Juan Lugo, INSA Lyon: Summer Engineering Programs (France) Summer 2023
I did feel a bit unprepared for certain things before arriving in Lyon. The program organizers at INSA did not communicate a lot at first. In general, I wish I had known more about the program itself. How food would work, what classes would be like, laundry and kitchen arrangements, and how would access to campus facilities, such as sports work as summer exchange students. I found out about most things being there and most of them I had to find out by myself.
For example, we could not use the gym due to our student status, but when the program was marketed it came with the fact that there was a gym on campus as well as tennis courts and other stuff we could not use. Equally, I had no idea how food would be provided (if it even was provided) which was a bit intimidating due to it representing a big unknown, and potentially big expense in my budget.
Lastly, I wish I would have known a bit more about the city of Lyon before visiting. I think Lyon was what surprised me the most. It was a gorgeous place with an incredible history and endless places to visit. I went in a bit blind at first and had little idea what to visit or do whilst living there. Really quickly I realized how much there was to do, and had I known beforehand I might’ve even had more time to visit more places with a better plan. Nevertheless, all the things I did were absolutely stunning. Similarly, Lyon is a very big city with a major airport and train stations that go to a variety of places across Europe. I was surprised with how well-connected Lyon was to Switzerland, Spain and even Italy. I realized this once I was in Lyon already. I immediately started booking tickets to different cities. I feel that if I knew this beforehand, I could have planned my trips in advance and saved a lot of money in plane/train tickets. However, part of traveling is adventuring into the unknown and letting these places surprise you constantly. It is impossible to try and be prepared for everything and plan accordingly.
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