Bonjour tout le monde!
Welcome back to Johanna in Lyon, ready for episode 2 – Johanna out of Lyon!
[Editor’s note: she’s a bit of a hefty episode – apologies in advance – I lack the ability to stop talking.]
It’s been only a little minute since the first episode, but I am now really in the midst of routine Lyon life! I always find it a tricky balance – keeping routine, but not falling into a rut of repetition, and I was nervous about how I would work this balance out here in Lyon. However, no need for nerves – I realised that while it’s terrifying that it’s all up to me to make my life exciting – it’s also the recipe for success – it’s all up to me! With the perhaps slightly unhealthy fear of not doing enough in my time abroad, I have been saying yes to everything I can, and finding every little way for me to make the most of everyday life. The time limit of a single semester really is the most effective motivation for banning myself from getting stuck in a homely routine – I quite simply am only living this 4 months once, and have no choice but to make the absolute most out of it.
On that note, I want to talk to you about travel! As you might remember from my initial introduction piece, one of my major incentives for coming to France was the insane travel opportunity that being in Europe presents. I knew that studying was going to be fighting for its spot at the top of my priority list, but I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that my professors here also knew that! I am super lucky with my class timetable, with no class on Friday I get a 3 day weekend! I also finish class at 1pm on Thursdays, so you already know I am capitalising on that extra afternoon for a travel day.
I’m going to give you a little run down of the trips I’ve taken so far:
On one of my first weekends here, and one of the final proper hot summer days, I took a day trip with one of my (then quite new) friends to Annecy. It was absolutely incredible! Annecy is just the most precious, beautiful, straight out of Beauty and the Beast little town. We walked around the old town, with the canals weaving through the streets, bought the most delightful pastries from the most delightful patisserie, sat with our feet in the canal and soaked in the rays, then took the short walk (with a delectable gelato stop of course) to the most dreamy, pinterest board swim spot on the lake. Lac d’Annecy is set with a backdrop of the most unbelievable mountains – just look at the pictures down below. We lay in the lake staring at the scenery, then lay on the grass under the crystal clear blue sky.
Small side note – I am obsessed with beaches that don’t have sand – love a grass bank beach.
The journey back to Lyon is just under 2 hours, so easy. In fact, we were home in time for dinner! I knew from when I first chose Lyon as my top choice that I wanted to get out to Annecy, so I am so glad I just went ahead and did it – the vision of Annecy I had in my mind was the gorgeous lake swimming and sunshine on the canals, so I am so glad I didn’t wait for the ‘perfect’ time – just took a sunny day and ran with it!
My birthday was a couple weeks into my time in Lyon, and in a very last minute decision, I decided that I wanted to spend it in Switzerland! I have a cousin studying in Zürich, and I had been trying to work out a good time to get across to see him, and the perfect opportunity presented itself when classes were cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday! So, with a lovely chocolatey birthday in mind, I hopped on a bus on Wednesday morning (shout out Flixbus) and made the quick trip over to Zürich (biggest lie ever it was 8 hours long and also the bus was 2 hours delayed xoxo). Despite being forecast for rain the whole weekend, we actually ended up with so much lovely sunshine to see the sights of Zürich!
After one day packed with sightseeing and a little hike, it was time for the big day. I don’t think there’s a better way to spend a 22nd birthday than at the Lindt Chocolate Museum, absolutely stuffing my face (and pockets) full of chocolate. Being my first birthday without my parents, it was so lovely to be with my cousin (not only because he cooked all my meals and made crêpes for birthday breakfast, let’s gooooo). Because of the rain on the way over, I couldn’t see a metre out the window of the bus, but the weather was clearing on my journey back to Lyon and when I tell you my dreams came true I am not even exaggerating.
I am the biggest snow and mountain lover – and I was sitting there watching the Swiss Alps peek in and out over the countryside, and over Lake Geneva. I genuinely had tears in my eyes – not dramatic at all.
To top off the loveliest birthday weekend I had a post-birthday picnic with my wonderful new group of friends on Sunday, a stellar blue sky day in the most gorgeous park in Lyon – Parc de la Tête d’Or. For someone who presumed it would be a very lowkey-nothing-much birthday, it turned out to be one of my favourite weekends ever.
I’m going to do a quick interjection here to talk about my SIM card – so exciting. When I went to Zürich I was actually still just using my UK SIM and roaming – which turned out to be a giant pain because my provider decided that European roaming should only be for countries in the EU, which of course Switzerland is not. So, soon after I got back I went out and got myself a French SIM card. I bought one with the network ‘Free’, and chose the €19/month plan with data roaming available in the whole continent of Europe – hooray! This plan gives me 40GBs a month, instead of the 5GBs I was getting previously – my mum has been enjoying the perks of that (getting annoying calls from me at all times now just because I can). 5 of the 40 GBs I get per month are able to be used for roaming when I am out of France – I’ve found that to be more than enough so far!
Another super brief admin point I’m going to mention is my bank account. Because I am only here for a semester I decided against getting a french bank account, and to be honest I haven’t regretted that at all. I definitely think if you are staying for a year (and you don’t have any other European bank account) then it would be worth it, but for my situation I am totally fine without. For everyday and online purchases I use my Wise account! Wise is a travel bank company that allows you to spend or send money in different currencies with no extra conversion fees – so handy. You can use it online, with the app, and get the physical card to use for withdrawing cash!
Okay now back to the good stuff:
When the opportunity presents itself to take a €20 night bus to Barcelona, you take it. As with every plan so far, this stemmed from: wow, the weather is great in Barcelona next weekend! I think we should go to Barcelona next weekend! Okay great we’re going to Barcelona next weekend the bus is booked! This is a city that has been on my bucket list for a hot minute – the architecture, the endless summer sun, what’s not to love? Also, I had never been to Spain before – an exciting added bonus! I’m actually writing this segment on the bus on my way home to Lyon – after the coolest weekend ever.
We arrived in Barcelona at about 10am on Friday, it’s now 10pm on Sunday as we’re leaving, so we had 3 full, action packed, sunshine filled days! It was quite delightful going from 17 degree autumnal Lyon days to 25 degree sunshine in Barcelona. We stayed at a super cute hostel right on Barceloneta Beach and oh my gosh I forgot how happy it makes me to wake up to palm trees and the ocean. All I need is to start my day walking down a palm lined path – brekkie pastry in hand – listening to the waves, and watching people play beach volleyball. Actual heaven.
We saw every site we could, soaked up the sun on the beach, drank sangria, ate paella, devoured churros, bought silly souvenirs, and enjoyed the spanish version of an early night (definitely not 4am mum i was asleep by 10pm every night xx). It was an absolute raging success. The architecture genuinely had me taking photos every two steps, and for someone who averaged 25k steps a day that’s a fair few photos!!
P.S. I feel I can’t not mention that the Sagrada Familia is indeed as insane as they say – I could’ve stood and stared at it forever.
It is totally insane to me that I’m even sitting here writing this. I’m now back in my room in Lyon, cosying up with the ambience of the wind and rain, trying to comprehend the fact that this is normal life for me.
I still genuinely can’t believe I live in France. Just saying that sentence is utterly insane – I live in France. It’s easy to forget just how incredible it is with everyone at uni being in the same boat – on exchange in Lyon – but when I step back for a second, it actually makes me want to cry happy tears, I am so, so grateful.
Okay it’s closing credit time! Get her off the stage!!
Seriously though, thank you for reading, à bientôt,
Johanna xxxx