If I had to describe it in one word, it'd have to be 'awesome'. For my first 'proper' time in France (unless you count 24 hours in Disneyland?!) I couldn't have asked for anything more. It was a bit daunting turning up without any accommodation but I needn't have stressed...within three days I had found and moved into the most amazing house ever with a lovely family where I had such an amazing time (shortbread, tiramisu, crepes and Disney films with Margot, for example!) and I really hope I've made lifelong friends. The kitchen was obviously my favourite room in the house, but my fantastically huge room was an amazing bonus:
And the view from my cute little balcony?
How unbelieveably lucky was I to live here? I didn't want to leave and though I love Madrid (see next post), I miss Lyon way more than I thought I would!
In terms of the university, the less said about the exams the better! The classes were okay and I understood ALMOST everything (except Histoire Ancienne, but let's face it, that was one of the dumbest decisions of my life!) but my FAVOURITE thing about the uni was the café...cheap paninis and chocolat viennois for 1.40 euros? Yes, please! I spent way too much time and money in there, but obviously, if the belly's not happy, Becky's not happy! The cream on top of the hot chocolate was like a mountain, nom nom nom! The only bad thing about the university was the disruption caused by the strikes...like any normal person, I usually like classes being cancelled, but when you've taken three different buses and managed to get yourself into university only to find out that the class isn't on anyway it's a LITTLE bit annoying. Speaking of buses, my journey into university was so beautiful that it couldn't fail to cheer me up on a morning, even when my classes started at 8am. The bus from the house pretty much followed the river into town, then I hopped onto the metro for four stops. The journey itself took about 45 minutes, and with my not-so-brilliant time-keeping I did manage to be spectacularly late half of the time.
In terms of tourist sites, Lyon is home to two of my favourite places in the entire world: Parc de la tete d'Or and the Roman Amphitheatre. A-MA-ZING! I think I visited the park more than the amphitheatre but they were just so beautiful and I really want to go back in the summer when I can appreciate them even more <3
Parc de la tete d'Or:
This reminded me of The Little Mermaid, the bit where they sing 'Kiss the Girl' in the boat?
The view of Lyon from the Roman Amphitheatre:
I did a little bit of English teaching while I was in Lyon too...I taught Victoire, the daughter of the family, for half an hour every Tuesday evening. It was a good chance to practice for teaching in Madrid, but I made the mistake of playing charades with animal vocab the first or second week, and couldn't escape from it after that. Note to self: keep games like that for rewards, not a main teaching method.
Ooh I also HAVE to mention the Paris visit and how utterly brilliant it was to meet up with my Lancaster (and Middlesbrough!) girlies :) It couldn't have come at a better time either because it was at that point that I was getting more than a little homesick. Seeing my girls cheered me up so much and I was able to enjoy being away and the amazing experience that is the Year Abroad again. I could put up so many brilliant pictures from Paris, but I think this of us pretending to be the Hunchbacks of Notre Dame just gets us down to a tee:
Paris is such a beautiful city (despite the rain we battled through to get to the hotel...I was stood under the hairdryer trying to dry my pyjamas that had got soaked in my case!), and I LOVE the fact that the museums and stuff are (usually) free for under 25s...I expected to pay so much in entry fees and was over the moon when I found out that the majority of it was free! I absolutely loved the creperie we went to for tea on the saturday night (and I love Jen's dad for paying the bill!).
Sophie's visit to Lyon was another highlight (I'm sorry I was too much of a fail to organise skiing!). Homemade waffles, shopping, Fete des Lumieres, cycling in the parc de la tete d'Or...brilliant penultimate weekend in France before the Christmas holidays!
I think that's all for now...I'll probably be updating this later with more mémoires francaises...I miss you, France! <3
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