what an adventure

our Lancaster crew of 6 girls decided we were going to London in order to celebrate Australia Day on Wednesday with Simone and her friends (she's australian). we all bought rail tix on monday, and then I decided that I really wanted to go somewhere this weekend since Kris and I have a 3-day weekend,  which isn't going to last much longer. I instantly skyped Katie Gaab who is living in Lyon, France and told her I really wanted to do some traveling and thankfully she was all game for having some company. So by Tuesday she had checked with her roommates to make sure they didn't mind us coming, and Wednesday afternoon, 3 hours before departing for London, Kristen and I went to the campus' travel agency to check about flights. Things weren't looking so hot at first- our option was to come back from London, wake up at 2am to catch the 3am bus up to Edinburgh and then take a flight to Lyon and then fly in to a different airport on the return flight and take a train back to Lancaster. I finally asked the travel agent, would it be easier to fly out of London since we're already going to be there? And what do ya know, everything worked out. Since we had already bought our rail tix, the return was flexible up until the end of February so we didn't have to worry about purchasing another. 2 hours prior to leaving for London, I skyped Katie, she quickly gave me detailed directions on how to get to her place (since everything is in French) and we crossed our fingers that everything would work out according to plan. Hurriedly, I jammed everything into my backpack and met the girls at the bus station to catch the train to London hoping that I hadn't left anything behind.

The train was 2.5 hours to London and once we arrived in the city we took a taxi (so cute looking) to our hostel to experience it for the first time. We walked in and it was full of student-aged people hanging out everywhere..on their computers, socializing, drinking at the bar, eating in the caf, etc. I was not expecting a bar inside whatsoever! We went into our room and it was 4 bunk beds--there were 6 of us girls and then 2 random guys. Let me just say that it was one of the worst sleeps ever. One of the guys was the loudest snorer on earth, the room was unbearably hot, and I kept waking up throughout the entire night. But for 12 pounds I guess it wasn't all that bad. We got a free breakfast which consisted of toast and cereal and then Kristen and I decided to do a free 2.5 hour walking tour that visited the main hotspots of London. This tour was absolutely fantastic-- I would highly recommend it to everyone. Some of the main attractions we saw were the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, Admiralty Arch, and Westminster Abbey. Plus we learned some interesting and funny facts about the city from our tour guide. It was one of the best history lessons I've ever had (keep in mind that I'm not too fond of history). After all of that walking and a sore back from carrying my heavy backpack, we ate the legendary fish and chips in a cute little pub. We became really good friends with an australian guy and 2 girls who are studying in Spain for the entire school year and just so happen to be from Greensboro and a town right outside of High Point. Go figure! One of the girls goes to NC State and the other attends UNCW. They were lots of fun.

With the help of our new australian buddy, Ryan, we finally met up with Simone, Marissa, Jobi, and Murphy at Walkabouts which is the australian bar in London. It was packed. It reminded me and Kristen of Senor Frogs down in the Bahamas over spring break. Everyone was repping the australian flag and the bar was giving out tons of free gifts: sunnies (sunglasses), tshirts, bottle koozies, hats.. And after the top 100 music countdown (which is the tradition for australia day) a live band performed some great music. Simone was in her glory :)

Kristen and I then left to try to navigate our way to the station where a Grim Reaper tour began at 6pm. We met back up with the girls from NC and walked through the bitter cold, dark city where we saw Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, and learned all about Jack the Ripper and other various murder stories. We then ate at an Indian curry restaurant on Brick Lane with our new NC girl friends. Brick Lane is the little street full of similar Indian restaurants and all these men stand outside and pester you to eat at their place and cut you deals. It was quite annoying, actually! But Alyssa (UNCW) was hilarious and knew just how to get them all to back up and leave us alone for a couple minutes while we decided what to do. We ended up eating at one that was hoppin', and I got prawn curry, (curry is huge over in England for some odd reason). It wasn't bad, but I wasn't that fond of it either. The other girls enjoyed theirs though! After this fun-filled exciting and exhausting day, Kristen and I headed off to the Gatwick airport where we would then take off to Lyon, France. The NC girls made sure we found our way to the right tube/train station and then off we went. We met a crazy guy on the train who was either drunk or just wild, but he was still pretty funny. Thank goodness he got off on our first stop though. A 30 minute train ride, and Kris and I arrived at the airport. We decided we were just going to overnight it there since we had such an early flight--we had to be there at 6:40am and with not really knowing how to get there and how long it would take we figured it wasn't worth staying at a hostel when we probably wouldn't even sleep anyway. So we set up camp on several chairs and attempted to sleep, but it was pretty much a failure. However, all in all, it was the best adventure that had happened so far...simply awesome.

