keskiviikko 22. joulukuuta 2010

Scared of the Light

The past couple of days have been awful since our plans of getting home by 23rd December shot to hell. As you may know, the biggest airports in Europe have been a big mess lately because of ice and snowfall (everyone from Finland you may laugh now).

So yesterday we decided to cancel our flights through Heathrow (the worst situation was there of course) and buy new flights from Genève, Switzerland, to Finland. So tomorrow we take a train first to Genève and then fly to Riga and from there to Oulu. I just wanna get home already.

Packing has been quite a pain in the ass today. Luckily we could borrow a scale from my dear French friend and could decide what to take and what not to take. I had to leave 8 kilos of stuff behind - which means that I'll be seen in Lyon next spring! Yay!

All in all it's weird to say goodbye because I've been gone for such a long time and living here feels like I've always been here. I shared the best moments with the Finnish gang and all the Atlantis and Erasmus people and this definitely was an opportunity of a lifetime, even though it didn't always feel like that (strikes, riots, traffic jams, buses that didn't run because of snow, bureaucracy, stupid French people etc). But what I'm always going to look back on, will be the awesome people I got to meet here from all the different countries, the friends I made, the places I saw, the concerts I went to, shopping at Part Dieu, the parties we had (especially our house parties) and all the funny stupid things that we did and got to encounter during our stay here.

Thank you for everybody who read my blog during my time here and please stay with me a little while longer while I finish and publish all the entries that I haven't yet had time to post here. It's been awesome :)

lauantai 18. joulukuuta 2010

Le Marché de Noël

We went to the Christmas market (Le marché de noël) a couple of weeks ago and it looked really pretty outside.

First we stopped at Bellecour to look around. Fourvière and the fake Eiffel tower look really nice illuminated like that.

The ferris wheel for the light festival was already up and looked really pretty. I'm so sad I never made it to the big wheel :(



The market was at Perrache, not too far away from the city center.


Some of the decorations and the fake snow where really cheesy.


But the small stands selling christmas stuff were really pretty.





Haha ignore my face :D

Today I opened my suitcase and I have really mixed feelings about leaving. On the other hand it's pretty amazing and I'm a bit sick of this place but on the other hand there's snow and it's cold in Finland and I don't like that too much.

Yesterday was our last night out in Lyon and on Monday and Tuesday we have the last two exams and we have to deal with some administrative stuff. I'd also like to visit Part-Dieu and Bellecour one last time before leaving.

tiistai 14. joulukuuta 2010

There's a party over here!

We had last classes today woohoo! Now I only have 4 exams left and I have to pass them all which is a bit of a problem. Anyway, just because I'm on a festive mood, here are some pictures from recent parties.

One night at one Spanish girl's apartment.


And after that at KGB. Always so much fun (or not).

Some random night with random guys about a month ago.

Three weeks ago we had a huge and probably the last houseparty in our apartment and it was so much fun.

Running Man!

Finnish girls feat. a Spanish guy haha.

I'm trying to get the light festival (Fête des Lumières) pictures up here asap :) Now I'm going to start looking for some school handouts, should be interesting with the impressive A4 pile that I've collected during the past 3½ months.

maanantai 13. joulukuuta 2010

Décembre à Lyon

It's +3'c and the sun is shining outside, I guess the situation in Finland is slightly different. Anyway, Christmas time is here as well even though we don't have snow and it's not dark all the time (the sun rises at 8:12 a.m. and goes down at 4:56 p.m.).

Our biggest shopping mall, Part Dieu, got its Christmas decorations about a month ago already.

Kind of cheesy I know but definitely helps you to get some of that Christmas spirit when you're doing your shopping. Oh how much I miss shopping btw, I haven't bought anything after my Interrail trip about a month ago.

This is how Bellecour looks like. This is the city center area if I haven't mentioned earlier. All the riots and all that took place there too.

I love the big Vans Era advertisement at Bellecour :)

A couple of weeks ago we had something very funny at Bellecour: a ski-jump ramp! That looked so much fun!

Some of the jumpers were wearing funny costumes. And they came down from the ramp with whichever thing that slides e.g. snowtube, skis or whatever.


There was also a specific fake snow area for children who could try skiing there.


I found that kind of funny and it's nice that children from cities and urban areas can try skiing here without having to go to a specific skiing center.

Merry-go-round :) They have a lot of those in Lyon.


Candles are the best when it's dark and cold outside.

And last week we got a shitload of snow. It melted already tho and this week the temperature bumped into +18'c :D Way to go France! And I think that I don't even have to mention French people's ability to drive in snow. Nothing worked here when it was snowing.

lauantai 11. joulukuuta 2010

On and on and on and on

Some pictures from the time that my Finnish friend was hanging out here.

One Monday (or doomsday) we went to Ayers Rock, which is an Australian bar here.

Because it happened to be his last night here, I wanted to buy us some kick ass drinks and these ones were called Long Beach Ice Tea. Well I maybe shouldn't have gotten these because the night didn't end too well haha.

We also met some of my Spanish friends there :)

The night of the Four Year Strong we went to this weird ass rock club I'd been to before and we played some table football. That was so much fun! It was raining, hence the hair.

We also made the compulsory visit to Parc de la Tête D'Or and for the first time ever I saw the leopard up close and how beautiful is that thing! Could I get a cat like this plz? Anyone?


Some photos of my fav animals.


Cutie :)

So I've totally lost track of what I have and haven't blogged about. Our Finnish friend from Spain is visiting us this week and we went out last night and the whole night was such a huge disaster I'm not kidding. We ended up taking a cab around 4a.m. after a long walk in the freezing weather. Lately this whole country has sucked big time. I hope it gets better soon and I can go back to enjoying my life.

A week ago we had lots of snow and Wednesday it was +18'c. Is that considered normal?!