Hi again!
In this last post I wanted to share some of the extra travel I got up to after the official semester finished, as well as some tips if you’re considering Lyon as an exchange destination, before some concluding thoughts.
My kiwi friend Sophia and I met the friendliest French lady at a film festival in January, and we ended up staying with her for a weekend in Nîmes, south France. We had been chatting and she gave us her phone number in case we decided to visit her part of France. I thought this was too good of an opportunity to be missed to get to know a French person in their home region so we reached out to arrange meeting up. We were expecting to maybe go out for lunch, but we ended up receiving the kindest and most unexpected hospitality and stayed a night in her spare bedroom while visiting multiple nearby French cities, including Avignon and Uzès and the Pont du Gard Roman aquaduct.
The Pont-du-Gard roman aquaduct!
Both my parents each came over for a few weeks to do a bit of travelling. With my mum we went all around France, including Marseille and Nice and the South, and Normandy in the North. With my Dad, we went biking around the south which was very, very hot, before visiting Edinburgh and London and before coming home!
This is the cathedral in Rouen, Normandy, so north France where I went with my mum. This was definitely one my favourite cathedrals; I loved the gothic architecture.
Here’s a photo of the landscape biking with my dad through the south near Arles. So happy I got to see such a wide variety of France’s landscapes and architecture. I found travelling within my exchange country really rewarding, especially one that had so much variation and history on its own.
A highlight of the whole exchange would have to have been staying with my pen pal. We had been put in contact in my high school French class, and I got to stay with her in Paris where she’s currently studying. After our semesters had finished, she invited me to spend a week with her visiting her parents in the north of France, and we became really amazing friends. The best part of the whole exchange was being able to get to go to her home village and stay with her parents, speaking French and discussing our different cultures, and really being able to experiences theirs. I received this incredible hospitality and felt like I was on the receiving end of so much kindness that I now look up to and continue to think about now that I’m home. Of the whole exchange, I feel that this experience changed me the most in such a short span of time. The photo above was taken in Saint-Valence-sur-Somme where we visited and shared a meal in a little crêpe house. I really just had the best time. Now that I’m home I feel as though I have so much to reflect on and try to fully comprehend what just happened in the last six months!
On a very different note, I also wanted to give some advice if you’re considering coming to Lyon for an exchange.
You can have a look online to get an idea of what subjects are available, but until two weeks before I arrived it was all out of date. Unfortunately this meant I had to resubmit all of my course approval requests about one month after arriving and a few weeks before the UoA deadline because I had no idea what was actually available until then. You also need to check what is available to exchange students, particularly in the Fac de Lettres, because I found out the hard way that what’s offered in the ‘Spring Semester’ booklet online isn’t necessarily always available to exchange students. You do get emailed what courses are available for exchange students but will need to find more information in the “Spring/Fall semester” booklet to be able to provide to UoA some information about the course. For most courses, I had to email professors to ask about the assessment — check also when it will be, because it does vary between faculties. Have a look at the calendar online which gives you a pretty good idea of when things will be so you can plan any later travel after the exam period. When I got there, we didn’t get heaps of info about introduction sessions and how to organise our courses. We had a trial period where we could go to any classes before locking in at the end of January. It took us a while to figure out how to jump on to the enrolment portal, which was good to find because it shows you what courses are available to you as an exchange student. Also I recommend that you enrol in courses as soon as possible, even though they say to hold off, because they can become full and I didn’t find unenrolling to be too difficult. Also, enrol in any potential course you need to take, because it becomes a bit tricky to go through and enrol in more after you’ve already clicked ‘save’ on the portal. Note that TDs (tutorials) are not necessary for the Fac de Lettres courses as well. Email professors and don’t be afraid to follow up because they were a bit tricky to contact, but do remember to use formalities if you’re doing it in French (which I forgot, NZ email style is super relaxed compared to France haha) : e.g. Bonjour Monsieur/Madame X …. then ‘très bien cordialement’ or more formal to sign off.
More Lyon-specific tips:
- stay in a CROUS residence! Very affortable rent, I paid 415 euros per month for an 18m2 studio in a student residence, and made all my best exchange mates there. I found that been able to get the metro to uni and have evening chats really helped to feel connected and to make solid friends with people! Here’s the link for the association that handles your application: https://associnterlyon3.fr/en/pages/accommodation — I did have a bit of fun waiting for a document (‘Certificat de Scolarité’) from the university that I needed to get rent insurance before I could get into my room, and there’s a bit of fun with paying deposits and creating a French bank account to get it refunded… but honestly, it’s stressful at the time, but don’t get too worried like I did because it all seems to end up okay in the end. Kia kaha, the French admin system is crazy but works out in the end.
- Speaking of French admin, bear in mind you need to go to Wellington to get a visa ‘long séjour’ (my appointment was cancelled, then un-cancelled after I’d rebooked and changed my flights ahhh)
- SIM card: go to Free, about 10 euros a month + 5 euros for a card, coverage all over Europe + UK except Switzerland. There’s a shop in the mall in Part Dieu where I bought mine.
- TCL transport card: look online to see where the agencies are, you’ll need a printed photo of yourself (also another one for getting into your CROUS residence) and your passport/ID docs I think. I went to the one in Grange Blanche but there’s also one in Bellecour.
- Follow CROUS Lyon on instagram, there’s lots of really good events. I also found out about a really awesome event but researching the club instagram details on the Lyon 3 uni website and following them for local events.
- Sign up for a buddy on the association site! https://associnterlyon3.fr I made a really lovely friend here and we went to some museums and galleries together which was really nice and we’re hoping to stay in touch.
- Mont Thou is a hidden gem about 40 mins out of central Lyon for a day hike and beautiful views! There are some really nice paths there, I lost the link but there’s a blog post with some helpful tips for where to begin and how to get there, but it was a simple bus ride from Bellecour.
I hope I’ve been able to give you an idea of what the past six months on exchange has been like, and given you some pointers if you’re considering one. There have been some ups and downs of course, but I have had some of the most incredible experiences I think of my life. The friends and the memories I have made, as well as experiencing what it is like to learn and speak another language, it is priceless. If you are able to, I would go for it, and make the most of it.
Another big thanks to the 360 team for making this possible.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you needed any more Lyon or France specific advice, my email is cwal375@aucklanduni.ac.nz, and I would love to hear from you.
A bientôt,
Chloe