted us and told us that we were welcome to visit anytime).

With only 15 minutes before the train left, Emily ran to buy the tickets, while Guillaume and I got the bags from the luggage storage. We did everything pretty quickly and were able to relax for a little before getting on the train. We took a FrecciaRossa – a new high-speed train in Italy – we got to Florence from Padova in an hour and a half!

Once in Florence, Emily’s friend, Cat, an NYU Grad Student studying in Florence, met us at Santa Maria Novella and took us to her apartment. We left our bags and went into the city center to see the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, Piazza della Repubblica, Piazza della Signoria, and the Uffizi. Once it got dark, we went to a small little bar and had some spritz before meeting Katie, Cat’s roommate, at a small restaurant nearby. For roughly about 12 euros each, we each got a pizza, water, some prosecco, a misto toscano (a platter of traditional, regional meats) and some grappa to digest the meal.

Once we got back to the apartment, we all went to sleep – after some endless laughing at random stuff.

Sunday, the 14th – Once we all got ready to go, we went to the Accademia – the home of the famous statue of David. Once we were able to check him out and the other works of art in the museum, we went to the Duomo and climbed up the Campanile – the bell tower next to the Duomo. We had a great view of the city and of the Duomo. Once we climbed down, we went in the direction of Piazza Michelangelo. On the way, we ate in a small sandwich shop were I was able to savor porchetta once again. It has got to be the best thing to eat in a sandwich. Imagine – slices of roasted pork seasoned with salt and rosemary and put on foccacia bread = amazing.

Once we finished chatting with a woman who had sold everything to live in Italy and witnessing Guillaume break the Duralex (French ‘unbreakable’ brand) glass, we continued towards Piazza Michelangelo. Once we got to the top, we took in the view of the city and then went to the Monastery at the very top. Since there was a bus strike, we decided to go down the hill by foot and start heading back to Cat’s apartment. We made a pick stop at the statue of the boar and then went back to Cat’s, where we ordered Chinese food and had dinner together.

Monday, the 15th – after leaving Cat’s apartment, we took the bus to the train station and found out what times the buses left for Siena. Once we had the schedule, we went to look for the bus stop of the #12 bus to get to Piazza Michelangelo one more time. Thanks to our good fortune, the bus stop changed the day before. So, we deciced, heck, let’s just go to the next stop. We would have gone back to the train station if we had known that we would never find the next stop. After about 20 minutes of wandering and tempers starting to meet their limits, we got on a bus and got to our destination. After snapping some pictures under the sun at the Piazza, we went to the cemetery next to the Monastery to look for the tomb of the author of Pinocchio. Although we didn’t find it, it was cool to walk around the cemetery. Who knew walking around a place where dead people are buried could be pretty? - it was a bit strange though.

After our stroll among the dead, we started to head back to the sandwich shop from the day before only to remember that it was closed on Mondays. We made do with a shop that was just down the street from where we got off the bus. While we ate, we ran into some high school students from Newport Beach, who were on a school trip. We even saved one of them from losing his bag – he left it on the chair and forgot to grab it when they all left.

We then went to the bus station and took the bus to Siena. The whole way there, I felt like I was going ‘home’ – to the place where all my European adventures started.

After checking in to the hotel, we walked around the street of Siena and the Campo. We bought some wine and then went to Greg’s (one of my roommate’s when I studied in Siena) favorite osteria – it was just down the street from our hotel. We all ate awesome food – Guillaume had the carbonara, I had some ribollita (a Sienese dish), and Emily started with some pici (a thick Sienese pasta that looks like spaghetti) con sugo de chinghiale (wild boar sauce).

After dinner, we went to the Campo and drank some wine while we were surrounded by the famous Palio track. It was good to be back.

Tuesday, the 16th – After breakfast, we went around Siena and I showed Emily and Guillaume the statues and churches of the contrade. Around noon we met up with Sarah, an English assistant in Lyon from Canada, who came to Siena since she was staying close to Pisa for a week. Her boyfriend was at work, so she had nothing to do. Once we met up with her, we went to lunch at Nonna Gina’s, a place recommended by the guy who checked us into the hotel. This place was amazing! We ate stuffed gnocchi with a pistachio sauce and then I had some coniglio al limone and Emily’s leftovers.

After ordering some coffee and some digestivos, the owner gave us some suckers and even gave us a discount – we got 15 euros off the bill! That place is definitely worth checking out.

Sarah had to catch a train back to her boyfriend’s town so she wasn’t able to go to the Duomo with us. Guillaume, Emily and I bought our tickets and went inside the Museo dell’Opera and got to see the Campo from the arch. After leaving the museum, we went to the Crypt and Baptistry. We rushed through them since they closed at 5 and we started at 3:30pm. Luckily, we left the Duomo for last and were able to be in there with enough time to soak it all in.

Once we did the tourist thing, we went to Barone Rosso, the bar we would always go to to check the time it opened and then had some coffee and hot chocolate at what used to be the Walkabout Pub – a bar around the corner from my apartment in Siena. After going back to the hotel for a while, we went to dinner at the corner bar and then went out for some drinks at Barone. It wasn’t as crowded as it used to be with my group of Californians, but it was nice to go back and see that everything was pretty much the same 

After a few rounds of shooters and watching the Olympics on the projection screen, we went back to the hotel to nap since we had to leave early the next morning to get to Milan.

Wednesday, the 17th – once we got to the bus stop outside of Porta Pispini in Siena, we got on the bus and head to Milan. I napped on the way there since we were going to be on the bus for 4 hours.

Once we got to Milan we went to Centrale, the main train station, to leave our bags at the luggage storage so that we wouldn’t have to carry them around with us all day. Once we did that, we went to the Duomo again. I went inside with Emily while Guillaume went to get some money. After eating a sandwich, Emily left for the train station and Guillaume and I went to the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana.

We had all day, which was good since the Pinacoteca had almost 26 rooms to go through. We rented an audioguide and used it in every room despite its random commentary – nothing was in order, we typed in the room number only to tell us about certain paintings that were scattered all along the walls. But, I thought it was fun since I considered it a game – find the painting I’m talking about before I start with the next one (lol).

The best thing about the Pinacoteca was that we were able to see pages from Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks. Each page was under a protective glass, but we were able to use the audioguides to listen to more facts about the life and work of Da Vinci. Once we were done with the Pinacoteca, we tried to go to another place where we could use the tickets we paid for to get in for free.

While I was in the restroom, Guillaume heard someone say something about this place so he had me ask the lady at the reception. She was very nice and explained that the ticket was not valid unless we had paid for it at the beginning but since she knew we were students, she could call the other place and tell them that we were on our way and to let us in. After successfully having this conversation with her, we set off to find the place, only to get lost and decide to get a coffee somewhere. Once we drank our beer (changed our minds about the coffee) we went to Centrale, picked up our bags and head towards Lampugnano, the bus station to wait for our bus. We checked in, got our boarding passes and waited for 2 hours before we were back on a bus and on our way home.

Thursday, the 18th – Guillaume and I were surprised that we got back to Lyon an hour and a half early – so early that we couldn’t get into the bus station and take a tram back to his apartment. So, we walked back to his apartment, I got my keys and went back to Perrache to wait for the train to Villefranche. I took the 6:08am train back to Villefranche and was back in my studio at 7:05. I passed out and slept the entire day! I even took a nap after I had been awake for 2 hours.
Overall, this trip was long, fast, but well worth it! I miss traveling and I can’t wait to do it again!

No More Monsieur Nice Guy

2010-01-21T05:20:00.000-08:00

Every Monday afternoon, I have a class of students in 1ere SPE – spécialité anglais (meaning they should be at a higher level of English, although sometimes it’s hard to tell). They are the one and only group lucky enough to meet with me every week. All the other students have to wait 2 weeks, one month, or even 6 weeks!

So, with that said, you would think that this group would appreciate and respect me a little more, right? I mean, I don’t want them to bow down to me, but I am still a “teacher”. Well, this group is slowly getting used to this idea, but it has been tough. I think out of all my classes, this is the group that I have trouble with the most.

Since day one, I noticed that the behavior of high school students in France is nothing like that of students in the US. Yet, they give there is a different etiquette followed for the teacher-student relationship. For example, students always refer to their teachers as Madame or Monsieur. Depending on the teacher, the students sometimes have to wait in the hallway until the teacher tells them they can come in, or have to stay standing until they are told to sit down.

However, despite this etiquette, students will not hesitate to talk back to their teacher or attempt to annoy them before the lesson starts. Or, at least, that’s my impression.

Another thing that should be noted is that in high school, they are always with the same group of students. It’s not like in the US where you can have 6 different classes with 6 different sets of classmates. My students go to every single class with the same classmates, everyday, all year long. So, the friendships and hierarchy of the class (meaning, everyone knows who the class clown is, the smart one, the quiet one, the lazy one, etc.) only causes them to talk more than usual.

My 1ere SPE class is split into 2 groups when I meet with them. I see each group for only 30 minutes, which is not a lot of time to do a whole lesson, so I am always under pressure to complete a task. With the clock ticking, I try to get them into the classroom and focused as fast as I can. Lucky for me, I have to do this just after their 10-minute break. Yay.

In the first half, I have 9 students. Should be easy, right? Think again.
In this group of 9, there are 2 sets of girls who always sit next to each other and whisper to each other thinking that I can’t hear them. Then, there is a group of 3 girls who always sit in the front. I don’t have any issues with them because they make it easy for it. They are interested in what I have to say and want to practice their English. Then, there are 2 boys. One of which, since day one, has done nothing in my class exempt complain about how boring or easy my lessons are and how he thinks English isn’t important. During the first few sessions, I even asked him if he thought working with me was a waste of time – he simply replied yes.

I am a nice person. And, it takes a lot to get me to be tough. Being nice sometimes means that I get taken advantage of or walked over. This class did just that. They would be quite, but whenever someone didn’t understand something, they would just turn to someone and ask in French, “qu’est qu’il a dit?” as I am still explaining their task.

I would say nothing, but I would try to but into their conversations. But, of course, when I would ask, “Are there any questions?” = Cue for the crikets to start chirping.

After several frustrating sessions with them, I talked to the teacher, who then proceeded to scold them for disrespecting me, on 2 separate occasions. Had I known she was going to do that instead of give me some tips, then I would have kept my mouth shut. I knew the teacher wanted to help me, but she made me look weaker by intervening. And, the first group of students assumed I could not take control.

So on Monday, I passed out a poster I found that informed people of racial discrimination that exists in the South. In the center of the poster were pictures of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Charles Manson. Since it was MLK Day, I figured I would try to discuss what they thought about the poster and racism.

As I helped them read the writing on the poster and define some words, I noticed that the one set of girls was busy cleaning their hands with hand sanitizer and giving some to one of the boys. I glared over at them and gave them a silent warning. The girls understood.

As another student was talking, the boy who had already cleaned his hands leaned back in his chair and tried to start a conversation with the girls.

That was it.

“Go back to class!” – I interrupted the student who was speaking and told the boy to get his things and go back to class with his teacher.

