Montpellier @ MindSay

So I'm incredibly new to blogging, but because I'm leaving the country for over 5 months, I thought, what better time then now. For those who do not know, I am going to study abroad in Montpellier, France. I'm leaving in two weeks and I'm in that paniced, excited, nervous and sad faze of getting ready to leave. I'm paniced because I have so many loose ends to tie up before I Ieave, such as doctors appts., figuring out my loan situation, saying goodbye to people, oh and one minor thing...packing! I have no clue what to bring! I still can't get over my packing guide for the semester. For shirts It suggests that I bring 3 blouses...what. 3 blouses? for 5 months? Are they joking? Well, I don't plan on using that guide, thats for sure! I'm excited becasue I've been hearing so many good things about the program, and I can't wait to travel, meet new people, oh and be at the legal drinking age! I'm nervous because I tend to over analyze every situation. So now I have things going through my head like, "what if I don't make any friends," "What if the french tell me I'm a stupid American!" or worse, "what if I live with a family who hates me and locks me in their basement?" Ok, so the last one's a little far fetched, and I've been assured I'll have a wonderful time, but either way what it all boils down to is that I am really nervous . Saying bye to my friends at school was the hardest thing to do. I didn't realize how hard it would be. Thank god for facebook, because without that invention, I don't know what I'd do. I know saying bye to my family will be even harder, I'm already getting sad just thinking about it! Well, how'd I do for my first blog? Good I hope :) I'll keep you all posted on my European adventures! Wish me luck!!!

Now that my trust fund has run out, wink wink, my friends and I have been looking more into day trips, visiting cities near Montpellier that might be interesting or at least have a museum or a beach or something to entertain us. (Ok, I get it that we’re spoiled.) Anyway, my friend David texted me to tell me that he planned our day trip; a lovely getaway to a small town on the coast called Collioure. When I found out that the train tickets were only 20 euro there and back, I really couldn’t complain.

We packed a picnic and headed off to Collioure for the day. When we got there, was I ever shocked. This place, which I had never even heard of, was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. I’m not exaggerating either. We stepped out of the train, walked about five minutes, and stumbled upon a beautiful cove with a lighthouse just in front of the mountains.

It was definitely lucky that it was 22 degrees C that day (about 74 degrees F with my rough conversion skills) and sunny. We walked around the lighthouse area and walked along the beach. We got to see the outside of the church but something was going on inside, so we couldn’t go in yet. We also saw a castle there and took some amazing pictures of the beach and palm trees.

After that we decided to hike up to the top of one of the mountains where there is a little chateau at the top. I realized what terrible shape I am in when I was totally out of breath and had to move out of the way for some resident of Collioure to run past me as he sprinted to the top of the mountain. I tripped about 87 times on the way up, and I can be fairly sure when I say that I would have been dead meat if I would have attempted to run up that rocky path. I don’t know how he did it.

When we got to the top, it was so amazing. The view was breathtaking, and we were hungry. We had a picnic of bread and cheese and wine (we’re practicing being French!) and took some pictures at the summit.

On the way back down, we stopped by the windmill that was built in the 1300’s and took another look at the view.

When we reached the bottom again, we went into the church to find the strangest thing…no stained glass like all of the other churches in France, but a huge gold alter that was very bizarre. It was pretty but almost gaudy it was so huge.

We sat around on the beach for about another hour before we had to leave the lovely town of Collioure. I think the day trip was just perfect…and really cheap to boot. If anyone is planning on visiting the south of France, I would not miss this small and charming town, especially if you like a good hike. Or, if you’re like me, and you just like the wine and cheese you get after the hike.

This weekend I actually stayed in Montpellier for a change and didn’t go on an excursion. I was really excited to stay here with my host mom, Akila, and see what she was up to on the weekends.

She woke me up and asked if I’d like to go to an art exhibit with her in a town called Lodeve which is only about thirty minutes from Montpellier. My friend Steph came with me and Akila’s friend Isabele who I had already met also came. We drove over to Lodeve and got to see a sculpture there that was made for soldiers who had perished.

It was really interesting and Akila told me that it was really revolutionary because there were women in the sculpture. There was one woman who represented each social class. I thought the statue was really amazing, and we climbed over the wall to get a better look. Don’t tell anyone! People had come to the statue and put flowers around it, and I took a picture of the statement that was made about the lost soldiers.

We went to eat lunch after that where I ate an omelet and some French fries. I really think that French fries are French. I eat them with everything here. Anyway, we went to the museum after that and the visiting exhibit was one on Berthe Morisot who is a famous impressionist painter. I found her paintings to be really amazingly beautiful. She had some paintings that were scenery, but her paintings of young girls were very delicate and detailed. The part of the exhibit that was my favorite was the part displaying letters between Morisot and some other famous painters. There were letters there from Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pissarro, and Cassat to name a few. I couldn’t believe that all of those painters knew each other and followed each other’s work so closely. I think that is really amazing.

We came back from Lodeve, and Akila had some friends come over. Her friend Francoise has a daughter who just left for the United States named Eva. She is only sixteen, but she is doing an exchange program for two weeks through her school. Akila made all of us dinner and we just sat around and talked for a while, and I even had Eva practice a bit of English with me, just telling me her name and how old she was and general questions that her host family might ask her. She was a lot better than she let on, but she kept insisting that she couldn’t speak well. I laughed and told her that it’s fine because I can’t speak French very well, but I try everyday. Then I realized that that was the first English I had spoken all day long. Do you believe it? I find that it’s less of a task for me to speak French, even with my friends from the States. I’m really proud of the progress I’ve made so far.