I can’t believe that I’ve been living in France for almost a month and a half now! SO much has already happened, yet I still feel like I was just saying goodbye to my mom in the Philadelphia airport. When I thought about going abroad, I really felt like I would be disconnected from everyone back at home. I thought it would be like living in a completely different world. Now don’t get me wrong, living in Montpellier IS like living in a completely different world, but by this point I have adjusted to the new culture while still feeling like I am connected to my friends and family in America. Because of Facebook, Instragram, Twitter, Skype, and (my lifesaver) the app Vibr, I have managed to stay in touch with my friends and family practically 24/7. All I need is wifi, which is available in my apartment, on campus, at our program office and even some restaurants/bars, then I am connected to the world. Vibr has been the best by far for staying in touch with people. You can text, call, send pictures, videos, and even voice messages. The phone quality is sometimes better than a regular phone. The only challenge is the time difference. Montpellier is six hours ahead of Eastern Time. So when I’m waking up for class around 8 AM, most of my friends are just going to bed if they haven’t already. I normally don’t start hearing from people until around 3 PM or later. I am constantly attached to my phone whenever I have wifi because I don’t want to miss any texts or calls, which is typical for me even if I wasn’t living in France. It’s pretty normal for my roommates and I to come home, immediately turn on our wifi, and then stare at our phones or computers (sometimes both at the same time) for a good two hours in silence. Sometimes I wonder what we would do all day in our apartment if we didn’t have wifi. Last Sunday our wifi was not quite working and I thought we were going to go insane. We spent about half an hour fiddling with the router before we conjugated in the living room and turned our TV on for the first time. Surprisingly it worked and we watched the Olympics and read books (shocking!). About two hours later, someone discovered that the wifi was working again so we immediately attended to the texts and calls that had been waiting for us. I’m sure if we didn’t have wifi we would spend more time exploring the city than watching endless old Entourage episodes and every Leonardo DiCaprio film ever made. I guess even though I love it, technology does have its downfalls. I would definitely prefer to be in contact with people than not. When we are out and about though, it is nice to not be constantly attached to your phone. When we go get coffee or food at a place that doesn’t have wifi, we actually sit and talk to each other like regular human beings. Back in America I could go out to eat with my friends and barely say a word to them because we are either stalking our ex-boyfriends on Facebook or Instagraming the food that we ordered. Even the locals here, who have access to Internet continuously, aren’t obsessed with their phones. It’s a nice change of pace that I hope I can bring with me back to America. You definitely get to see more sights when your face isn’t buried in your phone. Speaking of not abusing the wifi service, I should probably get my day started! I have no class today so I’m going to do a little shopping so I look tr�s chic when I go to Paris this weekend, go for a run and then go to an “American Soir�e” at the Australian bar Caf� Oz. We’ll see how “American” it is….

Location: Montpellier, France