Since I last wrote here, an awful lot has happened, including going home for 10 days and having my 21st birthday! But I'm going to start where I left off, luckily I have a note of what I've actually been doing! OK, so, having met some French people, I decided to go out to an Erasmus party to have a laugh and to meet some other people. So the party was from 11-5am, so getting there at about 11.30, we had our tickets and went in. Coat check is practically compulsory over here, and the most irritating thing about the whole experience was that they told me I wasn't allowed to take my handbag in with me, on a security basis, even though I'd shown them the contents of my bag. Not being prepared for this, I had to hand it over with my keys, wallet, ID and wordly goods in it...all for 2 euros. I kinda got the impression that it wasn't going to be the most important thing to them, so consequently I was slightly worried all night that I was going to come out and they'd have handed it to someone else, lost it or it had got stolen or something stupid. So always remember not to take the bag with you! More annoying though was that I later saw girls with huge handbags full of stuff inside the club. Obviously I looked suspicious, or it's just the French and their typical continuity problems! Other than that, it was a good night, I got chatting to some people, but didn't drink a lot, which was probably a good thing, bearing in mind some of the sleeeeazy French guys circulating the club. I felt a tad like I was an antelope and they were lions, they go there in groups and all separate trying to pick up women. As it was an Erasmus party one French guy tried telling us that he was from Finland and didn't speak any French and only spoke English, but he didn't bank on me actually being English and pointing out that his grammar was awful and therefore that there was no way English could be his first language! Nice try! Had a good night all the same, had to walk some of the way home but I was with friends so it was all ok.
The weekend following that, I decided to get out of the house and go for a walk. I realised I hadn't actually taken any photos of the place, and was sitting in my room doing nothing. I decided to get on a metro, pick a stop, start there, go for a walk and come home. Now, I'm not sure I picked the best day to do this, because as a thank you and apology to everyone for all the strikes that had been happening on the public transport, they'd given us a free day on the network, which basically meant that everyone found an excuse to use it! So I started in Croix-Rousse, the part of the city where silk used to be made, which has some good views of the city and where I knew there was a route I could take to get down to the city centre. Starting there, I walked down the hill, crossed over one of the rivers and walked through Vieux Lyon, which is a world heritage site. Crossed the river again, then walked back over the river and through Bellecour, which I suppose feels most like the hub of the place. Here I wanted to get onto a metro, but with it starting to rain and it being free, I had no chance and couldn't be bothered to battle my way through the people. So I walked back. I was wet and cold, but so contented with myself. 2 hours of walking but I was happy to have done it, and I had hot chocolate, put my PJs on and chilled out for the evening. The following day I went to Parc de la Tete D'Or, probably the biggest green space, with Olga. This park is huge, it has a big lake in it, a rose garden and a zoo! The zoo is free, but as it was starting to get cold some of the more interesting animals had been 'put away' because they are obviously used to warmer climes. But we did see some animals and after walking round the lake, seeing people on roller skates going round teeny tiny bollards and getting really cold, we went home. That weekend was particularly refreshing!
The day before I went home I went to the Mouillet's to go and see them and to collect some things I still hadn't retrieved. Anne took all the girls out for Sushi. It was really good, and really nice to see everyone again. I'm still so grateful to them.
Then, it was time to go home. And excited was an understatement! I was flying from Geneva, so I got on a train here, and went through the beautiful French countryside to Switzerland. Was an amazing train journey, with being on the top deck of a double decker train going through the mountains covered in trees with the leaves in autumn colours. I was there an hour earlier than I should, but knowing the French and how much they like to strike, I thought it was better to be safe than sorry! Checked in and all that, went through security and eventually went to the gate, but I wasn't banking on my flight being 2 hours late! I was stuck at Geneva airport for 5 hours in total, and what did Easyjet give us?!? A voucher for the café worth 5 swiss francs, of about £3. Great! But eventually got on the plane, and was actually a little sad when we took off. I guess it was that I'd done the first bit, and realised that I actually quite like it here!
OK, so I'm going to leave it there for now, I don't want to bore you to death, and hey, I have things to do!
xxx