We got up at 5am to find out our gate and then after a 1.5 hour flight, we landed in Lyon! If it hadn't been for Katie's wonderful directions, we would have been lost birds, since like I mentioned previously, everything is in French. After almost 2 hours of finding our way around, we ended up at our meeting spot which just so happened to have WiFi and I was able to txt Katie to let her know that we had made it safe and sound. She met us and off we started our french adventure. After dropping off our backpacks at her apartment, (which is adorable!) we had our first lunch experience where Katie translated everything for us. We then sat in on one of Katie's classes (she has 12 overall) at the elementary school and watched as she taught them English. They were so excited to see us and hear us speak English which was super cute. And then they sang us "Oh Mr. Sun" after they reviewed the different types of weather. After the English lesson, we visited the Basilique Fourviere which was a beautiful church (that looks more like a castle) which sits up on the top of Fourviere Hill overlooking the city. We viewed the Theatre Romain originally dating back to 15BC, went into Cathedrale Saint-Jean, and then ate at a little cafe in Viuex Lyon where I tasted a tarte de praline and a galette de roi which is a scrumptious pastry only available in France during the new year. For dinner, Katie cooked up a tasty pasta dish and we also had 2 different cheeses, chevre and comte. Fact- there are around 400 different types of cheeses in France!

The next morning we went to Musee des Beaux-Arts which is a fine collection of Impressionist works, old masters and antiquities from all over Europe. We saw several more churches, the Opera House, a Louix XIV statue, Hotel de Ville where City Hall is located and where a fountain statue is located along with all these huge white balloons produced by artists that are to promote awareness and prevent city pollution. We saw amazing painted murals known as the trompe-oeils on the sides of 2 buildings in croix-rousse-- they looked so real that it was unreal. We walked across the bridge overlooking the Saone River and continued down a little shopping area where we tried our first original crepe, which was so good! Mine was full of nutella, yum! We went into Vieux Lyon where there were hidden passageways called traboules that lead either to apartments or the next street over. And there were plenty of sales going on in Rude de la Republique which is their modern shopping area. There are only 2 sales out of the entire year, so tons of people were making purchases, including Kristen. We ate at a little French restuarant, L'epicene, in Rue Mercier where we had tartine. Mine was toasted bread with brie cheese, honey, and walnuts. Kristen's was more of a pizza with tomatoes, mozzarella, and pesto.. mm! the place was so packed that we sat with other people as well (like it is on a cruise). To end our night we went to a french club where they solely play american music which is so weird assuming that a lot of them don't speak english. but we danced the night away til nearly 3am!

and finally we're on to this morning! we woke up early and walked around a flea market, Marche des Minguettes in Venissieux, which sold everything and anything you could imagine- fruits, veggies, meats, cosmetics, jewelry, clothes, appliances, and the list goes on and on. Then we made our own crepes which is one of my new favorites. Once we fueled up, we went to Parc de Tete D'or which I think either Rehoboth or HPU needs to invest in. First of all, it was huge; and second of all, there were so many people putting it to use! Plus, it even had a free zoo. And there were free bikes, velo'v bikes, that we rode around, even though our toes were numb by the end. Now as I type, I'm sipping on some tea to warm up and we're about to cook a french-style dinner.

after skipping only one day of class (parents, don't hate us!) I'd say the trip was well worth it.