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!