When I said "I'll be back," I meant it!

Well, if you read my last post about Montpellier, you know that I had decided I wanted to go back. Well, surprise! A mere two days later, I did.

Let me explain. On Wednesday, I met a lot of assistants, including Kimberly, who is from Louisiana/Texas and who just finished her Bachelor's degree at LSU, where I got my Master's. I love meeting people from all over, but it's also great to meet someone from home! We have a lot in common, and she mentioned that she could possibly welcome me if I came back to Montpellier.

Fast-forward to Friday night. Violeta told me she'd be staying the night in nearby Béziers to visit her mom, who was passing through. I realized I could either stay in Narbonne, or try to contact Kimberly to ask if I could perhaps visit for a night. I knew it was really soon, and that she might be busy, but I figured why not? I asked and it was worth it; we worked out a plan to where I could come up Friday night, hang out, go to a picnic for some of the assistants on Saturday, and then return to Narbonne. I was excited to both see Montpellier again and to get to know Kimberly!

I really do love this statue of the Three Graces. I'm sure you're tired of it.

J'adore les fontaines. :)

l'Église de St. Roch, Montpellier's patron saint

There are murals and eye-deceiving paintings everywhere in the city.

(A painting that intends to deceive the eye is called a trompe-l'œil.)

Here's a little video of the Place St. Roch, which includes 

the church and another trompe-l'œil (it looks like a building 

with windows but it's not).

back of the Église de St. Roch

This fountain was on the grounds of the church, but the gate was locked.

It seems so quiet and serene... somewhat hauntingly so.

Quartier de l'Ancien Courrier

first Amorino trip of this particular Europe trip

(If you're unfamiliar, Amorino is a chain of gelato shops where,

obviously, they make your gelato in the shape of a flower.

I pretty much love it.)

Later on, we met up with two assistants who work with Kimberly,

an Italian girl and a Russian girl. We hung out at this café for a while,

listened to the live music, and spoke (en français, bien sûr) all about our

adventure in France thus far. (And also about how, because we are animated

and loud, we stick out really obviously here in France.)

the little lake in the park along the Esplanade

In the morning, we took a walk in the Antigone District,

and it was beautiful outside!

more Antigone

I dunno who this guy is, buy I like his style.

replica of Winged Victory of Samothrace, which happens to be

one of my favorite sculptures (The original can be found in the Louvre,

at the top of some stairs at the end of a long corridor, all epic-style.)

the Polygone, which is a legit mall (not like our little Carrefour)

after our walk, we headed to the market in the Place de la Comédie

(video of the Saturday morning market)

We picked up some white peaches from this fruit stand and some

chaussons from the baker immediately behind (the guy with the khaki shirt) for our little picnic in the park.

de jolies fleurs

Check out the Gendarmerie! 

(You'll see why they were gathered in just a minute.)

I may have a visa, but I'm still (kind of) a tourist.

Sometimes.

the Saint Clément Aqueduct

entrance to the Place Peyrou with the arch in the background

our little picnic 

(a big merci to my new friend Natalie; I stole this photo from her!)

my pêche blanche and my chausson de chorizo from the baker

...and then, during our peaceful picnic in the park, what happens?

A (protest? demonstration?) about who knows what. Liberté, obviously.

(This is why the gendarmes were gathered.)

Video evidence, bien sûr.

Guess who has the same cell phone?! Yup.

Kimberly and me on the Esplanade

I had such a good time with Kimberly, and I'm so glad I took the risk and asked if I could visit. I got to know Montpellier better and I got a new friend, which is an all-around good day in my book. À bientôt, Kimberly!

In unrelated news, today marks one month since I left the States. Crazy! I've yet to be homesick (or to have an intense TexMex craving), but that's probably because I've been running around like crazy trying to figure everything out and I don't have time for homesickness. I'm sure it'll come at some point. But for now I just can't believe one of my eight months is already gone!

Montpellier, mon amour

On Wednesday, October 10th, there was an orientation in Montpellier for all of the TAPIF/CIEP secondary assistants (of all the languages, including English, Spanish, Italian, German, even a couple Russian, Czech, Arabic, and so on), so Carmen, Violeta, and I decided to head to Montpellier Tuesday night, stay in a hotel, and see the city!

Moral of the story is that we LOVED it. It's a young city, in that it's a university city and there are lots of young people. (I guess technically it's also young for a big city in France because it doesn't have any Gallo-Roman/Greek history... according to Wikipedia, which is always right, you know.) Anyway, everyone we stopped to ask a question was helpful and happy. Narbonne is charming and I feel really lucky to be here, but it was fantastic to be in a legit city with some hustle and bustle. 

