Small Town Life

Villefranche-sur-Saône is small. How small? Population = 34, 188 (2006)

Main streets? Only 1 – Rue Nationale

Places where I can do my Laundry – Only 1 that I have seen so far.

It doesn’t take very long to walk around and see the ‘major’ parts of the city. My studio is small and comfortable. Yet, I do feel lonely at times. But, I enjoy going out and looking to see if there is anything new out or if there is something going on. I enjoy going to the Marché couvert and buying fruits and vegetables without spending a lot of money. For example, I was able to buy 3 heads of lettuce, a kilo of tomatoes, a kilo of onions, some zucchini, a kilo of apples and some other stuff for roughly 10 Euro.

But, it still surprises me at times to think that I thought Riverside was small. It is definitely not! This town is about the size of UCR’s campus (I might be exaggerating, but it feels like that sometimes).


My first weekend here, I went out with Leigh, the other English assistant who lives at the school she teaches at (she had it easy), to get some drinks at a bar. We met at 9pm on the Rue Nationale. I got there a few minutes before her, which gave me plenty of time to realize how the night was going to be interesting. As I walked to the meeting place, there was nothing to that could possibly remind me that it was a Friday night. The streets were empty and everything was silent. No joke. I get to the Rue Nationale and it’s the same. All the stores and closed and there were only a few elderly couples making their way back home. Once Leigh got there, I hoped that she would be able to save Villefranche’s dignity – and she kinda did. We went to L’Inso. The funny thing was that when we first walked by, we thought that there was a private party going on since there were men and women inside wearing wigs, light up glasses, and feather boas. We walked in after asking someone outside if we could. They told us right away that we could go in without a problem since the bar was open to everyone. Odd.

The door hadn’t even shut behind us yet when out of nowhere, a French guy comes over to greet us shouting “Des Nouveau”= “Some new people/newbies”. I just remember thinking to myself: O M G. This can’t be all there is to do every weekend.

Despite the initial shock, it was fun to talk ad mingle with all the locals. Some of them were already very drunk and just liked to chat about random things. For example, there was a guy there that started speaking Spanish to me after Leigh told him that I knew how to. He told me about how he loved to speak Spanish and how he had learned from his wife’s family (obviously, Spanish). He also explained to me how everyone at the bar is part of the family because they all have a good time when they are there. It was very heartwarming to be told that we were part of the family despite it being our first night there.

After enjoying some drinks paid for by an old guy that was there, we stayed at the bar until after closing time. The owners just shut the door and rolled down the metal curtain and everyone continued to drink and smoke inside! Smoking inside has been illegal since 2008, so it was funny to see that it still happens…behind closed doors (lol).

It was only about a little after midnight when the bar ‘closed’ but Leigh and I were ready to go home. But, since Leigh gets a lot of attention from the guys (she is very pretty), there were 3 guys there that talked to us for most of the night and kept insisting on going with them to a discothèque. I didn’t say that I didn’t want to go but I also didn’t say that I would. I was neutral. I knew that the reason we were being invited was because one of them was interested in Leigh, but I let her decide. She wanted to go just to do something different and dance a little, but she knew what their intentions were. She said no and told them that maybe another time, but they still didn’t stop insisting. Then, as they discussed amongst themselves away from us, an older guy showed us the way of the bar through the back, since the front door was closed. It was funny to walk out through the side of the bar because when we walked into the alleyway, I saw an apartment that I had gone to visit. Had I picked to live at that apartment, I would be right next to a bar! But, I’m glad that I don’t live there because I’m sure it would be loud (and tempting/expensive lol).

We made our way back home through the empty streets of Villefranche, only to end up stopping in front of the school Leigh lives at after she heard her name shouted from a car. Turned out to be some of her students who were going home after being at a friend’s party.

That tends to happen in the small town setting. Whenever I go out with the other assistants (there’s 6 of us total (I’m the only guy) – 3 English assistants – all American, 2 Spanish assistants, one from Spain and the other from Costa Rica, and a German assistant, who is from Germany but of Syrian descent), we always have to scope out a place to make sure that there are no students present. Sucks, but oh well. I don’t really care but I don’t get much of a say because I’m the only guy.

I know that I can always go to Lyon on the weekends if I want to have some fun, so I don’t regret moving to the small town setting. It’s really pushing me to speak French since we speak only French between us (the assistants) and not a lot of people speak English.

I’m sure that Villefranche will be able to prove itself to me soon. (I hope)