One last trip

and it was a doozy...

Over the past two and a half weeks I have gone on three separate trips...hence why I haven't been writing. But before I get to all that there has been a lot of things going on at school too. Just after my last post I finally had my State Street Interview and as usual, it was disappointing. I finally nailed down a time with them but when it came time to the interview the only person that I spoke with is the current co-op! The kid tried to transfer me to the actual woman I was interviewing with and somewhere the connection got lost. I tried calling her back multiple times and emailing her. I didn't hear from her again until three days later when she told me she was "sorry" but they had filled the position in the mean time. We are supposed to be learning from these people and the only thing I've learned so far is that you can get away with being a jerk and relying on complete aversion. SO FRUSTRATING!

Anyways...on the CEFAM front...I've had two projects due and two finals. We had our French final in class two Wednesdays ago and I was fairly confident with how I did. Our teacher is excellent and the test was pretty easy. Then we had a weeklong hiatus before finals were scheduled to begin. Obviously I took advantage and planned a trip! I spent a day in Rome, 3 in Greece, 2 back here in Lyon, and then 2 more in Paris. All of this was spent with Adam and it was incredible! I love Rome and that was my third time there this trip, even though it was only for an evening. I've always dreamed of going to Greece and now I can only dream about going back! We spent two days walking around Athens and then a third day at the island of Aegina. The weather was incredible, and it was Easter weekend on the Greek Orthodox Calendar so the entire place was so festive. It was an awesome atmosphere to visit in. Here are some pictures:

White Houses!

View of the Acropolis

Main Street in Athens

Changing of the Guards
*Note: Don't touch them!

Ampitheatre on the Acropolis

Adam and I in front of the Parthenon

Greek Flag

View of Athens from the Acropolis

Now THAT is a Greek salad!

Acropolis at Night

Athens was definitely amazing and beautiful. In the future I would really like to explore some of the greek islands a little more...ahhh someday! So after returning to Lyon for a few days to do laundry/unpack/repack I was off to Paris for my third time this trip to show Adam around. He had never been so it was really cool to be there with him and be the 'experienced' tour guide...or at least I thought. Plus this time we stayed at a hostel in Montmartre which hadn't gotten to explore at all my first two times. It was a lot of fun and between the three trips I covered a lot of even small out of the way things that I had always wanted to see in Paris. Also, this was my third trip up the Eiffel Tower. The weather is starting to get so nice that the lines were absolutely absurd! We chose to get into the mysteriously short line which turned out to be the stairs! So yep...we climbed to the second level of the Eiffel Tower. It was quite the workout but a very cool experience. Sitting here looking at all my pictures I just realized something...we forgot to do the most stereotypical Parisian vacation thing! We didn't actually take a picture of us together in front of the Eiffel Tower! Oh well...thats what photoshop is for. Here are some other pictures though:

Basilique du Sacre Coeur

Montmarte

Centre Pompidou

Jim Morrisons grave in le Pere Lachaise

After a fantastic week and a half I got snapped back to reality a bit here in Lyon yesterday. I had my Art History final yesterday and I have my BLAW and International Management finals on Monday and Tuesday. Eek!

I can barely even believe it but less than a week til UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!!!

Emotionnnnsss

I've been taking the time to read the blogs of the other people here lately, and the common thread throughout them is how emotional and personal they are getting. I think I've done a pretty good job of recounting trips and activities, and certainly analyzing the Northeastern co-op process. However I have to say that "personal reflection" is not typically something that makes it into my blog posts. The main reason for this is...me. If you know me, then this fact shouldn't be much of a surprise. I'm often told that I don't "open up", or that I am not much of a "sharer". My best friend likes to make the joke that she literally forced me into being friends with her. Of course this isn't entirely true, I did like her. But I'll give her the credit, she basically beat information out of me until I had no choice but to become comfortable talking about almost everything. So in the spirit of being a good blogger, here is my best attempt at getting "personal":

