Le Fête des Lumières and Lyon!!

So...I lied to you last week when I told you I was done traveling until my family gets here...but I promise it wasn't on purpose!!

As far as I knew last week, my weekends of European travel were over, but then I received a text from my friend Matt, asking if I wanted to head up to Lyon for the weekend for Le Fête des Lumières.

I couldn't say no. Who would I be to pass up on an opportunity to do something like that?!

So I said yes and immediately bought my bus ticket from Aix to Lyon...a 5+ hour trip.

At 4 o'clock on Friday afternoon, our bus left Aix and the weekend had begun.

The bus ride to Lyon was initially boring as we all tried to sleep, zone out, and listen to music, but after we stopped about halfway to Lyon at a rest stop, the ride became more interesting much more fun.

I know it is difficult to imagine a long bus ride being fun, so bear with me here.

Prior to this trip, I was friends with the people I was traveling with, but I hadn't really gotten to know any of them very well. So in a way, I looked at this weekend as an opportunity to fix that.

After our dinner stop, we started to talk more and open up to each other a bit more. After all, we still had two hours left on the bus, so we figured we should make the best of that time!

As soon as we left the rest stop, we started talking about anything and everything.

The topic that we ended up talking about most was why each of us was studying abroad and what we have gotten out of this amazing opportunity and experience.

So what did this bus ride do for all of us? It provided the foundation for an amazing weekend.

Once we got there and got ourselves into the apartment that we rented out, we decided to head out on the town and take a look at some of the light displays that were literally all over the city.

After a little bit of time looking at these displays and a disappointingly futile attempt at finding a good bar to have a few drinks for Chelsea's birthday, we ended up back in the apartment.

All of us were absolutely exhausted, so we immediately fell asleep thinking we would wake up bright and early to see as much of the city as we possibly could...

Boy were we mistaken...we all finally made it out of bed at around 11 and didn't leave the apartment until probably 11:45 to grab lunch.

What we originally had planned as a quick half hour to 45 minute meal turned into a two hour deep conversation about life over a delicious meal of pasta and pizza.

When we realized how much time we had spent at this restaurant, we decided that we needed to see some of the city during the day while the sun was still up.

Once we finally mustered up the courage to leave the restaurant and venture back out into the cold, we decided to head up the hill (more like a cliff) to Notre Dame de Fourvière, a church built right on the edge of the hill looking out over the city.

The last time I was in Lyon, I did get to visit the church, so this was kind of a repeat experience, but I was able to spend more quiet prayer time there this time around. This is one of the most beautiful churches in the world and it is very easy to spend the better part of two hours just sitting in a pew in awe of the artwork on the ceiling and walls.

When we left, we noticed a donkey outside being tended to by a couple of guys so we walked over to take a look.

What happened next was one of those experiences you can really only have while studying abroad.

One of the guys taking care of the donkey started a conversation with us while we were petting the donkey.

At first, we were a bit apprehensive about this stranger randomly talking to us, but we figured that we were enjoying the fact that he brought a donkey to the church for our enjoyment, so we might as well entertain the conversation for a little while.

As the conversation progressed, each of us become more interested in learning about this guy.

There was really nothing all that special about the conversation. He asked us where we were from, what we liked and disliked about France, why we were in Lyon, why we were living in Aix, etc. But what what made this conversation different from the countless others we have had with other French people was that he seemed to be truly interested in what we had to say.

He was actually relating his life experiences to what we were saying and expressed a great deal of empathy when we told him what we really wish we could change about France.

After these initial pleasantries, he decided to educate us on the history of Lyon and its connection to the Virgin Mary. After all, we were wondering why there was a gigantic lit up "Merci Marie" sign right next to Notre Dame de Fourvière on the hill.

Basically Lyon thanks the Virgin Mary for all of its good fortune throughout its history as it was spared from the worst effects of the Plague, it avoided being hit with a severe outbreak of cholera, and it was spared from being invaded by Prussia in 1870. All of these avoided catastrophes are credited to prayers to the Virgin Mary and the town feels that it owes all of its good fortune to her. Not only that, Lyon's mayor makes a trek up the hill to the church make an offering to Mary every year, regardless of his or her religion.

In fact, the reason the church was built in 1872 was to thank Mary for sparing the city from invasion.

