Some Things I'm Really Going to Miss About France

• All of the people in my program and the amazing friends that I made and got so close to over the course of the semester. The people were what really made the experience so great. I think we could have been somewhere completely random and we still would have had great times together.

• How much easier and cheaper it is to travel in Europe than in North America.

• Cosmo Mondays (I'm sure if people back home knew that Mondays were my favourite days here, they would think I was crazy! Among the IBP, instead of saying TGIF, we say TGIM!) I'll also miss how much more often we go out here than I do at home, and it's totally normal to go out every night of the week!

• The food (Cadbury, Kinder, and Milka chocolate which is so much better than most American chocolate, the French version of tacos, kebabs, the Nutella that just seems to taste better here, wine that you can get for really cheap but still tastes good, French pastries, etc)

• There is hardly any schoolwork compared to Elon.

• The diversity of all the people in the program. It's cool hanging out with people who are from all different countries and have different native languages, and it's cool learning about each other's cultures!

• Living in a city where there is always something to do or somewhere to go, and there is always something new to experience or explore.

• French guys are way better looking than most American guys!

• Public transportation and how easy it is to get around. I also love walking around this much!

• All the history and culture mixed together with new stuff too. In the US, you'll never see anything that was built before a few hundred years ago.

• My independence that I have here, which is really making me feel like a real grown-up

• How well people dress (girls and guys). You'd never see a French person going to class in sweatpants and a t-shirt!

• Everything just feels more sophisticated and cultured.

• Lots of good stores that we don't have in the US (even if I couldn't afford to shop this semester!)

There is so much that I'm going to miss after I leave Lyon, but I'm so glad I'll have so many great memories to last me a lifetime!

The Final Week in Lyon :(

This week was the last week in Lyon. It was really emotional and sad as people started to leave and we realised that it was so close to the end of the semester.

On Monday, I had another exam and then after that, there was a certificate ceremony for the IBP. We got certificates saying we were part of the program and they called us up with the other students from our universities to get our certificates. After they finished handing them out, there was a slide show of pictures from throughout the semester. They had asked us to send in pictures for it, so I went through my tagged pictures on Facebook and pulled out about 70 to send to the head of the program. I figured that she would either a) not use all of the pictures I sent or b) mix them up with pictures that other people submitted. But nope, all 70 of mine were in a row so it was hilarious and kind of embarrassing because it was 70 pictures in a row with me in them! After the ceremony, there was free food! Later on was the last night at Cosmo. And the night was also my 21st birthday celebration! (I turned 21 at midnight). Before going to Cosmo, I was talking to Ben and jokingly said I was going for 21 "slices" that night. Then he said that if I did, he would buy me a birthday cake, so that became my mission for the night! (Basically, I had to kiss 21 guys haha.) Unfortunately I don't think I came close to achieving that mission. At the bar, it was so crazy and some of the guys kept buying me birthday shots! Of course I danced on the table one last time and then as we were walking home, both Bobby and Juni carried me for a little while since I was the birthday girl :) It was a fun and crazy night and a good final Cosmo.

last Cosmo night with Bobby, Sandra, Kristina, Erin, and Antonio

with Virginia, Ciela, and Kirsten

with Ciela and Bobby

with Antonio and Kristina

having a fun last night at Cosmo!

getting carried home from Cosmo!

The next day, I had another exam and then I went to the Christmas market with Anna, Ben, and Kristina. I got some more of the German spätzle with bolognese sauce and it was delicious! Since my birthday celebration had been the night before, Tuesday was kind of a chill night and I just hung out in the dorm and studied for my last exam which was the next day.

My final exam went really well and it was a lot less difficult than I had expected! Then after the exam, I went to get lunch with Ben at a place that has really good and inexpensive food and I got pasta with curry chicken! After that, I went back to the school and just hung out with Virginia and Anna for a while while they studied so I wouldn't have to sit in my dorm and feel sad about it being the end of the semester. Then that night was the third and final Wine and Cheese night at Julie's. We had lots of different kinds of cheese with baguettes and crackers and wine. It was so much fun and so great to see everyone.

