Vue sur le lac Bourget (Aix-les-bains)
As I come to the end of my time in Lyon, I marvel at how comfortable I am in my life here. I regularly catch myself slipping into the normalcy of daily life, and often remind myself how abnormal it actually is! For example, I sometimes go days without speaking English in person, whereas at the beginning of the year, having a conversation in French for more than 30 mins felt like a massive effort. I’ve got to attribute this progress to both the flatshare I was in and the internship I carried out, for which the financial support provided by the John Speak Trust was extremely beneficial. Unlike most of my university peers in Lyon, I found a private flat with three french girls, who have become my friends. Two of them don’t speak English, which thankfully forced me to speak French however tired or stuck for words I was.
Mes colocs au Quai du Rhone
Starting the academic year at l’Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, was a perfect way to start, since I met so many lovely people, both English and French, as well as other nationalities. The wide selection of sports, societies and social events meant I quickly became very busy hopping from one activity to the next (what I love most). Playing in the university orchestra was definitely a highlight, and a source of much learning. The lessons were challenging at times, since I’ve never studied subjects such as philosophy or history in English, let alone in French… However, fortunately the workload was fairly light, leaving me plenty of time to explore the city, often through the lens of coffee cups and pastry crumbs.
After working through a fair amount of imposter syndrome at the beginning of my internship, I now find myself comfortably in the routine of commuting on the bus to the office, doing busy days filled with meetings, video shoots, and lunch breaks outside with my colleagues. These final months have been slightly quieter in terms of social plans, so I have been spending more evenings solo: cycling or walking around the park or the river, just soaking in the beauty of Lyon in the summer.
In comes the big question: have I integrated into French culture?
When I look back at the friendships I’ve made, it seems that integrating with people of my age was easy – seeing as students all over the world share a fairly common mindset, and social media leads to having similar cultural references. However, hindsight is a funny thing. In reality, it was quite difficult. The French I learned at school and university is not what the average student speaks. It took a while to adjust to their slang and manner of speaking, as well as adapting my own language to sound less formal and more fluid. Now that I’ve mostly mastered the language, I am just a pack of cigarettes away from looking like a local when grabbing a drink on a terrace. Integrating at work was also quite tricky, since despite our cultures being relatively similar, throughout the few first months, the only things I could come up with to contribute at the lunch table were the differences between France and England.
Une des dernières soirées avec ma copine Lucy
I have also been lucky enough to travel a bit around France, for instance I did day trips to Annecy, Geneva, and Grenoble. I also was able to stay for a few nights either with friends or flatmates, in Montpellier, Val d’Isere, and Paris. It’s safe to say that my railcard has been very well used, and I made some really lovely memories. Here are some photos taken on my film camera :
Fluency is such a difficult goal to measure, especially within yourself, but I am immensely proud of the progress I’ve made and I cannot express enough how gratifying it is to fully immerse yourself in order to master a foreign language. I am grateful to the John Speak Trust for allowing me to fully make the most of this experience, and I can’t recommend the initiative enough.