It's snowing...

In Edenbridge! Thank god; I don't think Christmas can really ever be called Christmas without snow. Even if it consists of the tiniest layer of the white stuff, which is currently installing itself over rooftops, trees and fences; Edenbridge looks pretty damn hot right now, if I do say so myself.

Home has been amazing since the minute I walked through the door! I'm half way through putting the decorations on the Christmas tree; a rather drawn-out process which is managing to last me a few days; it has to be perfect and I will be happy with nothing less than absolute perfection! Mum and I managed to put the lights up and on outside the house on one of the tree's; a pretty major effort if I do say so myself, and Mum also managed to get the chainsaw on the roots of the Christmas tree; I think it's fair to say that we were pretty close to cutting our legs off, and that I was worried about her cracking the tarmac on the drive; needless to say, the tree is up and in the living room now, and as I say, almost finished. The tree smells really good too; I love it.

Since I've been back I've managed to eat two M&S turkey sandwiches; the ones which Hannah and I have been craving for the past month, let alone the past few weeks. Nicest. Sandwiches. Ever. Everyone needs to go and have one. Or seven. I've also been eating lots of home food; literally melt-in-the-mouth stuff, it's delicious! Not that I'm saying I haven't eaten well over the past four months, because I most certainly have, but home food is always a favourite and I'm more than making up for missing out on it!

I've got plans to meet up with quite a few people, which means that my life is pretty jam packed right now! But I like it that way, and I love coming back and seeing everyone, so I'm pretty happy right now (",). I've already seen Soph, Dais, Mikey and Dan since I've been back, and today's supposedly an "off" day as it were (I'm currently waiting for Mum to get back from her half day at work; she's literally just pulled into the drive as I type actually!) before we go Christmas shopping (I need to start and finish it all in a day; not a problem, I hope!) and tomorrow the seeing-people starts again, with seeing Natatalie for lunch and going for drinks in the eve with Fi. On Friday I'm going to go and pick up Guy which I'm really excited about; I haven't seen him in 2 months (!) and then we're going to the pub for Ruari's 18th in the evening, before family on Saturday and then Mum and Dad's house party in the evening; exciting times!

All in all, Christmas has honestly never tasted, looked or smelt so good, and it hasn't even started yet! Bring on the next month of seeing family, friends, eating, shopping, and trying not to feel guilty about my complete and utter lack of work concerning that slightly important Dissertation I have to write...

Bisous! Jess xx

Bahh ouais.

Bonjour à tous!
First things first: EXAMS ARE OVER!!! I would say “finally” but seeing as I only had three I think that’s going a bit too far :-P! They all went ok... harder than expected to say the least, but now just have to cross my fingers and wait until 18th January and see!
The Fête des Lumières (Festival of Light) was amazing; the city was totally lit up, and although you couldn’t really tell the difference from up high, on the ground level Lyon was absolutely incredible; I’ve got a million and one photos, only a few of which have been put up on Facebook. I went out three of the four nights and managed to see everything I wanted to, although there were around 70 spots around the city to go so I hardly saw everything!
I also did Secret Santa with about 8 of my English friends here; I got Hannah so that was easy enough ha-ha, although it was pretty hard keeping it from her! And Neil had me and got me some Ferrero Rocher’s, most of which seem to have disappeared with the help of Han, Steffi and Cryssy...
Tonight I’m going to go on the Ferris Wheel in Bellecour, and go out for my last French meal for a while in Vieux Lyon; I think the plan is to order one of those melting Camembert’s, MMMM so good  Han and I’ve been saying we’ll have one all term, so it’s probably about time we actually got one ha-ha.
I haven’t even STARTED packing yet, which is turning into a slight problem; I really should start doing that soon! I’m catching the 5:15pm bus from Perrache (central Lyon) tomorrow so will have to leave halls around 4:50ish to be safe, and then will arrive in Gatwick at 20:15 English-time; any “Welcome-back-to-England!” texts will be greatly appreciated:-P.
All About Hannah:
It was recently pointed out to me by a very close friend that in my last blog, I neglected to mention a VIP concerning my year in Lyon: a certain Miss Hannah Victoria Buckley. Whilst this observation was, of course, made by hers truly (funnily enough,) she does bring a valid point that my readers would all like to know about how she is. To this I will answer that she is very well; she is currently uploading photos onto Facebook, and is looking forward to Camembert this evening and having a buffet ready and waiting for her when she gets home, where her family will be waiting for her in a line outside her house, waving.
I think that sums everything up lol... I’ll definitely blog again over Christmas, so the next time you read I’ll be in the UK; the land of turkey, The Times, Father Christmas and The X Factor. Life is good (“,)
Bisous! Jess xx

My thoughts:

