Cinematic and Literary Francophone Perspectives

 After all of our class discussions on the history and culture of Algeria, I was excited to experience a piece of this culture here in Lyon.  Upon arrival, it was busier than I had expected.   Simply due to my expectations based on visiting French bakeries late on a Thursday afternoon.   We couldn’t even find seats!   All we could see from outside were the few mystery items in the window.     Inside there was a small pastry counter (small compared to those I’ve seen in France at least), an espresso machine, and a dedicated station for frying the beignets.   There were a handful of tables filling up the rest of the space.   I’ll be the first to admit that my French accent is not the best, but I was surprised at how hard it was to communicate with the vendor.   We had a lot of difficulty understanding each other, but were able to figure it out.   As soon as my beignet was set in front of me, I knew I would need to come back an...

L’Étoile d’Orient is a small unassuming restaurant that I would have walked by if I had not been looking for it. It did not help that on the day I went the front door, which is open in this picture, was closed with a sign to go around to the side door. It was very cold the day I went, so when I got to the restaurant, all I wanted to do was go inside and warm up, but the door was locked. There was a sign saying to go around, but that seemed weird. Also, there was nobody around, it just felt weird to me, so I almost left. However, I did not do that; I stayed and had lunch. Inside the restaurant, it did not feel like France. The restaurant is decorated to look like Morocco, with different colored tiles that make oriental patterns. The layout of the restaurant was also interesting because there was a doorway to another room, so the restaurant was bigger than I realize. I stayed in the room I came in, it was small, and the tables oversized. I sat at a two-person table, but it was round so ...

  Visit to Librarie a Soi.e     I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect when visiting Librarie a Soi.e for the first time. When I walked in, I was greeted with a welcoming atmosphere and a polite “bonjour” from the girl, about my age, who was working the front desk. (I’d glance over at her a few minutes later to see her reading a book behind the checkout counter, like a true bookstore employee.) The bookstore was smaller than I expected, and it felt very quaint and accessible. I took a minute to wander the little shop, enjoying the ambiance of the wood-paneled walls, matching bookcases, and colorful decorations.  As proclaimed by a chalkboard sign placed outside the entrance, as well as the numerous pride flags and welcoming “Merry Queermas” written on the windows, Librarie a Soi.e is a bookstore centering around female and queer voices. Throughout the store, books by women and queer folks were on display, all translated into French. I saw some familiar titles, such as ...

     It is hard to say goodbye to such an amazing class and place the shared experiences we had onto the shelves of my memory, but I think there was no better 'final sendoff' than to sit and share a hearty meal in Le Ksar.      Le Ksar is a small, quaint restaurant hiding in an alley in the 1st arrondissement just a brisk walk from place des Terreaux. Though the exterior of the restaurant can leave someone second guessing if they put the correct address into Google maps (I'm looking at a couple of you in this class), the inside leaves very little to be desired. Immediately, you are welcomed in from the cold to a warm and overwhelming comfortable environment. From the thick wooden tables surrounded by soft chairs and benches decorated with plush pillows to the soft glowing lanterns overhead to the bronze and brightly colored decor placed along the open brick walls, this restaurant has no trouble convincing you that you just walked into the dining room of an ...

My third visit to the Algerian El Ghoul Brahim Patisserie ended with me walking away, stomach growling. I had been waiting in line since 4:20 pm. It was a Monday in the Guillotière neighborhood of Lyon, France, and while waiting, I remembered my first visit when an old woman told me, “ This is the place to go for Algerian beignets.” I could not have agreed more and had in fact returned twice more to indulge in those delicious, way-to-affordable (only 1.50€!) beignets. However, as I stood in line and soaked in the smell of cigarettes and sugar, and the buzz of Arabic and French that mingled through the streets, I wondered if I would be eating this third time.  Although small, El Ghoul Brahim Patisserie was packed. Upon finally stepping onto the threshold of the open glass door, I watched as people talked, rearranged tables to fit their group size, and indulged in delicious looking baked goods and tea. Beside me, a toddler tried to sneakily eat the broken bits of bright yellow pas...

Upon looking at the list, I was very excited to see a feminist bookstore! I have never visited one before, so for this experience I decided to visit the Librairie à Soi(e) to see what it was all about. This is an inclusive bookstore focused on feminism, and it has a huge variety of books (history of feminism, eco-feminism, masculinity, queer history, etc.) as well as novels, comics, and poetry. In terms of what it looks like and the vibe, the first thing I saw as I walked up to the store were the words “Merry Queermas” on a festive window, above a display of queer feminist works! Immediately, I wanted to see more. The inside was very welcoming, with cute overhead lights, tall windows at the back, and a cozy lounge room to the side to read in. The team was just as welcoming, and I felt very at ease to browse here. The bookstore is organized very nicely, but before diving into a category, I did a walkthrough just looking at the displays. The authors’ names were typically smaller and less...

  Ever since coming to France, I have been craving Mediterranean food. When I saw how diverse the restaurant market was, I knew that there had to be some Mediterranean food somewhere. However, when I’d look up places online it would just show multiple places that were “Kebab” street food. I would be so confused 😕.  “I’m in the mood for shawarma and spinach pies, not fries and sandwiches!” To give some context, two weeks ago I was in search of a “traditional” Mediterranean restaurant, and I found a place called “ADONYS”. When I saw the pictures on Google Maps with the various hummus and shish-kebabs of meat I made it a mission to go. (Sadly I wasn’t able to go when I wanted to because the restaurant was closing in a few minutes,) However, last Monday when I was looking at the list of places to visit, I clicked the “best Lebanese restaurant” list and ADONYS was the first one to pop up. It was fate. If you haven’t guessed yet, I chose to go to a Lebanese restaurant called ADONYS...