Lyon in 80 days...

I am on my way to Australia as I write. To finally see Diana.

Before I spend an amazing 3 weeks with her in Melbourne and Sidney, I decided to write a review of my experience in Lyon for the nearly 3 months I've been here.

In my first blog post I listed 5 things I was looking forward to in Lyon, here they are with a little review about them:

Living in France
It was a dream of mine to live in France and it hasn't disappointed, the opposite actually. I really like being here. I like the culture, I like the people.
I think that I am more connected to France culturally than to England. France and french people are culturally closer to us Portuguese people, so maybe that's why it has been easier to settle in. I really can see myself living here full-time with Diana in the future.

Getting to know my French cousins
Like I mentioned on my initial post, this reason was why I specifically picked Lyon and not other French cities like Marseille, Lille, or Bordeaux. Paris was never an option.
I got to spend some quality time mainly with Sara, my nephew S and Sara's husband PA. I also spent some time with Quentin. It has been great spending time with all of them. I am really happy to finally getting to know them after all these years.
Even though they are my family, they are also great and very interesting people- which from my own experience, doesn't always goes together! I am very lucky to have them here!
The only cousin I haven't had the opportunity to spend time yet was Bruno who lives in Geneva, but will see him early next year.

Learning French
I can now have basic conversations in French, which is something I am really happy and proud about. I can understand much more than before and my reading has also improved quite a lot.
I think being at Alliance Francaise every day for at least 3 hours really made a difference.

My December class at Alliance Francaise - such a great group!

I also make an effort to speak it all the time. I avoid speaking English and Portuguese at all times. I go out quite a lot and meet quite a lot of people, so I get to speak French outside school too, which it helped massively. I also listen to French Radio during my cycle rides to school. Every little helps!
However, it hasn't been easy.
I still struggle a lot as I seem to be a lazy speaker and tend to speak mainly in the present tense, even when talking about the past. I think this is due to my natural laziness and also to my natural fast way of speaking, which doesn't allow me time to first process what I will say before I say it.
I am starting to use the past tense more and more, so I hope that in the next few months this will improve.

Accepting the 1st Prize for the "Letter to Santa Claus" Christmas contest
at Alliance Francaise!
Check the "video-letter" at my previous post.

Make friends and meet as many people as possible
I really made quite a lot of friends and great ones too. This to me has actually been the best part of the whole experience. Along with spending time with my family.
Thinking about it now, I cannot imagine myself not being friends with Barbara, Nahil, Fabio, Mathieu, Pedro, James, Aitor, Tom, and all the others (so many to mention!) I met for the past 80 days.
Its crazy knowing that if I didn't come here I wouldn't know any of them...so weird!

Living in a new city, Lyon!
Ahhh Lyon. What can I say? I love being here. Apart from the pollution and from the Carrefour queues, I have no complaints. People here are nice and welcoming. The food is great, so many street markets, interesting restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, bars. The wine, cheese and bread really are great in here. I love cycling using the rental bikes which are a great way of getting around the city. I enjoy running too.
Even though its not as vibrant as Paris or London, there is always something to do in Lyon, its a dynamic but relaxed city. There are plenty of cinemas, bars/disco to all tastes, a lot of theatres, dancing activities, sports - really, anything you want to do, it's possible in Lyon!
Its just a gorgeous city when the sun comes out. I can't wait to enjoy Lyon in the summer!

There were also a few points I mentioned which I wasn't looking forward to:

Bureaucracy and not as efficient compared to the UK
This is true. The opening of my bank account, was a bit of a nightmare. I can see that some things don't work as efficiently  as they should, such as supermarkets, stores, banks etc but you just have to adapt and get on with it, nothing can be done about it, it seems.

Living in a student accommodation
It has actually been fine. It isn't a noisy residence, the students seem all nice, always say "Bonjour" and "Bonsoir" and things seem to work fine up until now. It is very cheap so, cannot complain really!

Living this experience on my own, apart from Diana
This really has been the hardest thing!
Yes, I have made plenty of friends, I have been out a lot, I have been busy most days. However, for me, it always lacked something. Sharing all of this with Diana. It sounds cheesy but its true. Being with her day in and day out was something I missed.
To call her the next day or the day after to tell her all about it, or for her to ready it on my blog, it's not the same thing. For both of us.
It is also hard in other aspects of our relationship, and this year apart has been an interesting one on that aspect, but its fair to say that our relationship got even stronger being apart, which is something we thought not possible.

Summary:

Taking all into account, I couldn't be happier with my decision to come to Lyon.
I have met some incredible people who made this experience what it is - incredible. It is the people you meet that shape your experiences and here is exactly what happened.

