Over the summer holidays I was lucky enough to spend a month in Lyon, France. I had been looking forward to the experience for months (well, duh) imagining exotic french fashion, exotic french parties with my new exotic french friends. Unfortunately the actual experience was not quite as I had imagined. That's not to say that it wasn't a fantastic experience -- it really was. My only complaint would have to lie within the conservative and closed minded nature of many (not all, but many) of the 'exotic' french people I came across.
I'm not sure whether that was à cause de la wealthy, private school I attended with my host sister or the hesitance that the french feel towards anglophones (specifically americans and the english, of which I am neither), but the end result was not the most welcoming of feelings.
It really made me appreciate the open minded perspective Australia has towards foreigners and non-native speakers. I know that we are no where near ideal in terms of tolerance -- you only have to turn on sky news to know that much, but at least we have escaped from the relentless, narrow-minded patriotism that lies within many of the older empires. I love that coming home to Australia people will freely talk to people that they've never met without the cold formality of 'vous', the french word for 'you' that's used for strangers, seniors or people that you really just don't want to know. Here, par contre, a friendly 'Thanks mate' is perfectly acceptable -- who gives a damn about formalities?
Another thing I missed about home was the spicy taste of a good Indian curry -- oh! and sushi, how could I forget? French food was lovely. The bread was amazing, the cheese plentiful and the potatoes to die for (I gained a whopping 3 kilos thanks to them!), but I missed the variety that I'm used to back home. Not that I'm complaining, I loved indulging in crepes and croissants every time I hit up 'Le Rue de la Republique' for some shopping.
On that note, let's talk about the shopping. France is known as the fashion capital of the world (although technically that's Paris, so Lyon really isn't the most ideal case-study), and the shops were filled with timeless classics. I bought (two) classic french striped shirts, (two) pairs of very reasonably priced jeans (even after the euro-AU conversion!), a beautiful blazer from H&M (again, reasonably priced), along with many other (quasi-)timeless pieces that I know will last me several seasons. The only fault that can be drawn from the French shopping centre is the lack of unique and edgy pieces that can't be found in every other store within a 500km radius. I mean, at first the shopping was lovely, but after 6 weeks I was sick to death of seeing black, white and grey in every shop I entered. Maybe I was just in all the wrong shops. If that's the case then I blame my host sister.
I guess that's what made returning to Melbourne all the more enjoyable though. Today I was able to walk around the CBD with my bestie and check out all those little quirky shops hidden away from sight. We also managed to incorporate our own little taste of France by visiting 'Le Creperie le Triskel' on Hardware Lane for some crepes and coffee where we were mistaken for Quebecers by some Mauritian tourists. The coffee was great, the crepes were better, and the waiters complimented and aided our broken French.
The day was made even better when we were practising our french on the train home (yes, we are just THAT cool) and were again mistaken for foreigners. Despite not being by a french native speaker this time it was still pretty cool.
Anyway, back on topic, my French adventure didn't quite live up to my expectations, but I'm ok with that. I'm looking forward to going back in the future with a couple of friends and a whole lot more vocab and trying things again. Until then I'm happy francophoning it up Melbourne style.
