Je suis LAME-o

OK- so it has now been two weeks since I've arrived and I haven't really blogged much. And I can't really use the excuse that I don't have internet, because, well, I have internet...really REALLY fast internet. I guess that just leaves the lazy excuse. My b.

So, basically the last two weeks have been super busy, I feel like I've been here more than a month, I guess because I've just done so much.

To catch you up- I officially finished my first week of school, my first week of practice, have become settled in my new apartment, and have a whole slew of awesome new friends (which, I wish I could say are French, but most of them are international students like myself).

Last weekend I went down to the Cote d'Azur with 300 other students from school for a weekend of integration. Suffice it to say, French people are crazy. It kind of reminded me of a rugby party- a really really big rugby party, with free alcohol. You can imagine what kind of shenanigans could ensue. There was singing, jumping around on the tables at every meal, and of course lots of random hook-ups and people getting sick and passing out. Oh French people, you amuse me.

In between drinking, singing, dancing on table tops, and random hook-ups (not by me, clearly), there were games and sports. Saturday morning was like a giant field day at the beach- it was awesome. I don't mean to brag, but, I was the mud wrestling champion of the weekend. Representing USA, baby!! I also did quite well in the chicken fighting and fight someone for the rugby ball game.

Saturday afternoon I went on a VTT excursion (VTT= velo tous terrain= mountain bike). I learned that 1) I hate VTT and 2)VTT hates me. I will NEVER go again, and any self confidence I may have gained as the mudwrestling champion in the morning, went completely out the window as I began walking my bike down the "scary" hills an hour into the ride. I also have massive bruises all over my legs where branches snapped me in the legs, or I fell onto the bike pedals at high speed when I lost control after hitting a giant rock. Not sure what part of this is supposed to be fun.


But, a few hours in VTT hell paid off with a snack at the end- oranges, nutella on cake, and coca-cola. Seriously, after a snack like that I could almost forget that I had just had the worst two hours in recent memory.

Sunday was chill, I just hung around the pool and talked with my cool new friends. Good times, and then we headed back to Lyon Sunday night. The way home would have been pretty relaxed, but then I got bitten by an Assassin Bug that somehow got into my sweatshirt. It bit me during a dinner break, and I must say, it was the most painful bite/sting I have EVER had. Worst than any hornet or wasp. My shoulder swelled up and bled from the bite, but not to worry, I captured the bug to take home and research online, since no one knew what it was. Assassin bug = KILLER!!!! No really, they can kill other insects with their poisonous saliva that liquefies the insides of bugs. It totally liquified a small portion of my shoulder!


The first week of class was pretty intense. I am only really taking one course at the moment- Virology- which is about 16 hours a week (plus 2-4 hours of other random stuff like bioethics). There were a few days where I was in Virology like, 4-6 hours a day. Crazy! But it is REALLY interesting, and I'm really getting into all of the awful infectious diseases.

This week was also my first week at handball practice with ASU Lyon, a Division 2 team here. I was really nervous, but the coach is cool, the girls seem nice, and it feels great to be able to practice almost every day of the week. Practices are intense, but efficient. I am still trying to figure out exactly what they do on defense, and how to read the backcourts (what a disaster last week, I must have run into people like, three times), but I am looking forward to see things progress. I will have to wait until I get my "recipisse" from the French government before I can get my license to play, but I've heard it is pretty short in Lyon, so hopefully I'll be able to play some games in 2-3 weeks. We'll see.

That's my wrap-up! I will try to be better about updating my blog. There are other stories I want to tell- like about my bank card that I had for 45 seconds before it got taken away, and all of my fantastic new friends. Next time. Seriously, I'm going to try to stop being so lame about updating my blog.