La Fête des Lumières

La Fête des Lumières, or the Festival of Lights, is a giant annual event in Lyon.  I went on two days, Thursday, and then again on Friday with Tina (which I will talk about in the next post)!

Here are a few photos from Friday! Unfortunately, I didn't use my camera Thursday, so I took these from some friends.  I'll have a lot more for the next post!

Photo from the animation at Place des Terreaux!

Some friends and I on rue de la Republique in Place Bellecour

Gabby and I with the installation at Hotel de Ville

Cordeliers? Not sure exactly where this was...

I'll have more photos of the light festival in the next post!  Also, if I can, I am going to try and attach a video! Let's hope it works!!

Olympique Lyonnais

One of my favorite things that I did all semester was go to see an Olympique Lyonnais game with Gabby!  Olympique Lyonnais is the soccer team of Lyon, and is one of the best teams in France.  (Or THE best, depending on who you are talking to haha.)  The game was very rowdy, and all of the fans were very into it, with yelling and screaming, and it was impossible to sit for any portion of the game, because everyone stood the whole time.  There were many chants and songs that everyone seemed to know to sing or chant at specific times, and some of them occurred over and over, so by the end we had caught on slightly!

Stade de Gerland

We won! (We beat Montpellier!)

Gabby and I got shirts in advance so we could look like true fans!

Overall, we had a great time! It was a very educational French experience, and if I was ever in Lyon again, I would surely attend another game!!

El Sombrero!

One night, Gabby, Michelle, and I decided to go to a Mexican restaurant in Lyon called El Sombrero, where they actually give you sombreros to wear while you're eating!  Unfortunately, the food was a little disappointing and not as good as the Mexican in the U.S., but I surely enjoyed wearing my Mariachi hat! haha

My mariachi hat!

My mariachi dance!

Our "entree": guac & chips

Our "plat": chicken burrito with a mini salad (which I ate most of before the photo, oops!)

Overall, we had enjoyed the evening, and even if the food wasn't quite what we were expecting, it was cheap and a nice break from cooking!

Thanksgiving!

Before Thanksgiving dinner, myself and two friends went over to one of our professor's houses to bake.  We had a great time, and I made some of my favorite, pumpkin cookies! It was a bit of a challenge since some of the ingredients were a bit different, and the measuring utensils were not in the same units, but they came out good!

Pumpkin cookies!

Apple cake and apple crisp!

While Ena and I worked on the cookies, Nessy made the most amazing guac ever.

After baking, we got dressed and ready to go to Thanksgiving.  It was a really nice evening, but of course, nothing like spending time with family and a come cooked meal!  I must say that I really missed my good old green bean casserole and some stovetop! haha

The Americans at Thanksgiving!

My dinner...must say I was a little hungry after hehe

Overall, I had a nice day, though it certainly didn't seem like Thanksgiving, especially since I went to class earlier that day!  The best part was definitely getting to do a little baking in a real house!

Toulouse!

On November 16th, I flew out to visit cousin Denise and her family in Toulouse!  It was wonderful visiting them because I have had literally no interaction with any relatives until then since I have been here, and it was also the first time I had been in an actual house in months!!  It was also really nice to not have to cook for a little while, and Deedee was a super good cook, and I got to eat lots of good, homeade things I can't possibly make in my tiny apartment.  It was really nice to spend time with my little cousins Zac and especially Nola, who I really enjoyed coloring pictures with!!

Here are some of my photos from my visit to some historical places around the city of Toulouse!

 

The town hall!

Palm tree!!

There was a mirror around the bottom of the pillar, so you could look down and see the ceiling, and it almost felt creepy, like you were going to fall!

Some of the most beautiful stained glass windows I have ever seen.

The clouds in the window outside the plane were beautiful on the trip back!!

You can see the tops of the Pyrenees poking above the clouds!

Overall, I had a great weekend and was sad when it ended! Stay tuned for Thanksgiving!