On Thursday, I had planned to start packing but it was too depressing, so I didn't. Later on, I met up with some people and we went for dinner in Vieux Lyon. We found a restaurant where everything was 30% off if you went before 7:30, so we got 3-course meals for 10€ each! For the starter, me and Virginia shared French onion soup and goat cheese salad, then I got a quenelle in lobster sauce, and a lemon cake. And then after that we all went to the final party of the semester. There was a farewell party for everyone in IBP that was free with an open bar. I had expected everyone to be really emotional, but instead we had a really good time! There was definitely something funky going on with the drinks they gave us, and me and Virginia were kind of convinced that they were drugged. So many people got sick on Thursday and then we all felt really weird on Friday. But whether or not we were actually drugged, it was a really fun night and a great way to see a lot of the people in the program for the last time. The group that I was with for most of the night were the last ones to leave at around 5AM. Toward the end of the party, Sandra said that me and Josh were both sleeping and that it was really cute haha. After the party, we walked back to Hotel de Ville to get the metro home, and during the walk I really bonded with Melanie who's one of the girls from the Philippines. We spent most of the walk imitating Amir's English accent and just saying the craziest things. It's a shame I didn't really get to know her until the last night. The night was so much fun (but it made me so sad afterward to think that I  will never see some of the people again) :(

at the IBP party

at the IBP party with Virginia

getting crazy on the walk to the metro station

metro-ing home after the IBP party

Today was really emotional because I had to say goodbye to so many people. The first to leave was Julie. I met up with her around noon because I had forgotten my sweater at her place on Wednesday and I wanted to get it back before she left to go to Barcelona. That was weird saying goodbye. Then I went back to Saint Bernard where a bunch of people were hanging out, and then we decided to go to McDonald's to get some food (I swear, once I'm back in the USA I don't think I will ever eat McDonald's again!) We were all starving and got huge meals. I got a Le Petit Wrap, cheeseburger, and fries haha. Then I went to another McDonald's to meet up with Virginia, Josh, Bobby, and Anna! (I didn't get anything at that one though.) Virginia and Anna were leaving to go to Berlin and Amsterdam for a few days and I once they get back to Lyon before going back to North America, I will already be in Germany visiting Vanessa. That was really sad because I was so close with both of them this semester and they really contributed to making my semester so awesome. Then the next goodbye was Bobby who left tonight to go to Paris. And then as I was getting back to Saint Bernard, I saw Ben as he was leaving to go to the airport, and that was another sad goodbye. Then I went back to the dorm to start packing and that was when it really hit me that I would be leaving the next morning and that I have no idea when I will next see my IBP friends, and there may be some people that I'll never see again which is such a weird thought. (I know that I will definitely be seeing the people that I got really close with, but it's weird that it may not be for a couple of years.) After doing a little bit of packing, I met up with Josh, Sandra, Ciela, and Kirsten to go to a bar in Vieux Lyon for the last time. I knew I'd be seeing Sandra and Ciela the next day and that I'll see Kirsten back at Elon, but it was so sad saying bye to Josh, who has basically become like my brother. When he was leaving the bar to go home and finish packing, I started to cry a little which then made Ciela and Kirsten tear up too! It was so sad. Finally, I saw Juni as we were walking back from the bar and had to say bye to him too. It was such an emotional and weird day but I was so happy to see my good friends again before leaving.

I finally got some pictures of my room before getting all packed:

I still can't believe that I am leaving tomorrow. The last four months have gone by way too fast and they were so amazing — definitely the best four months of my life. I have had so many amazing experiences and I met so many great friends who I know I will stay close with when I'm back in the USA. And even though it's so sad to be leaving each other now, I know there is still excitement ahead of us when we go to visit each other all over the world and plan trips together. I am so grateful that I was able to have this experience and the great memories I had will stay with me for life. <3

La Fête des Lumières!

Last weekend was something called the Fête des Lumières (Festival of Lights), which Lyon is really famous for in France. The purpose of the festival is to celebrate the virgin Mary because it's believed that she protected the city from being struck by plague like all of the other major cities in France were a long time ago. People come from all over Europe to enjoy the festival, so the city was completely packed all weekend.

