I went on a study exchange to Lyon with my friend from the same class. On our course (sustainable development in food industries) we have quite similar classes and assignments (lots of teamwork) as in TAMK. Also we get to take part in a case that is given by a real company in France. Course consisted of a class trip in nothern Italy in the end of September. We visited companies such as Parmigiano Reggiano, Lavazza, Granarolo, Parma Ham and Alpina Savoie. We got to spend the nights in a hostel that used to be monastery, which was cool and different.
There are different choices to move from A to B, you can use public transport (bus, trams, metro + even one funicular) and electric scooters or city bikes. Every now and then there’s some manifestations (mostly calm), so some public transport lines might be cut off because of them. In the beginning of December started a strike which affected a lot on public transport.
Lyon is the food capital of France and you can sense those nice vibes especially in old town. Praline pastries are the specialty and you can find all different kinds of versions of it all around the city. One of the big attractions of Lyon is definitely Parc de la Tête d’Or, which is a very big park that includes a lot of different things: open zoo, normal park area, botanical greenhouses, rose garden, several kiosks etc. On Saturdays there were nice outside markets, where you could buy vegetables, fruits, meat, cheese, fried chicken, clothes, flowers.. and mostly cheaper than in stores. Our place (rented apartment from a private landlord) was located right next to Rhône river, which was very splendid and convenient at the same time.
One weekend in November we visited Nice, Cannes and Monaco. We used cheap Flix buses and trains to travel. Nice was my favourite, with the turquise sea water it was breathtakingly beautiful. It also wasn’t really the turist season, so it wasn’t so packed with people.
Studying methods were mostly familiar, as we use a lot of same ones in TAMK. Teachers and students have a different kind of relationship, feels like it’s a little bit more distant in France. Communication between teachers and students is also not as good as I’m used to, but I think the language barrier is the biggest issue in this case. Eating breaks are longer in France, they could be 1,5-2 hours, so with many other exchange students we asked for small possible change in that (after that we started evening classes about 0,5h earlier if it was possible for the teacher).
Au revoir!
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