Things I like about France:
1) Christmas Markets with all the mulled wine, stalls, christmas presents and christmas tree

2) Being able to get warm pain au chocolats whenever I want :-D

3) Laughing at funny French people's names such as "Gaylord"

4) That I am in France and therefore in another country than England which is exciting

5) The Festival of Lights and all of the fireworks/lights that seem to be everywhere right now

6) French food; Lyon is definitely the gastronomical capital of France (if not the world in my opinion) and I absolutely love it

7) The Parc de la Tete d'Or with the lake and the zoo and the GRASS :-D

8) Walking around and discovering new things

9) My Tecely card and the magic it brings :-P

10) When people come to visit

11) The bus which takes me to the airport... :-P

12) My little room with it's very own little en-suite :-D

13) Going on nights out with my English friends and having AMAZING nights out even if the clubs are sometimes a bit strange/hot/not normal

14) Going to the pub to watch football when an English team is playing a French one and supporting England to the max :-D

15) Talking to people when I'm out and about and trying to improve my Francais

16) Being able to tell people that I live in Lyon; who else has lived in a foreign country all by themselves at my age...not many lol

17) That I'm here and making the most of it :-)


Things I don't like about France:

1) French bank accounts; opening it the first time round was bloody difficult enough; recently the bank decided that I wasn't using my account REGULARLY enough (p*** off) so they decided to "momentarily block my bank card" (idiots) to which I had to walk along to the bank and demand they do something; they said I had to apply for a new card, which, as I reminded them last time took A WHOLE TWO MONTHS to come through before (lazy inefficient *******) so they ordered it (after I went down to speak to them personally to make sure they were working on it practically every day for at least three days in a row; only way to make sure ANYTHING got done) and NOW I can't upload my photo online so have to go back AGAIN tomorrow. Kill. Me. Now.

2) French Administration; as above. Plus the stupid Professor Quirrel-wannabee who seems to have made it her mission to ruin my life, after I supposedly (it was Steffi, but I was nearest the doorbell so she blamed me) rang the bell a million and one times at the Welcome Desk one time because no one came after the first three rings.

3) When I accidentally drop my laptop on the floor and manage to a) break the DVD drive (it won't open; slight problem when my dissertation is all about FILMS and CINEMA *sigh) b) bend the laptop charger c) break half of the USB points and d) break something internally which makes the laptop turn itself off randomly when I am trying to work/Facebook/MSN/get on the Internet (which in itself is a very rare occurrence.) Although this point is not really France's fault, it happened in France and I therefore blame the country as a whole :-P

4) When it rains (which happens alot) because the rain in France is fat (no joke) so you get wetter quicker, and it also makes a HORRIFIC noise when I try to get to sleep and therefore cannot get to sleep, adding to my already daily insomnia. Thank you France.

5) When the shops/banks are closed at stupid times and the 2 hours of the day that the Lyonnais have annoyingly decided to devote to eating lunch; the result is that they only work for about 4 hours a day and even then are not REALLY working; kissing each other as a greeting every day and as a way of parting must take at LEAST an hour of their time, the other is spent being bored/trying not to do work/sitting on their a****

6) The local tramps and prostitutes; half of which like to sit around naked (or at least with something you'd rather not see on show)

7) When French people pretend not to understand you when they know exactly what you just said because you just PRO-NOUN-CI-A-TED IT CO-RRECT-LY, for the sole reason that you are English and therefore not French and want to make it perfectly clear that they know this fact, and to make you feel stupid and insignificant. Anyone remember the War...

8) Strikes which seem to be a daily occurrence and making getting anywhere/doing anything even more impossible than it already was in the first place

9) The blinds by my windows which mean that when I wake up at 1pm and think it's 10am it feels wrong to get up; it is also the reason for my insomnia I believe, because the lack of light/not waking up to light confuses me and I therefore think it's acceptable to go back to sleep when I wake up at 10am (even though I check the clock and it says it's 10am lol)




Having just re-read what I've written I have moaned about France a bit more than I think I needed to lol... because all in all I am really happy to be here and I'm having an amazing time; to be honest there's probably thing's about England that I could complain about forever even though I love it, so I'm not too worried lol.

Other than that, all is good this side of the Channel :-) exams are coming up (I've got them on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; painful lol) but we're exchanging Secret Santa presents on Wednesday and I'm coming home for Christmas for a month on Saturday evening; should land at Gatwick at around quarter past 8 British time so can't wait for that and to see everyone back home again :-). I went out clubbing the other night which was funny but good, and I've been going out the past two evenings to see things for the Festival of Light, and am going out for that tomorrow evening for a couple of hours too, as a break from revision.


I really can't believe how fast time's gone; come Friday I'll have finished my first term in Lyon, and after that I'll only have one more to go, so I'll be half way through the Year Abroad, which seems crazy. Four months has gone by so quickly!