To kick off the weekend on Thursday, some of us went to the Christmas market in front of the school and explored a little bit. Some of us ended up getting food from a little German booth. I got something called spätzle (which is a kind of German pasta) with bolognese sauce and it was so good! After hanging out at the market for a little while, we walked to Bellecour to meet up with some others. It was crazy in Bellecour though so once we all met up, we ended up getting separated again. The group that I was with decided to ride the huge ferris wheel that had been put up in Bellecour for the festival. It was actually kind of scary because it went so much higher than we expected and the wheel was making creaking noises! After a few minutes though, it was really cool and we could see most of Lyon from up there! Afterwards, we decided to head to a pub in Vieux Lyon because it was so cold and wet out that night. On our way, we saw some cool light festival things! The castle and some of the other big buildings nearby were all lit up in different colours that would change every 30 seconds! We went to a pub called Johnny Walsh's that I had been to before. It has a very Irish feel to it! Some other IBPs came too and we had fun just sitting and chilling for a while!

the ferris wheel in Bellecour

on the ferris wheel!

on the ferris wheel!

On Friday night, Lucy, one of the girls from Australia, was having a big IBP party in her apartment. Her apartment was huge and so nice, and almost all of the IBP was there--even some who I don't normally see out! Lucy was such a good hostess and had a bunch of appetisers set out for us. And at one point, she was going around with a baguette and vegemite trying to get people to try it. I was a little hesitant because it looks pretty gross and I have heard horror stories from people who have tried it, but it actually wasn't that bad! It tasted really salty. I could never eat a lot of it but it was definitely not disgusting like I expected! After Lucy's we had all planned to go out and see some of the festival but we lost track of time and when we were going to leave, it was close to the end of the festival for the night, so a bunch of us stayed at Lucy's longer. It was a really fun night hanging out with everyone!

with Virginia, Anna, and Sandra at Lucy's party

with Melanie at Lucy's party

On Saturday, I decided to go check out the Confluence mall with Virginia, Anna, and Ben. I had only been there once when we went to see Twilight and hadn't actually gone into the mall. It was so cool and modern looking inside! When we first got there, we went to Starbucks for a little snack (I got a delicious cranberry and white chocolate chip muffin!) and then spent some time going into stores. There were some cool French stores, but it was actually a lot smaller than I expected it to be. And there were some Christmas decorations which was cool! After shopping for a couple hours, we went to a little Asian restaurant where we got "pâtes thaïs" with chicken that was soo good! I have been craving Asian food all semester and this did not disappoint!

After going home to change into some warmer clothes for the night, a bunch of us met outside the school to see the Fête des Lumières. First, we went into the Christmas market in Place Carnot where the university is. It was insanely crowded this night and it was such a challenge just to walk around without losing each other! We all tried some really yummy chocolate things that were creamy in the middle (I think the middle might have been marshmallow), and then we went back to the same German booth as Thursday and got sausages with curry ketchup. Then we walked through the city and saw a lot of the cool light displays! We walked down Victor Hugo and then over to Vieux Lyon where there was a really cool light spectacle projected onto the cathedral. Then we walked through Vieux Lyon some more, then over to Hôtel de Ville, Rue de la Republique, and Bellecour. The Fête des Lumières is what Lyon is most known for and it was so cool to experience!

the cathedral in Vieux Lyon

the cathedral in Vieux Lyon

the cathedral in Vieux Lyon

Fête des Lumières with Josh, Jasmin, Virginia, Ben, Anna, Kirsten (and Ciela who was taking the picture!)

Rue de la République

On Sunday, the last day of the festival, the city was still really crowded but definitely starting to calm down as the festival came to a close. I met up with Virginia, Anna, and Ciela to do a little Christmas shopping! We went to Zara first which was absolute torture because they have the best clothes ever but I can't afford to be spending money on shopping now :( Then we headed over to the Part Dieu mall! It looked so cool because it was full of Christmas decorations! The first thing we did was stop at a restaurant called Hippopotamus to get some food. I had already eaten lunch back in my dorm, so instead I got a brownie sundae that was delicious! Me, Virginia, and Anna decided to get cocktails with our food too and I got something called a Pink Cadillac that was soo good! After getting some food, we headed back out into the mall. We went to Galeries Lafayette which is the big French department store and a bunch of other French stores too! Later on when I was back at Saint Bernard, I ordered some Domino's pizza with Sandra, Kristina, Josh, Ben, and Juni and we watched Love Actually. I love that movie so much so it was a good night!

