Last Day in Montpellier

So today is my last day in Montpellier and instead of being able to enjoy it, I am running around like a crazy person trying to shut down accounts, send things out, pack up, do laundry, clean the apartment...So I get to hang out with my friends tonight for a couple of hours and then leave to catch my plane at 10:30am. This is not much fun. Actually, it kind of sucks. It's been a really depressing week in general, though today I'm not so much sad as just overwhelmed. There's just too much to do. Plus the landlady is making us wash all the sofa covers and buy new mattress covers, which I don't really have time to do really. And I have to shut down the internet today which means I won't have any internet tonight which will also suck since that is what I do with myself to not feel so bad about leaving. I didn't really expect to get so attached to this place, but I guess you can never plan for that. I am heading to Brussels tomorrow and meeting up with Jake, which will be nice. Then we get to start our whirlwind tour through Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin, London, and then back to Montpellier for me, and then home. 19 days and I am home again. Weird. All my friends are going home either tomorrow or a couple days after that, so I keep thinking that I am going home too, but I am not. I keep having to remind myself that I have a couple of weeks left yet. I don't feel like doing anything, I just want to sit and relax in my apartment, but now we have it pretty much emptied so it's not even really our apartment anymore. I don't like it. We're all rather subdued and I'm really bad at goodbyes...just kind of avoid them altogether usually. So we'll see how this goes tomorrow saying goodbye to my friends and to Montpellier, which is like saying goodbye to home again. I'll be back for a night, but none of my friends will be here, so it'll just be weird. Well I got to be off to send a package home to my parents with Christmas presents. Let's just hope it weighs under 7 kilos....Ugh.

Finals Week and Ick

This past week was a nightmare of school work. Though it wasn't technically finals week, all but one of my professors decided to make it finals week. So. I had 4 papers and 4 finals in 4 days. All in French of course. And anyone who has to tried to write a paper in a foreign language will know that a 4 page French paper takes about as long as an 8-10 page paper in English. So essentially I put off all my work until this past week, spent the whole semester NOT working because in the French university system, there's really only one grade a semester and it's the final. SO I didn't have to do anything all year for anything but grammar and phonetics, and then all the sudden I had to hyperspazztically get everything done in 4 days. Needless to say, from Sunday until Thursday, I got a total of 9 and 1/2 hours of sleep, with one night being an all-nighter. I wouldn't have had to do that IF my grammar teacher hadn't decided that we really needed to make up a missed grammar class and therefore we needed to have a 4 hour grammar class on Tuesday from 4:15 to 8:15 and then a 4 hour grammar final on Wednesday at the same time. That really took a chunk out of my work time. So everyday I spent the evening writing the paper due the next day and then I spent any other free time studying for the next final. By Thursday night I was downright exhausted and delirious, having just pulled an all-nighter the night before, and I had to take 2 finals. The staying up all night actually wasn't too bad. Jade and I stayed up till 5:20 am together writing our paper on the computer, realizing we had no way to print it out, and then having to handwrite it, and then woke up at 6:55 am to go to a final. Really, really a great day. While it did feel nice to work, I realized how HORRIBLE my french level really is. All in all, my french improvement might be a lot greater than I think it is, but to me it seems like I haven't really improved all that much at all. Which is depressing but oh well. You only get out of it what you put in it, and I probably didn't put enough into it. I can however basically read books in French now, which I guess is something.
So I leave next week...Here I mean. I keep forgetting that I am not going home because everyone else is so I keep thinking I am just going too. But I am leaving here and having to move out of this apartment and leave the friends that I have made, so basically it feels about the same. Now it feels like I am leaving home. I am leaving my bags with a friend here, but she is leaving on Tuesday so I have to pack up by then and just live out of a backpack until then basically. So my room is going to be empty more or less for the last week of my stay, which is just going to be really really depressing. Renee, Jesse, Jade, and I all sat around on Thursday drinking wine and talking about the semester and all that and it's just going to be so sad to leave them. We formed our little group and now it's breaking up to go back to PA where we won't exactly fit in anymore because we've changed but State College will forever be basically the same. Strangers in our own world really. I found this quote that I quite like from this great movie called l'Auberge Espagnol:
"When you first arrive in a new city, nothing makes sense. Everythings unknown, virgin... After you've lived here, walked these streets, you'll know them inside out. You'll know these people. Once you've lived here, crossed this street 10, 20, 1000 times... it'll belong to you because you've lived there. That was about to happen to me, but I didn't know it yet."
I like it. The thing is...none of us are going to be able to explain the experience to anyone because no one can understand. They weren't here, they don't know Montpellier or the people. They don't know what we've gone through. Other people have gone through similar experiences, but they were still different. I wouldn't really know how to describe this semester to anyone that wasn't here. I don't know. I'm starting to get more and more bummed out everyday realizing that I'll never be back here again like this. Everything that has become day-to-day routine now seems depressing because I realize it's going to end soon. It's getting difficult to imagine saying goodbye. When I got here all I wanted to do was go home, and now all I want to do is stay.

