by french standards, montpellier is a young city: its first stones were laid around 985, when the nearby cities of nîmes and arles were already 1000 years old. it's the eighth largest city in france, with 250,000 inhabitants in the city proper, and 450,000 in the agglomeration. 70,000 are students. in a couple of weeks, when the world cup of rugby starts, i'm sure the city will swell a bit more (the australian team is setting up headquarters here for the duration....). the games that will be played at the stadium here are US vs tonga on 12 sept; samoa vs tonga on 16 sept; australia vs fiji on 23 sept; and south africa vs US on 30 sept.
apparently algeria is playing in some sort of game soon, because people have been running around wrapped in flags, wearing jerseys, honking horns, and playing drums and shouting all the time.
tomorrow night a french band called the stingles is playing at la verre anglaise. yes, they play mostly covers of sting and the beatles. according to the guy who told me about them, who helps manage the bar where they're playing, they're good. and know the lyrics (unlike the musicians in sommieres who mumbled beatles hits all night long).
for breakfast today i had triple chocolate meuseli (since i didn't feel like having the other kind of chocolate cereal we have). that is to say, chocolate meuseli with little squares of dark, milk, and white chocolate. what a splendid way to begin the day...
in other food news, i've eaten a couple of times at the resto U, one of the university cafeterias. for €3, you get a large hot or cold plate (cold = 5 types of salad), one small plate from another salad bar, dessert, bread, cheese, and/or fruit (and water). really good deal, for the quality, variety, and taste. i'll never be able to eat in lenoir again.
mercredi 22 août 2007
lundi 20 août 2007
best late-night food: nan fromage
i'll spare us all a full recount of my time in sommieres - most of it was spent resting, eating, and fending off the persistant guitarist who cornered most of us at one time or another while we were on the computer (there was a jazz workshop going sharing the facilities). one remarkable thing that we saw, however was a stand-off between a cat and a mouse over a sewer grate. the cat was a sleek young thing, with a collar and a bell. she wasn't very fierce, and the mouse pretty much ignored her as she patted him squeamishly. once or twice she put her mouth over his back, but to no avail. the mouse went back underground and the crowd that had gathered applauded.
we returned to montpellier on thursday late afternoon, and were met by our host families at IML (the institute of mediteranean languages, i think, where the UNC program has its office). isabelle and i almost died getting my luggage through the crowds to her house, but luckily we met fidel on our way and he took over my book suitcase. (fidel, a spanish guy, and cindy (short for cinderella), a german girl, are also living with isabelle. their program ends this week, however, so they'll be moving out. the next new student who'll move in is a guy from the phillipines.)
thursday night i went exploring and returned to the shakespeare, as i've said. friday night isabelle and i went salsa dancing at el café cuba (of course i had to drink a cuba libre). the style is a bit different, and it's bizarre not to see any mexicans, but i still felt at home, and danced with most of the guys who were there. a group of latinos trooped in later in the evening, and i danced (and spoke spanish with a couple of them), which was very comforting. one thing that's different about dancing here is that the dance floor clears after each song, and people change partners. that makes it a little difficult to get accustomed to each partner, especially if you haven't danced with them before. the dj was quite good - he played a mix of salsa, bachata, merengue, reggaeton, and african reggae-like songs. the cafe is right across from the last tram stop, so it will be easy to go to by myself if i ever need to. isabelle's friends are very diverse and interesting. they came over on saturday for a dinner party in the garden, which was very relaxing and fun. later that night i was out with my friends and got nan fromage at a kebab store... so delicious. hot, cheap, and satisfying. mmmmm.
we returned to montpellier on thursday late afternoon, and were met by our host families at IML (the institute of mediteranean languages, i think, where the UNC program has its office). isabelle and i almost died getting my luggage through the crowds to her house, but luckily we met fidel on our way and he took over my book suitcase. (fidel, a spanish guy, and cindy (short for cinderella), a german girl, are also living with isabelle. their program ends this week, however, so they'll be moving out. the next new student who'll move in is a guy from the phillipines.)
thursday night i went exploring and returned to the shakespeare, as i've said. friday night isabelle and i went salsa dancing at el café cuba (of course i had to drink a cuba libre). the style is a bit different, and it's bizarre not to see any mexicans, but i still felt at home, and danced with most of the guys who were there. a group of latinos trooped in later in the evening, and i danced (and spoke spanish with a couple of them), which was very comforting. one thing that's different about dancing here is that the dance floor clears after each song, and people change partners. that makes it a little difficult to get accustomed to each partner, especially if you haven't danced with them before. the dj was quite good - he played a mix of salsa, bachata, merengue, reggaeton, and african reggae-like songs. the cafe is right across from the last tram stop, so it will be easy to go to by myself if i ever need to. isabelle's friends are very diverse and interesting. they came over on saturday for a dinner party in the garden, which was very relaxing and fun. later that night i was out with my friends and got nan fromage at a kebab store... so delicious. hot, cheap, and satisfying. mmmmm.
samedi 18 août 2007
bienvenue à ma vie montpellieriène
well, i've been convinced to start a blog. hopefully this will be more efficient than sending mass emails.
i'll give a quick summary of my trip so far:
i left rdu at 5:15 sunday evening, august 12, and caught my connection at dulles to dublin. the crossing was fairly enjoyable. i had room to spread out, some decent food, and was able to sleep for a couple of hours. the real adventure began when my plane touched down in ireland, 40 minutes behind schedule. by the time i got throught the passport control and found british airways to check in for my flight to london, the plane had been closed for 20 minutes. so i found the aer lingus service desk, where a very kind woman named kathleen found me a new connection to montpellier through paris later that day. she also gave me an €8 voucher so i could have a real breakfast. however, she couldn't transfer my checked bags, because they hadn't made it on the flight from DC. i was too tired to really care at that point, so i just enjoyed my eggs and toast. at charles de gaul i had a lengthy wait, so once i found my gate (by walking about half a mile, taking a bus, and riding never-ending moving sidewalks, i bought a heineken and let myself be exhausted for a while.
