For 2,90 Euros you can’t really expect much, especially when it pays for a 3-course meal. But considering it’s in Lyon, gastronomic capital of France, you’d hope that they’d try to make it edible. Unfortunately the university food is much like the little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead; when it’s good it’s very very good, but when it’s bad it’s awful.
The subtle art of flavouring does not seem to have been discovered yet, and the lack of flavour of some cheap food is ‘cleverly’ disguised by adding pepper. So much pepper that the food then becomes inedible. Unless of course, you REALLY like pepper.
The salad side-dishes are a mystery, and when selecting your dish it is much like a lucky-dip at lunch-time. You can see what it is; carrots, lentils, fluorescent pasta, but unless you sample each dish with your fingers while you are trying to work out which one you’ll like, there is no way of knowing what it will taste like until you sit down. Even something simple that should have an obvious flavour, like grated carrot, is unpredictable and will often have many strange dressings and flavourings added to it. You can get lucky and choose something with little or no flavour. Or you can get unlucky and opt for a dish which tastes like something that shouldn’t be put in the mouth. Like nail-varnish remover. With the desserts, its normally best to go for something that hasn’t been made on the premises, like fruit or a pot of yoghurt. If you do want to branch out a bit, there is the tricky lucky-dip decision to make, and the wide selection of France’s answer to angel delight. It is essentially a strange bowl of gloop, which comes in different colours depending on the flavour, which moves of its own accord. Very sickly, and difficult to eat more than one bowl of. Or so I’ve been told. After paying, getting cutlery and then glasses, there is the issue of finding a seat. Normally not too much of an issue when there are only two of you, but when in a larger group, people are asked to move bags, coats and even themselves so that you can all sit together (‘could you move down the table please?’). But still, for 2,90 Euros it’s not bad.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Monday, November 23, 2009
Smoking in france
Cigarettes are as essential as a mobile phone in France. They are the main socialising accessory or aid. The cloud of smoke that surrounds groups of people creates a very close and amicable atmosphere, even outside. While the English use alcohol as an aid to help them talk to people, the French start conversations over cigarettes. If you are against smoking, you can still make friends by carrying a lighter with you at all times. The number 1 reason that a stranger will talk to you in france is to ask for a cigarette or a light.
As for smoking inside, officially the law forbids it, and signs are everywhere to remind you of the fines for smoking in an enclosed space, but some cafes and bars still have 'fumoirs' or smoking rooms, and if its raining or you REALLY need a ciggie, the general rule is if you can feel a breeze, it counts as outside. Or just lean out of a window.
As for smoking inside, officially the law forbids it, and signs are everywhere to remind you of the fines for smoking in an enclosed space, but some cafes and bars still have 'fumoirs' or smoking rooms, and if its raining or you REALLY need a ciggie, the general rule is if you can feel a breeze, it counts as outside. Or just lean out of a window.
La mode francaise
Neutral colours are IN! You must not stand out in a crowd and if you’re a blonde or redhead, be prepared for excessive male attention! Any outfit is completed with a cigarette and if you wear glasses, make sure they’re big and geeky! Ugly Betty style glasses, even with clear glass, are a must for everyone this season! Any hairstyle goes, but if you wear your hair up and have ears that stick out further from your head than you’d like, an alice band is a great accessory to pin back and control those ears!
If you get bored of jeans, then there is always the option of beige trousers which have been sighted on some of the more individual inhabitants of Lyon. Want to ditch trousers altogether? Then shorts are a great option, or a skirt (but make sure it finishes just above the knee at the shortest) but whatever you go for, make sure they’re in a neutral colour like the rest of your outfit and tights MUST be worn, but only in skin-colour or black. Any display of flesh or colour attracts male attention, which is completely unnecessary and unwanted.
Scarves are, of course, obligatory and may be used to brighten up your outfit with an autumnal splash of green or red but most will choose to invest in the goes-with-anything black. This way it matches most of your wardrobe or can provide a nice contrast if you choose to wear beige or white.
But please, whatever you do, avoid bright, solid colours. This is the style of French men who think they are gangsters, and are seen wearing tracksuits, hoodies and baseball caps. It is a look to be avoided at all costs, and as previously mentioned, WILL make men talk to you. And no-one wants that.
If you get bored of jeans, then there is always the option of beige trousers which have been sighted on some of the more individual inhabitants of Lyon. Want to ditch trousers altogether? Then shorts are a great option, or a skirt (but make sure it finishes just above the knee at the shortest) but whatever you go for, make sure they’re in a neutral colour like the rest of your outfit and tights MUST be worn, but only in skin-colour or black. Any display of flesh or colour attracts male attention, which is completely unnecessary and unwanted.
Scarves are, of course, obligatory and may be used to brighten up your outfit with an autumnal splash of green or red but most will choose to invest in the goes-with-anything black. This way it matches most of your wardrobe or can provide a nice contrast if you choose to wear beige or white.
But please, whatever you do, avoid bright, solid colours. This is the style of French men who think they are gangsters, and are seen wearing tracksuits, hoodies and baseball caps. It is a look to be avoided at all costs, and as previously mentioned, WILL make men talk to you. And no-one wants that.
Choosing somewhere to sit
When sitting, be it in a cafe, restaurant, lecture, you must try to get an extra seat if you want to appear French. This way, your bag and coat may sit next to you. I haven’t yet worked out why this is so important. It is possibly so you have all the important things closer to hand, rather than having to bend down to pick your bag off the floor, or it could be a natural reaction dating back to the days when people smoked indoors, and so the floor was covered in cigarette ash. Who’d want to put their bag/coat on that? I must stress that at this point, these are only speculations.
Because most spare seats will be occupied by coats or bags (as explained above), especially in the university restaurant, it is perfectly acceptable to ask someone to move their things so that you can sit down. This is not at all considered rude, in the same way that it shouldn’t be considered rude when the cashier starts scanning the next customer’s items while you’re still putting yours away at the supermarket. It’s not rude, it’s just what’s ‘done’.
Because most spare seats will be occupied by coats or bags (as explained above), especially in the university restaurant, it is perfectly acceptable to ask someone to move their things so that you can sit down. This is not at all considered rude, in the same way that it shouldn’t be considered rude when the cashier starts scanning the next customer’s items while you’re still putting yours away at the supermarket. It’s not rude, it’s just what’s ‘done’.
Introductions
When being introduced to someone you must kiss them. The same goes if you see someone that you already know, even in passing. In Lyon, the general rule is 2 kisses, first moving to your right then to your left. This depends on the region, and around Paris it is not uncommon to have to kiss people 4 times. Some areas go to the other side too, which might go some way to explaining why people don’t generally move to different areas of France. Too much potential for social embarrassment by going to the wrong side or not showing enough affection by only giving 2 kisses rather than 3 or 4. If you happen to go to a house party, or indeed any gathering of friends, the process must be repeated until you have worked your way around the room, introducing yourself to everyone as you exchange kisses. Someone explained it to me as being impolite in France if you do not kiss, as it shows you are friendly enough with someone to invite them round to your house...or something.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
I haven’t written anything for ages, I know. It’s a shame, but I’ve been doing other, less interesting things. I’ve been going through a ‘doing nothing’ phase recently, I think it’s the weather. Hopefully this will change soon, but its sooo difficult to get up in the morning at the moment! There’s a big thing on a mountain in January, a week of skiing and partying for under 200 euro, I might have to look into it!
It’s a shame that it doesn’t really feel like Halloween at the moment, even though its in 2 days. There are a couple of decorations in McDo, and a VERY small section in Carrefour. It’s so depressing! Me and Louise are going to the Erasmus Halloween party tonight, but I don’t know how good it’ll be, apparently no-one was dressed up at the last one, but it’s nearer Halloween now, so maybe... oh well! The French just seem so boring. No-one looks interesting like they do in England! Ok, some of the ‘interesting’ people do look stupid, but surely its better than looking boring? It makes me seriously wonder whether they ever had feminism or women’s rights in France! Some people do dress nicely but they’re all at least in their 40s! There’s practically no Goths, emos, rockabillys, fashionistas, there’s definitely no Barbie style girls! There are virtually no sub-sections of society (if one can put it that way) its like there is a national uniform, like that advert for hair gel where the kids are all on a conveyor belt and 2 of them find hair gel and look different to everyone else. If you do wear something different, you REALLY stand out.
Oh well, I’m understanding more in class which is something, but I’m dreading a test in history this week! At least I’m allowed a dictionary! One of the Chinese girls in my residence was saying how she wants to learn how to rollerblade, so when she gets some, we’ll be able to rollerblade together!
It’s a shame that it doesn’t really feel like Halloween at the moment, even though its in 2 days. There are a couple of decorations in McDo, and a VERY small section in Carrefour. It’s so depressing! Me and Louise are going to the Erasmus Halloween party tonight, but I don’t know how good it’ll be, apparently no-one was dressed up at the last one, but it’s nearer Halloween now, so maybe... oh well! The French just seem so boring. No-one looks interesting like they do in England! Ok, some of the ‘interesting’ people do look stupid, but surely its better than looking boring? It makes me seriously wonder whether they ever had feminism or women’s rights in France! Some people do dress nicely but they’re all at least in their 40s! There’s practically no Goths, emos, rockabillys, fashionistas, there’s definitely no Barbie style girls! There are virtually no sub-sections of society (if one can put it that way) its like there is a national uniform, like that advert for hair gel where the kids are all on a conveyor belt and 2 of them find hair gel and look different to everyone else. If you do wear something different, you REALLY stand out.
Oh well, I’m understanding more in class which is something, but I’m dreading a test in history this week! At least I’m allowed a dictionary! One of the Chinese girls in my residence was saying how she wants to learn how to rollerblade, so when she gets some, we’ll be able to rollerblade together!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Its difficult to remember whats happened the past week, its been kind of busy. I went rollerblading along the river last tuesday, it was cold but cos I was moving, it was ok. the skateable terrain ran out after a while so I put on my trainers (luckily I bought sensible shoes with me) and carried on walking. There was a small nature reserve which apparantly had beavers and kingfishers hanging out there, but I didn't see any. I'd already seen a kingfisher on my first visit to the zoo anyway, flitting by and saying hello to the pelicans and flamingos. Then further on there was a massive park, which had a kind of island thing (again, god bless my waterproof trainers) and I walked across the very shalow water to explore a little bit. It was really weird, there was a main road really nearby, but it felt like the countryside. And there were so many different parts to this place, big green spaces, woodland, water (although you'd have to have a death wish to go in the rhone, you can actually see the current) it was really cool apart from this huge building site by the river! I was trying to get to the lake, but didn't get anywhere near that far (maybe half way) and cos I was meeting Louise for sushi later, I thought I'd better head back. I think you need a whole day to get up there and back! (at least if you're gonna get there and enjoy it) I saw some birds along the river, one of them was a heron, but it looked black. Sushi was good, but I still prefer Yoshi, the cheapest and nicest I've found so far.
I went to a boat club the other day, a club on a boat, which was cool and loads of people were really drunk (its not just the english, I swear!) I'm sad that I'm missing hallowe'en and bonfire night, but there's english peeps here I'll be able to celebrate with!
Me and Chris went to find some trompes d'oeil (the paintings on the sides of buildings) but then decided to wander, and ended up at the fourviere (big church on the hill) at night. It was so stunning, there was the eiffel tower/radio tower about 500 metres away from it, which was so confusing, cos it looks way further from the bottom of the hill! and we looked out over all of lyon lit up at night. With the light polluiton giving the sky an orange tinge. It was beautiful!
Missed a lecture this morning because I was way too tired, but its all stuff that I can easily look up in a book or online. I just didn't sleep at all last night. Tomorrow is my day off and I think I'll have to do some work reading and stuff to catch up with everything, and translation. But its much easier now I have internet!
I went to a boat club the other day, a club on a boat, which was cool and loads of people were really drunk (its not just the english, I swear!) I'm sad that I'm missing hallowe'en and bonfire night, but there's english peeps here I'll be able to celebrate with!
Me and Chris went to find some trompes d'oeil (the paintings on the sides of buildings) but then decided to wander, and ended up at the fourviere (big church on the hill) at night. It was so stunning, there was the eiffel tower/radio tower about 500 metres away from it, which was so confusing, cos it looks way further from the bottom of the hill! and we looked out over all of lyon lit up at night. With the light polluiton giving the sky an orange tinge. It was beautiful!
