On a Fini la Moitie, Mais Comment?

(Editor's Note(s): I meant to post this on Thursday night after writing it on the train, but it has been hard to find internet in this city for my computer, and I thus am copying this directly over onto another computer. I apologize for the likely typos and lack of a picture this time, I hopefully will fix this by next time)

Ever since we were admitted to the Lyon program back in March, all 23 of us here have dreamed of les Vacances de Toussaint, or, roughly translated, the All-Saints week of vacation. A true highlight of the trip, this was clearly marked on every single program calendar we received, and always formed an important way to frame the semester. Situated just at the end of October, it seemed a perfect way to divide up the semester into two neat sections. Yet, despite hours of planning, it was always sort of a far off dream, a date way in the future that, once achieved, would definitively mark the passage of time. Well, it's here, and I'm writing to you from a TGV currently departing Lyon. I'll admit, I had a distinct feeling of nostalgia while walking through the city on the way to the train station, finally ocming to grips with the fact that I will be gone from my home-away-from-home for ten whole days. Even my host mother was mildly disappointed that I will be gone for the week, dropping a line of regret into her usual complaints about me needing to clean up my room and stop having so much laundry. It's a give and take relationship, but it's working out.

But, before we get ahead of ourselves here, let me first catch you up on a couple of the highlights of the week. First off, as part of the Penn connection with IEP, the university provides for us tutors in any subject that we would like for the semester in an effort to level the playing field between us and the natives. The students they pair us up with are usually grad students who have already taken these courses, and thus my first session with a French guy was this past week. Anyway, it was pretty boring until the end when we were heading out, and I asked him if he had ever been to the States, one of the standard questions in my French people repertoire. He sadly said no, but claimed that he really wants to because he loves baseball and wants to see an MLB game live. Now, my French was not quite up to my level of excitement, but I was stunned; a French person liking baseball? I cannot even find a pickup basketball game in this city (despite repeated efforts), and this guy plays baseball?? Long story short, he is bringing his glove after vacation, I'm finally going to put mine to use, and we are going to toss a baseball while discussing International and European Institutions. Color me happy.

Just as I thought that was my only bit of excitement from the week worth sharing, I showed up to my only class today (number two was canceled, again) lugging a backpack that might weigh as much as me across the city so that I could go to class and then head directly to the train station. The class started with only about half of the room full, surprising because it was actually a relatively nice morning, and I figured that if people were sleeping in through this one then they would never be there. Oh no, the professor announced at the beginning that some of our colleagues would be missing for the day, as they were taking part in a protest on this morning. Remind me why I was not invited?

But, the vacation has officially begun, and almost all 23 of us are peace-ing out of Lyon for the duration. Although no one is going back to the States, the list of cities on our collective itinerary reads like a must-see list of any travel guide; highlights include Budapest, Casablanca, Cairo, Florence, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Prague, Rome, and Vienna. The prevailing sense this week was that we were sad to leave Lyon and each other, yet absolutely thrilled to be traveling the world, each of us seeing places we have only dreamed of. Our French may suffer in the interim, but there is always time to catch up on that.

As for me, well, I'll keep you posted. There are four stops on my journey, and I will try to keep this updated at the end of each stop along the way (namely while in transit). Stay tuned.

We're rolling through the French countryside, and for the first time I am wondering how much I will miss this once I leave at the end of December. I still feel as if I just arrived, and now I'm halfway done? Thankfully, I have some vacation time to think it over.

Profitez du Soleil, Pour le Dernier Weekend !

It’s officially the end of summer here in Lyon, but, no worries for the Lyonnais, that is just another reason to celebrate. And no, I am not talking about the recent university-sponsored international student party, although it was pretty cool for me to realize (under the cover of a smoke machine, an epilepsy-inducing strobe light, and a very odd collection of American music) that we were the “exotic” international students on this campus. No, this Lyonnais party involved roller skates, stilts, and berets. Nothing too exceptional about my classes this week, so I will not bore you with coursework details, and instead get right to the fun.

After seeing him (among others) last weekend in Paris, my fellow pre-trip traveler Brian Hwang decided to make it two weekends in a row in France, and on Friday arrived in Lyon, where my host mother was kind enough to allow him to stay at “our” house. Of course, Friday was a gray, cold day in Lyon. Additionally, the metro and bus system has been on strike here since Thursday, but it has not been nearly as exciting as I had hoped. Instead of angry people marching in the streets waving signs and such (and allowing me to join in the fray), this strike has been invisible except for the fact people are now packed at bus stations waiting for the one or two buses that are still operating during the “disturbance.” Quite boring. Anyway, the point is that we could not use the metro to hop between all the sights of Lyon, and instead had to kick it old-school, and took to walking. It was Friday afternoon, the streets were empty, the sidewalk cafes were all closing, and I'm pretty sure Brian was wondering why he had ever left Barcelona for this dreary city.

But then Saturday came along. The sun came out, the temperature rose, and Lyon came to life. We started it off with a lunch with the family, and the meal lived up to the strong reputation that I had promised of my host mother’s cooking. The two of us then set out into Lyon, and obviously started it off by climbing a massive set of stairs up to the very peak of Lyon. From there we walked around the 15^th century Basilica, the roman amphitheatre, and took in the view of the entire city. Feeling relaxed, We eventually made our way back down the hill and meandered over to the center of the city. The party was underway.

