Lyon = Olivia all up on my Photo Cabine.

First thing she says when she sees my laptop:

"La Photo Cabine?"

Can't resist her.

Now, I'm gonna miss her. 

Ah, going home tomorrow.

Finalment?! Or pas?!

Wrapping it all up.

I can probably never do that.

But tonight, I'm staying over at my big auntie's house. After dinner (which was exquisite!!), they were asking me about my trip and I was finally able to gather some thoughts. Sometimes, you really don't know certain things until you just say it out loud and then you realize...ah ha! that's what it is.

1. Yes, I am really sad about leaving Paris and every time I think about it, it's like..."man, I'm never gonna be able to experience this, this, and this again". But, it's been such a great adventure in my life and it makes me realize the beauty of life as a whole. Therefore, I'm excited to leave Paris and Lyon and Europe and go onto the next adventure of my life, winter quarter. I have four classes (sad) + a pattern making night class at Saddleback. It's gonna be intense to juggle these hard classes and work and church and family and friends but man, I'm excited!! This just means more challenges and more things to overcome and look back and say, "It was all worth it."

2. I really know 3-4 languages. Spanish doesn't really count anymore but I feel like I can really learn it again. French, I still need to learn more and practice but I can sure as heck hold a conversation now! And Korean...must practice more but I got my family to help me with that. That's so exciting!!

3. All bad things really come to an end. I complained so much about my homestay and the itchy blankets, cold showers, dirty kitchen, and also the hostel traveling with bug bites, drunk hostel mates, and smelly sheets, etc, etc, etc, but that's all in the past now and I never have to face it again. And now I'm living in what seems like luxury! You don't realize how good you have it unless you go through without having it. You can't humble yourself if you don't put yourself in lower positions (or sometimes you're forced to anyways). And it's just nice to know that I am much more appreciative of the little things like hot water and even little money to buy snacks and candy that others don't get to have! Mama will be proud.

High five. 

Yay for life.

Christmas Lunch.

Aujourd'hui, ma tante et mon oncle m'ont invité pour aller chez ses grands-parents pour le déjeuner Noel. And it was really nice to see such a big family getting together and legitly having a French meal - everything I learned about when I was in school. It also reminded me a lot of my family, which I seriously can't wait to get back to and see.

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Mon expérience:

Yes, that would be my name! I'm an adult now.

Les Aperatifs that I helped Auntie make. Including: Salmon topped avocado, beets with caramelized pralines, and foie gras with rhubarb jam. Oh baby~

Big Papa and Big Mama having their champagne.

Story time! Reading their cards.

Legit house and yard. Gramps playing tennis.

The plat principal: Turkey!!!!! + buttered chestnuts + fried balls of potatoes + some vegetable that's only grown in Lyon + salade

Dessert: homemade café & chocolate glace (ice cream) avec meringue (powered sugar)

So good.

Another reason why the French aren't fat even though they eat such good food: They take everything in moderation, even when the food is that delicious. Good food will always be there. We don't have to shove it down our throats and get fat...americans. Good to know, good to know...

I wanted to take more pictures but didn't want to be rude! Saltee.

Today, I also had the best truffles, chocolate covered oranges, and marron glacée (candied chestnuts)...in moderation, biensur!

Kim Hyun Mi!

My auntie is a great artist.

Here are some real life photos!:

Here is her website:

 kimhm.com

You can press "EN" on the top right corner if you need it!

If you know anyone in the states that does this kinda stuff and has a gallery, let me know so I can let my aunt know! She would gladly exhibit her stuff!

Lyon, France!

My weekend in Lyon, France was nothing but amazing. It was a bit symbolic because here I was able to spend my one month anniversary of being in France and it's where I began this journey...Hehe, I just celebrated quietly in my heart though! Anyways, here's story time!

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Thursday, I would miss my train by ONE minute. I was so angry at myself! I just sat there for an hour and pondered about life and how dumb I was to miss the train!!!! But a kind man told me what to do. He said to just get onto the next one and play dumb. He said they will probably let me go because I am young and naive. Hehehe, luckily, they didn't even check my ticket! Then, I made another mistake. The board said the train was arriving at Parrache and so that's what I told my aunt. When I finally "arrived", I was in Lyon Part Dieu. Uhhhh, maybe I didn't understand the lady on the speakers and everyone else seemed to be getting off so I had to call my aunt to come to Part Dieu. So, I make her wait to pick me up one extra hour, then make her come to the other train stations. Oopies Daisys. But it was okay! I finally met my girl cousins, Sashi and Annick, again after 10 whole years and it was quite delightful! When I got to their house up in the hills/mountains, of course it was just as cute as my other auntie's place. I also met my Uncle Patrick for the first time ever! He is so hearty and intelligent, I liked him a lot. I learned a lot about milk and cheese and sterilizing and art and when America won their independence because of him. Hooray! That night, I slept in Sashi's room and of course, we just stayed up talking all night long about our boyfriends and life. It was quite nice, I must say. Because we're older we can talk about things that are really deep and full of substance. She's quite intelligent as well. Then finally, we fell asleep into the deepness of the night! (Oh, and Sashi brought me chocolate from Leonidas -- the best in Belgium!!)

