Hiya
I’m here in Lyon, France just over a week now and getting on really well. It still hasn’t fully registered that I’m here and staying. So much has happened in the past week. It’s like I’ve no time to myself at all. We’ve always have had something to do every minute of the day! So what’s been happening?
Currently just finishing up two weeks of the four week language course. There are about 150 erasmus students here, 9 Irish (4 from DCU, 5 from TCD and one more TCD student to come) so plenty of nationalities left (deep breath); English, Swedish, German, Spanish, Mexican, Finnish, American, Chilean, Argentinean, Moroccan, Brazil, Columbian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Indian, Australian, Czech, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Russian and probably a few more! I know what you’re thinking – no Turks! Oh and we still have to meet French students!
The classes are through French and very well run. There are 12 classes in total and just under 20 students per class. We were assigned our class based on a written and oral test so everyone is around my level. Since there is such a small group per class we get personal attention and there’s no problem asking if you don’t understand something. Classes consist of grammar in the morning (9am – 12:30pm) and discussions in group activities in the afternoon (2pm – 3.30pm).
I mentioned alot of nationalities above and I’ve met alot of new and different people. Our accommodation is on the INSA campus and we are all staying in the same building. Each room is the perfect size with two beds and two decent sized desks. We also have a cooker, fridge, shower and sink. The toilets are shared with the floor. We were asssigned rooms with Irish where possible so it’s good to be sharing with someone I know. This layout also makes it easy to meet others as you can just call around to rooms and there’s plenty of space for a large group in a room. There is a green outside the building (where I am at the moment) where people sit around and chat. We’ve one week left here. Next weekend we’ll be moving to our accommodation for the year. I don’t know what this will be like yet. I requested a single room but an apartment with 1 or 2 more people. Hopefully I get to live with at least one French student!
Three meals per day are provided as part of the language course but if you’re late you won’t get any! Breakfast starts at 7am until 8.30am, lunch is at 12:30pm till 1.30pm and an evening meal at 5.30pm until 8pm. The food is much healthier than food in an Irish university canteen. There is salad or fruit (usually a melon) for starters, plenty of vegetables for main course and a yoghurt or fruit for dessert. You get a roll with every meal; of course bread is very popular here in France.
As I mentioned I’ve been very busy during my first week here, getting used to the area, shopping for food for the weekend, washing clothes, etc. Last weekend I was so tired I didn’t do much at all despite having big plans to explore the city centre. Today has been one of the best days so far. Instead of class in the morning we had to meet the teacher at a part of Lyon called Croix Rousse. This is situated on the other side of the city however there is no comparison to the public transport system here and in Dublin. There is a tram line right in the campus which goes into the city. We waited 3 minutes for one of these and we bought a daily ticket which cost €4.10. As you may have guessed, this can be used on any form of public transport in Lyon. After about 5 stops we switched to the underground metro. As we walked onto the platform the train arrived in less than a minute. We passed a few stops and then had to switch to different metro line. We just walked down a stairs and the other train was waiting for us! After another few stops we climbed the metro steps to enter the lovely square in Croix Rousse. The whole journey took only 20 minutes!
We were given money, divided into groups and given a shopping list for the market. There was quite a variety at the market; merchants selling, fish, meat, fruit, bread, flowers, bags and of course cheese! We had one hour to do the shopping and return to the Croix Rousse square. We also had to ask some questions like, what times does the market open and close so I can now tell you! The market opens at 7am until 12 in the afternoon every day except Monday. On our walk towards the city centre we saw some lovely sights. A few of us decided to have lunch in town opposite Hôtel de Ville. Delicious!
This evening we played volley ball. I had played a few times before but not on sand nor with the net so high!
So that’s the news for now. Don’t forget to check out all the photos, feel free to leave comments and check back soon for another update.
Hoss.