Missed a lecture this morning because I was way too tired, but its all stuff that I can easily look up in a book or online. I just didn't sleep at all last night. Tomorrow is my day off and I think I'll have to do some work reading and stuff to catch up with everything, and translation. But its much easier now I have internet!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Well, I've decided I need to go to the supermarket. The only things in my fridge are cheese covered in black from the Pyrenees, milk and cream. I don't even have tins of easy stuff to make in a situation like this! Maybe I'll learn from my mistake and stock up a bit when I go. Or maybe not. I've decided to make pancakes with ham and cheese sauce for dinner tonight, but I have to find a good cheese. Who makes cheese sauce with soft cheese? And I don't want the swiss answer to cheddar that everyone uses (emmental or sometimes gouda. It comes ready-grated in bags. Who said the french don't use ready meals?) I think I might have to go for a blue cheese.
Had a very tiring morning with history, history then history, but a day off tomorrow so thats good. Me, Louise and anyone who wants to come with us are going for sushi in the evening tomorrow so at least I don't have to think about dinner then.
I can't believe how cold its suddenly gotten. The french have been walking around in coats for days, but this is the first day they've actually really needed it. It feels like Paris in February! I've also been bitten to death by mosquitos (like everyone else here) but mine have been pretty much exclusively on the face, so I look like I'v got loads of spots that I won't stop squeezing. Its not the case, they're really itchy bites!
Well, I'd better be off to the supermarket now before I get too lazy/tired. If I do ever have nothing to eat and the shops have all closed, theres a supermarket vending machine nearby which also has a pizza vending machine next to it, if you can believe it!
Had a very tiring morning with history, history then history, but a day off tomorrow so thats good. Me, Louise and anyone who wants to come with us are going for sushi in the evening tomorrow so at least I don't have to think about dinner then.
I can't believe how cold its suddenly gotten. The french have been walking around in coats for days, but this is the first day they've actually really needed it. It feels like Paris in February! I've also been bitten to death by mosquitos (like everyone else here) but mine have been pretty much exclusively on the face, so I look like I'v got loads of spots that I won't stop squeezing. Its not the case, they're really itchy bites!
Well, I'd better be off to the supermarket now before I get too lazy/tired. If I do ever have nothing to eat and the shops have all closed, theres a supermarket vending machine nearby which also has a pizza vending machine next to it, if you can believe it!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Well I had a good day today, I had to get up really early for history of medieval art but then I got to go home because I don't have ancient history this week so had 4 hours to rest and eat! I got sea urchins, prawns and french bread for lunch. The sea urchins were really difficult to get into and looked really freaky but tasted ok. Not really worth the expense and effort though! The prawns were disapointing too, more expensive and less flavour than in England. But I've done all my homework and have typed up my lectures, so I think I might try and get to lac mirabel-jonage tomorrow on my blades. Its really nearby and looks like it should be stunning, so I'm hoping for a nice day. Theres a stretching and toning class tomorrow and if I don't make it to shooting, theres loads of lessons so I can go another day.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Me and louise went to see a french band in FNAC part dieu today, they weren't all bad. obviously everyone else there was french and knew who they were, but it was a promotional thing, they had their first album coming out. They were trying ther hand at brit pop and the accent was a bit dodge but they were pretty cool. Kind of like blur mixed with oasis maybe with a slight french accent? Might have to get their album and make them sign it next time they're in Lyon (27th Nov)! I think that they're gonna try to be big in england, which is why all their songs are in english. They're called music is not fun and one of their songs is called spleen sailor (I know, what?!?!) There was a guy filming and doing interviews and stuff and he heard us talking in anglais and asked if he could ask us some questions, so we talked to him a bit in french. I want their album now! I've been listening to the samples on their website and have decided I quite like them, more britpop is needed in the world! (some of this may just be the wine I had with my dinner talking!)
So thats pretty much all I did today, cos chris is so last minute not enough people were available to go to lazer quest which was a shame, but we're here for a year (at least, I am) and he's having his birthday celebrations next week apparently theres a student thing somewhere which is 15 euros entry, but then an open bar! How awesome is that?!? Us brits are gonna get wasted! Its what we learn at uni!
I got a medieval drink from the medieval shop (which I've fallen in love with all over again) which is not mead. Mead in french is hydromiel (hydro-honey!) this is kind of like honey mixed with mulled wine I guess, to drink very cold. Its called Hypocras (de pays d'oc-from the occitaine region, which is basically provence) and its got red wine, cinnamon, ginger, muscade (can't remember what that is), cardamom, honey, sugar, rose water, orange and macis (not sure about that one either) in it. Yum yum yum! Deffo bringing bottles back for chrimbo! Gonna have to try the white one next!
Nothing planned for tomorrow apart from market in the morning, then I might see how far along the river I can go on my blades. And I need to type up my ancient history lecture notes. You can get cherry stalks in pots in the supermarket. Why?
So thats pretty much all I did today, cos chris is so last minute not enough people were available to go to lazer quest which was a shame, but we're here for a year (at least, I am) and he's having his birthday celebrations next week apparently theres a student thing somewhere which is 15 euros entry, but then an open bar! How awesome is that?!? Us brits are gonna get wasted! Its what we learn at uni!
I got a medieval drink from the medieval shop (which I've fallen in love with all over again) which is not mead. Mead in french is hydromiel (hydro-honey!) this is kind of like honey mixed with mulled wine I guess, to drink very cold. Its called Hypocras (de pays d'oc-from the occitaine region, which is basically provence) and its got red wine, cinnamon, ginger, muscade (can't remember what that is), cardamom, honey, sugar, rose water, orange and macis (not sure about that one either) in it. Yum yum yum! Deffo bringing bottles back for chrimbo! Gonna have to try the white one next!
Nothing planned for tomorrow apart from market in the morning, then I might see how far along the river I can go on my blades. And I need to type up my ancient history lecture notes. You can get cherry stalks in pots in the supermarket. Why?
Hurrah! Well, the intenets fixed, I have rollerblades, pink hair and I'm making a dress. So much has been going on! I'm really glad I don't have to lug my laptop around anymore, although it does mean that I have to pay rent on time... lol, not that it matters. I went out for a spin on my blades and only nearly fell over a couploe of times. Every friday evening theres a meeting at Bellecour of rollerbladers and scooter...ers? Which should be really good!
I need to get some honey at the market tomorrow, its cheaper than in the supermarkets! I've run out cos I've done some cooking with it, plus all the honey lemon and brandy drinks (brandy is much cheaper than whiskey). I'm feeling much better now, but still not 100%. We're going to lazer quest today, its really expensive though! 7euros a game or something! More sushi restaurants have been discovered, and I think I'll have to concentrate on the ones which have takeaway leaflets, because I don't remember where most of them are. My favourite is still the one near the parc tete d'or, its the cheapest and looks really nice inside!
I'm really glad my hair dye arrived yesterday, I love having coloured hair! I really need to go shopping because, aside from needing more blu-tack because I have so much stuff to put on my wall (there was a guy selling posters outside uni-3 for 5 euros), I also have no food. On the plus side, I found a japanese section in my local monoprix so if I want to make sushi, I can! I'll just pop along to the market in the morning, get some fresh fish (I know what its called in french now thanks to the sushi menus! I just need to find out what dorade is in english...Its sea-bream. That doesn't say anything to me, but its really good!)
I think I'll have to go to a cheese counter too, I want to find a cheese to make cheese sauce with that isn't emmental in a ready-grated bag. Or a cheese that tastes like feet. They could probably market some of it in the uk as a novelty cheese shaped like a foot. It would be a really popular novelty present; "you have cheesy feet! Here, have a cheese-foot!" I'm not sure french people would find it so popular, though. No one hase a sense of humor like the brits! I lent Louise Mighty Boosh season 1 and she asked me "Is it always that wierd?" after watching the first episode. She kind of enjoyed it though. I think. But we both agreed that no other country would get it. Even if you had someone who spoke perfect english and understood all the jokes and slang, they wouldn't get it. Because it's so british and eccentric. Makes me pleased and proud to be english! No one does wierd like us!
I might have to go and look in the wierd sections in the book shop, you know how in england there are a load of strange, basically pointless books which are very interesting? I remember seeing one which had where superstitions come from in it. I wonder what superstitions there are in France? And where the hell the 'poisson d'avril' came from (april fish...april 1st you go around putting fishes on peoples backs...don't ask, I don't know. Maybe wikipedia will?).
I've just discovered my laptop has built in speech recognition. How cool is that!
I need to get some honey at the market tomorrow, its cheaper than in the supermarkets! I've run out cos I've done some cooking with it, plus all the honey lemon and brandy drinks (brandy is much cheaper than whiskey). I'm feeling much better now, but still not 100%. We're going to lazer quest today, its really expensive though! 7euros a game or something! More sushi restaurants have been discovered, and I think I'll have to concentrate on the ones which have takeaway leaflets, because I don't remember where most of them are. My favourite is still the one near the parc tete d'or, its the cheapest and looks really nice inside!
I'm really glad my hair dye arrived yesterday, I love having coloured hair! I really need to go shopping because, aside from needing more blu-tack because I have so much stuff to put on my wall (there was a guy selling posters outside uni-3 for 5 euros), I also have no food. On the plus side, I found a japanese section in my local monoprix so if I want to make sushi, I can! I'll just pop along to the market in the morning, get some fresh fish (I know what its called in french now thanks to the sushi menus! I just need to find out what dorade is in english...Its sea-bream. That doesn't say anything to me, but its really good!)
I think I'll have to go to a cheese counter too, I want to find a cheese to make cheese sauce with that isn't emmental in a ready-grated bag. Or a cheese that tastes like feet. They could probably market some of it in the uk as a novelty cheese shaped like a foot. It would be a really popular novelty present; "you have cheesy feet! Here, have a cheese-foot!" I'm not sure french people would find it so popular, though. No one hase a sense of humor like the brits! I lent Louise Mighty Boosh season 1 and she asked me "Is it always that wierd?" after watching the first episode. She kind of enjoyed it though. I think. But we both agreed that no other country would get it. Even if you had someone who spoke perfect english and understood all the jokes and slang, they wouldn't get it. Because it's so british and eccentric. Makes me pleased and proud to be english! No one does wierd like us!
I might have to go and look in the wierd sections in the book shop, you know how in england there are a load of strange, basically pointless books which are very interesting? I remember seeing one which had where superstitions come from in it. I wonder what superstitions there are in France? And where the hell the 'poisson d'avril' came from (april fish...april 1st you go around putting fishes on peoples backs...don't ask, I don't know. Maybe wikipedia will?).
I've just discovered my laptop has built in speech recognition. How cool is that!
Monday, September 28, 2009
27th sept
This is what I wrote yesterday, but couldn't post because of stupid McDo. Luckily it's working today though. Good old chicken mc nuggets!
Well, I went to the market this morning and bought loads and loads! And I still didn't spend any more than 10 euros! I got a mass load of grapes for 1 euro, so I'm trying out a grape and vine peach smoothie. It's good! Vine peaches are lovely, both cheaper and sweeter than normal peaches, with a gorgeous dark red colour inside. I also got some tiny artichokes, so I'll have to remember to look up a recipe when I'm in McDo later. I also got some cheap cabbages and peppers. Not sure what I'll do with those yet. I got myself a treat too; fougasse with olives, mmmm! Fougasse is this lovely soft bread which is served warm with caramelised onions in cafe rouge and it's one of the best things on the menu! I was considering a roti chicken, but they're kind of expensive, 1 place was selling them for 11 euros for a small one, and another for 7 euros. I remember when they were a novelty and we used to be really excited to get one from carrefour calais. We spent ages searching for a stock cube to get the same flavour back in england, and now they're everywhere.
I've got myself a loyalty card now for my local shop 'casino' which actually sounds a bit funny/strange in english (I got a loyalty card from my local casino...) But it's like a nectar card, so I can use it in places like monoprix, galeries lafayette and even on sncf, so when I get a train somewhere, I can get points on it! I also got a loyalty card from a sushi restaurant! How cool is that! It was las week when me, louise and some of her friends went to a sushi reataurant near where she lives. I've lost count of japanese restaurants now, I think its 11 or 12 though!
Me and louise went on a tour of old Lyon yesterday because it was free and we didn't know much about the place. We still don't know loads, because there were at least 40 people there who'd come along for the free tour and so it was difficult to hear. Still, there was a guy who had this oval bag which he used as a shelf to keep his cat on. Yes, you read that right, he had a cat on his shelf-bag. It was amazing! And we learned that there was a square in old lyon which has pretty much every building style that exists in Lyon, roman, gothic, 15th century, 18th century. So that was quite cool. We also learned that there's loads of... tunnels? alleys? That look closed, but the public can use them, and they were built to keep goods out of the rain and to ease the transport of goodsso they could be taken up stairs rather than up a hill. You can go through one of these tunnels, and up stairs and end up somewhere completley different.