Will post another blog before I come home, but until then I will be found head down in a dictionary trying to get my head round this stuff/shouting at some useless French bank staff member/trying to do some French exams... Wish me luck!

Bisous! Jess xx

"Are you feeling flirty?!"

Annoyed that I have once again neglected the old blog for a bit too long, be prepared for another massive post lol, apologies to all that may have already read half of this in e-mails etc :P

I've been so busy since the last post! Can't believe how quickly time's going over here too; it's crazy! I'm still absolutely loving it, and along the way have managed to fall in love with this place, have quite a few crazy adventures, and experience France the way I was hoping to.

Last Wednesday (18th November) marked the coming out of le Beaujolais nouveau wine, it's a local wine from the regions around Lyon; typically the people in Lyon don't really like it, but it's a really big deal over here. At midnight on Wednesday the new wine was released and on sale to the public, and there were fireworks and parties everywhere, not just in Lyon but all over France. I couldn't stay out on Wednesday cause I had class the next day, but I went out with some Canadian girls who I met through Sheila who Hannah and I met ages ago, but only just got round to going out with! So it was really nice to spend time with her and her friends, and we met up with Bethan, Steffi and Michael later on in the evening. We started off at Sheila's room, and went down to Vieux Lyon, and it basically turned into this massive street party all along Vieux Lyon, which was immense! There were stalls outside all of the bars and stuff selling the wine in glasses, most were 2 euros but we found one stall for one euro fifty, so we went there, and the guy gave us a BOGOF deal which was pretty cool! I actually quite liked it even though it was red, cause I normally go for white/rose, but I was surprised cause I didn't mind it! So I had one glass of that and a couple of glasses of mulled wine, which was nothing like mulled wine back in England; it was really sugarey and it reminded me of lemon, but it was still really nice; most of the girls didn't like it because it was really sweet but I thought it was lush! The stalls also sold this really nice homemade vegetable soup; I tried some of Michael's and it was really nice! And they also sold some local saussison, but it was in a stew with beans and stuff and it looked a bit wrong lol, so I avoided that one! But I had a really nice evening, Vieux Lyon had an amazing atmosphere, and I'm so glad I got to experience it like that! And I later found out that it was a good job I didn't go out on Wednesday night, but Wednesday was Algerien Independence Day, and all of these Algeriens were waving flags, driving manically around town, starting fires, setting off this gas stuff, and jumping on buses and stuff; I saw some flares from a distance because I popped down to Vieux Lyon on Wednesday evening, it was crazy!

Last night I went out for a meal with people from my French for Erasmus Students class; they're people from all around the world; Italy, Germany, China, Taiwan, England, it was pretty crazy lol! We met outside the Cathedral in Vieux Lyon at half 7, and ended up having to wait half an hour for some of the Italien girls to turn up (ALWAYS late, to everything lol) and we went off to a restaurant which they'd booked earlier. Funniest. Meal. Of. My. Life. I honestly have never experienced anything like that ever before lol, there were about 13 of us and we were all speaking French to each other, but it was really surreal! I found it quite hard to understand what most of them were saying because their French was so heavily accented, but we were all in the same boat so I suppose that made it slightly better. The Italien girls tried bartering with the waiters for a reduction lol, it was HILARIOUS if not very embarassing lol, the Chinese guys didn't really know how to eat properly, when my dessert came out everyone CLAPPED (most embarassing moment of my life to date lol) because it looked so big, when I got to the Funiculaire on the way down the hill (mountain :P lol) we saw some of the Chinese/Taiwanese guys they started saying to each other "Are you feeling flirty?!" in English; I almost wet myself it was so funny; they were saying it to each other but Han and I could obviously understand, omg I don't even know where to start lol. Am sure to recount this story many times when I come home for Christmas/for the rest of my life lol, so I'm sure you'll all hear the full story at some point haha.

The other day I went to the Aquarium with some other English girls that I hadn't met before with Bethan and Hannah which was nice, although a massive rip off at 11 euros, it definately wasn't worth that, but it was nice to see the fishes and have a relaxed kind of day :) so that was good.

A lady from my university back home (Reading) came out to visit me and the other Reading Erasmus students studying in Lyon the other day which was really nice; we met her outside her hotel and she treated us to tea and cakes (I had a hot chocolate and a banana/chocolate tart which was delicious) and we all had a chat which was really nice; there are 5 of us from Reading and it was the first time we'd all met up together since we've been here which seems crazy, but it was nice to see them all as a group and have a chat. The lady was called Aileen, and Hannah and I thought it was pronounced Eileen, as in the song "COME ON EILEEN" haha, so allll day until we met her we were singing that, until the moment came when she introduced herself and pronounced her name differently to "Eileen" lol; - GUTTED. We still had to resist singing that song even when she was with us which was pretty funny; the temptation when we were walking in front of her to shout back "COME ON EILEEN" was too much lol.

