So, I've been in Montpellier for about a month know, and up to now there's been very little evidence of my presence here. Thought I'd try and fix that, and since I'm not a camera person, this seemed a good idea.
A question i keep asking myself: How does this country function?! Obviously there's the stuff you expect; shops close on Sundays and quite a few on Mondays as well, and they all take lunch breaks of at least an hour and a half. But hey, that's France right? You get the enormous queues, the bureaucracy, endless forms: all that you're prepared for. It's the stuff that you never even thought of that gets you.
I never realised France was so expensive. I keep repeating this to people so I might as well here: it was €3.30 for a coke in a cafe! I know someone who ordered a vodka and coke, and while the measure of vodka was generous, it cost just short of a tenner. And then there's the food. It's also expensive (€10 for a single supermarket brand steak), but that's not really the point; France is the capital of fine cuisine, I get that, I do, but they don't seem to do everyday food that well. This might just be a case of adapting but still, no real bacon? And the chocolate's so...small, and fancy. That's going to be hard. And no proper milk!
Then there's the University. In fairness, I was warned, but nothing could prepare me for the sheer scale of the chaos that is Paul Valery. For a start, various teachers of mine still don't have a fixed timetable (how the hell are we supposed to manage? Mine's gone through 6 revisions so far.), plus each department has a different sign up procedure for classes. I quote: "Some departments use the internet, some use notice boards, and some use neither. Good luck!"
Not to mention the fact that when you say that you're an Erasmus student, the lecturers give you a look that says "I have no idea what to do with you..."
The cheek as well. The Erasmus coordinator actually tried to excuse the incompetence of her own office by saying that this was all part of the 'cultural experience'. "How dare you?!" someone said behind me. This isn't part of the cultural experience, this is just a f*** up.
This all might give you the impression that I hate it here. Quite the contrary. After getting over the initial Oh S*** moment, and all the frustration with the University (still haven't got a timetable....), I kind of like it here.
Yes, French people in the street, on the tram and whatever are much ruder than you might expect (someone I know got pushed off a tram just because she was in the way, and another someone apparently punched a guy who was being an arse to her), but on their own, the people here are lovely. They're more relaxed than us (which might be why they can't organise a piss up in a brewery), which is quite nice most of the time, and most tend to be very friendly and helpful. They might not know how to help you, but they try their best.
The weather's a plus, once you get used to the heat, and with a beach all of twenty minutes away revision is looking like a less difficult prospect.
All in all, it's getting there. Some stuff you like, some you don't, some you have to get used to. It's going to be an interesting year; we'll see what happens. A great French adventure maybe? We'll see.
Anyway, that's one rant over. The next one may come soon, but for now, it's all rosy :)
