Better late than never

After sitting here for five minutes trying to think of where to start, I realized that I have been putting things off. A lot. Homework, laundry, cleaning, general hygiene, etc. Really, name anything conventionally productive or monotonous and chances are I have not done it. So, this is what I have been doing instead:

Tuesday we had our comedie musicale class at UPV. All five of us were in front of the classroom door at 8:45 for our 9:15 class, because we are responsible and punctual Americans. Used to French people being at least 10 minutes late to everything, we did not fret when the clock struck 9:12 and we were the only people in front of the classroom. However, at 9:20 it became evident that there was an error in communication somewhere down the line. After we all looked through our notes, we discovered that there was probably a 90% chance that class was actually in the city center at the opera house. This turned out to be the case, and as we entered the opera house 45 minutes late, we immediately knew that henceforth we would be the butt of every single joke. My dream of getting coffee with our silver fox of a professor was effectively crushed, but at least we still got to tour the opera house.

From the balcony

From the orchestra

That night we went to see the Tchaikovsky opera, Eugene Oenigune (questionable spelling at best) and it was.. definitely an opera (lots of very long, dramatic arias about love, short choral bits, death, overbearing mothers, jealous friends, friends becoming enemies, etc.) The music was great, but I discovered operas just aren't really my thing. I think I at least enjoyed it more than Carly, who quite literally went to sleep on the floor of our box seat.

The rest of the week was a blur of cafes, bars, loitering on walls/in parks and general hanging out. One new thing that I discovered this week is that I'm apparently playing in a concert that Jean F coordinates every year. After Jean F heard Carson play guitar, apparently he was recruited too. Now we have practice twice a week and were not really sure what this concert is/who it's for/what the hell we're doing, but it's been nice to sing and play with other people. Due to my inherent laziness, it's pretty necessary that I be forced into things like this.

On Saturday Mika went back to Japan. I'm going to miss her a surprising amount, as she is the epitome of an adorable ray of sunshine, but at the same time I'm looking forward to no longer feeling obligated to keep up with her at dinner. She didn't see it as a competition of who could eat the most and thusly be the most loved exchange child... but that's exactly what it was.

Also on Saturday, we went on a day trip to Nimes. We visited the arena (basically the the Colosseum's younger, under-appreciated step-sister) and la tour Magne (a big tower with an awesome view). We also hung out at an unbelievably picturesque park for several hours and had lunch at a pizza/Indian place (a concept that in theory baffles me but in practice is possibly the greatest discovery in modern gastronomy). It was an incredible day and we will certainly be returning in the near future.

Selfie on top of the arena

View from the top of the arena

La Tour Magne

Selfie from on top of la Tour Magne

Super old cathedral

Scenic view of more old things

I have made it my official mission and goal to take a selfie on top of every big site/monument that I encounter. I apologize for all of the beauty that will be blocked by my stupid/uncomfortable facial expressions in the future.

Hopefully, I'll be more prompt with my next post so that I can better remember what I've done and describe everything in more thorough detail.

Modern art

This week I finally realized that I am in school. Oddly enough, this doesn't bother me. I really enjoy being in classes that all have the same end goal.

But anyway, that's probably enough about that. On Friday morning some of us went to an art exhibit for our art history class, where I realized the extent of my hatred of (some) modern art. I get the concept, I really do, but if being a modern artist just involves putting random objects on top of other random objects and claiming that it represents some profound aspect of human nature I could be the next freaking Picasso.

After seeing the exhibit that was done by a professional, we got to check out some art done by second year students. A lot of the pieces were actually very interesting and required a lot of technical skill. And then others.. well..

Displaying the extent of our 21 year old maturity.

=

A piece entitled: "Found this on my way to school"*

*Credit: Carson Mckee. 

But really, a lot of it was very good and fun to look at. 

Later that day we went to the park near my house. It was a beautiful day and a good time was had by all, except for Sean, who stupidly challenged me to a wall sit-off (the exercise, not just sitting on top of a wall) and proceeded to lose in a big way. 

Us looking cute. Sean looking caught off-guard.

Later on, we had another successful night out that closed with Stephanie and I getting nutella covered waffles and hiding in the shadows so that no one would ask for a bite. I can not imagine a better end to a Friday night.

Words of wisdom

On Sunday, some of us had a picnic on top of the Corum.

