Am I going to have to root for Tsonga now? Really?

I keep meaning to update this and then completely forgetting/refusing to take my laptop with me to cafes, because that would be so not Lyon of me, and thus completely forgetting what I meant to say. I suppose I'll just take a few highlights from the past week and call it a day.

1) Went skiing for the first time on Saturday. In the Alps. That's right, the ALPS. Also, received a ski lesson (courtesy of Georgetown) from a French ski instructor, entirely in French. At what my host family keeps referring to as the most expensive ski resort in the world. I dare anyone to walk up to my host siblings and tell them you went skiing at Courchevel. The resulting teasing is priceless.

2) Went out and saw a French movie called Complices on Sunday. Minus the embarrassment of forgetting the movie title when it came time to order my ticket, this venture (also courtesy of Georgetown) was very much a success. I also have plans to see two other French movies that will be opening soon: a terrible looking buddy cop movie that looks like a cross between The Pink Panther and Miami Vice, and a Holocaust movie. Yes, those are on opposite ends of a spectrum.

3) Discovered Cotes-du-Rhone wine: local, cheap, and the only red wine I've been able to drink without wincing. Scratch that, all French red wines are drinkable; this one's just the cheapest.

4) Discovered Pomme de Pain, a sandwich chain. Honestly, I don't think anything I could say would do its delicious crusty bread and potato wedges justice.

5) Had a legitimate conversation with my oldest host sister at dinner. Talking to her is often a step up from talking to Ferreol, who pronounced tonight that he was born on the same day as his birthday. Yes, the dinner table conversation is truly the definition of wit.

No plans for the weekend yet, but I think I'm going to look into taking a quick day trip to Geneva on Sunday. If the prices aren't too high. If they are, screw it, I'll just go to Marseille.

How typical of me, to completely forget I have a blog

Yes, I have in fact managed to completely forget that I'm supposed to be blogging right now. Shame on me. Especially considering that the weather outside this whole week has been pretty rainy and miserable, minus a few nicer moments. And of course, now that it looks beautiful and sunny outside, I decide to hole up in my room and write to my faithful readers (har har har).

France is lovely. I've slowly gotten used to the city, though I'm pretty sure that not all of it quite looks like the part I'm in (I seem to be living in the Georgetown of Lyon). Of course, living in my area does have its downsides, such as the pocketbook taking quite a few blows, but I'm bravely struggling on nonetheless. And by "struggling", I mean finding set menu meals at restaurants where I can eat fabulous goat cheese salads, delicious chicken entrees, and UNBELIEVABLE chocolate flan deserts. It is well worth the damage I'm doing to my finances. And I think I'm damaging my finances so much because I've recently learned of all the money that 1) Georgetown and 2) the French government are going to give me. Gotta love study abroad!

There are other downsides, obviously, the most glaring one being everyone's general issue with the French higher education system. One day they might stumble upon a way to do their class registration logically; until then, I suppose we'll all just have to brave the system that has been in place since the Renaissance. I kid, I kid...sorta.

Classes start Monday. Of course, I don't have class until Tuesday. But I will be going to my university, mainly to demand explanations from people in various departments as to why their class times are so difficult to find, but also to meet my language exchange partner! The joys of being completely unintelligible to French people will have no end, it seems.

Here. Alive. Safe.

That's really all there is to say at the moment...tomorrow there's an information session at my soon-to-be school where I will presumably meet the other foreign exchange students here this semester. I'm not sure that all the people from Georgetown are gonna be there, though, as Georgetown was a bit fuzzy on getting us all the information about this and I had to trek it out to the campus today to find out when/where it was gonna take place. And everyone at my university seemed completely mystified by the fact that I have to go to an orientation at the other university, but now that I look again perhaps I was just explaining myself poorly. A feat to be repeated many times, I'm sure.

My host family is lovely! It's big and loud and cute and generally awesome. I'm getting a tour of the city tomorrow from my host brother, which promises to be interesting, especially since he's sorta in love with America and likes "to speak Franglais"...I can't wait to see how his Franglais compares to mine. Somehow I think we have different concepts of the word...