Lyonnais Life: Résidence André Allix: The Most Basic Bedroom and Building

La Vie Lyonnaise: Résidence André Allix: Basics about Bedroom and Building

This is rather a long post detailing my experience so far living in the residence of André Allix, run by the company CROUS, and why I came to make such a decision. This post aims to highlight the differences between university residences in England and France. So I guess in some ways, this post could be helpful not only for those looking at living options in Lyon, but for those who are looking for a small idea of British student life is like in halls.

I'm very, very sorry, but this is quite a long post, so I have divided it into sections, so should you wish to skip ahead, you are more than welcome to. These sections are:

1. Introduction: Life in London
2. Life in France
3. The Buildings
4. The Bedrooms
5. The Kitchens
6. The Bathrooms
7. Things you may want to consider buying
8. Conclusion: Appreciating Accommodation

1. Introduction: Life in London

University residences or university halls as they tend to be called across the English Channel are not quite the same thing in France. The differences between accommodation in England and France are vast, though I never anticipated how vast they would be.

Living in university halls is one of the items that have a tendency to feature on nearly every British students check list when it comes to university life. This is partly due to the numerous social benefits particularly for first year students as it provides an opportunity to meet other students in a similar situation to you, with whom you can enjoy the many adventures of what the university fresher’s week entails.

I didn’t quite experience this in my first year at Roehampton University, but something I opted for, for my second year in London which I spent on the campus, Mount Clare, which was a plot of land set aside for second and first year students.

Amongst Roehampton University students, Mount Clare did not always have the best of reputations. I had heard stories of spider nests growing in the curtains and mushrooms growing in the shower. The internet was often unreliable, and power cuts were supposedly not surprising events. The kitchens were small and cramped and there was always at least one food thief lurking in the shadows. The counter tops would never stay clean for long, and the cleaner only made an appearance twice a week. The oven I recall became a terrible pain in the neck, for it started to give off a truly awful smell of burnt, greasy fat, that had a tendency to stick to one’s clothes and hair - a shower and a washing machine were the only ways to feel clean again. I guess it didn’t help matters as our kitchen windows seemed to be the only ones that failed to fully open.

I was sharing a shower and two toilets with twelve other people. No one really used the upstairs bath or the shower it was equipped with.

The rooms themselves were not too bad. Though there was a metal bar that went around the middle part of the room that was rather annoying. I hurt my head many times on that stupid thing, though it did make quite a useful shelf. Another annoyance was how simple and easy it was to find yourself locked out from your room. I will never forget the first time I did it: eight p. m. on a Friday night. I spent three hours waiting before security decided to let me back into my room. You’d think I would have learnt my lesson, but sadly no, this was just the first of many.

Mount Clare had its problems, but that was nothing quite like what I was going to experience across the channel.

2. Life in France

Knowing that French halls would be somewhat different than their English counter parts, but not quite realising how different they would be, I opted to stay in the cheapest room on offer by the company CROUS, in their residence, Andre Allix.

What I am going to talk about is my experience in that room so far, and my experience so far of the residence. Should I have anything more to say, I will not hesitate to add more to this section. I may perhaps divide it up into smaller chunks. There’s still another seven months to go, an awful lot can happen!

3. The Buildings

The buildings are made up of four floors, five if you include the ground floor which hosts the letter boxes. It is possible to add a small padlock should you wish to prevent any theft from your mail box. Whilst I have done this, I wouldn’t say it was essential, especially for me as receiving mail that’s not junk is a rare occurrence.

The other floors are made up of around thirty plus bedrooms each, though this may vary depending on which building you are in. On each floor there are two kitchens and two bathrooms, both of which I will speak about later.

Each building has wireless internet, for which I pay six Euros a month. You certainly get what you pay for as the internet connection can be rather tedious at times, rendering Facebook conversations and Skype sessions rather difficult during peak hours. However there are times where it is possible to listen to a few tunes on Spotify, upload a few pictures or watch something without having to constantly refresh the page. Other days however, the internet decides to give up on you, stopping all forms of connection, thus leaving you internet-less for an unpredictable amount of time. On some occasions, it’s just a few minutes or a couple of hours. However, the other day, the time the internet was out for amounted to almost a day. It can be incredibly frustrating to say the least.

Other annoyances include the electricity. There have been several incidences of power cuts so far, the first of which I was not prepared for much at all, and had to resort to using the dim light of my phone screen. We were unsure whether we should evacuate the building as some folks had done. No one seemed certain of what was going on, what we should do, where we should go. I don’t even know what the fire alarm sounds like, or what one should do in case of a fire. That certainly wouldn’t happen back in England. There, it was only a couple of weeks before security rudely awoke the campus with a fire drill, and after that there was always one student somewhere who had left something in the oven too long, tried smoking in their room, or sprayed a tad too much deodorant.

Entertainment wise, on the ground floor of each building is a room, such a television room, where students are able to socialise, though I have not used such facilities as of yet.

4. The Bedroom

The bedrooms are of a fairly decent size, with plenty of storage space available. The floors are tiled, the walls are white. The bed comes equipped with a small foam mattress which I haven’t found too bad. I have a desk which I have moved so it aligns with the cabinet in which I keep my clothes on the top half and other utensils, dry foods and makeup on the bottom. The fridge was a nice surprise, as I needn’t worry about one of my thirty or so other floor mates thieving my food. Opposite the closet, there is the sink. On the wall there is also a long shelf though I often tend to forget about it due to its height, as it is a bit out of reach for me. I wouldn’t even be able to reach it standing on a chair.

