Quand il pleut, il PLEUT- Quand il brille, il BRILLE

When it rains, it rains- but when it shines, it shines. 

We had such wonderful weather the first 2 weeks, but have seen quite a bit of rain lately. Oh it's despressing when it rains here. We're all so excited when the sun comes back out! 

This weekend was fun. Friday night a bunch of girls hung out and then went out dancing. 

Then on saturday I went to the city Lyon to visit my penpal of 7 years, Fanny! It was pouring rain as I left early saturday to try to find the bus station in Aix to take a bus to the TGV train station. I had to ask for help a few times, but eventually found my way and bought a bus ticket. On the bus I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen my cell phone in a while... I couldn't remember if I had brought it with me! Soon I arrived at the TGV train station and went to print out my train ticket I had bought online. The machine said my credit card wouldn't work... the whole situation was getting a bit stressful. I had to talk to a TGV employee though and she printed my ticket for me at the computer. Crisis averted- and then I found my cell phone! All was well as I boarded the train, eventually found my seat, and sat down to enjoy a beautiful 2 hour train ride. 

Fanny was there to meet me at the train station and it was so wonderful to see her again! And even better- the rain had stopped and it was a beeaautiful day! We spent the whole day walking all around Lyon which is a gorgeous city. There's a huge park where we spent a lot of time- there's a zoo and a big lake. It really reminded me of central park in NYC. 

In the zoo- here's a giraffe for you, dad!

and a sleeping lion for you mummy!

the park entrance: beautiful!

This was the opera house in Lyon! [and fanny pictured here:]

In the afternoon we met up with her boyfriend, William who speaks english very well because his mother is British. It was nice to let my brain take a little break and speak some english over a cool Orangina drink. mmm...

Then we took a tram to the top of a huge hill in Lyon where there was a gorgeous cathedral. 

You could look out and see the whole city! Just as we arrived we spotted a rainbow starting to appear! [unfortuantely it doesn't show very much in this photo:]

heres the cathedral pictured above when we came back down from the hill

They took me to a restaurant for dinner that specialized in crepes and cider! Dinner was fabulous and Fanny was so kind- she treated me to dinner. I'm going to have to really do something nice when she comes to visit me in Aix! Here's a beautiful building in Lyon by night. 

We headed back to her dorm -she's at a university in Lyon- for the night and watched a french film that was pretty funny. the next day it was unfortunately pouring rain again. ah! After lunch we headed to the train station and I headed back to aix. Another stressful series of events trying to find the bus and get a ticket.. yada yada.

When I got back to aix it was still pouring, but I could see blue skies ahead! I had to stop and take a photo- a shot of the sky behind me and a shot of the sky infront of me. That's what I mean when I say- when it rains, it rains but when it shines, it really shines!

Behind me: rain

in front of me: blue skies [a metaphor? hehe]

Then got to skype with jordan, lindsay c., and mom sunday night which was great. We had another supper club dinner as well which was again a ton of fun! We had mexican food! mmm!! 

A great weekend and now it's back to work. I have my first organ lesson today! ah! I'm a bit nervous, but I think it will go well. 

With love, Dani