Philosophy
C'est la vie
I've lost a lot of time worrying and caring about useless things, but now I am removing that habit from my life and trying my best to live carefree.

Well, if that description box to your right didn't tell you enough about me, then this page wouldn't either. See the thing is, I can never fill up these pages with things about myself because I just don't know what to say. I mean those little blurbs about me is just about all you need to know. I'm not that much of an interesting person. I'm like every teenage girl you see on the internet, who's still trying to figure herself out and is just wandering amongst other confused people of her kind. This blog has helped in some ways, and has allowed me to see the many transitions and obstacles I've faced in life.
I've been running this blog for about 6 years now, which is better than any paper diary I could ever keep up. I'm horrible at journals because I tend to get lazy and give up because I just have so much to update. I keep coming back to this blog because I feel some attachment to it. Actually, it's just much easier to spam with pictures and type than getting hand cramps and smudging the page with my horrible penmanship. Keeping a blog online however, means it is accessible to you internet folks. Yes, I can lock it. But you know what? I won't because anyone who wants to follow me along this journey can feel free to. Though honestly, I'd most likely forget my password to blogger one day and won't be able to access my blog.
Anyways, if you read all this you must have a lot of time on your hands or you might just be really curious about me. You can do the job of inferring what kind of person I am based on this paragraph. Thanks for reading!



THE END

Credits more;

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Bonjour mes amis, je suis en France!
I hope to blog as much as I can about my little adventures and struggles of my stay. I will try to stay as consistent as I can and provide as many pictures so future me, and readers can live vicariously through my journey. So where do I start?

Pre-departure/Flights 
After my struggle with packing, Sunday finally arrived. We arrived at the airport at 3:00PM with my flight departing at 5:45PM. I checked in and my wonderful group of friends Shranks, Turtle, Vinh, Snake, Tans, and Vu, all came to the airport to say their good byes. Since morning, the thought of being in France still didn't hit me! I felt like I was going to wake up in the same bed the next day with Jupiter rubbing his face on my feet, so I was definitely not prepared for the "being alone and homesick" feels. When I got through security check and waved bye to my family and friends, I finally realized how alone I was and how much I will miss my friends and family. They were looking down at me through the windows and I was so tempted to just turn around and give up on the whole trip. But I toughened up and when I go to my gate I started to feel a bit more determined and independent. The feeling of independence didn't last as long as I thought it would though, immediately as I sat down I was approached by another participant of the program and I joined the two for the whole flight.
My first flight was from Ottawa to Montreal. Of course, it was a quick short flight but it would be the last time (until I reach France) to communicate with my friends. Upon arriving Montreal, we waited a bit until boarding the flight to Brussels. Surprisingly the airplane was not as big as I thought it would be. My standards have been quite high since my flight with Japan Airlines, so I expected a two floor airplane. The flight was 13 hours and the airplane food was OK (cold dinner rolls and mashed potatoes). Of course, I didn't get a window seat in any of my flights so I have no pictures to offer. I slept most of the 13 hours. I downloaded about 6 hours worth of shows but I didn't even finish one. It was super uncomfortable sleeping though; I would wake up every 20 minutes switching positions and my thin blanket was not enough to keep me warm (kind of my fault for wearing a thin trench coat and tank top).
I was so excited when we finally reached Brussels. Never in my dreams did I think I would land upon the soils of my beloved land (haha being a little dramatic here)- nonetheless, I was so ready to devour belgian waffles for my 2 hour layover! And of course things go wrong sometimes... our flight arrived late, 9AM and we had to board our connecting flight at 9:15 AM. And of course more things can go wrong sometimes... the flight we had to board was on the other side of the terminal. And guess what? We had to get through a long line at customs (eventually skipping ahead 40 people) and then another security check. So the second I stepped onto my beloved land I was already sweating and running through the gate to catch my flight on time. By then I was already leaving Belgium.

