I'll start with last weekend - Every Friday night in the summer, there is a local food festival in Montpellier called Les Estivales, with local wine, cheese, sea food, etc. We went on Friday night, and it was packed with people eating, drinking, and hanging out. It was a fun atmosphere with everyone outside, but it was super crowded! On Saturday our group from UNC went to Avignon, a small historical town about an hour away from Montpellier, with a group from Accent Francais. We explored the town, including the Pont d'Avignon (as in the song - "sur le Pont d'Avignon, on y danse, on y danse -- so of course we did a dance on the bridge while our guide played the song on his flute), and the Palais des Papes, an old palace where the pope used to live. On our way back, we stopped at the Pont du Gard, which is an old Roman aquaduct. It was huge and definitely the coolest part of the day because we got to hike up to the top and get a really cool view of the whole structure.
Avignon
Pont du Gard - so cool!!
We got new classes at Accent Francais on Monday - now there are only four people in my class, which makes for an intimate morning, especially if someone is absent. We also started a civilization class where we learn about southern France that meets three times for 2.5 hours over the next two weeks. This week we also went to a meeting for American students the university (UPV) where we will be taking classes starting the second week of September. The university looks really different from UNC, but it made me excited for when classes do start there. There are 4 main groups of Americans that will be taking classes at UPV, but our UNC program has its own director, Carol, so we won't need the university's services as much as the other groups will.
Carol has been helping us blend in with the locals here in Montpellier. We don't want to stand out as foreign tourists from America who don't speak French and don't know their way around because that might make us look bad, or make us easy targets for theft, etc. She said the two things that make Americans stand out the most are that we make eye contact with strangers, and that we smile a lot. She also said that in general, Americans are very loud. So, she advised us not to look people in the eye, smile at people we don't know, walk around in a big group, or speak really loudly. She also told us that the French dress according to the calendar, not the season, so as soon as September rolls around, the French put away their shorts and flip flops -- so we have to do the same!
Yesterday we had a French etiquette class followed by a wine and cheese tasting. The etiquette class seemed a bit silly, especially considering that my host family is very relaxed and doesn't follow traditional French etiquette, but the wine and cheese tasting was fun and tres francais!
This week we finish with the prestage French classes at Accent Francais, and this weekend we are going on another excursion to St Guilhem le Desert and le Lac Salagou!
Thanks for keeping up with me -- a bientot!