At first, he thought I was joking because he was smiling. But, as I looked him in the eye, I repeated “Go back to class. No one is forcing you to be here”. His smile quickly melted away and he started to beg.

“Non, je vais arrêter(I’m going to stop). Désolé, Monsieur, excusez-moi”.

“I told you to go back to class, please. You are not participating and you are disrupting the class”.

“Are you sure, Monsieur?” – he asked, with a look of fear on his face. At first, I thought to myself, ‘you have got to be kidding me! Are you really asking me if I’m sure I want you out of the classroom?!’

“Yes, I’m sure. I’m not joking. Please, go back to class.”

The room was silent. As he was getting his bag, I lectured the class.

“I know I am not a teacher, but I am a teaching assistant. You will respect me like you respect your teacher. I try to plan fun things for you to do, but when you do not pay attention, I don’t think I should bother to plan anything “fun”. If you do not want to meet with me, then you can stay in class with your teacher. It’s an easy problem to fix”.

Everyone was quiet. I’m sure it was because they did not know what I said, but they knew that they could not get away with any more.

As the boy was opening the door, he turned and asked me again,

“Mais, Monsieur, je suis vraiment désolé. Je ne veux pas…”

“Please, go. I asked you to leave.”

He walked out and started walking down the hall. But, then he came back in and begged one more time. “Monsieur, si je rentre dans la salle, la prof va m’engueuler”, (Sir, if I go back to class, the teacher will yell at me) he said. By now, he was bright red, full of shame, and scared to death. It looked like he wanted to cry. I wanted to laugh.

I gave in. “Ok, but sit over there and be quiet. If I hear you talking to anyone, I will send you to the teacher and I will tell her that I do not want you in my class”. He sat down and the relief on his face was priceless.

After the 30-minute session, they all left the classroom with a very important lesson in mind.

NO MORE MONSIEUR NICE GUY.

They better not push my buttons next week or I will stop teaching their section. I have the right to decide that…and if I don’t, I’ll go on strike for it (the French approach to solving any problem).

Le Dimanche des Rois

2010-01-21T05:12:00.000-08:00

Instead of sleeping in and doing nothing but watch music videos on TV all day (I only get 2 channels on my TV – a music channel and a channel dedicated to horses), I woke up early, did some cleaning in my studio and went to Lyon.

Fortunately, there is a bus that takes me from Villefranche to Lyon for only 2E. But, for 1.10E extra, I also get a ticket to use the metro, which is usually 1.60E. It doesn’t seem like a bargain, but considering that with the train I have to pay between 3.20E to 4.80E depending on the time and then have to pay 1.60E every time I use the public transportation in Lyon, the bus is a much cheaper option.

Anyways, I got to Lyon around noon and then went over to Maggie’s place. She invited me to go to a galette tasting party. Similar to what I do with my family, the French and Spanish eat traditional cakes on January 6th to celebrate the arrival of the 3 Kings to greet the baby Jesus. They usually look like this:

Geraldine, the Spanish teacher at the high school Maggie works at, invited her to come over and taste them. Maggie didn’t want to go alone, so she invited me to go with her. I was happy to have gone because I was able to learn a little more about the similarities and differences between cultures.

I recognized the cakes right away. But, I had no idea that the same idea behind them existed. For example, in the French tradition, the cakes were cut into slices. Then, since I was the youngest, I was able to say who got the first piece, second piece, etc. The idea is that I distribute the pieces randomly and hopefully, someone will find the little plastic figure inside their slice. This means that they then have to invite everyone over to their place for a meal on a specific day in late January or February. Maggie and Anne, Geraldine’s friend, were lucky and got the figurines in their slices. In France, whoever finds the figurines, gets to wear a gold paper crown.

In Mexico, or at least at my house, the tradition is to buy a Rosca de Reyes and everyone takes turn cutting a piece, instead of having someone distribute the pieces. Also, the figures tend to be plastic babies, while in France they can be babies, plastic cartoon vegetables, or one of the 3 kings. But, the same concept applies to those who find the baby in their slice – they’ll have to invite everyone over to their house.

All in all, Sunday was a day full of learning. I found out that the French also celebrate with Galette de Rois and also learned that it is okay in the South of Spain to drink white wine and Sprite mixed together to create a very refreshing, yet potentially dangerous, drink. But, I guess it makes sense since in Barcelona, Coke and red wine mixed together is a favorite.

Now, I have the prefect drinks for the warm summer months in California.

What's Next?

2010-01-14T04:12:00.000-08:00

So, its another Thursday at work. I don't have classes in the morning, but I still come early to read articles online, check my email, check my bank accounts, etc.

Despite the gloomy day, consisting of a mixture of slush and rain that I had to walk through to get to school, I had the feeling that today was "special".

After looking through my to do lists from the past year in my gmail account, I finally was able to put my finger on it.

A year ago today, I sent my application to the French Embassy in Washington, D.C. to see if I would be accepted.

And now, a year later, I am here and half way done with my contract. It's hard to believe that within the time that I submitted my application to today, there has been a lot that has changed my life. In a way, submitting that application was the first life-changing event.

I graduated from college, I worked for a tutoring company (not the usual employment for a college graduate), I left the country, I left my family, My dad lost his job, My grandparents passed away, and now, I'm having to think about what I am going to to do next.

I now have the option of applying to be an English Assistant in Spain or (crossing my fingers) get into the Master's program in Vermont that I have applied to. Both are only options and not guaranteed.

Only time will tell.

And, until it answers my questions, I'm hoping for the best.

Babel

2010-01-11T05:26:00.000-08:00

The orientation on Friday was like the Tower of Babel. For the first time in the history of the Academy of Lyon, they made the English and Spanish assistants meet on the same day and at the same place. For the first half, we were all together in the same auditorium.

3 languages I understood – English, Spanish, and French, surrounded me. The people in charge of us, spoke French, the English assistants spoke English to each other, of course, and the Spanish assistants did the same amongst themselves too, speak Spanish.

During the 15-minute break they gave us, I caught up with the other English assistants, but many of the Spanish assistants came up to me to ask me why they had never seen me before. I explained to them that I was the English assistant and that I knew how to speak Spanish because my parents are from Mexico.

As I explained this to some of the Spanish assistants (who come from Bolivia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Argentina, Chile, El Salvador, and of course Spain), some of the English assistants who didn’t know I spoke Spanish, looked and stared at me in confusion. It was funny to look over at them and see how surprised they were.

As I mentioned before, all of the assistants in the debriefing group spoke French when it was their turn to talk about their experiences. I did the same and did a pretty good job. I admit that I did get a little nervous but I didn’t stop myself.

I guess this day just became another source of inspiration for myself. I was just as surprised as everyone else that I could easily communicate in all 3 languages. I was surprised that my brain didn’t explode. But, I will say that I felt pretty tired, more than usual, by the end of the day and took a nap on the train back to Villefranche.

Now, all I need to do is find someone who can speak Italian so that I can practice it.

The End of the World!

2010-01-11T05:18:00.000-08:00

This weekend went by pretty fast. And thankfully, I made it through the snowstorm that had everyone worried.

On Thursday afternoon as I was preparing some lesson plans in the staff computer room, Denise, an English teacher who was sitting next to me using another computer, starts speaking out loud announcing to everyone in the room that she had just received an email informing everyone that there would be no school buses in all of the Rhone department due to the expected snow fall. No one believed her at first, but then as everyone logged in to check and read their emails, they realized she was right.

Some students are not from Villefranche and live at the school in the “dorms”. Since there would be no buses on Friday, they would have to leave that day in order to be able to make it home.

The bell rang and I went to my first afternoon class. By the time I got there, all the students and the teachers who were in class had already heard the news. I could hear the students laughing, cheering, and thanking God for what was happening. All the teachers were a little frustrated and didn’t know what to do since apparently all of them had some assignment due or a test to give them that following day. They had no choice but to postpone the tests since they knew that maybe only half of the students would show on Friday.

After class was over, I made my way back to the staff lounge to check the weather forecast. I was a little worried and scared since I am not used to snow at all. After seeing the precautions that were being taken, I thought that I would impossible for me to know how to handle the situation. I was also scared because I had to go to the language assistant orientation the next day in Lyon.

I look up the weather and I see a map of France pop up – in bright yellow and orange. Yellow meant that there was a level 2 warning and orange was a level 3 (out of a 4 level scale). Guess what color covered the Rhone department? – Orange. It freaked me out a little, but I knew I would be ok.

The next day, Friday, I woke up at 6:30am and the first thing I did as I got out of bed was look out the window to see all the snow. I look outside and everything looks just like it did when I went to sleep. It did not snow at all.

I got to the train station and met up with the other assistants from Villefranche. We took the train to Lyon and then made out way to the Croix-Rousse district of Lyon for the orientation. After the first half of the orientation, which was useless, we were split up into the same groups from last time. We went to our assigned classroom, and I sat facing the window. We were all given a chance to speak of our experiences so far and what we would have liked to be different, which was nice to do. The program is good, but there are a lot of ups and downs. After giving my update and suggestions (which I did in French!!! I was proud of myself), I look out the window and see that there is snow falling all over. The blizzard had started.

I pointed it out to Maggie, another Californian, and we both gave each other the same scared/WTF?! look. Maggie and I became Megan’s laugh for the day. Megan is from Toronto, Canada, so she is used to snow. She made fun of us for the rest of the day.

After getting some Subway sandwiches and going to their apartment, I looked up the next train back home. I left their apartment and started the journey home. The snow was still falling. I get to the train station and notice right away that there is a screen announcing that the weather was starting to cause delays.

I get on the train to Villefranche, which was already 10 minutes late, only to hear an announcement telling everyone that they were not sure when they would be able to depart. This train was supposed to leave at 3:40pm. I knew there was another one at 4:10pm so I went to that train. I get on, get a seat, and then notice that everyone was following behind me. Turned out that they cancelled the 3:40pm train and everyone came to the next one.

Long story short, the only problem I had with the weather was getting home. What usually would have taken me 40 minutes took almost 2 hours.

But, as I am working on this in my apartment, there is a blizzard going on outside right now, so I have no idea how it will be tomorrow.

2010

2010-01-05T03:02:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

I still can't believe that the double digits have started. Another year, and another year of opportunities, I hope.

I had a great time enjoying the cold weather, hosting some friends from Mexico, and spending the holidays the French way with my "adopted" French family - I hope I can call them that because they have done so much for me. I owe them a lot!!!!

As I mentioned before, I'm looking forward to this year being full of new changes. I am in the process of applying to what I think is the perfect graduate school program for me - I am applying to become a grad student and Middlebury College in Vermont and earn my MA in Mediterreanean Studies. With this program, I am required to take all of my courses in 2 languages (choices being: French, Spanish, or Italian) and also required to study a year abroad. So, if all goes well, I plan on continuing my studies in French and Italian and might be back in Europe again. I'm really hoping to get accepted!!!

