So one of the best things ever is that on Wednesday mornings when I am coming home from my jazz class, there is an open-air market conveniently located at the metro stop closest to my apartment. So today I went to pick up goodies for lunch. First, I went to this booth where they had a bazillion kinds of olives and other marinated stuff like artichoke hearts and peppers and dolmas and stuff. The guy had me taste all the different kinds of olives before I picked which ones I wanted (score!). Next I bought some fresh fruits and veggies and then some cheese. All of the vendors are super friendly and it's so much better than going to a grocery store!!! Plus it's really not expensive at all :-)
I came home and showered and then made this delicious salad with lettuce and cucumbers and tomatos and olives and goat cheese and oil and vinegar. It was the best thing ever!! I feel like I keep having the same conversation with my friends about how we keep craving a good salad and how a good salad is so satisfying. It's so true. Go on, try it, it will make you feel better.
Ok, so I just felt i should share that, and now I shall try to catch up with what's been going on since I last posted. This past weekend I went to Geneva with some other American students. We took the train over on Saturday morning and stayed at a youth hostel and came back Sunday afternoon. It was a lot of fun! We went to the UN building and the History of Science Museum, and then we wandered around Lake Geneva and saw Jet d'eau and explored the city a bit. Then it was back to the hostel for naps before dinner. We ended up at this Vietnamese restaurant, which was pretty random but delicious. Not really knowing anything about Swiss nightlife, we hung out at a bar for a while and then got ice cream and headed back to the hostel to eat it and hang out. Then on Sunday we explored some more and saw the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre, and the Reformation wall. We also found giant chess and checkers boards. It was pretty awesome. Then it was time for lunch and chocolate and then we all just kind of chilled by the lake and watched these guys juggle for a couple of hours before grabbing our stuff and heading to the train station. On the way back, our train broke down (apparantly there was a broken door, which made it impossible for the train to move? Um...riiighhhtt) and we were stuck at some random little train station forever. Finally, after waiting for almost 3 hours, we got on a different train and made it back to Lyon. Overall, it was quite an adventure and I had a really great time. Plus, I was there with people I didn't know (mostly from Penn), so I made new friends, too! Yay!
On a less exciting note, I have been sick since about last Thursday and spending a weekend running around probably didn't help, but I'm surviving. I've been living on Emergen-C, which I'm almost out of, but I think it's ok because I should be better about the time that it's gone :-P
Other than that, I've mostly been doing the school thing...I think I've finally got my schedule worked out and set, which is comforting. This is also my first week of not really doing a homestay (ie I don't eat with the family and I'm responsible for getting/making food and doing laundry on my own and stuff). It's nice to have the freedom to do my own thing and I love running to the bakery early in the morning and getting fresh bread for breakfast and going to the market for fresh veggies, but it's kind of lonely to go from eating with a family of 5 to eating by myself. Although really not much has changed because last night I ate with the family (I'm going to eat dinner with them on Tuesdays) and then hung out with them and watched a movie.
Tonight I'm going to dinner at this family's house that I don't know. There is a program called Lyon International that has activities for people from other countries that are living/working/studying in Lyon. One of the main things they do is pair people with a Lyonnais family and you go eat dinner with them. I don't know anything about them, but i talked to the son the other day on the phone and he sounds like he might be about my age and was really nice on the phone at least. I guess we'll see :-)
Um...I think that's about it. Oh, except this funny little story...My roommate, Wei, is working on her master's in linguistics, and I guess they have to come up with a project where they study someone and write about them or something (clearly, I am not a linguistics person...). So anyway, the other day she asked me if I would be her subject. I guess her topic is nonnative speakers and how they interact in a family setting. So last night, she recorded dinner with the family. It was funny because Matthias, the youngest of the kids, kept turning around in his chair and staring at the camera and any time that we weren't talking felt really awkward, even when it doesn't usually. It's kind of bizarre to be someone's subject for a research project, but cool at the same time.
hehe
ok, now I'm going to do some homework (ick)
*bisous*
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