Today was a good day. The weather was beautiful and I am in
France. I woke up early to get to the
Student Union at 9:00 for academic orientation.
I took breakfast with my host mother, having espresso, chocolate cereal
(the local version of Cocoa Pebbles), and bread warmed in the oven. It was quite good. I also had a sort of “Red Orange Juice”. It too was tasty. After breakfast, my host mother drove me to
the Student Union and pointed out to me which bus I would be taking on my own
and where to get off at.
Day two of orientation went well,
if slow. After an overview of which courses
we were expected to take, we were scheduled for individual registration
sessions. “Varner” being near the end of the alphabet, I was assigned the last
time slot, 5:30. So, suddenly I had an
afternoon to spend.
Emerging with a group of friends
into the beautiful midday sun, we strolled down the Esplanade to the Place de
la Comédie to find a spot for lunch. The
sun shined wonderfully upon the architecturally marvelous buildings and I found
myself filled with wonder at the beauty of the city, even in the stillness of
winter. We found a little sandwicherie,
where we purchased our lunch which we ate outside of the café next door. I had ordered an espresso, which was very
strong but very good. As I sat there at
the café, eating my sandwich and watching the crowds walk amidst the splendidly
glimmering plaza, I felt a peace come over me and I was happy. Happy to be alive and in such a beautiful
place as Montpellier.
I registered for my courses without
incident and managed a small nap on a couch in the corner of the Student Union
while waiting to do so. At six o’clock,
my host brother picked me up and he showed me how to get home, first taking me
to the Tram office and grabbing a handful of maps. After we got home, he broke them out and wrote
out directions for multiple options for getting to and from class at the
various times that I had to do so throughout the week (a new time every
morning, Monday through Thursday).
Friday is still unnacounted for as of yet, but my internship might go
there, so I’m not going to commit to saying that I have a three day weekend
just yet.
I met my other two host sisters and the
boyfriend of one of them, they stopped by for dinner. Dinner itself was quite good: chicken, beans,
and potatoes… and of course delicious bread.
I tried a kind of French mustard, being warned by Marie that it was
rather strong. I can’t stand American
Heinz yellow mustard, but I found this condiment to actually be quite
pleasant. We had a red wine with dinner,
which was good. After the main course
was eaten and cleared, yogurt was once more brought out and we each had some
yogurt and fruit. It is a very pleasant
palette cleanser after a meal.
After everybody helped clear the table
and put away the dishes, which was quick work, Thibault broke out the family
Wii and booted up Just Dance 4. It was fun, one of those cross-cultural
things where everyone around the world takes enjoyment out of watching each
other flail about in front of a TV while American Pop music blares. After a while, Thibault and I played a few rounds
of Mario Kart. It was another interesting
cross-cultural bonding moment.
So that’s all it takes to unify two
foreign peoples is good food and Nintendo.
No comments:
Post a Comment