Christmas decorations in the Part Dieu mall

It was so sad to think that this was my last weekend in Lyon. But I had so many great times this weekend and over the next week, which made it a little more ok that it was the end of the semester.

French Thanksgiving, Final Exams, and Christmastime in Lyon!

Since my last post, I've been soo busy! It's getting close to the end of the semester and final exams, so all of the teachers have been piling on the work. I have had so many presentations, papers, quizzes, etc.

The Monday after my last post was another crazy night at Cosmo! I danced on the bar and table pretty much all night. At one point, I actually fell off the table because it was so slippery from all the beer that had spilled on it, but luckily one of the guys helped catch me before I hit the ground, so the only damage that was done was a huge bruise.

at Cosmo with Josh and Jeannie

with Jeannie at Cosmo

The next night, some of us went to Ben's for dinner. It was great to have a good home cooked meal (when I cook for myself here it usually just consists of pasta made in the microwave or a salad!). He made us a traditional English meal--cucumber sandwiches to start, mince and potatoes with gravy and carrots, and a Victoria sponge cake and ice cream for dessert. It was so good!

family dinner at Ben's! (with Juni, Josh, Anna, Ben, and Virginia who was taking the photo)

The next night, the BDE (the student council who were the ones to bring a donkey into the school that I mentioned in my last post) had a big party, but tickets sold out fast and a bunch of us from IBP couldn't go. So instead, we made our own fun and went to a bar in Vieux Lyon called the Smoking Dog. It was a really cool English-pub style bar and it was really fun!

Then the next day was Thanksgiving! Obviously they don't have Thanksgiving in France, but a bunch of us from IBP got together to have a big Thanksgiving feast after class. A few of us were from the US but a lot of other friends from other countries joined us too to experience what Thanksgiving is like. We knew cooking a full turkey would be impossible in the miniature French ovens, so instead we had pieces of sliced turkey that we heated up on the stove. We also had potatoes, gravy, corn, green beans, carrots and peas, pork, and some French things to give Thanksgiving a bit of a French twist--croissants, baguette, and baked brie with cranberries. Then for dessert, I made chocolate cream pie, which my family has every year for Thanksgiving! It was my first time not spending Thanksgiving with my family or in the US but it was so much fun and I loved celebrating it with some new friends!

Thanksgiving feast!

with fellow American Anna and Erika

with Meera, Ciela, and Erika at Thanksgiving!

our Thanksgiving feast

my Thanksgiving dinner

chocolate cream pie (slightly falling apart but still delicious) and hot chocolate for dessert!

The next night, we continued our home-cooking streak and Ben came over to St. Bernard and made dinner with me and Sandra. This time we made chicken fajitas which were awesome because I've been craving Mexican food all semester! After dinner, I went over to Julie's apartment where she was hosting a "Wine and Cheese night". Everyone brought a bottle of wine and a type of cheese or other snack to share. I brought some rosé wine and two different types of cookies. This was the second "wine and cheese night" that Julie has had and it was so much fun! We all just hung out at Julie's for a while and then we all took the metro over to Vieux Lyon to find a cool bar. Once we got to a bar, me and Ciela were both exhausted so to keep ourselves entertained, we took Bobby's phone and had some fun hacking his Facebook! We had him post some weird statuses, send friend requests to about 50 people in IBP, message a bunch of people, and "like" a bunch of pages like Hannah Montana, One Direction, and Tampax. Unfortunately once he saw everything that we had posted, he deleted it all. We stayed until the bar closed at 3AM, and Ciela didn't want me to walk home by myself, so I went back to her apartment with her and her friend who was visiting and slept over.

