12.21.2011

The semester is officially over, and I finally finished my first 8-page French paper. Besides that, my last week was not particularly academic. I went out to coffee almost every day, a bar almost every night, and got fondue with a few friends one night! :)

I cannot fathom how quickly these first 4 months have gone by, and that they are now done. I'm sad to see this semester come to an end because within the last week,  I've had to say goodbye to some of the best people I've ever met in my life. Luckily, most of them live in Minneapolis and I guess I'll have to take a roadtrip to see the others.

I feel incredibly lucky to have gotten this experience, and cannot wait to live in Montpellier for another semester. It would be far too early to leave right now. I've come so far and I've learned so much, and I want to continue improving my French and expanding my horizons as much as possible.

12.11.2011

Well, it's finally hitting me that the semester is coming to an end. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone. I've truly had some of the most amazing experiences of my life here in Montpellier. I've been lucky enough to meet some of the best people I've ever known here as well, and I feel lucky that I have gotten to share these experiences with them. I've learned so much throughout the semester, and I don't mean in school. The experiences I've had so far in France will never be able to be replicated, and my ability to understand and speak this beautiful language has improved so much. I am so grateful that I am staying here one more semester, because leaving right now would be an extremely difficult and sad thing to do. I don't have to face the reality of leaving quite yet. Unfortunately, a lot of good friends I've made here are facing that reality during this upcoming week, and I will be sad to see them go.

During this past week, I took three finals, all of which I think went fine, and I couldn't be more thrilled to be done with most of my classes. The only thing I have left is an 8-page essay, and then I will be free of schoolwork until next semester! I cannot wait to travel to Switzerland, Germany and Paris on my own! I think it's going to be a fantastic experience to travel alone for a few days. I am most excited to see my amazing boyfriend Sam in Dublin and London, and cannot wait to spend 10 days with him in Europe! It should be really amazing :) :).

I've been spending the entire week with friends, and enjoying every minute of it. We've walked around this amazing city, going to cafes, watching movies, going out to bars, and just spending time enjoying each others company. This includes making and eating cheese fondue on Tuesday, going to the Vert Anglais for the French-English conversation exchange on Wednesday, going to a cocktail/ appetizer party with my host parents and other host families and students in the program on Thursday night, going to my friend Bastien's apartment to watch a Celine Dion concert and dance to Glee music on Friday, and going on a beautiful excursion to Avignon on Saturday.

Avignon was simply amazing. It's one of the most beautiful and charming towns I've ever been to, and included a Christmas market, street performers performing jazz-style Christmas music, artists, and of course beautiful architecture. We visited the Palais de Papes (palace of popes), where we took a guided tour, and it was really breathtaking. The palace is absolutely huge, and has a rich and interesting history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avignon

Today I plan to do a little writing for this paper, and to skype with my parents and Sam. Hopefully I'm productive enough this afternoon, so I can watch a Christmas movie tonight. One week from today, Christmas vacation will have just started for me, and I will be on my way to Interlaken, Switzerland!

12.04.2011

Well, I took my final for my integrated class on Monday, and I think it went okay. It was a 4-hour essay final, and we had 3 prompts to choose from. I chose to read a short text and analyze it, as opposed to trying to remember everything I had learned throughout the semester. At least that class is over, as it was by far the most stressful. I have 3 finals left, 2 of which should be easy, and the other of which I will have to study quite a bit for. Luckily I have all week to study for it. I also have an 8-page paper for my Medieval Literature class due for Wednesday, December 14th, and after that, this semester will officially be over! I can't believe how fast this semester has gone! I'm sad to see it come to an end. Not the classes, but I will be sad to see some of my friends I've made over the course of the semester leave.
On Wednesday night, I went to the French-English conversation exchange as usual, and I met a couple new French students, so that was a lot of fun! On Thursday, some friends and I went out early in the evening to try out a Karaoke place. We rented a private room for an hour, and it was a lot of fun! Of course, most of the songs were French, but there was plenty of American music too. Unfortunately, they didn't have the classics such as Summer Lovin' from Grease, or Ain't No Mountain High Enough. We had to resort to songs like "Stacy's mom" and "Beautiful Soul", but it was a blast anyway. Later, some friends and I went bar hopping, where we discovered some pretty delicious Mojitos.
Friday night was the first official night of the Christmas festival in Montpellier. All the streets were lit up, and there were tons of marching bands playing Christmas music. The market is adorable, and there are a lot of artisan gifts, original art, and handmade food and drinks. I tried some hot spiced wine, which did not disappoint, and some orange-spiced bread. After that, I went to my friend Bastien's new apartment, where we just hung out, and of course celebrated Britney Spears' 30th birthday by watching her newest concert DVD.
On Saturday, I went out to coffee with Michael, one of the French students I met on Wednesdsay night. We had a really great conversation, and spoke in English for half the time, and French for the other half. (He's an English major, so we both like to practice our other languages). That night, I went to "Intouchables" again with some friends who had not yet seen it. After, we went to Fitzpatricks, an authentic Irish Bar for some Bailey's and Guinness. The bartenders were all Irish, and there was an Irish band playing traditional music in the background.
Today, I finally finished booking everything for my trips for Christmas break, and feel very relieved. Tonight, a friend is cooking a bunch of us an Indian meal, so that should be a lot of fun! :)

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!