Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, obviously, since
it suits me so well. Everyone dresses in costumes that often reflect something
about them, parties are held, and chaos occurs. Plus it all happens after the
sun goes down; what's not to love? Despite not being in the States, I still
celebrated Halloween. No one, not even France can keep me from "All
Hallows Eve", just not possible. This Halloween was definitely different,
almost in all good ways. First difference was my costume, more so lack thereof. Since
I was travelling with just a backpack I couldn't afford to pack a proper
Halloween getup, so instead I brought a masquerade mask. It sufficed rather
nicely. In fact, in Lyon at H&M Kate and Briana bought some masks since
they didn't have any costumes. One and a half difference is that I witnessed a
somewhat scarring event. The morning was spent exploring a little more of Lyon,
Briana and Kate picked up their Halloween masks, and wandering around. It was exhausting to say the
least. I ended up splurging on a delicious quiche and chocolate beignet for lunch. The pictures of
me eating the beignet are not flattering, but meh some parts of life aren't.
Afterwards when we returned to Cool and Blue, I decided to lounge in the common
room until it was time to meet Oliver at the metro station. I went online a
little bit, but mostly just closed my eyes and relaxed. Unfortunately a new
couple checked into the hostel. Normally this is not unfortunate and has
nothing to do with me, but this time was strange. Not at first though, they
checked in and whatever, I wasn't really paying attention to them. After about
twenty minutes I stood up and left for my room, a large shared space of sixteen
beds, to retrieve my I-pod. Wasn't I pleasantly surprised to walk in on the
couple "cuddling" in the lower bunk set right by mine separated only by a small cabinet. Super. At first I
thought the boy was just going to sleep, but then I realized he was frozen in
place. The penny dropped even before the piece, the girl, whispered, "I
think someone's there." No crap honey, you're staying in a youth hostel in
the biggest room no less. Of course people are going to go in the room, it's a
shared space! In the end I returned to the common room without my I-pod. Andrew
asked what was wrong and I hashed out all the details for him. He actually
became mad and even said, "why can't those [considerate people] get a damn
hotel room! Honestly the 16?" I snickered at this and responded with a,
such is life. Although it was immensely awkward, I did enjoy everyone else's
reactions of the story. The second difference was that I spent a good chunk of
the evening with my friend Oliver. Does anyone remember Oliver from freshman
year of high school? I do! Back then, in the politest of terms, we were not
that compatible. He actually spent more time hanging out with Pete than he did
me. But that's normal between a fifteen year old girl and a sixteen year old
boy who both have giant egos. Hey, least I admit it. Anyways, when Oliver and I
saw each other at the metro station it was as if I were seeing a long lost
brother after years of separation. I greeted him with a, "Salut" and
a decent hug. I also hugged his girlfriend, she seemed a little uncomfortable
but whatever, before we decided on what we were going to do. His girlfriend did
have to go home, school night or something, so it was just me and Oliver for
the early evening. The first thing we did was go to the top of Lyon and it was amazing. The sight of the city lit up at night was stunning,
actually it reminded me of Chicago. The Lyon skyline is something to behold
though, with its two rivers and steep geography the splendor is unreal. Enough
gushing, afterwards we hit Vieux Lyon, Old Town essentially, for some food. My
stomach was thrilled with what I ended up eating. I had a starter salad, the
daily catch, aka fish, potatoes, and rum cake for dessert. Plus a bottle of
good red wine. Oliver allowed me to sample his plate, he actually insisted on
it, which was also delicious. He had a cut of meat, that was fully cooked, with
some pretty tasty fries at the side. The following activity was bar hopping.
Oliver and I only ended up hitting two bars, I had a half pint at each, before
taking the metro to Cool and Bed. There I found all of my friends, minus
Andrew, completely smashed. This was going to be an interesting night. Sadly
Oliver couldn't stay long, he had work in the morning, but he was still able to
meet all of my new friends and Kate. Oh Kitty Kate, she was wearing a cat mask,
you were adorable all night long. When Oliver left the rest of us attempted to go to
"Life", a popular bar in Lyon, but failed miserably. However, we were
applauded for our wonderful singing voices. My Canadian friends had earlier in
the day taught the rest of us a short refrain from an annoying Quebec Halloween
song called, "C'est l'Halloween." Basically we all were clapping and
singing it in the metro cars. The other passengers gave us a booming round of
applause as we gracefully left the car. Once outside we tried to find Life,
didn't work. Word of advice, never take directions from jail bait German girls
that don't speak French or English well. In fact, the German teenagers ended up
ditching the rest of us, great. So a bunch of college age adult-children found
their way back the quai, dock, that their hostel was on without too much
trouble. There was a bar on that quai, they went inside and enjoyed some frothy
beer. Then three of the adult-children, a Canadian of Nova Scotia, a Britain of
Scotland, and an American/Canadian from Chicago, left the bar together to make
the all-important walk home together. The American/Canadian zoomed ahead
though, she really wanted some water, and was let into the hostel by Matthew.
Once there some water was drunk, some ice cream devoured, and then some sleep
taken. A different Halloween, but definitely an awesome one. Tomorrow morning,
the last day in Lyon, is going to be a struggle. Kate and I have to be happy because
we're having lunch with Oliver's family. Oh boy. Halloween was worth it though.
Night audience.