I only have 4 months left in France and I am hoping that I will make the most of it. My French is still decent and probably not at the level it should be at. But, I've noticed that it depends on the situation that I find myself in. When I am at work for example, I make mistakes because I always second guess myself because of the fear that since the people I work with are teachers, they'll think I'm dumb. But, when I'm on my own with a stranger I feel no pressure and manage just fine. When I am around Guillaume and his friends, I am terrified to speak because I don't know any of the slang....but I manage even though I speak very proper.

Anyways, Chrismas was fun. We went to the Christmas Mass and then had dinner. We ate foie gras, salmon, and lots of chocolate. On Christmas Day, we went over to Guillaume's Aunt's house where we found the rest of the family - in total, there were 35 adults and children. I met just about everyone in the family (from Guillaume's Mom's side) . We got there at 1 pm and then started with the apero (aperitif). We all then sat down and started eating. We ate non stop for hours, taking breaks between one dish and the next. After eating, we continued to play board games, charades, bulotte, etc. Guillaume, his sisters, his 2 cousins, I did not leave the house until 3am the next morning! We were there for 12 hours! I had never celebrated christmas like that before.

New Year's - from what I remember, we went all the way to the Haute Loire, another region in France next to Rhone. Some of Guillaume's friends organised the event and managed to rent out a room in a club. For 20 euros, I had all you can eat and drink for the entire night. With that said, I drank. And Drank. And eventually put to sleep. I do remember going around and saying Happy New Year to everyone - which in France consists of kissing everyone on both cheeks and saying meilleurs voeux - although the countdown was non existant. I was expecting everyone to come together and countdown as usual but instead, someone just glanced at their cell phone and started the kiss.

We all slept at the club and ate the leftovers the next day. I woke up and was still drunk. We didnt leave until late in the afternoon only to stop at a Mcdonald's. We got back to Guillaume's house around 6pm and went to sleep at 8pm. I slept until 9 the next morning. The first days of the year where a blur.

Now, I'm back at work and already counting down the days until the next break. I have 2 weeks off in February. I am planning on maybe going to Amsterdam with Guillaume and maybe I will do some more traveling with Emily, an old co-worker from the EAP office that will soon be in Milan as a teaching assistant as well.

I will post pictures up for December soon. sorry for the lack of editing for this blog, but I write as I'm thinking. And, sorry if that bothers you.

Happy New Year and best wishes to you all.

Link to some pictures

2009-12-16T04:15:00.000-08:00

http://www.rhone.fr/education_culture_loisirs/evenements/fete_des_lumieres/fete_des_lumieres_2009

So since I won't have time to post some pictures of the fete now, check these out - they are from a professional photographer...I think.

Quick Update

2009-12-16T02:51:00.000-08:00

As I had mentioned before, I try to keep this thing updated as much as I can. But, ~~with not having internet all the time, its a little hard to do...~~Actually, to tell you all the truth, its probably due to the fact that I do not want to spend my time in front of a computer when I can be walking around Villefranche trying to talk to people or sipping on a café au lait or chocolat chaud on the Rue Nationale.

December has been pretty hectic. With the holiday season approaching, there has been a lot to see and do here. It is good, however, that I have been busy because it has helped me ignore the fact that my grandma passed away. My family had just started to accept that fact that my grandpa was gone but now we have to start all over again. Its a terrible feeling to not be told what is going on and finding out. The distance didn't help either. It wasn't until last night that I was able to hear the full story. My mom was in Mexico for 2 weeks so I wasn't able to talk to her about it. Turns out that it wasn't a surprise to her because she knew something was wrong, but didn't think I had to worry about it. Still it hurt to find out that my grandma had a brain tumor. Yet; we're all happy that she didnt have to suffer for very long.

On a happier note, I was able to witness my first French soccer game (St: Etienne v. Sochaux) and the Fête des Lumières. The game was just as I had imagined - fanatic people and endless chants. It was pretty cool.

The Fete des Lumières was definitely something else. I had only heard of it from people. They described it as the one weekend when there are light shows around Lyon - woohoo.

But, in reality, it has got to be one of the most amazing things I have ever seen! There were light shows, yes, but they were projected on the buildings and churches...simply amazing. I will post pictures soon.

Christmas in France has been really enjoyable so far. I can't wait to celebrate it the French way with Guillaume's family.

But before then, I need to host some friends from Mexico for 4 days. I love guests!

Happy Holidays!

Finally Legal

2009-12-03T08:51:00.000-08:00

I went to the mandatory medical visit this morning in Lyon. It was actually a very short process, but everything that went on during that hour and a half served as another reminder that I will never understand how the French way of doing things works.

I was able to find the office easily. I got off the train at Perrache and walked to the office in 5 minutes. I walk in and I'm directed to go to the 1st floor (2nd in the US). I get there and see some of the other assistants waiting in the lobby. I give my passport and paperwork to the lady at the desk and I take a seat. Its after I sat that I noticed that there was no electricity in the building. All the lights were off. How I didn't notice before, I dont know, but when I did, I was shocked. How is it possible that of all places, a medical center does not have a back up generator or something... I will probably never understand the logic behind that.

So, the secretary did a good job collecting the paperwork and making us wait in the lobby, worrying that we were not going to get our titre de sejour ( she told me that I was missing a document and therefore I wouldn't be able to get my titre de sejour - LIAR!), before we got called in. I got there at about 9:10 am and even though my appointment wasn't until 9:30am, I was back in the lobby again at 9:25am after being asked if I had ever had surgery, had been vaccinated for Hep B, Tetanus, and yellow fever, and if there were any health problems in the family.

According to the visit, I am 1m 71 cm tall and I wiegh 96 kgs (FUCK!). The nurse was very nice and told me that being overwieght was bad and that I should work on losing wieght. It was actually kinda funny to see her look at the scale not once, but twice, and then look at my feet to see if maybe my shoes were too heavy or something. She then proceeded by pricking my finger and checking my blood sugar since I said that my mom is diabetic. Blood sugar was normal (Thank God!).

So as I and all the other assistants sat in the lobby, we all laughed at the situation around us. The only reason we could not continue to the next step was because we needed to have an Xray taken before we could meet with the lady downstairs. Then, all the lights come on and they start calling out our names in order. They would take us to the back to at a time, put each person in a separate room, tell us to take our sweaters and shirts off (quickly, mind you), and then they would open the door at the other end of the room to take us into the xray room. The nurse taking the Xray was not nice at all! She told me to put my chest against the scanner and then told me how to position my arms, but as I was positioning them how she told me, she just grabs them and says "laissez-moi le faire, c'est plus vite comme ça" = Let me do it, its faster that way.

She then told me to take a deep breath, hold it in, and as soon as the xray was taken, told me to get dressed and go wait outside...without a please or thank you.

I get my xray 5 minutes later and then go downstairs where I reunited with the other assistants. As we waited downstairs, we laughed at the fact that there was only 1 lady who was seeing us individually when there were 4 other people with the same job sitting in one office, drinking coffee. WTF?!

But, c'est la France! We all laughed out loud when the man came out of the office with an empty coffee pot, refilled it with water, and made some more coffee.

I finally went in and walked out with my titre de sejour.

Next step in the process is sending a photo copy to the social security office so that I can get my French healthcare card.

What a day...

SUNDAY

2009-11-30T05:03:00.000-08:00

Slept in this morning, despite going to bed around 10pm last night and feeling great. The only thing I need to take care of today is lesson planning for this week. The weeks go by faster and faster!

The tour with Gilles, Maggie and Megan was even better than I had expected. I still have no idea how to thank Gilles for taking the day to drive us around and stopping along the way to do some wine tasting. We left at about 9am and went to St. Gengoux le National, a small town in the Burgundy region of France. We walked along the streets of the medieval quarter and then went to the cave (winery). We did some wine tasting before deciding on which wine to buy. We must have tried at least 6 different wines and it wasn’t even 11 yet!

After buying a few bottles, we went to Cluny and saw what was left of the Abbey. According to Gilles, the abbey used to be the biggest building in France until it was torn down during the French Revolution to use the stone to build the house. Now, all you can see are the foundations and what is left of the pillars.

We had lunch in Cluny and then went to a Chateau. It was closed, unfortunately, but it was still nice to see it from the outside and look out at the bare vineyards that surrounded the castle. From there, we stopped at the Roche du Solutré – a prehistoric site that many prehistory buffs like to visit. Archeologists are still able to find the bones of horses and other animals that primitive humans used to chase up to the cliff and over the edge to kill them. We could have gone to the top, but is was very windy and making the temperature feel colder than it really was.

We then started to head back to the Beaujolais area. I didn’t know that the Beaujolais region was divided into several different types of Beaujolais. Each section produces a different variety of Beaujolais wine – each with its own unique taste and composition. We stopped in Fleurie, Morgon, and St. Etienne d’Oul…something to try to the different Beaujolais. I had never done so much wine tasting in a day! At one point I thought that I wouldn’t be able to taste the difference anymore since we had already tried so many. But, I was able to taste the slight differences between one wine and another without any problems.

"Wine is the most beautiful gift that God made for man." - Platon

We got back to Villefranche around 5pm. Gilles spent his entire Saturday taking us around. Maggie and Megan had a great time too. Had it not been for Gilles, I don’t think that it would have been possible to take a tour like the one he gave us.

We got dropped off at my apartment and I was able to show Maggie and Megan my new pad. (lol) We then walked along the Rue Nationale and then made our way to the train station. They went back to Lyon and I came back to my apartment, watched a movie, and then went to bed.

Now, I’m going to do some cleaning and then get started on lesson plans. Another week, and yet another month, is about to being.

The countdown to Christmas and New Year’s will start soon.

The Thanksgiving Aftermath

2009-11-30T04:30:00.000-08:00

It’s Friday, the day after Thanksgiving and I am still recovering from all the food I ate yesterday. It’s almost 4 pm and I still feel full. I’m taking a little break from cooking – I invited the other assistants to my apartment tonight to celebrate my birthday and also to have a little housewarming for the studio. I’m preparing some Mexican food and hoping that everything will work out since I’m using the ingredients I could find. For example, I decided to make a salsa fresca instead of guacamole because there was no way I was going to pay almost $7 dollars for 3 avocados! But, I bought a Turkish pepper to substitute the jalapeno. I’m scared that it’ll be either too spicy or not spicy at all.

The Thanksgiving dinner was awesome. It made me feel like I was back at home! The turkey was great despite the fact that we all had to pitch in 5 euros each because it ended up costing 99 euro – almost $150!!!!

All the other dishes were great too! And all made with French ingredients. I expected them to taste different, but the traditional flavor was still there. Erin went all out and decorated the apartment for the event – she even made place cards!

Tomorrow, I’ll be going to Bourgogne (Burgundy), the neighboring region with Gilles, an English teacher at the lycée. He offered to take me to Cluny, a small town known for its abbey (or what’s left of it) and wine. He also mentioned that on the way back home, we would stop by several caves (wineries) and taste some of the wine. I’m really excited for this trip! I invited Maggie and Megan to come with me. They are coming to Villefranche tomorrow morning. We’re meeting up with Gilles at the gare (train station) and then we’ll spend the day visiting the Beaujolais region.

