Boston

Bonjour tout le monde!

Today was my last Friday in France, which is very bittersweet. People in the states keep asking if i'm ready to come home or sad to leave. I feel as though French culture focuses on the next task at hand- we don't really plan things very far in the future. I haven't really thought about it much yet, but I'm sure that when the time comes I'll be really sad to leave. I think I said this in one of the Paris posts, but I'm gonna do my best to live here again-hopefully for longer than a month next time.

In the morning today, we had Innovation and Management. We finished up and practiced our presentation. We had to make a ten minute presentation and a twenty minute presentation, and we won't know which we have to present until right before. We also won't know whether we are presenting to "investors" or to potential "customers" until the last minute as well, so we have to be prepared for anything. A little bit of detail on this class: we learned how to forma business model and how to form a genuinely good company. We were given the task to combine CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities) principles and creating a product to benefit a college campus. We went through the entire brainstorming process and completely developed our product and our plan to sell it. We wrote an 8 page paper on all the deals, and now we have to present all of our work. My team came up with a way to create clean energy on campus.

For lunch, we tried to go to the grill again. We got there, and it wasn't set up like usual. However, there was still food out, so we call grabbed what we wanted. We got to the end where we swipe our campus cards and they told us we weren't allowed to eat there today. Lunch here always seems like a little bit of a battle, so that is something I am not going to miss. We went to the pizza place instead and I got a really good pizza, so it all worked out in the end I guess.

In the afternoon, we had Intercultural class. We watched the last few presentations, which were about Ukraine, Sweden, Brazil, and Mexico. I really enjoyed these presentations and learning about how the cultures are different. After that, we walked around the room and greeted each other as we would in our own country. It was a really cute activity and it was fun to see the different greetings.

After class, we went home to change clothes and chill out for a little bit. Andrea and I met Parker and Brett at 7 and we took the tram into town. Talia's host family had suggested a French restaurant to us, so we decided to try it out. Talia met us there and we sat outside in a busy courtyard. We had some white wine and everyone got either risotto or duck. I got the risotto and it was pretty good. I also tried some of the duck, which I've never had before, and it was also good. We've reached a point at dinner where we don't have anything to talk about because we are together at all times, so we've started playing games. Tonight there was a table of girls who sat next to us, so we made up their entire life stories, with names and plenty of drama. We also played eye spy for awhile. After dinner we also got some desserts, a berry and ice cream bowl and a brownie with caramel ice cream. Both were delicious.

After dinner, we walked around Lyon for awhile, met up with Will, and enjoyed the views. We ended up finding a cool bar and getting some fun drinks. I got a tiramisu martini and a "soul sista" which was just a fruity drink. Both were really good. We played a card game called Presidents for awhile too. Most of the time when we play this game, Brett and Talia get first and second, and I end up as one of the bottom two. I'm getting better with practice though.

our drinks at the first bar

note: this is the only good picture I have from this day and I didn't even take it

Someone suggested a small club that was nearby, so we decided to check it out. It played weird music and had a weird vibe, so we didn't stay long.

My roommate next year at Pitt, Abbey, just got to Lyon for her exchange program, and she was in another club called Boston. Boston is actually a bar and restaurant that we used to go to a lot, but we had never been inside the club part. I found Abbey inside and we all danced for awhile before she headed home for the night. Talia, Andrea, Parker, Brett, Will and I danced until 4 am. They play a surprising amount of American music, which makes it really fun for us. Will left around 4 and caught the last bus, and the rest of us planned on Ubering home. Talia got in her Uber, but when ours arrived they said they could only take three of us. Brett was nice enough to let us go first, and he would call another one behind us. By the time we got home and got to bed it was around 5, so we all fell asleep immediately.

Another chaotic day in Lyon.

À plus tard,

Maggie

(written about June 10)