Things I keep forgetting to write about:

Café International: It's been two weeks now since I went to a party organised by the international student organisation Café International. It was held on Tuesday 3 October, at 20h30 at a place called Café Mode in Vieux Lyon. Ling and I thought it was be a good way to meet more people. At uni it's hard because people tend to go just for classes and then leave straight afterwards. So... to Café Mode we ventured, thinking since it was a café, it would be a good easy way to talk to people.

So I met Ling at the métro station in Vieux Lyon. She asked me if I knew where it was. Errr... no. I had the address but I had forgotten to look it up on a map and I hadn't brought a map with me. Not a problem! There are maps at all the métro stations. Err.... the street that we were given wasn't on the map!!! Ok.. it's been organised for a bunch of international students. It can't be that far from the métro. Ling and I decided to just walk around and see if we could chance upon it. No luck. Ling called Kavita, who tried very much to help and even googled Earth to try and find it. Still no idea. Ling called Anton, fellow aussie who said 'yes! I'm going too I live just round the corner!' Cool. He gave us instructions that kinda went like this: from the métro station go straight, take the first right, then first left, then first right... that got us happily lost in dark tiny alleyways (cos it's Vieux Lyon and that's just what it's like). Kavita called and said it should be just past an Indian restaurant.... hmmmm.... all these instructions were simply getting us more and more lost. Ling decided to ask someone on the street. Yay! Luck! French guy who was going to the same place!!! He said follow me, so we did, and he walked very fast and turned many corners, then turned around and said he couldn't remember where it was... hehehehe yeah, I am a lucky ducky indeedy :D Anyway, he called someone and sounded like he was arguing with someone, we continued to follow him, and Voilà! Just like that we'd arrived and the girl he was talking to on the phone came out to greet him and spoke some very fast angry French that sounded like she was saying 'I TOLD you how to get here, you should've listened to me!' and he said something like 'I KNOW you told me, but I got lost following your instructions!' but they kissed anyway, as the French do, and Ling and I entered Café Mode.

It was anything BUT café atmosphere. We only managed to get our feet in the front door. that was how packed it was. Then we were immediately greeted by a girl we didn't recognise (whose name I found out later is Ding, from Brisbane, who also lives in Allix building K) who seemed to recognise us, asking if we were Australians. To which we replied yes. But we spoke in French. She said she recognised us from the information sessions we had at uni for the aussie students.. oh... she introduced us to a few interesting poeple, told us we needed to fill out a little card with our descriptions eg. nationality, appearance, interests, etc and then hand it back to the organisers. We did that. Talked to some more interesting people. It was REALLY crowded. I felt like I was in a club. Except you wouldn't even be able to dance in a club like this cos there was no room. If we moved at all it was only because other people were moving and we got swept up in the currents. It was also just as loud as a club. Cept, I don't remember at all the type of music they were playing so probably nothing that interests me :P

A little later we were handed another little card, this one with someone else's description on it, and the aim was to find your tandem. Theme for the night, meet someone from a different country. Ling had an extraordinarily vague description. i had a very specific one. French. Female. 21. Short brown hair. Green, red, orange necklace very close to the neck! Sweet I should be able to find her no problems. A guy I was talking to had a description that was like: yellow shoes. How you would be able to indentify the colour yellow in such light, let alone see someone's shoes in such a crowd was beyond me but he persisted. So did I. Ling found her tandem almost immediately. A girl from jordan who was wearing a very cool black t-shirt that said: Nobody's perfect. Except Me. I continued to swim through the crowd with no luck. I did, however, bump into a few classmates, who I exchanged numbers with and invited me to a drinks night later in the week, which I'll tell you about later.

At about 22h30. We decided to give up on my french tandem :( Ling didn't seem to be enjoying herself very much anyway, and I could understand that. If you're not a clubbing person, it could get to you a bit. So we left with a friend, Taylor. I'd actually quite enjoyed the night. I spoke a lot of French to a lot of interesting people. It's not mything, sure. Loud, crowded, smokey. But... it was fun and I'm glad we went and I'm glad we found it :)

Night at a pub: So the following Thursday I went to a pub with my classmate Janina, from Germany, and a few of her friends, who also brought friends, who also brought friends. It was quite a crowd but a totally different vibe to Café Mode. We went to a bar called Etoile and just sat around with a beer chatting. Most of the otehrs were French and really friendly and I could literally feel my French improving the longer I stayed. I really didn't want to leave. It was so chilled and relaxed and easy being there, it reminded me of what I would normally do in Melbourne with my own friends. Except everything was in French. That was nice. I found myself laughing and smiling a lot which I don't think I've done much of since I've been here...

