C'est Lundi encore!
You know what that means? Another update from yours truly.
Oh boy, I can't believe that it's Monday already, I feel like this week went by in a blink!
First of all, I am done with the ILP (the intensive Language Program) that I had everyday for the last two weeks. I have to say that I did in fact enjoy it, mainly because it was discussion based and I loved our Science Po prep class where we learned about current French politics. The Science Po(litiques) is a very prestigious school in France, even though I'm pretty positive that I will not be taking classes there this semester (my classes will be at Lyon 2 and Bron, which is outside of Lyon...), I might next semester. With the close of our ILP came our exams- yikes! but they weren't too bad- an oral presentation, a small written assignment and an exam on current affairs in France. The day of the exams (last Friday) was pretty stressful and I am glad they're over, but that also means that real school is coming up! (I start tomorrow!)
During our Academic Meeting, two weeks ago, our directors told us that in this upcoming year we need to disregard all the things- planning wise- that we have grown accustom to during our years at our respective UC's.
Oh boy, did we know what was coming?
nope. we. did. not.
Planning classes has just been ridiculously stressful and all that we have been thinking about for the last few days.
First of all, each department sends out an "emploi du temps" with it's schedule of classes for that specific department/campus. You have to go through all the emploi du temps (sometimes there are multiple ones for the same department...) and write down all the classes that seem interesting. BUT the catch is that there aren't any course descriptions! Just the titles. And unlike UCLA (and I think most colleges at this point) there isn't an online way to plan your course schedule- so it is very confusing and messy. very messy.
So, what we have to do is find somewhere between 8 to 10 classes that we think will be good, and spend the first two weeks going to all of them- then in two weeks we decide which four (out of the 8 or 10) that we like the best, ask for our Prof's signatures and voila! we have classes! OH but wait! Add the additional complication that there are two campuses, 30 + minutes apart, and that we have a mandatory class (called the SLM or Suivi Methologique) that we have yet to be told the schedule for, which means that it may conflict with classes that we are planning to take! My friends and I have decided that we will just resort to running around like chickens without our heads for the next two weeks and then we will be able to settle down and relax.
Anyway, enough about classes! Lemme tell you about the fun adventures that I've been up to in the last week! Here are the highlights:
My friends (Kristy, Charley and Monica) and I bought train tickets to Nice for this upcoming weekend! (We are still working out some details, okay, big details: like where we are going to sleep and we have to change the time we are leaving on Friday...) But I am so excited!
This week I got the pleasure of hanging out in the apartments of my other EAP (Education Abroad Program... aka the UC program) friends- it's nice to see the different housing options in Lyon- We will have to start looking for housing for next semester!
On Saturday, Charley and I met up to enjoy the Day of Patrimony in Lyon. Throughout Lyon, many buildings were open for tours and there were lots of festival-type activities going on. We did a tour of the Opera house and the Hotel de Ville (beautiful by the way! and very classical French!) and then we saw some of the galleries at the Musee des Beaux Arts. I loved that we were able to get to know parts of the city in a new, intimate way.
Later, we went wild goose chase to find a specific Mexican restaurant (they were having a festival) only to discover that we needed reservations! We settled at another Mex. restaurant and had such a bizarre time- we had the tasting menu and it was NOT AT ALL Mexican food- so strange with avante garde dishes. Our dinner came with Tequila Rapideo- which were fizzing Tequila shots that we drank while the WHOLE restaurant watched... was quite the experience! And just a very funny and strange night.
Sunday, I went to Parc de la Tete D'Or with Charley and just walked around, ate some crepes and just enjoyed the sunshine.
Today (Monday), since Charley and Kristy and I didn't have class, we decided to go to the train station to see if we could buy same-day tickets to Grenoble.
You know, we wanted to just live in the moment!
Sure enough we got tickets for 12:15, but all the way across town at the other station! After a mad dash over there (we bought out tickets at 11:30) we hopped the hour and half train to Grenoble. We didn't quite have a plan, but we've heard of some interesting places in Grenoble so we just wandered around for a bit until we stumbled upon the gondola/funicular that takes you up to the Bastille- an old fortress high above the town. OH what a view! We hiked around for a bit, took lots of photos and just had some good old fashioned fun over looking the base of the Alps (and parts of the Alps themselves)! Beautiful! We played cards the whole train ride back to Lyon. Overall it was just a lovely and great day. I love little adventures like the one that I had today- it makes life a bit more interesting and spontaneous! I'm sure that throughout the year we will have more day trips- perhaps with a little more advanced planning.... but maybe not, who knows?
Beacoup de bisous!
Sasha
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