Le premier jour
It reminds me of Berlin at first. The streets are wide and the tram is modern and snazzy and shiny and glides along like a silent electric narwhal. But equally the architecture screams 'France!' and I feel submerged into a European melange of old and new. It's like someone has mixed Paris and Berlin but made it slightly less intense.
I already feel a lot more comfortable than I did arriving in Mexico. This world seems very similar to my home and my arrival is considerably smoother. No 5am naps on wooden mezzanines nor arriving into world's third biggest city square greeted by distant sirens from a protest as the sun rises. This experience will be very different.
Maybe I should stop comparing, but it's very difficult to when my world is in a constant flux right now. My brain is searching for some stability, normality and familiarity in these new places and I feel like I have already found some of it in Lyon.
I will probably be proved (very) wrong in the next few weeks. I am yet to tackle the beast that is French bureaucracy and as of yet I don't have a home. As the eccentric hostel receptionist ominously replied to my hopeful comment on the ease of finding a house in Lyon: "we shall see".
My first morning I decide to venture out as all I really saw of Lyon last night was quite dark. I breakfast alone at the hostel - literally completely alone, apart from a bearded man sleeping on one of the sofas. I can't really place this hostel in any kind of category. When I arrived it seemed to be housing allsorts - a group cooking, people working alone on laptops, 2 men sat alone at the bar, another lone man watching Pink music videos in silence at the computer. It's obviously not a super! fun! party! hostel (which I am secretly glad about), but neither is it that anti-social. It's just a bit confusing.
I meander across some bridges, into the old town and spend money on overpriced coffee and cauliflower soup. I resolve to eat only at the hostel from now on - it is really expensive here. It is a quiet city, I don't know if that's because it's a Tuesday morning in January but it certainly doesn't have the same buzz as Paris or Berlin. Maybe I was too speedy to label it as their lovechild.
I have two flat viewings later today, one of which I suspect to be a scam. It seems slightly too good to be true - well-located, not too spen fifth floor flat, with two other young people and it hasn't been snapped up yet? We shall see.
I already feel a lot more comfortable than I did arriving in Mexico. This world seems very similar to my home and my arrival is considerably smoother. No 5am naps on wooden mezzanines nor arriving into world's third biggest city square greeted by distant sirens from a protest as the sun rises. This experience will be very different.
Maybe I should stop comparing, but it's very difficult to when my world is in a constant flux right now. My brain is searching for some stability, normality and familiarity in these new places and I feel like I have already found some of it in Lyon.
I will probably be proved (very) wrong in the next few weeks. I am yet to tackle the beast that is French bureaucracy and as of yet I don't have a home. As the eccentric hostel receptionist ominously replied to my hopeful comment on the ease of finding a house in Lyon: "we shall see".
My first morning I decide to venture out as all I really saw of Lyon last night was quite dark. I breakfast alone at the hostel - literally completely alone, apart from a bearded man sleeping on one of the sofas. I can't really place this hostel in any kind of category. When I arrived it seemed to be housing allsorts - a group cooking, people working alone on laptops, 2 men sat alone at the bar, another lone man watching Pink music videos in silence at the computer. It's obviously not a super! fun! party! hostel (which I am secretly glad about), but neither is it that anti-social. It's just a bit confusing.
I meander across some bridges, into the old town and spend money on overpriced coffee and cauliflower soup. I resolve to eat only at the hostel from now on - it is really expensive here. It is a quiet city, I don't know if that's because it's a Tuesday morning in January but it certainly doesn't have the same buzz as Paris or Berlin. Maybe I was too speedy to label it as their lovechild.
I have two flat viewings later today, one of which I suspect to be a scam. It seems slightly too good to be true - well-located, not too spen fifth floor flat, with two other young people and it hasn't been snapped up yet? We shall see.
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