It’s been a minute since my last update, but life went a little crazy once the semester started! Then the next thing I knew, six weeks had gone by and here we are, halfway through the first semester with Christmas quickly approaching. We’ve started to settle in to life in Lyon…there are still a few kinks left to work out, but so far we’ve just been enjoying ourselves and lamenting how quickly the time’s been passing.

Dani’s been keeping occupied with her French classes, which she has for a few hours each day. She’s been also working remotely for her former boss in Michigan; finding a job in France is super challenging, even moreso if you don’t really speak any French, but for now she’s plenty busy. I currently teach seven classes per week, down from the NINE I originally had for the first month of the semester. My students range in abilities from A2 (beginners) to C1 (advanced), and each class that I teach lasts nearly two hours. The curriculum for each course has already been designed by another teacher; we’re invited to put our own spin on things, but thankfully I don’t have to create anything from scratch. I don’t know how I’ll go back to teaching high school after being relatively spoiled prep-wise at both Penn State and Lyon 2. This semester I only teach on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which means I have time to pursue other projects (freelance, reading the Master’s list, play with the dog) on Thursdays and Fridays. I am not-so-secretly hoping for a similar schedule in the spring, but I don’t think I’ll be so lucky!

Other than that, we’ve just been enjoying living in a city once again. There is no shortage of great places to eat and drink, or things to do and see, so our weekends are normally full. We’ve instituted a weekly “Wine Wednesday” tradition, which involves mostly finding a bar or a restaurant to have a glass of wine (or beer) and perhaps a couple of snacks, so that we can enjoy as many different places as possible during our time here. Luckily for us, the concept of “happy hour” is alive and extremely well in Lyon! If we don’t go to an actual bar, we’ll usually opt for something al fresco next to one of the two rivers than run through the city. The weather has been so good that we’ve been trying to soak up as much outside time as possible, before it turns gray, rainy and cold.

Lucie has been adjusting well, too – lots of new things to sniff in a city this size! I think she feels a little cooped up in our current living situation (not a lot of room for her to roam freely) but other than that, she’s been enjoying the freedoms that come with being a dog in France. Unlike in the US dogs are permitted basically everywhere here, with a few exceptions – it’s not uncommon to see a dog on the floor at a restaurant, or running through the aisles at a grocery store.