In the morning, Ciela was such a good hostess and went out to buy croissants, Nutella, baguette, and some meat and we had a little brunch. Then I went home and did work for most of the day and went back to Ciela's that night for dinner with a bunch of people. Ciela had two friends visiting her from the Netherlands who were both so nice. One of the guys was really crazy and fun too. One of them made us a lasagna that was delicious and Virginia made her famous salad with brie and I brought some Milka cookies for dessert! We had so much fun hanging out and then we all planned to go to a bar. I was so tired though, and not feeling great (my breathing had been really bad all week, probably because it was starting to get really cold and my inhaler had run out) so when most of the group went out to dance all night, I went home and rested. The line "I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired" kept coming to mind. It was in a White Tie Affair song and in a movie, I think Wet Hot American Summer haha. I hate to miss out on fun times if I'm sick so I called a doctor on Monday to finally make an appointment. I had tried calling doctors a few days earlier, but couldn't get through to actually talk to someone.

hanging out at Ciela's

The next day, I spent most of the time doing work and studying. Then for dinner, Juni and Ben came over to have dinner with me, Sandra, and Kristina. We had the most makeshift dinner but it was awesome. We basically just combined a bunch of random things that we had. We made fish sticks, potatoes, pizza, pasta with olive oil, cookies, and Cadbury chocolate. Then after dinner, we all went into Sandra's room and watched 21 Jump Street which is probably one of the funniest movies ever. It was a fun night and a good break from all the studying that I had been doing all day!

The next Monday, I had a big quiz in International Marketing that is worth 50% of my final grade. We corrected them in class, and I ended up doing pretty well! I think my grade might have been one of the highest in the class which was awesome! Then that night was another fun night at Cosmo. A bunch of us went early at about 8 to get our usual table but when we got there, another group had already taken over our corner. So we grabbed the other back corner table. Everything felt out of whack since we were on the opposite side, but it was cool because the new side had a little alcove with couches right next to the table, so we took that over as well. I hadn't expected a lot of people to come because it was cold and down pouring outside but a lot of people came and it was a fun night! We left earlier than usual so we could all take the metro home instead of walking in the rain.

at Cosmo with Anna, Virginia, Kirsten, and Josh

some of the girls at Cosmo

with Virginia and Kirsten

Cosmo!

Cosmo!

The next day, I didn't have any classes but I had a group meeting for my advertising class that took up a lot of the day. After the group meeting, I went to Starbucks for a little while to meet up with some friends who were there doing work and studying. I got a donut with chocolate around it and it was so good! Then after that, I had my doctor appointment that I had scheduled. When I got to the address, I realised that it wasn't an actual doctor's office like I had expected and instead, it was just a guy's apartment with a room for his appointments that had the doctor's table that you lay on and some other medical things. I thought it was so weird, but apparently that's totally normal in France. He basically just listened to my breathing and then looked at my inhaler prescription and wrote me a prescription for the French equivalent of it. Walking back to my dorm, I saw that the Christmas market they had been setting up in front of the school was open, so I walked through it and saw all the Christmas decorations and checked out a few of the booths. It was so awesome, so I'll definitely be going back there to do a little shopping!

a little section of the Christmas market in Lyon

On Wednesday my final exams started. I had the written portion of my French exam and it went really well! Later that night, a bunch of us cooked dinner in Saint Bernard. Ben and Juni made mince and mashed potatoes and then for dessert Leah and Natasha made chocolate chip pancakes with nutella. It was awesome! I had to do a lot of work that night between studying for exams, working on a paper, and preparing for the two presentations I had that week. I ended up having to stay up until 5 in the morning! At least it was worth it because my French presentation the next day went really well! Not to brag but we were definitely the best group who presented that day ;) After classes were over for the night, a bunch of us went over to Virginia's to hang out. We decided to get some pizzas from Domino's and just chilled. I was so tired by the end of the night though since I had been up till 5 that morning doing work, I fell asleep literally within 30 seconds of getting back to my dorm. In fact, when I woke up in the morning, I still had on my clothes from the day before, I still had on one boot, and my light was on because I had been exhausted and fell asleep as soon as I sat down on my bed haha!