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Friday, we woke up and had the most amazing breakfast! I ate for the first time, a soft boiled egg, in which you boil only for 4.5 minutes! I'm not a big egg fan but honestly, while I'm here, I've been trying everything and eat everything! (My stomach is definitely expanding...so is my face!) It was really interesting. We dipped our little "soldiers", which are bread sticks, haha, into the boiled egg, and ate 'em. I am determined to find these egg holders and make them back in the states! Breakfast party anyone? Also, Uncle Patrick made bread!!! And so for the first time, I ate homemade bread. Yumz. I want to try to make this when I get home too! Again, breakfast party? So, after breakfast, we headed out into the city on bus. It took about 40 minutes! But it's so cool how they travel like that. We literally just window shopped for like two hours. Time to stop shopping and start savin' mah money!!! They have a Zara Home here. It was so cute and so ideal for my future home. Kekeke, getting ahead of myself. But, the French, or Europeans are very particular about everything in their house. I love it. The details, details, details. Très beau!! After the painstaking window shopping, we were off to my other aunt's house to see Victor, Lucas, and Olli!!!! SHO KYOOTE, I missed them so much. My auntie cooked me some bomb soup and mandoo. Oh my!!

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Saturday, I woke up at 8am. Oh my. My internal clock has been set to 8am and no later than that. It's a good thing, though. But sometimes not. I went to the Korean market with my auntie because she wanted to make me ddokbokki. Yummmy. I also got the cutest little bottle of Sriracha too! After lunch, which was bokkumbap, we went to the super super market. It was crazy in there. The super super market itself was inside of a mall and there was EVERYTHING. They even had a haircutting place for ladies. I wish I took more pictures. You can't even tell with the ones I took. I sorry. But anyways, just know that it was amazing and she stocked me up with some Speculoos goodies and cookies. Yummmmmmmmmy. After, I st8 took a nap in front of the fireplace. It was so nice and cozy! I remember Lucas came and gave me a kiss on the forehead too! (Kisses here are super normal, like hugs!!) He is just the cutest!!! Then it was ddokbokki time, then sleepytime, again!

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 Today, went to church with my family. Met my uncle's parents for the first time ever. They were so cute. I also realized that the whole kissing culture thing is coming a lot easier now. I really love it. It's so innocent and so meaningful. I will give everyone kisses when I get home!! Hooha! After church, I had a plate where it's only the hamburger meat, salad with tomatoes, and french fries. It's like everything but the buns and cheese. Kinda weird but kinda delicious!! Then my auntie sent with me off with a chocolate macaroon. Oh my gosh, they are so rich and full of brownie flavor with every, single bite. I was also pleasantly surprised that I got a first-class seat with no one next to me. Holla!!! I got a 20Euro discount on this ticket too! Props to the kind sir who sold me the ticket!! We need more of you in this world!

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Now, of course, it is back to reality! Got lots of reading to do because procrastination loves to follow you everywhere, even to France!! C'était un bon week-end!

Olivia + Camera = Lyon.

This little munchkin always insists on pictures. But I don't care because she's so cute anyways!!!!!

Everyone here is so smart.

The History of Ampersands.

found this from Oh, Hello Friend.

This is random but still significant. I feel like everyone here in France, or even Europe, is really smart. They know their history. They know their current events. They know EVERYTHING. When I met my uncle for the first time tonight, we started talking about why there was a Statue of Liberty in France and when American won their independence, and I didn't even know the date!!! (It's July 4, 1776 thanks to Google). I felt really ashamed but now I know it. And since I've been here, I just realized that most Americans at my age are probably not aware of a lot of things. I might just be speaking for myself, though. But anyways, I'm really inspired to know this and that of everything! When I get home, I really want to explore Socal and go to all their museums and actually learn about the things that are exhibited. I wanted to know the deets about everything! Who knows if I will do this though. I hope I don't fall into laziness and only have interest in having fun...but I really do want to become intellectual. I want to read lots of books and just know random facts. And I really hope my brain expands while I'm here. I feel like I am already on my way! My art history class is teaching me so much and I love it so much! I've never taken an art history class before but it's really cool because we actually go to the Louvre and look at the paintings in real life. It's so wonderful!!! I just learned about the artist Le Brun and his four paintings that filled up just one room. It was glorious. Yeah!!

(The clouds here are like glimpses of heaven!)

And with the ampersand article, it's my new learned fact of the day. Make it yours too! 

La Photo Cabine!

