Day trippin' to the Alps

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

sydney || late post!

hi friends! and family! and everyone!






so yeah...i am late on posting. but i was on the road! please forgive!


so i'm officially back in paris after spending 8 days traveling through central and southern france. (oh yeah, and i got to see sasha before that. sa-weeeeet! see chloe's latest post with the little photo of us in front of the eiffel tower!) i can easily say this has been one of the best (and longest) weeks of my life.

brief run down:

lyon
le puy en velay
pilgrimage hikes on the saint jacques de compostella trail
lots of beautiful french countryside
a few cows
lots of franglais (french and english combo that we have all gotten really really good at. scarily good.)
conques
figeac
pech-merle cave paintings (25,000 years old, people)
canoeing on the dordogne river
sarlat
amazing food
lascaux ii (15,000 year old cave paintings)
lots of bus time with our bus driver, jacquie
puy du fou - a french medieval amusement park
exploring castles
and coming back to paris

it has been amazing. it has felt like we've been in france forever. being on a study abroad is really very strange because you are immediately so close and comfortable with all the people you are with. i can honestly say i feel like i've known everyone here forever and it's been amazing.

i'll update more as soon as possible! with photos! tomorrow we are moving into our houses with our host families. good news : i'll have wifi. haha. so don't even worry about that.

so with that, a bientôt! ♡

Wizards For Obama

Hello world!

What a busy, busy week!

Things are buzzing on campus (mostly because Greek life was recruiting like crazy) but exams are starting to appear on people's radii (such a great word) and school is definitely real.

I was not excluded from this Greek life recruitment, and was out at events for my professional fraternity wrangling in new people and being really mediocre at small talk. The last night of our rush was so ridiculously goofy and refreshing, and really reminded me of why I'm so proud to be part of that organization. It was organized to be Game Night, and we spent the first 45 minutes playing our board games and putting together puzzles, but it didn't take long before things escalated to a whole new level. I don't know if you've ever seen a room full of sugared up engineers play Jenga, but if you ever get the chance it's a fairly phenomenal experience.

This is the photo I got right as it was falling down. It was up to 35 moves!!! At this point they'd gathered an audience of at least 25 people.

From there it just kind of naturally progressed to ninja, (click here for example (jump to 1:06)), until at one point I looked around the room and there was one group making beautiful, intricate and tall structures out of jenga blocks, some break dancing in the center of the room, a large group arm wrestling at the welcome table and the rest chatting and making friends. 

I wish I could make this up. 

The rest of my week was filled with class projects, more ambassador recruitment and FINALLY QUIDDITCH PRACTICE. There's something so oddly nostalgic about dragging the PVC pipe quidditch hoops across campus, finding a spot center field on our lovely little quidditch lawn and watching some of my favorite people on campus run around on broomsticks as Burns Tower chimes (you can start placing your bets on how many of these posts will involve The Tower, Harry Potter or both). And the strange looks from passerbys, many of whom stop to take a photo or two. 

Throughout practice we couldn't help but noticed the, ehem, variety of athleticism amongst our players, which ranged from a whispy computer science boy in a Blue Man Group t-shirt and pageboy cap, to a six-plus foot senior rugby player, racing up and down the field on a baseball bat, because that's the closest thing he had to a broom. I can't express my fascination and adoration for the things that Nerd Culture have produced, and quidditch is at the top of that list. 

SPEAKING OF WHICH, check out what I received in the mail this week: 

So very pleased with myself. 

And as the Imperial March (from Star Wars) pops up on my iTunes, I feel I have reached my cue to sign off.

Sydney has been without a computer, but will return to the blog next week. 

Paris for the Weekend!

Wow. What a week!
I had my first week of the Intensive Language Program at Lyon 2- I like the classes a lot- they are fun and discussion based, but boy it really gave me a big ol' reality check in the sense that I really don't know very much French!  Yikes! But I know that this year will be tough and I have a big learning mountain ahead of me, but that's why I'm here. I want to learn French. I really want to have French under my belt as a life long skill. Not only do I feel culturally connected to France (my Dad's family is French, and I lived in Paris for a year and have visited France many times...) and I have a strong feeling that French will be very important in my future...

