Integration Weekend!!!

This past weekend was by far one of the craziest and most fun weekends of my entire life. Every semester, ESDES does something called an "Integration Weekend" where everyone who signs up goes to a mystery location in France (they don't tell you where it is until you get there) and basically parties and gets to know people all weekend long.

On Friday after classes were over, all the IBP students who were going on the trip met up to catch our bus. I got sandwiches with a couple people and rushed back to the school to make sure we were there on time. But unfortunately, the bus didn't even get there until more than an hour later than it was supposed to. I've been told that the French are pretty laid back when it comes to being on time but we all thought that was a little much! The bus ride was really fun though, and the views we saw of the French countryside were so pretty, so that made up for our late departure! I sat with some of the IBP students on the bottom of the double-decker bus, and throughout the first couple of hours, French guys kept coming down to introduce themselves and basically check out all the international girls! One guy even brought me and Kirsten beers! (Pretty much everyone was drinking on the bus, but a lot of the IBP kids didn't get the memo to bring alcohol on the bus with us.) After the bus stopped for a break, me and Kirsten went upstairs to the top layer of the bus where a bunch of our other IBP friends were sitting. The upstairs was crazy with music blasting and everyone getting pumped for the weekend!

After about 5 hours of driving, we arrived at our destination which was... Cap d'Agne, which is a little coastal town near Montpellier! Right when we arrived, we were greeted by student volunteers who gave everyone a hot dog, beer, chips, and a candy bar. We stayed at a campground in bungalows of seven people. I stayed in a bungalow with four other IBP girls and two French boys. There were only enough beds for five people, so we made the boys sleep on the couch of course! Since we got there at about midnight, we didn't have much time to settle in before going out to that night's party, which was "white" themed--you were supposed to wear all white. The girls of my bungalow went over to the bungalow next door where more IBPers were staying to hang out before heading over to the party. The party was so much fun! The music was good and there were so many IBP students there, and to top it all off, there was an open bar!! Everyone got crazy dancing and hanging out outside and getting to know a lot of new people, and the night flew by. I didn't get home until 6:30 in the morning!

My bungalow-mates (minus Frédéric) getting ready to go to the white party!
(from left to right, Lucy, Rita, me, Kirsten, Flavion, and Ciela)

On Saturday, there was an early 10:00 wake-up call for everyone to come for brunch. The food was actually pretty good! There were different types of pasta and orzo salad, hard boiled eggs, fruit, and of course baguettes with brie. After brunch, the girls in my bungalow met up with a bunch of the other IBP kids and went to the pool. The water was pretty cold but I went in anyway. There were three different water slides and I went down each of them too many times to count. It was so much fun! Then at 2:00, everyone left the pool and walked to the beach that was about 10 minutes away. When we first got there, I climbed on the big rock jetty with some of the girls which was fun but difficult because a lot of the rocks were weirdly shaped and spaced far apart.

the pool. You can see one of the water slides!

So tropical looking!

Then we went back and hung on the beach for a little while. It had been kind of cloudy and chilly earlier in the day, but around 3:00 it got really warm and sunny! There was so much to do on the beach. I went on a "flying fish" raft and a banana boat that were both pulled by a boat through the Mediterranean. On the flying fish, 8 people could fit on it and you laid down on a raft. It was really fast and every time we went over a wave, it felt like we were going to flip, but we didn't. I loved that one! The banana boat wasn't quite as fun for me. This boat driver went a lot faster than the one driving the "flying fish" boat, and within about 20 seconds of the boat speeding up, I went flying off when we hit a big wave. It hurt and I got a ton of water in my ears and nose and swallowed some, but I was able to get back on. I switched spots with one of the guys where I would be less likely to fall off. It was a struggle to stay on, but I managed not to fall of it again! (My arms were so sore for the next two days from holding on so tightly!) I'm lucky I was ok because later on my friend Virginia got hurt from flying off of it, and I found out one girl in my program even had to go to the hospital.

With Julie on the beach. (p.s. I swear I'm wearing a bathing suit bottom haha!)

When we were heading back onto the beach after the banana boat, there was a beach dance party and then we noticed something white in the distance... It was foam! Everyone went running up there and there was a big foam party which was literally one of the most fun things I've ever experienced. It didn't even feel like real life--it felt like a dream haha! There was even someone dressed like a panda dancing around with everyone (I wish I got a picture with the panda, since the panda is my sorority's mascot!) At a couple points, they sprayed out so much foam at once that it was over my head, so I ended up breathing in a ton of the soap. That probably wasn't too good for my lungs but it was worth it because it was so cool! After the entire area was covered in foam, they hosed everyone down and then we headed back to our bungalows to get ready for dinner. For dinner, we had baguettes, pizza, lasagna, and éclairs (I think they were trying to carbo-load us to get us ready for the night of partying ahead of us!) At dinner some of the French students were already in their costumes for the party. There was a group of guys dressed in very revealing policemen costumes which was so funny! The French kids were all crazy the entire weekend!

Some of the other IBP students!

After dinner, we went back to the bungalow to get ready for the party. The theme this night was to either wear a costume or something crazy. Since I didn't think to bring a crazy costume with me when I packed for Lyon, I just wore a bunch of random things that didn't really match. The party was crazy just like the night before and I danced a lot and hung outside talking to people. At around 3AM, one of my contacts fell out (I guess it was dry from all the sea water and foam I got in my eyes that day), so I went back to the bungalow for 5 minutes to grab my glasses. But when I went back to the club, they wouldn't let me back in because it was so late! They said the party was about to end, which I knew obviously wasn't true. An Italian boy from my program couldn't get back in either, so I we tried to sneak in through a side entrance near the food tent. We walked through a bunch of trees and plants and almost made it, but then one of the bouncers saw us and made us leave again. I found out my friend Jeronimo who's from Argentina was having a bungalow party so I went there and hung out for a while. I danced up on chairs and it got so crazy that someone broke one of the boards on their deck! After a while, my friend Kirsten found me and then my friends Josh from England and Josh from Ireland came too and we all hung out there for a while. At about 6:30, the Joshes walked me and Kirsten back to our bungalow and we sat outside eating cookies. We debated trying to go to the beach to watch the sun rise, but we were all so tired and didn't think we'd be able to get onto the beach, so we decided to just go to bed instead.

with Ben and Lucy, aka Captain Underpants and Minnie Mouse

Lucy gave everyone kisses with her red lipstick!

with Maria and Josh

On Sunday morning, we had another early wake-up call. We got all packed and cleaned the bungalow and then headed to brunch. The bus left at about 1PM and I was able to sit up on the top part of the bus this time. It wasn't crazy like it had been Friday night since everyone was completely exhausted from the weekend. I slept for part of the bus ride, and we had a short break where we stopped at a McDonald's and I got a L'petit wrap. Once we got back to Lyon, everyone was so tired that we all headed back to our dorms and apartments to get some rest after our insane weekend.

On the bus ride home, everybody was completely passed out after the amazing--but exhausting--weekend!

Even though I'm still tired and sore, this weekend was so much fun and definitely my most memorable experience in Lyon so far! It was definitely the definition of YOLO! I'm sad that it was the only Integration Weekend I'll ever get to go to, but it's ok because I got to know so many more people and I know that the experiences I had will last a lifetime!