Getting Settled & Making Friends

My first few days in Lyon were spent getting doing errands: I thought my days of heavy-lifting were done, but the 5-minute to and from the "Simply Market" down the street felt much longer carrying 50€ worth of produce, laundry detergent and other essentials.

For a few days, I hadn't been able to access my residence Internet because my laptop had died and my adapter/converter didn't fit a 3-prong plug. I even tried logging into the library computers with my information, but it hadn't been activated yet. So on my trip to Part-Dieu, I had my first access to Wi-Fi  and managed finally to respond to my Mum's messages wondering if I was still alive. This trip to also resulted in some heavy bags including my sheets, a pillow, a new adapter, a pot and some other cooking utensils, and my treat to myself -- a blow dryer -- from the Carrefour (almost like a Walmart). Personally, I think the blow dryer is essential if I'm going to keep these front bangs looking presentable.

I laughed out loud at myself when I got onto the metro with my bags and forgot to grab onto the handrail before it left the station. I nearly fell over and there was a huge clang as I grabbed for it. Apparently the locals didn't find this surprising at all and acted like nothing had happened. (Note: When someone does something ridiculous, you should laugh with them if they are already laughing. Otherwise, it could be awkward for them.)

At this point, all of my communication problems were solved: I had picked up a SIM card from Bouygues Telecom while at Part-Dieu as well, and could now keep in contact with the people that I met, you know, once I actually met them.

The simplest option for making friends would have been to take the French as a Second Language course offered for the past week. Unfortunately, I'd booked my ticket before I knew what the dates for it would be, so that option was not available to me. Thankfully, I did manage to meet up with the girls from Ontario that I know and I went for goûté (afternoon snack) with them, as well as Hattie and Jamie (from England and Scotland respectively). We were joined at different times by Flo and Claudia (also from England) and we all planned to go out to the ERASMUS welcoming party that night, preceded by a small potluck style get together at the other campus.

We waited ages for some girls (also from England) who go to Lyon 3 to join us at the metro station before walking to Monod, we shared some snacks at the party and then after everyone had met everyone, we went to the club. Despite the overwhelming number of Anglophones, we attempted to maintain our French throughout the evening, which I really appreciated and thought was good fun. The club was called the Le Loft Club (haha) and we realized later that Thursday nights are 12€, while Fridays and Saturdays are free entry. It slowly became packed with International students (I guess 11pm is early). The DJ was quite good, but the whole club was extremely hot. We were all "glowing" from the heat and the dancing.

Everyone that I met was extremely nice and it was a really great time. It was the first step that I needed to make some connections at the school and I hope to see a lot more of these awesome people in the coming weeks! There are many more events planned for the students, so there are also more opportunities to meet people which is exciting!

Moving In

The morning was fairly stressful. I woke up on schedule and ate a quick breakfast. My plans, however, would not be respected by the forces of the universe;  the elevator was broken down. I hauled my suitcase down the winding stairs. Outside, it was raining. I managed to get to the RER A at Charles de Gaulle - Étoile station with no problem (a part from the stairs). The route was direct to Gare de Lyon. However, I missed my stop. The mystical woman announcing stops neglected to mention which stop we were at and I was unsure so I stayed on.

I missed my train to Lyon by several minutes. When I had taken the metro back to the Gare de Lyon, I booked another one (for an additional 66€) and paid for my carte 12-25 (which saves you 50% on fares, which is good considering it cost 50€) and almost missed the second train! I had to haul my luggage up the staircase in the train and through four cabins (dirty looks courtesy of the First Class passengers) before I finally found mine.

In my effort to be super prepared for Warszawa and Paris, I forgot to figure out how I was getting around once I got to Lyon and ended up taking a cab -- and thank goodness, because my muscles were all dead from hauling around my luggage (see earlier posts). The address given to me by ENS is 15 parvis René Descartes (which means René Descartes Square). I gave this address to the driver and it didn't come up. Luckily he knew where the campuses was located (rue Jean Jaurès) and we got everything sorted out.

My original plan was to go straight to the Résidence, but I was so lost I just asked for the international department. They were not expecting me until the 30th (I had been confused by a sign-up sheet they'd sent to us), but they took wonderfully good care of me.

My res room is HUGE (compared to my room at home and my room at Brock) and I have my own bathroom and shower. There are only four of us in our residence "floor", two guys and one person who hasn't moved in yet. The two days, I've eaten lunch at the cafeteria. The first night I fell asleep at 17:30 after unpacking my stuff and didn't wake up until 11:30 the next day. I was starving! Setting up all my administrative stuff is almost done. I've just got to do the bank account and buy the insurance I need to live here for 5 months. I bought groceries and some necessities like sheets, a pillow, some cooking utensils (there are almost none), and sticky tack for my photos of my friends and family today at the Carrefour (sort of like a French Walmart). I bought my SIM card and an adapter that worked for my laptop cord :) so I finally have Internet!!

Orange walls?

Penguins Jersey :)

It's actually white

The shower




My desk



Reppin' Canada



My backyard
 



No sheets or pillow yet... look familiar?

Moving out of St Catharines



Kitchen

The common area




Our view



Our view



Everything is really good so far. I'm just a little lonely since classes and Orientation stuff won't start for at least another week and I didn't get here in time to do the French-language classes which I assume is where the other Internationals are meeting each other.

