Bonjour Montpellier!

02.01.09 I have officially been in FRANCE for two weeks! It is a little hard to believe, but I am truly loving every moment of it! We have actually already done a lot of things here! And as in we, I mean the group I am here with through my school. There are two groups within my program here, Language and Culture and Integrated Studies. The integrated kids arrived January first, and are composed of around 40 kids. My group, which arrived three weeks later, is composed of 19 kids: one boy and 18 girls. We all seem to get along really great, which was surprising but awesome at the same time! About half are from the U of M and Penn State, with one from Seattle. We take classes at the Institute of French Studies for Foreign Students at Paul Valery University. It is very cool, since everyone in our classes is trying to learn French AND from everywhere around the world! We have kids from Germany, Korea and Japan! I met two really awesome Swedish girls in my classes, and am excited to hang out with them more!

Montpellier is unlike anything I imagined! It is such a quaint little town with tons of little streets winding throughout. It also has a main center (la Place de la Comedie) where everything basically connects to. I think I already have the tram perfected! I do have to switch lines to get to my school, but it is actually really easy. I live in a little town right outside Montpellier, called Castelnau-le-Lez with an AMAZING family. My house is around 5 minutes from the tram stop, and it takes around 15 minutes or less to get to the main center, but a little longer to get to school.

When my host family came to pick me up at the hotel, I was quite nervous! One woman walked in: short pink hair, large gold hoops, a black belted dress, and tall red boots. For some reason I knew she was mine and I couldn’t be happier! Véronique used to be an artist, and is now a teacher at a local school, teaching 7 and 8 year olds. She has every wall painted a different color in her house, and has everything decorated extremely cool! Her bathroom is covered in picture frames with photos of her family, and the hallway leading up to my room is covered in fake grass and flowers! I gave her a very chic handmade wallet as my gift and she seemed to love it! She immediately put her things in it, and always tells me that she brags to her friends about it. She is too cute.

She is separated from her husband and her two sons, Arthur (17) and Virgile (16), alternate weeks at their parents. Her kids are very sweet and welcoming. I gave them both Minnesota rugby t-shirts and Oreos which they polished off in a few minutes! They may be the skinniest children I have ever seen though and look about half their real age, but that’s France for you I guess! I have definitely become closer already with Arthur. He is very animated and quite hilarious. He loves American music, with Rhianna and Bob Marley being his favorites. We went on a walk the other day with their cute little puppy (Lily) before dinner and I got to experience Castelnau at night! We speak a lot of franglais to each other, meaning I usually speak French to him, he responds in some English or French. Arthur told me this town is truly his favorite place in all of France, and I can definitely see why. I watched a movie the other night with them and we often watch the news before dinner. Dinner is so much fun with their family! Véronique is truly a great cook, yet she tells me otherwise. My favorite dishes so far have been ratatouille (made with eggs, eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers) and a yummy chicken and rice dish made with coco milk. She made me yummy crepes the other day too, which I ate with nutella. It was delicious! After every dinner, Véronique serves me more wine and a platter of cheese. AND offers me dessert. It is A LOT of food, but the French seem to be able to handle it since they do not snack here! It was a little difficult to get used to only eating three times a day, but I think I am getting the hang of it! And she tells me this is how they keep their small, petite figures.

Their family dynamic is truly what I love, and has made me feel like I am apart of a family here. They get along very well, always joking and laughing with one another. The boys speak incredibly fast when speaking to one another, but Véro is sweet and usually gives me a quick recap of what just happened. It is kind of hilarious. She is SO incredibly sweet and patient with me. Now I can basically understand her about 80 percent I would say, just finding the words to say back is the tricky part! She knows a little English, but only uses it if I don’t understand a word she says. OR else, she will whip out this giant dictionary, and have me find the word myself! Conversation is becoming easier and more natural as the weeks are progressing, which is a relief! Last weekend she took me to a local flea market and to Palavas, which is near the Mediterranean! It was such a nice day and it was fun to explore the city with her.

Last night, I ate with Arthur and Virgile, while Véro chatted with a few close friends that she had over! Her friends greeted me with 3 kisses, alternating cheeks. In Montpellier you give three, but it varies throughout France. It is a cute way to say hello! Her one friend even told me I am already looking very French (this obviously made me quite happy)! After dinner, I went to a friend’s apartment. A few girls and I just chatted the night away! We decided we wanted a low key night; all brought a few goodies over to munch on, and had a blast! I really love the people here so far, and couldn’t have asked for a better group of people. This weekend our entire program is headed to the Alps for the weekend! I am SO excited, even though I will probably spent most of the time falling down the slopes. A lot of the girls are not very experienced either, so it will be fun!

I started classes last week and was placed in level B1, which I was happy about. We had to take an hour written exam and oral placement test to determine our levels. My schedule seems great! It gets finalized next week, but so far I have the majority of my classes on Monday and Wednesday, one class Tuesday, two classes Thursday and NO class Friday! Hopefully this will allow for some fun day/weekend trips.. I can’t wait to start planning them! We already went to Nimes and to the Provence region with our program the first week! In Nimes, we were able to visit an amazing old roman Amphitheatre, where they hold bullfights at now in the Spring (A few of us definitely want to try and make it back there)! In Provence we saw the Pont du Gard aqueduct, the old remains of a castle in Les Baux de Provence, and a few other historic sites! Going to these places, makes me want to explore EVERYWHERE!

One last thing for now. There was a strike the other day! People all over France participated and it was a protest against Sarkozy. The trams were only running about one every half an hour and only ran until around 7pm. After my classes, a friend and I went to the Comedie to check it out. It was like a parade, with music and signs everywhere, very bizarre! Véronique participated and so did most of her friends, so most all schools were closed around the city. She told me that there were a lot of signs with Obama, saying YES WE CAN, and then ones with Sarkozy saying NO WE CANT. She found this hilarious! She absolutely does not like Sarkozy and complains about him to me all the time! Grèves (strikes) in France are supposed to be quite popular, so we will see if another one arises!

CIAO! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL! Since I have finally set this up (sorry it took me forever!), I will keep it updated regularly!
xxx Sara