Anyway, this week was filled with fun adventures: for example last Wednesday night I hung out with some friends from our program and ended up dancing the night away at a Cuban salsa dancing club. It was a blast and just a few blocks away from where I live! (so more salsa nights are a must!) Then on Thursday, Lyon had what they call an "Afterwork" party- it was a mixture between a full on rave and a grown up cocktail party. It was held at this huge, huge warehouse in the Confluence (where the two rives the Rhone and Saone come together- Lyon is currently revitalizing the industrial area of the confluence...) It was a blast- but strange to see adults enjoying the rave! also we had a bit of a panic- trying to get to the last tram and they trapped us in the warehouse! crazy times! but dancing two nights in a row- unbelievable!

After class on Friday I hopped a train to Paris for the weekend. I still can't get over the fact that I was in Paris for the weekend. my dream come true. seriously. I woke up this morning (Monday) and had to ask myself if that really happened- it just felt like a really lovely dream.

The train ride was super easy- 2 hours of just sitting and watching the French countryside go by and writing in my journal. I love trains. so. much.

During the weekend I stayed with Karin- a dear, dear friend of the family who I just adore- she is one of the warmest and kindest people I know and she is basically like family to me. I love her so much and it was so good to see her, especially after such a long journey and tough transition into my new life. Sidenote: we rented Karin's apartment when my family lived in Paris in 2006-07, so going back to visit truly felt like I had come home for the weekend. No. Joke. It was the best feeling. It was like feeling that I was supposed to be in that moment, like it was meant to be.
I know that it is not my home, but it was for that year and I will always love that apartment- and I am blessed to have such a good friend who has invited me to come stay anytime. Therefore, if I am homesick- my cure is only a train ride away.

The whole weekend was just amazing. I'm still on a high from it all.
Friday, Karin and I went out to dinner at a tapas place down the block in the Marais- yum. Around 10 pm I headed over to meet up with Sydney (I was soo thrilled that worked out!!! she was leaving the next morning for Lyon, of all places- so I was happy to have met up with her in Paris!) I met some of her lovely friends from her study abroad program and we hung out (aka: a lot of hugging and laughing) under the twinkling of the Eiffel Tower- so magical. Syd I know that you will just have the time of your life in Paris! So excited! (I'll come visit again soon and actually spend more than a few hours with you!)

I will be honest that going back to Paris for the weekend did make me a bit melancholy. I love Paris so much and I wish that I could have lived their again this year- but I made the decision to go to Lyon for various reasons: I wanted to get to know a new city, wanted fresh experiences, didn't want to fall back on old habits. I love Paris and I am thrilled to be able to just be a train ride away from my favorite city.

Anyway, back to Friday night: I got back to the Marais around midnight- but I wasn't ready to call it a night so I headed over to Place de Saint Catherine- right behind the apartment- and had a cup of tea, in the cobble stoned square and enjoyed watching the Parisians turn in for the night. The glow from the light of the cafes on the square was right out of a scene from a movie. Very romantic and whimsical.

On Saturday I woke up, in awe that I was in my old bedroom, and had a sweet breakfast with Karin. I ate fresh croissants with homemade Jam (made by Karin)  at Karin's bedside while watching a French soap opera. Twas the life!
I then moseyed over to Mariage Freres (best tea shop ever) to meet up with Brooke! She was in Paris for a business trip and I was lucky enough to spend the day with her! We leisurely toured around the Marais and did some shopping in fun boutiques. We had an in-between-meal at this great French cafe- it had such a great vibe and you could instantly tell that it was loved by the locals. In the afternoon I took her up to the apartment to meet Karin while I changed for dinner- I was so glad they got to meet each other- bringing my favorite people together just makes me so happy!

Brooke and I then headed to the Costes Hotel for dinner- I think that was the swankiest dinner I have ever had (not only was it a beautiful out door patio, there were models at every other table and our waitresses were models... and the food was delicious!) Thanks Brooke! I will cherish that dinner for ever- great food and even better company. I was so sad to say goodbye to Brooke- she is like my Momma when I am down in L.A. and I will miss seeing her (as well as David and Devon- who just headed out to school! whoohoo!) this year.
Sunday morning, after having croissants and jam with Karin- I headed over to a hotel between the Palais Royal (where my Dad grew up) and the Opera. My friend Brandy (from UCLA) was arriving in Paris that afternoon and because I wouldn't have been able to see her, I decide to write her a little note and deliver it to her hotel! (She did get it by the way! I realized I didn't have the name of her grandfather who had the reservations, so I left it in the hands of a very nice woman behind the desk who reassured me she would ask every person who came through if they were Brandy! haha. so nice!)

