La Première Semaine

So, the first week has finally passed!
Considering I've done a ridiculous amount of traveling this past week, I'll lay out each day and hopefully it won't be too long or boring. This will also serve as a kind of diary so I can remember the first days. So read on as you wish!

Sunday, September 23rd: Leaving Milwaukee
Leaving a place you love and know well is always the hardest part of traveling/moving.
Throughout the summer I was definitely sad to be leaving my fun (and basically work-free) summer as well as missing my usual nights out and of course my friends and family, but all good things must end, right? What made it easier though was knowing I'd be in good hands when I arrived and I'm not completely unfamiliar with France and its workings (very luckily, this place can be confusing--read further for details).

Monday, September 24th: Arrival in Lyon
I made it! The long 8 hour flight to Zurich was bearable and the food was decent. Swiss Airlines was pretty awesome; I got a warm towel, played Sudoku and got to charge my phone the whole time.  Upon arrival, I knew I was back in Europe just by looking at the people around me in the airport. The airport looked really chic and modern and the women and men all around were extremely well-dressed, wearing their best. All that was left was a simple one hour flight to Lyon where I was welcomed by a huge hug from Helena.

Tuesday, September 25th: My first full day

This was probably one of my busiest days. I left Helena's mom's apartment around midday to meet up with other American assistants for some Salade Lyonnaise before meeting up with the other American assistant at my Lycée in Belley, Iris. Once we finally found each other we had to take the metro (with 2 huge suitcases and one carry-on, mind you) to pick up our keys for the apartment we were renting for the night. Once we got the keys it was another hectic and sweaty trip on the metro until we got to Vieux Lyon.

This was the view from our apartment which was a really adorable place owned by the most beautiful and seemingly happiest couple ever. Everywhere you looked there was a happy, artsy couple photo of them. Unfortunately, however, we didn't get a chance to actually talk to them since we came home late that night and ended up leaving the next day while they were at work. Dommage.

So we relaxed a little since we were still recovering from our jetlag (we both left from O'Hare within an hour of each other but were in different terminals so we couldn't meet up ahead of time). Around 7 or 8 we decided we should probably get something to eat. As we happened to be across the street from Johnny Walsh's (an infamous pub I've heard a lot about from friends who studied abroad in Lyon), we decided to go there. When we arrived we were asked if we wanted to play pub quiz, and of course we did. We weren't sure what to expect, especially since it was likely going to be in French. It turned out to be a little different from the pub quizes I'm used to back in the States; they asked the questions in French and English (for kicks, I'm assuming) and then had a break after the 16th question during which everyone left the piping hot basement/cave to go and have a smoke while the quizmaster corrected the first questions. By the time we all reconvened Iris and I were really tired and were losing pretty badly so we just decided to call it a night.

Wednesday, September 26th: Going to Belley
This was a pretty rainy day, and boy did we get the worst of it, Iris and I. We slept in too late to get lunch with a friend, and we hadn't gotten our train tickets yet to get to Belley so we decided to get them from an SNCF boutique (the French national rail system) earlier in the day. As it was raining hard, the streets were full of puddles and I had to share an umbrella with Iris. I was upset that my pants were getting wet, but it was nothing compared to what happened along our walk. While we were standing on the edge of the sidewalk, waiting to cross the street, a car sped past us through a huge puddle which caused a tidle wave of rain water to splash all over us. There's nothing like a nice puddle of rain to the face to wake you up in the morning. Luckily we were only a block from our apartment so we ran back and dried off for a brief amount of time. The only thing I could think was "welcome back to France."

Luckily the rest of our day went better. We got our train tickets without a problem and got to the train station with all of our bags, ready to meet Belley. We were met at the train station Virieu-Le-Grand (there's no train station in the town of Belley) by my contact at the Lycée, Amandine.


The mountains that greeted us in Virieu

Since it was our first night and there was surely not going to be anywhere open to get food, Amandine was kind enough to invite us over for dinner with her husband and two year old son Victor (the cutest kid in France!).

Thursday, September 27th: Exploring Belley
Iris and I didn't have to start work until the following week, so we decided to take advantage of our free days and see what there is to see in Belley to get a feel for where we'll be living for the next few months. We went around the school to get some administrative things done, walked around the centre ville, and went on an adventure on our boarding school's rooftop (by climbing out our bedroom window).

This is Iris.

 

The recreation courtyard

Belley city center

 

 
After walking around the town and having a coffee + pastry, we decided to find out where the nearest Carrefour is (like a combination of Target and Pick 'n' Save). Unfortunately for us, it's about a mile away so we won't be doing any frequent shopping there. However, I did find this adorable decoration and found the perfect place to put it. =)

At the end of the day I had to catch a train back to Lyon so that I could get on an early train to Paris the next morning for a friend's wedding. Although that was part of my first week, I'm going to dedicate a post to it since a lot happened that weekend. So stay tuned, my busy first week continues!