Paris

I went to Paris last weekend with my friends and we had a really good time. Everything went really well actually. We were quite lucky. The train ride was nice (we all slept the whole time because the train was at 5:30am) and then we easily navigated the metro to the hostel (thanks to my amazing metro ability haha) and the hostel was really nice. I remembered enough from my last trip with the Trethewey's that I was able to navigate everyone through the city pretty well and I remembered which stops to get off at and all that. We saw all the main sites again, including Sacre Coeur since our hostel was right there. We also found ourselves in the Red Light district at night looking for an ATM because it was right down the street. Saw the Moulin Rouge a couple of times, from the outside of course. We had our minor spats as people couldn't decide what to do or people couldn't keep their attention on things long enough, but overall it went really well. We went to the Louvre on Friday night because it's free for students between 6 pm and 10 pm. I spent a lot of money there because Paris is freaking expensive. But oh well. I guess you just gotta suck it up sometimes. I also got to see the Eiffel Tower at night glowing blue and then sparkling and I got a video of it sparkling all pretty. It was freezing there, especially compared to Montpellier where it never hits freezing, so we were all kind of suffering through the cold. But we managed to stay alive. None of us really wanted to come back because we were all rather comfortable in Paris, but oh well. Paris is just a really nice city. I enjoyed it as much the second time as I did the first. We also went to Versailles of course! How could I forget that. Unfortunately, it's wintertime, so the garden's weren't as impressive as they could be, but still Versailles is interesting. We almost missed our train home because I forget that the train station was 15 metro stops away. But we made it with 2 minutes to spare, literally. We had to run through the train station, which was pretty funny. We made it home just fine at 1 am. Then we were back to Montpellier and school again.
School is almost over which is nice but also not nice because I have a lot of work to do. I can't seem to get motivated to do any of it, so I am going to be stressed out this week trying to get it all done. It's the last week of class and most finals are during the classes, so I have next week pretty free. I might have a final for my one class, but I'm not quite sure. I have no idea when the final is, which makes things pretty difficult. Weird to think I only have two weeks left here and then I'm off to traveling, and then I'm off to home. Really weird actually. I've really become quite settled here I guess. Be weird to be back where people speak English. I will be glad to get to Penn State classes as opposed to Paul Valery classes, because they are terrible here. Other than that...I just don't know. I do want some Lipton Lemon Iced Tea though. They don't have lemon iced tea here! Disgraceful. haha. I do want to see my family too. Of course. I don't know. It's a weird time that would be impossible to understand unless you've been through it. Traveling should be fun. We have everything completely settled through the 1st of January, when we are going to London. All we have to do is find a hostel to stay at in London, which should be easy, and then I have to get back to Montpellier, which should also be easy. Alright well that's all for now.

