Fête des Lumières

The Fête des Lumières in Lyon is a unique festival of light, celebrating an old myth that the Virgin Mary once saved the town from the plague, and giving thanks. Starting as a tradition of leaving candles on the windowsill, the festival has become a massive international event, attracting millions of people from around the world to see the the city lit up for one weekend only. The installations vary from light sculptures to animations projected on the city's most famous and beautiful buildings. Crêpe and mulled-wine stands line the streets and as the attractions span the whole city, the crowds aren't unbearable (although the Saturday night queue for Place des Terreaux isn't exactly for the claustrophobic.) The métro is made free for one night (and one night only), but surprisingly this doesn't even bring it to the crowd levels of an average morning on the Tube. Highlights included, well, 'Highlights' the short film projected on the buildings around the Place des Terreaux, the Cathédrale Saint-Jean illuminated with crawling gargoyles and stained glass patterns, the last few minutes we caught of Tallis' Spem in Alium performed in the Hôtel de Région in the Confluence and fireworks on the banks of the Rhône.

After all this culture, the two of us who were stuck out in Lyon for the night headed out. We found a lovely restaurant in Vieux-Lyon (cannot remember its name for the life of me) which stayed open until half past midnight for the festival day and served us a fantastic, typically French, three course meal complete with a complementary glass of white wine with cranberry (surprisingly good!) - I had onion soup followed by a Bavette steak with dauphinoise potatoes and a raspberry cake to finish, and all for €20, I seem to recall.

Afterwards we set off for the over-crowded, but brilliantly mock-English, Smoking Dog and the ever-reliable James Joyce, both in Vieux-Lyon. Next, with no idea where to pass the time until the first train at 7.15am, we stumbled across Boston Café on Place des Terreaux (considerable quieter at 3am after the illuminations had finished) while searching for a different bar. A great little pub/club/bar hybrid, it caters to all tastes with decent music (in my opinion, having been in France maybe a little too long...) bearable drinks prices (again, considering it's France) a young, cool clientèle (only one person tried to grope me, which might be a record in this country) and a dress code (!) so no more creeps in trackies. Maybe it was the relief of finding somewhere that would take us for the night (shut at 5.30, managed to linger until 6, chatted outside until 6.30, actually ended up running for the train!) but I think I really like this place.

Overall, staying out for the whole festival was an unprecedented and unexpected success - but even so, next time I want to spend an evening away think I'll get in early and book myself a hotel room!

Bourg, je t'aime

We might complain about being stuck in a smallish town, but I imagine when I move back to Exeter I'll miss a few things about this year in Bourg en Bresse:

• The salary - Not sure how I'll fare going back to life as an impoverished student surviving once again off my parents' generosity.

• The view - Living on the top floor has its perks (almost worth the ridiculous stairs).

Taken from our kitchen today. Which brings me onto my next point...

• The weather - Usually only marginally better than home during the Winter but that makes all the difference. 

• The food - Just incredible (if you know what to avoid...).

• Free time being free time - This sounds paradoxical, but in university a good proportion of my time outside of lectures is spent either reading and writing essays, or feeling guilty for not doing so. Admittedly a few hours a week of preparation are needed for the assistant job, but recycling lessons is perfectly acceptable - even encouraged - in the name of giving every student an equal education... Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité and all that.

• Breaking out of the bubble - Students in Exeter tend to avoid locals, wrapping ourselves in a somewhat claustrophobic net of BNOCs, recognising people wherever you go, being limited to student haunts ("I've never seen this street before...") and knowing everything about everyone in your society/halls, even if you don't know their name. It's actually quite refreshing to meet people of all ages and ways of life, and not to feel like there's only 'one' place to be at any particular time. ("You went to Arena on a Friday?!"; "You've never been to Varsity/Ottery/Cellar Door?!")

• The people - For perhaps the first time in my life I have one solid friendship group, and they're amazing. I've always enjoyed flitting between friends in different groups, but I can only imagine that whatever living situation I end up in next year amongst my various and scattered friends doing a fourth year (probably looking more like a studio for one...) won't live up to this.