We got hungry during the tour, so we decided to leave it and get some food. We got a baguette and I got a lyonnaise specialty; 'escargot aux pralines' this big pink sticky pastry which was sooo sugary! Delicious! Then we went for a wander because louise needed new shoes, so she ended up buying clothes! We also found another segway rental place, from only 15 euros for 30 minutes! Robin, get yourself down here! There was loads going on in town, too! We saw a massive rollerblading thing, freestyle salom I think it was called, but it was amazing! I'm lending loads of my dvds, cos everyone's in the same boat as me, as in having seen all the dvds they bought with them several thousand times now. I'm glad I'm one of those people who can see something a thousand times though!
McDonalds really sucks. Although its open every day from 9 till 1 am which is really unusual for france, the internet is not working at my ‘local’ mc do, so after lugging my laptop all the way here I don’t feel pressed to find somewhere else. Theres more in town, but I’d have to get the metro, and they’re the only ones I know. Apart from the resto opposite which never seems open, and is really expensive, theres the uni, which is obviously closed on a Sunday. Bloody France! I don’t feel like doing anything else for the rest of the day now, not that there is anything to do. I’ll just get lunch at one of the cafes at uni tomorrow after dragging my laptop AND uni stuff in. Bloody hastle! And I’m not going to ANOTHER McDo and ordering MORE of their crappy food. Once a day is quite enough thankyou!
Happy Birthday Robin!
Well, I went to the market this morning and bought loads and loads! And I still didn't spend any more than 10 euros! I got a mass load of grapes for 1 euro, so I'm trying out a grape and vine peach smoothie. It's good! Vine peaches are lovely, both cheaper and sweeter than normal peaches, with a gorgeous dark red colour inside. I also got some tiny artichokes, so I'll have to remember to look up a recipe when I'm in McDo later. I also got some cheap cabbages and peppers. Not sure what I'll do with those yet. I got myself a treat too; fougasse with olives, mmmm! Fougasse is this lovely soft bread which is served warm with caramelised onions in cafe rouge and it's one of the best things on the menu! I was considering a roti chicken, but they're kind of expensive, 1 place was selling them for 11 euros for a small one, and another for 7 euros. I remember when they were a novelty and we used to be really excited to get one from carrefour calais. We spent ages searching for a stock cube to get the same flavour back in england, and now they're everywhere.
I've got myself a loyalty card now for my local shop 'casino' which actually sounds a bit funny/strange in english (I got a loyalty card from my local casino...) But it's like a nectar card, so I can use it in places like monoprix, galeries lafayette and even on sncf, so when I get a train somewhere, I can get points on it! I also got a loyalty card from a sushi restaurant! How cool is that! It was las week when me, louise and some of her friends went to a sushi reataurant near where she lives. I've lost count of japanese restaurants now, I think its 11 or 12 though!
Me and louise went on a tour of old Lyon yesterday because it was free and we didn't know much about the place. We still don't know loads, because there were at least 40 people there who'd come along for the free tour and so it was difficult to hear. Still, there was a guy who had this oval bag which he used as a shelf to keep his cat on. Yes, you read that right, he had a cat on his shelf-bag. It was amazing! And we learned that there was a square in old lyon which has pretty much every building style that exists in Lyon, roman, gothic, 15th century, 18th century. So that was quite cool. We also learned that there's loads of... tunnels? alleys? That look closed, but the public can use them, and they were built to keep goods out of the rain and to ease the transport of goodsso they could be taken up stairs rather than up a hill. You can go through one of these tunnels, and up stairs and end up somewhere completley different.
We got hungry during the tour, so we decided to leave it and get some food. We got a baguette and I got a lyonnaise specialty; 'escargot aux pralines' this big pink sticky pastry which was sooo sugary! Delicious! Then we went for a wander because louise needed new shoes, so she ended up buying clothes! We also found another segway rental place, from only 15 euros for 30 minutes! Robin, get yourself down here! There was loads going on in town, too! We saw a massive rollerblading thing, freestyle salom I think it was called, but it was amazing! I'm lending loads of my dvds, cos everyone's in the same boat as me, as in having seen all the dvds they bought with them several thousand times now. I'm glad I'm one of those people who can see something a thousand times though!
McDonalds really sucks. Although its open every day from 9 till 1 am which is really unusual for france, the internet is not working at my ‘local’ mc do, so after lugging my laptop all the way here I don’t feel pressed to find somewhere else. Theres more in town, but I’d have to get the metro, and they’re the only ones I know. Apart from the resto opposite which never seems open, and is really expensive, theres the uni, which is obviously closed on a Sunday. Bloody France! I don’t feel like doing anything else for the rest of the day now, not that there is anything to do. I’ll just get lunch at one of the cafes at uni tomorrow after dragging my laptop AND uni stuff in. Bloody hastle! And I’m not going to ANOTHER McDo and ordering MORE of their crappy food. Once a day is quite enough thankyou!
Happy Birthday Robin!
25th september
This is what I wrote on the 25th and haven't been able to post until now...
Had a fantastic day today, went to the active dance class and this term we're doing salsa and cha-cha, both latino dances, both fabulous and fun! Before going in, I met a french girl (whose name I can't remember) and we talked loads, and I helped her and another girl out when we were dancing, cos we were at the back and there were about 40-50 people there so it was kind of difficult to see. It went at exactly the right pace, and I can't wait for next week. Apparantly it will be pretty much the same thing, but that will allow me to perfect it! I'm bringing along Chris and Claire next time, too, so we can all learn salsa together and go to the club and dance properly! Next term it's rock and waltz I think! I love it so much!
The strike (it is a strike) on the public transport is still on which sucks. Luckily I'm not into football, the metro that goes to the stadium is being replaced by 2 buses for a big match. Like that's going to be enough!
I found out what the problem is with the internet though, someone put some of their computer info into one of the desktops here, which has messed up the wireless signal, and until whoever did it goes to say who they are or sorts it out themselves, the nets going to be not working. Great. I'm pretty sure that's what the notice said anyway.
Had a fantastic day today, went to the active dance class and this term we're doing salsa and cha-cha, both latino dances, both fabulous and fun! Before going in, I met a french girl (whose name I can't remember) and we talked loads, and I helped her and another girl out when we were dancing, cos we were at the back and there were about 40-50 people there so it was kind of difficult to see. It went at exactly the right pace, and I can't wait for next week. Apparantly it will be pretty much the same thing, but that will allow me to perfect it! I'm bringing along Chris and Claire next time, too, so we can all learn salsa together and go to the club and dance properly! Next term it's rock and waltz I think! I love it so much!
The strike (it is a strike) on the public transport is still on which sucks. Luckily I'm not into football, the metro that goes to the stadium is being replaced by 2 buses for a big match. Like that's going to be enough!
I found out what the problem is with the internet though, someone put some of their computer info into one of the desktops here, which has messed up the wireless signal, and until whoever did it goes to say who they are or sorts it out themselves, the nets going to be not working. Great. I'm pretty sure that's what the notice said anyway.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Well, the internet's broken in the accommodation AGAIN, the other day it took me 15 mins to get to one page, then the connection broke, I had to connect again, and then waited another 15 mins to get to another page. GOD! So I'm sitting in McDo, writing this over a big orange juice, bacon and egg mcmuffin (nothing like proper bacon!) and a 20cl 'big' coffee. Black, because I forgot to ask for cafe au lait. How do the french go into a cafe and nurse an espresso for half an hour? Oh, I guess they smoke too... We've decided that's why they're all so thin, they smoke their hunger away, now that people are smoking a bit less, appetite surpressors and diet pills are taking up large sections in the pharmacies. There are loads of 'wiggas' here aswell, a word I've only just learned. If you know of Tim Westwood, he's the worst, a white guy who thinks he's a black 'gangsta' It's cringeworthy!
I finally had my first medieval history lesson on wednesday, and me and Louise had to leave halfway through it! The lecturer was incomprehensible, it was as bad as if we'd had a drunk scotsman who'd smoked 20 a day since he was 12 and was in the process of falling asleep in a lecture in england! I don't think even the french could understand him, but too bad for them, they can't change! Me and Louise are doing English translation now. Apparently really difficult, but it should really improve my French. I'm not sure much else I'm doing will be as good for me! We're going to be in the same class so we can help each other out. We're meeting today to figure out our timetables.
I've been aching ever since I did the stupid fame dancing the other day, but luckily it's stopped so I'm going to active dance later on, which I'll hopefully enjoy. I'm going to try 'tir' (shooting) next week, which is apparently both with pistols and bows and arrows. I couldn't be happier about it! I got really lucky with my FLE (francais langue etranger) teacher, she's fabulous! Slightly eccentric, with glasses right on the tip of her nose, saying "attention, mademoiselles" after nearly every sentence when there is a tricky grammatical thing.
Me and Louise met a really cool girl the other day who works in bar de la republique, which is apparently mostly populated by the erasmus students of Lyon. I'm so glad I didn't go to paris, everyone here (or at least everyone who isn't a menopausal french woman!) is really friendly! We talked to her for ages, and she was saying how se learned english and loved how easy it was compared to french (half the tenses are missing, there are exceptions to the rule but they always have easy ways to remember, i before e except after c...) she said that if she wasn't french, she would never have learned it!
Went out on tuesday and wednesday, tues we went to the aussie bar called l'ayers rock, or 'layers rock', a cause for much amusement for anglophones! Great fun, but music was a bit rubbish. Cocktails were 4 euros cos it was student night, and we could tell who was english in the bar by seeing who had the pints! Claire got herself a pint, while her housemate had a half, it was really funny. If you ever see an australian bar in france, though, its really fun and well worth a look inside. They know how to chuck around the bottles in an impressive way and I've never seen anything like that in England (oh no, health and safety!) Everywhere seems to have a pretty relaxed vibe here, too. Maybe it's the weather, yesterday it was 24 degrees and apparently will be the same this afternoon. I'm hoping to find a nice swimming pool or sporting activity to do on a sunday, maybe the ice rink will be open, hopefully the climbing wall will be open, even if I have to pay for it. There's a pool just up the road, but according to Cordula its quite expensive, 2,50 euros or something. How cheap is everything in Germany? 148 euros is expensive for accomodation and a smaller room according to her! Maybe I learned the wrong language...no. The 90's grunge look is very much 'in' over there and I couldn't handle the precision and order! I'm not a stepford wife! Plus they don't have the cote d'azur, decent wine (I got a not bad bottle of rose for 1,95 euros the other day), the carmargue, tha alps...yeah, I'm glad I'm learning french! I had one of those wierd almost out-of-the-body moments of clarity yesterday, I was talking to cordula, just a basic normal conversation, when it dawned on me that a lot of people wouldn't understand what we were saying. If Jess or Jen was there, they might catch the odd word, but they wouldn't understand the conversation. I realised how lucky I was to get to this level and was very pleased with myself. As a by-note, lots of french students are having mcflurrys. At 10 in the morning. Respect! Have to do that myself next time!
I'm trying to finish the Niel Gaiman book I got the other day, it's a kids book, but you can do that in a foreign language! If you read, I don't know...just any kids book in english, you're a bit wierd or slow or something, but in FRENCH! You're amazing, you can read whole books in a foreign language! Instant genius! I want to get onto a different book though, it turns out me and Chris bought exactly the same book for basically the same reasons (it had a nice cover and is very slim!) and I want to read that, it's a lot smaller than the Gaiman book and so I can pop it in my bag without being weighted down and take it to the park or something.
There's either a strike or repairs on the whole transportation system here (so I think it's strikes) which was yesterday and today, and god knows how much longer. It's very annoying, I wanted to go exploring yesterday but was aching too much to walk too far, and couldn't go many places cos nearly everything had stopped running by the afternoon!
We've got a french culture class which we'll probably just spend on strike (just participating in french culture, strikes are what france was built on!...Which is probably why nothing works that well and is so disorganised.) Hopefully the internet will 'work' (as well as it ever does) in my residnece so I won't have to lug my laptop around everywhere! There's a restaurant with wifi opposite, but it's kind of expensive, so I'll just be going to mac do till it works in my room again!
I finally had my first medieval history lesson on wednesday, and me and Louise had to leave halfway through it! The lecturer was incomprehensible, it was as bad as if we'd had a drunk scotsman who'd smoked 20 a day since he was 12 and was in the process of falling asleep in a lecture in england! I don't think even the french could understand him, but too bad for them, they can't change! Me and Louise are doing English translation now. Apparently really difficult, but it should really improve my French. I'm not sure much else I'm doing will be as good for me! We're going to be in the same class so we can help each other out. We're meeting today to figure out our timetables.
