Oh jeeez..

So, I've been on some adventures since I wrote last.

On Saturday, as planned, I journeyed to Nimes with a few friends and program assistants for Feria Nimes. It's a large festival and all night party surrounding the big event: the Corrida (bullfight) in the ancient arena.

So, bullfights. Not really my thing.

I can see the conversation between the matador and his mother going like this.
"Hi honey, what did you do today?"
"Oh gee mom! I ritually executed 7 bulls in the ancient arena!"

That's pretty much what happened. The dance between the matador and the bull was captivating to be sure. There is great skill involved...but the poking and prodding and blood, and final kill and drag off was just cruel. One bull wouldn't die, after the fatal blow, he fell to the ground, but stood back up and made a slow walk around the arena before falling and dying. It was hard to watch. The judges allowed to matador to kill a 7th, but my group left after 6.

Then, a larger group of 8 went to Alexandra's (assistant) apartment for drinks and conversation...and the drinking game (circle of death, kings, categories. or whatever you want to call it) commenced.
Well, we lost track of time, and, realizing that the train was coming soon (leaving at 11:20), starting to walk (stumble) to the train station. We all had the grand idea to run when the clock struck 11:18. We reached the station just in time for Peter and Mike ( the fastest runners) to watch the train depart from the station. Whooooops.

So, our happy crew made the best of the situation and wandered back down to the feria to grab another bite to eat. Then we wandered back to Alexandra's (small) apartment where we all grabbed a spot on the floor and settled down for the night with a pillow and a blanket. At exactly 5 am...yes, 5am, we hauled our sorry butts back to the train station...which was by this time surrounded by a moat of vomit ....ewww.
This story does have a happy ending however...we did catch the 5:55am back to Montpellier without incident and arrived in time to go back to bed in my big bed at 6:30. Gooood times.

Meanwhile, after saturday, my week has been pretty uneventful thus far. Yesterday however, some friends and I went down to the Shakespeare pub for Quiz Night! My friend Abby and I held down our team "Bad News Bears" and came in 5th out of more than 10! go us. I also unsuccessfully flirted with the bartender, but hey, it was a good night.

Well, I'm off to cook dinner for my host family. Take care all,

More adventures to come,
Becca

Another Friday in Montpellier

Well, it was hot today, and I overdressed for the first time yet. It was miserable. But I bravely soldiered on...and slept till 10, did a lot of nothing, wandered to a museum, and sent in my absentee application. It was a very successful day.

Otherwise, class has been fairly uneventful, I go, sometimes I understand, sometimes I don't...and sometimes french students take pity on me and lend me their notes.

I'm burning through my money at a rapid rate....makes me quite sad when I look at my bank account. I'm trying to budget and spend less, but when the US dollar decides it would rather spend more like a peso.....

Family is good, food is still too good, gaining...gaining..and Sapphire, our kitten is getting fat off of kitty formula as well. We can join weight watchers together.

Tomorrow I am going to a big festival/party in nearby Nimes, and apparently a bullfight is included in the trip. I'm not an advocate of the sport by any means, but I figure that while I'm here I could see it for myself.

If I'm forgetting anything else...I really don't know. So, au revoir everyone.

Until later,
Becca

Friday's Goings-on

So, after a day of adventuring, I have come back to the apartment....and we are in rescue mode. We have adopted an abandoned kitten...I guess, though I'm not sure how long he's staying with us. He is very cute, but also very small; I hope he makes it through.

I am fairly excited about this event seeing as how I miss my own cats very much. We will have to name him soon...

Any suggestions?

toodles,
Becca

Updates from the Western Front

So, a week later and I'm starting classes at Paul Valery. I've settled in with my host family, dinners continue to be good, conversations slow, but everyone is patient with me.

This past sunday the program went on our last sunday excursion to Avignon. It's a beautiful city, but we didn't get to spend much time there. Most of our visit was filled with a tour through le Palais de Papes (at one point back in the 13th and 14th centuries there were two popes). It was cool, but actually not much to see...kind of boring to be perfectly honest. After Avignon, we hauled our sorry butts back onto the bus and cruised on over to a vineyard to learn all about wine making. It was surreal standing in a vast field full of grapes under the hot mediterranean sun, and eating small dark grapes right off the vine. They are pretty good....oh and we tasted some more wine.
I think I'll be following Johnny Depp's example and tattooing "Wino Forever" on my arm. Just kidding mom and dad.

