LYON I
When I arrived in Lyon everything was new to me since I had never been in France before. Especially, the student life at university was different to the one I knew from Liechtenstein. The lunch break at my host university always lasted 1,5 hours from 12 – 13:30 o’clock every day. This may show that food and a proper meal play a crucial role for French people. The 18th of September, some friends from university and I went to the Food Festival in Lyon. It was an amazing event where we could taste food from all over the world and in particular specialties from Lyon and France. Concerning the long lunch breaks – I got used to the long lunch breaks and with the other students we started to use our lunch breaks efficiently by working together on group projects since we had many different group projects to work on.
The lectures at university always lasted two hours without breaks in between. That is why the professors were supposed to end class 10 – 15 minutes earlier. Additionally, at my host university some timetable conflicts arose. Instead of receiving a personalized timetable we received a timetable with all the lectures from all the students. On my own, I needed to find the classes I was enrolled in. Additionally, the timetable was not the same every single week but changed a little bit from week to week. Therefore, we had to update our timetable regularly in order to not miss out the lectures. This leads me to the next difference I noticed between the University of Liechtenstein and my host university ESDES Business School in Lyon. While in Liechtenstein we did not have to be present in every single lecture, attendance was mandatory at my host university in Lyon. Depending on the professors, they called our names and we had to confirm our presence or we had to sign the attendance list in every single lecture. For me, compulsory attendance was not a problem and I got used to check the timetable on a daily basis in order to not miss a class.
At the beginning it was unfamiliar to me that some new friends and fellow students from South America and Spain sometimes arrived late for gatherings. In contrast, a friend from Finland was always punctual. That is how we started talking about cultural differences and customs of the different countries and discovered similarities as well as differences. While some friends normally eat dinner at nine or ten o’clock in the evening, other friends and I already eat dinner between six or seven o’clock in the evening.
Since I was in high school I always wanted to study abroad for some months. Consequently, I am more than happy that this dream came true in 2021! I am very grateful for this unforgettable experience abroad. I learnt many new things, improved my linguistic skills and made new friends from different countries like Argentina, Finland, Czech Republic, Spain, Romania and Italy. Before I applied at the host university in Lyon I had already heard from other people that they all had an amazing time during their stay abroad. I can only agree to that statement and hence I would heartily recommend everyone to spend a semester abroad. You get to know so many new people and cultures and it is a priceless experience. In my opinion flexibility and the ability to adapt to different circumstances are one of the most important skills a human being needs in life – be it in the work environment or in the private sphere. Just be open to this new adventure abroad and I promise you will be positively surprised.
ANTONIA HENGSTMANN Lyon, 18th of December 2021