26.03.2012

This week has been absolutely packed, but in the best ways possible! :). I of course had my internship on Monday and Friday as usual, which was fun. I get to sing a bunch and hang out with little kids! Who wouldn't want to do that? Also, I picked the topic of 2 of my 4 papers and started brainstorming a bit, so next week I should be able to get cracking. I keep saying that and still nothing happens. Funny how that works.

On Tuesday for dinner, we made quiche at the office-- one of which was traditional quiche lorraine (ham and cheese), and the other was tomatoes and goat cheese. Both were delicious! After that, I went to karaoke at the Panama Cafe with my friends Mary, Darren, Robert and Fanni. Thursday afternoon, I got to go to a modern art museum in the city of Nimes for my art history class, which was a lot of fun! That night, Darren and I went to a showing of the movie West Side Story, and after, we went to Robert's. Friday afternoon, I went to coffee with Lydia and Emily, and after, just relaxed most of the day. I had to be up pretty early on Saturday, since we had an excursion planned by the program office! We first went to Lierab Ling, a Buddhist Temple, which was really beautiful, and the tour was interesting. After, we had a picnic at a bridge called "Viaduc de Millaud", which was absolutely stunning. I've never seen a view anything like it, and to top it off, it was about 70 degrees and sunny, so perfect hiking weather! Lastly, we went to the Roquefort Cheese caves, which was enjoyable. The tour itself was a little dull, since I'm not actually all that interested in the process of cheese-making, but the sampling of cheese and bread afterword was definitely worth it. Rocquefort is my host mom's favorite cheese, and has become one of my favorites as well. :). Today, I went to the beach with some friends-- Casey, Darren, Robert, Fanni and Zsofia, which was absolutely wonderful. It had been a while since it has been warm enough to even want to make the trek out there, so I can't wait to do it again soon! Afterwords, we went back to Zsofia's apartment for pizza and a movie night. All in all, it's been a fantastic week!

18.03.2012

As usual, this has been another lovely week in Montpellier! I had my internship on Monday and Thursday, which went very well. One of the teachers told me that I had made a lot of improvement over the past 5 weeks, which was really nice to hear. :). It's always fun, since I get to teach a lot of songs and fun vocabulary words. The kids retain a lot as well, so that makes my job a lot easier! The rest of my classes have been just fine as well.

On Monday, a few friends and I went to Karaoke, which was a lot of fun. Tuesday after class, Robert and I met up to take a walk around the park since it was such a beautiful day, and after we watched a movie on Netflix. Wednesday night, I went to the French-English conversation exchange as usual at the Vert Anglais. I had a lot of fun as always, and even met a couple new people this week! On Thursday, Casey, Darren and I went to our friend Bastien's apartment, where we just hung out and caught up, as none of us had seen him for over a month! He had been traveling around the United States for a few weeks. On Friday, Mary, Darren and I had a picnic in the park, and after did a little spring/ summer shopping. I managed to only buy a pair of sunglasses, phew! That night, I went to a combined birthday party for a couple girls, Alice and Mathylda. It was really great, and I got to see some people who I hadn't seen for a while, which was nice. Saturday afternoon consisted of watching movies all day with Robert and Darren, and it was of course St. Patricks Day, so later that evening, a bunch of us bar-hopped around Montpellier. The streets were absolutely packed with young people, and the atmosphere of the city was just incredible that night! Today has been pretty relaxing, as I've just finished typing a couple short papers and did a little reading. :)

11.03.2012

So this week has  been just delightful! I've been on top of my homework, my internship is going quite well, and I've been able to hang out with people a lot.

On Tuesday, I saw "The Artist", which was very good and I would recommend it to anybody! It's definitely a feel-good movie. On Wednesday I went to the Vert Anglais for the English-French conversation exchange, where I saw some people I hadn't talked to since before winter break, so that was a lot of fun! On Thursday afternoon, I went to coffee with Robert, and later that night, Darren and I went to our friend Morgane's birthday party. I got to meet a few of her other French friends, so that was nice to meet some new people!

 On Friday, I went out to lunch with my friends Emily and Lydia, and after we went out for coffee at a little cafe called "The Bookshop", and after we went to "Jardin des plantes", a beautiful park in Montpellier. That night,  Casey and I went to Darren's house for some gossiping, drinking beer, eating popcorn and watching movies. It was nice to just hang out with those two as we hadn't for a couple weeks. Saturday night, Darren, Robert and I went to a birthday party, and after, Robert and I went to the Panama Cafe for some karaoke! It was a blast and since the bar was practically empty, we got to sing a good number of songs. :). After that, we met up with a few other girls at The Temple Bar (which resembles an American sports bar)for some dancing. After, we went back to Robert's apartment to watch a movie. Today, I went to Jardin des Plantes again to write a paper and start reading for one of my classes. It's been beautiful outside this week (about 65 and sunny), so I've gotten to wear less wintery clothes, which is excellent!

04.03.2012

I've been getting back into my school routine this week, so that's always fun. I had all my regular classes, a bit of homework, and of course my internship which is going quite well! Last week I taught the students body parts as well as the song "head, shoulders, knees and toes", so that was a lot of fun. I really like working with 3-4 year olds because they're pretty cute, but definitely prefer the older (6-7) year olds, since they actually listen and retain a lot of what I teach them from week to week.

I didn't do much outside of my classes this week-- I didn't even go to the conversation exchange, which I normally do. I have gotten to be outside and reading a lot though, which has been fantastic! For the past couple weeks, it has been sunny and around 60 degrees, so I hope the weather stays like this. On Friday night, I went out with some friends, and then Saturday, Darren, Robert and I watched movies on Netflix all afternoon. That night, my host parents had a dinner party with a few people, so we ate Rocklette (basically cheese fondue) over potatoes and various types of meat, followed by salad and dessert, which was fruit and cookies. Today, my host parents took me to a little beach town just 20  minutes out of Montpellier, where they went golfing, and I sat on the beach and finished my homework and read more Harry Potter. I would call it a pretty successful sunday all in all.

So I really want to see the movie "The Artist" now, as there has been a ton of hype about it both in the United States and in France. The French are extremely proud that the movie won best picture and that a French actor one best actor at the oscars. On another cultural note, the New York Times rated Montpellier as the best French city! I must be pretty lucky to live here. :). I couldn't find the NY Times article, but I did find a French article about it:

http://www.midilibre.fr/2012/01/12/montpellier-ville-francaise-preferee-du-new-york-times,442671.php

Anyway, that's all I really have to talk about for now! I have nothing big planned for this next week, just school as usual.