1. Is this it?

'We only have 3 months left! OMG this experience is half gone already! The one month marker?!' I would say for the first half of this experience I was consistently waiting for it to really begin, waiting for something to click, something to happen. Finally a few weeks ago I had to come to the realization that this is it. This isn't to say that I have had a bad time here, however I can't say that life in Lyon has really been all that riveting. Bland would be a good word for it. We have our occasional spurts of creativity, but for the most part every day is the same. We get up, go to class, complain, go home, get bread, and then retreat to our separate rooms to chat online, download movies, or spend inordinate amounts of time on Sudoku. Everyone that I know who has studied abroad previously returns home with at least a few crazy stories from where they were, and most are dying to go back. I can honestly say when I leave here, I will very likely never return to Lyon. And as far as stories go? Sure I have some good ones, but the ones from times actually spent in Lyon are few and far between. It's a weird feeling. I can't say that I'm disappointed, more just neutral and indifferent...but is that really how I'm supposed to feel when I'm finally living a dream that I have had since middle school???

2. Am I the bitch?

I'm not sure if it's validated, but I have this nagging feeling that the French kids think I'm a bitch. It's not that I'm mean to them, however I'll be the first to admit that my days of putting in effort to get to know them are long since over. At the beginning I really did try, but somewhere between the culture shock, home stress, weekend trips, and eventual frustration with just about everything French, my motivation deteriorated. Coming into this experience the prospect of going to school with all French students really excited me. I had an idyllic vision of myself speaking fluent french (ha) and making a slew of international friends. However upon arrival it did not take long to figure out that the reality would be far from that. I have made a few French friendships that I truly do hope continue, but the vast majority of them I don't even speak to. I don't really have anyone to blame for this but myself. Can I honestly say that I've been putting in a lot of effort to improve my French? No. Have I really tried to reach out and understand these people? Not really. Have I been using my best friend as a crutch? Yes.
One factor in what has made this bonding difficult is the fact that I am rarely in Lyon on the weekends. Out of 17 total weekends, I will have spent 5 here in Lyon without any visitors (two of which were before we even met anyone). I've been thinking lately that maybe I regret going away so much. Maybe I regret not spending time here practicing French and building friendships. But when I'm completely honest with myself? I don't. When I signed up for this program I said that I wanted to travel and really see Europe. By the time I go home, I will have 9 countries and 17 new cities under my belt. This is what I really wanted, and I'm doing it. So does it bother me to be the quiet one/bitch/outcast? For once in my life...not really. That may be rude, but quite frankly, I just don't care anymore.

I don't know if that really suffices but hey, it wasn't just me recounting another trip. Take it or leave it.

Brussels & Amsterdam

This weekend Meredith and I went to Brussels and Amsterdam. We spent two days in Brussels and only about six hours in Amsterdam and I wish more than anything that that had been reversed. Brussels was pretty but I have to admit it was boring. Whereas I was expecting Amsterdam to be skeezy and kind of a joke, and it ended up being one of the most beautiful and interesting places I've ever been to. The best part of this trip was going to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. We had to wait in line for almost an hour but it was totally worth it. It was so intense walking through the attic and seeing where she had hid...definitely a memorable experience. Here are some pictures:

Meredith and I in Brussels

Town Center

Manneken Pis - they were obsessed with this little guy

Brussels Town Center by night

Bar with 2000 beers! Including some great Belgian ones!

Day 2 in Amsterdam!

Entrance to the Anne Frank House

Beautiful

Just trying on some Dutch clogs


And of course...Belgian Waffle! Yum!

