Package! and Lyon

Let me just start off by saying that today was not the best. I woke up an hour and half later than I should of and had two excruciating hours of translation and then I got back to my room and saw a package. Inside I had letters from 60 of the best girls at Albion--it made my day! Thanks so much!
As I explained earlier, my parents were here last week. It went really well; they enjoyed it here and the family and I enjoyed having them here too. Wednesday they visited the cavern where Chartreuse is made and they bought some bottles to take home and Thursday we visited some markets and had lunch at my favorite cafe. Friday morning we took off for Lyon which was about an hour away by train. I really liked Lyon, not as much as Marseille, but not bad at all. The hotel that we stayed at was in the shopping mecca of the city. I think the store right next door was Gucci or something like that, and we walked by the windows with our mouths open at the prices.

Just across the river was the Old Town of Lyon which was my favorite part of the city. It was all old alleyways and buildings-so cool. We wandered around town and went up to the cathedral that sits above the city and then headed back to the hotel early because we were so tired. Saturday we took a tour of the passageways of Lyon, which was not worth it because there were at least 50 people on it and you could barely hear the guide. We spotted a creperie while we were still on the tour and afterward I insisted that we go there for dinner. I had a spinach crepe and it was the best I have had in France! At night we walked along the river where the all the buildings and bridges were lit up.

The next day my parents took off and I checked out the Museum of Lyon, which was pretty good (and free), and some different parts of town. As I was waiting at the train station, I saw something very interesting. I have seen a great number of men of all ages pee on the streets so it doesn't shock me anymore, but for the first time I saw a female do it. There was a mom and her 7 year-old daughter walking along and then all of the sudden the mom stopped and pulled down the daughter's pants. The daughter held on to her arms and the mom grabbed the back of her legs so that she was suspended while she peed in the middle of street. I was thinking of taking a picture because it's hard to discribe, but I thought better of it.

When I got back from class today I was reading my letters and I heard something. I looked over at the wall ad there was the body of a mouse sticking out of a hole. It's head was stuck so it was squirming around and squeaking. I was contemplating smashing it with a shoe, but I'm a little squeamish about blood, so I went up stairs to get a bag or something to put it in. When I came back, it had just gotten it's head out and it was running around my room. By this point I was yelling and jumping around so Vivi and Cyriel came running down to see what was the matter. We managed to trap it in my cupboard, where it still is as I write this, while they are looking for the cats. I think I'm going to leave for that part.

Oh, I also had another adventure in food: yesterday we had eggs filled with chocolate. They were real eggs that had the yolk removed and then they put in milk chocolate. No one really liked it and it took way to much effort to get the shell off. Antonin tried smashing his but then all the chocolate had eggshell in it, so the rest off us had to pick it off little by little. The French are so inventive with chocolate-it's amazing.

This weekend I was planning on going to a rugby game, but a couple days ago Vivien asked if I wanted to go to Cannes with him to celebrate his cousin's birthday. Of course I said yes, so I will be doing that Friday til Monday. I am very much looking forward to warm weather (there's snow on the mountains here) and maybe some celebrity sightseeing!

I think that's about all the news.
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