Leaving so soon?

Unlike those who have the luxury of spending an entire year putting down roots in one city, my semester in Lyon quickly came to a close. Just as I’d started to become really quite comfortable with the city and the wonderful people I’d met there, it was time to leave. Since I had really neglected to travel around the area enough and as a last little goodbye to the lovely Rhône-Alps region, I spent my final day exploring the little Roman town of Vienne.

Hôtel de ville, Vienne

(The ruins were pretty spectacular!)

Reflecting a little bit on my five short months in France it was, as they always tell you, the kind of thing you really only get to experience once in a lifetime. Sure, I can always move to France in the future; I can always travel, see new places and meet new people. But Erasmus is a little bit special. You’ll become surrounded by people all equally as excited to explore and have fun, and you actually have the time to do it all (because while you will have studies etc., you thankfully have only half what you’d be doing back home).

Obviously, there are negatives (homesickness, enrolment, FORMS) but they’re easily forgotten. Leaving so soon was hard and everyone I got to know during the semester will be missed – I’ll definitely be paying some visits and I’ll be back to Lyon soon enough.

But now, all I can do is wait for the next stage of my Erasmus year to begin. Warning to those intending to study in both France and Germany: your holidays are a bit earlier than expected. You’ll finish in France in January and have nothing to do until the German semester starts back in April – so just about enough time to work out those pesky mobility forms.