Lessons and things are still going ok... although having said that I had to drop one of my courses the other day, which isn't ideal to be honest because it puts more pressure on me for next semester, but the course was so IMPOSSIBLY difficult that I knew I wasn't going to pass the exam, so I went to my supervisor here in Lyon and changed it so that now I'm just following the course, and I don't have to take the exam in it, which is a relief to say the least! Oh, and on another sour note, in my English to French translation class, we had an exam the week after we came back from half term, and then we missed a class because it was Armistice Day, so the week after that we were meant to get our results back, so me and the other Erasmus students taking the course go to the lesson, worrying about what we're going to get; and the teacher decides to leave giving out marks til the END of class, which is when we find out.... that the Erasmus lot (there are about 5 of us and we're now treated as a collective; instead of reading all of our names off the register she just counts us all,weren't going to get our papers back for another week, basically because our marks were SO LOW that it wouldn't be far to give them to us as they were (basically she felt bad for us I think lol) so she's going to give them back to us this Wednesday; I am ACTUALLY scared lol, bet I've failed even with the different Eramus marking scale!!

I've booked my flight home for Christmas which is very exciting!! I'm coming back on the evening of Saturday 12th December, which is way earlier than I thought it'd be! But turns out my last exam is on Friday 11th, so I can come home on the Saturday; I can't wait! It's not such a late flight as before as well, so I'm hoping to be home by around 9pm that evening, which is good because I plan on hinting to Mum that she should cook a lasagna and we should have it when I come back for dinner... Mmmm lasagna :)... she doesn't know about this plan yet though haha so we shall see! Even better about this is that I get to pick Guy up from HIS uni, because he doens't finish until after I'm back in England haha, so will be nice to go and get him for Christmas, although he might need to help me with my reversing... HAHA jokes, ask him lol. And my flight back to Lyon is on Thursday 14th January in the morning; we were told we had to be back earlier than that, but in fact I could come back to Lyon later than that if I wanted, but at least this way I can sort out things back in Lyon before term starts, which is good. So all in all I get a month off, which is really exciting :) there's so much I want to do back in England, and of course I want to see everyone I've been sending massive emails to/people I saw in half term properly this time, so yeh, really hyped about Christmas :)! In fact, it's 3 weeks today until I fly back, and I think it's going to go really quickly, because there's so much going on until I leave for home!

The other day Han and I went to see that Dr Pernassus film at the cinema, which was really good; we watched it in French but I still got what was going on (most of the time.. :P) so that was fun! And we went shopping too and I accidentally managed to spend loads...bad times lol, everything is so expensive out here though; it's only the Channel that seperates France from England but the cultural and price differences are crazy-different lol, it's not fair!! So yeh, getting through that Erasmus grant/Student Loan pretty sharpish atm, but looking forward to the next loan coming through in January, woo :)!

Absolutely gutted that I missed Children In Need on the TV back home the other day! I've youtubed some clips but it's never as good as seeing the real thing; I've seen John Barrowman's performance, the Hollyoaks one, the Eastenders one, Peter Kays one, and Cheryl Cole's performance of Fight for this love (LOVE that song) all of which look amazing! Am also pretty annoyed that I'm missing out on Top Gear's new series, must remind the parents to record that for me, and I KNOW that they recorded Dr Who and the Dr Who Confidential for me that was on the other day; thank god!! I think I'm going to have to be stuck in front of the TV catching up on things when I come back, I didn't have time to do that last time really!! :P

I've been listening to my friend Suzie's radio show back in Reading recently; she does it with Joey and it's really nice to listen to them on Friday afternoons :) I miss them lots!! Although hopefully will get to see them, as well as the other girls I lived with last year in Reading, when I come home for Christmas, touch wood :)!

Apologies for the long post everyone!! The sad thing is that I've missed out on a million and one things lol, so will have to blog again very soon probs :P

Love to everyone reading, hope you're all taking care of yourselves and not working too hard over there in England, although I doubt it very much.. :P

Bisous! Jess xx

Bahhh c'est Toussaint, d'acc?!

At the sudden realisation last night that I have now continued to neglect my blog for at least a couple of weeks, I decided it was probably about time to start it up again :P, so I apologise for the massive post I am about to write!

