Je vis encore !

Bonjour ! I would like to begin this post by offering my sincerest apologies to you, my dear readers. Owing to circumstances beyond my control I have been indisposed as of late, which has resulted in my prolonged absence.

In layman’s terms, my exchange program has clobbered me with orientation stuff (8 hours a day could be considered excessive) and I haven’t had time to do much else! Quelle horreur! But I’m back and I’ve got a LOT to tell you guys, so without further ado, commençons.

Last weekend my program hosted a trip to Lyon, which is a 2-hour train ride south of Paris. And what a beautiful train ride it was--sprawling green fields dotted with grazing cattle and clusters of houses with red roofs. All of my expectations of the French countryside were fulfilled. Lyon itself is a quaint little city, infused with warm energy and cute buildings nestled along the banks of its two surrounding rivers, the Rhône and the Saône.

My program had arranged two days full of touristy activities, but I’ll skip to the highlights (the house of the brothers who invented cinema sounds cool, but after a two hour tour, pas vraiment). Lyon is all about food, so we spent the majority of our time in restaurants. Saturday night we dined in a restaurant perched on top of hill; the wall facing the city was one giant window, allowing diners to enjoy a spectacular view while passing two hours drinking wine and eating their way through four courses (the cheese gets its own course, naturally). 

Lunch the next day was a little more chill, and, in my végétalienne opinion, a little more delicious (végétarien = vegetarian, végétalien = vegan. It's those subtle differences that'll getcha). Végétalienisme doesn't go over very well around here, but the chef was wonderfully accommodating and made me a tofu steak, which was great! The rest of the group got to sample the more traditional fare: fried pork fat, quenelles (dumplings made of butter, semolina and fish), saucisson (sausage), and, of course, fromage blanc (a soft cheese you eat with a spoon--I'm told it tastes like a combination of cottage cheese and yogurt. Yum). 

oh yes my friends, that is tofu

We also had some free time to walk around, which was a welcome change from sitting and eating. I stumbled upon a couple trompes d'oeil--a french expression that literally means "trick of the eye." Check 'em out:

Is that Caesar?

Well I think that just about wraps up the Lyon chapter.

 But wait! There's more! I won't bore you with all the other stuff that's been going on (who are we kidding, it's not boring, I just don't want to make you feel bad about your own lives), but I do have one more petite histoire to tell. I'll call it: Thursday night: The Opera. Because I went to the Opera Thursday night--get it? 

Opéra Garnier

I saw Giulio Cèsare, written by George Frederic Handel in 1724. I won't go into the details of the story, because they're a little confusing, and, frankly, pretty predictable (no offense, Handel!). The opera was four hours long, which, to be honnête, is a little lengthy. The libretto was in Italian, with French sous-titres. Did I mention it was four hours long? But anyways, the thing I found the most interesting was that the male actors sang in the register of a woman. In fact, I spent almost two hours wondering to myself why a place as class as the Opéra Garnier couldn't find some decent men to play the male roles, when a friend politely informed me that the actors were, indeed, male. Whoops! I'm going to have to do some research into why good old Handel did that, because I found it a little off-putting.
The building itself is magnifique, with a grand chandelier and painted ceiling. Everything is so ornate and so darn old around here! And oh-so-beautiful.

Oh just a room full of chandeliers I found

Alright I know this post was assez long, and way en retard. I will try really hard to get better at this! Goals for the rest of February: learn how to properly use the conditional tense and blog more. Sounds raisonnable, n'est pas ? 

Oh, and Happy Valentine's day to everyone! Hope you spent lots of money on big hearts and overpriced chocolates and silly Hallmark cards. Here it's called le jour de Saint-Valentin, and there are ads all over the metro saying "Pour le Saint-Valentin, donnez-lui America du Nord !" ("for Valentine's Day, give her North America!"). The ads have pictures of New York City and ridiculously happy French couples. I hope someone gifts me a continent one day. Alright enough of this sarcasm, I've gotta get out of here. A très bientôt, mes amis !