So if you're not going to school, you're basically just living in France?

Due to the extreme popularity of Squidgirl (not), more updates have been declare necessary.

Well, I don't have anything to do today, in any case. My roommates, ML and Doc, and I bought our TGV tickets to Paris today! We are taking the train to Paris on the 17th, flying from Paris to Pisa that night, and taking the 00:20 (that's twenty after midnight for my American friends) bus to the center of Florence. We're staying five nights in Florence, then taking the bus back to Pisa and passing most of Sunday there before our flight back to Paris that evening. The only downside is that we get into Paris at 21:30, too late to catch a train back to Lyon, so we will have to stay the night in a hotel or hostel close by. But none of us have Monday morning classes so that should be okay.

It's not as expensive as it sounds, I promise.

Other journeys, you ask? Well, I have a friend in Paris this semester, so I am trying to find out if I can stay with her. ML and I both have an interest in going to Geneva, which is only an hour train ride from here, so perhaps for a weekend, as neither of us have Friday classes. We're talking about going to Siena for a day from Florence while we're there, as it's close, but there is so much to do/see in Florence herself that I'm not sure we'll make it there.

I am also seriously considering looking into flights / trains to London. Whether I end up going will of course depend on how expensive things are, but it's a thought.

Travel is interesting, because there's not a whole lot going on in Lyon for us right now. The strike has continued unstopped since last Thursday, meaning it's been a week since I've been in classes, which is mostly just tedious for me. We hope things are coming to a resolution tomorrow.

Mostly I've been making a lot of food (and running for exercise, fear not). France is particularly helpful for that.


Memorial building on a plaque in Vieux Lyon. The text reads: In this house lived Victoria Nicollet, who died during deportation to Ravensbruck in 1945, a victim of fascism. In going by, remember her.


Man holding a flare at one of the grève manifestations, Thursday last.


Kayakers in the Rhône, midmorning.


Looking south from Pont Lafayette on the Rhône river.


Flags on Pont Lafayette at sunset.


Looking north on the river, this time.


The grand roue, or Ferris wheel, in Place Bellecour. No, I haven't ridden it.


Sunday afternoon meal from the market. From left: Bread and jam and a pain au chocolat (croissant with chocolate filling), basmati rice and roasted vegetables, instant cappuccino, apple slices and two kinds of cheese (vache and chèvre), and a mixture of coke and segrum's lime tonic water.


Yours truly, wearing my new beret in the kitchen mirror.