Lyon

I can't beleive I'm playing hooky in a foreign country as well. Class is right now, but it's so nice out I'm just going to use the internet here for a bit and then spend the afternoon at the lake ;)

First week here went by unbeleivably fast, at the same time Regina feels ages ago. Saturday I made a trip to the city of Lyon by myself. 2:30 hours by train, got there just before noon. The Lyon Part Dieu train station is MASSIVE. Like, wow, there were a zillion people - way more than the Paris station. Area around the station is modern, high rise business buildings stretching as far as I could see. It's like a smaller version of Paris, only cleaner. I took the metro down to city centre - the subway system was fairly simple, only 4 lines. I loved the city centre - it's a stark contrast with big, old buildings, and oldworld charm. Took a stroll across the Rhone river to the Vieux Ville (old village) which was boring and desserted. So I just spent most of the afternoon walking around the city centre - and spent 2 hours just sitting in Bellecour (this amazingly huge courtyard bustling with people) enjoying the ambience. I mean, truly, Bellecour will be one of my favorite experiences. Right across the train station is probably the biggest and busiest mall I've seen. The place is very modern, jam packed with people - I spent a couple hours walking around and hardly skimmed the shops. OH and, while in the city centre, a Jamaican guy tried to pick me up. A film student, we were talking in English, he was like "why dont I buy you lunch and show you around the city, and after we can go back to my place". Ha ya right buddy. Got home in Annecy around 11:30pm and was dead tired. Was even feeling the effects of it on Sunday.

It's been great so far. Thing is, when I'm actually here it doesn't seem all that surreal. I know I'm going to miss this.