Le deuxième jour

Bonjour a tous!

Last night, my first night in Lyon, was very fun. It is great because I met all the people in my programe (19 of us) and they were all very nice. About 8 of us went into what is called "Vieux Lyon" last night. It means "Old Lyon." It was so pretty! Cobble-stone streets and beautiful cathedrals. We hung out on this strip where there were shops, pubs ect. Many young people were there, so it was "poppin" haha. We had to take a couple trains and the metro system to get there, which by the way is so modern! The train looks like a super futuristic monorail tram at Disneyland!

I didn't want to leave my new friends to meet my new family because I was so comfortable speaking English with my friends. I practically had an anxiety attack this morning before we met the families because I was so scared to not understand the French. My family actually was not there to pick me up though. Anne, my "house mom's" name, is friends with another one of the ladies, Sylvie, that is housing a student, and so Sylvie picked up me and another girl. It was nice going with another girl from the programe because we were equally uncomfortable and it made the situation better lol. Let me tell you though, French is so hard!!! I feel like I am a baby and I can't convey anything that I want to say. I better get improve quickly!!

I had the chance to go to Bellecour this afternoon. It is a big shopping area. There were so many people there!! It was like walking the streets in Union Sqaure in San Francisco. Crazy! I had to buy some things that were essential and I ended spending lots of money =[ It sucks because my money is dissapearing, but it is not because I am being a "tourist" and buying lots of souvenirs. Listen to this. This morning my friend let me use her plug converter so I could dry my hair, and it blew up!! Huge *POW* It was pretty scary. So the blow killed my dryer and I had to buy a French one. Apparently the voltage was too high. For those who may not understand why I am talking about this converter, Europe does not have the same plug/voltage as the US, so you have to bring a converter for the US plugs. In addition to the blow dryer, I of course had to buy a converter for my other electronics.

When I arrived from Bellecour, my family was home! Anne, Jean-Marc and Zoe. They are extremely nice and very flexible. I feel comfortable already! Great right?! Still, the language is super hard though. The picture at the top of the page is of the house I live in. It is so cute inside! The French know how to decorate for sure! =] I would love to post more pictures from last night and today, but I do not have a USB cord yet, so I cannot. I will hopefully be able to do that later.

Well, I still have jet-lag, so I am super tired. Extremely tired. Im going to bed.

À bientôt

Mallory