First weekend

Our first weekend in Montpellier has come to a close. It started on Thursday night, with a night out led by our social assistants (two students at our university who work with the program to show us student life in Montpellier). We went to a bar, which started out as just 40 to 50 American students but slowly filled up with French people as the night progressed. We decided not to go to a club after that, but it was a little late to go home alone, so I crashed at a friend's apartment with a few friends. It's kind of a shock to have to worry about being out alone late at night, since I'm used to the tiny, safe, blue-light ridden Brandeis campus where I can walk home at any time of night by myself and not think twice about it. It was frustrating to have to worry about the logistics of having a buddy to walk me home, although I guess it's nicer for me, with my apartment near the center of the city than for my friends who live with host families out in the suburbs.  

Friday we took an official tour of the city and saw lots of historic sights in old Montpellier, including the Jewish baths (one of only two remaining in Europe) and their version of the Arc de Triomphe. It was pretty windy and overcast, so not as nice as the weather has typically been, but still fun to hear a lot about the history of the city.

Friday night, my friend Ryan from my program and his fiancee, Nathalie, had a little gathering in their apartment. The plan was to go find a pub afterwards, but we all ended up just staying in and hanging out for the evening, which was really fun and relaxed. 

Saturday I took a trip to the big mall outside the city with my awesome roommate, Jalynn and a friend from the program (who also goes to Jalynn's school back home) Dominique. We went into a clothing store, but restrained ourselves from buying anything since the HUGE French sales start in a few days. Apparently twice a year, everywhere in France has sales to clear out their stock from the previous season. We are lucky enough to be here for the January sales (the other ones are in July) so there is definitely some shopping in my future. We also went to Ikea to get some essentials for our apartment, mainly something to hold our laundry and some little knick-knack boxes for Jalynn. Good trip, all-in-all. 

I was going to stay in for the night, but Jalynn and Dominique wanted to find an R&B club and they convinced me to go with them. We hung out in Dominique's apartment for awhile with some friends and then went to the club they had in mind, but it was pretty empty since it was only midnight. Yes, only midnight - apparently in France bars close around one and then people head to the clubs and discotheques. We found a bar whose inside is designed like a pirate ship, which was super packed, and it closed pretty soon after that. Then we headed back to the original club, but I was ready to go home, so I jumped on the tram and headed home. 

Today, Sunday, I had a long lazy morning and then Jalynn and I went out to do some grocery shopping. Big mistake. Nothing, I repeat nothing, is open on Sundays in France. We were able to find some late lunch at one of the little kebab/sandwich stores (okay, one thing is open) but the rest of our trip was a fail, since the grocery store was closed, so we just took a walk around the newer section of town and came home. Clean out the fridge night! Hopefully we'll have enough things to throw together for dinner, but we are pretty close to being out of food. 

Classes start tomorrow, so that'll be a rude shock, but hopefully they won't be too bad, since I only have one class on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Easing myself slowly into this brand-new lifestyle.