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Published: January 3rd 2007
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easyJet
The easyJet planes at Liverpool John Lennon Airport I was lucky enough to be able to fly over to France with easyJet, therefore it was relatively cheap and extremely quick.
I flew from Liverpool at 7am on September 4th 2006. There are two flights a day from Liverpool to Paris, one at 7am and one at 7pm. As I would have a two hour train journey to Dijon after landing I opted for the flight which arrived at 10.30am.
The flight over to Paris takes just over an hour and was a very pleasent journey. It was the first time I had flown since I was 14 years old but I had no fear. easyJet planes do not serve food and have very basic aeroplanes hence why their flights are so cheap. You can opt where to sit and I chose to sit by the window. It was rather cloudy so I did not see much but I did get to see the south coast of England before we went over the English Channel. The flight is so quick we were landing before I had even had time to read the easyJet magazine fully.
My Uncle travelled with me to Paris. We took a bus from
Charles de Galles to Gare de Lyon which cost €11 and then lunched in a restaurant just outside the station. I ate my first croque monsieur and drank Lipton iced tea which is unavailable in the UK, I was so far very much enjoying my journey.
Gare de Lyon is absolutely huge with so many people inside it waiting for trains. The platform system is also a little cofnusing but we eventually worked out where I was supposed to be. It is also very important in France that you
compost your ticket before you get on the train, otherwise you will get a fine from the onboard conductors. You do this by putting your ticket in the little yellow machines which can be found throughout the station. My TGV train departed at around 2pm and I waved goodbye to my Uncle. The train journey down to Dijon takes around 1 hour and 40 minutes as the TGV is a high speed train. As I took the journey I felt a mixture of feelings..I was nervous as well as excited, it was a strange feeling. When the train eventually got to Gare Foch I experienced my first taste of French
Concorde
A snapshop of Concorde at Charles de Galles airport manners. A gentleman asked me if I needed any help with my suitcase. I gratefully accepted as my Uncle had stored it in an overhead cabin and it was too heavy for me to get down.
When I left the station i took a few minutes to sit down and just think about what i was going to do next, should I get a bus to my new residence or a taxi? Where were the bus stops? How much would a taxi cost? Then all of a sudden I saw a familliar face walk past me. It was a lad named Jimmy who also studies French at Manchester. I waved him over as he was listening to his iPod. He was really very sweet and offered to help me with my bags and invited me out for a drink that night with himself and Alicia, another girl who was going to be residing in Dijon. I thanked him and got into a taxi nearby. He drove me to my Residence and it cost around €8.
I arrived at La Résidence International d'Etudiants at around 4pm. It's based at 6 Rue Maréchal Leclerc. I was greeted by the
directrice Gare de Lyon
Gare de Lyon from the outside and she showed me to my room which was on the fourth of four floors. It was an absolute struggle to get up those stairs!!
My room had a bed, sink, fridge, wardrobe, shelves, desk, two chairs, lamp, bathroom cabinet with mirror and a radiator and was equipped with sheets and a pillow. It was rather basic but bigger than the room I stayed in when I lived in a residence in Manchester. But more about my residence later...
After unpacking a little bit I went over to the other
batiment to find Alicia, the girl I previously mentioned. I had never spoken to her before in my life. She was really sweet and made me some dinner and gave me some tips about how she'd found Dijon so far. Then we went out into town with Jimmy to a bar called Sé Bar on Place Emile Zola. It was a small cute bar with grungy type music and a pool table. We drank a delicious beer called
Kriek which is a cherry flavoured beer. Alicia and I then had to walk home back to the residence as the last bus is at around midnight. The walk home
Gare de Lyon
Gare de Lyon on the inside took around twenty minutes which was not so bad espeically as the weather at this point in Dijon was lovely and warm.
I collapsed on my bed and fell asleep staright away...and slept like a baby for the rest of the night.
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