As promised, here are some pics of my 'collocation' thanks to my roommate Lucy who took pictures last Thursday night at our first official roommate dinner. It was the first time all eight of us were together at the same time and place, and it was good fun. We had a huge chicken and veggie curry, rice, heaps of naan bread, and lots of ice cream for dessert.

We're quite the well-balanced apartment with 4 guys and 4 girls...

Roberto, Olivier, Germain, and William

Me, Stephanie, Marta, and Lucy

We only have a few sharp knives so we used scissors to cut up the chicken...

The fish on the window (and on the walls, and ceiling...) are left over from some nautical-themed party that happened before I got here, as is the pirate flag we have hanging over the breakfast bar. I pretty much knew I wanted to live here when I saw the pirate flag.  

I wouldn't say that I live in a 'nice' apartment but is spacious, well-equipped (washer AND dryer, which is almost unheard of in France), and has a very laid-back, 'college' atmosphere. It isn't without it's imperfections: in places it looks like a bowling ball has been dropped on our tile floor; there's a mouse that eats our food- the other morning I woke up to find that she had nibbled a tunnel into my baguette; we have to sit by the window in the living room to steal the internet from our neighbors; and our windows sorely need washing. And as you can imagine with eight of us living here the dishes are never-ending...and for some reason our garbage bag is ALWAYS full.  

Despite all this, I love it, and couldn't be happier. I feel so extremely lucky to have found it, considering some people have had to get studios, have unfurnished apartments, or had lots of trouble even finding an apartment. I love exploring my neighborhood, and it's filled with cute cafes, boulangeries, and one of the best markets in Lyon takes place every morning until noon right down the street from me.  This morning I got a zucchini, a bunch of spinach, and a mother-load of green beans for €2.25.

Cookie baking is also quickly becoming a regular apartment occurrence.  On Sunday we made them again, and got experimental by adding bits of dried apricots and honey.

In other news, I'm already on vacation!  We have a week off for Toussaint (Nov. 1st) and I'm going to ITALY!  My friend Larina, whom I went to Costa Rica with, is studying in Bologna and I'm going to visit her for 6ish days over Halloween/my birthday. Since my plans were made so last minute I had to opt for only available mode of transport within my budget- an 11 hour bus ride!! I should really know better than to take a bus, considering my history with them (aka getting the 24-hour flu on the 24-hour bus ride from Berlin to Grenoble, and the more recent blown-tire incident on the Megabus on the way to Minneapolis) but I'm keeping my fingers crosses (and maybe a few Tylenol PMs) and am hoping it won't be so bad. It's a night bus, so hopefully I'll be able to sleep a bit, but even if I don't I return on the 3rd and don't work until the 6th so I'll have plenty of time to recuperate.  

Ciao for now!