A very early start today. My alarm went off at 5 so that I could get ready to be at uni by 7 for our orientation day. After impatiently waiting for a while, we finally got onto our bus to go to Montalieu-Vercieu. On our way out of Lyon, I noticed the number of slums aligned along the outskirts of the city. It shocked me a little bit.

After driving for just over an hour, we finally arrived to the place where we’d be spending the day. I finally experienced the French speciality of disorganisation. I remembered it very well from when we lived in the Alsace, but everything so far in Lyon seemed to go very smooth, which I thought was slightly strange. But I've been awaiting it, and knew to just go along with all the disorganisation. Nobody had any idea where exactly we were meant to be or what we had to do and everything was all over the place. After a good half hour of ringing different people, and moving students from one bus onto another, we finally got to the right place.

The morning was spent rafting. I’ve never done it before, but oh my goodness it’s so much fun! We didn’t fall out of our boat once, although we were close to doing so a number of times. It was a fun way to get to know some of the French students. After a very good lunch, we relaxed in the sun by the river for a bit before doing a treasure hunt. Everything was in French and very much based on French culture, which was good in away, but also challenging at times. I also exhausted my Portuguese knowledge, which I loved, but I forgot how tiring it can be to switch from one language to another.

Completely worn out, I arrived home. Going to sleep fairly early I think because tomorrow is an early start again.