After a few missed calls from friends we were intending to meet in another part of town, we decided that we needed to head down the hill and bid this nice man adieu.

Before we left, he told us that he was a seminarian training to become a priest. He asked us to pray for him through the next few years of his training and told us that he would pray for us as we finished up our schooling as well.

On our walk back down the hill, we just could not stop talking about how great of an experience that had turned out to be and how nice that guy turned out to be.

Eventually, we made our way downtown to meet up with our friends and begin another long, futile attempt at finding a restaurant for dinner. Finally, by the time we made it all the way back to Vieux Lyon (where our apartment was), we were extremely hungry (and hangry, for those who know what that term means), so we stopped at one of the many street vendors to get some fairly cheap sandwiches.

After dinner, we went back to the apartment to freshen up and change into some warmer clothes for the evening and to see more light displays.

At around 9 in the evening, we went back outside into the cold to see as many displays as we possibly could.

I will tell you this about these lights: they were like nothing I had ever seen before. There are pictures of them below, but that doesn't capture the true magic of the festival and what they were celebrating.

I can't even try to explain what we saw. The only way I can express it is by telling you that you need to add Le Fête des Lumières to your bucket list. I promise that it is worth every cent you'd pay to get there.

After seeing a few displays outside of the downtown area, we gathered up the guts to try to head into the busiest and most congested part of the city. Unfortunately, we did not have much luck seeing any of the downtown displays simply because it was far to crowded to go anywhere, much less just move.

When I got home to Aix, my host mom told me that there were 3 million people in Lyon just for this festival. After seeing what it was like downtown Saturday night, I think there were more like 4 or 5 million there.

Anyway, after seeing some amazing lights and struggling to make our way through the city, we got pretty tired and decided to head back to the apartment to crash. We did have to wake up really early to catch our bus back to Aix.

However, on our walk back, we thought it was absolutely necessary to stop at a bar to give our weekend one last toast. And we ended up spending another hour there bonding even more over anything and everything.

The next morning, bright and early, we headed back to Aix and our weekend was officially over.

This was by far the best weekend I have had since coming to Europe.

But that wasn't because of the fact that we were in Lyon. It wasn't because of the amazing light displays we got to see. And it wasn't because of the fact that overall, the weather treated us pretty well.

It was because of the company.

The people I was there with really opened up my eyes to a number of different things and perspectives regarding study abroad. Sure we all have different reasons as to why we are here, but it was amazing hearing how all of our experiences have affected each of us differently.

It is so easy to get dragged into the mentality that we're all here just to study abroad and check that thing off of our college "bucket list" if you will.

Experiences like the one I had this weekend are what make studying abroad so worth it. This weekend I was exposed to a number of other perspectives about life and what the future may hold for us and it truly was enlightening.

It is only fitting that my last weekend that I was really able to do anything fun (I have finals starting this weekend) was the best weekend that I've had in Europe.

I wouldn't have had it any other way.

So Matt, Chelsea, Cathryn, Jasmine, and Sarah, thank you so much for such an amazing weekend up in Lyon. You have no idea how much everything this weekend means to me and I'm so incredibly grateful that I am now able to call you some of my best friends.

This is one of those weekends that I'm going to remember for my entire life.

Hell, isn't that what study abroad is all about?

Fireworks in downtown Lyon...near a Ferris Wheel...yeah, they take this seriously.

End of a light display on one of the churches.

Another light display. All of them were on buildings in large squares in the city.

Notre Dame de Fourvière from Vieux Lyon.

What you're seeing is not the actual facade of this church...That's all from the light display.

As promised, here is a picture from Aix. Cours Mirabeau looking toward La Rotonde.

Cours Mirabeau looking away from La Rotonde.

Initial Reflections

Well, it's VERY hard to believe, but in two weeks from tomorrow, I'll be heading down to the airport to pick up my parents from the Marseille airport.

Unfortunately, that means my time in Aix is quickly coming to a close. And all of us are struggling with coming to terms with it. None of us really want to leave here, but we all can't wait to get home.

It's not something where we can say we'll be back soon. Really, the soonest any of us will be back here is roughly five years from now. With how much we've learned and grown since we got here, this is a very bittersweet time of the semester.