Bonjour France.

(My kitchen view in front of me as a write this.)

I suppose it’s time for a blog update? I don’t know why but even though there is so much to say, I don’t want to sit and update. Hopefully this changes over time. Also, I am thinking about making a whole separate blog just for my France trip because the theme I have for this blog doesn’t allow me to show huge pictures! We’ll see…

Anyways, 

So far, this trip has been amazing. I don’t really know how to separate my thoughts so I will begin with “the farewell” and somehow write some more as I go…

Thanks to my family and friends for coming with me to the airport. It’s amazing how much support you guys all give me. I really didn’t think/know that me going to France was such a big deal as it was to me but really, I feel so loved! Hehehe, I will miss you all!

This was my first time traveling alone, too. I was pretty nervous about being by myself because I was afraid that some scary man would bother me or something but I was really lucky to find myself next to these two Irish girls who were 22. They were just leaving Huntington Beach where they lived for three months, working at Knott’s Berry Farm. Isn’t that cool? Their names were Marie and Helen and I just added them on Facebook. Hehe. The plane ride wasn’t so bad either. I watched Glee and Valentine’s Day and then I slept for the remainder of the time. Good thing I can fall asleep anywhere! After I arrived in the London Heathrow Airport, I had a 5-hour layover which was horrible. I couldn’t fall asleep because I had this huge carryon and I feared that it would get stolen. (Tip: Travel lightly. Bags are super annoying.) So, I just read and read and read Eat, Pray, Love, which is rather a good book. This girl is studying one Italian article a day and looking up words she doesn’t know. I think I want to try that too. Anyways, after 5 long hours I finally boarded the plane and arrived in Lyon, France at 11:10pm! My auntie had picked me up and when we arrived at her place, oh my gosh, it was amazing. (Check out my Facebook for pictures: www.facebook.com/jessicammmk). It’s seriously like those houses that you see in magazines like “Remodel your house today”. Every little detail and tile and painting and candle is so so so amazing. Exactly how I imagine my house to be when I grow up (: It doesn’t have to be as huge but something like it! But yeah, I didn’t fall asleep until 5am and woke up at 2pm! I just stayed home all day, adventuring around the house and then helped my auntie make crepes for dinner! The crepes are much more simpler here than in America. It’s literally the crepes and one or two toppings. My auntie said she’ll send home a crepe maker so we can have a crepe party when I get back!!! Weeeee! Last night, I knocked out at 10pm and woke up at 2pm, again. I’ve been seriously just jetlagged this whoooole time. Today, my auntie took me out to the city and I went shopping at Zara! It was quite wonderful. Okay, now I feel like I’m writing in Xanga so I’m going to stop here.

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Here’s some more information:

Discoveries:

1. Everything is super expensive here. It’s like double the price of things in America. Except, there is no tax and you don’t have to leave tips! Hooray!

2. I’ve been eating dinner food as lunch (Chicken Curry, Spaghetti) and eating lunch food for dinner (Crepes - Ham and Cheese). Maybe it’s just my family’s household?

3. I thought everyone was going to be scary and mean but they aren’t as bad as I thought. The girls on the place were super nice, but other people weren’t so nice. They would look at me like I was crazy and say, “Can you even carry your bag? or Why is your bag so heavy?” concerning my carry on. Which was true, but mean. Sheesh, mind your own business or just kindly help me. 

4. The shopping and clothes here are like the clothes in America. Only a few things are different but for the most part, it’s the same. But then again, this is only my first shopping day so we’ll see. (; (; (;

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Challenges:

1. I get so shy speaking the language because I can’t that “RRRRR” rolling sound in my throat!! 

2. It seems as if all the food is much more bland here. When I see it before I put it in my mouth, I imagine the tastes just bursting but no. It’s not like that at all. Again, it could be my family’s household but maybe not. I will update you more on that later. But yeah, I am a pretty picky eater and so I will have to eat anything I am given, even if tastes not-so-yummy.

3. Traveling alone was fun but quite hard! It does get lonely without anyone to talk to. And if you meet people, you kind of talk about the same thing over and over. And it gets pretty old. Hopefully when I get to my school, it won’t be so bad! Please pray that I meet some good friends!

Random: 

1. I’ve been super jetlagged. All day. 

2. My auntie lives next to a lady who it friends with someone who works and Louis Vuitton (It’s called Vuitton only here) and she gets free last-year-season things. Tres bonne!

3. They have Haribo here too! But with 6 different flavors!

4. I’m really glad that I landed here because it’s giving me time to soak up the French environment. Plus, my auntie and uncle are helping me so much with all the minor details like getting a phone and buying me shampoo, etc. 

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So far, it’s been super amazing. Words can’t really describe it. I will try to take pictures of anything and everything. Stay tuned, mon amis!!! Vous me manquez beaucoup!