Post-Flight Haze

Well, I've arrived in France! I already feel immensely jet-lagged so hopefully it goes away soon. The 10 hour flight to Germany was fairly smooth and I managed to keep myself preoccupied most of the time with everything but sleep. I then had a 3 hour layover in Frankfurt and then finally, I was off to Lyon. I'm pretty sure I haven't slept in at least 24 hours (and that's not counting the horrible night's sleep before). Oh well, I'm here for a while, I've got time to recuperate.

Driving from Saint Exupery airport towards Lyon city center was not what I expected. After leaving the terminal behind we were suddenly surrounded by cornfields. I suppose there's more countryside surrounding the city than I expected. Soon enough we were in Lyon, what seems like a quaint city with two beautiful rivers running through it (I only saw one today but I'm sure I'll be spending many an afternoon or evening sipping wine and eating cheese and baguettes by it...or so I hope). My first impressions of the city are that it is charming, the perfect size (not too big but not too small), and seems to be very livable. This is precisely why I chose it and I can only hope that these perceptions are true.

After getting settled into my cute little hotel (and by getting settled I mean dragging my 100 pounds of luggage up a flight of stairs - they have an elevator but apparently it doesn't work...?) in the Croix Rousse neighborhood of the city, I chilled out for a bit until Katie (yes, we're both named Katie, not confusing at all haha) got here. After her arrival we both decided we were pretty beat but thought it'd be a good idea to get a little something to eat before we passed out for the night.

Guess what my first meal in France was? Un sandwich! Forgive me, I may tend to write a bit of franglais in this blog, wanting to express things in French since that's what I'm supposed to be speaking yet knowing I need to write in English so my friends and family back home know what I'm up to. Anyway, dinner was very simple (and cheap). Afterwards we went back up to the hotel room and basically both passed out with our computers next to us. I was trying to get in contact with my parents and friends to let them know I arrived safely and started writing this blog post but dozed off with the screen still in front of me. Now, after a solid 12 hours of sleep I hope I have the stamina to move all of my luggage from the hotel to our temporary housing accommodation for the next two weeks. Wish me luck on this first true day in Lyon! Au revoir!

A bottle of champagne we opened for my farewell dinner. It was given to us a year ago by our French friends, the Bolis family, when they visited us in California. We waited until the night before I left to drink this special champagne. It was delicious!

Our room for the night.

Mural at my gate at SFO!

The night before I left.