Well as you might have guessed the blogging has lapsed as other things have taken control of my new life. On the accommodation front I spent a week in a hostel in town with a night in a hotel because the hostel was booked. By the end I was glad to move out of a room that I shared with people and got woken at night into a single room in an international hall of residence which is where I am now. The postgrads who live here are a generally quiet and friendly bunch. There isn’t the sociableness that the hostel provided but I can spend more time cooking in the evenings and relaxing. There are downsides though, not having wifi and the internet really cuts down your options when you are in a new place and generally alone. Life is difficult certainly. However there has been a particular person who translated for me initially and has been a good companion in the evenings. Unfortunately she leaves at the end of this week. Hopefully other people will continue to fulfil the role...
Marseille as a place can be summed up in a few lines for me. This may be true for many urban areas too, but new for me.
1) Cosmopolitan, multiple races and origins of the people. This makes for little communes and centres of population.
2) The Calanques - the national park on the outskirts of the city divides the city from the natural coastline, in contrast to the urbanised section around the city itself. The Calanques become infested by people at the weekend and bank holiday and lose much of their dry, limestone, charm at this point. You can get away from people but it is a lot harder and less appealing than Snowdonia for instance..
3) The Urban Commute. I am still staggered how it can take anything from 35 mins to an hour to go about 6km to the campus each day. Relying on two metro lines and a bus route there are numerous combinations which can save a few minutes here or there, but despite going against the main commuter flow it takes an age! Maybe this should be a good time for reading and relaxing, but it certainly makes it harder to stay late in the office…
4) Commercial centres. I was told that Marseille has over 300 commercial centres. This seems to be true, every so often there is a cluster of shops, a bakery, a tabac, and various others on a couple of street corners. It is just as if a small village had been enclosed in the city, but they are much closer together than British villages or even estates. It does mean that will very little planning you can pick up a baguette or croissant almost anywhere you are..
5) Finally I have to say the traffic. Stationary or moving, car or motorbike, there is an awful lot of vehicles on the roads. There is a good system for regular bike rental, but not enough people use them as far as I see. The Metro, trams and buses run well too and at times appears close to capacity, but the cars outnumber them.
On this last point. Is it possible to do without a car in Marseille? In the city, yes definitely. But as an outdoor person, I am less sure. I am wondering how long the abilities of the city to satisfy me are going to last. I guess day trips into the surrounding towns may also do an exploratory job too, but to get to the places in between or in the wilds, difficult. Again this is something I need to explore. How easy is it to rent a vehicle to come and go as I please?
One thing at a time, I need to find permanent accommodation first and make a choice about how long a commute I am willing to make. Maybe for a better place to stay, that is furnished the commute will have to remain. Difficult choices to be made. The job is enjoyable, now I just need to settle myself for the evenings and weekends.
No comments:
Post a Comment