So, I had a rather eventful weekend. Saturday was our first day off for a while, so I slept in until... 10:00. It was a little less exciting than I had been hoping for. I guess my body is just getting used to waking up at 7:00 every morning, which I haven't done since high school. It was nice to have a free morning. Sara came over around 1 and we decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to go to the aquarium that we had seen before on our way to Ikea. We took the tram to Odysseum, had sushi for lunch (aren't we proud of me? It was actually very good) and then went to the aquarium. I felt like I was 6. It was awesome :)

SUPER CREEPY SHARK. The sheer amount of teeth was amazing, and he kept on bumping against the glass. Eek. Also, I like the glowing eyes.









Fishes, 'nuff said.













:D













So yes, that was the wonderful aquarium trip. I even took the opportunity to buy a few postcards, which I'll try to send out at some point. Oh course, I need to get stamps first. Hmm...
Saturday evening, we took a guided tour of Montpellier at 8:00 (ok, I'll be good, 20h00). They split us into two groups, for the more and less competent in French. I went with the more competent group, which might have been a mistake, but honestly, I wouldn't have listened to everything the other guide was saying anyways. Apparently, Montpellier was a part of Spain for a while, which makes So much sense. We wandered around for about two hours, but which time we were pretty tired (especially for those of us who had been walking around an aquarium all day and had worn heels to l'Estivales the night before...)

The park, around 21h30.













Who else but Louis XIV? You can't really see, but he's in the guise of Julius Cesar, and for a long time, nothing was allowed to be higher than this statue. Also, apparently the sculptor forgot to put stirrups on the saddle and was sentenced to death for that (although he committed suicide before they got to him).







I can't remember the name of this cathedral, but it's the one with the medical archives/former convent attached to it. It's a few streets away from where I live.

I have all sorts of catching up to do, don't I. Hm... So, overall, things are going well. We've managed to live through the first week (aka 3 days) of the Prestage, which is a little rough but not unmanageable. Personally, I feel like I'm constantly one step behind everyone else in the grammar class. There's just so much to know! We had to go through a story and do a whole bunch of conjugations, and apparently it was supposed to be in the passe simple... but no one told me that! (For those of you who don't know, the passe simple is this mildly useless conjugation because it's the literary tense. Normal people don't need it, so I never bothered to learn. Oops.) We also had a test, which went alright, and we have a test in our comprehension class on Monday. Oh boy. Speaking of classes, I've been tossing around the idea of taking an Italian class this semester. I know that it would be a royal pain to learn a foreign language while immersed in another, but it would really help along my plans to visit Italy this winter... We'll see, I guess.

This is slightly unrelated, but I went into a book store the other day to buy notebooks and a dictionary and made a rather interesting discovery. The notepaper that they use here is not merely larger, but has all these extra lines! It's like graph paper on crack. Seriously hard core. Also, I bought a French-French dictionary (not sure if I'll actually have the patience to use it) and the best part? I found bilingual books! As in, one page is English, and the other is French! I was thrilled. This means I can read and not need to look anything up. I got The Strange Case of Benjamin Button (ou, l'Etrange Histoire du Benjamin Button) and Sherlock Holmes Investigates (ou, Sherlock Holmes enquete). I'm psyched. The funny thing is that in order to make the text line up, the English is in bold font and the French in normal font. Goes to show you that everything takes longer to say in French.

Let's see... I went grocery shopping which was pretty exciting, and even managed to make myself dinner! I was so very proud of myself. I made rice, broccoli and a cheese sauce and it was actually really good, and everything that I ate cost about one euro. Huzzah!

Friday evening was quite an event. There was some sort of festival thing going on downtown, so the group of us went. I got there, paid my 4 euro for a wine glass and then got 3 free wine tastings! I had two white and one rose. I didn't feel brave enough for a red wine. There was a band playing at the Corum (not actually sure what it is, but it's also the name of a tram stop) which was gyspy/Spanish/I dunno, but it was great. Everyone was dancing, and it was just a good time. There was this one older woman doing this flamenco dance off to the side, which was amazing. I stayed until about 11 and then headed home, as a. I was just a tiny bit wobbly and b. my feet hurt like hell (I was feeling a bit down, so I figured that dressing up would help, so I wore a black shirtdress and my awesome heels. Said awesome heels should not be worn for multiple miles, though (Speaking of my dress... So, there's this grill on the ground, above the metro. I walked over it, in my dress, too busy strutting around to think about where my dress was. Next thing I know, it was around my ears, and I was getting a Very surprised look from a man in front of me. Dear God. I was wearing the plaid undies, too... It was pretty damn hilarious.))
This is a video of us grooving to the band. Montpellier really knows how to have a good time :)

Oh, I just remembered.
A bunch of the apartments have unofficial nicknames: there's the Dollhouse, Destination Plaisir (I dunno) and ours is now Casablanca :) I'm quite fond of it.