Life has been pretty mental recently!! I had an amazing time back in England for the part of half term I spent there; saw absolutely everyone that mattered so I was really pleased about that :D. However, I came back to Lyon slightly worse for wear; absolutely exhausted! I've continued to tell everyone that I need another holiday to relax after that one :P and I still stand by that 2 weeks down the line; I need sleep!! Mum came to the airport to pick me up on Friday night (slightly later than planned; stupid lack of staff in Lyon airport meant everything was delayed,) and Guy "surprised" Mum by coming home on Saturday (Guy and I had already pre-arranged it :P) and then spent the day with family, before jetting off pretty sharpish to Reading to go to the Union with the girlies :D, and even though my time there passed way too quickly it was so good to see them. Sunday was spent with family again, before going to see the East Grinstead girls in Pizza Express (all I did all holiday was eat :P.) Monday morning Guy drove us back to drop him off at Canterbury (Uni of Kent) and I stayed there for the best part of the day which was nice :) and I drove back home myself, in ONE HOUR FIFTEEN MINUTES (def some sort of record there! From one side of Kent to the other...I was pretty impressed with myself anyway :P) and I saw Dais in the evening which was lush, I miss her!! Tuesday I met up with Fiona in Cafe Nero for a catch up which was nice, and spent the rest of the day trying to sort out a million and one things I had to sort out; paperwork over year abroad etc, which was a bit of a mish but at least I got it done! And I saw Ruari because he was bored haha, good times. Wednesday Sophs and I managed to see each other TWICE....both times in the pub :P we're such alcoholics haha! And then I got a stupidly-early flight back on Thursday morning, and then I was back in Lyon! Et mes amies....c'est ca!

I managed to leave my coat in Reading, and my phone charger and trainers in Edenbridge. Preeeetty annoyed lol, I need those things!! Typical. So, as a result :P, I'm going shopping to buy new ones. They were old anyway............ ;)

J Lo came to visit from Friday to Tuesday when we got back which was lush :) Han and I showed him round all the sights of Lyon, and on Sunday we went to the Parc de la Tête d'Or and went on pedalos on the lake; def a highlight there :P. And then the following weekend (the one just gone) Vicki came up to visit from Toulouse, although it rained pretty heavily on Saturday which ruined our plans in a major way...but still, was good! We went out on Saturday night to the St James' and I managed to fall off one of the really high bar stalls...not impressed. Still about sore about that..in more ways than one lol. I have a bruise extending the full length of my right knee cap. Not impressed. Poor Crys had to put up with me in a taxi on the way back, practically screaming "I'D KNOW IF IT WAS BROKEN WOULDN'T I?!!!!!!" lol. I owe her in a major way!

I went to see the 2nd leg of the Lyon/Liverpool match in Wallaces last week, atmosphere was again fantastic, all of us English girls were screaming when Liverpool scored! STILL pretty annoyed about that last minute fluke by Lyon; to be fair, we would've gotten shouted at in the streets on the way back anyway! Ah well, c'est la vie..

Wednesday I'm planning on going to Grenoble with some of the girls here; it's right at the bottom of the mountains and has amazing views, so that should be good :) I'm going to buy the railcard and tickets tomorrow; railcard is around 50€ and the tickets will hopefully be around 20€. I'm hoping to get the 50€ back in the money I save from travelling around France, so it's not that much really considering that I'll get it back in kind, which is good!

Think I've bored you all enough for now :P so will write again after Grenoble; if anyone knows of anyone with a Canon battery charger in Lyon PLEASE let me know... :P

Bisous! Jess xx

I'M COMING HOME!!!!!!!!

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!! I've been waiting for this for ages lol.

Han went back last night so I went and dropped her off at Perrache, where she got the bus to the airport, so she's already home now. I'm getting the airport bus from Perrache with Bethan at around 6.40pm, and will have to check in etc, and the plane takes off (it's Easyjet, so hopefully on time if not earlier lol, although I'm not holding my breath, stupid half term!!) from Lyon Saint Exupéry airport at 21:25 French-time, and I'll arrive at Gatwick at 22:00 England-time. My bag is SO heavy; I'm sure it's going to weigh over 20kg, eekkk! Lol I don't mind if I have to pay extra though, only my own fault if I do :-P

Today I listened in to my friend Suzie's radio show for Reading University, and texted her and she did a shout out for me which was lush (",) can't wait to see her and my other 3 ex-housemates!!!

Since the last blog I've met the family from back home and done a babysitting-stint for them which was good! They seemed really nice, plus funnily enough they're travelling back to Edenbridge today as well lol, but they're driving up to Calais and getting the ferry, taking slightly longer than my hour and a half long flight :-P

I get back from England next Thursday, and J Lo's coming to visit the day after that until Tuesday, so that should be good. I didn't end up getting football tickets for the Liverpool/Lyon match in Lyon on the 4th Nov because prices were extortionate; however I know it'll be just as good to see it in a Lyon bar; I went to see the first leg of the match played the other day in a Scottish bar and the atmosphere was amazing!! I said before the match that I'd support Lyon because I'm here for the year, but when the game started I automatically started cheering for Liverpool lol, Dad supports Liverpool (as does Hannah) so I guess at least he'll be pleased :-P

Really looking forward to seeing everyone back home over the next few days (",) I'm going to be pretty busy rushing around trying to see everyone, but it'll def be worth it, I miss everyone loads! Can't wait to see you all in the very VERY near future (",)

Bisous! Jess xx

"Anyone can see bread?!"