So all day on Sunday I wandered around Paris just taking every moment in- the Palais Royal, the Louvre, the Quai along the Seine, the Notre Dame, Shakespeare and Company.... I got some Berthillon ice sorbet before heading back to the apartment. It was hard to say goodbye to Karin as I rushed to catch my 3:30 train back to Lyon. I know that I will be back to Paris soon enough, though.

Overall, it was one of my favorite weekends of my life. I just really enjoyed every single minute of it and didn't want the weekend to end and reality to set back in. I feel truly blessed to have such amazing friends-who I consider family-that I can spend time with half-way around the world!

Rough game, Quidditch

Hello world!

It is finally FRIDAY after a long and spectacular week. It's week two here on campus and things are really beginning to gain momentum.

We're recruiting in full swing with Ambassadors, tabling around campus, holding recruitment sessions and planning our fun events (Like an open house of Burn's Tower!)

Ahhh how I love my tower.

We're passing out applications like there's no tomorrow and on Saturday we have a mini-retreat. I get to facilitate a discussion and get my own slide on the powerpoint and be grown up and responsible.

Dumbledore's Army: Pacific Division had their first meeting on Thursday night and it went swimmingly! We had about 40 people show up, most of whom were Freshman, but I'm really excited for the club this year. As it turns out, developing a Harry Potter club that has a strong sustainable backbone is no small feat. I was a little nervous at the end of last semester, but things really are looking up. We're going to take things in a community service based direction, and I think it's going to really change us in a positive way. We have plans for some teamwork with the Harry Potter Alliance, have some Mrs. Weasley gift drives around the holidays, and maybe even a Triwizard tournament fundraiser that would involve the whole campus. I'm so excited for our progress, and just to be reunited with the fabulous members of the club!

But on to the title reason for the post!

During our parent and family weekend coming up in October weekend, and our University has asked us to hold a quidditch game!!! We did the same thing last year, and used it as a launching point to start our intercollegiate quidditch team. This time, instead of playing our own students, we decided to reach out to some local schools in the area. I shot out e-mails to Cal, Stanford and a community team called the Silicon Valley Skrewts and GOT RESPONSES FROM ALL OF THEM THAT DAY! It ended up as a squealing-bouncing-up-and-down-in-your-seat kind of days. They were so helpful and enthusiastic and made me so excited for the sport I've missed so very much! We had 15 new freshman sign up as interested to play this semester and I can't wait to watch us become something that really lasts on this campus.

It has been an EXCITING week!!!

OH MY NERD OUT HARDCORE.

Now I'm going to go hang out with some buds at a fraternity house and watch some movies.
COLLEGE EXPERIENCES! Take that, frenchies.

They sent me this photo today :) I cried in the office. So glad my amigos are happy and safe!

T minus 2 hours and 50 minutes

Syd here again. Last time I blogged, I told you that I only had a few more days until I left for Paris. Well, folks, it’s here! Today is the day I fly out of Salt Lake to the city of lights. And love. And all other things wonderful. It’s pretty exciting. I’m sitting in the Salt Lake airport right now just waiting to board my plane! I’ve realized that it’s been weird, I haven’t felt nervous at all until today. But even today I don’t really feel all that nervous. It’s strange. Just excitement. It’s great. :)

This past week I was able to do all sorts of great things before leaving. I was able to go to Walker’s football game. It was so much fun! He started playing the same year I started school at BYU, so I’ve never been able to see him play. I always felt so sad about that. But now I have and I picked an awesome game to go to! They won 61-28 (I think), and I even got to see a deer run onto the field in the middle of the game. And we stopped at this rest stop called “The Legend of Big Foot” and that was pretty cool, too.