Time for yet another update, methinks. So, what's happened since I moved in? Yesterday, we all woke up at the crack of dawn (well, close enough) to meet at the tram at 8:00 and we went to Universite Paul-Valery for the first time. The tram is pretty amazing, actually--very quiet, clean, and bright. Montpellier pretty much wins for public transportation. However, it gets low marks on college architecture. Yikes. I admit that I've been horribly spoiled by MHC (which is rated #3 most beautiful campus by Princeton Review (and #6 best classroom experience,#9 Lots of class/race interaction, #10 Gay community accepted, #13 Dorms like palaces and #12 Best college library... Okay, I'll shut up now)) Um. Right. So, then we took the placement test. It was actually not too bad. A few pages of grammar stuff, and then a lot of writing which wasn't too bad, but I didn't really read the directions so that didn't help much. We wrote a few paragraphs on some country that we had been to--I figured that they didn't know where I was from, so I'd talk about Vermont seeing as I can talk intelligently about it. Then I realized that I had to write about it for a page an a half, and compare it to my own country. That's when I realized my mistake... So, I just pretended I was from Georgia and hoped that none of them actually knew anything about either state. Then came the oral exam which was a bit nerve wracking. We waited around for a while, and finally went one by one into classrooms with different professors. It was actually totally painless--she asked me a few questions about my studies and what I liked to do, and even said that my accent was excellent which made me really happy. I thought she's be all confused about my accent seeing as I've had 5 teachers: one French, one Lebanese, one Quebecoise, and two Americans. But anyways, that was very good to hear. After, there was lunch and we headed back to town. After a quick Ikea trip (I have never been in a more overwhelming store) and grocery trip, a group of us went to the Dollhouse (aka Sara and Sealia's apartment which is up 4 flights of Crazy winding stairs) and had a dinner party. It all felt so grown up, and was really very nice except for when the fuse blew out and we spent 20 minutes thinking that we'd have uncooked lasagna for dinner. Mm-mm. But everything worked out. 'Twas fun.

As for today, it was our first day of the Prestage. We were placed into three groups for classes, but it's a little hard to tell what group is what. I'm in group 3 which might be the highest, or it could be the same level as group 2 because we have the same teachers and apparently they said the exact same things. Doesn't really matter, at any rate. Our first class was a bit overwhelming. It was all about conceptual grammar--not actually learning things by rote, but learning the rules so we can figure things out. I totally appreciate the idea, but I was rather lost. Also, I said one or two dumb things which was unfortunate. One thing that was interesting though was about what verbs are conjugated with etre--they're the action verbs that can only be done once, like born, die, pass, leave, exit etc. Pretty cool, actually. The second class was all about comprehension and was a lot of fun, just a lot of chatting. After the classes, we headed out, had lunch, and then a little later, Sara and I went to get our TaM passes (public transportation). Mine was a bit pricey, but it's unlimited access for the whole year, so it'll pay for itself in a few months. When we got back on the TaM we got to swipe them, and it beeped and was enormously satisfying. Oh! And I got my credit card, finally. *Giant sigh of relief* So, now I'm back at the apartment and will probably make dinner in about an hour, and then... do homework? You've got to be kidding me.

Moving day at last! So, this marks the end of the MHC orientation and hotel-living period, and the beginning of us really living here! We were up early as to enjoy breakfast (which we did, very much so, except for me managing to pinch my finger while opening a baguette. Hard to picture, I know, but it still hurts!) and to pack up. At 10:00 we headed off in our separate directions and Muoyo and I were picked up by Mme Cesari who brought us to our new apartment! She's really very nice and a very active woman, and I can't wait to get to know her better (I'm hoping that at some point I'll actually be able to understand what she's saying). The walk over nearly killed me (55 pound suitcase+cobblestones+hills=PAIN), but at least we're on the first floor so there were no stairs.

So, we have one of ten apartments that's based around a little courtyard which looks very Islamic/Moroccan, with the stucco and arches. We have one key to enter the courtyard, and then another two to get into our front door (I hope that the two aren't necessary, because it takes forever to get in). We have a little kitchen/living area which is full of things left from the previous MHC students, and two rooms. Unfortunately we both wanted one of the rooms. I suggested switching halfway through the semester, but then we thought it would be too much work. So, we flipped a coin and I ended up with the nice room! Not that the other room is bad, but mine has slightly nicer furnishings, and a bigger bed. So, we spent a few hours settling in, and in the afternoon we went to lunch and did enough grocery shopping to get us through a few days. I figured that we'd make ourselves super sick of pasta so that we'd be forced to cook through sheer necessity. In the evening we went out with two friends which was quite lovely. Tomorrow is the placement exam at UPV, so send good thoughts this way!

Enough talk, here are photos!