Blahhh

After a bit of nagging, I finally heard back from my interviewer at State Street about the interview that I was supposed to have a week ago. We decided to reschedule for this coming Monday. Also today, I was scheduled to have an interview with Commonwealth Financial Network. About a half an hour after it was supposed to start, I received a phone call requesting to reschedule until tomorrow. That would be fine except for the fact that I am going to be in Brussels tomorrow! I told him I would be traveling and may not be able to find a perfectly quite space, and he said that was fine with him so that should be interesting. This whole phone-tag-interview-shuffle business is really frustrating...and stressful. Schedule a time, stick to it, is it really all that difficult?? I guess so. Anyways here is a nice little timeline of my next few fun filled days:

Friday - Monday: Trip to Brussels and Amsterdam
Friday: Commonwealth Financial Network Interview in Brussels
Monday: State Street Interview an hour after we get back
Tuesday: Management Project due (30% of grade)
Thursday: Art History project due and oral presentation (30% of grade)

As for now...I have to go find what scraps of food I might have left for dinner, and I should probably consider packing, oh and starting those projects would be a good thing too....

Berlin!

I can't say that Berlin (or anywhere in Germany for that matter) was on the top of my desired list of places to visit this semester. The only reason we ended up going was because a friend had to switch a flight, and Berlin was the cheapest place that he could switch it to. The flight was only 50 euro and I had nothing planned for the weekend so I figured, why not? Definitely one of the BEST decisions of my time here. Berlin was absolutely incredible, my only regret is that we only stayed for 2 days...I would have loved to stay longer. On Friday, we walked around Hackescher Market and took care of the first order of business, trying a real bratwurst. Delicious! We also walked all along Oranienburger Strasse, a very popular street, and took a tour of the Neue Synagogue, which was one of many synangogues destroyed during The Night of Broken Glass. That night we picked out a restaurant from one of our guidebooks to eat at. A drunk man on the metro gave us directions and after about ten minutes of walking were rethinking our decision to listen to him. However just as we were about to give up we saw some twinkly (aka Christmas) lights behind a gas station. Bingo! The drunk guy was right after all. Despite its initial location, the restaurant was fantastic. Great food, incredible beer (that's an understatement) and it was on a deck over the Spree river.

On Saturday, we woke up bright and early to see more of the city. We ended up taking a 5 hour walking tour, led by a kid from Ireland who knew just about everything about German history, all for FREE! It was to date the best and most informative tour of anything that I have ever been on, and it was the cheapest :) In my opinion they should have these in every city because it was a great experience, and really made me appreciate Berlin. We got to see all of the famous (and infamous) sights in Berlin, some of which I didn't even know existed. Unfortunately I forgot my camera for this trip...stupid...so here are some of Meredith's pictures:

The Reichstag

Hotel Adlon
(where Michael Jackson dangled his baby from a window)

Holocaust Memorial

The sight of Hitlers bunker

Berlin Wall

Us with the Berlin bear :)

Checkpoint Charlie

Bebelplatz - sight of Nazi book burnings
"Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings"

Berliner Dom

Bratwursts!

Brandenburg Gate

We definitely covered a lot of Berlin, but theres always more. Had we been able to stay an extra day, we would have gone to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, revisited some of the spots of the tour, and gone back to Checkpoint Charlie to get a 'West Berlin' stamp in our passports. All in all though it was an unforgettable trip, and for me it was incredibly touching. Although Berlin wasn't an original attraction for me, it is one of the places that I think I would love to return to in the future.

Pleasant Surprise

This past weekend was the first in over a month that I've spent in Lyon. After traveling so much I was definitely looking forward to some down time, but I also expected it to be incredibly boring. So it was a pleasant surprise when it was actually a lot of fun. It helped that most of my friends were also staying here too, so we got to spend some time together. On Saturday, the weather was absolutely gorgeous here, so a group of us decided to take advantage and head to the park for a picnic. This was my first time really experiencing Tete d'Or and I loved it, I can't wait to go back. Especially because the ice cream there is delicious! On Sunday we took an impromptu trip to the Alps for some late season skiing. I went once with my family over spring break and it was fantastic. I thought that was the end of my skiing for the year so it was awesome to get to go again, and it was a lot of fun to go with friends.

