It would be great to hear how you are making out and adjusting to life in France and what your opinions and experiences are in Lyon itself! Are you renting an apartment or a house? Is where you live part of the city or on the outskirts? Do you find the people friendly? Does anybody there speak English or do you have to be comfortable in French? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
I've been living here for about a year, so I thought I'd give you my answers and we can see if the others see things the same way i do
Lyon is actually not a very big city, just a few kilometers from the city center can put you in a suburb, and the public transportation serves some suburbs better than others, so depending on what your transportation needs are, you definitely want to be aware of that. Every one I know who lives outside the city has a car, pretty much everyone i know in the city does not have one. There is a pretty good train service to centers of the outlying towns.
There are not very many houses in Lyon itself, and the few that are here are pretty expensive, so if you are in the city you will most likely be in a flat. I've heard that Lyon is the second most expensive city in France (after Paris of course) for renting, but as it is the only city I have ever lived in here, I can only compare it to my home in Seattle, WA and say prices are about the same. Like all cities, the further out you go the cheaper things get.
The pace of life is a bit different here than in the states. Most shops close early and are not open on Sundays, and there further out from the city center you get, the more so. If you are hungry on a Sunday afternoon and have an empty fridge, your only options are McDonald's, Subway, or head to the touristy center of town where most stuff stays open. If you want a quite life, this may appeal to you, if you like to wonder around and shop or mingle with people on Sundays, then this may drive you crazy if you live too far out.
Number of English speakers seems to also be proportional to distance from the center of town. My apartment agency only has one person that speaks any English, and she is rarely available. My cable/internet company has nobody (most of their tech support team is in Morocco), and it took me quite some time to find a doctor that speaks English well (and I live in the city). For most things though, you just make do with your French however bad it may be (and God knows mine is not very good). People are generally patient and helpful, especially those trying to sell you something
The key is to just speak. I think most French people speak English better than they think they do, so sometimes after struggling with my bad french, they throw out a few english words, and we come to an understanding.
To be honest though, I think you will struggle a bit with signing up for services, signing contracts, etc. without a decent level of french, or a friend to help you.
I think French people are generally friendly. Maybe not as initially open as Americans tend to be, but certainly not unfriendly. Language differences can present a challenge though if you do not share proficiency in at least one language, but of course that gives you more incentive, and opportunity, to learn the language.
