Laughter is the Universal Language

I don't want anyone to think for a second that I'm not having the time of my life, because I am! But, at the same time, being in a new place isn't easy. It's overwhelming! It gets difficult to communicate when someone doesn't speak your language. It is hard to not only meet new people in France, but new fellow American students here as well. Travel and planning is exhausting, let alone the MILES of city, hills, mountains, and trails we walk each day. It is all worth it of course, but the only thing that gets me through the day here is laughter. When I cannot communicate with someone in the city, they laugh that I speak no French, and I laugh that they speak no English, we laugh at our frustration, and it makes the struggle easier to acknowledge that we are both human through our laughter. When we can't find our train in the middle of a busy train station full of no one who can help us find our way, we laugh because crying over it would be silly. We laugh when we fall because we simply cannot walk any longer. We laugh when we cant read the menus at restaurants. We laugh when we have no clue how to eat the food that we order. Through the short time I've been here I've learned that Laughter is such a universal language; I think it's beautiful.

This weekend, I traveled to Lyon with 4 other students: 3 from JWU Charlotte, and 1 from JWU Providence.

Clearly, we had a GREAT time! We saw it ALL! It was a big change from being in Yssingeaux because Lyon is like 10x bigger. When I try to think of an American city to compare it to, I cannot come up with one that does it justice but I suppose that Paris is to New York as Lyon is to Chicago. Lyon is also the gastronomic capitol of France (that's a fancy way to say that they have the best food) and I can't say that I disagree. The food was fantastic! In our short 48 hours of time in Lyon we:

 -ate at a quaint crepe shop that a man ran out of his home where I had the BEST crepes I have ever had. 

- We shopped literally until we dropped

-We saw the Rhone river along with MANY other landmarks

-We ate sorbet

-We ate pastries

-We ate icecream

-We ate macaroons

-We ate cheese

-We ate honey

-We ate blood oranges

-We ate Seafood

-We ate creme brulee

-We ate Chocolate that was inside a real egg-shell

-We worked all the calories off by hiking to the top of Old City Lyon

- We were given roses by a hot french florist man

-We were offered free drinks and churros by a restaurant owner (yes there are churros in France)

-We got yelled at in a mystery language by a flock of gypsies because we accidentally roamed into their territory of secrets

-We came by complete accident across a huge parade of children dressed as funny characters from Pixar movies and lots of drumming bands.

-We saw many beautiful churches

-We adored grafitti

-We "awed" over many french children

-We ate a picnic of fresh market foods in a park

-We played on a playground

-We drank fancy drinks

-We hiked through the ruins of an old theater

- We took lots of pictures

-We rode on trains and in taxis

-We watched French Music videos in our hotel

-We learned that some McDonalds have "Walk-Thrus"

-We took silly pictures on honorable statues

-We had a blast.

Here are a few pictures of these things:

I'm sure i'm forgetting some things... but basically, I had an exhausting, fantastic, beautiful weekend with some great people! Tomorrow I begin Breads Class.

Have a great Monday, Everyone. Remember to laugh.