Feelings Before the Departure

Hello!

Nice that you have joined me on my way to the fabulous city of Lyon. I have been waiting forward to this journey for a long time and made a lot of preparations. One could say that I started planning the trip already when I was beginning my studies in Finland, in other words more than four years ago. I've already spent  half a year in England, but from the very beginning I had a feeling that that exchange would not be my only one. After returning home from England that feeling only strengthened. It took one and half a year, until last spring I was again filling the application papers for another exchange. I was pondering for a long time whether my destination would be Spain or France. Eventually, however, I chose the land of baguettes. I would have to try and strengthen my Spanish language skills later in the future. When the destination was selected, I began frantically scrolling through the websites of different universities. I chose Lyon to be my city not only because of its stunning architecture and the two rivers, but also because of the wide selection of courses that the university had to offer.

I prepared my journey throughout the autumn. I got a house on campus. Single room, own wash basin, bathrooms and kitchens in each floor. Located right in the centre of the city, close to the university. Walking distance from the apartment to the faculty approximately 800 meters. In other words ideal location. The accommodation office offered me also a studio,  but then I would have had to take a bus to get to the centre. In addition, it is nice when you have some company at the apartment. Maybe.

In order to be ready to move to France, I had to apply for student aid, acquire an insurance, of course, fill an application for a scholarship and get to know something about the destination. In Finland the paperwork was fairy easily done, but it remains to be seen how challenging it will be in France. I booked flights to Grenoble, which is a neighboring city of Lyon. I will spend my first days there before I will continue my journey to the central city of the Rhône-Alpes region. My flight departs  at  Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in the morning of 11th of January. I will fly to Stockholm Arlanda airport and will change to plane for Grenoble. I have heard that the mountains that draw the silhouette of the city of Grenoble, leave an everlasting impression to the traveller who looks at them. Because of it location at the Alps, Grenoble is also popular amongst skiers. My own intention is at the very least to conquer the fortress of la Bastille and also to climb at least part of the way to some mountain.

Since my departure is soon at hand, and I have less than a week of time in Finland, I should soon begin to fill my suitcase with some stuff that is not so necessary and also with some stuff that is very important in deed. My room is currently a total mess and where ever I happen to look I see a big mountain of stuff. I can't take everything with me.. The less luggage, the better. I will buy something new in France anyways. When it comes to the departure itself, I haven't even been able to think about it properly yet. I guess I will not realise that I'm leaving before I'll be at the airport. 

Mostly I'm worried about how I will manage with the French language. I studied French in high school and continued at the university for a couple of years, but I can not say that my language skills would be that good. However, I decided that I would study all the courses that I'm taking in French, because I want to learn the language properly. There were some courses available also in English, but I didn't even consider participating in them. I'm certainly going to use English enough anyways.

Since I was working in Helsinki throughout the whole autumn, I have not seen many of my Finnish friends at least for one month, since they happen to spend most of their time in Turku. So I have said goodbye to them for ages ago, which seems strange. This might also be one of the reasons why I don't truly realise that I will soon leave Finland. At the moment I am at a positive and excited mood. It is refreshing to get to see the world again.

Now it is time to stop blogging, because I have to go and print my travel documents. Thank you for following my thoughts until the end. Next update will be published after I have reach the land of the beautiful tongues.