11.27.2011

I can't believe this semester is almost over. I have a final exam for my integrated class tomorrow, and then I will be done with it for the rest of the year! I can't say I'm not relieved, as it is my least favorite class. This week has been really excellent. I managed to actually speak a fair amount of French at the conversation exchange that I go to every Wednesday. On Thursday, the Minnesota program arranged for us to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at a  restaurant, which was a lot of fun! It definitely didn't beat eating my family's home cooked food and spending the day with my family, but it was the best way to spend Thanksgiving abroad. I was lucky enough to be able to skype with my family for a few minutes when I got home as well. :)
On Friday, some friends and I went to a wine-tasting festival, where we tasted 3 glasses of wine for 2 euros. After, we went to dinner where I got "Moules-Frites" (mussels and fries), and after we headed over to our friend's apartment where there were a lot of French students as well as Americans. On Saturday, my host mom and I went to a local market that goes on every Saturday, where she showed  and explained to me a lot of local food and craft-type things. I got a chance to skype with Sam for a couple hours after, and then I had to go buy a new purse, since the zipper on my old one broke. My friends and I went to the wine-tasting festival again, and then we made pesto for dinner while blasting Christmas music. After, a group of us got together to watch movies and just relax.

11.20.2011

This has been a really great week! I took 2 tests, both of which seemed to go well, and the rest of my courses went smoothly. Wednesday night was another fun night at the French-English conversation exchange, and I also found out that the Christmas market in Montpellier should be up and running soon! Thursday afternoon, Eliza and I walked around the city in search of inspiration for gifts to send to our families. We discovered that the mall is nicely decorated, and most importantly, there are copious amounts of Christmas chocolate, all of which I want to try. On Friday, Courtney and I went to a movie called "Intouchables" (or "Untouchable" in English), and it was the best film I've seen in a long time. If you get a chance, it is definitely worth watching. Here's a link for the movie trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otpJgjrJ0ig
After, we saw another cinematic masterpiece, the 4th installment of Twilight. That night we enjoyed some kebabs and fries, wine, and sex and the city.
On Saturday I spent a good chunk of my day planning my trip for Christmas break, while talking through everything with my parents on Skype. They are the best! I now have my train tickets to Interlaken, Switzerland, and have my hostels for Interlaken, Munich and Paris booked. It's a huge relief to have most of the planning out of the way :). That night, I went to Casey's apartment where he Darren and I watched 2 horror movies on Netflix-- "The Craft" and "Case 39".
Today I slept in, ate lunch with my host mom for the first time in 5 days, as she's been sick, and did some grammar homework while watching more Sex and the City. I was supposed to go for a hike, but it was canceled due to rain. All in all, it's been a really great week! I can't believe how quickly this semester is coming to an end, seriously. I am very glad I decided to stay here for the entire school year. :)

11.13.2011

I know I didn't update this last Sunday, but there was really nothing much new happening, so I decided to wait. This week was a normal week, going to classes, not having a ton of homework, and hanging out with friends. Some friends and I decorated the program office for Thanksgiving, so that was a lot of fun!
Jerome (German exchange student who lives with me) and his friend came  to the Vert Anglais on Wednesday for the conversation group that meets every week. They seemed to really enjoy themselves and met people right away.
On Thursday night, some girls and I tried out a couple new bars, one of which was Pirate-themed, specializes in rum,  and plays really great music. The next one we went to was a Spanish bar, where the people working there spoke Spanish instead of French, so that was a surprise.
Friday consisted of going to IKEA and checking out all the display rooms, and then going out dancing that night. On Saturday, some friends and I decided to take a train to a town called Bezier, which is quite close to Montpellier. It was not very interesting at all, and we ended up mostly hanging out in their mall. Day trips are always a good way to pass an afternoon. That night was relaxing, as we watched "Superbad" and "Juno". Today, I think I'll finish up a little bit of homework and Skype call Sam and my parents, and probably lounge around doing nothing. :)

11.01.2011

We had a short week this week, and fall break started on Thursday.
On Friday, I went to Barcelona with Darren, Casey, Kristina and Eliza, and it was a blast!! We got to the city around 6:30 p.m. and the trip started out well when we couldn't find our way out of the parking lot for about 15 minutes. We eventually made our way to the hostel after some wrong turns along the way. It was a bit confusing because our hostel wasn't actually correctly labeled. I stayed in a room with 11 other people, so no one got much sleep. We did meet a few French girls in our room, so that was a lot of fun! The first night, we found a nice restaurant with relatively cheap sangria, so that was a plus. We then explored the downtown area, in search of a haunted/ fairy-themed bar and then a Sherlock Holmes-themed bar. We  eventually managed to find both after a significant amount of time not knowing where we were at all. Our group was clearly full of great navigators.
On Saturday we got up early, went to Starbucks (which we did every morning-- it's very Spanish, I'm sure), and did a ton of walking and touring around the city. The first stop was an erotic museum, which was very funny, and probably cultural or something. Then we walked around and headed to the Picasso Museum, but didn't end up going in since the line was about 3 hours long. For lunch we found a restaurant where I tried Paella. After, we continued to explore the city, going into parks, and walking downtown. I don't think I've ever walked so much in my life as I did in Barcelona. After, we made our way to the Sagrada Familia, a huge cathedral in Barcelona. It was absolutely gorgeous! Again, we didn't go in, since the line was so long.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagrada_Fam%C3%ADlia
That night, we cooked pasta in our hostel and then headed out to some bars again.
On Sunday, we slept in, went to Starbucks, and headed to the waterfront where we walked around the beach, and just soaked in the beautiful atmosphere. We stopped for churros and hot chocolate in the afternoon, which was absolutely delicious. After that, we saw "Paranormal Activity 3" in Spanish of course, which was a nice break from walking. That night we went out with the French girls from our hostel, but came back quite early since everyone was exhausted.
We checked out of our hostel on Monday, got Starbucks, and searched for a tattoo parlor, where we were all going to get compass tattoos, but gave up after 2 hours of not being able to find any. The plan is to get the tattoo on Wednesday! :). We grabbed some lunch and then headed home on our 6 hour bus ride.
It was a really fantastic weekend, full of laughter, fantastic friends, getting lost, and exploring the beautiful city of Barcelona!