Random activities:

We recently found an ice skating rink here in Lyon. It's super cheap (5 Euros) and of course fun!
This is Nadia, Ella and I on the rink

Also it has been snowing like crazy. Today I had to walk home because the buses all got cancelled. My feet complained, but the rest of me enjoyed the beauty. Snow in street lights has always been one of my favorite sights.

Sadly, that snowball was destined for my face.

Before it snowed, though, it was uncommonly warm and beautiful.
Pretty fall colors outside my house.
The old (super, super old, to be exact) Roman Amphitheater. Allegra, Diana and I came here before we went to mass at the basilica for All Saints day. The Service was beautiful and there was even a cardinal there. Of course I didn't know that until afterwards when Diana told me, but still pretty cool.

For Thanksgiving we had a group dinner at a restaurant. It was pretty delicious, but not exactly authentic. The pumpkin pie was definitely a welcome taste of home (sorry I didn't take any pictures of it).

à plus tard!

Nice

I recently had a week long break from school (after less than two weeks of school, gotta love the French education system). Originally, I planned on staying in Lyon but I was sick of the cold, gray skies. I randomly chose a city and bought my train ticket. Just like that, I was off to Toulon. Oh, you've never heard of it? That's because it's possibly the most boring city in France. I thought it would be on the coast, which it sort of is, but the main part of town just has a port. I didn't really do anything too exciting there.
It was still pretty, though.
The next morning, I decided to go to Nice because I knew for a fact it was a cool place. I was completely wonderstruck on the train ride. I had a book, but I don't think I looked down from the window a single time. The little seaside villages looked amazingly cozy, I can't imagine waking up to the Mediterranean Sea every day. You know when you're driving towards the beach, and you see the sparkling water through the trees for the first time and you're not sure if it's just a trick of your eyes or actually the ocean? It was exactly like that the first time I saw the Mediterranean. I didn't think that it could be real, it was so beautiful. The Oregon coast is always lovely too, but I've never seen anything like the South of France.
I somehow found the youth hostel super quickly, checked in, and then was off to the water!
I sat on a rocky jetty with the waves washing up on my toes for I don't know how long, I was completely content to sit there forever.
I sat on the beach for awhile, reading and writing in my journal, generally enjoying the view.
That night I found an English restaurant and made friends with this huge group of Australians that were there. They had a live band and everyone danced up on the tables all day.
The rest of my trip won't be too exciting for you guys, basically I sat on the beach all day in my swimming suit alternately reading, writing, and swimming. It was absolutely fantastic! I can't wait to go back.
It was nice when I came back to have a place to call home, and that I feel at home in this house.
I'm happy :)Breathtaking, right?
This is about as high up as you can get in Nice. They have a cute little restaurant and park at the top.
Reading Jane Eyre, of course.

Beaujolais

One of the director's of my program here in Lyon approached the participants in the program a few weeks back about the possibility of going to work on a farm for a week harvesting grapes. I jumped at the opportunity because a. I didn't know what to do with myself for the two weeks that I had off of school and b. I could of course use the extra cash.
Sunday night Charles, Diana, Allegra and I (fellow Oregon students) departed on a 20 minute train ride to Villefranche.
We had dinner and got to know our fellow vendangeurs, who were all very nice and awesome people who we got to know pretty well throughout the week. The next day we worked until our backs ached and our fingers couldn't possibly cut another branch. I've never worked so physically hard in my life and I have to say that it felt great. Dad, you would've been proud.

Allegra picking grapes
We spent the rest of the week working until we were exhausted, singing Disney songs, taking walks, eating delicious food, laughing, speaking lots of French and learning lots of new words (personal favorite: Chaleur - it means heat but can be used to describe a warm-hearted person), making some funny language mistakes, and getting to know some of the best people out there.


Such a beautiful place.

One of my favorite parts was when Charles played his guitar.

Friday night Diana, Allegra, and most everyone else left. Staying at the Gros Family farm was just me, Charles, Valentine, Alex, Julien, and Christian. We worked for another family until Tuesday night and left Wednesday night.

Amazing people.

It was kind of muddy...

...and a little bit wet.

On Sunday we didn't have to work, so we packed up a delicious lunch of Marie's (the mother of the Gros family) homemade bread and fresh fruits and veggies. The six of us as well as the Gros family and their kids ventured off into the hills for a hike and picnic. It was the most perfect day. Weather wise and everything wise. The whole time I was in Beajolais I was so completely content. It would have been impossible not to be. In the future, I would not object to owning a farm. It's the life. And what a great way to raise children!


Mom, I think you and Marie would make great friends. If you come visit we'll definitely go on a picnic/hike with them.


Just breathtaking.


Lucky dog.

