1) The city is absolutely lovely, small streets lined with fancy looking old buildings.
Now that I have a bike I take it down to the city centre on weekends or to the College where I teach, the ride takes about 45 minutes. I ride down by the curvy Soan river and whiz past all the old apartments and buildings. Its sometimes hard to focus on the road in front of my with such great views.
3) There are lots of french people (particularly teenage boys but not exclusively) that smell. I always try to open the windows in my class room and on the metro you frequently walk by people and get a whiff of their natural body odours. Lovely. I've noticed it a bit less lately, perhaps I'm getting used to it.
4) I've probably told this to a lot of you already but some french men are quite aggressive. It's probably one of the biggest irritants of mine, and the biggest problem I have with living in a new city. In general french women dress more conservatively, which is fine (in fact I barely ever wear dresses or skirts) however to dress any other way is not really an option. If you wear a skirt or shorts you'll get stared at by both men and women. Don't get me wrong, its not every french man and during the day people are very civil. It is the most noticeable at night, on weekends, when they're in groups of 2 or more, even when a woman is dressed decently you're bound to be hollered at. I just wouldn't feel safe walking home alone which is really a shame, I really do feel bad for the women who live here and endure this their whole lives.
5) On a lighter note, everyone in Lyon is very friendly! Most people are willing to help when you ask for directions or questions and are often curious about where me or my friends come from.
6) Cheese is plentiful and cheap here, with a large section dedicated to cheese in grocery stores. The milk and butter tastes really good. (Milk isn't refrigerated in grocery stores you can find them stacked or in crates. I believe they process boil/heat the milk so it lasts longer. Obviously it needs to be refrigerated after its opened.)
Phew, so those are my very first impressions as a Canadian arriving in Lyon, more about life coming soon!
xx Julia