This week has been pretty calm. We were supposed to have a BLAW make-up class with my favorite professor on Monday morning. We went, we sat, and surprise surprise...he didn't show up. This morning I was supposed to have an interview with State Street for their Trading Intern position. The job looks great and I was really excited about it. However, after about 10 minutes of waiting I received an e-mail requesting to reschedule. Ugh...frustrating, but at least she was courteous.

There has definitely been a buzz around CEFAM this week because tonight is their 'African Dinner'. We have heard about this since day one and I would equate its significance to prom in high school. It's a pretty big event and supposed to be a lot of fun. So tonight should be exciting and then its an early wake-up call tomorrow morning because we are off to Berlin!!!

Patience IS a virtue...just not one of mine.

By this point, every business major I know has a co-op job....except me. My best guy friend from home just got offered a job from Wellington, and my best friend who is here with me just accepted a job in Texas. Things are looking a little dim, however tonight was a bit of a break through. I finally managed to link up with my advisor for a phone call. Her enthusiasm and optimism was definitely contagious. She told me that I was getting too desperate, and actually refused to send my resume to a few of the places that I requested because they aren't "challenging" enough. Her position that we are just getting started eased my nerves a bit. While at the same time I'm wondering if I'm not shooting myself in the foot. I appreciate that she doesn't want me to settle for a job thats not good enough, but I do want A job...regardless of what level it is. There is a meeting of all of the finance advisors on Thursday to discuss the students that are left and the positions that are still left to fill. My advisor is confident that she will find me a number of good matches at this meeting. I can only hope...but obviously, I'm incredibly impatient.

A nice little break from thinking about all of this came in the form of Capri this weekend. For the long Easter weekend my boyfriend and I spent one night in Naples and two nights in Capri. Leading up to the trip weather.com was sticking strong to it's prediction of 90% rain and heavy winds. For Friday night in Naples, that was a pretty accurate forecast. But we toughed it and went out for pizza (Naples supposedly has the best pizza in the world). It was delicious, but I have to give it to Adam...his favorite pizzeria in Rome still holds the title for me. On Saturday, we woke up bright and early to catch the ferry to Capri. However, we quickly realized that a number of them wouldn't be running due to the weather. We had about an hour to kill and watch the clouds roll in. Guaranteed the ferry ride over was one of the most absurd situations I have ever been in. Because of the choppy waters, this huge catamaran that we were on was getting tossed around. You would have thought the vomit-bags were candy if you saw the fervor that they were being passed out (and taken) with. After trying desperately to plug my ears from the retching noise (and also not to start myself) for an hour, we gratefully reached Capri. And as if we weren't thankful enough, the sun was shining!!

Adam and I in Capri

The weekend as a whole was absolutely incredible. And weather.com couldn't have been more wrong. Instead of raining the whole weekend, it rained for about a half an hour while we were at dinner one night, and the sun even peaked out once in a while. We spent the majority of the weekend hiking around the island taking in the beautiful sights. We were actually staying in Anacapri, which is higher up on the mountain, and has even more incredible views. We got to check out both a Limencello store, where they made it on the premises, and a perfume factory/store that had been a favorite of Jacqueline Kennedy. And finally on Monday morning, we got to ride the chairlift up to Monte Salero, the highest point on the island. Obviously, the views were incredibly breathtaking. We didn't want to leave, and for a little, it looked like we weren't going to. Shortly there after, the weather got really bad again and they stopped running the ferries off of the island. We ended up staying almost 4 hours longer, and as a result I missed my flight back to Lyon. Thanks to Daddy coming to the rescue I got reassigned to a flight at 6:30 am (ugh!) the next morning, and spent an extra night in Rome.