Then I came to Provo. This city really has become my second home. I’ve got a ton of second homes…haha. The list includes LA, Bouchon Bakery, and Provo, just to name a few. Anyway, I’ve been able to see all my favorite people here. I went to game nights, was social with people in my friend’s apartment complex, and went tubing down Provo River. I have never seen such a gorgeous day in my life. The trees all down Provo Canyon were changing colors and we were floating along down the river, just talking, soaking up the sun, and looking at this beauty that I don’t even have words to describe. And I lost a shoe. Actually, I lost it twice. The first time I caught it, the second time I didn’t and lost it forever. That was unfortunate. But it was okay, I got myself a cheap pair of flip-flops from the BYU bookstore, so that was cool. Yesterday I spent the day on campus and went to a few classes, met up with friends, and got fingerprinted for a class I have to take winter semester (part of our lab hours include sitting in on high school French classes so I have to have an official FBI background clearance check).

Every time I come back to Utah, I forget how incredibly beautiful it is. The mountains seriously blow me away every time I see them. Right now they are especially gorgeous with the trees all changing color. Oh, and the sunsets are amazing. We get amazing sunsets in California every once in a while that are so vivid that everyone stops and looks and then posts a facebook status about it. Those are the kind of sunsets that Utah has every night. I can’t even. And then they reflect off the mountains and turn them these crazy shades of pink and red and orange. Combine the light with the fall colors and it literally looks like the mountains are on fire. I will never get tired of it.

Anyway, so I’m leaving for Paris today. And that is what I wanted to say. And tell you that I love the Utah mountains. Sorry if this is all over the place. My mind won’t quite sit still long enough to let me focus. Ahh! Next time you hear from me, I’ll be in France!

Beaucoup d’amour,

Syd

La Belle Vie!

Hello All,
This is my first post on One Bouchon at a Time- sorry it took so long! My life has just been turned upside-down, sideways and twisted in all sorts of directions- all of which I am excited about!
Firstly, I've been in Lyon, France for one week now. ONE WEEK. I can't believe it. It feels like I have been here for a month. I love, love, love the city. But I will get to that in a minute.

Since I have been here one week, that means that I left California two weeks ago (I visited my great-aunt Mary in Washington D.C. for a lovely week before jumping the pond over to Europe).  So it's been two weeks since I haven't slept in my own bed, seen beautiful California, seen my friends from home and hugged my family! (Who I do miss dearly, but I got to talk to them recently).

I arrived the night before my program started and I got to explore the city by myself. Walking around that night was magical.... lights twinkling on the rivers, old buildings, adorable restaurants. Then a week ago the program officially started and I met up with all the other Californians- some are here for the semester and others for the year, like me. We are all doing the immersion program at Lyon 2, Science Po, or Bron (which is outside Lyon by a bit...). It's been a blast getting to know all the other students and I've already made great friends and had some crazy fun adventures!

And I must add that I love being able to go to a pub or bar. Our go to spot is an Irish Pub  called Jame Joyce in Vieux Lyon (the very, very old section of Lyon)- the first time I went was during a thunder/lightening storm and it was incredibly enchanting. I felt like I had been transported through time to another era.

When the program started we all stayed in the CISL (a long term style dorm hostel), but last Saturday I moved into my homestay. It's in an amazing location- just next to the Hotel de Ville. The streets are lively and there is always something to see. Last night I met up with a friend and we just walked around all of Lyon before turning in for the night. Lyon is incredibly walkable. That's one of my favorite things about this city- you can literally walk just about anywhere.... and believe me I have! I love walking- and it doesn't take too long to get from one part of the city to the other, it's super convenient.

I had an incredibly busy day today. To start off I went to by my metro pass (finally!), then I went to our first day of the Intensive Language Program (four hours of class!), bought my train tickets to go to Paris this weekend (whoohoo! no big deal or anything, just taking a trip to Paris...) and in the evening I hung out at a bar with some friends before heading back home for dinner.
C'est la belle vie!

Even though I love Lyon, I'm not so excited to start school. I know it will be very difficult at first- everything will be in French! And French is really hard for me- I've always had a hard time hearing the language and speaking. (Same thing goes for any sort of music... maybe I have some weird disconnection in my brain??) I did study French for a year at UCLA before deciding to study abroad in France, but its hard to jump into a language that I've only been studying for two years (over a period of five years) and be expected to function normally. yikes!
It's a struggle, but my goal for this year is to learn French- so here is goes!

Side note: I'm so excited to be connected to my Amigos via this blog and that even though we are all up to very different exciting things at this particular moment in time, we still have a very strong bond. I love you guys! 

Beaucoup de bisous et à bientôt!
Sasha