Bliss in Bretagne

On Tuesday, Paulie's family took us to the coast of Bretagne to visit Mont-Saint-Michel.

Reunited with Paulie at last!

Monday morning, I set off for Paris to meet my friend, Paulie, and her boyfriend. I haven't seen her in over three years now, how crazy?! Last time we were together was the summer after our junior year in the Lavandou with her family so it was so great to finally be reunited.

Summer of 2011

Together at last! - Fall of 2014

Betties in Beaune

Beaune: a tiny town made of cobblestone streets, 15th-century architecture, and Bourgogne wine. It is the epitome of what you would imagine the wine region of France to be!

Feeling Lucky!

Wow. I don't know if I was just so happy to be reunited with my dad or if Dublin City is truly just so magnificent, but I have to say that this weekend I went on one of the best trips I have ever taken. The city itself is not only beautiful and lively, but the people we met there were all so incredibly warm and kindhearted. Everyone from our taxi driver to the gentleman running the cashier for the Book of Kells tour was eager to help and quick to make conversation - I have never met a city of people as hospitable as I did in Dublin.

Cassis et Les Calanques

Friday morning, Danielle and I left Lyon (and the pouring rain) for the beautiful town of Cassis!

American Cravings of the Week

Thai Food - Thai Canteen, if we're going to be more specific.

My sorority - Especially my class. I mean look, this is self-explanatory.

Officially Un-Teen

My 20th birthday! I have been contemplating this for a while - the fact that I am technically no longer a child - and, for now, I am over my quarter-life crisis. I mean, for heaven's sake, today's supposed to be about celebrating and not about worrying how a quarter of my life has gone by in the blink of an eye.

Although it was certainly hard being away from home today (even all the wonderful FaceTime calls in the world can't replace real hugs and kisses), I am so lucky to have such a wonderful host family and to have made incredible friends in Lyon. A special thank you to my host mom and Danielle for making this day so special!

The tarte aux pralines, a Lyonnaise specialty, my host family got for me

 Angelina's hot chocolate - the best!

And tomorrow, I'm off to Cassis with Danielle for the birthday weekend - stay tuned!

My Munich Adventure

This weekend I went to Munich to enjoy Oktoberfest with some of my best friends from home who are also studying abroad! What a trip to remember...

La Colline qui Travaille

There are two required classes by the UCEAP program that we need to take during the semester in addition to our four university classes: Société Française and SLM. For Société Française, our group is split so that half of us have the class the first part of the semester and then the other half have the class the second part. I'm in the first group!

So Monday morning, Société Française met on the hill of Croix-Rousse for class! Our professor, an extremely nice Frenchman, met all of us at Place Colbert where he began the lesson. He gave us a little history of Lyon, emphasizing the importance of the two fleuves (the Rhône and the Saône) and the two collines (Fourvière and Croix-Rousse). Fourvière is the hill that prays, while Croix-Rousse is the hill that works.

During the 16th century, Lyon was granted a monopoly on silk production by King Francis I and became the capital of the European silk trade. As the industry grew, the silk workshops were moved from Vieux Lyon up to Croix-Rousse in the 18th century where they would get to most natural light all year long. The canuts (silk workers), unlike a typical ouvrier of the times, were extremely dedicated workers with an enormous amount of knowledge about their profession. Despite their extreme importance to the silk industry, they were subjected to exceedingly poor working conditions and long hours, which led them to stage many worker revolts. The first of which is considered to be one of the very first worker uprisings in history.

Our professor then led us to through the traboules, passageways used by the canuts to carry the silk from the top of the hill to Place des Terreaux at the bottom of hill. These passages were much different then the ones Mom and I had seen in Vieux Lyon. Since they were meant to help workers descend the hill, there were hundreds of steps that passed through buildings and courtyards. Many of the buildings we saw had been built around the 18th century, purposefully tall and strong to support all the silk looms.

It was extremely fun to see this side of town and to learn about all the history that had happened on the very steps we were walking on!