Bonjour à tous!


Life in Lyon is going so quickly! 1 week today I'll be back in the UK now (",) so excited! Still making plans all over the place which is très exciting aussi!

The other day Bethan, Hannah and I went out for a meal (our first proper French meal together!!) in a little bouchon (a typically Lyonnais restaurant) which was sooo nice (",) I had the Lyonnais salad, then a steak with dauphinoise potatoes, and crème brûlée, and it only cost 15€ which I thought was really good seeing as portions were MASSIVE lol, very VERY good times, will definately be going there again (",). And another day we went to Fourvière (the basilica at the top of one of the collines in Lyon) for a walk around, and managed to find Jesus :-P before going back to Bethan's for fahitas which was nice!

Last Saturday all the English lot went out for Suzie and Roisin's birthdays, we had a toga party in halls which was IMMENSE before a quick costume change :-P we ended up going to our favourite Irish bar before going to a club on a boat called Sirius which I'd never been to before, but it was reeeally good, defo one to visit again! And when we were out I met a guy that had my name which I found hilarious... it was pretty funny lol :-P he's the one in the middle on the last photo below.

I'm STILL waiting for a parcel that Mum sent at LEAST two weeks ago to come through, so annoying! I hate this stupid long-distance mailing thing, it takes FOREVER, I bet I won't have it by the time I come home :-(! I went to the Halls Reception a couple of days ago to ask if they had it (in case they couldn't fit it in my postbox) and I was very rudely told that "on ne guard pas la poste" MEGA-A-GRR, so will have to keep waiting on that front :-(

Hannah FINALLY made it back to Lyon (I missed her :-P) after she went home for her sister's wedding; the pictures on Facebook are gorgeous (",). She's turning into a French person lol, the other day she said "Anyone can see bread?" (in English) as a QUESTION HAHAHAHA (that's the french word order for saying "Can anyone see bread?"), it was sooo funny lol, we've been saying it all the time recently :-P as well as creating new variations, favourites include "Anyone can see vodka?!" and "Anyone can see Jess?!" Good times.

Went to go and visit a new friend called Mary at her flat the other day at Croix-Rousse, which is one of the other hills in Lyon. There was a funfair-type thing which seemed to last for miles :-P but it was really good, below is Hannah and her epic fail on a machine she (embarrassingly) INSISTED on playing lol:

Heating is currently not working in halls which is horrible because it's around the 0 degree mark over here atm!! I wake up and look at my radiator and it makes me SO angry because the bloody thing doesn't even work! So I have taken the measurements necessary to heat up my room my OWN way.. :-P...which consists of opening my shower door and closing the shower curtain, and putting the shower on full blast and full heat for a few minutes; it warms up my room and seems to do the job, even if the room does end up full of steam :-P it's nice!! Lol.

Upcoming plans include meeting Jo and her family on Saturday (tomorrow) morning before going round theirs to babysit on Monday, booking football tickets for the Liverpool vs Lyon match, shopping, going to lectures, and booking weekend breaks for when I come back after half term, busy busy!

Will blog again before I go home (",) lots of love!

Bisous! Jess xx

17 jours jusqu'à la rentrée chez moi! ♥

Only 17 more days and I'll be home! I can't wait! So many people to see and so much to do; I've already written a plan of everything I want to do otherwise I'm not quite sure how I'm going to fit everything in! So excited though, and really looking forward to seeing everyone I've already made plans with, as well as those that I'm still hoping to see too (",)

Went to the market outside halls on Sunday, a couple of pictures below:

Hannah's coming back to Lyon this evening which I'm really excited about, it feels like she's been gone forever!!

I'm planning to spend this week getting excited about going home :-D and planning that. As well as that, I really want to go and see "Le Petit Nicolas" at the cinema, and I think the plan is to try and go to Karaoke :-S, and I want to go to a bouchon (a specifically Lyonnais restaurant.) At the weekend I'm planning on going to the aquarium, and probably do some more sightseeing...because I can! Am hoping to get out of Lyon soon, in the sense of visiting other places :-) I really want to visit Jess in Montpellier, Gavin in Nantes, J Lo in Orleans, people in Paris etc etc, and I REALLY want to get some skiing done while I'm out here, seeing as I've brought all my stuff with me it'd be a waste not to really :-P, the mountains are really close too, so I'd be stupid not to go! Plus a few of the girls have been throwing around the idea of going to Spain, Geneva, and Germany, as well as short weekend things like the beach, so hopefully some of those'll come together and I'll be able to make the most of this year! :-)

I phoned a family friend of a family friend back home who now lives in Lyon, and am hoping to meet up with her and her family in the near future, it's really nice to know there's someone on hand to help out if something goes wrong, as well as to get another perspective on Lyon!! Either way, am really looking forward to that (",)

Again, hope all reading this are well and taking care of themselves, will write again soon!

