9/7/11

Well today wasn’t quite full of the adventures of the past few days, but it was still pretty good.

We all woke up early to get down to the university to take our placement test. I enjoy the public transportation system around here, but I’m starting to notice it makes some trips a lot more complicated than it needs to be. The trip to the university for example, we just have to follow one road across the two rivers and turn two corners and we are there. But, with the route we take it becomes a bit of a mess. We have to take a bus to the train station navigate the 3 floors of chaos to the tramcars and then take one of those to a stop before the university, then walk a block. I suppose it doesn’t sound that complicated but at 8 in the morning it really feels like it is.

We all gathered with professor Canovas in one of the front rooms before the test. He told us once again not to worry and took us to the designated lecture hall. All of us, as his students are starting to realize this man is somewhat of a local celebrity. Everywhere we go people come up to him and give him a traditional beize and are always genuinely excited to see him. The people who were running our informational meeting today at the college were no exceptions. They rushed to greet him and when he pointed us out as his students they gave us the special treatment of making sure we got our informational folders first and all got the same dates on our mandatory meeting with the secretary. I looked over to the other girls and we all kind of realized, now we have to live up to this man’s reputation. Crap.

Once the meeting got underway at 8:30 they explained things like insurance, (which we had taken care of) paying for classes, (also taken care of) and other things that just irritated us we had to get up so early for. Way to serious and important topics to be talking about with a lack of food in our stomachs and too much sleep in our brains. After the meeting, Canovas gave us a smile and a ‘bon chance’ and left us to wait. The test was supposed to start at 10:30 sharp. Apparently, when the French say “sharp” they mean give or take an hour. The teachers stood at the front of the room sifting through papers and chatting, while the students sat unsure of what was supposed to be going on. Melinda came to the rescue with her ipod touch and the stupid little games we played. We also kind of realized that stereo types of Americans are definitely true. Once it hit 10:45 we were all furious. Get on with it already. It wasn’t the first time either. Here it is super impolite to eat quickly, but it seems to prove impossible for us. We ask for the check directly after we are finished eating and the waiter always seems shocked. I guess that’s what we get for being raised in a RUSHRUSHRUSH culture.

Anyways, the teachers took their sweet time, and though the test was supposed to start at 10:30, we actually started writing around 11:45. It was a bit ridiculous. The test itself was a bit difficult. It was for every level though, so that meant some parts of the essays would be really hard, and others would be easy. I felt like I did a decent job but, probly not enough to get me in the advanced class. I am hoping to get in the one up from beginner. Haha. I would be happy with anything though.

After the test we all met up for lunch at a café that Canovas had taken us to before for breakfast. We figured it would be good because the breakfast was good, but boy were we wrong. This was my first bad encounter with French food. And it was a horrific one. We didn’t know half the words on this menu, which was strange because we usually could decipher it well. Sarah and I decided on some meat and salad dish we thought sounded promising. Felicia, the resident vegetarian, got a goat cheese dish, and Melinda got pork in a citrus sauce. Felicia’s didn’t seem so bad, but the cheese was so potent we could all taste it from across the table. Melinda’s pork was literally candied. And worst of all, Sarah and I ended up with what we decided to dub “rabbit jell-o.” It was chunks of rabbit meat, carrots, pecans, and sour cabbage in what looked like congealed fat cut into slices and put on top of incredibly bitter lettuce. It. Was. DISGUSTING. I tried to be good about it and eat as much as I could, but once I got through one slice of the rabbit jell-o I had to put down my utensils and push the plate away. I felt like I was going to vomit. Never get the rabbit jell-o.

After that we decided to go shopping because we needed backpacks for school and other things. We walked around an area that’s known as having lots of nice shops but we struck out everywhere. Not only that, but I was feeling really queasy from my disastrous lunch. Then we tried to find the cell phone provider to buy more minutes, but couldn’t find the right provider anywhere. Altogether, that day so far had not been quite a win with anyone in our group. We made our way back to the residence where we napped off the rabbit jell-o and I woke up needing American music. I know the Beatles are British, but they hit the spot anyways and I was happy and ready to go again after that.

We went into town looking for a sandwich and ended up with pizza, but it was one of the most magical pizzas I’ve ever had. Absolutely delish. Completely made up for the rabbit jell-o. We walked around for a while admiring the scenery and then came back up to our rooms to eat the box of macaroons I bought the other day. One thing I’ve always thought of in relation to France is macaroons. Possibly the cliché comes from Gossip girl, but nonetheless it was worth trying out. And let me tell you. Those have to be one of the best desserts ever invented. The box had pistachio, strawberry, coconut, butterscotch, chocolate, and lemon. All absolutely wonderful. I’ll try to bring some home.

I keep looking for postcards, but I can’t find any that really capture the beauty of the city. So I think I will just try to take my own pictures and print them somewhere… If that doesn’t work out you will all be getting regular postcards of decently pretty pieces of Lyon. I’m excited for tomorrow. Canovas is taking us on a boat ride down the Roane and then out to lunch. It will be another wonderful day in paradise and I can forget about the long and stressful morning I had today. Well, its 2:30 in the afternoon your time, but that’s past my bedtime here. I need another good day of sleep.

Love you all.