Vacances de Noel et Bonne Année

So we were too busy and internet connectivity was limited in Lyon and Dijon.

Mira and Shannon showed up Monday afternoon. We bounced around. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a place to spend New Year's Eve. I think this was due to the fact that we JUST met each other and in good American fashion, didn't want to impose anything. However, that led to a lot of awkward situations. We did find a cool Chinese buffet and then a building fire to watch! It was not fireworks like Mira thought, but a huge building fire started supposedly by some dude who tried to make his chicken à flambée and ended up killing one and injuring two. Great entertainment. They let it burn for fourteen hours.

In Lyon I visited the Musée des Beaux-Arts, a sacred arts museum whose exhibit was on religious toys - like toys for children to "play" mass, and the Botanical Garden where I saw a very cold Asian elephant, agitated leopards, silly Tamarind monkeys, and I think reindeer.

We went to Dijon on Thursday. What a great city! All the museums were free! I went to the Musée de la Vie Bourgignone and the Fine Arts Museum. The Burgundian life museum was really cool: very well organized, well explained, and HUGE. It was totally worth it. The Fine Arts museum was incredible. HUGE, well explained, and fairly well organized. I got the audio guide for a change, which was nice to have a voice in my head other than my own. So much to see. We had dinner at this Spanish-style place: Shannon got fajitas! I don't remember the name of my dish other than it was in a dog bowl. The next day, Mira and i went to a vegetarian restaurant where they were out of fish but it was delicious nonetheless. I had a stuffed pepper and the world's largest organic brownie. DELICIOUS.

My trip back to Ussel took ten hours. The only bad part of living in the middle of nowhere is that you can't get there from anywhere. As usual, I freaked out about missing my connections but it all worked out. Note to self: avoid taking buses in the evening as it is dark, it usually rains, and roads in France are twisty and on mountains. Oh my goodness I was petrified.

So today I did laundry and sort of cleaned my room. I still have to make sure that all my stuff is ready for this week coming up.

I'm so confused about where my life is supposed to go. Grad school applications aren't doing so well, but I'm very uncertain about the status of my New York State teacher certification. I don't know what to do. I just want to be happy, and I'm starting to think that I need a Plan B.