I've been aching ever since I did the stupid fame dancing the other day, but luckily it's stopped so I'm going to active dance later on, which I'll hopefully enjoy. I'm going to try 'tir' (shooting) next week, which is apparently both with pistols and bows and arrows. I couldn't be happier about it! I got really lucky with my FLE (francais langue etranger) teacher, she's fabulous! Slightly eccentric, with glasses right on the tip of her nose, saying "attention, mademoiselles" after nearly every sentence when there is a tricky grammatical thing.
Me and Louise met a really cool girl the other day who works in bar de la republique, which is apparently mostly populated by the erasmus students of Lyon. I'm so glad I didn't go to paris, everyone here (or at least everyone who isn't a menopausal french woman!) is really friendly! We talked to her for ages, and she was saying how se learned english and loved how easy it was compared to french (half the tenses are missing, there are exceptions to the rule but they always have easy ways to remember, i before e except after c...) she said that if she wasn't french, she would never have learned it!
Went out on tuesday and wednesday, tues we went to the aussie bar called l'ayers rock, or 'layers rock', a cause for much amusement for anglophones! Great fun, but music was a bit rubbish. Cocktails were 4 euros cos it was student night, and we could tell who was english in the bar by seeing who had the pints! Claire got herself a pint, while her housemate had a half, it was really funny. If you ever see an australian bar in france, though, its really fun and well worth a look inside. They know how to chuck around the bottles in an impressive way and I've never seen anything like that in England (oh no, health and safety!) Everywhere seems to have a pretty relaxed vibe here, too. Maybe it's the weather, yesterday it was 24 degrees and apparently will be the same this afternoon. I'm hoping to find a nice swimming pool or sporting activity to do on a sunday, maybe the ice rink will be open, hopefully the climbing wall will be open, even if I have to pay for it. There's a pool just up the road, but according to Cordula its quite expensive, 2,50 euros or something. How cheap is everything in Germany? 148 euros is expensive for accomodation and a smaller room according to her! Maybe I learned the wrong language...no. The 90's grunge look is very much 'in' over there and I couldn't handle the precision and order! I'm not a stepford wife! Plus they don't have the cote d'azur, decent wine (I got a not bad bottle of rose for 1,95 euros the other day), the carmargue, tha alps...yeah, I'm glad I'm learning french! I had one of those wierd almost out-of-the-body moments of clarity yesterday, I was talking to cordula, just a basic normal conversation, when it dawned on me that a lot of people wouldn't understand what we were saying. If Jess or Jen was there, they might catch the odd word, but they wouldn't understand the conversation. I realised how lucky I was to get to this level and was very pleased with myself. As a by-note, lots of french students are having mcflurrys. At 10 in the morning. Respect! Have to do that myself next time!
I'm trying to finish the Niel Gaiman book I got the other day, it's a kids book, but you can do that in a foreign language! If you read, I don't know...just any kids book in english, you're a bit wierd or slow or something, but in FRENCH! You're amazing, you can read whole books in a foreign language! Instant genius! I want to get onto a different book though, it turns out me and Chris bought exactly the same book for basically the same reasons (it had a nice cover and is very slim!) and I want to read that, it's a lot smaller than the Gaiman book and so I can pop it in my bag without being weighted down and take it to the park or something.
There's either a strike or repairs on the whole transportation system here (so I think it's strikes) which was yesterday and today, and god knows how much longer. It's very annoying, I wanted to go exploring yesterday but was aching too much to walk too far, and couldn't go many places cos nearly everything had stopped running by the afternoon!
We've got a french culture class which we'll probably just spend on strike (just participating in french culture, strikes are what france was built on!...Which is probably why nothing works that well and is so disorganised.) Hopefully the internet will 'work' (as well as it ever does) in my residnece so I won't have to lug my laptop around everywhere! There's a restaurant with wifi opposite, but it's kind of expensive, so I'll just be going to mac do till it works in my room again!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Well, the dance class was a bit rubbish. It was dancing, fame-style. Really not my thing. It also went really quickly (the steps, not the lesson, that seemed to take ages!) and I couldn't keep up. There was so much to learn, and as soon as I'd started to pick up one thing, we learned something else and pushed the rest of it out of my head! I was also way less flexible than everyone else, and while I could balance pretty well thanks to drama, I couldn't do anything else, like touching my hands flat on the floor without bending my knees. I'm going to check out the 'active' dance class on friday though, which is all samba and salsa, cha-cha and tango. While it will probably be more difficult, I'll hopefully enjoy it and therefore have incentive to go again.
It's warm today, my computer says it's 22 degrees, which is pretty good. I got a mini blender this morning so that I can turn the unappetising fruit and veg that I get cheap at markets into soups and smoothies. It will hopefully encourage me to do more cooking, too. I also spent what feels like half the day in the pharmacy trying to a) find and b) buy multivitamins. They don't sell them in the supermarket. It's like being in the 50's where you had to go to about 12 shops to get the week's groceries! Anyway, I got them in the end, but I'm now even more determined to NOT get ill this year. It takes too long getting medicine! On the plus side, I'm drinking loads of water. Well, I'm going to type up my lecture notes from yesterday now, so I'm all ready to take more notes in my medieval history class tomorrow. If I do find I'm struggling, they have history for dummies in FNAC so I'll be fine!
It's warm today, my computer says it's 22 degrees, which is pretty good. I got a mini blender this morning so that I can turn the unappetising fruit and veg that I get cheap at markets into soups and smoothies. It will hopefully encourage me to do more cooking, too. I also spent what feels like half the day in the pharmacy trying to a) find and b) buy multivitamins. They don't sell them in the supermarket. It's like being in the 50's where you had to go to about 12 shops to get the week's groceries! Anyway, I got them in the end, but I'm now even more determined to NOT get ill this year. It takes too long getting medicine! On the plus side, I'm drinking loads of water. Well, I'm going to type up my lecture notes from yesterday now, so I'm all ready to take more notes in my medieval history class tomorrow. If I do find I'm struggling, they have history for dummies in FNAC so I'll be fine!
Monday, September 21, 2009
Well, an interesting day. I finally had the first of my lessons (an 8 o'clock start-not good!) and understood most of it. Made nearly 5 pages of notes in history of medieval art, which was actually very interesting. Had to leave at the start of the next lesson though, ancient history, because it turns out it's every other week and I was in the wrong class (like that hasn't happened to me before!) So I had a look at the sports and had some lunch. Then I went to find Amphi H for my next class, contemporary history. I checked that it wasn't cancelled on the board, and went in. I felt the need to double check with someone, who told me that it wasn't history. I asked again, and nope, not history. She'd better have been in the wrong room, cos I went outside and waited for someone else to go in, asked them and apparantly I was in the right place, so there! But my god, was it boring! Cos it was a first year class, the first hour and a half was spent welcoming, explaining and reading the book list. It was made even worse by the fact that the chairs consisted of 2 flat pieces of wood and that the air conditioning wasn't working and it was as hot as the sahara in the lecture theatre.
Anyway, I understood most of it, it sounds like it will be an interesting class. I'm going to a street jazz class tomorrow, with the possibility of streching and toning and rock climbing later in the day! There is also the oppertunity to learn to shoot, how bizzare is that?! I might also have to go ice skating later in the week and maybe check out the sports centre thats practically next door! So much to do!
Anyway, I understood most of it, it sounds like it will be an interesting class. I'm going to a street jazz class tomorrow, with the possibility of streching and toning and rock climbing later in the day! There is also the oppertunity to learn to shoot, how bizzare is that?! I might also have to go ice skating later in the week and maybe check out the sports centre thats practically next door! So much to do!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Well, this is definatley the most boring day so far. It's raining, stopped at about 2 and is now just grey and wet. Went to the market in the rain this morning, which was fun. Had issues when I was trying to get money out, with an umbrella in one hand and purse and bag in the other, I got wet despite the brolly and decided to give up on it while walking around the market. Anyway, I got 5 lovely peaches for 1 euro, came home, made creamy lemon chicken and rice for lunch, did my homework and am just really bored now, there's only so many albums you can listen to, and so many films you can watch.
I got a big sheet of paper yesterday to make a collage poster with, so I started cutting things out for it but lack glue... This will be a challenge this year, the rainy sunday challenge. I could get the metro somewhere, but where will be open? And indoors? *sigh*
I got a big sheet of paper yesterday to make a collage poster with, so I started cutting things out for it but lack glue... This will be a challenge this year, the rainy sunday challenge. I could get the metro somewhere, but where will be open? And indoors? *sigh*
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Well, not much done yesterday! I went to the shopping centre at part-dieu (the huge one with 2-storey carrefour in it) and bought some clothes too. I realised that even though I signed up for sports when I was in England, I neglected to bring any sporty-type clothes with me. I think it's because I'm a genius and have better, more important things to think about...? Anyway, I bought some sporty trousers and I got some curlers too, cos I'm bored of my hair but hair dye is sooo expensive (10 euros and over) and it's pretty much all permenant. And brown. Many, many shades of brown. Anyway, I got some food (including meat, cos I've been eating pretty much exclusively veg since I got here) and made coq-au-vin for dinner. Yum yum yum! I need some flour though to make some proper sauces!
Apparently theres a kind of middle-eastern market nearby with spices and colours because we're near the 'foreign' area where there's lots of muslims and indians e.t.c. It's very split up in France, there are definite foreign areas! but still, it's ok.
Anyway, later on I went to a house party that Chris took me and Claire to, which was miles away and difficult to find. But it was really fun and lasted ages. Loads of people were dropping off on the sofa, and although we’d been offered a portion of sofa to sleep on too, me and Claire really wanted to get back to our own beds. All the French people were completely shocked by this though, saying ‘no no, you’ll be attacked’ but we decided to brave it cos we were going to be walking together, so they gave us a map and wished us luck. We left Chris sleeping on the sofa. He was happy there!
So we got back to claire’s and had a fruity tea before bed, by which time it was something like 5.30. I only realised this morning that I could have got the metro back from there if I’d wanted to, because they open at 5. I woke up, had a drink of water and waited for everything to seem normal again, said goodbye to Claire and staggered up the road, into a bakery and ate a brioche on the tube back to mine, where I had a hot chocolate and slept till 12.
Vaguely refreshed, I got the tube into town with my telecy card (which arrived this morning and costs 24,30 euros a month for unlimited tube, tram and bus access) and went to the musee des beaux arts. It’s stunning, I didn’t see it all, but there is a really good ancient greek and Egyptian section, which looks like they’ve flown in half a pyramid. There are massive chunks of wall (not just the normal big chinks that you normally see in museums, actually at least as big as the wall of a house) Really cool!
I’m just wondering what to do with myself now, watch a film, see if anyone’s going out, hmmm...
Apparently theres a kind of middle-eastern market nearby with spices and colours because we're near the 'foreign' area where there's lots of muslims and indians e.t.c. It's very split up in France, there are definite foreign areas! but still, it's ok.
Anyway, later on I went to a house party that Chris took me and Claire to, which was miles away and difficult to find. But it was really fun and lasted ages. Loads of people were dropping off on the sofa, and although we’d been offered a portion of sofa to sleep on too, me and Claire really wanted to get back to our own beds. All the French people were completely shocked by this though, saying ‘no no, you’ll be attacked’ but we decided to brave it cos we were going to be walking together, so they gave us a map and wished us luck. We left Chris sleeping on the sofa. He was happy there!
So we got back to claire’s and had a fruity tea before bed, by which time it was something like 5.30. I only realised this morning that I could have got the metro back from there if I’d wanted to, because they open at 5. I woke up, had a drink of water and waited for everything to seem normal again, said goodbye to Claire and staggered up the road, into a bakery and ate a brioche on the tube back to mine, where I had a hot chocolate and slept till 12.
Vaguely refreshed, I got the tube into town with my telecy card (which arrived this morning and costs 24,30 euros a month for unlimited tube, tram and bus access) and went to the musee des beaux arts. It’s stunning, I didn’t see it all, but there is a really good ancient greek and Egyptian section, which looks like they’ve flown in half a pyramid. There are massive chunks of wall (not just the normal big chinks that you normally see in museums, actually at least as big as the wall of a house) Really cool!
I’m just wondering what to do with myself now, watch a film, see if anyone’s going out, hmmm...
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Exhausted!
Well, it turned out to be a nice day today, so rather than go the the musee des beaux arts as I was planning to do, I went to look at the animals and actually take my camera with me this time! Sadly the memory ran out, but I got photos of most of the animals. I saw the bears having a picnic which was cool, they had apples and bananas, which they peel! Then I thought I'd wander back home, when I ran into Louise. She'd just been for sushi which she found out she likes (she'd had it before, but not much.) She also found out that the green paste in sushi restaurants is not avocado. After putting a lot in her mouth. Oops!
