Montpellier's Final Days

So the midweek update, though I guess it's the end of the week update of the midweek...

Wednesday more school but afterward we went to a Creperie called Kreiker (or something similar) which is known for having over 80 kinds of crepes-including one with escargot. Though I consider myself to be an adventurous eater I'm not quite THAT adventurous, my first (yes I had more than one) was goat cheese and bacon... mmmm bacon... followed by chocolate banana flambe which they did indeed set on fire right in front of my eyes. It was delicious and very affordable. Then we went to the mall for a little bit. While I didn't buy anything we were able to discover the phenomenally brilliant attempts at the english language by the french on their clothing. One said "You know I have a trendy roll" yes R-O-L-L not R-O-L-E, and one that 5 girls bought that fantastically said "Friends that Speak French" in, wait for it, rhinestones. While I was not among the purchasers (the ran out) I am still an ardent admirer. After that I might have gotten another crepe, this time of a stand on the side of the road (it's not as sketchy as it sounds) and this one was buerre sucre YUM. Then Kate and I went to Cafe Georges for some light reading-aka Modern Europe-DO NOT READ THIS BOOK!! But I am up to chapter 6! Only 8 to go before class starts... After that we headed home and Melissa and I booked some hostels for our upcoming trip to Italy WAHOO! Dinner consisted of rice with corn, ham, and something else in it-it was just Kate, Kana (our Japanese "sister") and me as Madame and the Professor went out to dinner... you may make your own assumptions.

Thursday was our last class with Hagrid! Though we barely made it. We ran into Barry (Professor Shain) and he began by shaking a couple peoples hands? Then discussing a couple of logistical issues always followed by "but we'll talk about that tomorrow"-after about 15 minutes I said-so we can talk about this tomorrow? And he understood and acknowledged my very subtle hint that we were cold and hungry and let us go. After class I accompanied Kate and Alison on another trip to the mall-so cultural. I again didn't buy anything but I did try a "food court" crepe-NO GOOD-it was pre made and microwaved, bad life decision. Dinner was some kind of fish, with mushroom sauce cucumbers and a cheese plate-we heard the native french speakers make fun of the professor's accent which made us really nervous as to what they say about us... but oh well who cares we're trying. Then a bunch of us went to the "Shakespeare Cafe" your friendly neighborhood pub, and hung out for a while before trying the highly recommended "Le Huit" which I was in long enough to use the bathroom before we sought out the even more highly recommended O bar. Now, to get to the O bar one must take a bus. So we journeyed to the bus stop and learned we had just missed the bus and the next one didn't come for an hour. So we checked out close discoteque to wait it out-also mediocre. Then we went to the bus. Now for those of you who are used to the "cruiser culture" at dear old 'gate please understand that that is mere training for what this bus was. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of pushing through a crowed of drunk freshmen eager to make it to the Jug on a Monday night along with 15 of their closest friends I'll try to paint a picture. To get onto both the cruiser and the Montpellier party bus it takes team work-those stronger in the group use their bodies to block out those not in your party so as to create a clear path to the door-this involves a high level of skill and ability to push while seemingly not pushing while maintaining contact with the person in front of you to not create even the smallest gap through which somebody could squeeze between you and your friend. Once on the bus you are packed like sardines-to use the age old expression, but you have to maintain your balance (while inebriated) while the crazy (questionably sober) driver whips around tight corners on bumpy roads. The extra trick in this case was that these were not inexperienced freshmen we were battling but highly trained foreign students-along with the not one but TWO security guards on the bus. When we finally arrived at the highly anticipated O bar (we chose tonight because there was no cover) we were literally in the middle of nowhere. Why anybody built a discoteque in this location I'll never know-and further why the voyage out to it is so popular continues to baffle me. The drinks were over priced, the techno blasted non stop (sans words) but the neon lights-and of course the company were both quite good. Overall I'm glad I went, however I don't know if I will offer the same high recommendation of this particular establishment in the future. On the return bus ride home it was four of us girls and three other American girls one of which had her head in her lap with one of the security guards standing over her for the whole ride-sucks to be her. But we eventually made it back to the bus station where the journey had started. On our walk back I did run into Flavio and his friends, all from Switzerland, and he greeted me with the very familiar 3 cheek kisses. Then asked me what bars were still open-him in english and myself in french, I tried to explain the location of the O Bar (which was open until 5) but I failed miserably. I'm not quite sure what happened to Flavio that night but he wasn't in class today...

Today was our last day of ILP-I am completely unaware of what were were supposed to learn and yet the teacher continued to ask me questions despite my frequent response of I DON'T UNDERSTAND, but I made it and the Director of the ILP (by the way that's our school) had a wine and cheese party for us. Our professor following a respectable 2 glasses of wine broke out into a heartfelt thank you speech for being the wonderful students that we are-being studious improving, and being wonderful to our host families-representing America well etc (he must not have heard our mother thinks we're savages). Unfortunately due to his 2 glasses of wine he couldn't remember any of the logistics he wanted to discuss with us and promises to inform us on the train tomorrow-we'll see our last train ride he ended up having a couple of beers with the snack car man... After the petit cocktail party I had my first kabob which was good and then we all rode the Carousel-as it had been a frequent meeting point for us we felt it was very necessary. I had a crepe on my way home and then took a nap as I was still recovering from the O bar experience. For dinner the professor made pasta with squid-I guess he missed his train today due to left over technical difficulties from the strike this week (the french LOVE to strike-they plan how long they are going to be and everything). Now we are getting ready for one more night at the Vert Anglais and Australian Cafe to celebrate Hannah's birthday.

Tomorrow our train leaves around 1:30 pm and we are headed to Geneva for 1 night. Then Sunday morning I (with 7 other people) are off to Venice, Rome and Florence for the week. I am not sure how much internet access I will have but I'm sure my blog will be painfully long and sprinkled with more moments of hilarity. So stay tuned! In the end I'm not quite sure what to think about Montpellier, I'm sure I'll be nostalgic for the activities we all did together in good time, but I don't think it makes my list of top European towns or cities. It is geared toward students which I think sort of removes some of the quaint small town charm. But I had an okay time here, and now I'm ready to move on to other things.

What I miss today: My hair straightener

High Point: Having a shower that was hot for the whole time I was in it-though I still think "shower" is a strong word

Low Point: Almost killing my ILP teacher on the last day of class...