Comme une étudiante française

Salut!

I woke up at 7:00 this morning, had my pain grille du beurre (toast and butter) and coffee. I met my friend Veronica at the bus and we rode to the school together! School started at 9:45AM, but it is different almost everyday. We arrived very early to the school so we walked to a cafe where we had cafe dans une petite tasse (espresso, french style!!) and it was very good! =] hehe I liked the whole idea of the outside cafe with the espresso and the french waiter! =] And it is true!! We had to ask for the check without him assuming we were done and I totally understood what he said for the total. haha Funny, I get excited over things like that.

I added some pictures to this post, but they added in the opposite order that I wanted them to, so sorry about that. The pictures are of the students (moi of course) in the classroom, the group in front of the school, La Rhone (which is one of the rivers that runs through Lyon), and a picture of the Bellecour (shopping area. It is the picture with the flower boquet).

Today was such a long day... so long! We met at 9:45 for a meeting first, at 12:00 we had lunch and then at 1:45 we came back for class. Class was fun! It is so great to get back into the grove of learning French! I love the language, gosh! haha Class was not too difficult either, so that was great!!! The only downside is that is was 4 hours!!!!! And the room was as hot as a sauna!! I was like sweating the whole time haha. I am so pleased with our Professor. He is very nice, he has a sense of humor and he articulates his words so it is easier to understand him. I also love the students in the group! We have already became good friends!

Tomorrow the plan is to go see Harry Potter after class. This will be my 5th time seeing it in the last 2 months haha but this time it will be in French!!! Come on now, I CANNOT pass that up! ;)

A demain, ('Til Tomorrow)
-Mallory

Look at the pictures below! =]

Le jour dernière devant l'école

Bonjour Bonjour Bonjour!!

Today was my last free day before school. Tomorrow school starts! I am happy though because I currently suck at French, reaaallly bad, and I want to learn something! haha My "house-mom" Anne is so nice, she speaks English to me right now so we can communicate haha but she said, "starting tomorrow, NOUS PARLERON EN FRANçAIS !!!"

Today Anne took me around the city to show me where I take my bus to school, the school itself and le Grand Parc. The bus is not far, so that is good, and the school is absolutly beautiful! In Le Grand Parc there is a zoo, a free zoo, which is pretty cool. I saw giraffes, flamingos, monkeys, and some other creatures I didn't know lol. I had an ice cream bar, like a haagndaz or dove bar with a chocolate shell and vanilla ice cream in the middle, but it was way better here!! The vanilla ice cream was so tasty! Better than in the states.

Well, currently I do not have too much to say, but wish me luck at school tomorrow!! eeek!!

Au Revoir,
Mallory

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

Je suis arrivée

Bonjour à tous!

I have arrived in Lyon, as my title says =] yay! I am here to study the French laugage and culture at the Universite de Lyon 2. It is for a semester, so I will not be back until December 20.

Getting here was one of the most stressful experiences, however. Of course I had to wait until the last minute to pack (seriously, like midnight before I left) because I procrastinate with everything, so my parents and I could not leave for the airport until morning. We woke up at 5AM to leave, giving us 4 hours to get to the SFO airport, but two accidents on the road and a really slow Bart train later, I missed my 11:00 flight. Ridiculous! There was a flight leaving at 11:55, but 20 people were on the stand-by list, therefore my chances to get on that flight were slim to none. Thanks to the Lord, I was the last one called for stand-by and made the flight! =]

It has been such a long trip, tiring and stressful, but I am so glad I made it! I talked to the taxi driver (in french) on the way to the Centre International de Sejour de Lyon =] That was a good start! Wish me luck with my French studies here! I must must must (dois dois dois) be fluent when I come back in December! I am about to go to our orientation meeting, so I have to close out. Exciting news for tomorrow: I get to meet my host family! Anne, Jean-Marc and Zoe Bernard.

Ill post again soon!
-Mallory