Bisous! Jess xx

Stop La Grève.com

...seems to have done its job lol, as of Monday Lyon shall be returning its normal public transport timetables, about bloody time too!! I'm sick of listening to myself moan about it lol. Earlier Cryssy and I went to Bellecour to see a protest against the grève which was pretty cool lol, see left. They started chanting and waving their banners around at one point which was mildly exciting :-P.

I didn't get to pay my rent at Reception the other day because the women that work their decided to SHUT the office the minute they saw Crys and I rock up at QUARTER TO FOUR (they're meant to shut it at four,) I was (and am still) SO angry, I left with Crys eventually, whilst swearing about them all (in English, bien sûr) so I have to go back on Monday. So annoying. There's one lady that looks like Professor Quirrel (from Harry Potter,) I think she might have Voldemort hidden on the back of her head. A-grr.

On the right is a picture of me outside the Metro stop Montplaisir-Lumière, where the Lumière brothers's (the creators of cinema) house was. Crys and I went there today after seeing the grève protest so I could have a look around the museum about their work for my dissertation, it was really interesting but I got a headache looking at all of the exhibits because they were mainly all films, either way it was really good, and I'm pleased that I've made a start on my dissertation, even if it is still in the research department side of things (",).

This is a picture that I really wanted to upload on here from Bellecour, a couple of Saturday's ago:

It is, basically, what you can see. A pile of shoes. I think it was some charity thing, basically aimed at people that had old shoes they didn't wear anymore and stuff, the idea was to come along and make a massive pile of shoes that would be given to the homeless, or in this case, shoeless. It was SO funny watching all these French people THROW shoes onto a pile, hahaha. Only in France.

I've spoken to Guy and Mum on the phone today which was nice on both occasions :-) I love phone calls!! Although I managed to talk to Mum mainly about the public transport strike...as I am with most people at the moment, France is turning me into an old biddy :-P talking about buses all the time lol, thank god the grève ends on Monday is all I can say!

I bought a really cute necklace today :-) from a shop in Vieux Lyon (a place which I am beginning to fall a bit in love with lol,) it's got a silver chain and is a blue circle of turquoise, so pretty! And when I was in Vieux Lyon there was a group doing dancing and performing and stuff, I've got a video of one of the guys doing Michael Jackson but they were doing other really cool stuff too, like street dancing and stuff, anyway, yeh they were immense!

Am going to the food market tomorrow, so will be sure to blog again sooooooon (",)

Bisous! Jess xx

I grève therefore I am..

Day 10 in the grève kingdom that is Lyon and good news; yesterday I managed to get back from Bron (the other campus) IN AN HOUR :-D!! While I can appreciate this sounds far too long for any commutable distance to most people reading this, the one-hour journey actually made my day lol! I did however have to wait around 30 minutes for the bus outside halls in the morning morning... not good... but I made it in the end :-)!


In other news... I suffered my first proper homesickness last weekend, and am thankful that it only seemed to last a couple of days but hoping it won't strike again! Hannah went back to England on Wednesday night for her sister's wedding on Saturday so I'm going to have to try and live without her for a few days until Tuesday :-( :-P but it was horrible saying goodbye to her, thankfully she gave me her room key so if worst comes to worst I can go into her room and rock backwards and forwards cuddling her teddy...that was a JOKE hahaha!! Oo and J Lo's hopefully coming to Lyon on Friday (a week today) for a visit so am looking forward to that :-)!

I went out on Monday night with Hannah; we went to a couple of irish bars and met some randoms which is always interesting lol, was a good night although I don't think I'll drink that much again for a while.....................

Today I have to go and pay mine and Hannah's rent :-( sad times, it's only €224 a month though, and it'll be even less with that when I get CAF; (basically money I get from the government to go towards my accomodation,) plus Crys and I reeeeally need to go food shopping so we're gonna go to Leaderprice in a bit, now that we can finally get places on public transport here (",)

This weekend is, unfortunately, going to be devoted to dissertation work :-( although it might turn out to be fun; I'm planning on going to loads of cinema museums and have a look around, so hopefully it'll actually end up being quite interesting!! Plus, tomorrow at 2 at Bellecour there's going to be a protest against the grève, so I really want to see what happens there, and Crys and I really want to go and see what happens so that should be cool!