The week and a half I spent here was arguably the best week and a half of my life. I just loved it and can't wait until I get to go back in November.

The Cow Story Or: How Allegra and I Almost Died in France

Disclaimer: If you care a great deal about my health/well-being, maybe don't read this because it might scare you.

Transcribed from my journal 21/09/2010

So. I'm in the country living the country life. After the hard work of the day was done, Allegra and I decided to g for a walk. We made our way down a big hill and into a field. To our left, I thought I spied a bunch of sheep. We walked up to the barbed fire fence surrounding the field and upon further examination discovered that they were actually cows. I think it was mostly my idea, and we were both thirsting after some adventure, so we deiced to shimmy our way under the fence, through some prickly bushes, and a bunch of stinging nettle. Allegra was wearing flip flops. Flips flops! Oww. We finally got to the actual field, take some pictures of ourselves, and approach the cows. But we weren't really paying attention because we were concentrating too hard on not stepping in the very large cow pies. I realized it before Allegra but when we were, I don't know, thirty feet, maybe? away, that all the cows were staring at us and slowly making their way towards us. I nudge Allegra and say "um.. Allegra? The cows are all staring at us." She looks up and now they are trotting directly at us. Allegra starts springing, but something in the back of my head remembered that running from big animals is a bad idea. So I crouch behind this bush thing but quickly discover that cows are smarter than they look and they all know I'm there. So I run as fast i can, directly straight so as to not leave time for the cows (who are charging now, no big deal) to catch up with us. Directly straight is into some sort of thorny berry bush, but we just charge right into it because there's no where else to go and the cows are almost on top of us. We sort of found a place of respite for a little bit, but I was still unsure if we were going to live through this adventure or not. Even though we were surrounded by thorny berry bushes, we had left a trail behind us, and the cows were still sort of edging closer. So Allegra finally plunges ahead of me and we just make our way through those bushes despite the pain. And finally, THANK GOODNESS, we made it back to the fence. Thank goodness we are alive! Oh my gosh. We are soo stupid. Anyways, as we walked through the other (cow-less) field, we saw all of the cows gathered around still staring us down.
This all went down about half an hour ago. I'm still all shaken up. So freaked out. But thankful to be alive!

What a crazy experience. Aside from that, this past week was absolutely amazing in every aspect. I loved every second. I think I have a new goal in life to own a farm. I'll post some more beajolais stories soon, but for now I need to go to bed.



Two very stupid girls.



Why we were so distracted.



I think I'm scarred for life.

paradise

i hope this works cause im posting this from my phone. i cant use facebook but i can use pretty much anything else. Dumb i know. right now im at à vineyard in the beaujolais région of france harvesting grapes. Its hard work but super rewarding. Its so beautiful here and the people i work with are awesome and fun. I just love being here. Im surrounded by beautiful landscapes, delicious food and like i said, fantastic coworkers. I couldnt be happier. ive already had a couple unexpected aventures here including a sort of terrifying run in with cows while on a walk with allegra. Ask me and I'll be glad to give more détails. Sorry this is so weird, my phone is french and corrects everything i write; I'll be here til tuesday night so will be out of communication until then. Love you all!

Awkward.

The french pretty much don’t have a word for “awkward.” You can say “bizarre” but that’s basically the same as saying weird. I find it very awkward that there’s not a word for awkward.

A Day of Dancing

Today I woke up early to take the bus to church. It was super good, even though I understood basically nothing. I love the singing; everything sounds better in French. And it's nice when you already know the meaning, since most of the songs are the same. Thierry, my host dad, told me that "Italian is for singing, French is for speaking, German and English are for puking." Sad but true. Everyone was of course very nice and welcoming at church, I feel at home there. But then again, I feel at home everywhere in France.

After church I went to centre ville with my host sister, Clarisse, for this big dancing parade festival thing. All of the quartiers of Lyon as well as the sub-burbs have a show that they put on for the parade. The performers all had crazy make-up and costumes, stilts seemed to be very popular. There was seriously so many people there. It was insane trying to get on the metro. People from Eugene think the 79x is bad? Not even. It doesn't matter how full the bus/metro/tram is, the driver will always stop to let more people on. Worse than being in a sardine can. And just as smelly.

Clarisse and her two friends that met us there and I went to an American restaurant afterwards (well, sort of American. They served guacamole and quesidillas... I'm definitely going to need to go back there to try it out) just to sit and chat. Clarisse and her friends are hilarious and fun to hang out with, so I'm glad I got to do that today.

For dinner tonight we had Tart tar tin. I have no idea if I'm spelling that right but I'm pretty sure that exists in America, right? If not it was basically tomato upside down cake. It's one of my favorite things we've had so far, very delicious.

Some crazy cool make-up and costumes

Mom! Doesn't this lady remind you of Milly?