We went to find the greenhouses because she hadn't seen them yet and then we wandered around some of the gardens nearby. There was a gorgeous one full of dahlias which are so lovely, and theres a bamboo section which we walked past. Then we had a look at this rock garden section, which was very cool, and we found out where all the lizards in Lyon live! There is so much of it, I'm sure it would take a day at least to walk around the park and see all of it!
I'm quite in the mood for museums, so I think I'll go to the beaux arts tomorrow. I'm on the lookout for at least one poster and I think there'll probably be some nice ones at an art museum, don't you? If not, postcards are cool. I've decided to cover one wall with souvenirs from where I've been and what I've done. For example, I have ticket stubs from the textile museum and cinema, and I got some postcards from the textile museum too. I'm covering another wall in sushi menus (I have 5 so far) and my wardrobe door in museum leaflets! I like to think it will inspire me when I'm bored.
Well, I'm really exhausted now, so I'm going to go to sleep. Night!
By the way, it's finally happened (at 2 1/2 weeks, it happened sooner than I thought); I'm mixing french and english words (Key+cle =cley as dad found out when I was talking to him last night) and I'm forgetting how to translate certain words, and some of the time I'm not sure the word exists in english. It's very frustrating! Still, now I know I can go to china without learning the language; I met a chinese girl in the kitchen and she told me that they al learn english as a second language from primary school! Oh and Chris' 21st is on the 27th September. Why does that ring a bell...?
We went to find the greenhouses because she hadn't seen them yet and then we wandered around some of the gardens nearby. There was a gorgeous one full of dahlias which are so lovely, and theres a bamboo section which we walked past. Then we had a look at this rock garden section, which was very cool, and we found out where all the lizards in Lyon live! There is so much of it, I'm sure it would take a day at least to walk around the park and see all of it!
I'm quite in the mood for museums, so I think I'll go to the beaux arts tomorrow. I'm on the lookout for at least one poster and I think there'll probably be some nice ones at an art museum, don't you? If not, postcards are cool. I've decided to cover one wall with souvenirs from where I've been and what I've done. For example, I have ticket stubs from the textile museum and cinema, and I got some postcards from the textile museum too. I'm covering another wall in sushi menus (I have 5 so far) and my wardrobe door in museum leaflets! I like to think it will inspire me when I'm bored.
Well, I'm really exhausted now, so I'm going to go to sleep. Night!
By the way, it's finally happened (at 2 1/2 weeks, it happened sooner than I thought); I'm mixing french and english words (Key+cle =cley as dad found out when I was talking to him last night) and I'm forgetting how to translate certain words, and some of the time I'm not sure the word exists in english. It's very frustrating! Still, now I know I can go to china without learning the language; I met a chinese girl in the kitchen and she told me that they al learn english as a second language from primary school! Oh and Chris' 21st is on the 27th September. Why does that ring a bell...?
First lecture...?
Well, no blog yesterday! Thats because nothing happened. Seriously, I went to university for a lecture at 10, went into amphi F which is where it should have been, and the teacher was talking about how we should always check the room number before going to a lesson, check that it hasn't changed rooms, been cancelled, because sometimes people need a room last minute so everyone has to play musical chairs and change. Which makes no sense to me, but there you go. How did they manage to organise themselves to do anything? They would not have been able to cope if the germans had won the war! Actually, they would have coped but the germans wouldn't. After a few weeks of french 'organisation', they would have run back to germany! Anyway, I met Chris outside the lecture room after asking the guy behind me if it was history (it wasn't) and we went to look at the noticeboards. First we looked at the one with the history timetables on it. No new information there. Then we went into a different building and looked at the 'general' history board, again no new info. So then I waited to talk to someone and ask where there was any useful information to be found. Luckily she was nice, not a 'menopausal french woman' as one or two of my friends have had dealings with. She simply said 'oh, you're eurasmus, you won't have been shown it yet' and led me to the absences and catch-up board (which is unheard of, so far all I've had is vague directions where they've tried to confuse me saying "oh, you go right out of here..." while pointing left) and it turns out the teacher was sick, so I have to check back every day to check for a catch-up lesson.
Anyway, I went out last night, which was great fun! We had a drink at Chris' first then wandered around town for AGES looking for Claire. We found her eventually, by the opera house as well as a load of drunk french people that chris knew. They found out that we were english and so started practicing their english which was amusing, cos they were so pissed and didn't speak eengleesh amazingly "my friend wants that I should go see 'im in eeenglaand, but I do not want." So we went partying with them for a bit but cos it was wednesday, apparently everything closes early! We went to an australian bar, which was so much fun, I love aussie bars in france, it's the closest thing you can get to a club in a town centre in France! All the clubs are way outside the centre for some reason.The only thing was we were only in there for about 30 minutes, cos it closed at 1. So we went with the drunken French to find somewhere else. I'm glad we did, cos I don't think we'd ever have found this on our own, it looked like a gentleman's club or something from the outside, with a bouncer and neon lights, but we got inside and it was a salsa bar! With dancing and a plane that was made to look like it had crashed through the ceiling. The only explination I could come up with for it was that it's a salsa bar, latin american, and the plane represents cuban drug smugglers...?It was sooo expensive (8 euros for a pint) but everyone was dancing really well, and even though none of us could dance salsa, a guy came up to me and asked and I said that I couldn't dance and he said that didn't matter. So I thought why not, and cos the guys lead, it really didn't matter! It was so much fun, I didn't know what I was doing, but acording to Chris and Claire it looked like I did! So the song ended and I let claire have a go! So much fun, we're all going to learn salsa this year with the sports at uni!
Anyway, I went out last night, which was great fun! We had a drink at Chris' first then wandered around town for AGES looking for Claire. We found her eventually, by the opera house as well as a load of drunk french people that chris knew. They found out that we were english and so started practicing their english which was amusing, cos they were so pissed and didn't speak eengleesh amazingly "my friend wants that I should go see 'im in eeenglaand, but I do not want." So we went partying with them for a bit but cos it was wednesday, apparently everything closes early! We went to an australian bar, which was so much fun, I love aussie bars in france, it's the closest thing you can get to a club in a town centre in France! All the clubs are way outside the centre for some reason.The only thing was we were only in there for about 30 minutes, cos it closed at 1. So we went with the drunken French to find somewhere else. I'm glad we did, cos I don't think we'd ever have found this on our own, it looked like a gentleman's club or something from the outside, with a bouncer and neon lights, but we got inside and it was a salsa bar! With dancing and a plane that was made to look like it had crashed through the ceiling. The only explination I could come up with for it was that it's a salsa bar, latin american, and the plane represents cuban drug smugglers...?It was sooo expensive (8 euros for a pint) but everyone was dancing really well, and even though none of us could dance salsa, a guy came up to me and asked and I said that I couldn't dance and he said that didn't matter. So I thought why not, and cos the guys lead, it really didn't matter! It was so much fun, I didn't know what I was doing, but acording to Chris and Claire it looked like I did! So the song ended and I let claire have a go! So much fun, we're all going to learn salsa this year with the sports at uni!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
rainy day = museum day!
Wow, what a day I've had! It's been freezing and raining all day, but I had the welcome to history meeting this morning, which was kind of pointless, then I met up with Louise. She wanted to see what other classes there were for her to do, so I showed her the history board and she's going to come to the medieval history lecture tomorrow to see if she likes it. While we were there I found out that contemporary history is at 2, not 12 so I get a lunch break on mondays, yay!). Well, I say that it's not then, it actually is, but it's the 2nd year class that's then, not the first year one.
Because it was such a horrible day, I decided it was museum weather and went to the fabric museum. There was a Franck Sorbier 'haute couture body and soul' exhibition which ends on sunday, which I thought would be good. (Theres loads of couture and costume, dressmaking and individual shops here, apparently Lyon is not only known for it's food but for it's fabric and silk!) Well, it was amazing, stunning and breath-taking. Photos weren't allowed which is such a shame and I feel sorry for anyone who's interested in clothes who misses it. I saw the rest of the museum too (theres a fine arts museum joined on, but to be honest, after seeing the clothes it wasn't very interesting. Pretty much what you see in every museum in an old french building! But the clothes! There were some vintage (and I mean 1800s vintage!) clothes in the fabric museum which were gorgeous, but nothing I've seen can compare to Sorbier's haute couture! I'm going to dream about the clothes for weeks! I was even given a little torch to keep because of half the exhibition being in the dark or almost-dark! There were lights, but they were part of the display, sometimes flashing, sometimes fading, it was such an amazing experience!
I also found out you can hire segways and go on a tour of Lyon! How hilarious is that?! If Robin visits, we might have to do that though! Prices start from 25 euros, but seriously, for a go on a segway and a tour? Pretty good price!
Because it was such a horrible day, I decided it was museum weather and went to the fabric museum. There was a Franck Sorbier 'haute couture body and soul' exhibition which ends on sunday, which I thought would be good. (Theres loads of couture and costume, dressmaking and individual shops here, apparently Lyon is not only known for it's food but for it's fabric and silk!) Well, it was amazing, stunning and breath-taking. Photos weren't allowed which is such a shame and I feel sorry for anyone who's interested in clothes who misses it. I saw the rest of the museum too (theres a fine arts museum joined on, but to be honest, after seeing the clothes it wasn't very interesting. Pretty much what you see in every museum in an old french building! But the clothes! There were some vintage (and I mean 1800s vintage!) clothes in the fabric museum which were gorgeous, but nothing I've seen can compare to Sorbier's haute couture! I'm going to dream about the clothes for weeks! I was even given a little torch to keep because of half the exhibition being in the dark or almost-dark! There were lights, but they were part of the display, sometimes flashing, sometimes fading, it was such an amazing experience!
I also found out you can hire segways and go on a tour of Lyon! How hilarious is that?! If Robin visits, we might have to do that though! Prices start from 25 euros, but seriously, for a go on a segway and a tour? Pretty good price!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Ikea trip!
I woke up really early this morning-very annoying! It was really cold this morning, I had to wear a cardi and a jacket (the french were all in coats) and I decided to leave earlier than I'd planned to go and sort out my timetable. First of all I went to les quais, the second building of lyon 3 university. I think the idea behind the layout is to make you feel like an explorer, as there are actually at least 3 buildings along the river and you've go tto be determined to find something to get to your goal! It almost felt like what Indiana Jones would go through in the city. Deciphering a foreign language, wandering around dark empty buildings and coversing with the locals to try to find what you're after. Eventually I got to the right building and still couldn't find the information I needed until I talked to someone. We'd been given the wrong infromation (it wasn't just me, there were a couple of other girls there asking exactly the same thing as me).
So I went back to manufacture des tabacs (the main campus) and found the information I needed so I've got a timetable all set up now (until the seminars start at least). Monday's a bit crazy, but it's not many modules so I shouldn't get confused between them! Anyway this is what my timetable will look like:
Monday:
8-10 medieval art
10-12 ancient history
12-2 contemporary history
Wednesday:
10-12 medieval history
Thursday:
12-2 French
See, monday's crazy, but it means I have lots of free time and I'm able to do exactly what I wanted. I've got to get up early for a history introductory lecture tomorrow morning and then on wednesday my lectures will start.
So after that was all sorted, I got some photocopies to send to the tube company for cheap travel and sent off all my information so hopefully that will all be sorted soon. I got my bank card too! Yay! Then I went to Ikea.
I got stuff that I needed and went through a SIY checkout (scan it yourself) and went for my traditional Ikea ice cream. Then I discovered they sold macarons! Amazing! So I got one of those instead, it's not too far away, maybe 30 minutes so I can go there for treats when I want (and when I feel homesick, because unlike most people I love Ikea!)
So I went back to manufacture des tabacs (the main campus) and found the information I needed so I've got a timetable all set up now (until the seminars start at least). Monday's a bit crazy, but it's not many modules so I shouldn't get confused between them! Anyway this is what my timetable will look like:
Monday:
8-10 medieval art
10-12 ancient history
12-2 contemporary history
Wednesday:
10-12 medieval history
Thursday:
12-2 French
See, monday's crazy, but it means I have lots of free time and I'm able to do exactly what I wanted. I've got to get up early for a history introductory lecture tomorrow morning and then on wednesday my lectures will start.
So after that was all sorted, I got some photocopies to send to the tube company for cheap travel and sent off all my information so hopefully that will all be sorted soon. I got my bank card too! Yay! Then I went to Ikea.
I got stuff that I needed and went through a SIY checkout (scan it yourself) and went for my traditional Ikea ice cream. Then I discovered they sold macarons! Amazing! So I got one of those instead, it's not too far away, maybe 30 minutes so I can go there for treats when I want (and when I feel homesick, because unlike most people I love Ikea!)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Lots of veg!
