Bonjour Tout le Monde*

I know, I know, I haven’t written since I’ve gotten here. Je suck.** There is no excuse for it. But I’ve been busy and I haven’t had reliable internet at all, so actually those are my excuses for it. So what have I done in the past 2 weeks here in France? BE WARNED: this is a very long post because, as previously stated, je suck.**

I stayed in Lyon for 5 days, mostly walking around, getting over jet lag, doing a little shopping, but mostly walking, drinking coffee and Orangina, and eating bread and various pastries. I also went to McDo (Mcdonald’s) kinda often¬ to use their free wifi (cuz I wasn’t going to pay for internet at a Cybercafe). I also got in contact w/ Mme Manson. She is the mother of a friend of a friend. She and her family live in L’Isle d’Abeau, a little French town outside of Lyon. I emailed her, and she called me and invited to her house for the weekend. I didn’t want to intrude, but she was very nice and insisted. While I was hesitating, her daughter called me (Marie is my age and works in Lyon) and we met up and talked about stuff, and I asked her questions I had about the train station in town (in French it’s La Gare and that’s shorter than the train station, so I’ll probs just type that from now on). She also insisted I go to their house for the weekend so I’m not alone in Lyon (une tres grande ville). So I agreed. I called her mom and we agreed to meet up Friday night because the whole family was going to a concert in Lyon.
Thursday I also went to visit the town of my lycée(high school), La-Tour-du-Pin (the tower of pine) and meet w/ the English teacher there. Mme Barbier (Laurence) was very nice and I had some time after to walk around the town a little bit and to meet some of the other teachers and staff at the school. She suggested I not live in the town there because it is too small and the assistant last year got lonely and tired and homesick and ended up going crazy and left early. After she told me that, I agreed I should look for lodging elsewhere. She suggested a town nearby (10 minutes by train) that is a bit bigger and has more to do. It’s called Bourgoin-Jallieu, which is a mouthful.
So Thursday night I went back to Lyon and Friday, I prepared to meet Marie for the concert. I had no idea what type of concert it was gonna be but Mme Manson said her son was in the concert and I knew Luc (the youngest child in the family and my friend of a friend) was a music person, so I thought maybe it was a school concert. WRONG! I met up w/ Marie in Lyon, and we met up w/ a friend of hers, Julian, and we went to a bar. You see, the concert was a rock concert held in the basement of a bar and her oldest brother Baptiste is lead guitar in the band. It was really fun, just to hang out and talk w/ Marie and Julian in a mixture of French and English.
After the concert they dropped me off at my hostel and the next morning picked me and my baggage up at the hostel. Actually, Mme Manson called me and asked if she could pick me up across Lyon because traffic was horrible (c’est normale en France). So picture me dragging 100+ lbs of luggage across busy crowded Lyon on Saturday morning. And then my duffel bag strap broke. It was tres difficile. But I survived and didn’t even break down and cry. Be proud.
Then I stayed in L’Isle D’Abeau until Tuesday morning. The weekend was a lot of fun. The food was gorgeous and they were all very nice. I went to the movies w/ Marie and Mme Manson and saw the Proposal en Francais, and then again the next night to see Le Coach, a French movie about a life coach who is hired to fix a an incompetent businessman and hijinks ensue. It was a lot of fun and the weekend was really good for me to get back into thinking and speaking in French.
Monday I also went to visit a friend from Augustana who is studying in Grenoble for the semester. It was good to see her and Grenoble again. I missed Grenoble. I am vraiment (really, truly) in love with the town. I also got to see Miranda. Miranda is the AIFS director in Grenoble, so she kept me alive and happy when I studied in Grenoble. It was good to see her again and she is a veritable goldmine of resources, so I was glad to get back in contact w/ her. She even invited me to Thanksgiving w/ the AIFS students!! Yay!! (You see, I was worried I would be alone in a tiny apartment on Thanksgiving, eating a ham sandwich).
So Tuesday, I left the Mansons and moved in the temporary housing my school offered. It is a tiny apartment in La-Tour-du-Pin on the campus of a lycée horticole (a gardening and animal oriented high school… I have no idea what that’s all about) down the street from my lycée. It is small and gross (filled w/ spiders and spider webs, and goodness knows what else). But it’s free and I’m poor.
Tuesday night my temporary roommate also moved in. Her name is Astrid (awesome name, n’est-ce pas?). She is a German language assistant at the same lycée. So she speaks a little English, but not much, so we speak French to each other.
Anyways, Wednesday, we went to Bourgoin-Jallieu to check out some residences, since she is also seeking logement. We walked a little, and there is a residence w/ other assistants living there that isn’t too spendy, 320 € a month. It was a fun little trip and afterwards we returned to the apartment and watched some movies. We watched 10 Things I Hate about You and Finding Nemo, both in French, so we could both enjoy them.
Thursday, we left for Grenoble where we would meet up w/ all the other Assistants du Langue in the area for a 3-day long orientation in Autrans (a little town in the mountains). It was a fun orientation, where I learned some things about what I will be doing and what I should be doing. The best part though was meeting the other assistants. I found a group in which I fit and could speak English (which felt weird), and we had a really fun time hanging out w/ everyone. We found the local pub in the little town and had a very fun game of “Jamais, est-ce que je n’ai jamais…” (Never have I ever…) w/ 30 other assistants from lots of different places.
Saturday we returned to Grenoble and left for our various places of residence. I actually went to the apartment of 2 other Americans to see the third room of the place. It’s actually a house, w/ 3 bedrooms and a kitchen, and living room, and garden. It’s fully furnished and I HOPE that I can move in w/ them. They needed to talk to their landlady about it, and there was another girl who wanted to see it too, BUT I HOPE THEY CHOOSE ME!!!
Anyways, now it is Sunday afternoon and I am at McDo yet again, connecting w/ their Wifi and skype-ing w/ my folks.
I start work at the lycée tomorrow, so I am nervous and excited!! Hopefully I will be able to wifi more regularly in the coming days, but I have no idea.
So that’s about it, I think, but there are pictures forthcoming (I don’t know when, but eventually).
Love ya all!!!
Bisous!!

*Hey I’m in France, so I’m gonna be writing in some French. When the type is ...ummm... Bolded, it’s a French word or phrase. If I don't translate it for you, and you can't figure it out from the context, go to wordreference.com, and look it up.
**That’s not actual French. That’s something I like to call Franglish. Or Franglais.