Day 1: Arrival + Settling in
When I arrived in Lyon I was so tired and feeling very groggy from my run and 10+ hours of sleep. However, more surprises awaited me. After waiting an hour for my baggage it turned out it was delayed. I parted with my fellow program comrades and exited the airport in search of my family friends while everyone else took the Rhone-Express. I found my parent's friend immediately and we got back to her place. I called my supervisor to cancel our meeting at 2PM because there was no way I could make it in time. When I entered my parents' friend's house, I was greeted right away with "la bise" from her daughter. La bise is basically the cheek kisses that french people do when greeting each other. I was so taken aback by the action, it made me realize.. I'm actually in France! Obviously I was rather awkward for my first bise because when she breached my personal bubble, I instinctively stepped back and then I realized what she was trying to do. I don't think I did it right, but I did get quite a lot of practice because everyone that I met at their household that day approached me with la bise. It's such a cute and intimate gesture, I can't seem to get used to it!
While waiting for my family friend's brother to come home and drive me to the office and then the residence, I was freaking about when my baggage would arrive. I thought at that point I would have to survive with what was in the small baggage for a whole week... or the whole trip if they lost it!! As well, the office would close at 5PM and we didn't leave until 2PM. It took an hour to get to the residence office and about another 30 minutes finding parking. When I got to the office I had a lot of documents to give and a lot of things to sign. One other difficulty was the language. That is a totally different story to talk about but let's just say my french speaking skills are minimal and so are my Lao speaking skills, however I can understand a bit of french and a lot of Lao; my parent's friend only spoke Laos and French, while every administrative person I spoke to, spoke french. Hopefully, you'll kind of get the picture of my situation. After dealing with the documents, I was sent to the residence which was the building right behind the company's office. I paid for my residence, dealt with more paper work and received the keys to my room. We went up and checked out the place. One word for the room: tiny. It was plain and very small. But I knew I would eventually grow into it.
After checking out the room, we headed out grocery shopping at the french version of costco. I grabbed all the things that were necessary and placed in the large baggage. After feeling a bit better about the purchases, when we got back my parents' friend's daughter received a phone call that my baggage was on the way back, so much relief! I had dinner at their place and was sent back by their daughter. They helped me put my luggage away and showed me to my lab by the metro.
When I got back around 12AM and entered my room, a lot of the trip just sunk into me. That feeling of freedom and independence shrivelled and the feelings of being isolated and alone was overwhelming. The room felt like a stranger to me, let alone this whole country and the people in it. My phone could barely reach any civilization and the stone age ethernet cable didn't make me feel any better. I began to regret my whole decision on the trip and felt like breaking down. After figuring out the ethernet and reaching some form of communication with the outside world I felt a little bit better. I stayed up until 2-3AM unpacking and organizing myself. It felt so much better to see an organized and more familiar room. I slept that night with thoughts of returning home.





Day 2: Lab + Finding my way through the city

I had to wake up early to see my supervisor at 8:30AM. I got myself up, dressed, and out on an adventure to find the bus stop and metro station. The morning walk was actually quite lovely. The flowers and architecture of each building brightened my day up. One thing to note about France, everyone that lives or works in the same area as you, will greet you with a "Bonjour!" or "Salut!". When I got to the Cancer centre, it took about 30 minutes to find my lab. There are so many complexes and turns it was rather confusing. When I finally found my supervisor, she introduced me to all the lab members, from my team and other teams as well. Everyone was really nice and welcoming. She showed me around the lab area and even gave me some croissants and meringue during coffee/tea break (so French eh?). After signing some more papers, she invited me for lunch, but I had to go find the French co-ordinator of the program to grab some more documents before her office hours closed. I metro'd to the main area and ended up getting lost and scared, so I metro'd back to my residence. I got lost for about 30 minutes trying to find my residence and took the wrong turn (I ended up doing circles around my building). When I got back I decided to wait for another member of the program to arrive and go with him to the office instead. After he dealt with his residence stuff, we walked to the office, which was not too far. I got my documents, an old phone (for the program to call and text other members), and information about the city.
I went back to my lab (taking the tram this time) for a bit to discuss my project, which ended up being very similar to my last project at uOttawa. When I got back to my residence, I went with three others from my residence to a train station located across the Rhone. In France, everything closes early so we had to sprint there and barely made on time. The view across the river was gorgeous though. Afterwards, we dropped by this grocery store called "Casino" and grabbed a couple of things. When I got home I was absolutely tired. The first meal I had for the day was pizza from Pizzahut. Not what I was expecting haha.


Day 3: Bellecour

I pretty much slept in this whole day until 1PM. I misunderstood my supervisor and believed that she had wanted me to come in at 2PM. She meant that I should be going in at 8:30AM to do readings and then do my cell culture at 2PM. After the lab, my 2/3 of my fellow res neighbours and I went out to grab a quiche for dinner. We then decided to take a metro to Bellecour and explore a little. Bellecour is the central area for shopping and dining in Lyon (along with Vieux Lyon). To end the day we shared a chocolate banana brownie icecream plate with raspberry icecream on the side at Häagen-dazs. It was rather expensive but I enjoyed my first dessert in France.