Zut

I am just feeling kind of blah for the last couple days since I got back Prague. I was exhausted after traveling and didn't get a second to relax really, but then I did this weekend. However, now I just feel kind of randomly moody for no reason. Going from ecstatic to grumpy really fast, which is kind of weird for me. I'm usually just about always in the same mood. Oh well I'll get over this. I am still feeling fairly exhausted, but I wake up really early every morning and can't get back to sleep. I'm not really sure what it's all about. I'm sure it's just the changing of the seasons and the dropping temps and all that. When it gets dark so early, I get more and more tired. I don't really want to go out at all, which is bad because I am only in France for 28 more days. Crazy right? I'm not really making the most of my time here by being a bum I'm sure, but I can't force myself to go out because then I am just more miserable. So I have to do exactly what I feel up to doing otherwise I'm just not happy. Whatever to all those people who think I'm being lame. This is just me....This is a pretty whiny entry but that's just how I am feeling. I got my presentation for sociolinguistics either shortened or deleted all together because I am American and went up and talked to her in my worst french ever so she would take pity... Horrible I know but I can't speak in front of French people because they are SO critical. That presentation would have been so much more difficult for me than all the other students in the class since I was the only American in it. Oh well. I am pretty much just trying to stay afloat in classes now because they are impossible to follow. There's NO structure. It's very confusing. Oh well. Gotta keep trucking. Only 3 more weeks of classes and then finals and then traveling, which we also have not finalized at all. Goodness me that's not good at all. Maybe I'll work on that now.

Prague and Back again

So I went to Prague this weekend and it was really really great. The city is just beautiful. It's not really all that big and there's just something kind of charming about it. Jake being there made it a little nicer as well. Getting there though...CDG airport...I HATE that place. It's the worst airport I have been to. Granted, I haven't been to a lot, but seriously. I got so lost. I did the whole train thing fine and then the using the metro to get to the airport just fine. Then I couldn't find the check-in. And then I tried to follow the signs and ended up trying to go through security with my itinerary and not a boarding pass. I was so frustrated and tired of carrying my bags around and I was dehydrated and starving. But eventually I figured it out, though check-in wasn't open yet because I was there too early. But I got there. Czech airlines was quite nice too, they gave us food and drinks on an hour and 20 minute flight. Not bad. I get there, Jake is there, and we go back and I crash. The next day we walk around and just kinda check out all the sites Prague has to offer which are all in Czech so no I don't remember their names and even if I did I couldn't spell them. But it was nice. Saw James Bond at night because they only subtitle movies not dub them like the French. Jake's homestay is real nice and I got food and stuff which was much more than I expected. I also had to get used to hearing Czech all the time and not having ANY idea what was going on. Jake's czech was actually really impressive to me. He's not doing too bad! The next day we go to the opera (Don Giovanni) which was subtitled. My first opera! It was pretty fun actually. I wasn't sure I would like it, but it was fun. Then we made chicken pot pie for dinner! Yum! The next day we went to the zoo, which was of course amazing and we saw some amazing spider monkeys and a lemur just hanging out. Then we made our way to a Kladno hockey game (we won!) and had a beer at the pub waiting for the bus. On Monday, we walked around some more, got me some gulash and then we went to the Slayer concert, which was really fun, but then my body gave out from standing and walking so much, so we left early. And then I left at 7:15 in the morning.
It was a real bummer having to leave. I really did not want to at all and I don't feel the same being back here. It's home and all but I just enjoyed my time there so much. Prague has so many parks and it's really quite peaceful that you don't feel like you're in a city. Yet you have all the options of a city. Here, it's always crowded, but there it just didn't feel like that. I enjoyed my time with Jake, and it's always hard to leave him, but we'll be back together in a month. No biggie. The Czech people, they aren't "friendly" like Americans with all the chatter and all that, but they aren't unfriendly though. I was only there for 4 days granted. But they do make a mean fried cheese sandwich! It's a funny city too with the mixture of older buildings with communist era building with modern structures that are ugly. The language is a trip though. Not used to not being able to read a darn thing, not even guess. Completely different. But it sounds pretty cool. I thought their trams were funny looking because we have like space-age trams here but Jake was pretty offended by my laughing at them...haha.
It was a really great trip over all and it was so nice to get out of Montpellier and do something with myself again. I've kinda been atrophying these past couple of weeks. Coming home, I got lost coming out of the Montpellier train station...how bad is that? I did alright though traveling for the first time by myself. Especially since it was in a different country. I think I might be getting the hang of this whole multi-national thing. Maybe. Well back to school, back to school...