As for as going to university in france:

The campus feels like a mix between run down 60s architecture and a prison...hard to explain. There's a lot of graffiti everywhere and the fountains are overflowing with algae and other lovely things. Although the number of people smoking on a normal Montpellier street is slightly higher than in the U.S, it seems as though 2/3s of the population on campus is smoking....I guess college life is stressful.

Most of my classes are still with Americans, which is fine since I like the americans, but frustrating in the sense that I don't have the language skills to take some abscure course with actual french students. My best bet, believe it or not is the English Lit course I'm taking to get credit for my major back home. Lecture in english was wonderful, if a bit of a cop-out. Hehe, hey! I need credit for my English major!

Otherwise all is well, starting to look at transportation for future trips.

Until later,
Becca

One Week Later....

Here I am sitting in the salon (living room) of my host family. I have been here since Saturday afternoon and I couldn't enjoy it more. I'm with my host mom Valerie, her son Alexis (Alex-i) and her daughter Salome (salom-ay) in an apartment on one of the main streets in Montpellier. The apartment is not large, but it's bright and airy, with tile floors and lots of windows. I have the large front bedroom with a full bed, a closet, a desk, and a large window. It's very nice and so is my host family. They are very friendly and I really feel like I am more than just a four month visitor in their home. Valerie is a terrific cook, and I'm afraid I'm going to gain a lot of weight. I watched a french dubbed version of Juno with my host family last night. They found the ease of the adoption quite bizarre. I told them I didn't think that that was the norm.

This weekend I wandered down to Estivale again with some friends to see flamenco dancing, enjoy the night, and of course drink some more regional wine. Saturday I ran around getting ready to move in with my family, and on Sunday my program went on an excursion to the city of Carcassonne.

Carcassonne is a fortified city (though the city is much bigger than that one part), a castle with lots of history, and therefore....lots of tourists. The narrow cobblestone streets of the interior of the fortified city are very pretty and charming, but become less so when crowded with meandering tourists from all over Europe. Many of you will recognize my distaste for mobs of people.

Carcassonne was very lovely, but I recommend visiting on a weekday after tourist season.

Today after regular class, my civilisation class went to a wine tasting south of Montpellier. It was interesting, and the wine was good, but the hot, long bus ride almost made it not worth it.

Also, I have successfully navigated my way into town and to the college and back to the apartment again. So, yay me! It is very easy and much faster than I had anticipated. I arrived 40 minutes early to class today....so I will sleep in tomorrow morning to be sure.

Valerie is cooking something right now....it's early for dinner, but it smells delicious... I will have to go check it out.

Until later,
Becca

Me at the ancient arena in Nimes, France

No Rest for the Weary

Well, I have some down time now, and so, will blog.

It's been a crazy couple of days, so I will recap.

Friday: Ended class at 12:30 and went about running errands like a mad woman. I came back to the dorms and a few friends and I went to eat at the Resto U for dirt cheap. Apparently the food was better the night before, I guess they quit trying on weekends. But from there, the four of us wandered down to La Place de Comedie and Estivale.

There was a city wine tasting friday night, 3 euro for 3 degustations (or tastes) of wine. A friend and I sat in a grassy patch drinking our third glass, eating some tapas, and enjoying the lovely night and spanish guitar music. After that, we wandered over to the outdoor movie: High Plains Drifter. I wanted to hear Clint Eastwood's voice dubbed, but alas, only subtitled.

It was probably my best night here so far.

Saturday, I tried to sleep in, but the sounds of others woke up at about 10....so late for me. I decided to join the group going to the beach and it was quite the little adventure. Instead of getting a charter bus, a few of us went it alone using public transportation. We ended up barely squeezing onto a bus headed for the beach, and it was actually one of the most pleasant bus rides I've ever been on. People were friendly and having a good time, two older ladies told us "have fun at beach." I sunned myself a little more by the Mediterranean and headed on back to the dorms.

Sunday, our group went on an excursion to the nearby city of Nimes and to the aqueduct of Pont du Gard. Pictures to come.

-Until later,
Becca