I have also changed in the process. I am even more open (!?). I now drink wine. I now drink beer. I now eat guacamole. Yes, those seem normal to the majority of you but not to me, being a very picky person. I think I've even become more outgoing. More patient. I try more. Not sure why. It just happens naturally.

I really didn't need to have come here. I loved my job in Nottingham. I liked my colleagues, I worked as part of a great team there. I could have stayed there this year whilst Diana was in Melbourne. It would have been fine. I would saved enough money for our round the world trip in 2019, I would probably be living in a nice flat/studio and I could go out most nights too. Life would be good. However, I decided to take this opportunity to shake up my life, to see what would happen, get out of my comfort zone and go for it, no regrets, just thinking positive and just following a dream...

I know I know what you're going to say. "Its easy for you, you aren't married, you have no kids, no responsibilities, you can just do whatever you want, all of us have a life, kids, a permanent job that took years to get, we can't just go and leave everything like you just to follow a dream!".
Well, some of that is true. I have no kids. Diana was going away to Australia. I did not have a permanent job. So, it was easy right?
Well, for me it was yes, but a lot of people in my position would still not do this. I had friends and family saying I was crazy and I shouldn't do it. They wouldn't do this if they were me, they kept saying.
I had a safe job, not permanent but close to being permanent, all I needed to do was to keep performing as well and working as hard as I always had in the team. I earned £1,350/month and going up every year - yes, not a lot at all for UK standards, but in Nottingham and living with Diana with who also earned above £1100/month, was more than enough to have a nice flat and travel quite a bit.
I left a secure job to live abroad for a year, with no job waiting for me. For some people this was insane. Some of my friends said I was insane to leave the UK for France. Some even mentioned the terrorist attacks in France, as another reason not to come here!

Yes, the money is running out, it should run out in May so...am I worried? Not yet to be honest. It won't be easy to find a job but I will manage.If I worried about that in the first place, I wouldn't have come here.
Everything is going as well as I thought initially, even better. I am happy. If it doesn't work out as I intended, I will surely work what to do and how to go about it.

So, can I suggest something to you reading this? 
With Christmas and the New Year's resolutions around the corner, what about picking that dream or long term project and put it into action in 2017?
Learn to play the piano? Learn to dance Salsa? Move to India? Run a marathon? Do a round the world trip? Learn Italian? Start writing a book? Get into acting?
Just go for it!! You won't regret it!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2017 Resolutions! 

PS: Thank you all for reading my blog for the past 3 months, and for all the support and comments. It has been a pleasure so I will continue sharing this adventure with all of you!

Letter to Santa Claus

Winter is coming...and so is Christmas. 

At Alliance Française they invited the students to participate in a friendly competition - to write a letter to Santa Claus in French, with the best three winning little presents.

This is what I came up with...

(Had the help of the very patient Nahil, who really took the level of my initial basic french to a much higher standard, so please don't think for one moment that I speak/write like this already!) 

Merry Christmas to you all :)

Festival of Lights, Cuisine Lyonnaise and SainteLyon

Festival of Lights ("Fete des Lumieres")

I will start by mentioning Lyon's very famous "Festival of Lights" (Fete des Lumieres") which takes place every year on the 8th of December and usually lasts for 4 days. Last year this event didn't take place due to the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris.

This year the event took place in a smaller area than usual (no Parc de la Tete D'Or for example) and lasts for 3 days instead of the usual 4, and security inspections were quite thorough for everyone getting into the event.

This event is held every year to thank Mary, mother of Jesus, for sparring Lyon from the Plague on the 16th Century. Apart from the lights festival, people also light candles and put them on their window sills on the 8th December, and a solemn procession makes its way to the Basilica of Fourviere on the 8th December.

Here are some pictures I took...















It is a unique festival and there are some buildings that really come alive with this lights and animations. I haven't had the chance to see all of the animations as its really really busy, thousands of people on the streets, so its not really easy to fully enjoy the animations or take pictures. Being a scaled down version also doesn't help because the crowds are really condensed into the same area without the possibility of visiting some not so busy light showings.

I recommend this festival to everyone that is around Lyon this time of the year - just be aware that you won't be alone!

Bouchon - Traditional Lyonnaise Cuisine

After two months in Lyon, I finally had the chance to try the famous local cuisine. I was told several times that it wasn't for everyone and that it consisted of very heavy food and very big portions!
Myself not being food adventurous at all (very picky as you all know!), its fair to say I wasn't the most excited of customers, however, I have been trying new things more often since I got to Lyon, so I was feeling slightly better than I would usually...