Break and Back to School

So I haven't really done anything as of late. We had a few days off from school and we didn't go anywhere and we didn't do anything so I sat in bed and watched tv on the internet for 5 days straight pretty much, went to school on Thursday and then sat in bed again for 2 days. I have gotten up and taken a walk around town everyday because I get ansy and need to get out, but mostly I just sit around. Not a whole lot to do ya know? Unless you want to go out to the bar and drink, but that's expensive and gets old after awhile. I also have not been feeling the best for the past week, which also makes me not want to do anything. It rained for about 6 days straight, so my sinuses decided to go crazy. But oh well. I feel alright today so far, but the day just started. I haven't been doing a lot of schoolwork, but I did finish a book in French, which made me really happy. I have started another one on top of that which is just for fun. My reading ability is doing pretty well. So is my comprehension I guess. My speaking is atrocious. Oh well. Still have 6 weeks right? Jake and I finalized our after the program travel up through the 25, Brussels then Amsterdam. After that is still up in the air. The places I would really like to go to is Berlin, London, and Ireland, but we'll see what we get to. I am going to Spain on Tuesday (we have a holiday for Armistice Day) to visit the Salvador Dali museum and then going to Prague on Thursday, and the Paris again Nov 28-30th, so hopefully I am feeling better by then. And back to school for real on Monday, though supposedly the tram workers are on strike on Monday, so maybe I won't be going to class. We'll see. Alright, well that's about it for now. I am enjoying having the internet a lot, but it's really enabling me to be a homebody. But my friends are all doing about the same thing. We are a lazy bunch of people no? It's all good though. Our coffee maker broke, which was hard at first but then I decided to lay off the caffeine for a little while, so now it's ok. I also learned that our utility bills come out of the security deposit that we paid in the beginning of the semester, so woo...one weight off my mind. And I got my scholarship from the Liberal Arts college, so I have a little leeway. I am trying to save a little money for when I go back so that I will have some money to survive on until I can find a job. I figure I need enough for a couple of months because I should be able to find a job in that time right? Right. I also got the package from my parents with my hoodie and gum, and my hoodie smells like home. Which is different than how I remember it being, though I still identified it as home. Weird right? And gum is like 4 euros a pack here, and I missed gum, so they sent me some. NICE! Alright well that really is all for now!

Jake's Visit and Internet

I got internet! Got it a couple of days ago, but it went out again because of some set-up issues, but then I fixed it so we have it again! Unfortunately I can not get the wireless to work and there's only one ethernet hookup so only one of us can use internet at a time, but whatever. We have it! Fixed it yesterday on my birthday so that was a nice little present. So I am writing from the comfort of my own apartment.
Jake was here this past weekend, got in Wednesday at midnight and left this morning (Monday) at 7:15am. We had a really nice weekend and it was really great to see him. We just spent the weekend walking around town taking a tour, went to the zoo which was free and really nice actually. Did not expect a free zoo to be that nice but it was. Loved the rhinos! We also went to the local rugby match was Renee's host mom gave us tickets to. They were standing room tickets, but hey free is free right? We went out for drinks one night and dinner the next. We had an amazing dinner at this restaurant down the street called Entrecote which apparently only serves one thing but it's amazing. It was the cut of beef in some sort of sauce and these amazing french fries and we had a bottle of wine and dessert. It was just nice. Then we just hung around yesterday and had a little thing with Jade, Jesse, and Renee. Made pie and got pizza from Dominos. That's how I spent my birthday. It's my 22nd...not a big deal. I get this feeling that my birthdays are going to get quieter and quieter as I get older...But yeah. It was so nice to have Jake here and I am really pretty sad now that he left. I got kinda used to him being here so it doesn't seem the same now that he's gone. We hung out with my friends a little bit and he fit right in which was nice. I'll get to see him again in like 2 and 1/2 weeks, but I still am a little sad that he left. Oh well though right? Gotta keep going. That was my weekend and now it's back to class. Time went back an hour here so for this week I'm only 5 hours ahead of home. I might be failing a class here...but oh well...ugh. Well that's about all for now. Back to school and then a week off. Woo!