Confinement? Si j’étais président

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Bonjour à tous, the time has come. We had so many plans for the weekends like going to the snow again, going climbing, going to Marseille, etc. And then it happened!

The 25^th of March we watched the news. Yes, we watched it in French and couldn’t understand much of it! But the word we did understand was ‘confinement’, it’s the French word for lockdown. If you would’ve asked what this word means two years ago, I wouldn’t have a clue. It would not be an important word but nowadays the word ‘confinement’ is everywhere and if you hear it, I think most of the people get a certain feeling.

I don’t know about you but to be honest, when I hear the word, I get anxious, and I feel trapped. I really love the feeling that I can go anywhere but that is over for now. Okay, but enough about that, let’s stay positive because I’m still living in this amazing country!

So, like I said the 25^th of March the confinement started for the Rhône department, in France they take decisions for each department individually. Lyon is in the Rhône department but my work is in Saint-Étienne and it’s in the Loire department.

The rules they announced on the 25^th were that you have to stay inside your department and can only move around your house within a range of 10 km. Also, there is still a couvre-feu, a curfew, from 19h until 6h.

The strange thing is that I could still go to my internship. For me this was the craziest rule because how can it be that I can work in another department but in the weekends, I can not go hiking in that department, I mean come on.

There are way more nature parcs in Loire. Besides that, the parcs in Lyon were CRAZY, just like the supermarkets (it’s like a festival), it’s so overcrowded. In the supermarkets people were just pushing to get through. I understand they have to make rules, but it doesn’t make sense if nobody respects them. I just wanted to find a quiet place in a range of 10 km but since the confinement it’s impossible. A week later, whole France was in a confinement.

Si j’étais president

Gérard Lenorman

This means: if I was president, it’s a well-known French song from Gérard Lenorman. It’s accurate because no, I would not know what to do and of course I would not make better choices because I don’t know better. BUT now it doesn’t make sense anymore because places are more crowded than ever before. The supermarket we go to is now crazier than before, wow I just don’t have words for it!

Anyway, I just wanted to give a small part of my opinion. Everybody has their opinion, and I don’t want to get too deep into it but if you have questions, you can always send me a private message or leave a reaction below.

Lyon in the sun

The first weekend in confinement. My reaction: ‘Ooh no what are we going to do first in this beautiful city #toomanybeautifulplaces’. On Friday evening we went to the city to go shopping because everything was still open and the next day everything would be closed. We also did some take away from a vegan burger place called ‘Hank’ and it’s so delicious.

On Saturday we decided to go to Parc de la Tête d’Or. There is a botanical garden in this parc, food stalls, a lake, animals, etc. It’s an amazing escape from the busy city. Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit the greenhouses of the botanical garden because of Covid but we will be back.

It’s an amazing parc to walk around, sit and chill or rent a boat on the lake. The parc is big so you can spend hours here, enjoying every place. We just walked around and chilled while enjoying the sun (yes it was a warm, sunny day so that’s nice).

Sunday, we decided to go to the ‘Théâtre Gallo Romain de Lyon’ (Theater of Lugdunum) again. It’s a historical, big site and it’s an awesome way to start the day. We went before 10 am and then you see a lot of people doing sport and after a while the crowd comes. A lot of people also come here to chill with their friends and enjoying the sun.

“Anybody can make history, only great ones can write it”

It’s crazy to know this theater was built around 15 BC and is one of the largest and oldest in the Roman Gaul. It used to accommodate around 11,000 people, nowadays 4,500 because there was a wall where there was a second tier of seats.

After visiting the theatre, we did some chores in our apartment and of course we worked for school. I normally don’t write about it because it’s not an interesting subject for you. Every evening in the week and in the weekend, we also work for school.

It’s awesome here and we try to do as much as we can but don’t forget I’m only writing about the things that I think are interesting for you. I write about the exciting things we do or about the country and my opinion. Besides that, we work every evening after our internship and also in the weekends on assignments for school or tasks for our internship. Less glamorous and adventurous but reality.

Lyon, what else do you offer?

The second weekend we went to where? That’s right, Lyon because we can’t go somewhere else. On Saturday we chilled in a parc with some people, a colleague of mine invited me to chill together with her friends. It was a beautiful day with a lot of sun, so we just enjoyed.

On Sunday we visited Lyon again. We ordered take away at O’falafel, it’s really good and cheap for what you get (it’s so much food). With a view near the water, we enjoyed our food. After we visited the Cathedral of Lyon, it’s an impressive building, truly amazing. We also bought a Brioche (it’s typical French) and we found a beautiful place to chill. It’s not in the city center but it’s definitely worth a visit. You feel like you’re in a totally different place, in the middle of nature.

The day after Sunday is Monday right? And yes it’s a holiday ‘Easter Monday’. We decided to visit the letters from Lyon and go to the city center again. We walked around, ordered some food and ate near the Rhône, a river that flows through Lyon. Did you know that there are two rivers flowing through Lyon? There is ‘le Rhône’ but you also have ‘la Saône’.

Anyway, we also walked around and enjoyed some beautiful places in Lyon like:

• Place Bellecour
• Place des Jacobins
• Chapelle de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Lyon
• Grand Hôtel-Dieu

It was a beautiful day so we also decide to chill in a parc, so we went to ‘Le parc au Fil de l’eau’. It’s on the other side of the river from where we were the day before.

Work hard, dream big

Our third weekend during the confinement. On Saturday we did some grocery shopping, working for school, chores in the apartment, reading, etc. it was a productive day at our apartment.

The Sunday we went running in the parc and afterwards we decided to work on our assignments for school. For school we have some tasks, normally we work late. This weekend we thought it would be good if we worked some more so that in the end, we could take it slow and visit some places again.

Motto during the confinement: Work hard, dream big!

Okay that was it for this blog!! See you in the next blog and if you have some questions, you can always get in contact.