La Vie Étrangère

So I've been talking a lot about what I've been doing here in France, but not a lot about what I've been seeing, hearing, and noticing. So here's a list I've kind of been going through in my head for a while:

-People walking on the street aren't particularly polite to each other (if you bump into someone, you don't have to say "sorry". It isn't impolite, it's just how things are) but you always have to say "bonjour" and "bonne journée" (hello and have a good day) when entering and leaving shops!

-Fashion isn't much different than in the states. However, despite the 80-85˚ temperature, girls tend not to wear shorts or tank tops. We have, however, seen a couple of topless sunbathers at this public pool next to the Rhône! Also, a lot of men wear cropped pants, or "capris", which is kind of strange. And flip flops are a little more common than I expected, probably because of the heat. Since we're in such a big city, when we go to the centre-ville, or downtown, there's a wide array of styles of dress.

-Not everyone speaks English. But those who do usually do one of two things: they will either automatically speak English because they know we'll understand it better, and they don't want to deal with our broken French; or they will correct us and help us form the correct sentence, or pronounce the words correctly. The man at the front desk of our résidence (we have to leave our key there whenever we leave) always helps us pronounce our room numbers, or tells us the correct way to ask for change.

-Public transportation rules!!! Throughout the entire city, there are bus routes, the Métro, Trams, and to travel outside Lyon, there are 2 major train stations. We all bought monthly student passes that get us free access to all of the public transportation and it only cost 30€...not bad, considering that we were spending like 4€ per day on bus and Métro tickets before we got the pass! Once we get our bank cards, we can also use the Vélov system, which is the public bike system that was created in Lyon! There are stations all over the city where you can pick up a bike, and as long as you return it to another station in less than 30 minutes, you don't have to pay une cintième!

-KINDER BUENOS ARE THE MOST AMAZING CHOCOLATEY HAZELNUTTY CANDY BAR EVER TO BE INVENTED! Before I leave this place, I am going to send like 100 boxes home. Soo good!

For the past few days, we wake up each morning, go to breakfast at 8:30, then get ready and take the bus to our Study Center, where there is free WiFi and access to apartment listings, or "annonces". Then we spend hours scouring our e-mails from Christine (the Study Center director) and appartager.com and other "colocation" (or "roommate") websites to see if we can make meetings with proprietaires or roommates. So far I've found one place that could be pretty good...It's a 15 minute bus+tram ride away from school up on the beautiful hill, and its a very cute furnished apartment. Downsides would include the fact that it's on the 6th floor, I'd have to find my own French roommate, and the rent is a little expensive. I'm also going to meet with a French student my age on Monday who has a cheaper apartment in probably not as cute of a part of the city, but she seems really nice and is open to living with a Californian, which is always good.

I'm going to go find a café to eat lunch at now, wish me luck again with the apartment search!