If you can see past the awkward goons sitting on a roof,
there's some very nice scenery

It was pretty fantastic. Afterwards, we tried to go to the public library to do some homework. It was a miserable failure of an excursion, as there were absolutely no chairs open and you need a library card to access the wifi. I have spent a good portion of my life avoiding libraries, and now I remember why.

We did not immediately give up on the idea of studying together in a location with central heating, but since nothing is open here on Sundays, our only feasible option was McDonald's. I quickly decided that McDonald's is far superior to any library: there's free wifi, 1 euro espressos, and being around that specific clientele while my computer is open alone makes me feel like a productive member of society.

I honestly don't remember what happened on Monday, so I assume it was nothing interesting. Last night, however, we went to trivia night and it was a blast. I was about to stay in and sleep instead, but then Jean F shamed me into leaving the house by asking me if I came all the way to France just to sleep. It is quickly becoming evident that everything he says should be cross-stitched, framed, and hung over kitchen sinks.

The questions at trivia mostly had to do with American movies, music, and pop culture, so in theory there was no way that our group of 8 American college students could lose. I think we actually had a decent chance, until there were 15 questions that had to do with sports. It was my turn to write down the answers, but none of us are athletes or know anything about the subject, so I listed different types of cheeses in lieu of team names. We didn't stick around for the final results, but I think it's safe to say we were not walking away with a free bottle of whiskey.

After trivia, we went to a place called Cheese Nan, where Madison was determined to get cheesy frites. We have all been haunted by the idea of cheesy frites for the past few weeks, since that doesn't really exist here. The concept alone had become almost mythical and magical in our minds, so when the waiter at Cheese Nan said that he could make it happen, everyone was a little more than excited.

What we anticipated

The sad, sad reality

And so the quest continues.

Percent of this post that had to do with important things that I'm learning/doing in France: 13%
Percent that had to do with cheese: ~87%

Operas, books, and bars

This past Thursday a couple of us got kebabs and went to a bar called The Shakespeare before going to sit in on a rehearsal for a Tchaikovsky opera at Le Corum (an enormous building that contains an enormous theater and might have something to do with congress..? but who really knows) for our class on musicals. The bar was super neat and apparently they have trivia every Wednesday night that's half in French and half in English. From what I understood (not always a great source), the winning group gets a bottle of whiskey. This is one potential misinterpretation that I would be upset about.

Carly, looking adorable with her half pint of cider and baguette
...and Bree and I, looking rather masculine with our pints of stout and meat kebabs

When we got to Le Corum, we met up with our professor who told us that unfortunately the singers were taking a break that night and we would only be able to watch the dancers. I was completely fine with this, as I was mostly there to earn brownie points to begin with. We got to talk to the stage director and a couple of tech people, who must have been from Paris because their rapid-fire French was nearly incomprehensible. After trying to grasp even one word for about an hour, our teacher explained that the dancers didn't feel like rehearsing that night either (I truly don't know how anything is accomplished in France ever), but the good news was that we could tour the backstage. This was actually very interesting because I worked in a large theater this summer and I enjoyed seeing the differences in backstage organization. Eventually we're going to go see the actual opera, which should be pretty cool.

This is the set. Very Tchaikovsky-y.

The next day we finally had our art history course. The teacher is used to teaching foreign students, so he speaks very clear French and is understanding in general. I really liked the course and every other week we go to a museum instead of meeting for class, which is a nice perk.

On Friday we also finally got to see what the nightlife is like in Montpellier. Without going into too much detail, it is very lively. We actually met some French people who were (to our surprise) very enthusiastic about out American-ness. The nightlife is similar to what we have in the states, except for a few key differences:

1. French
2. Males can drink smirnoff ice and other fruity drinks without any judgement being cast
3. Smoking extends from just the patio to the everywhere
4. Drinking on the street doesn't make you look homeless, but instead helps you fit in

Today some of us met to get lunch. It escalated quickly, and I'm pretty sure Bree ended up eating about 3 full meals. Our cafe hopping led us to a magical place that sells hot wine.

Sounds gross, tastes glorious

We loitered there for about 2 hours and then went to an all-puropse, but mostly books, bookstore. I really wanted to find the second book in the Divergent series in English, but they didn't have that, so I bought the 7th Harry Potter in French. I wasn't totally sold on the idea of buying Harry Potter in French initially, but then I opened it up and saw all of the incredibly hysterical translations and knew it had to be mine. My favorites thus far:

• Magic wand is baguette magique. Direct translation: magic baguette. 
• He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is Celui-Dont-On-Ne-Doit-Pas-Prononcer-Le-Nom. Direct translation: he who one must not pronounce the name. 

