I can’t even begin to describe how much I love Lyon! Such a neat city! It was fun to have a free day yesterday to explore it on our own. Dr. Hudson wrote a walk for us to do and we took our time doing it. However, it was a little rough waking up that morning. I got up at 8:00am thinking that breakfast closed at 9:00am after not going to bed until after 2:00am. I was SO TIRED! But I got up and headed downstairs for the usual Etap Hotel breakfast - bread and Nutella dipped in hot chocolate, toast and strawberry jam, baguette and cream cheese, and raspberry yogurt. Pretty much really delish and full of unnecessary carbs and bread. But hey, you’re only in Lyon on a study abroad once, right? That’s my excuse anyway.
After breakfast and getting ready, Paul, Caleb, Toni, Amy, Erin, Mckenna, and I met around 11:30am to take the metro into the city. We walked past our lovely white van friends and caught the next train to the biggest open plaza in Europe. The petanque (Bocce ball) championships were going on and the guys on the teams were LEGIT! It was fun to watch before starting the walk. We got some maps of the town at the office of tourism and were on our way. We walked through the shopping district, saw some really neat fountains, and we ran into the sister missionaries! They were both adorable and we talked to them for a few minutes. Good thing we did because they told us that it was stake conference this weekend, so church would be at 9:40am instead of 9:00am on Sunday. It was a bummer for us though because that meant that we didn’t have time to go to church if we wanted to catch our train to Geneva. But at least we didn’t show up at church at the wrong time with no one there!
Petanque players in the square
Fountain
Le Rhone
Me and Toni in front of a sweet fountain in front of the Hotel de Ville. The horses' nostrils steam and they represent the 4 major rivers of France.
Playing on the fountain we found
Our last meal in France with our fake wine! 
Me and Mckenna with our grape juice on the Saone
Another cool fountain in the shopping area
Because, you know, I definitely have 37, 105 Euros to spend on a WATCH. I guess it is a Rolex...
Sushi!
Yumness!!!!
Me and my glaceAfter walking for a while along streets with a lot of food, we decided that it was time for lunch. We found this place called Sushi Planet and saw that they had a deal big platters of sushi. If each of us paid 6 Euros, we could all get 6 pieces! So that’s what we did. I had my first ever sushi experience along the banks of the Saone River! It was DELICIOUS! I love the stuff! Definitely a good purchase. And then, of course, we had to get ice cream for dessert. I got cookie (chunks of cookies and chocolate) and rocher (chocolate with hazelnuts). They were both very satisfying! Then again, I think I’m done with sugar for a VERY long time after this trip is over. My poor body isn’t used to all of this sweet stuff. I’m going on a strict workout/eating regimen. Salad/running/PowerAde slushies from Sonic ONLY. Perfectly healthy!
We continued the walk along le Rhone (the other major river that passes through Lyon) and finished at some old Gallo-Roman ruins. They were really neat! We also found this epic fountain and climbed on it to take pictures. It was a blast! After posing like Charlie’s Angels and goofing around, it was dinnertime. Since it was our last night in France, we wanted to go out with a bang! We all bought a baguette, cheese, and “wine” (grape juice) and ate on the banks of the river at sunset. It was a great way to finish our time in Lyon and in France.
Today we headed to Geneva, Switzerland to finish off our program. I’m actually writing a lot of this from the train while listening to “Born to Be Somebody” by J Biebs. Great song! J Anyways, this trip to the train station was much easier! Dr. Hudson did the most amazing thing EVER and ordered taxis to take us to the train! It was an answer to my prayers. I mean, I could have done whatever I needed to in order to get to the station, but that made it painless. Thanks Dr. Hudson!!!! We were at the station a little bit early, so a few of us played cards until they called the voie (platform) for our train. Once they did, we made our way up the escalator and hopped on the TGV to Geneva. It’s a GORGEOUS ride! The flat, green plains turned to mountains in less than 30 minutes. It’s been nice to just to stare out the window and think. This country is so different but so breathtaking. There are all of these tiny little villages tucked into these emerald green mountains, usually on crystal clear lakes. It’s stunning. I was looking back at picture from the trip so far and I’ve had the opportunity of a lifetime to study abroad in France and now Switzerland. I’ve loved every second of my adventures despite some of the obstacles that I’ve had.
When we arrived in Geneva, the whole group met and went through customs...which was basically us walking past big scary guys in uniforms. We must look like natives or something! J They didn’t even check our passports. We walked a few minutes to the nearest bus stop that would take us straight to our hotel. It was a little bit of a hassle because we were supposed to go in three groups and ended up stuffing almost our whole group in one train. The people already on weren’t very happy because we blocked every exit with our suitcases. Thankfully, it wasn’t that many stops away and the hotel was RIGHT at the stop! We’re staying at one of the nicest Etap hotels EVER. The rooms are much bigger and breakfast is in a really nice restaurant next door! It’s also right next door to the stake center for Geneva, so we went by to see it and ran into the Elders. Since there’s no free wifi at the hotel (I had to buy it to check into my flight on Thursday), we tried to see if we could talk to them and try to get onto the church’s wifi. But alas, it’s broken. L
For dinner, we had limited options for a few reasons. First, everything is closed on Sunday (generally), so it’s hard to find a place that’s not fast food that’s open. Second, the exchange rate here is HORRIBLE. It’s stronger than the dollar, but weaker than the Euro so it’s super confusing to figure out. Our only option was the MacDo (McDonald’s) across the street. It cost over ELEVEN AMERICAN DOLLARS for 4 chicken nuggets, fruit, and a bottle of water. Rip off of the year? I think so.
Well that’s pretty much it for today. Goodbye France! I can’t believe I’m actually saying my goodbyes already...it feels like I got here just yesterday. We’ve had some good times (and a few frustrating ones), but overall you were a marvelous host. But have no fear - I’ll be back!
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