Since we are rapidly approaching the end, I thought it was appropriate to begin reflecting on my time here since the end of August. Have I really been here that long???

Mind you, these are all initial reflections upon what I have gained since being abroad. What I have done and what my life has been for this semester probably really won't sink in until a month or so after I get back home.

The first and probably most exciting thing that I have gotten out of this experience has to do with the French language.

I am by no means fluent or bilingual, but had you heard my attempt at speaking French the day I got here and heard how I speak now, you would be shocked at how much improvement I have made.

Even Camille, my host mother, has commented to me about my improvement on several occasions.

I'll be honest, if you had told me before I left Colorado that I would ever be able to speak French this well, I would not have believed you one bit. Might have even called you crazy.

Yet here I am, a little over three months later, able to hold coherent conversations in French, not afraid to go to a French family's house for a casual dinner, excited for the next opportunity I have to further perfect my understanding of the language.

When thinking about my experiences, I have also really reflected upon the opportunities I have had to travel. And those are very well documented in my previous blogs below.

But when I sit there and really consider all of the places I can now say that I've visited, I am absolutely astonished at how well-traveled I have become.

Since coming here I have visited Aix (obviously), Marseille, Nice (twice), La Ciotat, Lyon, Roanne, Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Madrid. Add those locations to London, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, and Liechtenstein from my trip to Europe in the Summer of 2008, I have been all over Europe.

I feel so incredibly fortunate to have the opportunities at my disposal to experience these amazing places.

But beyond the simple and obvious achievements I've made, there is one question that I have struggled with since the day I got here: why am I studying abroad?

It'd be a cop-out answer to say that I'm here because it's required by the Daniels College of Business. I do have to be honest, that is part of the reason why I'm studying abroad.

However, there is a lot more to it than that. And it is a lot more complicated.

Of course, as is the case with all of life's endeavors, the point of study abroad has been to grow as a person. But again, I think that's a cop-out answer too.

So why the hell did I study abroad?

When I boarded my plane on August 30th, I had no idea what I was in for. I knew that I was about to go on an adventure of a lifetime, but I didn't know what to expect.

I had no idea that study abroad would completely change my life and cause my life to make a 180 degree turn.

In the month and a half or so prior to leaving the USA, my life had hit rock-bottom. I will spare you the details, but it seemed like nothing was going right for me and I really didn't like the person I was becoming.

Essentially, study abroad could not have come at a better time for me.

Sure, it took some time for these problems to truly go away, but about a month into my French life, all of the problems that I was previously experiencing just sort of started to solve themselves.

Two months ago, for the first time in probably two and a half years, I started to feel truly happy with my life. I was excited about where I was physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

As time has progressed since then, there have been challenges that I faced and there definitely have been a few let-downs here and there, but my life has truly taken a new meaning since coming to Aix.

To be honest, I had no idea that my goal would be to come home with an entirely new outlook on life, but that's the goal that I achieved and I could not be happier.

For the first time in a very long time, I am actually excited to see what the world has in store for me in the coming days, months, and years.

I know I have my goals and would love nothing more than to surpass them. But if there is one thing this study abroad experience has taught me, it is that most things that life may throw at me really won't matter in the long run. And there is much to be said for being able to discern the difference between what does and does not matter.

I know I still have two weeks (well three and a half if you count my time with my family) left of this amazing adventure and I have no idea what they have in store for me. But I am so excited to experience them.

Study abroad has completely changed my life and it happened at a time when a change was needed more than ever.

Now, I know that I haven't exactly kept you updated on what I have been doing here lately, but the good news is, there still hasn't been much to report.

Since returning from Paris, I haven't left Aix except to go on a day trip to Les Baux de Provence and Les Fontaines du Vaucluse with school. That trip was a lot of fun, but there really wasn't much to write home about.

We got to see a couple of very small Provencale towns and do some walking in an absolutely gorgeous area of Provence.

Outside of that, I have been able to spend some more meaningful time in Aix and experience the greatest Christmas market I have ever seen. I promise to post some pictures of the market and the lights next week.

With study abroad drawing quickly to a close, I have had to start thinking harder about what my life is going to be like when I get home. That being said, I have but one request for those of you who live in Colorado: keep those awesome snow vibes going! I want some amazing skiing waiting for me in January!!