on the plane i found myself seated in the window seat of the emergency exit aisle, so the strapping young male flight attendant explained how to open the window in case of an emergency (no illustrated pamphlet on french planes..they believe in personal connections, apparently). i turned to the woman sitting next to me and remarked, in french, that an american flight attendant would never do that, or at least not in that manner. she said, oh! la la, you're not french? we should give you a test to make sure you understood everything... i had a comforting conversation with her before we took off (comforting that i could communicate clearly enough) - it turns out that she and her husband are citizens of gabon, and had just been on vacation in france. she seemed slightly envious that i'd be living in montpellier for a whole year. then i passed out and slept until the cheese sandwich came around.
once i landed in montpellier, after 8 pm, i had to report my lost baggage and find a taxi. the group from unc had left 4 hours before to go to sommieres for a few day-long un-jet laggin retreat, so i was to spend the night with my host mother and take the train to join them in the morning. the taxi driver couldn't take me to her door, because she lives in the labyrinthine medieval centre ville, where cars are not allowed. he dropped me off at the prefecture, which is very close, and showed me where it was on his map. unsurprisingly, i couldn't find it. i wound up at a pub called the shakespeare, where i got accurate directions. i found the street, but didn't see isabelle's name on the door that i supposed was hers, so i returned to the pub and used a nice british chap's cellphone to call isabelle. she came and collected me, and i was home at last.
the adventure continued the next morning on the train to lunel. i missed the stop because i couldn't figure out how to get off the train ( the doors didn't open automatically, the stop wasn't announced, and the only person who looked like they were going to exit was more confused than i was). so i got off at the next stop, nîmes, where i found a train going back the direction i had come. of course it was late, and changed platforms while i was waiting, but eventually i got off in lunel, found a taxi, and found my group in sommieres.
i went back to the shakespeare the night before last, and saw the two guys i had met there before. one of them is actually a bartender there; the other is a british journalist who just goes there a lot. it was the anniversary of elvis' death, so everyone was glum, and a brilliant wig was passed around as we sang his songs forlornly.
time's up, so à bientôt.
i hope everyone is doing well wherever you happen to be
i'll give a quick summary of my trip so far:
i left rdu at 5:15 sunday evening, august 12, and caught my connection at dulles to dublin. the crossing was fairly enjoyable. i had room to spread out, some decent food, and was able to sleep for a couple of hours. the real adventure began when my plane touched down in ireland, 40 minutes behind schedule. by the time i got throught the passport control and found british airways to check in for my flight to london, the plane had been closed for 20 minutes. so i found the aer lingus service desk, where a very kind woman named kathleen found me a new connection to montpellier through paris later that day. she also gave me an €8 voucher so i could have a real breakfast. however, she couldn't transfer my checked bags, because they hadn't made it on the flight from DC. i was too tired to really care at that point, so i just enjoyed my eggs and toast. at charles de gaul i had a lengthy wait, so once i found my gate (by walking about half a mile, taking a bus, and riding never-ending moving sidewalks, i bought a heineken and let myself be exhausted for a while.
on the plane i found myself seated in the window seat of the emergency exit aisle, so the strapping young male flight attendant explained how to open the window in case of an emergency (no illustrated pamphlet on french planes..they believe in personal connections, apparently). i turned to the woman sitting next to me and remarked, in french, that an american flight attendant would never do that, or at least not in that manner. she said, oh! la la, you're not french? we should give you a test to make sure you understood everything... i had a comforting conversation with her before we took off (comforting that i could communicate clearly enough) - it turns out that she and her husband are citizens of gabon, and had just been on vacation in france. she seemed slightly envious that i'd be living in montpellier for a whole year. then i passed out and slept until the cheese sandwich came around.
once i landed in montpellier, after 8 pm, i had to report my lost baggage and find a taxi. the group from unc had left 4 hours before to go to sommieres for a few day-long un-jet laggin retreat, so i was to spend the night with my host mother and take the train to join them in the morning. the taxi driver couldn't take me to her door, because she lives in the labyrinthine medieval centre ville, where cars are not allowed. he dropped me off at the prefecture, which is very close, and showed me where it was on his map. unsurprisingly, i couldn't find it. i wound up at a pub called the shakespeare, where i got accurate directions. i found the street, but didn't see isabelle's name on the door that i supposed was hers, so i returned to the pub and used a nice british chap's cellphone to call isabelle. she came and collected me, and i was home at last.
the adventure continued the next morning on the train to lunel. i missed the stop because i couldn't figure out how to get off the train ( the doors didn't open automatically, the stop wasn't announced, and the only person who looked like they were going to exit was more confused than i was). so i got off at the next stop, nîmes, where i found a train going back the direction i had come. of course it was late, and changed platforms while i was waiting, but eventually i got off in lunel, found a taxi, and found my group in sommieres.
i went back to the shakespeare the night before last, and saw the two guys i had met there before. one of them is actually a bartender there; the other is a british journalist who just goes there a lot. it was the anniversary of elvis' death, so everyone was glum, and a brilliant wig was passed around as we sang his songs forlornly.
time's up, so à bientôt.
i hope everyone is doing well wherever you happen to be
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