It’s going to be a good weekend.

Only the 4th time my birthday and Thanksgiving are on the same day!

2009-11-30T04:25:00.000-08:00

Today is my 22nd birthday…DAMN.

I woke up this morning to a phone call from my mom and dad. They were getting ready to go to bed and I was getting ready to start my day. They usually call me at night, so I was expecting them to call me later on during the day. But, I didn’t mind that they woke me up to say happy birthday. I miss them a lot and hearing them on my birthday made me feel a little better.

It’s a strange feeling waking up on your birthday and being alone. I’m used to being at home, in my warm, comfortable bed and having my mom walk in to wake me with a hug and a kiss. This year, I woke up to the phone ringing, a little cold, and all alone in my studio in France. I know that I never imagined I would be in France for my 22nd.

But, it’s not the first time that I am not and home and missing both my birthday with family and Thanksgiving. The last birthday I spent in Europe was in 2007 – when I turned 20. I was studying in Siena, Italy. I celebrated my birthday there and then spent Thanksgiving in Amsterdam. What a trip! No pun intended ;)

22. I still can’t get over the fact that I am that old. I don’t feel any different from the way I did a few years ago and sometimes I wonder if I should start paying attention to more things. I mean, I’m 22 and still have no idea what I want to do in life. I have some ideas, but I can’t make up my mind. Right now, I’m just living day to day, enjoying my time in France, and trying to make the most of my experience. But, I know that once this is over I have to get going! I have the option of staying another year, but I don’t know how good of a decision that would be.

Anyways, on a less depressing note, Thanksgiving is today too! The last time that this happened was 11 years ago! I was a little bored and excited that my birthday was on the same day as Thanksgiving that I looked at the dates from previous years to see what the pattern was. Turns out that my birthday will be on Thanksgiving every 6-5-6-11 years! Meaning, in 1987, I was born on Thanksgiving and the 2nd time my birthday was on that same day was in 1992 (5 years later). The 3rd time happened in 1998 (6 years later), and then for the 4th time this year – 11 years later! Thanksgiving will fall on my birthday again in 6 years – 2015. Crazy!…and now, I feel a little pathetic.

I don’t have any big plans to celebrate. I’m going to start mashing some potatoes that I boiled for tonight. Erin, an assistant from Boston, invited me and some other assistants to go to her apartment to have a Thanksgiving dinner. We are all pitching in for the turkey, which she was able to order from a butcher, and we all signed up to bring something to eat. I figured that there was no way I could mess up mashed potatoes. I just hope that I didn’t jinx myself.

It’s strange that I have to go to work on Thanksgiving, but it’s only for 2 hours. After class, I just have to come back home and pick up the mashed potatoes and then head over to the train station to get to Lyon. Guillaume is letting me stay at his place tonight so that I don’t have to worry about catching the last train back to Villefranche.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Volleyball 11/25/09

2009-11-30T04:20:00.001-08:00

Tonight was fun and interesting. I went to the Centre Sportif St. Exupery with the other assistants to play volleyball. I don’t usually play volleyball, but when I did with my fraternity team, I wasn’t good at all…I don’t even think that good would even come to mind if you had to describe it.

The girls told me about and invited me to go with them. I don’t have anything to do in the afternoons, so it wouldn’t hurt to play and do a little exercise. Plus, it’s just more French practice.

I showed up about 20 minutes late because I couldn’t find the building, but eventually, I found the group. There were about 12 people total – 10 French people, the Spanish assistant, the German assistant, the other English assistant and I.

We must have played about 5 or 6 games in about 2 hours. It was fun to play and I didn’t do as bad I thought. Plus, everyone there was playing for fun, although at times it felt like it was a competition.

I learned some of the French lingo for volleyball/sports:

Good game = Bien joué

Your turn = C’est à toi/vous

Last one (meaning, the last hit or chance to get it over the net) = Le dernier

Behind you (let it go to the person behind you) = Derriere-toi

Overall, I had a good time and I think I might be going every week. I’m happy that I am starting to find things to keep me busy.

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est arrivé!!!

2009-11-30T04:02:00.000-08:00

In the same way that Americans celebrate Thanksgiving on the 4th Thursday of November, the French cannot wait until the 3rd Thursday of November to taste the year’s new Beaujolais wine! Clink on the link for some quick facts on the wine if you haven't heard of it before.

(In finish line in front of the Hotel de Ville)

In Villefranche, they hold a marathon every year to celebrate the new Beaujolais and block off the Rue Nationale to allow the wine makers in the area set up tents and tables to display their wines.

At each table, the wine makers pass out information on their wines and where their vineyards are located. Most importantly, they let everyone sample their wines…for FREE! I managed to collect some pamphlets so that I can order some before I go home. Or order some from home, if possible.

The streets were packed! I had never seen so many people out in Villefranche like this before. It was fun to walk from table to table and chitchat with the winemakers and the people tasting the wine. Some of the winemakers would ask me about the California wines, but I couldn’t really tell them anything since I know nothing about them. Guess I should start tasting some California wines!!! They are starting to become popular in France. I remember when I was living with my host family in Bordeaux that we started to talk about California wines during dinner and they mentioned how sometimes California wines would be a lot more expensive to buy and drink than the local Bordeaux in restaurants despite Bordeaux’s reputation!

I spent almost 4 hours just walking around the Rue Nationale checking out the wines, listening to the drums of the ‘bands’, laughing at French people singing karaoke songs, and just soaking in the tradition. I hope that there are things like this more often that I can go to. It definitely made the weekend go by a lot faster because it gave me something to do. Now all I have to look forward to is planning for Monday’s lessons with the students.

Yay for the Beaujolais Nouveau!

Small Town Life

2009-11-23T05:17:00.000-08:00

Villefranche-sur-Saône is small. How small? Population = 34, 188 (2006)

Main streets? Only 1 – Rue Nationale

Places where I can do my Laundry – Only 1 that I have seen so far.

It doesn’t take very long to walk around and see the ‘major’ parts of the city. My studio is small and comfortable. Yet, I do feel lonely at times. But, I enjoy going out and looking to see if there is anything new out or if there is something going on. I enjoy going to the Marché couvert and buying fruits and vegetables without spending a lot of money. For example, I was able to buy 3 heads of lettuce, a kilo of tomatoes, a kilo of onions, some zucchini, a kilo of apples and some other stuff for roughly 10 Euro.

But, it still surprises me at times to think that I thought Riverside was small. It is definitely not! This town is about the size of UCR’s campus (I might be exaggerating, but it feels like that sometimes).

My first weekend here, I went out with Leigh, the other English assistant who lives at the school she teaches at (she had it easy), to get some drinks at a bar. We met at 9pm on the Rue Nationale. I got there a few minutes before her, which gave me plenty of time to realize how the night was going to be interesting. As I walked to the meeting place, there was nothing to that could possibly remind me that it was a Friday night. The streets were empty and everything was silent. No joke. I get to the Rue Nationale and it’s the same. All the stores and closed and there were only a few elderly couples making their way back home. Once Leigh got there, I hoped that she would be able to save Villefranche’s dignity – and she kinda did. We went to L’Inso. The funny thing was that when we first walked by, we thought that there was a private party going on since there were men and women inside wearing wigs, light up glasses, and feather boas. We walked in after asking someone outside if we could. They told us right away that we could go in without a problem since the bar was open to everyone. Odd.

The door hadn’t even shut behind us yet when out of nowhere, a French guy comes over to greet us shouting “Des Nouveau”= “Some new people/newbies”. I just remember thinking to myself: O M G. This can’t be all there is to do every weekend.

Despite the initial shock, it was fun to talk ad mingle with all the locals. Some of them were already very drunk and just liked to chat about random things. For example, there was a guy there that started speaking Spanish to me after Leigh told him that I knew how to. He told me about how he loved to speak Spanish and how he had learned from his wife’s family (obviously, Spanish). He also explained to me how everyone at the bar is part of the family because they all have a good time when they are there. It was very heartwarming to be told that we were part of the family despite it being our first night there.

After enjoying some drinks paid for by an old guy that was there, we stayed at the bar until after closing time. The owners just shut the door and rolled down the metal curtain and everyone continued to drink and smoke inside! Smoking inside has been illegal since 2008, so it was funny to see that it still happens…behind closed doors (lol).

It was only about a little after midnight when the bar ‘closed’ but Leigh and I were ready to go home. But, since Leigh gets a lot of attention from the guys (she is very pretty), there were 3 guys there that talked to us for most of the night and kept insisting on going with them to a discothèque. I didn’t say that I didn’t want to go but I also didn’t say that I would. I was neutral. I knew that the reason we were being invited was because one of them was interested in Leigh, but I let her decide. She wanted to go just to do something different and dance a little, but she knew what their intentions were. She said no and told them that maybe another time, but they still didn’t stop insisting. Then, as they discussed amongst themselves away from us, an older guy showed us the way of the bar through the back, since the front door was closed. It was funny to walk out through the side of the bar because when we walked into the alleyway, I saw an apartment that I had gone to visit. Had I picked to live at that apartment, I would be right next to a bar! But, I’m glad that I don’t live there because I’m sure it would be loud (and tempting/expensive lol).

We made our way back home through the empty streets of Villefranche, only to end up stopping in front of the school Leigh lives at after she heard her name shouted from a car. Turned out to be some of her students who were going home after being at a friend’s party.

That tends to happen in the small town setting. Whenever I go out with the other assistants (there’s 6 of us total (I’m the only guy) – 3 English assistants – all American, 2 Spanish assistants, one from Spain and the other from Costa Rica, and a German assistant, who is from Germany but of Syrian descent), we always have to scope out a place to make sure that there are no students present. Sucks, but oh well. I don’t really care but I don’t get much of a say because I’m the only guy.

I know that I can always go to Lyon on the weekends if I want to have some fun, so I don’t regret moving to the small town setting. It’s really pushing me to speak French since we speak only French between us (the assistants) and not a lot of people speak English.

I’m sure that Villefranche will be able to prove itself to me soon. (I hope)

Toussaint Vacation

2009-11-23T04:34:00.000-08:00

So, like I said, I had nothing planned for the break since I was busy trying to find a place. But, since I found one and had some days to spare, I joined Maggie and Megan on their last minute trip to Geneva with Jillian, a girl from Boston that they had met while visiting the South of France. Jillian was flying back home from Geneva, so she needed to go either way.

It was like I was forced to go since the girls changed their hostel reservation to add me into their group - it was funny how that worked out because they had asked me if I wanted to go and proceeded to changing the booking without confirming. They really twisted my arm!

But, not really. I figured I should take advantage of the opportunity and decided to go with them.

We left Sunday morning from Part Dieu in Lyon. The ride took about 2 hours but was very scenic and worth very minute. Being able to see the mountains full of green, yellow, and red spots was incredible. Even crossing into Switzerland from France was exciting!( But it reminded me of the border between the US and Mexico in TJ....only a lot cleaner and without beggars.)

