Making Friends and Other Thoughts

We started off today spending time with some of the French students in "The Foyer" which is a student organized space with lounge chairs, games, piano, drums, ping pong, and "baby foot."  

Then we headed off to the Parc de la Tête d'or where we had a picnic, explored the park which has a rose garden, lake, zoo, and botanical garden, and played "Balle aux prisonniers." It is very similar to dodge ball. 

Here are some more students' thoughts on their Lyon experience:

Aidan Corcoran: The trip has been great so far. My family gave me a great dinner on my first night and took me to a great ice cream shop. During the day we got to visit praying Lyon and working Lyon. We also got to see some ruins of the Roman Empire which were very interesting. There were arenas where plays and gladiator fights happened. For lunch, we are allowed to go into the city to eat. After school, everyone goes out together to either of the rivers or out to eat. It has been very fun. 

Zach Creamer: Lyon has many twin landmarks scattered throughout the city. For example les collines de Fourvière and Croix Rousse, or the river Saône and Rhône. We spent our first two days exploring these collines, hills, and learned about the dichotomy within. Fourvière is called the praying hill as there are many religious landmarks both Pagan and Christian, where La Croix Rousse is the working hill complete with specially designed apartments for silk weavers. It has been interesting seeing the relatively modern, 19th century side of Lyon on La Croix Rousse compared to Renaissance or Enlightenment quarters on Fourvière. We have also explored the meaning found within the two rivers, the Rhône represents a man and the Saône represents a woman. These two rivers are married at the confluence where they continue on as the Rhône. This relationship between man and woman can be seen in the statues and monuments throughout the city representing the two rivers.

Naod Zacharias: These past few days of being in France has shown that there is a completely different culture compared to Boston. For example, they all typically have school for much longer ending around 5 pm, and the environment is more laid back for students as they have the ability to leave school for lunch for a hour. Also, I noticed that you never see as many people eat with their hands, and mostly everyone uses utensils for most foods. On Tuesday, we did many things. We walked on the Croix Rousse and visited the Croix Rousse. The streets were so peaceful and soothing, and the buildings had beautiful texture.