You gotta love france! I went to find a market which is quite nearby today. First I went in completely the wrong direction, then I found my way again, saw ANOTHER japanese restaurant 3 minutes from my house (yay!), didn't know the way, and then I asked a lady with a wheelie red granny trolley (you know the ones I mean) and she was going there too, so she showed me the way. If in doubt, follow the trolleys! It was way less busy than the one I went to last week, and I got loads of veg, enough for at least 3 days, for 2 euros. They put everything they want to get rid of in bowls towards the end of the day, and it's normally around 1 euro a bowl. I got 2 lettuces for 50 centimes on one stall and a bowl of mixed veg for 1 euro on another, and the vendeuse said that if I wanted another bowl I could have it for 50 centimes so I thought why not! Some of it is on it's last legs, ok, but cut the dodgy bits off and it's fine! So I ended up with:
2 lettuces (which might even last the week)
3 artichokes
1 green pepper (half of it's fine)
2 big bunches of radishes (I'm not all that sure that I like them, but they look like they'll last the week so I might try them in different ways to see if theres any way I like them, if not, 'tant pis'!
7 mushrooms
1 cauliflower
4 carrots.
A pretty good haul for 2 euros!
I'm going to the cinema later to see either non ma fille tu n'iras pas danser or the coach.
2 lettuces (which might even last the week)
3 artichokes
1 green pepper (half of it's fine)
2 big bunches of radishes (I'm not all that sure that I like them, but they look like they'll last the week so I might try them in different ways to see if theres any way I like them, if not, 'tant pis'!
7 mushrooms
1 cauliflower
4 carrots.
A pretty good haul for 2 euros!
I'm going to the cinema later to see either non ma fille tu n'iras pas danser or the coach.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Finally!
Well I'm sitting here eating fried fennel bulb (it's better than it sounds, trust me! I made up the recipe last week after buying some cos it was really cheap, and I'm using the last of it now in preparation for the market tomorrow) after spending all afternoon and evening trying to connect. I had a blog all typed out earlier, and then it decided to disconnect and I lost it all. Anyway, here we go again! I'd really reccomend choosing something cheap and wierd at the market, by the way. There is so much information and recipes online now, all free to access, so it's really easy to find out what to do with something now that you've got it! As long as you remember the name, that is! If you don't like the taste of it, it didn't cost much in the first place, so it's no great loss!
Anyway, last night I went to a house party at Chris' and got quite drunk, danced and generally had a good time with a load of french people. It was a laugh, but nothing monumental happened so thats all there is to say really.
It's been really dull the past couple of days, grey and dreary (but still not too cold-try telling that to some of the french though!) and I've been a bit down and tired. I decided to go to the tourist information office to see what there is to do around here, and to get away from the annoyance that was my laptop today! It seems to be a very fabric-centred place which is fantastic, I think there was loads of silk made here back in the day! Theres a museum dedicated to a costumier who made ballet things, a shoe museum, a hat museum, a silk printing museum, the list goes on! It's fantastic!
I wandered through town some more, discovering more things, there are 2 gorgeous art-deco buildings in a dodgy part of town, and I found more sushi/japanese restaurants which takes the total up to 8 so far!
I'm going to see if I can make my way to Ikea to get more cooking things (another saucepan would be useful) and possibly some coloured things like posters or something to brighten up the room. I got myself a small Ivy in a pot for my room cos I thought it would be nice to have some greenery around me.
Anyway, I think I'll go to the market tomorrow morning and then hopefully meet Louise to take advantage of a 4 euro cinema ticket offer.
Friday, September 11, 2009
forgotten things
There are a few things that I meant to write in the last posts but forgot about (its ver easy to do- I've been up to so much!)
I saw a red squirrel running around wild in the park, which was very cool.
My epilator plug doesn't fit into the sockets, the pins are too close together. It's very annoying, it fits in shaver plugs at home! I have been considering buying a 2-pin to uk converter plug and then using a uk to france converter aswell. If anyone has any more sensible solutions, I'd love to hear them! I can't be the only person this has happened to!
There is an Ikea here! Its easy to get to on the tube, and apparently some french families look forward to taking a trip to Ikea for lunch. Wierd!
I also wish I'd bought my roller blades with me, loads of people do it over here, and even though I'm a bit rubbish, there's plenty of room to practice in the park.
Well, thats the shortest post I've written so far! There'll probably be another tonight, describing my day and the french test. Apparantly it's multiple choice so it shouldn't be too bad.
I saw a red squirrel running around wild in the park, which was very cool.
My epilator plug doesn't fit into the sockets, the pins are too close together. It's very annoying, it fits in shaver plugs at home! I have been considering buying a 2-pin to uk converter plug and then using a uk to france converter aswell. If anyone has any more sensible solutions, I'd love to hear them! I can't be the only person this has happened to!
There is an Ikea here! Its easy to get to on the tube, and apparently some french families look forward to taking a trip to Ikea for lunch. Wierd!
I also wish I'd bought my roller blades with me, loads of people do it over here, and even though I'm a bit rubbish, there's plenty of room to practice in the park.
Well, thats the shortest post I've written so far! There'll probably be another tonight, describing my day and the french test. Apparantly it's multiple choice so it shouldn't be too bad.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
New friends!
I met up with Louise today, one of the girls from manchester uni, and we wandered round town not really doing much other than walking and talking. In the old town we found a pirate restaurant which was closed but had photos of the interior in the window which looked piratey and interesting and the sub-header advertised 'savage food' so I'm looking forward to eating there.
We had a look at going to the cinema too, but changed our minds when we saw that it was over 7 euros a ticket. There is a special offer on this sunday to wednesday where it's 4 euros a ticket, which is more reasonable. I think I'll get a monthly pass too, which is valid in all pathe and gaumont cinemas in france (there's 4 in Lyon) and I can see as much cinema as I want, and the main one is in a really convenient place in town. It's only 19,80 a month, which is really good.
Then we went to monoprix to get some dinner and went to her place which is just outside a tram stop, or 3 minutes from a metro. Its really expensive though, so I'm feeling very lucky at the moment! She's paying over 3 times as much as me, it's an appartment which is quite sweet, but very expensive for student accomodation. Mind you, its better than another place that she looked at, which was co-habitation with an older gentleman. Her 'room' would have been a bed above a desk in the hallway. Behind the front door.
Last night I went out with her and Chris (another manchester student) and Chris' housemates who are all french. We just hung around in their appartment and tried to understand everything that was being said! It was a very cool night, they weren't students, but they were all very young and fun! They were very excited because Rock star the Beatles edition had just come out, so we had a go on that, which was fun!
Tomorrow is a french test to see what level we are, then classes start on wednesday (I think...its always difficult to determine when things start, there are many classes which all start at different points.) Then, hopefully I'll get to go out with the french girl from room 114 which is her name untill I learn what her friends call her!
We had a look at going to the cinema too, but changed our minds when we saw that it was over 7 euros a ticket. There is a special offer on this sunday to wednesday where it's 4 euros a ticket, which is more reasonable. I think I'll get a monthly pass too, which is valid in all pathe and gaumont cinemas in france (there's 4 in Lyon) and I can see as much cinema as I want, and the main one is in a really convenient place in town. It's only 19,80 a month, which is really good.
Then we went to monoprix to get some dinner and went to her place which is just outside a tram stop, or 3 minutes from a metro. Its really expensive though, so I'm feeling very lucky at the moment! She's paying over 3 times as much as me, it's an appartment which is quite sweet, but very expensive for student accomodation. Mind you, its better than another place that she looked at, which was co-habitation with an older gentleman. Her 'room' would have been a bed above a desk in the hallway. Behind the front door.
Last night I went out with her and Chris (another manchester student) and Chris' housemates who are all french. We just hung around in their appartment and tried to understand everything that was being said! It was a very cool night, they weren't students, but they were all very young and fun! They were very excited because Rock star the Beatles edition had just come out, so we had a go on that, which was fun!
Tomorrow is a french test to see what level we are, then classes start on wednesday (I think...its always difficult to determine when things start, there are many classes which all start at different points.) Then, hopefully I'll get to go out with the french girl from room 114 which is her name untill I learn what her friends call her!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Busy days!
Wow, I had an amazing day yesterday! I decided to walk down the long road at the end of the road I live on, and try to get to the shopping centre (the one with carrefour in it) which is just off that road. On the way, I found a really cheap clothes shop so to fit in better(!) I got a new french outfit. Because it was an intensely hot day, I decided to go to the park at the end of the road instead, and go to the shops on the way back. So I saw the entrance for cars to the centre and carried on walking straight ahead. Then I found what I hope will be one of my favourite restaurants- Nikko. A sushi restaurant! Which does takeaway! There are so many sushi places here, the only other place I've seen as many is London. Just goes to show how contemporary and cosmopolitan it is here! So I got one of their flyers and have been pouring over it to see what I'd like to get first! Because it's not in the centre, its really cheap too, which is always good! Their sushi menus start from 12 euros which includes soup, salad and rice!
So then I found the end of the road and walked along to find the entrance to the park. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it, huge gold gates which were taller than a building, impressive flower displays surrounding statues, a HUGE turquoise resevoir/lake with ducks and geese running around. Bike hire just outside, which is useful (there's bike hire Velo-V over the whole city, and while you can ride on pavements I'm not much a fan of cycling) but it would be nice to have a cycle around the park at a nice, leisurely pace. For the time being, I decided to just have a casual stroll around the lake (for which you can hire pedal boats) and see how long it took to get round it, while seeing what was in the park. Cordula had told me that there was a free zoo there, which I was curious about, maybe it was a petting zoo or something small like that?
About half way round the lake (with much left to explore still either side of it) I saw a sign pointing towards the zoo. I first saw an area for bees, with an enclosure opposite which contained horses. Then I got to the main zoo entrance and saw a leopard pacing in the distance, giant tortoises next to me, meerkats, porcupines, so much! It was an african zoo (and there was really the weather for it yesterday! In fact, since the thunderstorms on the first couple of days, its been really warm.) Every animal you could think of from the african plains was there, some which I haven't seen for so many years, some which I'm not even sure if I've seen before! There weren't any hippos or rhinos, but it's entirely possible that I missed them, it was so overwhelming! The exhibits were gorgeous aswell, many animals in together; some big cow-type-things with huge horns in with birds and a girrafe, flamingos with pelicans and an island containing monkeys!
I then came across a massive greenhouse, much like the one at kew gardens, and saw a banana plant with bananas on a huge flower-type thing, it was really stunning. There were loads more gardens and flowers around, including a cactus garden and a... pond garden I guess!
Then I walked further and saw a huge enclosure containing deer, and one with about 200 terrapins in it and some goldfish. It confused me, until I saw a sign explaining that they had rescued some of them from the wild, and had done so for other animals that had been released by their owners, such as snakes, spiders and parrots. If you had a terrapin or other such animal that you could no longer care for, it could be brought to the zoo and they would look after it!
So I finished looking around the zoo and then carried on back around the park to where I came in, seeing a rose garden on the way. I walked along the river till I came to a metro station (I found one outside the opera hose, as well as a fabric shop!) and then got the tube to the shopping centre. Where there is a sushi place!
I decided to look round before going to the supermarket, and I was quite hungry so I had a wander till I found somewhere that looked nice. I really wanted a frappuchino, but there was no starbucks so I thought I'd get a milkshake from Mc Donalds or something. Then I found McCafe. Thats right, McDonalds pretending to be starbucks. Still, they do frappuchinos so I wasn't complaining (much, they were expensive! Only cos of the exchange rate though.)
Then I found a shop selling the most gorgeous clothes, which I'll have to visit again when the exchange rate is better! There were stunning coats too, so I might have to treat myself when it gets colder, the only problem will be deciding which one I want!
So then I went to carrefour, got shopping, got tube back to saxe-gambetta where I was supposed to change, but it was packed, so I walked back. It was only one more stop, after all!
This morning was very boring, but I met the manchester people again and we got lunch at my local supermarket and I suggested that we eat it in my kitchen, seeing as it was only 3 minutes away, if that. So they came and checked out my place, while we were eating, a french girl came into the kitchen for her lunch, so we switched to talking in french so as not to be rude. One of the girls, Louise, asked if I wanted to do something tomorrow, so I'm going to have a wander with her and maybe find something new.
