Je suis arrivé, il y a une semaine

“I have arrived!” he mentions days and days later. Yes, I’m safe and sound in beautiful, and I do mean that in the broadest sense of the word, Besançon. This town is gorgeous and so vivacious. But before I get on about how I got here and what it’s like I have to tell you that it’s just not been possible for me to post anything, I’ve been busy constantly and when I’ve been too knackered to do anything.

Sunday morning the time had come: I was going to France by train. My parents were kind enough to drop off at the station. The journey from Breda to Rotterdam and from there to Paris Nord went fine. I was sitting next to two nice girls with whom I had a chat or 2. In Paris I had to transfer via subway to another train station. At this train station I had to wait an hour or so and I went outside to relax a little. I love the feeling I had, being in romantic Paris and utterly free. Except of course for the 25 kilos of luggage I had to lug around.

While I was enjoying my little boisson, I saw these

guys walking about. Didn't really know how to

feel, reassured or scared.

French pidgeon

The journey from Paris to Dijon and from there to Besançon I was accompanied by a very nice lady who was kind enough to give me some pointers about Besançon, since she lived there. Also, after having arrived she helped me figure out the bus system, which is absolutely horrid. I do not like to flame public transport, yet this way of getting around can seriously use some structure. Monday it took me an hour to get to school..in hindsight I could’ve pulled it off in 15 minutes. What can I say, it’s an intricate system and my sense of direction isn’t all that great.

Quickly enough I found my way to the campus premises and to the building I had to go in order to get the room keys and what not. The fact that everyone around me was speaking fluent French, I have to say, was slightly unsettling. These were supposed to be Erasmus students (later, as it turns it out also students from former French colonies)!

After having settled in I got some groceries and went to check the premises and surroundings. It’s kind of cute actually, everyone here has there little room of 9m2 and it’s sort of a community where you quickly enough get to know people. The campus experience, this is the real deal.

Monday morning had arrived and I had slept well enough. I went on my way to the Centre de Linguistique Appliquée and I was ready for my intensive French course. Thanks to the fact that I had taken completely the wrong bus and didn’t transfer to the right one, I arrived late, if only for 15 minutes. Yet, I didn’t care for I had arrived. I went to the desk and the lady told me to go to the 5^th floor. She also pointed to the signs everywhere stating that the language course takes place there. I had seen these signs, yet wanted to make sure that it was actually correct by asking her. Hence I went to the 5^ieme étage. I took a seat and everything seemed normal enough. I started talking to people around me who were also Erasmus students and there for the week course. The fact that our names (mine and those of two others) weren’t mentioned during the name calling and that they told us that the course was for three weeks, seemed peculiar to us. It turned out, at the desk that we were in the wrong course. We had to go to a room on the 3^rd floor where others Erasmus students had already had ¾ hour of class. Such a great start!

During the break I quickly enough had conversations with nice people and I’ve been hanging around with them since!

Anyway.

To make things short, I’m just going to give you a summary of things that happened:

- Made cool Erasmus friends that also live on the same premises.

- In my course there were two girls that go to the same school and faculty as I do and none of us had seen each other before in our lifes. I would say it’s kind of strange to meet one another like this.

- The food at the Uni restaurants is pitiful and there’s never a veggy alternative.

- Vegetarianism in general in France is close to impossible. I’m at the point of considering eating fish. Which is so not happening, yet resorting to expensive yet o so fabulous Subway is not either. Perhaps eat cheese a lot? Expect a fat me at return.

- The course was very intense but also very helpful. The teacher said my level was at C1 (A1 being beginner and C2 fluent speaker).

- We went out at this really cool club and the night was awesome.

- Although I miss people and my cats at home already, I’m quite fine here.

Till the next blog and,

À bientôt!

Pretty room view!

Less pretty room view!

I didn't even know I was going to

have this lavabo. Nice surprise!

Frigo!

Second day. I had forgotten to buy a mug for my

instant coffee, so I used a tupperware dish.

I think this is a new low.

I'm so happy with my little bouilloire

and my cup and my coffee.

It's the little things in life that count.