13 Weeks Left-- What?!

Yet another week has just flown by! I recently counted my time left here, and it broke down like this: 13 weeks until I am home; 8 weeks left of being in school (2 of those weeks we have vacation though); 5 weeks until I turn 22; and about 4 weeks until my 2 week vacation in April. I am in disbelief, and the closer it comes, the more I wished I had come in the Fall and spent the whole year here! Don't get me wrong, I miss being home, but there's still so much I want to do while I am here. I just keep reminding myself that this will absolutely not be the last time I am in France, or Europe for that matter.

This last week I had most of my midterms, though I still have one next week, and I think things went well! One teacher in particular, who I am lucky enough to have for both phonetics and grammar, has made the classroom setting such an interesting place to be. She understands that grammar can be boring and difficult to grasp, so she often brings ways of integrating the outside world into our grammar class. After we read an article and analyze the verbs a bit, we often have discussions about the differences between American and French cultures. It gives us an opportunity to not only speak, and utilize the verbs, tenses, and vocab we have been learning, but it also allows us a better insight on French views.


My teacher is not shy about her opinions and talks openly about her family and issues she has had. I love this. I remember actually being shocked when she told us how old she was (only 55) because women in the States don't usually like discussing age, let alone teachers with their students. Anyways, she's made the environment such a pleasant one to be in-- and that is a difficult task when you teach 3 hours of grammar or 2 hours of phonetics all at once! My civilisation du sud class has been very interesting, but as it is a history-ish class, it is sometimes painful to sit there for 3 hours. I do feel that I have learned quite a bit about Montpellier and the South of France, though. My literature class is less than thrilling, but it definitely is still helpful to be in it and I know I have picked up quite a bit.

I am currently attempting to finalize details for the rest of my trips during my time here. It is looking like I'll definitely get to see more of France, Bordeaux and Toulouse hotels are already booked,which is really on the top of my list (since I speak the language and all). It's looking like I'll be touring quite a bit of Southern France in the coming weeks. My friends and I have been trying to make day trips when we can, and this last weekend we went to Sete.

Sete is only a 20 minute train ride from Montpellier and cost about 8 euros round trip-- cheap and close are always on the top of my list! The city was really interesting, and I imagined it resembled a little bit of what Venice might be like because Sete is a city filled with canals, since it's right on the ocean. We planned our trip last second and decided to make it a beach/picnic/wander around the city day. It was a fairly easy city to navigate, and you could basically find the ocean whichever direction you went. We ended up finding some large rocks against the coast and just sat around talking and dipping our feet in the (COLD!) water. Sadly, the sand was mostly pebbles so it was a little painful to walk on, but it was SO nice to finally feel like we could enjoy some beach weather. When we headed back towards the train station we stopped to grab some food at this little outdoor restaurant, and I of course ordered a sugar crepe-- yum! And as usual, I found some postcards to remember the trip by-- Sete is the NINTH postcard on my wall, and I love that I am no where near done adding to it. My friend Sydney and I also booked a trip to Toulouse and Bordeaux-- we're hoping to find an awesome wine tasting/tour as well! I am also finalizing details to get to Lyon and Marseille sometime before classes get out and this coming week, hopefully, I'll start making reservations for my May/June travels: Paris, Caen, London, Barcelona, Strasbourg, Nice, and Munich! I know these last trips will be the perfect way to wrap up my time here.

Things I have learned:

• In France it seems that the second there is gorgeous weather outside, everyone is outside for as long as they can be. And when you're in southern France that tends to be (nearly) every day! The French definitely love spending time outdoors and definitely lead a healthier lifestyle: More walking, more sunshine, less fast food, and a perfect mix of red wine and dark chocolate :)
• I was recently on YouTube getting ready to watch some random video and all of the sudden I realized it was showing a French commercial for One Tree Hill. Well, I stopped watching this years ago, but I couldn't help but laugh when they said the title, which was of course changed to: Les Freres Scotts (The Scott Brothers). I know some one will appreciate this back home, haha!
•  The water is very different here, as in it has a lot more chlorine... and my hair is suffering! Oh well, good excuse to go try out a French hair salon-- I'll be making an appointment in a few days!
• People constantly say that you learn so much about yourself when you go abroad and I absolutely agree. One thing I figured out about myself is that I am a great trip planner. I have no problem researching the hotels, the cities and the transportation, and I have found that I enjoy taking the time to really plan everything through. 
• I recently moved my bed to the only other wall that is partially open thinking it would give me more space-- and it did! I no longer live in a hallway :)
• Tanning is not in style here. Normally this time of year I feel super pale, but I realized this year I don't feel that way because no one around me is tan or goes tanning! 
• Traveling is crazy expensive, but so worthwhile!