Well, no turning back now.  They just let us use the electronics again.  Can't get them to turn around. I ended up with two bags of stuff.  Could not keep it 50 lbs, so I decided to use a second bag.  That allowed some of the stuff I had trimmed out, to now have a place.  More reading material, notebooks, and snacks.  I ended up with 85 lbs that I must lug to the tram that takes me into Lyon from the airport.

I am scared.  Not of anything bad happening, but of being on my own without any local support system. All my insecurities are exposed, both personal and those about my scientific abilities.  I must prove myself worthy of the fellowship and represent my lab, university, and my country by showing what I can accomplish. I have a new respect for the post-docs and grad students that leave their homes to come to Colorado to study.  I will take a couple of days to settle in Lyon before starting at the Lab.  I will need to get a metro card to allow me access to all the subways, trams, and busses. 

They also have a bike rental program in town with 500+ bikes available.  Purchase a rental card for 25 euro to get 30 mins (60 if I have a metro card) free and one euro per hour after that. Most of the destinations from my apartment are only a few kilometers and I should have no trouble staying in free time.  The big grocery store is only 2km (mile and half) from my apartment and will only take 10 minutes on the bike.  The bikes have big baskets on the front, so shopping will be easy.

Ugh.  I have been sitting in Heathrow airport for 4 hours.  There was an earlier flight, but last time I was here it took 5 hours to get through security, so I booked a later flight.  There was an earlier flight that I had not used. I thought I might be able to on it, but alas, it was full.  So, here I sit writing a blog entry.  There are many french speaking travelers around me.  I dont understand a word they are saying.  This should be fun.

I did sleep a little bit on the plane from Denver to London, but it is now 6 am body time and I am getting tired.  Still have another hour before I know which gate I will be at.

I did meet a nice group of Brits in an airport restaurant.  They are heading to San Fran for business.  One of the guys was a Swansea fan, so we talked about football, both world and american.  He enjoys watching the american football on ESPN as much as we used to watch Australian rules football.  The action and hard hitting are enjoyable especially when you dont have any allegiance to the teams.

Getting sleepy. Maybe I will catch a few winks on the plane to Lyon.  Will probably need to edit this tomorrow.