After the short bus ride, we walked around for a while to find out where we were so that we could figure out what direction we needed to go to find the hostel. We went to a Starbucks and Jillian (the girl from Boston that Megan and Maggie met in Nice) bought us all coffee for going to Geneva with her. As we sat and enjoyed our coffee and free Wifi to figure out where we were, we all found it fascinating how within this Starbucks (which was 2 floors by the way), we heard English, French, German, and Italian being spoken. It made me wonder if there was a language that the Swiss used to speak. I never found out, but I knew that Switzerland was divided into 3 parts – the German, French, and Italian areas. Weird – but I guess that’s why the Italians have the expression “Sei Svizzero?” = literally, Are you Swiss? but used to call someone a weirdo.

We eventually found a map, but had to make our way through the maze of bicycles.

We were expecting to walk a long time, but we got to the hostel in less than 20 minutes from the train station. But, since we got there around noon, we had to wait until 1 o’clock since they were closed for that hour. We didn’t go too far since we still had our bags with us, but wished we would have gone elsewhere to eat. There was an Internet café/ restaurant right next door. The guy was a little rude and the food wasn’t that great. Granted, I split a crepe with Maggie, so I didn’t taste the other stuff, but it was super salty and it took forever for him to make.

Beside the food not being great, it also made us really confused since we had to figure out the exchange rate every time we wanted to buy something and ask if they accepted Euros. Fortunately, we were able to use Euros everywhere we went, but we would get change back in Swiss Francs (Yes, Switzerland is part of the European Union, but it does not use the Euro).

Once we checked into the hostel, we left our bags in a locker (since we couldn’t get out room until 4) and set out to explore Geneva. FYI: the hostel we stayed at was called City Hostel Geneva – It’s very easy to find and close to the train station, very clean, gives you free transportation cards that are valid during your stay, and not very expensive, so if you ever go to Geneva you should check this place out for accommodation.

I didn’t have my guidebook with me, but by the end of the short 2-day trip, we were able to see just about everything.

The first thing we went to was the United Nations. It was so cool to be able to see the building were nations from all over the world come together to discuss global issues. It has always been a dream of mine to work for the UN. I don’t know if I will ever make it there, but I hope to at least be able to do something close to it.

Since it was a Sunday, it was closed, but it was cool just to see the building. Yet, it was also strange to see graffiti on the walls that didn’t really fit the Swiss stereotype of being neutral.

For example,

“The G8 is the symptom of an illness called capitalism.”

But, you got to give it to whoever did this because it’s pretty creative. And, possibly true.

From the UN, we headed to the Lac Léman to see the famous water thing, which is actually called the Jet d’Eau (Water Jet). It turns out that the Jet d’Eau is Europe’s highest fountain!

After hanging out around the lake, we continued to walk around the lake until we got to the Vieille Ville (Old City). We walked around the Cathédrale de St-Pierre and enjoyed the cobble stone streets.

Once we saw the church, we walked to the other side only to find this:

We all hopped on and had a great time feeling like kids again despite almost wanting to throw up because of how dizzy we were. And what did we do after this??? We ate. I’m glad we found this thing before eating because had we done it the other way around, I’m sure I would have emptied my stomach, which I did not want to do!

We sat down in a small, Italian restaurant right below the church. We had walked by it on the way up. The place was actually a lot bigger than we expected. We took our seats and began to read all the different combinations of pasta and sauces. I made my decision quick – I wanted the arrabbiata (spicy in Italian, but literally means angry lol)! I miss spicy food. Luckily, I can satisfy the cravings with some Tabasco that I brought with me or by getting a kebab with Harissa sauce. The pasta was a great choice. It was hot and spicy and the sauce even had bits of chilies still left in it. We finished our meal by getting 2 boules of gelato.

By the time we left, it was already dark so we walked back to the hostel to get our bags, go to our room, and hang out there for a while. The small rest was good because it gave us the energy to get ready and go out to celebrate Jillian’s last night in Europe.

We ended up at the Brass…something across from the train station after walking around trying to find a bar that wasn’t too packed or too shady – I think we accidently ventured into Geneva’s red light district because found ourselves walking by women, obviously prostitutes and very sketchy shops.

The Brass...was a pretty big place and a great choice since they brewed their own beers. We each had a sampler and decided to get pints of the Lion beer after being let down by the cherry beer we were all excited to taste. The cherry beer ended up tasting like cough syrup. :/ But, I think the worst thing that happened was when we got hungry and ordered some nachos. I don’t know about you, but when I think of nachos, I think of cheese, sour cream, beans, meat, etc.

Nachos in Switzerland are not like that at all – we ended up with a small plate of tortilla chips with ketchup. WTF?! We all savored the moment and laughed at our mishap, continued drinking, got a little drunk, and went back to the hostel to sleep.

Jillian left early the next morning to get to the airport and the rest of us stayed in the room until check out. We left the hostel and made out way to the train station to catch the next train or bus to Lyon. That ended up being quite a feat because we had no idea where to find the ticket office. After asking an attendant, we got the tickets and got the train to Lyon Part Dieu. It ended us taking a lot longer than 2 hours to get back because the train had to stop several times on the tracks. But, we made it back eventually.

Déjà Novembre

2009-11-06T07:58:00.000-08:00

Fall in France has been like nothing I have ever seen - the trees look amazing! I had never been able to experience the changes associated with Fall since there are not very many trees like this in SoCal. I don't think that I would have ever been able to imagine how possible it is for green to turn into red, orange, and gold.

6 weeks, and counting....

It's hard to believe that I left home 6 weeks ago - who am I kidding? I DO BELIEVE IT!

The reason I know it has been that long is because my life has been full of daily paperwork, planning, scheduling, and apartment hunting.

But I'm hoping that it will all start to change.

After only about 2 weeks of actual work, I found myself on my first school break for the Toussaint holiday in France. I had about a week and a half off, but that suddenly turned into 2 full weeks since the teacher I was supposed to work with yesterday, was out sick.

I didn't plan on going anywhere or doing anything since I needed to find a place to live. I did some apartment searching before I came to France, but I didn't do as much as I should have. I was thinking that it was going to be an easy task - definitely assumed wrong.

But alas, I found my home!

Getting this place was no easy task - it was like a soap opera...

I remember that I visited it only to have the lady tell me the next day that it was already rented out. Then, after about 2 weeks, I get a call from the lady saying that it was available again - what luck!

But, after meeting with the agent and the landlady, I had to wait until I got my checkbook (which I later found out had not been ordered by the lady at the bank) to get the keys.

I place the order for the checks only to have them tell me to come back on Tuesday - had to cancel my rendez vous and wait until the next day!

Finally, Wednesday: I get my checkbook and get the keys to the studio....what a relief!!

I will not be living in Lyon for the following reasons:

It's about an hour commute to Villefranche.
Transportation expenses would be insane (Lyon Metro + TER Train + Bus in Villefranche = €€€€)
This studio is furnished (futon, table, shelves, kitchen, dishes, blanket)
I can get the lease under my name and get help from the CAF (org that helps pay rent)

I am a little scared that I will be bored out of my mind since I am in the small town setting, but I will make the most of it. I ran into the other English assisntant who works at the other high school and from her description....Let's just say that she is happy that I am here to keep her sane.

Plus, I want to use this opportunity to practice my French, since in Lyon I would almost always run into an English speaker, and get an idea as to how life is outside of the city in France. I don't think that very many people get a chance to experience this.

The studio does feel lonely since I was living with Guillaume, and then with Maggie and Megan for about a week, but I am in the process of decorating it and making it more of a "home". I'll also try to plan a housewarming of somekind and invite the assistants from the town to come over - I should probably check how many seats I have first :)

Things are starting to turn around and I think I might be done with paperwork soon - then I can finally assimilate the French way of life.

A + ( French way of saying "see you later" = a plus )

Weekend In Paris

2009-10-27T04:58:00.001-07:00

Kyle is here! Its so cool to have someone come visit from back home. Ok, well he wasn’t really back in Cali, but he is from there. When he called me, I was surprised he really was coming since I thought that he had only said that and that he wasn’t really going to go through with it. Either way, I knew that it we would have a good time.

I figured out a housing situation for him so that he wouldn’t have to pay for a place to stay. Maggie and Megan found an apartment together and I asked them if I could have Kyle stay with them. They had no problem with doing that for me.

So as soon as I picked up Kyle from the airport, we took the bus back into the city. From there we dropped off his bag at Guillaume’s and started to make our way to Bellecour to buy our tickets to Paris. There was no way that Kyle would come to France without going to the city of lights! I knew that it was going to be expensive, but I tried to use my traveling expertise as much as I could.

After buying our tickets for the next day (Friday) we went to an internet place to book our hostel for 2 nights. Everything is sooo expensive in Paris. For 2 nights at Aloha hostel, we both paid about 50 euro for two nights! I paid half of that when I went to Portugal and stayed at a hotel for 2 nights and had breakfast included! But I was just happy that we were able to find a place on such a short notice.

Then, night fell and after preparing dinner at Guillaume’s we started our journey over to Megan and Maggie’s place in Villeurbanne, a suburb of Lyon about 20 mins by metro. But, it took us a little longer to get there because they wanted us to bring over some beer. Since I wasn’t too familiar with the area at night, we stopped at the stop after Jean Macé (our starting point) and I left Kyle waiting in the metro while I walked out to find any store open that sold beer. So after almost 10 mins of searching I finally found a place in a very shady alleyway – not a surprise! I don’t know why I didn’t look there before…

So after getting beer finally, we made it to Maggie and Megan’s and I made my way back to Guillaume’s. We had our train the next morning at 7:46am.

The next morning I woke up early to have enough time to get to Villeurbanne and then come back to Lyon to catch out train. I made it there in less than 15 minutes. But, when I got there, I woke up Kyle! His alarm had not gone off because it was still on UK time – which is an hour behind. When he finally came out, I tried to be as optimistic as possible and kept thinking that we would make our train. We made it to the train station a minute after the train had left! We missed our train! I had never missed a train before so I had no idea what to do. But, I was able to ask the people working at the station and they were able to exchange our tickets for the next train an hour later. But, we had to pay a little bit more in order to make the difference since the prices change from one hour to the next. Despite the fact that we were already an hour behind schedule, we made it to Paris in no time! It takes only 2 hours on the TGV, the high speed trains.

At the train station, we were able to get city maps, our metro passes, and our museum pass. With that in hand, we made our way to the hostel and hoped to make it there safely and quickly as to not loose anymore time. For being my second time in Paris, I felt pretty comfortable. Yet, I was still in shock when I opened the metro map to see…

It looks intimidating but its relatively easy to navigate

Once we stepped out of the metro, I immediately looked up and was able to see the top of the Eiffel Tower. I looked over at Kyle and pointed it out – he was amazed! I remember feeling the same feeling of shock and disbelief. He could not believe that he was in Paris. His face was priceless. After checking into the hostel, we went to a grocery store to buy some food to carry with us so that we could avoid buying expensive food at the tourist locations.

I asked Kyle what he wanted to do first – his response: Walk to the Eiffel Tower. So we started our trek over. It didn’t seem far at the map, which it wasn’t, but the map failed to mention how many forks we could encounter on the way and we almost started going in the wrong direction but we were able to catch our mistake and eventually made it to the tower.

