Even More Pics

Le Pont Du Gard is the thing that looks like a bridge.

A few more pics

Here ya go.

More pics and tales from a far away land

This last week has been a blur of excitement and fun. Thursday we went to Carnon beach (plage en français) and swam in the Méditerranéen Sea. Yes there were topless women there, and yes I did get really sunburned (see the pics). 

Friday my UofM group along with other programs went down town to La Place de la Comedie for Les Estivales, a summer wine festival they have fridays during the summer. You paid 3 euro for a glass and three refils of any wine around the festival. While I was there I ate a whole bag of muscles (those oyster-like things) with my friend, and they didn't taste bad. They were salty and meaty and really quite good. After that we went the Rock Star night club to check out the club scene, but it was too early, only about 12:30 am(00:30 in France time). The clubs don't start hopping until around 2 am. When we were leaving was when it was just starting to pick up. We walked all the way home because the Tramway (see pics) shuts down at 1am. It is a 45 minute walk back, and on the way I picked up a Calzone Tielle (not sure if the spelling is correct) which is a calzone like we know it, but instead of pizza filled it had fish inside. The guy "heated" it up, but it was cold. So on the way back I managed to eat 2/3rds of this fish filled thing and chucked the last half in the bushes. 

Saturday we had a tour of Montpellier, but I don't understand enough French to understand a history lesson, so I took a ton of pictures. I will attach more pictures to another post. The city is magical and reminds me sometimes of those pretend towns they have in Disney world. 

Sunday we went to Nimes and Le Pont Du Gard, a roman auquaduct that is about 2000 years old and is still in good shape. People swam, but my sunburn is still bad so I just took pictures. Some were jumping off of a huge cliff accross the river from where I was taking pics and people were swimming. 

That is all for now, this is getting long. Enjoy the pictures!!! 

ATTENTION!!! Don't mail me at the address I gave out, I wont be there for about a week

I can't recive letters at my homestay address yet, so don't mail me anything until after this Saturday...that is if you were planning on doing so.

Montpellier

We all got to the school at I think 1:30 or 2pm (14 heure) and were incredibly tired. We got to our rooms and found out that they are awesome. We are living at the dorms here until we move into our home stays. Here are some pictures fo the room and outlets and stuff.

We were super tired as I said, but knew that it would be easier to adjust if we all stayed up until normal bedtime and woke up for class the next day. We went downtown to la place de la Comedie which is a main downtown point in Montpellier and got some food at the mall near by. A Bagette, some fromage, some water (again I bought fizzy water but was expecting regular) and some batteries. I almost fell asleep sitting down. After that we all went back to the dorm and really did fall asleep.

I am attaching some pics of my feet after the first day and my room. Also, included is a picture of your standard french outlet.

Arriving in Montpellier

So I took a flight from Minneapolis to Paris, France which took aobut 8 hours. When I left it was about 3:30pm in town and when I arrived it was 6:30am in Paris. The sun was just coming up. Everyone on the plane was speaking french and the same thing with the airport...obvious statement, but you just don't know what it is like to not hear english anywhere around you.

I ran into some members of my program on the plane and in the airport in france. So the next step, and we had four hours to do it, was to get our bags and check them with Airfrance, the airline we were taking to Montpellier. We got the bags and went in search of food. At this point we had to use Euros and we spent the equivalent of about 10 us dollars on a sandwhich and fizzy water that I thought was regular water. It was good though. Around 9am we checked our bags on the plane and waited until our plane left at about 11am. We were all really tired by the time we arrived in Montpellier.

Country Codes - This is a Good One!

http://www.countrycodes.com/?gclid=CJeMsobDtoICFSaISAodbzHyBQ

Some resources for me and for those who are interested

Time Zone Stuff - http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/results.html?query=montpellier
(They are 7 hours ahead of the Twin Cites)
French News - http://www.lemonde.fr/
More News - http://www.liberation.fr/

P.S. I fly out tomorrow at 3:30pm from the International Airport. I still don't believe it.

The Big Shiny Bean, shortly after obtaining my Visa

Here I am in front of the big shiny bean in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. A little trip to kick off the big trip across the Atlantic. My arms are open welcoming the new and different world that awaits me.

Chicago VISA

Alright, I have it! I have my Visa. After almost 1000 miles of round trip driving to Chicago and back, staying at Miguel Proa's house in Mchenry and visiting my good friend Meg in Janesville, I have my Visa to go to France. On the 37th floor of a building at 205 Michigan Ave. Chicago is where the magic took place. I had a lot of fun and took the final and hardest step towards going to France. Ladies and gentlemen, two weeks to go and I'm officially an international student!!!!!!!!!!!