Friday was the last day of my French final exam, but since my group had presented the day before I was all done and just had to watch other groups give their presentations. Then once all the groups were done, we had a little feast of cookies, baguette, lots of cheese, and other snacks that people had brought and we watched a French movie. It was a pretty weird movie that was made in the 80s and took place at a ski resort and I didn't really understand it! At the end of class, I found out that my final grade in the class was a 17.5 out of 20, which is an A! (The French grading system is a lot different than in the USA and it is really hard to get anything over a 16, so I was really excited!) After that, I had to give a group presentation in my advertising class that went well. There had been a little competition and whichever group gave the best presentation won a bottle of champagne. My group didn't win but we came in second place! That night, a bunch of us just needed a chill night after a week of exams, presentations, and quizzes, so we order Domino's again and watched Fight Club in the dorm. There had been a Chinese boy watching a movie by himself before we watched our movie, so we invited him to join us. I've seen him around the dorm a lot by himself, and we could tell we really made his night by asking him to watch the movie with us. He even went to get his camera at one point to take a picture with all of us!

French class

I had to spend most of Saturday working on the big research paper for my France in the 21st Century class. And then at night, I met up with Anna, Virginia, Kirsten, and Ciela to get some dinner. We came across a little bouchon in Vieux Lyon where I got something called a querelle. It was kind of similar to manicotti with a really good sauce! Then for dessert, me and Ciela split a chocolate mousse!

I had to spend a lot of the next day working on my paper again. At a couple points throughout the day, it started to snow a little! I was so excited because I had been wanting to see some French snow at least once before leaving Lyon! Then that night, Ben came over to make dinner for me, Kristina, Sandra, and Natalia again. We made pasta bolognese, pizza, and salad. Somehow Ben managed to make a huge mess all over the stove while stirring the sauce into the pasta. It was like the Lisbon Indian restaurant all over again! The after getting the kitchen all cleaned up form Ben's mess, we went to the TV room where we were going to try and watch a movie. The same Chinese guy from a couple nights before was there, so we joined him to watch the end of Sin City.

Ben's great cooking skills...

Then the next day, I had my final exam for French Conversation. Me and Virginia were partners and we had to do an impromptu skit where we pretended I was a teacher and she was a student who is always late for class, so I got to scold her haha. I think we did ok on it! Afterwards, we went to Mezzo di Pasta for a little snack before doing some more studying. I got a brownie which was delicious. Then after doing some more work on my paper, I went over to Virginia's to hang out before going to Cosmo. When I was trying to get my ticket for the metro, a family of gypsies came over to me and were trying to get me to give them money and when I turned my back to them, they tried stealing my metro ticket! I'm really glad we don't have to deal with gypsies like that back in the US. Cosmo was so much fun that night! I hadn't expected a lot of people to be there because of exams, but it was actually pretty crowded! I danced on the bar for a while too!

so happy to see mi hermano (my brother) as soon as I got to Cosmo!

with Virginia at Cosmo!

Cosmo with Jorge, Denise, and Jasmin

Cosmo with Jasmin, Virginia, and Anna

Cosmo!

dancing on the bar at Cosmo!

Then on Tuesday, I had my next final--International Marketing. It was kind of hard, but I think I did ok on it! I had to do work most of that day too and for a while the next day. Then Wednesday night, after my big research paper was done and submitted, a bunch of us went to the Christmas market outside the school. It was cold and rainy but the market is so cool. Kirsten got some hot wine that I tried some of and it was really good! We also saw someone walking a goat on a leash that was dressed as a reindeer. It was so cute and pretty hilarious to see! A few hours later, a big group of IBPs went to Nick's apartment for a pregame before going to the ESDES party that night. The pregame was fun and the party was awesome! The school had rented out a sex club (that part was pretty weird) that was basically like a huge indoor sauna with a gigantic hot tub that took up almost the entire place. I spent almost the entire night hanging out in the hot tub and didn't end up leaving until after 5 in the morning! I think it was definitely the most creative party I've been to this semester and it was such a fun night.

I can't believe it's getting so close to the end of the semester. This has truly been the best 3 months of my life and I can't believe it's almost over. It's going to be so weird to go home and not be able to see all the friends that I made this semester. I know we'll all stay friends though and I will definitely be planning some trips all over the world to visit a bunch of them :)