We only had class in the morning on Friday, so my friends and I spent our afternoon lounging around a pool (at one of the host family houses) and enjoying the warm weather. After dinner, we met back up at a bar in the Croix-Rousse with some students from Austria and Switzerland. I tried to act casual, but I felt so cool ordering my own drink from the bar. If you want to read the review on my first ever Aperol Spritz, head over to my Chews Wisely page!

Unfortunately, I only took photos during the morning tour, so please enjoy another picture of the Saint-Jean cathedral with light streaming through the stained glass windows.

My new phrase for this week was faire la grasse matinée, or to sleep-in longer than usual. Needless to say, I was delighted to experience la grasse matinée Saturday morning after a week of classes. In the afternoon, we rode a Vaporetto down the Saòne river and got off at the Confluence neighborhood for a tour with my program director Laurie.

The Confluence neighborhood is fairly new and characterized by its modern architecture. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very impressive. However, I can see modern buildings most anywhere in America, so I much prefer the historical architecture found in the rest of Lyon. Several of these buildings are very vibrant, and I don’t want to use the word “eyesore” but… they’d probably look better in a different city. One of these modern buildings is called “la Mimolette”, which is a type of French cheese. It shouldn’t be difficult to figure out which photo features this cheesy structure.

Soup du Jour : nénuphar (lily pad)

After our tour, we decided to visit a café-florist hybrid that one of my friends found on TikTok (the only thing TikTok is good for, in my humble opinion). On our way there, we walked through Place des Terreaux and met an artist named Julien while he was painting la Fontaine Bartholdi. He was just as friendly as he is talented!

The café we went to is called Un Brin De Folie, or “a bit of madness”. For my fellow beavers, it reminded me of the Greenhouse café in Corvallis, just cheaper and plus chic. The best part? Air conditioning.

The absolute highlight of the week was finally meeting my host sister Sanae. She’s 13 and a constant source of entertainment. Sanae is an impressive combination of intelligent, passionate, and hilarious. I thought the other French people spoke fast, but Sanae puts them all to shame. Even though she’s impossible to understand when she gets into a heated conversation about politics (or her first day of school), she’s extremely expressive. Needless to say, I’m usually laughing when Sanae is in the room.

On Sunday, I went on a gorgeous hike with my host family and their friends. Anne wanted to take a photo for the frame I brought from Colorado, so we snapped a quick selfie at the summit. That’s Anne, Sanae, Nicholas (Anne’s partner) and me!

For the record, I was crouching down. Sanae isn’t that much taller, but she might have me beat by a few centimeters…

We hiked on les Monts d’Or near Lyon and enjoyed a picnic lunch in the shade. I walked past various cabornes, petit rock cabins like the one pictured here! It was a sun-soaked, peaceful day with good folks and great views.