Country Roads, en Français

Bonjour tout le monde! Another day late blog post because I could only manage to get one out yesterday, but I shouldddd stay caught up for a bit now.

For our French class this morning, we were doing a scavenger hunt in Vieux Lyon at 9:30. Andrea went to the dining hall for breakfast and I stayed and ate cereal in the apartment. I met the boys downstairs and we met up with Andrea on our way to the tram station around 9. We got to our meeting place and were separated into our classes. I was paired with a girl from Scotland, Caitlyn. We had a packet with clues to different locations, all in french. There were two groups with packets in french and the rest were in English. It was a really fun way to get to see the area and I enjoyed it. After everyone completed the quest and made it to the meeting point, we went over the packets. The professors then led us to this beautiful mural with the names of different famous people. We talked a little amount famous French people that we knew in modern media. The professors then left us for the day. We had French Culture class at 2 on campus, and it was only noon, so we found a place for lunch. We found a great place with a fantastic charcuterie board. It was all delicious.

top left: a clock in a church on the scavenger hunt, top right: a spiral staircase on the scavenger hunt, bottom left: the mural of famous French people, bottom right: lunch

We headed back to campus around 1:30. We got to the metro station and only half of our group got on before the doors started closing. One of the boys tried to hold the doors open, figuring that they'd start to reopen with resistance. They did not, but a man on the train helped him hold them open so that the rest of us could hop on. When we got off the metro, we headed to the tram station. At the tram, the doors started to close on us again, and somehow the whole group got on. Not a good day for us and public transportation, apparently.

We went to our French Culture class, and learned about verbal and nonverbal communication in different cultures. We learned how difficult it can be to realize what's normal in your culture isn't in another, and neither is better than the other. It takes communication and going out of your cultures comfort zone to being to fully understand the culture of another.

After class we talked to our teacher for awhile, and booked train tickets to Paris for one of our weekends here. Weekend trips are crazy to plan because they're super chaotic and we're trying to do everything for as cheap as possible.

After class we had a little time to clean up before heading to Bellecour in the city for a fancy dinner with some of the administration from INSA. We got to try authentic Lyonnaise cuisine, and it was interesting to talk to the administration. Talia and I sat with the director of international affairs, and talked about France and the states and engineering.

Having a three course authentic meal was a great change from the dining hall food. Everyone knows of my picky eating habits, but you'll be pleased to know I tried everything. We started with an apéritif, which is a drink before the meal. Our options were juice, beer, or a typical French wine. Talia and I chose the wine, which is called Kir. It is a white wine with a cassis fruit syrup. It was really good but had unexpectedly high alcohol volume. Next we had the entrée, and I got melon, mozzarella buffala, and ham serrano. It seemed like an odd combination to me, but individually each aspect was great. The other options were low cooked cod on vegetables with balsamic, or wild shrimp with peanut broccoli variation. Then we had the plat principal, the main dish. I had a rib-eye steak with dried pepper sauce and forest potatoes. The other options were pike quenelle with lobster sauce and rice, or caramelized pork ribs with honey, and mashed sweet potatoes. We also had glasses of white wine with dinner. Finally, for dessert, I got fresh cheese with herbs. I'm a cheese fan, but this was interesting. It tasted and looked like a bowl of sour cream. I ate some of Talia's, which was raspberry sorbet with a little chocolate cake. The other option was a praline tart with leom sorbet. After an amazing meal with great conversations, we stepped outside to take a group picture. Moments like these make you realize the amazing people you're surrounded by.

from left to right: my friends! (Parker, me, Talia, Andrea, and Brett), the steak, and the cheese dessert

After dinner, we parted ways with the administration and the other students. My friends have been dying to go to a karaoke bar, and we had walked past one on our scavenger hunt this morning. We originally walked the wrong way, but crossed paths with an American couple who has the cutest puppy. While we pet their puppy we talked about Lyon and they gave us suggestions on what to do. It's comforting to talk to Americans for a little bit, and it was nice to see their perspectives.

We stopped by a grocery store and got some wine, and drank it in the park. It's going to be weird to come back to the states and not just casually walk around with a bottle of wine.

We finally got to the karaoke bar, and it was the weirdest experience we've ever had. We had to ring a little doorbell and the owner came and got us. When we came down the stairs, we found the smallest bar we've ever seen, with a random group of people. It didn't feel unsafe, just painfully quirky. We decided to stay and get drinks and sing a couple songs. Before too long the entire place was filled with very different people. We sang Dancing Queen and Love Story. My friends also surprised me by putting my name in to sing country roads. Everyone in the bar sang along and it is definitely up there in core memories now.

During our karaoke bar experience, we realized we had missed the last metros and trams to campus. We found that there were a ton of Ubers running, so we stayed until we were tired and called an Uber. He didn't speak much english, but he got us home safely and fast. We had never been in a car in Europe, so it was interesting to see what the roads were like.

When we got home, we all immediately went to sleep. We didn't have class the next day, so we didn't have to worry about being anywhere.

À plus tard, je suis très fatigue,

Maggie

(written for May 25)