The French Life Style

My time in France has been very positive, although I am now starting to become slightly homesick. It's not necessarily being away from friends and family, but more the lifestyle change.

The food.
I have no complaints about the food, it's probably some of the best I have ever eaten. Going out to dinner is always great, but very expensive in Lyon. The problem is trying to make it yourself. I actually love to cook, but specifically I love to cook in a kitchen with all the amenities. When I arrived I had to buy everything all over again as the kitchen in the residence doesn't have anything, not even a garbage can.
Here is what I have to work with:

See what I mean? I share this kitchen with four other people! There are only two hotplates, and you can barely fit a pot and a pan on at the same time.

Even with a lackluster kitchen I still manage to cook some decent meals for my self.

One of the other problems I have is shopping, as I never really have any idea of what I am buying. The bread and cheese is pretty straightforward, and delicious. I have eaten so much bread and cheese it is coming out of my pores, literally. I don't think I have broken out this bad since I was eighteen, but I look like I am eighteen anyway so it's kind of fitting.

French.

One thing about France that can become irritating is that hardly anyone speaks English. I know what you are going to say "why would they speak anything else in France?" Even some of the other European students find it irritating sometimes. For example, our residence houses well over a hundred international students, but the administration office has about one person who speaks English. Very frustrating when trying to check in.

I suppose though that makes it better for learning French, which turns out is VERY hard. 

Before school started I thought French was the most beautiful language in the world, now I almost despise it. I find the accent the hardest. After an hour of class I have a sore throat. For one of our exercises we had to make a song in French and sing it to the class. If there is one thing I love more than French, it's singing in front of a classroom full of strangers. 

That said, I'm still going to give it my best shot. I have made a good Belgian friend and a few French friends already. My Belgian friend is going to stop speaking English with me in a few weeks. This friendship is going to be put to the test alright.

The people.

I've found the French people here to be very nice. The stereotype is that the French are arrogant, and rude to English speakers, but I think that is more common with Paris. The Lyonnais are a very polite, and in cases, very engaging. As I develop my French and assimilate more into the lifestyle I hope to meet more French students, mainly girls. 

Arrival and Integration in Lyon

My arrival in Lyon was probably the longest day of my life. I had to get to the Gatwick airport in London for an 8am flight, so I woke up at 2am to get to the train station. I didn't realize that Gatwick was almost outside the city!

Upon arriving in Lyon I went straight to the residence to check in. There must have been a hundred other students there trying to check in as well, complete chaos would be an understatement.

Other students were being rejected by the residence because they didn't have insurance. This made me nervous as I only had my school insurance, and no one there could read or speak English.
I decided to check in with the school just in case and they told me I should be alright. I took the wrong bus there, so that little trip took over an hour.
When I arrived back there were about a hundred more people, and I had to get a number and wait for over two hours.
This whole time all I can think is that I might not have a place to stay for the night. When I finally got in, I found out why things took so long. There were no computers in the office. Only five people, and a crap load of paper. The staff were so angry, and were even more angry when they found out I could not speak French. Eventually someone helped me with the paperwork, and I convinced them that my Canadian insurance was acceptable. There was no way I was going to pay for their insurance.
I was hoping to go out and meet some of my classmates that night, but it was to late to join them, and I was so hungry. I had no idea where I was, and I ended up going to Mcdonalds. That's right, the first meal I had in France was Mcdonalds.

Things became better through the week though. I have already made some amazing friends, and met up with the other Canadian students.
There are so many parties happening right now in the city. There are many universities in Lyon, and there are students everywhere. At night Lyon is an amazing sight. There is an old medieval part which has some of the most amazing food I have ever tasted! I will try to keep a regular blog post and put up pictures, but things haven't seemed to stop moving since I arrived. Never a dull moment.

London

London

London is one of the most incredible cities I have ever seen. It would have been nice to explore more of England, but a week almost wasn't enough to explore the city center.
I found this week I got a little lonely. It's nice being able to do what you want to do, but having a companion is nice to.
I was so busy these last couple of days that I didn't have time to write at all. I would wake up early, have the free breakfast, and then take off for the day. I would come back late, eat my second meal, and go to bed. I'll try to summarize the best I can, but if you don't want to read I have included lots of pictures.

Day 1

After arriving late the night before, really that morning, I awoke very early and decided to have a small walk around down town. My plan was to only walk a little bit, and take a tour bus the next day.
After arriving at Trafalgar square though, I knew it wasn't going to be a little walk.
I first went into the national gallery to look at the paintings, and immediately realized that I have no real appreciation for art. I only recognized a few names and got two pictures before I was yelled at. Here is one i took right before.

