The festival of lights is an annual occurrence in Lyon to give thanks to Mary (or Marie in French). As the town was struck by the plague in 1643, people prayed to Mary and promised that if she would spare the town they would pay tribute to her. Therefore ever since they have offered a tribute and led a procession up to the Basilica of Fourvière to honour the promise they made to her. Traditionally people would put out candles on their balconies or in their windows on December 8th to show their respect and gratitude. However over the years the tradition has developed into a world renowned festival celebrated over a whole four days to which thousands of people from many different countries flock to Lyon to see!

Alanna is studying French and Spanish at Nottingham Trent University and is spending her year abroad as an Erasmus student. Her first semester was in Strasbourg, France, and she is now in León, Spain, which she chose because it’s not as touristy as other cities and she thought she'd have a better chance of improving her Spanish and seeing the ‘real’ Spain. Here she describes a typical week in her life...