We walked along the Champs de Mars and had lunch on the grass below the tower. It was great! We made sandwiches with some cheese and Bayonne ham – cheap and filling! After taking 100s of pictures of the tower, we continued to Trocadero, a square from which you can see the tower and then headed over to the Arc de Triomphe. The view from the top was awesome! Since we had the pass, we went back later that night to see the city at night. From there, we went to Place de la Concorde and walked through the Tuileries Garden before ending up at the Louvre. I think we set a record since we went to the Louvre on a mission – to see the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo and whatever else I thought was worthy. It still took us about an hour or two because of how huge this place is, but we did it!

Like I said earlier, we went back to the Arc and saw the city by night. After taking some pictures, we went back to the hostel to call it a night.

We got back pretty late, about 11pm. We were hoping that our dorm mates would still be awake – but they were knocked out! Thank goodness for cheap cell phone with a built in flashlight (lol) because without it, we would have had to walk around in the dark. Granted, we could have turned on the light, but we didn’t want to be assholes.

Day 2 in Paris

We went down to breakfast and headed out for the Eiffel Tower. Our goal was to go the top! We had to wait in line for about an hour and while we were waiting, the top floor was closed. So we made do, and went to the second floor and waited in line again to go to the top. But, our luck with the weather hit its highest point when we were up there. It had been drizzling before, but only in 5 minute intervals. But, at the top, it started to rain and it felt much colder and harder since we were up soo high. The sad thing was that as soon as we came back to the ground, the sun was out and shining. Oh well. At least we made it to the top.

Since that took almost half of the day, we decided to see as much as we could in what time was left. So we decided to head towards the Rodin museum to see the statue of The Thinker. We literally walked in to see it and walked out – why not? The museum was included in our pass so we took advantage of the fact that we had already paid to get in and could do what we want. After checking it out and the Gates of Hell, we walked over to the Invalides – the place that has the Army Museum and Napoleon’s tomb.

From there, we went over to Notre Dame. The line to walk in was ridiculous. So, we went around and sat at the park behind it. After doing that, we decided to walk about a block over to see Sainte Chapelle – an old Gothic church from the 1300’s and the Conciergerie – a prison where Marie Antoinette and other French people were held. When we finished with that, we went back to Notre Dame and were able to go in and walk around despite the fact that a mass was taking place. I loved being able to witness a mass going on while tourists are going around snapping pictures. At first, I didn’t want to, since I wanted to be a little respectful, but I couldn’t resist. It was cool that the mass was also being said in Spanish because for the most part, I could understand what was being said.

Since it was already late and most of the museums were closed, we headed to Montmartre and the Basilique de Sacre Coeur, one of my favorite places to go to. The church is amazing and the view from it is captivating. The decorations inside the church are also impressive but you can’t take pictures- so you’ll just have to go to see it yourself!

Since it was our last night, we went back to Trocadero Square to eat a crepe and watch the Eiffel Tower twinkle on the hour. It was great way to end out trip to Paris. It was cold out but we managed to suck it up and enjoy the view. Even with the guys selling the keychains and plastic Eiffel Towers, the feeling of being in Paris was a surprise to me again. It was also at this moment that I realized, yet again, that I was back in France even though I had just been here a year before!

Sunday

Our lazy day, we slept in, had breakfast and then headed back to the train station. This time we made it to our train on time and made it back to Lyon by 1pm. We left our stuff at Guillaume’s again and then went over to the Parc de la Tête d’Or to walk around for a bit. We sat by the lake an admired the park – its too bad that there isn’t anything like that in the States. Yes, we do have national parks, but city parks are soo small and have really nothing to offer. People here enjoy the parks because they do not have yards of there own so they feel free at these places – or at least that is why I think parks are so important to people here.

Since I had work Monday through Thursday, I had to leave Kyle alone, but by the time I got back to Lyon, we would manage to do some sight seeing. Overall, I think that he had a great time….or at least I hope he did. It was too bad that our breaks didn’t coincide because we would have been able to do much more. The day that he left, I started my break.

I don’t have any plans for the break since I need to focus on finding a place to live. I hope I can find one before I start classes again so that I can finally settle in. I’ve felt more homesick this time because I still don’t feel at ease knowing that my bags are still full of clothes. I appreciate everything that Guillaume has done for me, letting me stay at his place, taking me with him to his parents’ house, but I don’t want to overstay my welcome and start to bother him.

While I was with Kyle just before leaving for Paris, I got a call from the lady who had shown me a studio in Villefranche – the town I work at. It is fully furnished and only about 350 euros. The day after she showed me, it was already taken by someone that the landlord had found. So, I gave up.

But when she called me back, she told me that it was available again because the person who was set to move in had lost their job and could no longer take it. Too bad for that person, but yay for me! I signed my lease and can move in on the 1st or before if I would like. Now, I just need to fill out some paperwork and then I’ll be set. I’m glad that I will be able to finally finish unpacking and be in my own “home”.

Plus, it will be a lot cheaper and more convenient. Living in Lyon would have been awesome, but I need to think about what I came here to do. I came to work and earn some money so that I can save up. I’m out of school now so I need to start thinking about the future. I didn’t want this day to come, but no one can stop time. I’m out in the real world and need to take advantage of all the opportunities that I have. Just the idea that I am in a different country and working in a field that corresponds to my studies is more than enough. But, with the money I am saving by living in the small town will help out a lot. I will be able to pay my parents back and pay my own bills, and maybe even pocket some money to use for traveling. I know that I will need to spend money on going out and buying some clothes, but I hope to do so responsibly.

Life is a learning experience and I am ready for it to take me along for the ride. I think I am in the right mindset and that I am ready for anything. But, only time will tell. My life is great right now and I want to savor the moment.

From the 9th to the 15th

2009-10-27T04:52:00.000-07:00

Just a quick recap:

Continued with my introduction through the 2^nd week of classes (for me). Now, I guess I just have to start preparing for my lessons for after the 2-week break that is coming up- got to love the French school system calendar. For every 6 to 7 weeks of class, we get 2 weeks off!

Spent the weekend at Guillaume’s place in the countryside. Went out with some of his friends and made a fool of myself – threw up in his parents’ car on the way to the club. I have no idea how it happened – well, besides the fact that I had drank too much hard liquor too fast – by the time I realized I was going to throw up it was too late to give any warning. I felt ashamed for the rest of the weekend and embarrassed, but its not like it’s the first time something like that has happened to me. I felt bad for putting Guillaume in that situation since he was pretty pissed off at the fact that I had done that. No matter how many times I said sorry, I know there was a little bit of fury lingering. But, it happens to everyone…I hope. Tant pis!

Saw some motorbike races out in the fields – France was the last place I would think of seeing something like this. I know France is a big country but I’m still surprised by what goes on here – It’s really not that different from the US! Lol

Got a call from Kyle, who is studying in London with EAP. Turns out he really is coming to visit! And, I don’t have any place to host him…. Need to find out what to do!

October 5th to the 9th

2009-10-27T04:51:00.000-07:00

So after showing up my first day for work on Thursday, I was told that I did not have to go back until Monday since I have Fridays off. Sweet!

This week was pretty interesting. It was my week of observation and introduction. I noticed right away how different the French high school system is from the US. I learned more about at the orientation we had on the 9th, but even before then, I knew that there was almost nothing similar between the two.

The students and teacher follow a completely different code of conduct. There is a lot more politeness in French school. For example, the students greet the teacher when they come in and always say goodbye before leaving. But, unlike high school the US, there seems to be no relationships established. I know that sometimes it’s difficult to befriend a teacher, but at my high school, it felt like the teachers were our friends. We respected them, but they were a little more laid back.

Also, the way that things are done in France is a little funny. For example, the paper looks like graph paper but with lines going in every direction. If you ever need to underline something or just draw any line, make sure you take out your ruler from your pencil pouch because doing it freehand is a big no no! When finishing a test, don’t forget to glue your prompt to the end of your exam. I didn’t really understand what the purpose of that was, but it was interesting nonetheless.

During the first class I went to, I was terrified to have to go up to the front of the class and introduce myself to all these high school students. For some reason, the fact that the students were in high school had always scared me because I think of how bad some high school students can be. But, I sucked it up and went to the front. It could not have been any easier. After the first class, I realized that it was going to be an easy week because I pretty took the whole class period just explaining to the students where I came from, why I had a Spanish name, and answering questions that they had.

Some of the questions they asked me were pretty memorable. At one point, I was asked if I was in a gang or if I knew anyone who has been in a gang since that’s the first thing they though of when I mentioned LA. I liked to see or hear there reaction when I told them that I could get to the beach in an hour and how hot it gets over the summer. It was also fun to ask them what cities where in California – they knew of LA and SF for the most part, but I also got a lot of wrong answers – like Seattle, Washington, DC and Las Vegas.

After our orientation, I understood the how the school system works. My high school is a lycée professionel, meaning that students go there to prepare for and take their BAC, kind of like the high school exit exam, or to learn a specific trade. I asked the student what they wanted to do after high school but many of them had no idea.

I also took the time to explain to them how different high school was in the States and showed them my high school yearbook from senior year. I loved seeing how excited they were to be able to go through the book and see it firsthand instead of on TV or in a movie.

Overall, I have a feeling that it will be easy to find subjects to discuss with the students. I’m hoping that I will not only help them with their English, but also give them an idea as to how different the American culture is.

Saturday, October 3rd

2009-10-27T04:38:00.000-07:00

I woke up early despite the late night before to meet up with Sam, Lesley, Megan, Erin, and Dan at Bellecour at 10 am.

Once we all got there, we started our journey to the Parc de la Tête d’Or (Park of the Golden Head). We managed to find our way there with the metro. The park is huge! It has a zoo, lake, and botanical gardens! The 1st animals we saw were some deer – which were only separated from us by a ditch and a high wall.

At first, I thought that the deer would be the most interesting thing there, but I was wrong. As we kept walking, we saw lemurs, monkeys, and giraffes, some buffalo looking things, a lion, and even a crocodile! And elephants too! The zoo was nothing like the San Diego Zoo, but it was still pretty cool – and free!

After seeing the animals and walking through one of the green houses at the botanical gardens, Dan and Erin headed off and the rest of us went to a small kebab place nearby – I really missed kebabs in the States.

Friday, October 2nd

2009-10-27T04:34:00.000-07:00

Not much happened during the day. I pretty much just worked on making to-do lists and waited for it to be 8pm. Thanks to Facebook, all of the English assistants, even some Spanish, German, and Arabic assistants, have been able to communicate with each other. Since the majority of us had our first day on Thursday, October 1^st, someone planned a get together for that night.

The common meeting place for the Lyonnais (the Lyon natives) is under the horse’s tail (statue in the center) at Place Bellecour. And, since it’s pretty easy to locate, the group decided to meet there. By the time I arrived to the statue, there was already a group of about 20-25 people! Besides the size of the group, it was also easy to recognize that I had found the group because of all the English that I could hear coming from it.

