Rue Saint Jean

I love the 7 minutes it takes for me to get from the metro station back to my apartment. During those few minutes, I constantly find myself eavesdropping on the dozens of English-speaking voices walking along-side me. I wonder where they’re from, why they chose to visit Lyon. I also wonder what they think of the city and I hope that they get a chance to see more than just the touristy parts. I also, love the look of shock on tourists’ faces when they struggle to ask me for directions using the little French they do know, only for me to respond to them in perfect English. Just one of the many reasons I love my new neighborhood.

Downside… my street sucks if I’m ever in a rush. Tourists love to take their time strolling down the street with their cameras in tow, eating their crepes and their croissants while admiring the architecture and it gets kind of tough navigating through the heavy flow of foot traffic monopolizing the narrow road. I don't blame them... there are tons of beautiful things to see. Not to mention the array of different street performers at any given moment. I'm not complaining, just pointing a few things out. I love my new neighborhood, and I wish you were here.

Vive le 5e arrondisment!

Happy Thanksgiving

Just because I'm not eating turkey tonight, and no one in this city has ever really witnessed a Thanksgiving dinner other than on Friends, doesn't mean that I can't acknowledge one of my favourite holidays and give thanks. So here are some things that I'm thankful for.

Finding my apartment. Even if it didn't have hot water for over a week, and we barely had a fridge...and we still don't have our own internet connection. I love the place AND I'm not homeless.

The middle-eastern epiceries that are open really late and sell almost everything. These are the closest thing I've got to an all night depanneur and has come in handy several times, especially on Sundays.

My roommates. For a couple of 20 year olds, they're pretty handy guys. If it weren't for them I'd still be at the bottom of my staircase trying to figure out how to move all my stuff up four windy flights of stairs sans elevator.

High-speed internet. It doesn't seem so long ago that we were using dial-up, there was no such thing as YouTube and there wasn't button for accepting or ignoring people who wanted to be your friend. But times have changed, and I am thankful for this because technology has allowed me to keep in touch with the ones I love, even all the way from France; and with just the click of a button. So, thank you Microsoft.

My friends. That goes without saying. You guys are my everything. I wouldn't have been able to do any of this if it weren't for you. I miss you everyday. A huge part of me wishes you could be living out this adventure right by my side. But I guess I'll just have to wait until you all come and visit!

My family. As crazy as we might seem at times, I know that we would do anything for one another. Sometimes my family plays out like one from an early-nineties sitcom, but that's just one of the many things that I love about them. I love you all. Admit it, you love 'em too.

Feel free to add a comment and let me know what you guys are thankful for.

Enjoy your turkey dinners everyone!

P.S. I will be hosting a Thanksgiving dinner on the second Sunday of November. I'm calling it French Thanksgiving or Franksgiving. We'll see if it catches on. (OMG, that's so lame, I can't believe I actually typed that. I'm gonna keep in it anyways)

IKEA via public transportation: Impossible? Nope.

My big strong roommates are so nice that they went to Ikea to furnish our naked apartment. They were fortunate enough to have a giant van at their disposal. They hauled chairs, tables and beds up the stairs while I was busy working all week. But now, they are in school full time and there was a bunch of things that I didn't ask them to pick up for me. So I was faced with the challenging task of going to Ikea by myself using nothing but my two legs, two arms and Lyon's public transportation system.

The first thing you should know about this Ikea is that it isn't even in Lyon. It's in Saint Priest which is about 45 minutes away. For you Montrealers, I reckon it's the same as taking the bus and metro from Pointe Claire to the South Shore (No fun). I got on the metro 5 mins from my place and rode it for about 10 stops (or 25 mins). I then got off the metro and ventured up to street level to catch the tramway -- which is basically an above ground metro. It's like a bus, only it runs on rails and you have no contact with the driver. You just validate you ticket in a machine once you're on board. Then I proceeded to ride the tram until I got to 'Porte des Alpes' - another 25 mins away - where the Ikea is.

Once inside, I had to be really careful of what I bought, since I would be bringing it back myself. But there was a lot of stuff I needed! Two sets of curtains, a garbage pail (awkward shape), bowls and a vase (both fragile), a lamp and light bulbs and finally my red carpet. I lugged all this stuff plus the giant red carpet from Saint Priest all the way to Vieux Lyon. I took up three seats on the tram and metro and almost didn't make it up the windy 100 steps to my apartment. But alas, I survived. It CAN be done! Ikea sans voiture. Impossible? I. think. Not.

Mon nouveau Appart (aka. New Digs)

I'm just getting settled into my new apartment and I couldn't be happier. I was so stressed out for weeks prior to the big move because it wasn't until we signed the lease (a day before we had to move out) that we were sure we were going to get this awesome pad. We're three in this new place. I still live with Valentin, and my new roommate is his friend (well, our friend) Benoit. Things are great so far -- I did have my doubts about living with two boys, but they're surprisingly tidy!

The place is really coming together, we're just waiting for our fridge (to be delivered tomorrow), internet (which will hopefully be up and running sometime next week), and oh yeah -- hot water. We've got no hot water. I've taken a few glacially cold showers here and some nice hot showers over at the old apartment which will from here on out be referred to as rue Ferrandiere (or Gaby's place). Oh yeah, and I've got no bed. Well, the boys picked me up a bed from Ikea, but I'm waiting for the mattresses to go on sale next week (20% off!). So until then, I've been sleeping on a single mattress on the floor of my super cool bedroom. Now that I think of it, we also don't have a couch yet... I can't complain, I'm so happy living here.

All those pictures on my blog that I took of Vieux Lyon -- well, that's the cobblestoned street that I live on! My building is over 400 years old. Once I open my front door, I walk through a traboule (tunnel or alleyway) which is a historical landmark that Lyon is known for, to get to my staircase. C'est magnifique!

Bonus: I live on top of my favorite shoe store in Lyon. Since I've been in France, I've bought three pairs of shoes there. I have a feeling this is going to get very interesting...

Sincerest Apologies

Due to a poor internet connection and my busy schedule (what with work and the big move) I haven't been posting as often as I would like. I promise this will all change very soon. But until then, I ask you to please be patient. So much has been happening, I can't wait to tell you all about it. So for now I'd like to let you know what kind of good stuff you'll be in for once I get around to writing about it.

Mom and I at the Chateau Versaille
My new apartment
Grand Lyon Film Festival

October's gonna be a crazy month!

Paris is...

After spending some time in Paris, I began to notice a couple of things.

Paris is…beautiful, enormous and full of things to see and do. However, you really don’t feel like you’re still in France because everyone’s always speaking English, Spanish and German. I barley heard any French all day. Also, people in France don't pick up their dog poop. JS