Penn-Lyon Orientation Day One

Oy vey.

After a good night's sleep, I woke up early for my ten o'clock rendez-vous at Lyon with the other Penn kids in my program. And yet, I still managed to leave later than I wanted to from the apartment. Quel suprise. I did manage to finish The Help. What a superb novel by Kathryn Stockett. It's really astounding (and disgusting) that only 50 years ago it was okay and acceptable to completely disregard the humanity of a person because of their race. For people who claimed to be Christians, they seemed to have forgotten the adage "Treat others as you want to be treated." That's something I will probably never understand.

We all met at the University, which is only 15 minutes from my host house, and finally got to met each other. All of us were weary from travel but were fortunate to get real sleep at our host houses. Barbara, our coordinator, led us all up-stairs to a classroom where we spent the majority of the day, learning about the school, classes, the two-week intensive language course for all exchange students (I have a test on Monday! #dying), course selections, and other things like that. Basically, all the stuff I tune out and wait for my friends to explain (Kyra, where are you?!). Barbara says it's not as confusing as it sounds.

We sat outside in a small courtyard for lunch, where we got to hang out and get to know each other more. I had a tuna sandwich. I always forget that tuna is not always made the way my mom makes it. There was too much mayo (I am so not a mayo person) and hard boiled eggs (blech). But I tried it! There were chips, cookies, and apples, so my pickiness didn't make me go hungry.

We met again after lunch, but everyone was falling asleep and zoning out. At the end of the day, we walked down the quai to grab some drinks. I had jus de pomme (apple juice, which is pronounced "ju" without an "s." The waiter teased me about that) with some other Penn students.

Victoria, Meg, and Shiro

Le Rhône river is gorgeous! The water is so blue and it smells like the sea. I felt so happy being by the water. It was nothing like the Schuylkill.

Les canards (ducks!)

Meg snapping pics for her blog meginlyon.wordpress.com

Hey Mom, don't we have these at home?

We ended our time together by getting the necessities: phones that work in France. It was an interesting experience to say the least. I had to be a real adult and make financial decisions on my own. That was weird. But I got this bad boy. Kickin' it old school.

Old school flip phone with no side volume buttons. Word.

It was just Rabiâa and me for dinner, but that was really nice. I felt a little silly at times, completely blanking on words and such, but I really got to talk and discuss my interests. We talked about history, The Help, prisons (more on that later!), and what family means and what being a person means.

Segue!

After reading The Help, I realized I should only read things in French while abroad. I get too comfortable in English. I downloaded some French books to my Kindle fo' free! Thank you Public Domain. I got 

• Les fleurs du mal by Claude Baudelaire
• Les trois mousquetaires by Alexandre Dumas
• Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
• Nana by Émile Zola

And a snuck in Shakespeare's sonnets becuase I couldn't help myself.

Best wishes!

Finally in Lyon

It's like a dream being here. I can't quite explain how weird it is for this experience to be a reality

Allison and I left Dublin relatively on time. My carry-on was just over the 10 kilo weight limit (22 lbs) so they had to check my bag. Fortunately, it was free! Thank you Aer Lingus! We left at 12:10 Irish time, as captain Tom Brady was saying, and the flight took two hours. It was so interesting hearing all the different languages over the intercom. Everything in English was followed by an Irish translation, but the flight attendants' accents were so thick, Allison and I had a hard time figuring out which language they were speaking. We met a very nice elderly Irish couple on the plane that insisted we visit Ireland. We saw them multiple times in the airport and kept having to say hello and goodbye.

Allison and I took the tram called the Rhônexpress to the center of Lyon. Everything was going great: Allison and I were one of the first to get our luggage, we got some cash, we bought our tram tickets, and then I tripped on one of my suitcases and fell flat on my face. In front of everybody. Well, I never said I was graceful.

I arrived at my host family's house without a problem. Fortunately there was an elevator in their building. I really wasn't feeling like carrying 70+ pounds of stuff up the stairs. Rabiâa is my host mother and she is wonderful. Olga is my Russian roommate for a few more nights. She is studying French here for the month of August. Art is also here for August. He is Canadian and studying theater. I am so grateful for them. I am constantly surrounded by French. I don't mind messing up in front of them because they are in the same situation as me, but I still have to speak French. I get so in the mindset that sometimes I accidently think of titles or sentences for the blog in French!

The most exciting part of the day was dinner. Rabiâa made fish and a pasta side and...salad. With dressing. One of the promises I made to myself was that I was going to try different kinds of food, even if I thought I didn't like it. So I had some salad. And you know what? It wasn't too bad. (Cue the angelic voices).The greens weren't bitter or too leafy, but nice and fresh. The dressing added an unexpected flavor,the key being it wasn't too vinegary. I still like the original flavor of food without any flavoring, but I didn't find myself only eating it to be polite.

I took a nap after dinner, being thoroughly exhausted. Eight hours of flying on four hours of sleep is pretty taxing for one person, then add layovers and different languages and it becomes a stew of incoherence. Olga came back into the room as I was asking up from my nap. At first I couldn't believe it. It really felt like I dreamt it all, like when she came back, it was me changing from one dream to the next and that I was going to wake up at home in my bed. But it was real. It is real. As soon as I was conscious enough to recognize that, an overwhelming sense of dread washed over me and my first thought was I want to go home. But I am here for the long haul and I think I will be just fine.

...And Away We Go!

Thoughts from Places (Dublin Airport)

The view from our gate

It's about a quarter past ten here in Dublin, Ireland. Our flight to Lyon isn't until 12:10 local time. It's still 5:00 AM in Philadelphia. On the bright side, everyone here has Irish accents and it's fabulous.

The yesterday started off looking like this:

But thanks to the magic of Space Bags (seriously, those things are fantastic), I fit all my stuff into one check in bag (46 lbs!), a carry-on, and a backpack.

This is all very strange. Monday night, I finally came to terms with the fact that I am going to live in a foreign country for four months. I had a strange dream during Savasana (the last pose in any yoga routine, laying on your back) where my mom and a family friend dropped me off at the airport and bid me goodbye. When I came out of the pose, I knew I was ready to go.

Allison and I met at the gate together and had pizza for dinner

Also, I saw a guy cleaning the airplane's front window. I feel like that job is akin to window cleaning in how brave/crazy you would have to be.

This is the first time I am traveling via air on my own  (pretending he's beside me...). Normally I travel with my mom, and she deals with all the logistics and stuff so all I have to do is just be there. The moment of realization for me was when we were taking off from Philly. Mom doesn't do too well on planes so I hold her hand and talk to her. As the plane started to move, I looked around, waiting for the take off routine, but Mom wasn't there. So I kept reading on my Kindle. I think the guy next to me would have felt uncomfortable if I held his hand. His girlfriend would not have been happy.

The six hour flight had us arrive at 8:15 local time, so I probably had about 4 hours of sleep. It's not too bad though. They served us breakfast and I couldn't help but laugh

Top o' the Muffin to You!

I decided to have a real breakfast at 4:25 Philly time.

Yogurt with strawberry and granola, and tea

I find this whole experience to be quite amusing in it's ridiculousness; but I am incredibly thankful for it. And also The Help, which I am reading, otherwise I would be incredibly bored.

Best wishes!