I am sure there will be more to come.

Afterwards we met up with Carson's host brother for drinks and hung out with some more very cool/nice French students. They were 17, but that's beside the point. Tonight I committed myself to being lame and staying in because I am incredibly tired and exhausted all of the fun I am capable of last night. Additionally, it is imperative that I start my Lost in Translation: Harry Potter 7 edition list immediately.

Extra small coffees and extra large deals

This week is all about sitting in on classes at UPV and deciding what we want to take for the semester. On Monday, I went to a science fiction cinema class with a couple of friends. It seemed to be going well enough, but then the teacher asked us to define the genre of science fiction and proceeded to ask every group to share what they had come up with. Turns out these students knew A LOT about science fiction. I was entirely out of my league and tried to look as frightened and pitiable as possible. This very proved effective and is my new M.O. in those situations.

The next day I sat in on a film class about musicales, which was far more successful, considering I actually know things about musicales. Additionally, nearly all musicales that are also films (possibly in general?) are in English and were made in America. It seemed like the professor was excited to have Americans in his class to verify certain information and translations. I enjoy feeling useful so I immediately enrolled after class. The course is three hours, but it's only one day a week and we get to do neat things like go to the opera and film festivals.

I think that my 3 classes at Accent Francais are going to be useful and engaging as well. The only class that I have yet to take is Art History, which is on Friday.

Everything is still going great with my host family. Yesterday they had an interesting friend over for dinner. I'm not 100% sure what he was saying half of the time, because my host family would often cut him off mid-sentence and say something like *rough translation* "No no no! She is too sweet of mind." Of course, they were talking about Mika. They've already figured out that I'm a lost cause. Anyway, he was a lot of fun despite his inappropriate phrases and conversation starters, and after dinner we basically had a family sing-a-long. My host parents played/sung songs in English (like Stand By Me) and French, and then made me get my guitar and play them a few songs. The whole experience was extremely corny, so I hate to admit that it was a good time.

I also learned how to use the washing machine yesterday, thinking that my clothes would be dry this morning. Since I had completely run out of pants, it was important that they be dry so that I could go in public. Unfortunately, they were not (and somehow still are not) dry, so I had to improvise and wear tights. If they are not dry tomorrow, I will be forced to wear Christmas tree pajama pants.

(Insert segue).. While I was talking to my host mom today, I was trying to say "to hangout" and used the term "glander." Apparently "gland" used to (potentially still) means testicles (I'll let you figure out the connection) and this is a wildly inappropriate expression. I will never again so blindly trust wordreference.

Today was also the first day I've had time to run. It felt great, but it also felt very weird to listen to "Back that Azz Up" while running through beautiful, old, classy things. Might have to update my playlist.

Outside of the house, our group has been hanging out a bunch and consuming a lot of awesome food/drinks. We've found a couple of cafes that are very cool and have free wifi.

Carson with the TINIEST coffee I have ever known.

One especially neat place, called Brioche Doree, has a deal where you can buy a GIGANTIC chocolate croissant and a pint of soda for 3 euros. It's called something like the XXL and it is obviously geared towards Americans.

And it totally works. This is Bree pre-XXL, when she had intentions of eating the croissant for breakfast all week and her dignity was still intact.  

Above all else I was impressed.

Before this incident, we went shopping for a long time because the sales (which are UNREAL here) started today. I was reserved and didn't actually buy anything (despite finding the pea-coat of my dreams for 30 euros) because apparently the sales last all month. It's a really big deal here and the streets were even more packed than usual.

I once again feel like I'm leaving things out, but that's all I have for now. More updates to come.

A quick weekend update

For lunch on Saturday we went to a place that was basically McDonalds, but with kebabs. I wanted to order the "nan n'chik'n" (meat and vegetables wrapped in nan), but couldn't figure out how to pronounce it in french, let alone any language. I got nervous before ordering and something like "nan-ah-ne-chi-khen-NEH" came out of my mouth. The cashier laughed during the entire transaction, but I've decided that's preferable to the typical French glare of death.

I are my nan kebab (not sure on the terminology here) too quickly.
Luckily, Katie makes the best food model. 

Later in the day we all got our French phones, which are like the phone I used in middle school but without the luxury of t9word. It takes at least 2 minutes to text anything coherent, and it's times like this that I wish abbreviations I used when I was fourteen were still relevant and appropriate.

