October 2016 – AL-LYON-SY

September 17-September 18, 2016.

My first weekend trip outside of Lyon and I went to Marseilles avec quelques amies. The adventure began as soon as we stepped outside of our houses as we all struggled to reach the bus station. D’abord, we took the wrong bus to the tram station which lead us to the metro. Ensuite, we took the wrong metro vers l’autre direction. Then, we found our way back to the tram station we originally meant to go to. At that point we were very close to missing our bus to Marseilles. Luckily, our bus arrived 45 minutes late! The laissez-faire attitude on time here in France finally worked in our favour for once.

Soon we arrived in Marseille and found our way to our Airbnb. We stayed on a boat. This required us to take the most insane ferry ride to L’Ile du Frioul. The waves were like hungry arms of blue, trying to wave for attention.

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Then when we arrived to the port on the island, our Airbnb hosts greeted us. That couple was the most french couple I’ve ever seen. They were so beautiful and kind. They also helped us practice our french which was an added bonus. Bref, il faut que vous restez là.

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En fait, we began exploring the island and found our way to the beach.

This first photo was from this clearing we found. We were absolutely stunned. The area was fairly desolate and no one was really around except for the kind lady who took our photo. She unfortunately had to go through trying to take a photo with a DSLR. We ended up just using my camera, a classic point-and-shoot.

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This next photo, self-explanatory. It was a nice lookout point on our way to the beach. We were maybe 20-30 meters away? We stopped so much that all we really had time for was the beach. I am not regretting our time there though as that view is one that I will never forget.

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This next photo truly reminded me of home. Coming from Richmond, B.C., I am fairly used to being surrounded by water and seeing blue everywhere. As I was walking through the docks in Frioul, it reminded me a lot of the Steveston area in Richmond with the boats everywhere and the overall scent of saltwater.

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As for cultural excursions, we briefly had time to visit a few museums while we were in Marseille. The weekend we visited happened to be the Les Journées du Patrimoines. Basically, all museums were gratuit. I found this amazing mural by the entrance of Vieille Charité, which is this huge cultural centre with plenty of exhibits.

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Au fond, the trip to Marseille was a great first trip outside of Lyon. It was interesting seeing the differences between the two cities of Lyon and Marseille. Where Lyon is a fairly large and bumping city, Marseille is more relaxed. I would love to revisit Marseille in another season. Maybe when I return to Europe? It’s already Automne and the weather is rapidly changing.

Final note,

I clearly am not posting as much as I would like to. That being said, I will make sure to post every Wednesday from now on because at least now I have a fake deadline to work with and motivate me! However, if you do want a more frequent update, you can follow me on snapchat: patbatcat or Instagram: patriciaabatalla . I post daily photos for my weekly themes on Instagram so I definitely have a greater presence on there. I promise to post more on here though!

I met a girl as I waited for my Political Science class in Sciences Po (a class that I would eventually not continue) and we bonded over the agonizing and inefficient ways of the university institutions here. She mentioned a term, “Justor”/”Justore” as a way to describe institutions of that sort.

So as to sum up my first month here in Lyon, I have already learned so much. Despite classes having only started two weeks ago, my experiences so far with the people around me and the community have been enriching my perspective on myself and on French culture.

First of all, the outlook on time is fairly different. For the most part, appointments or rendez-vous are taken fairly lightly. However, this is just what I have noticed in my university setting. I remember walking into my week-long intensive French course and waiting a solid half hour just to be placed in a classroom. As for my regular lectures (CMs) and discussion classes (TDs), it varies. For my first Political Science course (Politiques Comparées), the professor walked in almost twenty minutes late while I walked into a French grammar course ten minutes late and being locked out. Also, the way they organized the registration for courses is the most inefficient way possible. You could probably play a drinking game right now of taking a shot for every time I have used the word “inefficient” in this post and be done by the end of it. Anyway, simple necessities such as course lists and class locations could be disclosed online, if not at all. But no. The political science department seems to enjoy long lines of students waiting in their office, to hand out individual sheets of the same list of courses. The line could have easily been avoided and wasted way less paper if maybe they posted one sheet outside the door like other departments. Ultimately, what I have taken away from the mess that was the first two or three weeks of school is that I respect time more than I think I do. I also learned that being on time can have such a loose meaning here. Ca depend sur des profs et des departments. Trop bizarre. I tend to gamble on time here and it never works out.

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^ Me gambling on time.

Monthly Archives: October 2016

Mar-sail away

Justor? Justore?