I met a lot of the assistants but only remember a few names. I knew I was bad with names, but for some reason, it was worse! I do recall some people: Megan, from Canada, Maggie, from California, Zara, also from California and friends with a friend from high school (SMALL WORLD), Dan, facebook acquaintance from Illinois, Sam, from England, Albert, from England and studying at Oxford, Jack from England, Fiona and Catherine from New Zealand….and the list could have gone on, but I forgot. But, you can see how diverse the group is – crazy!

After waiting for some stragglers, we walked from Bellecour towards Vieux Lyon (the Old quarter of Lyon – known for being one of the most preserved Renaissance areas in Europe). We all sat down at a bar right next to the Cathedral St. Jean. It was an ideal spot, despite the cold, because we had St. Jean looming over us, and the Basilique de Fourvière above us overlooking the square.

After being there for about an hour, the bartender decided to put Lesley, another assistant, in charge of collecting the money from everyone that was there. She was a little annoyed and upset because the bartender was being so difficult so I decided to help her by holding the coins and helping her with change. At one point I had about 50 euros in 1, 2, .50, and .20 euro coins. After collecting the money (we ended up with more that we needed instead of being short) one of the Australian assistants suggested we go to an Australian bar/club.

He led us all to Ayers Rock about a 15/20 minute walk from where we were. At this time, I thought that I was pretty close to Guillaume’s, so I wasn’t worried about being home late.

The club was packed! We eventually were able to get in and have a drink. All of us (Dan, Jack, Matt, Megan, Maggie and I) just stood in a small circle since we couldn’t really move, but enjoyed ourselves by listening to the music (which consisted of Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull, Nirvana…etc) and the French people singing along to the songs without knowing what they were saying (probably). I’m guilty of doing the same since I don’t always understand what is being said when I listen to Italian or French music. Plus, I now know that I need to know what it is that I am listening to or what I am told to say because it can get me into to trouble, or can be embarrassing – 2 weeks ago at the soirée Guillaume’s friend, Maxime, told me to start singing “Bois tes regles” which I later found out meant, “drink your periods”…Opps!

Since the transportation strike was still going on, most of the group had to leave early. But, as we were saying goodbye, Jack bought another beer because he didn’t think that everyone was leaving. I wanted to go home, but I would have felt bad for leaving him there alone. So, I bought another beer and drank it with him. Once we finished, we started our journey back – which ended up taking me almost an hour!

1st Day at Work

2009-10-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

6 am - My alarm goes off. I get up still half asleep and start to get ready.

6:40 am - I leave the apartment and start my journey to the train station. I forgot how I am not used to wearing dress shoes so now, I have blisters to take care of :/

7:10 am - The train leaves for Villefranche.

7:45 am - I arrive in Villefranche and walk over to the bus stop.

8: 05 am - Step off the bus and realize that I had made a good guess because the school was just across the street.

8: 10 am - Walk into the Teachers' Lounge and wait for someone to come get me.

9 am - and still waiting, so I go to the office and ask what's up. They then look up the schedule and find out where I need to go.

9:10 am - I walk to room A301 to meet one of the English professors - M. Bonnet. I walk in and we chat briefly and he tells me to meet him in the lounge at 9:50, during the break.

9:15 am - I'm back in the lounge waiting.

10 am - Fool didn't show and I was starting to get a little frustrated. I go back to the office hoping that the secretaries aren't annoyed because I don't know what to do. They tell me that M. Bonnet has classes til noon.

10:55 am - I wait outside his classroom so that I can talk to him real quick between classes.

11 am - Finally! I talk to him only to have him present me to another English teacher, Anissa. She then takes me all around the building looking for other English teachers - turns out that they don't know each others' schedule because we found no one - only the Spanish teacher who for some reason, had been expecting me.

I guess I was known of before I showed up in person because the Spanish teacher in French says 'oh! you are the English assistant of Mexican descent that can speak Spanish too!'

The only thing I could think of was: If I work for Spanish also, does that mean double the pay?! But, probably not.

Noon - 1pm - I finish at the school and make my way to the train station to head back to Lyon, with my new Lycée Louis Armand keycard and a set of keys for the classrooms. I get back to Lyon at 1 and head to the apartment to change.

And I'm here. Day one is done and besides all the waiting and confusion, it was a lot easier than I had imagined. I don't have to go back tomorrow so I have a 3 day weekend. I think I might have a 3 day weekend all year because I was asked which day I did not want to work - the job has its perks.

Now, all I have to do is fill out some paperwork I have to turn in on Monday to get my French social security number and open a bank account. I also might have found a placed to live that is FULLY furnished - with cups, plates, spoons, and all for only 340€ a month!

Let the weekend begin!

September 29, 2009

2009-09-29T03:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know... wasn't I supposed to go to Villefranche today to look at an apartment? Well, as I was getting ready this morning I hear my cell phone ring and its the lady from the agency. She tells me that she accidently scheduled 2 appointments at the same time. I was a little annoyed and tried to see if she could change the other by saying that I had already bought my ticket (which I had done yesterday). She then pointed out that even though I had bought a ticket for today, I could use it for the next day. She was right.

So now, I will be going back to Villefranche tomorrow instead to check in at the school I will be working at and checking out the apartment that is available.

Sorry for the lack of editing but I tried to post all these blog entries plus upload pictures on Facebook and respond to emails at the same time.

Enjoy and Bisous!

September 28, 2009

2009-09-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

I have made it through my first week! Its hard to believe that I have only been here for a week since I have done pretty much everything I expected to do in a month…well, maybe. I’m just shocked that so much has happened already and it’s only the beginning. I guess this is going to be a pretty good year.

Last night, once we got back from St. Symphorien, we accompanied Guillaume’s friend, Guillaume, to the Gare de Perrache (train station). He was going back to Paris since he is studying there at a business school. Once his train left, Guillaume and I started walking home. My parents called me and I talked to them while we walked back.

We were ready to go to bed. I planned on watching a movie before going to sleep but our plans changed as soon as we walked into the hall way. One of Guillaume’s neighbors was locked out of her apartment. She had her keys and what not, but the lock was blocked or stuck somehow. So, being the nice guys that we are, or that Guillaume is, since I didn’t really do much. He let her use his phone to call her parents, helped her to try and find a number she could call, and eventually helped her by giving her a check for almost 500 euro!

Her parents were able to give her a number of a 24/7 locksmith. But wow, was it expensive! It took the guy less than 3 minutes to get the door open. But, just for calling him, it cost 200 euro. Then he added extra because it was a Sunday night/Monday morning. And, on top of that, she also had to pay for the part that was replaced on the door. Fortunately, Guillaume is a really nice guy and let the guy leave with a signed check for the amount. The girl didn’t have a checkbook or anything, so the check had to be used as a deposit. Guillaume will get his check back but only when the girl’s parents send her a check to take to the locksmith. As of today, still no word from her so he’ll have to wait.

Today was a good day. I woke up at 10, got ready, and went out to discover Lyon. I left at about 11 and was back at the apartment by 6 or so. During that entire block of time, I was able to walk all over Lyon and do all the tourist stuff. The only thing that I wasn’t able to do was go to the museums since they are all closed on Monday. But, I did a good job. I had no idea how to get around Lyon, so I just went with my instinct. I looked at a map in my guidebook and kinda planned out where and what I wanted to see.

The pictures I took were pretty awesome. The day was beautiful. It was sunny and warm but not hot like I imagine it was in California. I went to the Bellecour district, walked past the University of Lyon 2, crossed both the Rhone and Soane rivers, went into several churches and visited la Basilique de Fourviere – the cathedral that can be seen from almost anywhere in Lyon since its at the top of a hill. It was cool to walk around the old roman ruins and then move into the old part of the city and eventually coming back to the modern area.

I came back to Guillaume’s after going to the Gare and buying my ticket to Villefranche for tomorrow. I have a meeting with a housing agency and hopefully, the apartment they show me will be nice. I am also going to the school where I will be working to find out where exactly I have to go on Thursday. It also won’t hurt to see how much time it will take me to walk from the train station to the school so that I can be prepared to arrive on time on Thursday.

After smoking some hooka or “chi cha (shi-sha)” with 2 of his friends, we all went out to eat Qwik – the French version of a fast food restaurant. It wasn’t bad since it definitely tasted natural and fresh! I could tell the difference right away. The taste was also a little special since they had some pretty weird sauces.

Now, I am just plain tired. I don’t know how many miles I walked but I must have only sat for 20 minutes the entire time. I’m probably going to bed early since I have to wake up, get ready, and head out for Perrache to catch my train to Villefranche. There is still a strike going on in Lyon so the metro I would take to Part Dieu – the first station I went to Villefranche from – is too far to get to. Luckily, I was able to get tickets from Perrache and will only have to walk 15 minutes instead of an hour. I hope my day will be just as good as today and that I have more luck with my housing than I did last time.

A bientôt!

September 25/26, 2009

2009-09-29T02:59:00.000-07:00

The weekend had started on Thursday. And Guillaume was not ready to stop. We ate dinner with his parents and then I waited for him to come back from a meeting. Meanwhile, I talked to his mom and his sisters about what I had been up to since I had last seen them in February.

Guillaume came back at about 11pm only to tell me to get dressed and ready to go. He wanted to take me to Pablos – a club that was in the middle of nowhere surrounded by crops.

His friends Ivan and Jean-Charles picked us up and we left for Pablos which was 30 minutes away. We stopped at a bar and had a beer and then made it to the club eventually. It turned out to be pretty cool but I was shocked by the prices for the drinks. We split a half bottle of vodka between 3 of us which in total cost 80 Euro! FML.

We left the club early since it wasn’t packed like it usually is and stopped at a boulangerie (bakery). Since it was 3 am, the bakers were already making the bread for the morning. For about 1, 50 euro, I was able to buy some fresh pain au chocolat right out of the oven.

We got back to Guillaume’s around 4 and slept until 1 in the afternoon. We then went out to run errands and came back to his house only to leave again and meet with his grandparents. After spending some time with them, Guillaume drove us to another friends place that was celebrating his 18^th birthday.

We got to the house and proceeded towards the barn, which is where all the fun was happening. We sat and talked to everyone and eventually carried on with the drinking. Guillaume got so drunk that we had to stay the night at his friends place. He passed out early and I was able to keep playing the French drinking games until eventually we were all ready to pass out.

We came back to his parents’ house at noon, hung-over and tired and then relaxed outside with the family. Maelle, Guillaume’s sister, and I went to the Chateau down the street from their house. We came back and then went out in the car to visit an aunt and an uncle.

For being a weekend in the countryside, it ended up being a lot crazier than I thought and could have imagined. But, the beauty that surrounded the small towns amazed me.

September 24/25, 2009

2009-09-29T02:57:00.000-07:00

I waited for Guillaume while he was in class and used his login info to use the computer at the lab in Science Po (the school). I knew that I had to be rested because Guillaume had mentioned how there was a soiree that night.