Place Bellecour, the center of town, was a beehive of people, and we quickly found that there were a whole host of both wonderful and very French activities underway. First up was the state-sponsored roller skate competition, featuring both “slalom” skaters that were big on style, and later a competitive roller-derby type race around the block (it turns out this was not only a two day event, but also the French national championship!). This of course was accompanied by the obligatory loud/old/bad American music which I’m starting to realize is still very popular in Europe (only 5 years behind the States). Fortunately, the plaza was large enough to hold two celebrations on one day, because at the other end we had the Handicap International group supporting disabled persons and mine victims. The highlight over here was the live French band, mixing rock and big band styles, featuring a singer drenched in sweat, a trombonist, and a poorly dancing clarinet/saxophonist. The French people loved it (see photo). Even though I couldn’t exactly understand what he was trying to say up on stage, I definitely could tell that this guy was pretty successful at working the crowd. We left the square feeling content at having seen (and played an integral part in) a true French festival.

Now, this is Lyon, so of course the craziness did not stop there! We headed down the main walking thoroughfare in Lyon, and came across another band, this time featuring a sousaphone (or two), odd looking costumes, and another large crowd. While not as ridiculous as the band up on stage in Place Bellecour, these folks were still popular with the people, and were a perfect complement to a sunny afternoon. Upon leaving them, however, we ran into the most elaborate production of the day: a parade sponsored by the same Handicap International group that was in the square. At the front were the stilts walkers, trying to reconcile the two issues of dancing to the beat and staying on said stilts. Next in the conga line were the choreographed dancers doing some sort of shimmy that had a couple people in the crowd subconsciously mimicking. Last, but certainly not least was the drum line, all of whom were wearing matching berets! Suffice it to say that after this production, I was ready to buy my own, but somehow I resisted, for now. That did mark the final crazy French thing of the day though, and the two of us headed back up the stairs feeling very cultured for the day.

Tomorrow marks one month since I arrived in Lyon for this grand experiment we call study abroad, and I have slowly come to the realization that I could not have picked a better city for the semester. After being in Paris last weekend and spending this one in Lyon, I continue to be struck by this realization. It is true, Lyon is not a tourist destination, and besides a church and a crumbling theater, we really do not have a lot of historical artifacts. But because of that, this is truly a French city, and instead of being overwhelmed by tourists and not practicing anything but English in Paris, I am getting a French experience. It’s fair to say that Paris is the New York of France, and that Lyon is Philadelphia. For some people that has a bad connotation; but I’m loving Philly right now.

Quelques Choses à Faire: J'ai Raté.

Today was the day of my first real class here at IEP, at 10 am, titled "European and International Institutions". Despite your personal opinion, to me that sounded pretty cool, and I was definitely looking forward to starting off the semester strong. Showed up to class (on time even), sat down with a few other Penn kids in the middle of the mobbed lecture hall, pulled out my computer to take some notes, I was ready. Turns out, the professor wasn’t, or at least did not feel like showing up to class today. After waiting around for 15, 20 minutes, we started to look around to see if anyone else thought this was odd, and to see if there were any real French students in this class who could expertly explain whatever was happening. Sure enough, a few minutes later (by this time 25 minutes into the class), a student left the room, and returned shortly thereafter with the news that there would be no class today. First class, no class.

Second class, this time on the United States in the 20^th Century. Not sure if I will actually end up taking this class as it probably will not earn me any credit at Penn, but I think it would be awesome to learn what the French think about the States, and get in some arguments in the process. However, I did not get any help in making my decision about this class unfortunately as yet again the professor did not show up. I know there were classes today, as other Penn kids did successfully begin their semester…just not me. While it was great to have an extra six hours in my day, I hope this doesn’t become/is not already an odd French trend of professors failing to show up to class. Maybe they were on strike? That would be very French.

Anyway, I can’t continue to move ahead in my life story without first catching you up on what went down this weekend. Now, I am not referring to any crazy fêtes or boums, and this paragraph is suitable for all audiences. No, this weekend brought the pleasant surprise of a chateaux tour. You see, I had initially wanted to go to Paris this past weekend to visit friends and see the sights, but after missing out on train tickets, I happily settled for more time in Lyon. My host family told me that they were going to the countryside for the day on Saturday and, since they knew I had some newly discovered free time, they informed me that they would be more than happy to have me join them. Trying to be open to new experiences, I gave it a “pourquoi pas” attitude, and consented to the trip. One of my two roommates had already been dragged into this, so I figured it could not be that bad. Turns out that the tour comprised of me and the roommate (combined age: 38), one IEP professor who at about 40 years old is actually a fun person/big kid and proved to be a great connection for us, and then probably 35-40 people between the ages of 60 and about 90. Yikes. Highlight of the trip was definitely the bus rides (as we could sleep and listen to music), because of the 3 (or 4?) chateaus we went to, they were all kind of similar. Yes it was a cultural experience and I tried to soak it all in as best I could, but I became saturated with culture pretty early on in the trip. Throw into that the fact that my camera is broken, and overall it was a fantastically boring way to spend a Saturday.

For this week, its off to classes (hopefully I will eventually have one), and more getting to know Lyon. Recent discoveries include a hockey team in Lyon, free opera tickets, and a carbon copy of a Target superstore in the heart of the city, all sure to be explored shortly. With treasures like this, who knows what the next week will bring.