Again, hope all reading this are well, feel free to post back to my blogs because it gives me something to do other than read french newspapers and practise my French :-P, will upload some pictures of Lyon and things next time I blog!

Bisous! Jess xx

La vie en Lyon!

A month and a couple of days into Lyon life and I have FINALLY (basically down to Gavin lol, because he has one and made me jealous :-P ) decided to make a blog to cover my year abroad!

I can't believe I've been here over a month already; time is going pretty quickly! The weather has been really nice, although it's starting to get colder here in the evenings now, which is NOT what I signed up for on this stupid year abroad :-P I expect constant sunshine!!! Lol! I'm getting a tan though :-) a fact of which I am a little TOO proud, but am hoping to come home and brag about it lol.

I booked my flight home for half term the other day, at the MOST UNREASONABLE TIMES KNOWN TO MAN, thank you easyjet. I'll be arriving in England at 10pm on Friday 23rd October and leaving at 6am on Thursday 29th October, so hopefully will be able to see as many people as possible within those couple of days there :-)!

Life in Lyon is having it's ups and downs... For example, trying to phone Lyon Domino's and the stupid woman not understanding where my halls are so they can deliver, even though I spelt out the address about a million times, grr! BUT my faith in French people was slightly restored yesterday, when Hannah, Bethan, Steffi and I went into this little boutique and met this lady called Mina who spoke English and was really friendly, she gave us her shop card and stickers :-P turns out she'd lived in London about 22 years ago (I wasn't born then :-P) and spoke really good English, so we had a Franglais conversation with her (us French, her English/French) for a while, and said if we ever needed help with anything to come and see her :-) so that was really nice.

I've done a bit of sightseeing since I've been here which has been good :-) however, have also done a lot of shopping which is maybe not so good as I am now convinced I am poor (I should not have been offered a credit card lol stupid Natwest!!) but am looking forward to the Erasmus grant coming hopefully in late November if not before!

J Lo and Gavin are hopefully coming to visit in a few weeks time which is muchos exciting! Gavin's coming to France today (also happens to be his birthday so bon anniversaire because I know he'll read this lol) and J Lo arrived yesterday (I thought he was a French person when he phoned me off his french phone haha!!) but they're doing assistantships in Nantes and Orléans respectively, so will hopefully meet up a bit over the year :-D

I've been out and about clubbing a couple of times since I got here; and have to say that French clubs are the most hottest places in the entire world, (and I've been through Death Valley in America so trust me, that's saying something lol) I don't understand why they can't get air con over here!! And both times the clubs have been packed as well, because they were both Erasmus Socials, but even so, VERY VERY hot lol. Have been out with to a couple of Irish bars as well, and maybe got a tad drunk lol, but we always seem to meet interesting (or weird lol) people when we go there, plus get to speak French (which I can now certify that I definately DO speak better when I'm drunk :-P ) so that's always a bonus!! I met someone from Chambéry there the other day, and seeing as I've been there before (to the airport) to go skiing I managed to have quite a long conversation about that lol, so that was good! And the guy I was talking to actually thought I was French (I think he might've been a bit tipsy :-P ) but either way, it's always nice to hear stuff like that because it makes me think I might actually be getting somewhere language-wise lol!

French lectures have turned to be an interesting experience lol.. I'm studying a French for Erasmus students course, Sociology, Translation from English to French and a module called Languages and Cultures, all taught in French, of course. Am pretty impressed that I'm managing to pick things up and take notes in them etc, although I think I need to start remembering to bring my dictaphone to lectures so I can replay them over later lol, which will hopefully be ok!

Today am planning to get up ( :-P ) and go to the French market stalls which are about a 5 minute walk away from my halls, literally just around the corner. They sell loads of fresh fruit, vegetables, roast chickens, regional cheeses, homemade jams (I could go on lol) etc, so will take a few pictures of that and put them up on here at some point :-)! Then I think the plan is to have a roast dinner :-D (I miss them!!!!!) and do some homework (it's a tough life lol), and then go to a pub quiz this evening which should be fun :-). There's a transport strike in Lyon atm which makes everything take 100 times longer than it should to get anywhere lol, (it took me an hour and a half to get to the campus I needed to go to the other day; I could've got a flight back to the UK in that time!! Damnit! Lol) which makes making plans difficult as it's impossible to get anywhere, but hopefully it will stop soon (although it COULD go on for up to 99 days, and the workers still get paid if they strike!!!) because it's a massive inconvenience to everyone!

Will write again when I can, hopefully in the not too distant future! Sorry everyone for the massive first post, but there's so much to say haha! Hope all reading this are well :-)

Bisous! Jess xx