Un match de foot, giraffes, my first crepe...and an apartment!!!

It's been a good 24 hours! I went to see the Lyon soccer team play Toulouse last night at the Stade de Gerland, and it was an incredible game and an even more incredible experience. Because of this ridiculous strike, getting there was a little difficult, but we just followed the crowd of guys wearing soccer jerseys and scarves. :) Got tickets at a little store near the stadium for 15 euros (cheap!) and we were about 10 rows behind one of the goals! Turns out that area is CRAZINESS. Well, the whole stadium was pretty crazy, but our section stood up on their chairs for the entire game singing and jumping and yelling, and it was awesome. Lyon came from behind and won 2-1 (of course) with two amazing goals, even while missing three of their best players! Yay!!!

Anyway, it was kind of a late night since we had to make the trek home on the random bus with 34,000 other people so this morning was pretty lazy. Didn't manage to get out of my pjs until 1ish, but then I made up for my laziness by going for a run (my first in 6 weeks, but my broken toe did wonderfully!) in the beautiful Tête d'Or park. Everyone and their mom and their ADORABLE French child was there enjoying the sunshine. It was amazing. Even more amazing was looking up in the middle of my run and seeing three giraffes wandering around. Yes, giraffes. Turns out there's a random free zoo in the middle of the park, but I almost had a heart attack seeing them at first...

 It was so beautiful that I didn't want to be back inside so Rachel and I went off in search of somewhere (anywhere!!!) to get a crepe. I mean, it's just ridiculous that I hadn't had one yet considering crepes are are basically the reason I'm here in France! ;) But never fear, I finally found a little crepe stand and got a banana-nutella crepe and it was every bit as delicious as I remembered. Mmmmmmmm.

And last, but DEFINITELY not least, I think I may have found an apartment. Woo-hoo! Well, I mean, Rachel and I did find an apartment and I think it's ours, but we haven't signed the lease yet so I'm hesitant to get too excited. But it's gorgeously wonderful and in the 8th arrondissement if that means anything to anyone. It's a lot more expensive than I had hoped, but I've resigned myself to spending all my life savings. It's worth it. It's a 2-bedroom apartment so Rachel and I will live there together (although we've made a vow to start speaking only French...soon), and it's sunny and is completely furnished, beautifully, with wireless internet, a flat-screen TV, a washing machine, and a landline that I think is free to call landlines in the States! It's more of a family area but is right near the metro line for my schools with tons of cute shops around and is close enough to walk to the downtown area if I have to. We're meeting with the landlady woman, who is the nicest person ever and whose French I can miraculously understand most of the time, on Wednesday night so I'm going to wait to celebrate until then.

Off to bed now since I have to get up early to make my way to my school tomorrow morning to meet with my teacher contact... Ack!