I also got to meet a lot of the other assistants, some of whom are my Facebook friends, some of whose blogs I follow (see the list on the right!), and some of whom I'm even traveling with to Barcelona in a few weeks! It was good to get out and meet some new people... and it was the first time I spoke English for more than a few minutes since... well, since I was in Germany. (In fact, I hadn't spoken with an American since a couple we met in a garden the day Irene and I went to Salzburg!)

Here is the story of our aventure montpelliéraine, told in pictures... bien sûr!

Carmen and Violeta on our friend the TER

me and Arnaud 2, my GIANT sac à dos

(so giant he got named)

Ta-da! People. Everywhere!

pretty red doors, note the faces

ol' faithful!

buildings painted with murals to look like other buildings

view from under the Porte du Peyrou

...and then we showed up at the hotel we had researched/

called in advance (but not reserved as we don't have

 our French bank cards yet)...

...and it was ADORABLE and we got the last (most expensive, surprise) room!

...with three beds upstairs

...and some somewhat terrifying (yet adorable) stairs

...and a big bed downstairs!

...not to mention a balcony overlooking the garden

...and a private bathroom WITH A BATHTUB

(the next morning I fit in a 10-minute mini bath... take what you can get!)

...and we were so excited that we stayed in the bathroom

talking for like 30 minutes. And when we realized that, 

we decided we had to take (a lot of) pictures. Because we're girls.

...seriously. We were happy about our bathroom.

...for real.

Jardin des Plantes, France's oldest botanical garden

"Ceci n'est pas un tag" (This is not a tag/graffiti)

l'Arc de Triomphe de Montpellier

(older than its more famous counterpart in Paris;

built in honor of Louis XIV and finished in 1692)

statue of Louis XIV in the Place Royal du Peyrou,

as well as the Château d'eau (water tower) in background

Violeta and me in front of the Château d'eau

trois happy narbonnaises in the Place du Peyrou

l'Arc au coucher de soleil

a glimpse of la Cathédrale Sainte Anne

if only it were open... I'd have loved to go in

makin' our way to the Place de la Comédie

the Opéra Comédie, as in Place de la Comédie

Also, here's a video of the Place de la Comédie. But turn you volume down and excuse my AWFUL accent. I promise I don't always sound like that. 

I think/hope.

our amazingly delicious meal... we each had a galette (savory meal crêpe,

pictured above) and shared a salad

...and then we all said we'd share one dessert crêpe... but instead, we all 

got our own. What's more, we ate all of the six crêpes and the salad. 

(As in, every bite. Cleaned plates.) It. was. amazing.

les trois portables et les trois grâces à la Place de la Comédie

And another video for you!

precious <3

...and then later that night, we thought we'd call François Hollande to ask him a few questions about France. Only we couldn't. Because whoever designed our adorable hotel room put the phone behind the bed.

I mean, for real. Ça sert à quoi?!

Good morning, Montpellier! (on our way to orientation)

I'm not quite sure what's going on here, but I'm pretty sure I belong.

Lycée Joffre, the high school right next to our orientation

Place de la Comédie in the sunlight

the white tents are an open air clothing market

some more three graces/Opéra Comédie action

...and then, while we were having drinks with a few assistants from all over

the world and exchanging stories about our own cultures, some guys showed up in bras and party hats. Go figure.

The best part about orientation was hanging out with people from all over the world. Spain, Germany, England, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, the States, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, El Salvador, Barbados... so many countries were represented. I love meeting people with different perspectives, native languages, accents, and experiences from my own. 

The least exciting thing about orientation was when we tried to leave Montpellier on the 7:16 train (it's a one-hour ride) and we found out there was an accident à personne, meaning that somewhere along the train track someone either committed suicide or fell onto the tracks. (Sorry. Not pretty. But apparently it happens.) Anyway, we were delayed 2.5 hours. We got moved from the TER to the TGV and even ended up having to eat dinner on board.

yet another improvised dinner in France

Despite the hassle of the delay, we were together. We had fun (we played hangman with English and Spanish words, but using the French pronunciation of letters), and I taught Carmen how to play MASH. We met some amazingly kind older people. One of whom, a man whom we'll call Jérôme, even drove Violeta and me home so we wouldn't have to walk 30 minutes home at 11:30!

In the end, we loved our little taste of Montpellier, and we definitely plan on coming back during some of our weekends! Montpellier, mon amour, I'll be back!