I am aware, having been in a couple of other rooms in other buildings that the furnishings can and tend to vary. Others, have more shelving and units beside their beds, it all depends on which building you chose. I quite like my room, though at first I wasn’t sure if there was any heating though I later found out that it does come through the floor. It’s not great, but fan heater’s only cost about 10 Euros from Carrefour and mine has been a real treat especially during the harsh winter months.

When I first moved in, I must point out, that I didn’t find the room to be in a particularly clean state. The cabinet was sticky and there is dirt in the rims beneath the window. I can’t say how long that dirt has been accumulating for. I was required to have a quick wipe around to ensure my surroundings were of the standard I had expected them to be in when I arrived.

All in all, I rather like my room despite its small faults, purely due to the view I get, especially in the evening when the sun sets, as on a clear day, I am left with bright, vibrant and beautiful sky as the sun sets behind the hills to my left.

5. The Kitchen

The kitchen is rather small and incredibly basic. On our floor only one of the two microwaves work, luckily for me, it was the one that was placed at a decent height rather than the one which would have me stretching a little on my tip-toes!

The double sink takes up most the space, and where the draining board lies is where most people tend to prepare their food as there isn’t any other form of counter space to do so, as the portable electric stove with space for only two pans and that has clearly seen better days, takes up the rest of the space. I have never so far encountered a problem where cooking was severely delayed as the stove was occupied. There are also no ovens and no freezers and peculiarly there doesn’t appear to be any form of fire safety equipment should that ever be necessary.

The kitchen is cleaned every weekday by the cleaner, though students are encouraged to keep it in an acceptable state. Although during the weekends, a little grime and dirt can be expected. Everyone tends to take and clean their belongings promptly so there is no endless pile of unwashed dishes dating back several months laying in the sink - a problem I encountered back at Roehampton!

I know of other kitchens that have tables in them, making those areas a little more sociable, though, the kitchens in my block are rather bare and bleak, except for the half a dozen plug sockets where the shared fridges stood the previous year.

6. The Bathroom

There are two bathrooms per floor. Each has three toilets and four showers. I have never come across a time when all the showers where occupied when I needed to take a shower, although I can’t quite say the same for the toilets, which although are not always occupied, on the weekends they sometimes tend to get left in some rather undesirable conditions.

The showers are often in a better state, but on the rare occasion you can find yourself sharing a cubicle with a moth or two that made it in through the window the night before. However I always wear flip-flops in the shower, but I’ve always been rather funny about tiled public floors, and I always wear shoes in the toilets as sometimes there are rather a few hairs of a certain nature, I need not explain further and other sorts of dirt that has been brushed into corners and is seldom removed.

* I must add, that when something does go a little wrong here, maintenance staff here are not exactly quick on their feet to fix anything that has gone wrong. In one bathroom, one out of the three toilets doesn't lock at all and it has been that way as long as I can remember. However this doesn't bother me all that much as I can use the bathroom a little further down the corridor if it is completely necessary to do so.

In my regular bathroom, one toilet has been without a light since I moved in here. It’s not very pleasant or practical to go to relieve oneself in pitch black so that rarely gets used. In more recent times however, one of the other cubicles has become somewhat of a hazard. The lock on the door is very happy to lock and shut the door, but not quite so happy to reopen again, which I discovered on a Thursday, at six in the morning when I was rushing to go off to my lectures! Luckily I managed to muster all my strength to get out, though I am always cautious now. I do doubt it will be fixed anytime soon even if the residence has already been notified.

7. Things you may want to consider buying

Here is a list of things I brought and I consider essential to be able to live reasonably comfortable here, though things could differ depending on one’s individual preferences and needs.

• Kettle
• Lamp
• Bedding
• Extension lead
• Fan heater
• Candles

8. Appreciating Accommodation

I like a few points about living here, in Andre Allix, such as the fact on can light candles without the risk of being the one responsible for setting the fire alarm off. The brightness and size of the room, the fact the kitchen is cleaned almost every day and it’s generally kept in an okay way. I certainly love having my own fridge! But despite this, living here has certainly made me appreciate where I lived last year in London.

People are very quick to knock down Mount Clare, but I believe it has many strong aspects. I certainly miss simple things such as having an oven and a freezer, and space to properly prepare food-I could cook so much more.

With fewer people per flat/corridor meant you were somewhat forced to meet the others you live with, they sort of in some way become your family whilst you’re at university, where as most people here just tend to keep themselves to themselves.

I guess the fact that here, everyone studies at different universities and at different levels doesn’t quite help the social aspect much. Roehampton on the other hand is quite a small university, most people tended to know most people of know of others, and everyone had that one thing in common.

The smaller common rooms in each flat, were handy when pre-drinking before social events, though we quickly out grew them as people brought more and more friends along with them. Luckily, there was a larger common room which housed pool tables, ping pong tables and a television. Adjacent to which was the laundry room, with which I never had any form of trouble.

The computer room was always a handy feature, particularly when deadlines where approaching and boy could you tell they were approaching as the number of people there tended to rapidly increase at this time.

Despite the stories of the internet not working well and the electricity being unreliable, I never really experienced many problems, perhaps one or two for the whole year, nothing in comparison to things here and I’m only in my third month!

I miss having proper heating. I miss having Richmond Park on my doorstep. And, I never quite thought I’d say this, I miss the campus cat, a black fluffy thing named Magic, though often nicknamed Lucifer by many students, due to her rather ferrell and undomesticated ways.

Being away from home and the things you love certainly puts things into perspective. I miss things, I never thought I would and I have a new found appreciation for what may sometimes sound like the smallest, pettiest thing. However, I know I must not dwell on things I can’t have now, things that are miles away from me. I must learn to adapt and love what is here. Though at times it’s difficult, I guess, well, I must, always look on the bright side of life. (do, do, do do do do do do) The Erasmus year is a fantastic opportunity and one I do not wish to see go to waste.

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