Bonjour � tous! I had a quiet moment this weekend, so I decided to write again. Things have been going really well, and I’ve been keeping up with taking pictures. Some of the major moments of this week:  starting classes at the Universit� Paul-Val�ry, touring more parts of the city and shopping, and finally figuring out my bus-tram-tram commute to campus. Some of the minor moments: a strange French boy asking me to be his girlfriend at the tram stop, going ice skating at the coolest rink ever, and learning the French words for “cuttlefish” and “octopus” (see below…).

                The Universit� Paul-Val�ry is a lot different from Penn State. I’m used to a huge, gorgeous campus with up-to-date technology. The campus here is pretty small, and like most of the city, there’s graffiti all over the place. There’s no air conditioning in most of the buildings, which can be rough on hot days. It is pretty outdated, but college is free in France and I think there’s a different attitude here on both the part of the students and the professors. Instead of having class several times a week like we do at Penn State, they have each class once per week, for around three hours. The semester is only 13 weeks long, including finals week.

This is good ol’ Pr�fa 8, where we have our grammar and writing classes on campus. It’s one of those temporary classroom buildings and gets so hot!

                The French students hang out around the buildings and sit on the grass between classes, so campus is always pretty busy. From sitting next to them in class, I’ve noticed that they all have beautiful, carefully done handwriting and have been trained to use rulers and different colored pens when taking notes. Also, the paper here is different too- lined paper practically doesn’t exist! They use graph paper or special note paper with both horizontal and vertical lines, which I’m still getting used to.

                Last Sunday, my host mom and I drove to the nearby village of Mauguio for the weekly market. I absolutely loved it- there were so many different things for sale: local olives, clothing, scarves, vegetables, fruits, wines, meats, cheeses, breads, fresh seafood, p�tisseries, and spices. We bought some vin ros� (my favorite!) and des figues, and wandered around chatting with sellers. Everyone I’ve talked to has been really friendly- I think it has something to do with the warm Mediterranean climate here and a certain French outlook on life. It almost seems contradictory to say it, but to me they have a seemingly slower pace of life in spite of their busy-ness. They’ve mastered the art of lingering on little pleasures, and making time for them. They have jobs and responsibilities and time pressures (judging by the way they drive!), but they come home for lunch, savor little mugs of caf�, always have dessert, and rejoice in the flavors of food and wine.

Fruit for sale at the market (figs in the foreground)

Clothing for sale 

Olive stand

Oysters at the market

            As for the seafood, I’ve been eating things I’d never thought I would. We bought des hu�tres (oysters) at the market for me to try- I hadn’t realized you eat them raw and while they’re alive! My host dad showed me how to eat them with butter and bread, and I was brave enough to eat one. Another night, we had a specialty from the nearby village of S�te. It’s called a tielle, and it’s essentially a pie stuffed with chopped poulpe (octopus) and various fish. I was a little concerned about the octopus part, but it was actually pretty good because it was blended with a spicy tomato sauce. The next night, we had chunks of seiche with pasta. I had to look the word up because I had no idea what my host mom was talking about- turns out it was cuttlefish. It was really mild and tasted like chicken. I’m trying to be open to new experiences and am willing to try almost anything once haha.

The tielle (if you’re curious, it just looked like ground meat inside)

I’m going to Spain next weekend with my host family, because my host dad is on a diving team and they’re having an annual get-together. I’ll make sure to take lots of photos!

Stay tuned and � bient�t!

Some other pretty photos from this week:

Stained glass windows in the Eglise Sainte-Anne

Flower stall on the Esplanade

Flag with a cross that is the symbol of this part of France, the Languedoc Roussillon region

 

Une tarte au citron                

Location: Montpellier, France