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Other entries in Lyon

Sometimes it really IS just a walk in the park.

It doesn’t feel that new, I come back to Lyon with the same amount of problems as I left.  That’s what sucks about it.  The uni semester straddles the end of the old year and the first few weeks of the new so you don’t get the total cleansing sensation you feel in Australia, which actually follows the logical calendar year for all things except finance...  No sense of auld lang syne.

Now basically uni at Lyon 3 is over forever.  With my last paper on Victor Hugo’s Hernani I close the most uninteresting chapter of my entire time here.  University study was so incidental to daily life that it feels like it was just this thing you turned up to every couple of days in a vain attempt to learn something.  To give at least a bit of credit to my European Cultural Movements teacher, who actually engaged my attention throughout her entire lectures, I did come away with a vague sense of knowledge.  The rest was just an ephemeral blip on the horizon.

With this new-found liberty one begins to appreciate this beautiful city on a different level.  Most people I have been on exchange with – Hannes, Imogen et al – have found the same thing.  Lyon would be a really nice place without that university.  Anyway, after four months of living here I have finally made it to the Parc de la Tête d’Or, the huge sprawling space of green with a lake and a mini zoo, not even 15 minutes Vélo’v bike ride from my place.  The last few Sundays have just been stunning, and their beautiful weather has been quite an oddity purely because the rest of the week manages to be cold, rainy, overcast or a combination of all three.  So as per usual, the Lyonnais fled en masse to their bountiful areas for walking, parks, river edges…  Lyon is an extremely comfortable city for living, its size is manageable and its geography pleasant enough as to not be so monotonous but not to be too overwhelming.  It is just right.

And so was the Parc de la Tête d’Or.  I can’t believe I waited so long to come here, as it was lovely!  Hannes tells me that it was even nicer in September.  That’s nice.   Doesn’t help me much in mid-January!  Anyway, we walked around, looked at the animals still brave enough to be outside on such a day, and indulged in some of those innocent pleasures like huge fairy floss and stomping on some amazingly-still-crunchy leaves, which must have been a hangover from the Autumn past.  All in all, the air is clear, the populace content.  All your problems just melt away.


Soundtrack:  ABBA – That’s Me
Are you sure you wanna hear more?
What if I ain’t worth the while,
Not the style you’ve been looking for.
If I’m sweet tonight
Things look different in the morning light.
I’m jealous and I’m proud
If you hurt my feelings I’ll cry out loud.
I’m Carrie not-the-kind-of-girl-you’d-marry.
That’s me..
....

There’s a special love
Like an eagle flying with a dove
I’ll find it in the end
If I keep on searching.
But until then,
I’m Carrie not-the-kind-of-girl-you’d-marry.
That’s me

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