This whole semester my boyfriend and I have been really lucky. We've been able to see each other every 2-3 weeks, and travel around Europe together. Unfortuantely, Capri was the last time we would see each other for 5 weeks this time. I am by no means anxious for this experience to end, but at the same time I am excited to get back to Boston and be able to see him everyday. These next 5 weeks are going to be a little tough, but then again the next time I do see him will be in Athens, Greece...so I guess I can't really complain :)

Hitting close to home(sick)

Lately in my International Management class we have been talking about Expatriation. One of the main points that my teacher is stressing is the importance of communication and support from the headquarters for the expat. Lack of those things are one of the main reasons why expat missions fail. While sitting in class learning about this I can't help but relate it a little to Northeastern. First and foremost, the co-op office. I send at least 5 emails to my advisor before I get even one response. It's ridiculous! I realize I am across the ocean but I took all of the steps leading up to going abroad in order to avoid this! This is your job, do it. Companies have no interest in phone interviews and I just don't understand. By studying abroad, I'm doing something that a lot of students don't have the drive, motivation, or quite frankly the balls to do. Why should I be punished for it? Aren't those all desirable qualities in the workplace...balls included? It is just one of the most frustrating feelings I have ever had. I know for a fact that I am more qualified than a lot of the students that I have spoken to who are getting great jobs. But because I'm willing to break out of the Northeastern campus bubble, I'm not even considered. AHHHHH!

Breathe Kaitlyn...

Anyways, today in particular we were discussing common stages of home-sickness that plague expatriates. First of all there are 4 defined stages of culture shock: honeymoon, irritation and hostility, gradual adjustment, and then bi-culturalism. I don't think it takes much analyzing to realize that I am in the irritation and hostility phase. Along with this come different symptoms of culture shock. Hearing my teacher rattle them off today I had to keep myself from laughing because they were so incredibly on point. One point definitely stood out more than others though. 'Clean and organize excessively'. I'm known to have a rather messy room at home. Looking for clothes typically involves digging through a number of different piles. Living here it has been somewhat of a twilight zone. I clean my room daily, make my bed every morning, do the dishes, sweep the floor, and I've scrubbed my toilet at least 5 times. Definitely different. The reason for this? People going through culture shock can't control the majority of the things that occur in their life anymore, so they turn to controlling the one thing that they definitely can...their home. Phew, so that explains this weird weird behavior...I was starting to worry.

*Note: In case you couldn't tell from the frustration, I didn't get the Goldman Sachs job.

London!

Aside from the lack of a train to Hogwarts, London was pretty awesome. I spent the weekend visiting one of my oldest friends who is studying at the London Dramatic Academy for the year. The weekend had it's ups and downs (the weather being the main down). On Thursday night when I arrived we immediately went to the famous Absolut IceBar. That was definitely something to experience. Absolutely everything is made of ice, and they give you huge parkas to wear when you walk in. Friday I got to walk around by myself a little while my friend was in class. I checked out a flea market on the street which had a ton of cool stuff for relatively cheap (aka cheap in pounds...). After successfully dodging traffic for a few hours I met back up with Maddie. Friday night we went a little outside of London to see the premiere of a play that she had been interning at this semester. Before we got there though we got to check out the sight of an important scene from Closer, which is one of my favorite movies!! Saturday we spent the day at Covent Garden Market to see all of the upcoming St. Patricks Day festivities. Of course we made time for a little discount shopping too. Also I was extremely excited for Saturday night because I got to meet up with Bobby, one of my good friends from Northeastern. It was so good to see him and to spend some time catching up. Unfortunately, we had saved most of the typical sightseeing (i.e. Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Changing of the Guards, Notting Hill...) until Sunday. Of course it was pouring rain that day. The Changing of the Guards didn't happen, but I did get to see Buckingham Palace. And I do have one picture of Big Ben from halfway across the city. Obviously it wasn't ideal, but what can you do. We did get a nice surprise though while taking refuge in a small cafe by Picadilly Circus. As we were trying to warm up, the official St. Paddys Day Parade went right by our cafe. We got to see the whole thing AND stay warm! So that was definitely a nice treat :)

Here are some pictures from London:

Maddie and I at the Absolut IceBar

Double-Decker Bus!

In Postmans Park - Scene from 'Closer'

Picadilly Circus

Buckingham Palace

Our view of the St. Paddys Parade!