Guillaume is like the French version of me. We have similar family histories, went abroad at the same age, and do a lot of things outside of school. He is in charge of multiple committees at his school that deal with “integrating” the new students with the older ones.

The soiree was done for that reason. Each older student was paired up with a first year or international student. They were paired up by having all the new students take off a shoe, throw it in a pile and have the older students pick one at random. This was done at about 5:30pm. Then, the older students would have to take their partner out to dinner and then to a place to take an “apero” before going to the dance.

Guillaume and a friend of his took their partners and I to a kebab place. I missed Kebabs sooo much! They are like the European equivalent of Jack in the Box tacos! You can pretty much get them anywhere and at any time.

After that, we stop at an Epicerie (small grocery shops) and buy some beer and start drinking it on the way to the pre-party. There was a metro strike so we had to walk a couple blocks to finally take a metro that would take us closer to our destination. I loved how I had not even been in France for a week and I was already experiencing a strike – they are not always the best things to experience.

We get to the apartment and start drinking some more. French parties are a lot more social than parties in the US. You have to come in and say hi to everyone before finding a group to stick with. I like the “intimacy” that everyone shares. I was welcomed by everyone and of course an interest for them since I was the foreigner. About an hour in, the neighbors came over and asked to keep it quite. That’s when the guys living at the apartment started to send groups of people to the elevator and to the club.

I left with the last group and talked to some people that had studied in California and that were interested in going. For not being around Guillaume, I was fairly comfortable with the strangers.

We walked for what seemed almost 30 minutes before we got to the club. There was a line outside but I was able to cut since I was dressed in the proper attire and didn’t have to leave a jacket at the front. I walked in and it was madness everywhere. The club was full of students. I ran into Guillaume and we proceeded to the bar.

It was fun to party with the French. I also ran into some Californians that are studying through EAP for the semester. We had a good time since the majority of the music they played at the club was all the latest English pop. It was actually kinda funny listening to the French trying to sing along.

The party went on and eventually things started to die down. I was leaving with one of Guillaume’s friends since he had asked me earlier to ask someone if I could stay at their place. Guillaume is also hosting his cousin (for a few more days) and there really wasn’t any room for 3 people in his apartment. So, I went home with Paul, who had gone to Australia for a year. We spoke in English and it was weird to hear him speaking English with an Australian accent.

We got back to his place at 5am. I was completely “broken” as the French say. I woke up at 11 am and helped clean up the apartment a little. I left and then made my way back to Guillaume’s. We were both really tired so we went back to sleep and woke up at 3pm.

We showered, packed, and then met up with one of his friends and his friend’s dad. They gave us a ride to St. Symphorien – Guillaume’s hometown in the countryside.

We arrive and I greet his parents and sisters.

September 23, 2009

2009-09-29T02:52:00.001-07:00

So after having Guillaume explain to me how to go from his place to the Gare Part-Dieu (train station), I set off all by myself for the first time in Lyon. I wasn’t scared but just a little nervous. I took the Metro B to Part Dieu and then had to walk a good 5 minutes to finally get to the train station. As I took the escalators up, I was shocked to see how big the train station was and how many people were running in and out of it. I had never seen a train station so busy in my life! Not even in Paris!

I was already running a little late since I was supposed to be back in Lyon by 6pm. I got to the train station at 9:50 and figured it would take me at least 30 minutes to get to Villefranche. I get in line and pick up one of the schedules from the information racks. I notice that there is a train leaving at 10:22. I look for a clock and it’s 10. I was a little stressed because the line was pretty long and not moving fast.

I finally got to the window and bought my ticket aller-retour (round trip). But, the ticket that I ended up buying was for a bus since that was the only option at the time. By the time I had my ticket in hand I had to run to find where I had to get on the bus. I found it right away and got on. Thank goodness I made it just in time. I think the bus was only there for about another 2 minutes before it closed the door and started moving. That’s also when I finally noticed that the bus ride would be an hour – twice as long as I had anticipated. Oh, well.

The bus ride wasn’t bad at all. I liked taking the bus because I was able to see what is between the big city of Lyon and Villefranche-sur-Saône. The bus went all along the Saône (one of the two big rivers that cross Lyon). Seeing the forest and all the little towns along the way was very relaxing.

Once I got to Villefranche I started my adventure immediately. I guess adventure would not be the best way to describe it since I had a lot of stuff to take care of in a short amount of time. It was 11:20 and I knew that I would have to hurry and get as much done as I could before noon. Everything closed between noon and 2pm. So, I walk into a sandwich shop, buy some food and then ask where the closest “agence immobilier” (housing agency) is. The woman in the shop points outside and shows me the agency across the street. I go in and ask for a studio or one bedroom apartment, but with no luck. I left Guillaume’s number since I didn’t have a cell phone yet. Then, it was noon so I had nothing else to do but wait until the other agency reopened.

While I waited, I just decided to walk around and check out the town since I figured that it wouldn’t hurt considering that I plan on living there. The town is small but pretty busy. There were people walking all over the Rue Nationale – the main street in Villefranche. From what I had seen on Google maps, I thought the town was pretty big. But, it actually took about 30 minutes to walk around the main areas. I’m sure there was a lot more that I didn’t see, but I have a pretty good idea of how the town is divided.

So after waiting for an hour or so, I finally walk into the agency and ask about the apartments that I had seen online. It was too late. They had already been taken. So, I asked if there were anymore available and fortunately yes. I was a little confused because I thought that someone would go with me to show me the apartments but instead, I left my passport and they gave me the keys for 5 different apartments. I had to go to each one by myself.

It was actually pretty scary. The first apartment was all the way at the top of a small 3-story building – the scary part was that the stairs sounded like they were ready to give out. So that one was a definite no. By the end, I had gone to 5 apartments of which 2 were ok – just ok. I was a little bummed but I knew that I couldn’t give up.

Once I was done with that I went to a cell phone store and asked about prepaid phones. And, they are not cheap! In France, you get charged about 50 centimes for each minute and 10 centimes for each “sms/texto”. I knew it was going to be expensive but I didn’t have a much of a choice since I needed one for work and to get in contact with people. I paid 79 euros and walked out with a phone and 40 euros of credit. Turns out it wasn’t such a bad deal because now anyone who wants to call me from the States can and I don’t lose any credit. But, I don’t know how expensive it will be for my parents for example.

Overall it was a pretty good day because I was able to go around Lyon and finally see Villefranche in person.

September 21st, 2009

2009-09-29T02:49:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know. Didn’t I already write an entry for this date? Well, there was much more that happened after I made it to Lyon.

Guillaume drives us back into the city to his apartment. On the way he begins to tell me that he had met a girl from California who I knew. I had no idea who he could possibly be talking about. Turns out that a girl I knew in high school, who was actually in my French class, is studying in Lyon for the year (I think). Again, small world. I say small world because the week before I left, I hosted a student from Lyon who is going to UCR for the year – from the same school Guillaume came from.

Also, Guillaume asked me how tired I am since there was a soirée taking place at a bar for the 1st year students in l’IEP (Institute d’Études Politiques). I figured, why not? I had nothing to lose – except sleep, but I’m sure you all know the saying to counter that.

So, we get to his apartment and start to get ready. After showering and getting dressed, we decide to go find a place to eat. Funny thing was that I was expecting to go out and get some French cuisine (since I am in France) but instead we try this small Chinese restaurant. The place was good and cheap – our bill came out to be 10 euro.

We then start our trek to the bar. We walked all along the Rhone (one of the 2 rivers in Lyon) accompanied by each other and our Amsterdam Maximators (11.6 % Alc Beers = 2,5 euros). I forgot that you could drink on the street in France, and in Europe for the most part. At first, I was a little paranoid, but I got over it quick. I knew I was back in France but this was probably the moment when I realized, I am not in the States anymore and about to try to get accustomed to the French lifestyle. Actually, there were plenty of moments that only added to this feeling.

We get to the bar and all the introductions begin. I can’t tell you who was who since there were way too many names to remember in such a small amount of time. I was able, however, to carry on short and simple conversations with people, which was a big deal for me. Considering I had been in the country for less than 5 hours, I was able to talk to the natives. It was good to start meeting the people since I knew I would be seeing them a lot. Guillaume continues to be the social butterfly – just like in Riverside only more “au natural” being in his home country. There were a couple of times when he disappeared and left me alone with his friends, but it was cool. One of his friends, Maxime, who I had already talked to once in Riverside on Skype, bought us drinks and then “taught” me a French game. I wouldn’t call it a game since it involved taking the cylindrical ice cubes from the bucket holding the rosé bottle, placing it on the table, and smashing it with your forehead. Humor and fun are not the same in France. I couldn’t refuse to do it, as stupid as it was, because I figured: “if this is what they do for fun, then why not?”. It wasn’t like I had not done anything as stupid in Riverside. Only now, I’m typing this with a sore forehead.

So the night went on and we leave the bar at midnight. We decide to walk a girl home, so we proceed to the metro to catch the last one. I knew very well that I had to buy a ticket, but Guillaume insisted on me running through the gates with someone else and pushes me through. I was afraid. I knew that I would be fined if they checked for tickets and I can’t afford to be paying tickets for stupid things. But, I made it on the metro ride without being checked. We leave the metro and then get on the tram, again, without a ticket. Only this time, as the doors were closing, we see the controllers hop on and begin checking for tickets. We were on the other end of the tram so we had time to figure something out. All I was ready to do was to not speak French and apologize for not understanding what to do – I was ready to pull the American card. Luckily, Guillaume had 2 unused tickets of which he was able to hand me one before the controller got to me. I didn’t say a word while Guillaume explained that I was an American and didn’t know what to do. I validated the ticket and was home free. Phew!

We exit the tram and finally get back to Guillaume’s apartment at 1 am. We get ready for bed and pass out. Or at least, I did since I could not believe I had already gone out on my first night.

Overall, it has been a great start. I’m at Guillaume’s waiting for him to come back from class so that I can start looking for an apartment, get a cell phone, turn in my paper work, etc, etc.

There is much to do, but I’m sure I’ll take care of it all.

September 20th/21st, 2009

2009-09-29T02:45:00.000-07:00

Notice how I decided to run the dates together – I figured it was appropriate since I had no idea when I went from one to the other. All I knew was that at one point I would cross from Sunday to Monday.

The flight was not as bad as I had expected. I was able to watch some movies and sleep – more like dose off for 30 minutes before wanting to move into a more comfortable position. After 9 hours, I finally made it to Frankfurt. Luckily, I knew that I would have to run a marathon to catch my connecting flight. For it being only the 2^nd time there, I knew how to get around fairly easily. I made it to the boarding gate with 10 minutes before boarding – I cut it a little close.

The flight from Frankfurt to Lyon was nothing. I managed to take a quick nap, which I figured would probably be best. I was right. I arrive in Lyon only to have to run from one terminal to another in order to get a bag that was accidently sent over. Knowing that Guillaume was going to be waiting, I did my best at running around from one terminal to another without taking too much time.

Once I walked out of the exit, I see Guillaume standing behind the rail. The feeling of relief was great. I had made it across a continent and an ocean to begin my “new life” in France.