Fabio, my Italian friend at my Alliance Francaise class decided it was time for us to try the cuisine Lyonnaise, so he got our classe together, and off we went to a Bouchon" Chez Chabert" in Vieux Lyon.

Its very simple when ordering: you only have one option, which is a menu at 27€ which includes a variety of starters, a main - which you choose, and a variety of desserts and cheeses.

The picture above shows some of the starters, so you can have an idea of how full we got even before we attacked our main! It included: potato salad, lentils salad, beetroot salad, saucisson salad, picked herring salad and a plate of charcuterie lyonnaise (top right). 

Here are a few of the mains we had. Mine is the top left one, called "Tete de veau, sauce gribiche" - basically head of calf! I actually enjoyed it! The bottom left one for example is cow's tongue..! The bottom right is the very traditional "Saucisson chaud, sauce Beaujolaise" - hot sausage in red wine, and the bottom right is "Quenelle de Brochet, sauce Nantua" - creamed fish. The menu also included the also very traditional "Andouillette au vin blanc" and also "Pied de couchon" - pork feet! 

Our desserts consisted of pears and prunes in read wine, rice pudding, pudim flan, and also a variety of cheeses to go with some bread.  

Here we are, happy and so full! We tried to go out and have a few drinks, but after eating so much we just had one and went home quite early. 

Verdict: It is really heavy food and not something I can have regularly, don't think anyway does I think. I liked the variety of the starters but disappointed with the desserts, being a sweets person! I will go again and see if I can be brave enough to try the strong Andouillette!

La SainteLyon 72 Km (45 miles) 

Jason, a friend of mine, 22, who I met during my 2nd ultra marathon in the UK in 2013, and who went to become one of the fastest marathon runners I know, came to visit me in Lyon to run this race with me (he paid for both of us). 

Jason and I before we started

We didn't know much about this race. We knew it was a 72km (45 mile) run, that started in St. Etienne at 00h00 and finished in Lyon.

This is an enormous ultra marathon. There are around 17,000 runners which can opt for either one of the different distances on offer: 72km, 45km, 21km, 12km and all the relays. 

We got going at around 00h10 with the temperature around 0'C to -2'C. We were both properly dressed up for the cold so that wasn't a factor. 

Thousands of runners. We were never alone, always surrounded by so many runners all the way through the end. Good for not getting lost but not easy due to the type of terrain with plenty of overtaking to do throughout the race.

It was beautiful to run in the dark with so many people and everyone's head lamps. Sometimes I looked back and ahead, and the view was just stunning. Shame I didn't have battery to take pictures! 

After only a few miles we realised something...this race was very very hilly! We didn't have a clue about the elevation gain, this was how prepared and informed we were! 

From this picture it doesn't seem that hilly right? I promise you, all of those "little" elevations are a wall and felt I was either hiking or going downhill. We later found out that the elevation gain was 1,817m (5,961 feet)! 

We couldn't believe how hard the layout of this race was. From the hills to the terrain. Going up was tough, but we could just walk it like everyone else, however the downhills weren't easy at all. They were very steep, muddy at times, rocky and with so many runners always ahead, behind and next to you, it wasn't always easy to run downhill.

We both cursed the course many times and we were shocked at how hard it was!

The aid stations were well stocked with drinks and food but they were really a big mess, due to the huge amount of runners. I tried to get as many salty food as possible and water down each time - there are 5 aid stations - so I never felt weak or lacking energy/salt. The stewards and aid stations volunteers were outstanding!Merci!

The sunrise was amazing to witness and after 11h36 we finished together in Lyon. 

Here we are, very tired after collecting our free t-shirt (no medal).

I was surprised at how well I felt physically and mentally after not running a marathon for 9 months and not training for this at all.
I also did not have my usual digestion/bowel issues so that was a major bonus.
I will now always have the same pre-race menu - 20 chicken nuggets! It works for Usain Bolt and now it worked for me and Jason!

Verdict: I am still not sure if I liked it or not.
Positive: Really enjoyed the tough challenge and all the ups and downs, which breaks the monotony of the race when compared for example to the flat but monotonous Thames Path 100 miles. It keeps you entertained and focused. The distance is also ideal for me, as its really a great distance to run most of it without going on for many hours, which usually gets me into digestion issues.I also love running at night so it was great and never felt sleepy.
Negative: way too overcrowded and way too hilly. Chaotic aid stations.

I have really been enjoying my time in Lyon for the past 70 days, however I can't wait to go to Melbourne and see Diana, it's been way too long! 

My next post might be from down under folks...

A bientot :)