I ran into one of the girls, Milica' from the Ontario program today. I contacted the other girl, Jenny, (there are 3 of us in total) and I might be going to an ERASMUS party with her tomorrow night (ERASMUS is like the over-arching term for exchange students, even though it is techincally only European students that participate in that program). So hopefully I will be on the right track for meeting people! The only other person I know is my friend, Fanny, who is French and came to Brock on exchange. Unfortunately Fanny is on holidays in Greece until the 31st so I haven't been able to ask her a million questions.

More updates soon

xx
Tessa

Paris

The next morning I woke up extremely early to catch my flight to Charles de Gaulle in Paris. When I arrived, I picked up my baggage and didn't even get checked at customs, which I thought was strange. It was as if it was optional or something. I purchased an RER ticket to get into Paris and easily managed my baggage on and off of this first train. I had left-over metro tickets from my trip to Paris in February 2012, so I used those to get to Anvers. Thankfully, I had help getting my baggage up and down the stairs. In total, 6 different men helped me carry my luggage throughout the metro system during my stay in Paris. From the Anvers station, finding Le Village Hostel on rue d'Orsel was a piece of cake!

The staff there was also super friendly. I wasn't able to check in officially until 16:00, so I stowed my baggage in their storage and went off to find lunch. Later in the day, I made my way to the Seine and walked along for a bit. I took some shots of the Eiffel Tower and sat on one of the benches in Champ de Mars to relax. I had a little tourism book about Paris and I learned that the name of Champ de Mars originates from its days as a field for military practice of the Royal Military Academy that sits across the park from the Eiffel Tower. Mars, the God of War, is therefore a fitting name.

 

On return to the hostel, I met Emily, a 35-year old art student from Hong Kong who was incredibly friendly. We decided to eat together in the hostel and I bought my dinner at the local grocery store. Afterward, we took a walk up behind the Basilique Notre-Dame (probably my favourite tourist destination in Paris) to the streets of Montmartre. There were street artists and outdoor restaurants dispersed along the cobblestone streets of the old village.

 

We returned to the hostel, and I ended up falling asleep almost immediately after preparing my things for the next morning.

Warszawa

Waiting to drive to Toronto was the longest day ever. I only had to do a little bit of last minute packing and say my good-byes to Meagan who decided to ditch me to go to a concert with her boyfriend... OK, OK, it was her last day before she moved into residence at her college. Whatever.

I occupied my time like this....

 The finished product of these hours of hard work was this:

Not bad for 6 months!

Eventually, we hit the road and made it to the Toronto airport. I had to pack and repack my luggage because a) the suitcase was too heavy and b) my backpack had to be converted from carry-on to checked baggage (luckily this was free because I booked in June!). All I transferred from the big backpack was a pair of pajamas and my laptop. I'd done a two-week trip with a backpack before! What was three days! This is what I looked like pre-boarding. Andrea called me a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle:

The woman at the registration for Residence at ENS said it looked like I was carrying my house on my back. It should have dawned on me that I had to carry all this stuff through Paris in a few days.


My flight to Poland was an easy one compared to the trip to Australia from June - July earlier this year. I had the pleasure of being asked to move places twice by people that didn't speak any English. That's what you get for travelling alone, but it was really no inconvenience, except for the giving up the aisle bit.

The man next to me kindly put his leg into my seat area for the entire flight. I pushed right back with my leg, which he might have taken as flirty, but I assure him now that it wasn't. I was just kindly body-languaging that if he wanted more space, he should have paid for First Class. ;)

The best part of the flight was reading the letters of a few friends that made me promise not to open them until I got on the plane. I was anticipating being very weepy, but they turned out to be really funny and instead of suppressing tears, I was supressing giggles.

My arrival in Poland was smooth sailing. I didn't yet have to worry about all that luggage. I bought a 24-hour transit pass at the airport and asked the women for directions. They must have thought I was slow because when I passed them the address, they pointed to the area on the page where I had circled directions to the hostel from the airport. Oops!

One bus ride and a few minutes walking later, I checked in and started exploring. I walked from the hostel up the Nowy Świat road toward "Stare Miasto" or the "Old Town" which was reconstructed following WWII. There was a street festival of some sort and there were performers everywhere. The Royal Palace exterior was a little lack lustre, but I didn't really get a chance to go in and look around. It was the general buildings that really struck me. They were almost mythically old. It seemed like we were on a medeival street with the gravel and everything. The walk definitely required comfortable shoes. There are tons of hills and the cobblestones were a bit hard on the feet.

I wandered next passed a few random photo ops including the statue of soldiers near the Warszawa Library and through a gorgeous park in the middle of the city. I stumbled upon my next destination: the Palace of Culture and Science. I took a photo for some German tourists and then took the elevator up 30 levels to the panoramic view of Warszawa.
 

I headed back to my hostel and stopped for dinner on Nowy Świat at Zapiecek Polskie Pierogarnie, a "traditional" Polish pierogi restaurant. The girls dressed in "traditional" dresses. I moved places three times before I got a menu, but the food really was delicious and the servers were really nice. Thankfully, they spoke some English.