TWO AND A HALF WEEKS

All posts are taken from my personal Year Abroad Blog (https://georgiainmymind.wordpress.com)

So as I approach my third week here, I realise I haven’t yet written any posts, not because of lack of things to write about, but because of lack of time to write any. It feels like I’ve been here for ages, rather than just over 2 weeks and I’ve already fallen in love with the city. Having travelled for over 24 hours to get here, visited a zoo in a citadelle, been to an event in the theatre, taken part in a treasure hunt and been to about 10 welcome talks, I’ve got a lot to write about, so I hope you’re sitting comfortably. Maybe grab a drink and some snacks…

Le voyage

Not wanting to lug all my luggage (nice repetition, right?) on the Paris metro, I opted to get here by coach.  From Oxford to Besançon, that’s just over 900km, 3 coaches, 2 buses and 2 trains with this amount of luggage…

High points: 1)Having a coach driver who seemed to have time-travelled directly from the 1980s complete with an amazing mullet and loads of hoop earrings which meant he kept purposefully flicking his head to make them jangle.

2) Being met off my last train by a member of the Erasmus Society here in Besançon. Thanks Louis!

Low point: Travelling overnight whilst sitting next to a man who wanted to go to the toilet every time we stopped, meaning that he had to wake me up so that I could get out of my seat and out of his way.

Ma chambre

After I arrived at the campus, I got to choose a building and a room. I’m in the delightful Bâtiment Cournot (I’ve yet to find out who Monsieur Cournot was/is) in a cute ensuite room where lots of things are painted orange. In the building, there’s a nice array of nationalities: English, American, Brazilian, Spanish, Italian, Austrian etc as well as French of course, but they seem to stay in their rooms.

Français intensif

When I applied to come here they asked if I wanted to do a free French course for a week in August, hence me coming here so early.  I spent 5 days on the course, which started at 8.30 AM in the CLA which is, as you can see, a very futuristic building.

High points: 1) Meeting lots of other international students
2) Watching Auberge Espagnole

Low points: 1) Using Moodle- I hate it.
Soirée Internationale au Grand Kursaal

One night that week, there was a special international night run by the CLA which was held in a theatre in the city centre. There were plenty of people who were doing songs, dances etc to present their culture to us. I still find this annoying song from Pakistan going round my head! Before the show (which was free), some of us went to have dinner at a little charming pizzeria. I had the most tasty salmon and something pasta. YUM. This is us at the Pizzeria which was a lovely old place.

L’inauguration du tram
The inauguration of the tram was a HUGE deal for the people here so there were plenty of free concerts, games, sports matches. In even better, bus and tram travel was free and the water in the main fountain had been dyed blue to match the trams! There was also an ENORMOUS fireworks display which was incredibly long and expensive-looking.

Les files

Being English, I don’t mind a queue from time to time, but here they have taken queuing to a whole new level. The queue to buy a bus pass at the start of the month left the shop, left the shopping centre, went around the corner and along the road. Danielle and I gave that a miss and returned the next day half an hour BEFORE the shop opened to find there were around 30 people AHEAD of us! Today I joined a queue to enter a shop, again, BEFORE the shop even opened. Here’s Danielle in the queue, excited to be near to entering the shopping centre!

La Citadelle

Besançon is dominated by the citadelle which is basically a huge fort on the top of a hill, looking over the whole city. However, this is not any old fort/citadelle. (View from the Citadelle)

Believe it or not, some French person thought it would be a great idea to put a zoo in it. As well as some stunning views, some interesting museums, entry to the citadel lets you see hundreds of animals. All of the animals had little signs with their breed in French, Latin and English. The French and Latin names were incredibly long, complicated and descriptive, yet in English they were labelled “Goat” etc. Here’s a nice photo of some alpacas and emus chilling out in a 17th century fortification which has UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

Samedi avec ERASMUS

Saturday brought along several events organised by the Erasmus society. Firstly, there was a great treasure hunt, where in teams we went to various places across the city centre and completed challenges for points. Teresa and Caio trying to do as many circuits of the courtyard on a tandem as possible whilst wearing fetching blue jackets. Apologies for the blurriness, but they picked up some speed!

Then we had a reception which I think was held by the council, to welcome us all. There were 3 speakers including the former mayor, and then they gave us what was by now our around 5th bag of leaflets. I also had the tastiest apple juice ever! Later, there was a “brocante” where there were so many free (mainly household) items donated by last year’s Erasmus students. I picked up some plates, cutlery, washing up bowl, a book, an exercise book, a scarf and a thing for hanging clothes off a radiator.

In the evening, there was a little party where they announced the winning team. Somehow, my team came last. This was an incredible surprise to us as we thought we’d done really well. I can’t complain though because we still got a nice prize: a little bracelet with Besancon written on, and a pin badge.

Administration

I’d heard that France loves administration but I hadn’t quite understood the extent of this. Take today for example: In order to apply for CAF (a government thing, where they consider students to be hard-up and therefore reimburse them some rent) I had to send off 11 different sheets of paper, comprising various photocopies of identity, several “attestations” etc. I also had to buy special envelopes of very precise sizes, which will hopefully enable me to enrol at the University tomorrow, along with 2 identity photos and a completed 10 page form. Speaking of “attestations”, you seem to need an “attestation” of your address, or of the fact that you study at University here, along with maybe a photocopy of your passport, and some ID photos, to do just about anything here.