I am enjoying my host family so far - my host mom is originally from England but has been in France for 20 years with my host dad and their 17 year old daughter. My host mom is an English teacher and an artist and my host dad is an event organizer. They live in a small apartment very close to the centre-ville and they have extra rooms in their apartment, so they host other foreign students during the year -- right now there are two students from Switzerland and one student from Poland also staying with us for a couple of weeks.
The family provides breakfast and dinner for us every day. Breakfast has been hot tea with either cereal or toast with jam, and dinner has been salads for the most part (because it's been so hot - it was over 100 yesterday with no ac anywhere!), but one night we had fresh fish that my host dad had caught that morning. And of course bread and cheese with every dinner! We have been eating dinner around 8 every night.
During our first two days, we had orientation and a walking tour of Montpellier, and on Sunday our UNC group went to the beach. Then on Monday, we started a two-week intensive French class that we do before classes start at the university. Classes are held at Accent Francais, which is a French school for international students studying in Montpellier. So we have been in class with other French students from all over the world! There are 10 people in my class -- I am the only American and the majority of them are from Mexico. We have class every morning for two weeks, and every morning is split into 2 class sessions. It's been cool to see so many different nationalities come together at one school and be able to communicate in French!
During the afternoons we have had meetings with our program director, walking tours around Montpellier, or free time to hang out. Yesterday after class we went on a tour of a beautiful garden called Jardin des Plantes and a cathedral in Montpellier.
We also have the opportunity to go on excursions organized by Accent Francais -- on Saturday we are all going on an excursion to Avignon!
A bientot!
Over 100 degrees. Wow. Your Mom had told us it was hot there with no a/c. Savannah is in Costa Rica with no a/c but it is in the mid 70s.
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