While seeing all of the excitement for St. Patricks Day in London was incredibly cool, it also hit home a bit. St. Paddys is one of the most fun days at Northeastern, and in Boston in general. Missing out on it this year definitely made me "school-sick". When I got back to Lyon I realized that my friend Meg was suffering the same thing. So to cheer ourselves up we got dressed in our Red Sox gear and blasted Dropkick Murphy's. Hey, it may not be Boston...but who says we can't pretend!

Midterms

Just in case I was getting bored of stressing out over co-op, I have had the stress of midterms to switch to for the past week. Last week was my French midterm (which was announced the day before), yesterday I had International Business Law, and today to finish them off I had International Management and Art History. Going into this semester, I have to admit that I assumed it would be a joke. The concept of not getting straight-A's hadn't really crossed my mind. However, between the tests the past two days, and a conversation with a friend today, I am beginning to get nervous....

My French test was easy so I'm not too worried about that. Yesterday leading up to my BLAW test I was kind of freaking out. The rumors were that his tests were impossible. Even though I have decided to take that class pass/fail (due to lets say 'personal differences' with the professor) I was honestly nervous that I wasn't going to be able to get a C...which is the passing grade at CEFAM. Turns out it was somewhat of a joke. It was four essay questions that he had clearly just thought of on the metro five minutes earlier...no comment. Anyways, I started off this morning with International Management. The test itself was actually very easy. It was a case study that we had been almost overly prepared for, and I really had a great understanding of the subject matter. The time crunch is what got me in trouble. It was a rather long case study and I am a relatively slow reader when it comes to 'textbook' style writing. I took a long time really trying to get my points across in the first question when my professor announced that there were only 10 minutes left. At which point I realized that I hadn't even begun to answer questions 2 or 3. Needless to say I was freaking out, and quickly tried to write down as many sensible points as I could. Leaving that room I felt awful. I'm pretty sure I bombed that one. But I wasn't done for the day, this afternoon I also had my Art History test. I thought that was pretty easy so again, not too worried.

So at that point I was feeling alright, I figured 3/4 wasn't too bad, and I could make up for the Management one the rest of this semester. That is until I had a conversation with one of my French friends. She explained to me that the French grade everything on a scale of 20. To them, the grade of 18/20 was considered a solid A and really good. She said that rarely do they give anything higher, and usually that was the best that you could get. Now that's all fine and good if you're staying in France, but my grades transfer exactly as they are back to my Northeastern transcript. An 18/20 in American terms is the equivalent of a 90...an A-. Now I hate to sound anal, but I have a very good GPA and it is something that I pride myself on. I've only had 3 B's in my entire stretch at college thus far. So if an A- is the absolute best I can do (if I'm completely perfect)...pardon my French but that's bullshit!

Ugh...France is getting more and more annoying every day.

Heading to London this weekend to see my oldest friend will be nice, and I am incredibly excited to hear everyone speaking English!!

When in Rome...

I spent this past weekend in Rome visiting my boyfriend. It was an incredible weekend. Rome is, hands down, one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited. It's insane to see a place where everything is either old, older, or ancient. "Modern" isn't even a concept. Among the sights that I got to see were the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Colosseum, Roman Forum, the Vatican and Sistine Chapel (which I have to admit, I wasn't that impressed with), and a breathtaking view of Rome from the top of the Monument to Vittorio Emmanual. Here are some pictures:

Trevi Fountain

The Pantheon at night

St. Peters in the Vatican

Monument to Vittorio Emmanual (aka the Wedding Cake)

View from the top!