Today I slept in because we have yet to have that opportunity. I then met some friends for lunch in the city center and we decided on a place called le wok, a restaurant where you build your own stir fry dish. I got a vegetable base with chicken and a spicy Thai sauce. It was both fantastic and reasonably priced.

Definitely plan on becoming a regular.

Tomorrow is our first day of classes at Accent Francais and UPV. Some of us are meeting at the tram stop around 8:15 to go to UPV, which means I'll be waking up around 7 in order to make it to a class on time. I plan on spending the majority of tonight going over some basic grammar rules, because I forgot how to conjugate the verb aller (to go) earlier today and that's sort of important. Sadly, my days of being able to get away with bs-ing and desecrating the French language are numbered. It doesn't seem like this week is going to be any less busy than this past week, so I apologize if I have been/will continue to be bad at keeping in touch and communicating in general. I'm sure things will settle down after our schedules are finalized. Until then, here are some more pretty pictures:

The park I walk though to get to school each day

Montpellier's personal Arc de Triomphe 

Abby in front of the centre ville Christmas tree

The opera house

Nearly killed trying to capture this angle

Not sure what the official name for this structure is, but I like it a lot and
 it's also in the park near my house

Important things

These past few days have been packed full of events, and my jet lagged brain is having a super difficult time differentiating from/remembering them. It's having an even more difficult time taking words and making them into coherent phrases, but we're going to give it a shot. Important things that have happened: New Year's Eve, getting to Montpellier, my first day in the city.

New Year's Eve was really fantastic. I was able to see everyone that I was afraid I wouldn't see before I left and had a great final dinner with my mom. It was a pretty typical New Year's, and is probably best summed up by the following candid photo:

I wish I could claim it was our goal to look weird and uncomfortable.

Now, on to the whole point of this blog. I got to the airport early on New Year's day so that I could hang out with/see off Carmen, my best friend of a ridiculous number of years who just happened to be leaving for Finland on the same day. To all of those concerned (and you are if you know Carmen)- she made it safely to her Finnish apartment. The rest was pretty uneventful. Katie and Carson, some friends also going to Montpellier, were on my international flight and made the trip seem short. We had something like a six hour layover in Paris, which turned out to be a good thing, because we managed to insert ourselves into every single line that we weren't supposed to be in. When we finally reached the terminal, I immediately passed out on the floor with my book bag still on my back. 

My host mom greeted me at the airport and took me to her unbelievably beautiful home, where I was able to unpack and settle in. I'm not sure how to convey how whimsical, artsy, eclectic, and occasionally confusing (ex: there are strategically placed rocks everywhere you turn) the decor is.

I found out upon my arrival that there is a Japanese student living in the room across from mine for the next month. Her name is Mika (sp?) and she's very nice. I also met my host mom's partner, who is a political cartoonist and musician. He gave me a guitar to keep during my stay here and we played together for a bit, so needless to say I'm a big fan. My first night we had a really incredible lemon-grass soup with sticky rice and what I think was curry sauce. 

Every dinner so far has included a small piece of lettuce. It's like the
 illusion of a salad, but without actually having to eat a salad.

After dinner, they put out different cheeses, clementines, and yogurts. They were extremely, extremely enthusiastic and happy about my love of cheese and general cheese knowledge. I knew it would come in handy one day.

The next day, I had my first communication mishap. Not because I didn't understand my host mom's French, but because I can be extremely dense sometimes. I knew that I had to be at Accent Francais (one of the schools I'm attending here) at 10 am. I set my alarm for 9 am and was told to be ready to leave by 9:40 am. I can count and do basic addition/subtraction (source: elementary school degree). However, for some reason I was certain that waking up at 9 would give me two hours to get ready. When 9:48 rolled around I was leisurely brushing my teeth in my pajamas. My host mom gave me a very baffled and frantic look when she came downstairs. I now know I'm capable of getting ready for an entire day in under 4 minutes.

Over the course of the day we covered a lot of logistical/school related things that I don't feel like thinking about again until I am forced to, so here are some pictures from my walk home:

View of the Arc de Triomphe from behind some arches.

More arches.

The city is ridiculously gorgeous and the fact that they're allowing me to live in it still hasn't really set in. When I got home, we ate a Moroccan-themed dinner that was just as well-presented and fantastic as the soup mentioned above.

In short: I'm in the honeymoon stage and very excited for the next couple of months.