It feels as if I had only arrived yesterday. Only the morning of the flight to Lyon on the 1st September had the realisation of going abroad really hit me. There were many phone calls and many goodbyes. It was a farewell that at the time appeared to be for an eternity. Now only 3 and a half months later, the days, hours, minutes and seconds are counting down and the prospect to going back to London is becoming a realistic truth. At first, I was truly excited by the prospect. I can't wait to see some of my best friends..... However, I have met some truly amazing people in Lyon and I am so grateful to have met them. The thought of leaving them is starting to dent me inside. Ok, exageration, but you get the point.
The journey began when I was packing my suitcase in the early hours of the morning. My Dad was coming to pick me up at mine for around 5AM and it wasn't until 3 hours before that I began the chore of carefully selecting the necessities and additional luxuries for my Erasmus experience. I had to bear in mind a limit of 20KG and then another limit of 10KG. This was going to be a hard task. After my long endeavours, my mission was complete. I had everything ready and I had 1 more hour until my departure from Crystal Palace. Most importantly, I had some of my T.V series (Gossip Girl and Queer as Folk), some of my favourite DVDs, and all my Spring/Summer clothes for which I had to sacrifice my dictionary. Clearly, I was going to the tropics. The time had come and it was time to say goodbye to my mother. Only 1 day earlier I had been in Madrid and for her, it was as if she had lost everything, albeit temporarily. I saw the sadness in her eyes but she knew I was going to have an amazing time so she was happy for me.
At the airport is where my experience was commencing. It was time to bid farewell to my other parent and there I was, not knowing what was in store for me. Whilst in the long and winding queue as I waited to have my baggage checked in, completely alone as I tried to keep my eyes open with the company of my then favourite song " What About Now" by Daughtry, I saw an old secondary school colleague from Harris. It was Sharnelle!!!!!!!! I knew she was coming and that she would be on the same flight. Thank God I wouldn't be a loner. With a nod on both our parts, we had taken the first few steps towards conversation, despite the primevil introduction. It was nice to see her again. She hadn't changed much since I last saw her. Her masculine stride so unchanged, her hair tied in the same way as before. We had never been the closest of friends, or friends for that matter, but we would say hello to each other and had a laugh sometimes. She was in the same french class as me and we too had other classes together through over the years. Still waiting in the queue, I see her with this guy. From a distance, he seemed like a bad boy. He had one of his 'New York' caps carefully placed on his head. The other 3 were perfectly held in his hand. This was the JC that over time I was to love ..... Little did I know they were husband and wife (at least in 'Zulumambo' as they call it) they are.
The journey began when I was packing my suitcase in the early hours of the morning. My Dad was coming to pick me up at mine for around 5AM and it wasn't until 3 hours before that I began the chore of carefully selecting the necessities and additional luxuries for my Erasmus experience. I had to bear in mind a limit of 20KG and then another limit of 10KG. This was going to be a hard task. After my long endeavours, my mission was complete. I had everything ready and I had 1 more hour until my departure from Crystal Palace. Most importantly, I had some of my T.V series (Gossip Girl and Queer as Folk), some of my favourite DVDs, and all my Spring/Summer clothes for which I had to sacrifice my dictionary. Clearly, I was going to the tropics. The time had come and it was time to say goodbye to my mother. Only 1 day earlier I had been in Madrid and for her, it was as if she had lost everything, albeit temporarily. I saw the sadness in her eyes but she knew I was going to have an amazing time so she was happy for me.
At the airport is where my experience was commencing. It was time to bid farewell to my other parent and there I was, not knowing what was in store for me. Whilst in the long and winding queue as I waited to have my baggage checked in, completely alone as I tried to keep my eyes open with the company of my then favourite song " What About Now" by Daughtry, I saw an old secondary school colleague from Harris. It was Sharnelle!!!!!!!! I knew she was coming and that she would be on the same flight. Thank God I wouldn't be a loner. With a nod on both our parts, we had taken the first few steps towards conversation, despite the primevil introduction. It was nice to see her again. She hadn't changed much since I last saw her. Her masculine stride so unchanged, her hair tied in the same way as before. We had never been the closest of friends, or friends for that matter, but we would say hello to each other and had a laugh sometimes. She was in the same french class as me and we too had other classes together through over the years. Still waiting in the queue, I see her with this guy. From a distance, he seemed like a bad boy. He had one of his 'New York' caps carefully placed on his head. The other 3 were perfectly held in his hand. This was the JC that over time I was to love ..... Little did I know they were husband and wife (at least in 'Zulumambo' as they call it) they are.
I really could talk about the flight but I can't be bothered. However, there was horrible turbulence, which put me off the idea of becoming an air steward. I really am living up to the stereotype now......
Coming off the plane and this was it..... I WAS IN LYON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The city famed for its gastronomy and the invention of cinema. This is where I met Raz, a university colleague of JC and Sharnelle. After much confusion and the realisation that we actually DID have to speak French, we managed to get into a taxi.......
Travesties were frequent from the moment we got off the taxi. Our first port of call was, Guillotiere, or as we now fondly call "Ghettotiere." Welcome to Lyon the shithole. My first thoughts were " This cannot be happening to me, they told me Lyon was nice." Thankfully, we just had the misfortune to visit the dumpster first. We had many things to do. We arrived at the university and were then sent to get insurance. Then it was back to the university and then off to the residence. We were made to wait for our key for 2 hours!!! By this point it was only Sharnelle and me and we both slept on our suitcases despite the rain. It could be pretty much said that the word 'TRAGIC' became well established in Sharnelle's vocabulary from this point forward. In fact, it has spread to a great number of people.
What was to happen next was the discovery of the British contingency (I was going to write 'English' btw). And there were a great number of us. It was the start of an irreversible disaster. My ambitions of speaking the Queen's French had diminished at that very instant. At that time I was convinced that I would make many French friends. My ambition was to be fluent and I was not going to allow anything to get in my way!! I thought I would let this day slip since it was the introduction and we were all getting to know each other. In the good old British manner, we all got drunk on wine. We went to what was to become our local store. We call it the GREEN SHOP. Things looked good as we were finding wine for 3 Euros. Not bad you're thinking! It was great until we starting downing it!! There was no other way. Nonetheless, we all soldiered on and it turned out to be a good evening. WELCOME TO LYON :-)
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