The Roman Forum

Inside the Colosseum

Leading up to this trip I was beginning to get jealous of Adam. The people that he is with seem to really enjoy each other and going out together. While our crew was doing a lot of that at the beginning, it is becoming more obvious that our patience with each other is beginning to wear. I would get jealous when he would go out at night and have a great time, while some nights it seemed all we would do here is bicker. Between the beauty of Rome, the food, and the great nightlife, I was starting to wonder....did I make a mistake? Not saying that I would have gone to Rome per say, but the thought has occurred to me that maybe just choosing France because I took the language in high school wasn't the best of decisions. However, after visiting Rome (and I seem to be having this feeling more and more) I'm realizing that there are things about everywhere that I would dislike. I'm not trying to sound picky here, but it's not the easiest choice to make, and every city is going to come with its fair share of 'culture shocks'. The incredible amount of tourists and English being spoken in Rome was such a turn-off. So for reasons such as that, I have to say that I am still happy with my choice of Lyon, even if it isn't ideal. I guess what they say is fitting....the grass is always greener on the other side.

Now to get snapped back into reality a bit, yesterday I had an interview with Goldman Sachs Boston Global Advisors. I think it went really well, definitely better than the last one. And I seem to be a really good fit for the position. I was told that I will be contacted by the end of the week either way, so *fingers crossed!*

"Spring" Break 08!!!

Ok so just to play a little catch up...

I didn't get the Credit Suisse job, and Merrill Lynch never even attempted to reschedule with me. So as far as Coop goes...I'm back to square one.

HOWEVER! This past week was "Spring" break for CEFAM. I'm not sure since when the last week of February is considered spring, but hey, I'll take it. The first weekend of it (Feb 22-24), was a bit lonely to put it lightly. My family arrived on Sunday afternoon. But pretty much everyone that I live with left at about 7 on Saturday morning, so I had a lot of alone time. It was kind of interesting because it was a little taste of how much I am going to miss these people. I can't even think about that right now though...

On Sunday, I met my parents and brother at the train station and we headed to their hotel. It was absolutely AWESOME seeing them. I didn't quite realize how homesick I was until the weekend before they came when I was talking to them on Skype. They were all in the living room with my dogs and it made me miss home so incredibly bad. So spotting my 25 year old brother, Raymond, clad in sweatpants and full American glory among the sea of black "oh so chic" French clothing was the best feeling. When we got to their hotel I surprised my parents with a little wine and cheese happy hour, which was greatly appreciated. We spent the rest of the day on Sunday and most of Monday exploring Lyon. The Basilica was definitely the winner, I didn't think my mom had any plans to leave.



Monday afternoon is really when the vacation started to get interesting. Instead of spending the week leisurely hanging out, or being carelessly led around by a tour group, my intrepid family decided to do things a bit differently. We rented a car and drove to Chamonix in the French Alps for a few days of skiing. For a group of people who have spent many years skiing, getting to do even just a few runs in the Alps was a dream come true. Chamonix was absolutely lovely. It was interesting to see because all of the ski towns in Utah and Colorado try so hard to look 'Alpine'. Seeing what they were aiming for was very cool.



Probably the highlight from this leg of the trip though was at dinner one of the nights. My parents decided to order two different versions of Raclette, which my mother was absolutely sure she knew what it was. However, after two large heating devices, a quarter of a wheel of cheese, a bowl of plain potatoes, and a few other ingredients came out, she wasn't so sure anymore. Needless to say it was hilarious, and after a bit of hard work quite delicious. Just to get an idea, this was about half of what they received: Moral of the story: If you need an extension cord for your dinner, be prepared to roll up your sleeves a bit.After a long ride back to Lyon, and a few difficulties with the 'TomTom', we were able to get ourselves on a train to Paris for the weekend.

Unfortunately, my break was riddled with stress about co-op. I had to bring my computer along with me all week. The constant checking of MyNeuCOOL (our co-op database) and continual e-mails to my elusive co-op advisor didn't exactly spell out fun. I was just so grateful that I had my family with me. As bad and discouraging news just seemed to roll in, having them there was keeping me sane. All in all it was a fantastic break, and spending it with the people who really are 'home' was the nicest break that I could ask for.

And after they left, I was definitely missing them but I guess my dad always does come through. While digging around in my bag for my metro pass, I found a pair of his black socks from skiing. So now I guess a little bit of them is still here...Thanks Daddy.