So then I found the end of the road and walked along to find the entrance to the park. I nearly had a heart attack when I saw it, huge gold gates which were taller than a building, impressive flower displays surrounding statues, a HUGE turquoise resevoir/lake with ducks and geese running around. Bike hire just outside, which is useful (there's bike hire Velo-V over the whole city, and while you can ride on pavements I'm not much a fan of cycling) but it would be nice to have a cycle around the park at a nice, leisurely pace. For the time being, I decided to just have a casual stroll around the lake (for which you can hire pedal boats) and see how long it took to get round it, while seeing what was in the park. Cordula had told me that there was a free zoo there, which I was curious about, maybe it was a petting zoo or something small like that?
About half way round the lake (with much left to explore still either side of it) I saw a sign pointing towards the zoo. I first saw an area for bees, with an enclosure opposite which contained horses. Then I got to the main zoo entrance and saw a leopard pacing in the distance, giant tortoises next to me, meerkats, porcupines, so much! It was an african zoo (and there was really the weather for it yesterday! In fact, since the thunderstorms on the first couple of days, its been really warm.) Every animal you could think of from the african plains was there, some which I haven't seen for so many years, some which I'm not even sure if I've seen before! There weren't any hippos or rhinos, but it's entirely possible that I missed them, it was so overwhelming! The exhibits were gorgeous aswell, many animals in together; some big cow-type-things with huge horns in with birds and a girrafe, flamingos with pelicans and an island containing monkeys!
I then came across a massive greenhouse, much like the one at kew gardens, and saw a banana plant with bananas on a huge flower-type thing, it was really stunning. There were loads more gardens and flowers around, including a cactus garden and a... pond garden I guess!
Then I walked further and saw a huge enclosure containing deer, and one with about 200 terrapins in it and some goldfish. It confused me, until I saw a sign explaining that they had rescued some of them from the wild, and had done so for other animals that had been released by their owners, such as snakes, spiders and parrots. If you had a terrapin or other such animal that you could no longer care for, it could be brought to the zoo and they would look after it!
So I finished looking around the zoo and then carried on back around the park to where I came in, seeing a rose garden on the way. I walked along the river till I came to a metro station (I found one outside the opera hose, as well as a fabric shop!) and then got the tube to the shopping centre. Where there is a sushi place!
I decided to look round before going to the supermarket, and I was quite hungry so I had a wander till I found somewhere that looked nice. I really wanted a frappuchino, but there was no starbucks so I thought I'd get a milkshake from Mc Donalds or something. Then I found McCafe. Thats right, McDonalds pretending to be starbucks. Still, they do frappuchinos so I wasn't complaining (much, they were expensive! Only cos of the exchange rate though.)
Then I found a shop selling the most gorgeous clothes, which I'll have to visit again when the exchange rate is better! There were stunning coats too, so I might have to treat myself when it gets colder, the only problem will be deciding which one I want!
So then I went to carrefour, got shopping, got tube back to saxe-gambetta where I was supposed to change, but it was packed, so I walked back. It was only one more stop, after all!
This morning was very boring, but I met the manchester people again and we got lunch at my local supermarket and I suggested that we eat it in my kitchen, seeing as it was only 3 minutes away, if that. So they came and checked out my place, while we were eating, a french girl came into the kitchen for her lunch, so we switched to talking in french so as not to be rude. One of the girls, Louise, asked if I wanted to do something tomorrow, so I'm going to have a wander with her and maybe find something new.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Wow, festival city!
There are so many festivals in Lyon, it's unbelievable! first of all, there's a 'everyone outside' festival where there's loads of free stuff going on outside (obviously!), which is going on at the moment, and a contemporary art biennale from the 16th, a 'days of heritage' festival on the 19th and 20th, there's a new generation cinema festival in october aswell as a new cinema festival, students of the world night on 29th october, science festival in november, beaujolais nouveau (obviously!), which is in november as well as a short film festival, light festival in december, and then there's even more stuff in 2010, including an english and irish film festival in January!
I had a great night last night, It was Cordula's friend's birthday, so we went and sat on steps on the bank of the rhone with a few bottles of wine and paper cups. The only thing was, they were all German apart from me and a french girl that Cordula's friend lives with.
I met a french girl in the kitchen yesterday who lives on my corridoor who noticed me move in. She goes to a private school, and already has homework after starting yesterday, but she's free on Friday afternoon so we're going to go for a wander round town. She doesn't know anyone either, she lives in a small village which is a 45 minute drive from here, so she doesn't know the town very well either.
There's a wierd mini eiffel tower on top of the hill next to the citadel, and I asked the french girl last night what it was. It's a radio tower. I would put a picture up, but it doesn't seem to want to load. Oh well.
I had a great night last night, It was Cordula's friend's birthday, so we went and sat on steps on the bank of the rhone with a few bottles of wine and paper cups. The only thing was, they were all German apart from me and a french girl that Cordula's friend lives with.
I met a french girl in the kitchen yesterday who lives on my corridoor who noticed me move in. She goes to a private school, and already has homework after starting yesterday, but she's free on Friday afternoon so we're going to go for a wander round town. She doesn't know anyone either, she lives in a small village which is a 45 minute drive from here, so she doesn't know the town very well either.
There's a wierd mini eiffel tower on top of the hill next to the citadel, and I asked the french girl last night what it was. It's a radio tower. I would put a picture up, but it doesn't seem to want to load. Oh well.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Getting to know people and course options
Well, I haven't made any real friends yet, but I've been invited out tonight with Cordula; it's one of her friend's birthdays, but she doesn't know too many people yet, so we're going to go out as a small group and hopefully not talk in german all night!
I've decided on some course options, but it might all have to change. I need to organise my timetable myself, and the lecture days and times haven't been posted yet, so no final choices can be made. My first choice looks like this though;
Medieval history, History of middle-age art, Contemporary (1800s) history. Then its a choice of either Greek/Roman civilisation and English translation, or Ancient history to make up the 22 credits I need this term. I'm thinking I might go for option 1, because it would improve my french grammar and vocab, because it's translating things like Dickens and would prpare me for translation next year when I'm back at Kent. However, it would also be insanely difficult for a while and I need to get good grades! I need 10/20 to pass this year, and in France 12/20 is considered a really good grade! Eeek!
I've decided on some course options, but it might all have to change. I need to organise my timetable myself, and the lecture days and times haven't been posted yet, so no final choices can be made. My first choice looks like this though;
Medieval history, History of middle-age art, Contemporary (1800s) history. Then its a choice of either Greek/Roman civilisation and English translation, or Ancient history to make up the 22 credits I need this term. I'm thinking I might go for option 1, because it would improve my french grammar and vocab, because it's translating things like Dickens and would prpare me for translation next year when I'm back at Kent. However, it would also be insanely difficult for a while and I need to get good grades! I need 10/20 to pass this year, and in France 12/20 is considered a really good grade! Eeek!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
market time!
I decided to go and find a market this morning rather than getting fruit and veg at the supermarket, so I looked at a really useful website found in a helpful student lyon guide. You can select the day or area that you want a market, and theres loads, even on a sunday! So I found one which was alond the saone river, which was packed out but had lots of choice. I went in the afternoon, I got there at around 12.30, and because it closed at 1.30, there were loads of fruit and veg bargains! I got 3 pineapples for 1 euro! Because I got loaded up on fruit I had a fruit salad for lunch, healthy and yummy!
I'm going to the cinema later I think, cos theres nothing else to do on a sunday in france (there probably is in a town this size, actually, but I 'll save that for another day!) I'll go and see if cordula is around (the german girl from 2 doors down) and see if she wants to go out too.
Pretty small post for me today, but life is calming down a bit now, so I won't always be discovering cool new things to write about. I'm getting fed up with the wireless here though! It keeps deciding to turn off. Still, I'm lucky I'm near enough to the computer room so that I can use it in my bedroom!
I'm going to the cinema later I think, cos theres nothing else to do on a sunday in france (there probably is in a town this size, actually, but I 'll save that for another day!) I'll go and see if cordula is around (the german girl from 2 doors down) and see if she wants to go out too.
Pretty small post for me today, but life is calming down a bit now, so I won't always be discovering cool new things to write about. I'm getting fed up with the wireless here though! It keeps deciding to turn off. Still, I'm lucky I'm near enough to the computer room so that I can use it in my bedroom!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Walking all over town
Well, I've had a busy morning! It's been really sunny and bright today, so when I got up, I decided that it was the perfect sight-seeing and photo-taking day, so I wandered to pont de la guilotterie, crossed the rhone and walked across the centre of town to cross the saone to get to the old town. I thought I'd wander round the streets and then walk up the hill to look at the citadel on top, getting great views of the city.
So, wandered through town and got to the old town, and found one of the stations, which I'm sure will be helpful in the future! then I wandered through the streets looking at the old buildings, many restaurants and shops. I found the most amazing shop in a really wierd place. There was a sign outside encouraging you to walk down a tiny alleyway to get to a medieval shop. So I walked down the alley, marvelled at the small coutyard at the end of the alley, with a stone spiral staircase in one corner, and walked into the shop, which was exactly as it said outside; a medieval shop. There was everything you'd expect to find at a medieval fair, from clothes to jewellery, leather pouches, suits of armour, mead and other such medieval style drinks. It was truly amazing. Will definatley be going back there for mead and some other drinks, which I didn't recognise.
There were a couple of museums there aswell, a miniature museum which also had props from movies; there was a robot from I-Robot and C3PO in the entrance. I didn't go in, because I'd forgotten my student card, so couldn't get a cheap ticket. There was also a french punch and judy museum, which is called guignol et gnafron, and they're on all the postcards here, so I guess it was invented here or something.
Then I wandered up the hill to see the citadel and the view. just before I got there, I saw a metro which I thought would be useful in the future, turned around and was stunned by the roman theatres. I thought I'd go and see how much they were to get in for when I came back with my student card. No need, both of them had free entry, and were just treated like a park! They were so stunning, I spent ages there. That was when I really fell in love with Lyon. The town is great (boasting 16 cinemas, which makes a change from 1 with 2 screens), the old town is beautiful (with the medieval shop being a major plus!), but free entry to two gorgeous roman theatres?! That really sold it for me! I never did make it to the citadel...
Even though it was really close, I was feeling pretty worn out and didn't want to fit everything into one day (I'm not really sure that's possible in a town like Lyon though!) So I wandered back through the streets to the old town, crossed the bridge to the centre and wandered back down rue de la republique, at the end of which I found a stage with a load of street dance going on! I stayed and watched for a bit, some of it was amazing, I think it was a kind of advert for a street and hip hop dance school or club, but I'm not too sure.
So that was my day, it's been really great, I'm so glad that I can get the tube across town and see the roman theatres whenever I want! The big church will have it's day, I'm sure!
So, wandered through town and got to the old town, and found one of the stations, which I'm sure will be helpful in the future! then I wandered through the streets looking at the old buildings, many restaurants and shops. I found the most amazing shop in a really wierd place. There was a sign outside encouraging you to walk down a tiny alleyway to get to a medieval shop. So I walked down the alley, marvelled at the small coutyard at the end of the alley, with a stone spiral staircase in one corner, and walked into the shop, which was exactly as it said outside; a medieval shop. There was everything you'd expect to find at a medieval fair, from clothes to jewellery, leather pouches, suits of armour, mead and other such medieval style drinks. It was truly amazing. Will definatley be going back there for mead and some other drinks, which I didn't recognise.
There were a couple of museums there aswell, a miniature museum which also had props from movies; there was a robot from I-Robot and C3PO in the entrance. I didn't go in, because I'd forgotten my student card, so couldn't get a cheap ticket. There was also a french punch and judy museum, which is called guignol et gnafron, and they're on all the postcards here, so I guess it was invented here or something.
Then I wandered up the hill to see the citadel and the view. just before I got there, I saw a metro which I thought would be useful in the future, turned around and was stunned by the roman theatres. I thought I'd go and see how much they were to get in for when I came back with my student card. No need, both of them had free entry, and were just treated like a park! They were so stunning, I spent ages there. That was when I really fell in love with Lyon. The town is great (boasting 16 cinemas, which makes a change from 1 with 2 screens), the old town is beautiful (with the medieval shop being a major plus!), but free entry to two gorgeous roman theatres?! That really sold it for me! I never did make it to the citadel...
Even though it was really close, I was feeling pretty worn out and didn't want to fit everything into one day (I'm not really sure that's possible in a town like Lyon though!) So I wandered back through the streets to the old town, crossed the bridge to the centre and wandered back down rue de la republique, at the end of which I found a stage with a load of street dance going on! I stayed and watched for a bit, some of it was amazing, I think it was a kind of advert for a street and hip hop dance school or club, but I'm not too sure.
So that was my day, it's been really great, I'm so glad that I can get the tube across town and see the roman theatres whenever I want! The big church will have it's day, I'm sure!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Yay! Kettles rock!