Day 4: Gare de Part-dieu + Bouchon Lyonnaise + Palais Justice

I took the tram to the lab. At this point I have started to fall into a routine. I've got most of my room cleaned up and organized. I do hope to decorate more of it. As for the lab, I got there early to do some readings and later some cell culture. When I finished I met up with some other people from the program, as well the person I flew to France with. We made plans to meet up at a bouchon that night for dinner in Vieux Lyon. We had a lot of things to do that evening, in fact, we wanted to travel to Geneva the next day. My res crew rushed over to Gare de Part-dieu to get out "Carte jeune", which gives you 20-60% reductions in train tickets throughout Europe (with the company SNCF). When we got there though, we decided to buy our cards later since we were still unsure (it was 50 euros to get the card). We then made our way over to Vieux Lyon. What can I say about this part of Lyon? It is absolutely quaint and gorgeous. It felt like I was in Quebec city- but this is the real thing! There are patisseries and bouchons at every corner. We went to a bouchon called "Le Laurencin". You must be wondering what a bouchon is? It's a kind of French restaurant that Lyon specializes in- it's basically a restaurant that serves a three course meal in large portions, with menus that focus on meats that you normally won't eat. I'm not a big fan of meat focused meals, so I did go the lighter path, but I was definitely filled up! The food was very filling and full of flavour. My friends ordered a bottle of red wine (which didn't really match my plate), but in total it was 20 euros for that large three course meal. I'd say I got my money's worth!







Afterwards we walked a bit around Vieux Lyon and reached the Palais Justice and this gorgeous lit up bridge. I noticed a lot of couples and friends drinking by the river. Something I'd definitely like to do if my friends were here with me! Anyways, at the bridge we were taking photos, when we bumped into some other Canadians in different programs. One of then went to my high school and we did track together, so that was quite a funny coincidence. Two of them decided to travel with us.




Day 5: Part-dieu Mall + Puvis

Today was a holiday, so I didn't have to go into the lab. We decided not to travel to Geneva today because it was expensive (not to get there, but just to be there) and most of us were too tired from last night. Also I would like to save Geneva for when my parents visit. Instead, we headed to Gare de Part-dieu to purchase our carte jeunes and then to the big mall beside it to meet up with others. At some point my eyes started to hurt so I wanted to go to the washroom. When I found the washroom, I realized there was quite the long up... to a desk. The access to this "public washroom" was 0.50 euros, to a standard shared washroom! The rumours about France washrooms are actually true. After going around the mall looking for food (we didn't really have much time to shop), we stopped at a boulangerie and got some beignets. After that we headed to the other residence located in Villeurbanne and planned our trip for the next day. We decided to go hiking in Grenoble. 





Day 6: Grenoble 

We woke up extra early that day and rushed over to the train station once the trams started running. We made just on time to retrieve our tickets and hop onto the train with everyone else. The train ride was about 1 hour and 40 mins, and it was very scenic. Since it was so early in the morning, we got to see misty mountains and cute little villages. Upon arriving Grenoble, I was expecting a small village, but the town is actually pretty big and it's located between several mountains. You could even see the alps in the background! We arrived there pretty early in the morning so there weren't that many people out yet. We made our way to the mountains and let me say- I was definitely not in hiking material. I had sneakers on that got very dirty and almost worn out from the hiking. We hiked for 3 hours to get to the top. To get to the castle Bastille, it took about 2 hours. The view is gorgeous. Looking beyond the mountains you can see houses planted in the valleys. I really wondered how nice it would be to live there and waking up to this view everyday. It was definitely cold when we go to the top; we were chilling amongst the clouds after all. After that we hiked down through a different path filled with wobbly concrete stairs. When we got back in the town, it was super hot and the sun blazed on our backs- I was not expecting that! Walking through the town, I noticed it was more vibrant and alive than in the morning. People filled the empty streets we walked through previously. While people were in search of food, I was in search of desserts. I found a cute gelato place called Amorino, that serves gelato in flower form! We had a lot of fun in Grenoble and it was definitely a place I will not forget. 



















Day 7: Vieux Lyon + Patisseries

I met up with my parents' friend on this day and she brought me over to her place in Meyzieu. I was craving asian food that whole week, so when her mom made pho I was in heaven. Later, her daughter brought me to Vieux Lyon and we got up to the top of a mountain where Lyon's iconic cathedral layed. It was very busy that day so I didn't get to spend as much time in the cathedral, but the view was great! I will definitely visit when I have more time to explore. When we got back down, we decided to hit up a patisserie. To describe my experience, a saying comes to mind, "your eyes are bigger than your stomach"- pretty much sums up my issue. I first wanted an eclair, but then I wanted Lyon's specialty tarte.. so I ended up getting both; even the waiter was surprised I wanted both. They looked like such small portions, but the sugar really does fill you up fast! Lesson learnt: be minimalistic with your orders, since French food is made to be very filling. I have a bad problem with this at my lab cafeteria (which is the bomb dot com by the way). We get discounts on the food so desserts and an entree ends up being around 3 euros. I am tempted by the desserts everytime since they are located right at the entrance of the cafeteria (why would they do that?!). Anyways, it was a lovely day. 




This has been my trip thus far and I am already into week two while I was writing this. So far everything has been just a huge learning experience. There's so much to discover and adapt to everyday! From culture, to living alone... it has all been a new experience to me. I hope I can continue to write so my adventures and struggles won't be forgotten by future me, and maybe some of you readers can watch me grow. For now, I will leave it at that. 
À bientôt! 
Listen: Patrick James - Message
xo 
Brenda

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