My bed--complete with curtains, and my own personal grotto.

The view of my room from the door.

The courtyard from my window, with the fountain (which doesn't seem to work).

















The courtyard, which I swear is straight out of Morocco. The green door is the door to the street.

The itty-bitty living area/kitchen table, with a window onto the street.

Photos at last!

Okay, I finally figured out how to get pictures up here, so here's a little taste of things.



This is... something pretty.









This is the cathedral part of a medical archive. It was really pretty, and had some interesting architecture, not to mention the gargoyles.













L'arc de Triumph! (The Montpellier version) Apparently it's even older than the other one... Take that, Paris.













Place de la Comedie! This is basically the center of Montpellier, and it's totally pedestrian to boot.













The Mediterranean! I have never been to such a beautiful beach, ever. It was simply glorious.

It would seem that the photos just don't want to work, so facebook will be necessary for all of that.

In other news, I went to the Mediterranean today! It was ridiculously beautiful; the sky was blue, the water was warm, the weather was perfect. Mmm. There were also a lot of topless women which was rather interesting. I managed to get a bit of a tan (we were the palest people there, by far) which was rather exciting, although burned my nose a bit. Rudolph, anyone?

Now, time to catch up on a week of not sleeping...

Here at last!

So, after all the preparation, stress, time spent flying etc. I am finally here in Montpellier. We arrived yesterday morning, after an what seemed like a week of travel. I left home at 10:30 Wednesday morning, drove to Newark airport (after a brief episode with the car overheating) checked my bags (one of them was 2 pounds overweight, but luckily I didn't have to pay extra, just run the risk of dislocating my arm), said goodbye to my parents (there were hardly any tears involved which was rather impressive on both ends--for me, I got all my crying done on Tuesday) and met up with the group. Honestly, I can't imagine doing this without a group... I'd be either a. lost b. dead c. a sobbing mess or all of the above.

The flight into Paris was uneventful, but very long, and true to form I didn't sleep a wink, despite my best efforts. We got into CDG airport somewhere around 8:30 am Paris time, waited for a few hours (after very nearly getting lost), and took another brief flight to Montpellier where we were met by Amy and went to the hotel. I'm in France! I keep forgetting this fact, actually, and keep thinking I'm in New Orleans, or maybe Montreal. Nope. I guess that I, like the rest of the world, equate France with Paris. So, Muoyo and I are rooming together which is good, and I figure that if we can make it for 5 days in a tiny hotel room sharing a double bed, than living together during the semester will be just fine. All I really wanted to do at this point was to pass out for a very long time, but instead, after unpacking as much as was possible (aka taking out my toothbrush) I convinced Sara to come out with me, and we spent the next two hours walking around the town. Luckily she has a wonderful sense of direction, or I'd have been found sometime next week in Madrid. It's really a beautiful town, with pale-colored buildings and everything is old. There are a ton of little parks and fountains, and people are sitting around and talking and eating everywhere. Oh, and we found this Amazing gelato shop which must have had at least 50 flavors.

Let's see... Oh, another interesting thing is that the streets follow no logical pattern, so there are little alleys and streets everywhere, but these "alleys" are totally different from those at home, in that there are shops and restaurants in them. I'd love to go back to some of the places we saw, but I don't think I'll be able to find them again. So, we returned and had a group dinner at a place called "La Coquille" which is right across the street from the hotel, and I then proceeded to go to bed, at long, long, long last. I admit, though, that I was sort of scared to sleep--I had been so busy and so active throughout the past day and a half that I hadn't really given myself a chance to think about what I had just done--left home, family, friends, boyfriend, school, state, country, a language I understand, and I was worried about what would happen when I did let it all sink in. Mostly, that my brain would explode. Luckily, that hasn't happened. Yet.

The exciting events of today began with breakfast. Oh my. It was so wonderfully French! Bread, jams, butter, tea, fruit, croissants, and I even tried cafe au lait (dad, aren't you proud?). After I ate, we all went to Amy's house and had a bit of orientation, which seemed to revolve around "be smart and a bit paranoid" concerning safety things. Pickpocketing is rather common, it seems. After that, lunch, and then cell phone buying! I decided not to get one quite yet, but I think I will, mostly to keep in touch with people here, as it's less useful for over-seas calling. Then, there was lots of walking around and shopping! The really exciting purchase of the day was a leather shoulder bag. The hemp one just wasn't cutting it. I must've gone into 6 stores before I found it. A bit pricey, but not too terrible. It's pretty straightforward black leather, but it has a bow on it which makes it a bit cute. I'm very pleased. After that, Sara and I went into a brasserie and we got the equivalent of shandis--mine with a shot of grenadine. It was very tasty considering the fact that it was beer-based, and cheers to being able to buy alcohol! And now, it's time for a grammar review with Sara! Photos to come when I find the cord to hook up my camera.