Lyon II free tour: The university offers its international students a free guided tour of Lyon that goes for two hours, so I decided to see what I haven't seen yet. I thought it was a bus tour because a couple of other students had gone on a bus tour but it wasn't. It was a tour by foot, and although I have been walking muchly for the past two months, it was sooooooooo incredibly hard! Probably because of the cobbled streets and standing around listening, but it was good to have a local tell us things like:

1. Lyonnaise people have a bad rep in France. They are considered unfriendly and pretentious. Oh... but he assured us, really, it's just a cultural thing. People are friendly, but more conservative, so you have to get to know them first.

2. Most of the bouchons in Vieux Lyon are not real bouchons and are pricey and aimed at tourists. He then gave us a list of addresses to REAL lyonnaise bouchons, which he described as an experience more to do with atmosphere and food and service than anything else.

3. There are markets every day along the Seine. Sundays one absolutely MUST go to Croix Rousse for the market.

4. There are some really awesome little gems of architecture you can only find by chance or through locals.

5. You cannot use the vélos until you pay a hundred and fifty euro deposit and get another card... oooooooooooh.. that's why my Técély card doesn't work!

6. Lyonnaise frescoes are things to look out for.

All in all the tour was fun. He told us we can go see the guignols for free, and an old lady walking past told him off because she says we should pay to see them! So that was fun too :)

Lyon, city of markets: I decided last weekend to check out this must-see market at Croix Rouse. So, Sunday morning, I head out before ten, knpwing very well that markets start early, and headed up the second highest peak in Lyon. Undergound on the métro then up by funiculaire. Reappeared in Croix Rousse.... it was.... quiet. Very quiet.. hmm... not a good sign. What I saw around me was this: great big huge amusement park around me with games stands and rides and very colourful but completely deserted. I don't know if any of you have been to an amusement park when it's been closed, but it is super freaky! It was 10h00, so I thought, ok, maybe it's Sunday, it's just not open yet... I walked around a bit looking for this market which I'd been told was HUGE. Walked around and down some more quiet streets thinking this is not right, this is not right at all! Then appeared a market. About ten stalls of fruit and veg. Huh? This is IT? This can't be it!! I didn't come all the way up here to find ten stalls of fruit and veg!!! Grrrr!!! Decided to head back to the city to the markets are the Seine cos I know they definitely have more on Sundays. Walked back to the métro, and just before heading down underground again I saw a stand: Churros! Yeah. Definitely want some churros!! I walked over to the churros stand and out of curiosity looked around a bit more only to discover a market that ran ALL the way down the street, you couldn't even see the end of it was how long it went on for. How on earth did I manage to miss THAT? I wondered to myself... hmm.. yeah.. sometimes I'm blind. I blame it on the brightly colourful empty amusement park which took away my attention that I didn't manage to see the market. By now it was around 11h00. The amusement park had started to turn itself on. All the whirrings and buzzings of rides and games and kiddie music.

I walked up and down the market three times before I bought anything. It was gorgeous. Most gorgeous of all were all the smells because there were stands with giants woks filled with paella and stands roasting chicken and potatos and so many other things! I just breathed it all in, listening to the prices being called out, listening to customers asking for fruits and vegies I didn't recognise by name but did by sight, oh so that's what that's called! trying not to step on all the little dogs that people brought with them :) It was beautiful. I bought about three days worth of vegies for less than 2 euro. it was funny explaining to the shop keepers that I only wanted 20 cents worth of broccoli cos I didn't have a fridge and lived alone :D I didn't but any cheese because thanks to Miss blu2lips, I am getting FAT. But I did try some really nice gruyère Mmmmmmmmm :)

Rice cooker rice cooker where have you been all my lyonnaise life?: I can now proudly say that I can cook! Yay for chef Luce! But only with a rice cooker. And noodles Mmmmm noodles. So if anyone wants a healthy meal of rice and vegies come for dinner chez Luce, Résidence Universitaire André Allix 5è K119, and I'll be happy to serve you. Go to the toilet before you come cos I don't think you wanna use the bathrooms here :P

Louise Labé: Maybe I'll talk about this controversial lyonnaise poet next time cos this is long enough and I've been sitting down for wayyyy too long.

also remind me to talk about the release of the Petit Paumé.

miss you all lots and lots

lots of love,

luce xx