I have finally got a kettle, after many days (3) of searching! I met some friendly folks from a uni in manchester yesterday at orientation, and bumped into a couple of them today. One of them told me there was a carrefour at a shopping centre nearby at Port Dieu where her parents had bought her a cheap 'bouilloire' (which is near-impossible to pronounce), so I set off to find it.
Found the metro near the uni, and travelled into the centre to pay some euros into my new account in the central LCL (le credit lyonnaise). I found it easily, it being on the main road (rue de la republique) and while it looked like a normal old french building from the outside, I felt immediatley under-dressed as soon as I walked in the door. It was like a palace! A huge sweeping staircase greeted me, with antique sofas next to it. A woman directed me towards the 'caisses' where I could pay in my money, and I found myself in a massive marble ballroom! It's worth a visit even if you don't have an account there!
Then I went to find the shopping centre and carrefour. I was expecting to have to walk a bit to find it, but no, the tube deposits you on the ground floor of the shopping centre, and the most difficulty I had was navigating my way through the vastness of it to find the 2-storey supermarket!
So I got my kettle, and know that I can go back there for a cheap toaster if I decide I need one. I suppose I'll just be frying all my bread now though, a la francaise!
Found the metro near the uni, and travelled into the centre to pay some euros into my new account in the central LCL (le credit lyonnaise). I found it easily, it being on the main road (rue de la republique) and while it looked like a normal old french building from the outside, I felt immediatley under-dressed as soon as I walked in the door. It was like a palace! A huge sweeping staircase greeted me, with antique sofas next to it. A woman directed me towards the 'caisses' where I could pay in my money, and I found myself in a massive marble ballroom! It's worth a visit even if you don't have an account there!
Then I went to find the shopping centre and carrefour. I was expecting to have to walk a bit to find it, but no, the tube deposits you on the ground floor of the shopping centre, and the most difficulty I had was navigating my way through the vastness of it to find the 2-storey supermarket!
So I got my kettle, and know that I can go back there for a cheap toaster if I decide I need one. I suppose I'll just be frying all my bread now though, a la francaise!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Orientation meeting
Well, the weather's still warm, even though it's a bit grey. It was 31 degrees when we arrived and has stayed around that mark since. Just got back from supermarket buying essentials like chocolate filled cereal and raspberry juice. I also managed to get sponges and washing up liquid so I can clean my plate and cutlery properly.
I met a girl from 2 doors down (which brings back memories of punk and 'stuff' for those who know what I'm on about!) who's from Germany but speaks very good french, and we had a wander into the centre and got a drink at a boat-bar. That's my name for it anyway, it's really awesome, there's a massive river (the rhone) which has a load of boats on the bank which all have bars in them with tables and chairs inside and on the shore. The one we went into had another boat inside it, which acted as the bar, how cool is that?!
Anyway, had my orientation meeting this morning (when I found the uni-I managed to go the wrong way twice!) which basically told me everything I already knew, but there was some interesting stuff too. As a student, I can buy admission to 10 shows;cinema, theatre, opera, dance e.t.c. for 36 euros. I also found out where I can apply for housing benefits (they give you so much help as a student in france, it's unbelievable!) and where I can get cheaper metro tickets. there's another meeting tomorrow where the school system is explained to us, because in your 1st year you have term 1 and term 2, in your 2nd year it's term 3 and 4 and so on, so its slightly wierd and confusing, especially because as an exchange student I can choose something from any term/year, it's pick and mix which is cool! I'm looking forward to seeing the list of courses tomorrow.
I'm really glad that I've already done all the bank stuff too, I just need to pay money in. I was going to do it today, but people were spilling out the door!
Anyway, I've rambled for long enough for now, I'll let you know if anything else interesting happens!
I met a girl from 2 doors down (which brings back memories of punk and 'stuff' for those who know what I'm on about!) who's from Germany but speaks very good french, and we had a wander into the centre and got a drink at a boat-bar. That's my name for it anyway, it's really awesome, there's a massive river (the rhone) which has a load of boats on the bank which all have bars in them with tables and chairs inside and on the shore. The one we went into had another boat inside it, which acted as the bar, how cool is that?!
Anyway, had my orientation meeting this morning (when I found the uni-I managed to go the wrong way twice!) which basically told me everything I already knew, but there was some interesting stuff too. As a student, I can buy admission to 10 shows;cinema, theatre, opera, dance e.t.c. for 36 euros. I also found out where I can apply for housing benefits (they give you so much help as a student in france, it's unbelievable!) and where I can get cheaper metro tickets. there's another meeting tomorrow where the school system is explained to us, because in your 1st year you have term 1 and term 2, in your 2nd year it's term 3 and 4 and so on, so its slightly wierd and confusing, especially because as an exchange student I can choose something from any term/year, it's pick and mix which is cool! I'm looking forward to seeing the list of courses tomorrow.
I'm really glad that I've already done all the bank stuff too, I just need to pay money in. I was going to do it today, but people were spilling out the door!
Anyway, I've rambled for long enough for now, I'll let you know if anything else interesting happens!
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
A wet morning
Well, woke up to greyness in the sky and puddles in the courtyard below my window, with the rumble of thunder moving closer. Had a breakfast of croissants and a really yummy marmalade with blood orange in it, then waited for the rain, that was now bordering on torrential, to stop. No such luck, so I went down to boil some water in my newly-bought saucepan (no kettle-why? Theres a microwave!) for a coffee while I waited for the thunder and lighning to stop at least.
Had another check to see if WiFi was working (not yet!) and then prepared to get soaked, because I needed a phone and phone card! (And a kettle, but I didn't manage to get one of those!) I wandered out of the door, prepared to try and find the centre by walking through the puddles and following my instinct (a map would have been no good-would have turned into papier-mache as soon as I got it out). 30 seconds from the door I stumbled across a tube station and got straight into the centre, just outside a Mc Donalds. I also found Starbucks, Habitat and H&M so I know where the important places are!
Got my phone really easily, although they are a fan of monthly contracts over there- and using all your credit as soon as you get it! If you get 5 euros pay as you go credit it has to be used in 15 days I think, otherwise you loose it! 10 euros is more reasonable, you get a month to use it all in. It's still very strange though! With the exchange rate being so bad, everything costs a bomb at the moment! I'm used to France being cheap, and I keep looking at the Franc prices (which are still there next to the euro price on the tag) with nostalgia!
Well, I wandered for a few hours, got soaked, the blue in my jeans has dyed half-circles onto my shoes, and I found some really lovely and interesting places while getting spectacularly lost. Got tube back, arrived a short while before the internet started working and now here I am! It's not raining, but it's still grey. I've got an orientation day tomorrow which hopefully won't go on all day, but if it does, I really hope there will be coffee breaks!
I'm waiting for some blue skies so I can take photos, things always look nicer in the sunshine!
Had another check to see if WiFi was working (not yet!) and then prepared to get soaked, because I needed a phone and phone card! (And a kettle, but I didn't manage to get one of those!) I wandered out of the door, prepared to try and find the centre by walking through the puddles and following my instinct (a map would have been no good-would have turned into papier-mache as soon as I got it out). 30 seconds from the door I stumbled across a tube station and got straight into the centre, just outside a Mc Donalds. I also found Starbucks, Habitat and H&M so I know where the important places are!
Got my phone really easily, although they are a fan of monthly contracts over there- and using all your credit as soon as you get it! If you get 5 euros pay as you go credit it has to be used in 15 days I think, otherwise you loose it! 10 euros is more reasonable, you get a month to use it all in. It's still very strange though! With the exchange rate being so bad, everything costs a bomb at the moment! I'm used to France being cheap, and I keep looking at the Franc prices (which are still there next to the euro price on the tag) with nostalgia!
Well, I wandered for a few hours, got soaked, the blue in my jeans has dyed half-circles onto my shoes, and I found some really lovely and interesting places while getting spectacularly lost. Got tube back, arrived a short while before the internet started working and now here I am! It's not raining, but it's still grey. I've got an orientation day tomorrow which hopefully won't go on all day, but if it does, I really hope there will be coffee breaks!
I'm waiting for some blue skies so I can take photos, things always look nicer in the sunshine!
Settling in on 01 september
Busy day yesterday! First stop: University. Had to queue with other erasmus students to collect the paperwork for my CROUS accommodation while I watched others queue who hadn't organised anything/applied too late (thank god I applied the day after application opened!) Then I found out I needed some stuff from a bank before I could get my student card. It looks like you can put money on it too, so I guess thats to use in on-campus canteens e.t.c... Well, I'm lucky we decided to do everything around the uni that we could because I got insurance from the bank which was needed for the accomodation. I also got civil liability insurance there, which was needed to get the student card. After signing about 50 sheets of paper at the bank (I'm sure there's only a little exaggeration there) I left with a bag full of paper, including the 2 sheets that I needed. I wouldn't mind all the paperwork in France, it's just everything still seems disorganised!
So I had my student card so me and dad walked over to the residence to queue there. I vaguely understood something about buying a box in the fridge in the kitchen so I agreed to that, filled out paperwork, signed on the dotted line, paid and went to find the room. It was bigger than I expected, and being situated in a gorgeous old building, has high ceilings, big windows (a rare find in france), wooden shutters and is just lovely. Ok, the paint is peeling towards the ceiling, but that adds to the charm and character of it. Maybe. I do get my own sink in my room though! There's lovely long coridors (20 rooms on each floor) and big common rooms, it makes me think of somewhere Madeline might live when she grew up. We were starving by this point, so we went to find the supermarket, not very far away and got some lunch and essentials then went back to my room to eat.
After lunch dad went to get the car while I went to try to find out about the kitchen and my fridge-box and the kitchen. despite desperate searching we could only find one kitchen with 3 fridges and several hobs. The fridges all had numbered metal boxes with padlocks on them, up to 26, and there are at least 3 floors of rooms. There was a larger queue than earlier on, so I decided to leave it for now and ask about cuisines later. Dad came back, we unpacked the car, said goodbye and I was unpacked by 5pm.
The storm started at about 8, shortly followed by torrential rain. I'm not normally a fan of storms, but in the south of france they take on a spectacular, dramatic quality, often accompanied by torrential rain, thunder that echoes off the mountains and old buildings and flashes that light up the purple sky. As long as you're indoors to enjoy the show, it's ok!
So I had my student card so me and dad walked over to the residence to queue there. I vaguely understood something about buying a box in the fridge in the kitchen so I agreed to that, filled out paperwork, signed on the dotted line, paid and went to find the room. It was bigger than I expected, and being situated in a gorgeous old building, has high ceilings, big windows (a rare find in france), wooden shutters and is just lovely. Ok, the paint is peeling towards the ceiling, but that adds to the charm and character of it. Maybe. I do get my own sink in my room though! There's lovely long coridors (20 rooms on each floor) and big common rooms, it makes me think of somewhere Madeline might live when she grew up. We were starving by this point, so we went to find the supermarket, not very far away and got some lunch and essentials then went back to my room to eat.
After lunch dad went to get the car while I went to try to find out about the kitchen and my fridge-box and the kitchen. despite desperate searching we could only find one kitchen with 3 fridges and several hobs. The fridges all had numbered metal boxes with padlocks on them, up to 26, and there are at least 3 floors of rooms. There was a larger queue than earlier on, so I decided to leave it for now and ask about cuisines later. Dad came back, we unpacked the car, said goodbye and I was unpacked by 5pm.
The storm started at about 8, shortly followed by torrential rain. I'm not normally a fan of storms, but in the south of france they take on a spectacular, dramatic quality, often accompanied by torrential rain, thunder that echoes off the mountains and old buildings and flashes that light up the purple sky. As long as you're indoors to enjoy the show, it's ok!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Road Trip!
It's a long drive across France, apparantley around 12 hours from Hastings area including the ferry. Arrived at around 5.45 yesterday and am now writing this at 6.40am after a disturbed night's sleep because dad snores. Note to self: get Vashti Bunyan on your MP3 because Flight of the Conchords, Sophie Ellis Bexter and the Buffy musical soundtrack do NOT make for good sleeping tunes! Oh well, he drove me down so what the hell, he deserves a medal! Have only seen the outskirts of Lyon so far, first impressions...? Well, what are the outskirts of London like?!? Still going in to the centre to sort out my room (I get to move into my cheap CROUS accommodation today), sort out a bank account (went for mostly travellers cheques in the end after deliberating whether to bring a wad of cash or not), and find a supermarket, as my cupboards are (or at least will be when I see them) bare.
Well off for what the cheapy hotel describe as a 'balanced breakfast' and many cups of coffee, then into the 8eme arrondissement to find the residences!
Well off for what the cheapy hotel describe as a 'balanced breakfast' and many cups of coffee, then into the 8eme arrondissement to find the residences!
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