After exploring the gallery I walked to St. James's park, and then to Buckingham Palace. Along the way I saw some palace guards, and yes they were wearing funny hats!

From here I walked down to the palace, and there wasn't actually that much to see. Green Park right beside it though was very nice, and I found a Canadian war monument. The monument has water going down it, and is at a slant. Lots of kids were sliding down it, even though there were signs all around saying to keep off the monument. I think they were speaking French, figures.

I walked around the parks a little more and then came to Westminister. The palace and abby were incredible sights.

While walking back I figured I should at least stop by the MI6 building. On a map everything in London seems very close, but it's actually soooo far. After taking some pictures of MI6, I was dismayed to find that I was about an hour walk away from my hostel, and I was really tired.
I managed the walk back though, and was able to find another museum to see another day.


Day 2

With all the walking I had done I decided to treat myself to a bus tour. There were three different bus routs and a river tour included in the package. I went on every rout, and took around three hundred photos.
I was able to see all of the monuments, buildings, and cathedrals. The bus had either a tour guide giving information, or an audio you could use. It was great having someone tell you the history behind what we were seeing. There were monuments that I would have never seen, nor know what they were if I did.
Here were some of the better photos of the day.

St. Pauls

Tower Bridge

The Tower of London

 Westminister Palace

 The London Eye

The British Museum

In the afternoon  I got off the bus and went to the British Museum. It was an amazing place, and probably the best museum I have every been to. The hight light was definitely the Rosetta Stone.

London has done this incredible thing, where they put bikes all around the city. You can rent one for a very small fee. I figured I would give it a shot, but found that they take this driving on the left hand side thing very seriously. Riding a bike on the left side through traffic is pretty intimidating, especially when you are not wearing a helmet. Mom, you should probably stop reading here.
The trick to learning how to ride on the road in London is really to just go for it. London is very bike friendly, and there are designated lanes. You can also just look at what other people are doing. If in doubt, you can also just hope off and get onto the sidewalk.
I wanted to get a video while riding my bike, but I drew the line there. That would be a pretty stupid reason to get into an accident.


Day 3

On day three I decided to designate a whole day to Westminister Abby. Of all the expensive places to go, it was the one I landed on. They ended up having a student rate as well, so I used that money I saved on a guided tour.
Westminister Abby is probably the most incredible thing I have seen so far. There are over three thousand people buried there. I thought it was funny that Darwin is also buried in Westminister Abby, I hope people see the irony in that.
After the visit I had the urge to study the history of the monarch. There were so many names I couldn't keep them straight. We weren't allowed to take pictures, but I did get some of the outside.

The rest of the day I spent in three museums. the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Walking around all of them was no break for my feet, but I was very determined to explore all of them. The museums are all right beside each other, so it was mondo convenient.

2,000 year old California Red Wood

Me taking a picture 

Resting up after a long day

Day 4

Day four started a little late. The night before an Aussi invited me to the pub downstairs for a couple of beers. There was a Chelsea game on, and we made friends with a Brit who tried to explain cricket to me. The only meal I ate that day was breakfast, so you can guess how the night went.
I had explored most of London at this point so I thought I would just bike around the city and get up close to some of the places I saw on the tour bus. I watched a little bit of Mary Poppins before so it was my mission to sit on the steps of St. Paul's and say "Feed the birds, tuppence a bag".
Later that night I decided to go on a Jack the Ripper walk. They took you to the murder sites, and the place where the message was written in chalk.
In all, still a productive day.


Day 5

Give yourself a pat on the back if you made it this far!
For my last day in London I went to go see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. It's supposed to be a must see, so that's probably why it was crowded beyond all reason. I showed up early so I got a somewhat decent spot. I was also able to get a shot of the Canadian was monument without any stupid kids on it.

Next I went to a place called speakers corner. My dad told me about it when he was in London. Every Sunday people gather at this corner in Hyde park, and say whatever they want. You have to be six inches off the ground, can't start a riot, and can't insult the crown. Otherwise it's free game. My dad told me that the hecklers are the best part. There were only two good British hecklers who were funny, the rest seemed pretty dumb.
The best speaker was this cowboy from America talking about evolution. He was insulting everyone.

Tomorrow I am waking up super early for my flight to Lyon. When I get there I think I will veg out for a little bit. Traveling this week has been fun, but completely exhausting. When riding my bike back from speakers corner I almost didn't make it. 

I'll try to make my blog posts a little shorter, but my trips will be much smaller to.