As I peered over the edge of the 1300 meter cliff I wanted to scream “AIDEZ-MOI!” I think I overestimated my skiing abilities when I signed up for the Ski Trip to the French Alps provided by my program. We left Friday evening on a five hour bus trip from Montpellier to the Pelvoux-Valloise Sk Resort. We paid a flat rate of 200€ for the whole weekend which included all meals, ski rental fees, lodging and transportation. When we entered the chalet it was almost midnight so we settled into our quaint little room and hit the hay.

 Saturday morning we were up bright and early for a 7:30 am sharp petit déjeuner (bread, of course).  Stepping outside of the chalet to get onto the bus was like stepping into an alternate universe. It was pitch black outside when we arrived so I failed to notice the ENORMOUS mountains that surrounded us. They were absolutely breathe taking. Coming from Philadelphia, I’m not used to being in artic wonderlands often, so the first thing I did was whip out my phone and started taking pictures. Once we got all of our ski gear (boots, skis, poles, and helmet) I started getting a little nervous. 

“How hard could it be?”, I thought to myself as we headed towards the lift. Very, very hard I soon figured out. I thought I was going to have a heart attack as we ascended the largest mountain I’ve ever seen in my life.  The only thing I could think of on the way up was “How the hell am I going to get back down this thing without dying?” I was so consumed with fear about going down the actual slopes that I neglected to think about my first challenge: getting off the ski lift. I never thought of myself as a graceful person but I really solidified that theory when I tumbled off of the ski lift directly into an innocent bystander. “This is going to be a long day”.  Apparently skiing is a lot harder than it looks! I stood in terror at the top of the hill as I watched all my friends go down without me. I mustered up the courage and proceeded to go flying down the first stretch of the mountain at what felt like 100 mph until I fell flat on my back and skidded into the first bend.  Thankfully, one of the leaders of our program saw me struggling and gave me some pointers. One hour later, I was finally safe and sound at the bottom of the hill. I was really enjoying myself once I actually figured out how to ski properly.

 I went up the mountain a couple more times (keeping up with my friends this time), ate a nice lunch and then called it a day. Back at the chalet I was introduced to vin chaud. Hot wine is a delicacy in the south of France but I wasn’t really a fan. Before dinner was served, we were taken to the center of the little town we were staying it. There wasn’t much there except for a few gift shops and a very old church, but it was pretty cute.  At 8pm we had this amazing potato casserole dish that was literally just potatoes and cheese. It was the perfect meal to eat after a long day of skiing.  The next day everyone went skiing again but I stayed behind with my roommate Maddy. I was REALLY sore from the day before and wanted to catch up on some reading. Maddy and I hung out by the fire in the lobby of our chalet until everyone came back from skiing. It was such an eventful and relaxing weekend all at the same time.  I learned a new sport (slightly), made some new friends, and best of all conquered my fears of plummeting down a huge mountain. I honestly had an amazing time. Maybe I’ll make skiing a part of my winter endeavors…

À bientôt

Devon

Location: Montpellier, France

These past couple of days have been quite a whirl wind! Hotels, restaurants, trams, and schools. Getting settled in here has been quite an adjustment. As soon as I arrived in the airport I was greeted by a woman from the program named Corinne. She brought me back to the hotel where I would spend my first night in Montpellier. Unfortunately, that day was uneventful because I was dreadfully jetlagged. I did manage to walk around the Place de la Com�die which is the main square in Montpelier. It is filled with restaurants, clothing stores, shops, and a huge four-story mall. 

 Everything was overpriced but I decided I could splurge a little for dinner because I didn’t know where else to go. I ended up going to bed at 7:30 PM (19:30 in France) and slept straight through the night until 8:00 AM. We were given a complimentary breakfast at the hotel. This is when I started to realize how different everything is in France. First of all, all of the portions are a lot smaller than in the US (which is probably a good thing). Second, it is almost impossible to get water anywhere. It sounds so strange but its true. In America, it is normal to get water with your meal, even if you order something else to drink. In France, they don’t give you water unless you ask for it, and even then they give you a tiny cup of it. It’s very bizarre and needless to say I’ve been a little dehydrated. The service at restaurants is also very strange. The waiters and waitresses don’t work off of tips so I guess they don’t really care how good their service is. No one comes around to check on you or ask if you need anything else. One time the waiter brought our check and stood there waiting for us to pay him right away.  I guess this is normal in France, but it seems very odd to me. After our breakfast at the hotel we had orientation all day. We were brought to the program office where we will have a majority of our classes and then we also took the tram to l’Universit� Paul Val�ry to check out the campus. It was very different then Penn State; I’ll just leave it at that. After all of the orientation meetings we were taken to our apartment. I was so excited to see where I would be living for the next couple of months. I had Google mapped the address and knew that it was very close to the center of town but didn’t know anything else about it. The first challenge though was hauling my heavy luggage up three flights of steps. The building was so old that it didn’t have an elevator. 

 Once inside the apartment I was a little disappointed. There wasn’t much furniture and the layout was a little odd. There were four different bathrooms; two with just a toilet and two with just a shower. Strange. I chose the bathroom with a little Juliet balcony, an amazing view, and a huge wardrobe closet. Once I unpacked my things it started to feel like home (kind of).  Getting groceries for our apartment was the next challenge. We managed to find our way to a discount grocery store called Lidl. We were told that you have to either bring your own shopping bags or buy them at the store, but we were still a little unprepared.  I wanted to get as many things as I could, keeping in mind that I would have to walk all the way back to my apartment and up three flights of steps with them. Fortunately I didn’t have to spend a lot to get myself started. I’m not sure if I will go back there again but it’s a nice option to have if I’m running low on money. Today is the fourth day here in Montpellier, and as weird as it sounds, this place is really starting to feel like home.  Because almost everything is closed on Sundays, we walked around and discovered new parts of the city. Montpellier is really a beautiful old city with so much to offer.  We saw a rather odd art exhibit, ate the best cr�pe I’ve ever had in my life, saw a movie, and went ice skating. 

Tomorrow I have my first class at the University. I’m a little nervous to be with real French students but I’m excited to dive right in and see how I do.

� bient�t!

Location: Montpellier, FR