Breaking News: All is good in terms of satisfying my taste buds. I found a restaurant called "El Chivito" (Spanish translation: the donkey) here in Montpellier that serves food from Latin America, including some very very hot salsa, fajitas and empanadas I'm salivating just describing it. I've already frequented twice: Tuesday for lunch and Friday for dinner. After having eaten nothing but baguettes, cheese and croissants everyday for lunch since my arrival I was desperately in need of a different flavor and this restaurant gave me just that. I can already tell that the manager (or owner?) of the restaurant, Roman from Uruguay, knows he can expect me there once or twice a week from here on out. Maybe it was my reaction when he said "yes" when I asked him if they served chips and salsa in his establishment. To go along with all the delectable food El Chivito serves some great sangria for a good price.
There is no gym to workout in at the university but I have signed up to play intramural handball at the university on Monday nights. I showed up last Monday expecting to be overwhelmed by all the rules I was not familiar with and overpowered by all the other French students who, for some reason, I thought would all be 6 foot 2 and posses a cannon for an arm. Turns out though that the majority of the class was made up of scrawny kids and I more than held my own in the conditioning drills that proceeded the scrimmage. While I did prove to be a novice at times during the game I did not have an embarrassing moment....except for when I fouled the other team, resulting in a penalty, after which I proceeded to nod my head when the ref gave me an explanation for what I had done even though I had no idea what he said. The hardest part of handball was learning the positions and understanding what my teammates were asking me to do. I don't know, I guess I must've been absent during the handball vocab unit in my high school French class because my comprehension during the games was somewhere around 1 out of every 50 words. I did manage to score a goal so that erases all the bad I did, in my book. I do realize that towards the end of the hour and a half most of the players started to cut me some slack as they started to catch on that I was American. You tell one person and the whole gym knows within 5 minutes. Since Monday I've basically just been watching handball videos on youtube, so yeah next time I play I expect to dominate....or at least learn how to not give away a penalty.
Wednesday, I went to this underground soccer bar type place called "la casa de futbol" with Isabel, Dan and Sara. Barcelona and Real Madrid were playing that night and most places in town were playing the game but for some reason we decided to watch this game in the basement of this convenient store, probably because we thought they'd serve cheap drinks but that was not the case. Despite that description it was a great atmosphere there were a ton of Barcelona and Real Madrid fans there from both France and Spain and the atmosphere was great.
An another note I think I have managed to become a regular at "Le Huit" a bar in the center of the city with some pretty good drink specials, and its also the place where we celebrated my birthday.I showed up there at half time of the Barcelona game and the bartender greats me with a high five and says "didn't see you here yesterday, where've you been?" I didn't expect that, but I hope I can get some preferential VIP treatment me there or something. Probably wishful thinking.
Saturday a group of us went on a day trip to Arles a city with a couple of roman coliseums and famous because Vincent van Gogh painted a cafe there and he was in a mental institute there as well. I'm not big into art history, but that's cool anyway. There was a market where a few of us grabbed some lunch and wine for a very cheap price. It was fun but exhausting, causing me to sleep in for half the day on Sunday.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
First week of class in the books, football and culture shock
To address the latter part of my title: I'm not experience culture shock (I think) I'm just shocked that I cannot find any spicy foods in this country. Being Mexican (half) and having spent the better part of two weeks before my journey to France eating spicy home cooked meals, or at least grabbing a burrito with hot salsa from Chipotle, I allowed myself to go "spice-free" for two weeks. Well, enough is enough, I told myself, so I ventured off in search of a Mexican restaurant or at least some tortilla chips and salsa this past week. What I found was an empty building that used to house a Mexican restaurant (I could stay make out the fainted letters that spelled "Restaurante Mexicano") and small bags of tortilla chips and a jar of "hot" salsa from this Wal-Mat-esque establishment called Geant Casino. The chips were passable as low-grade 99 cent store nachos and the salsa was more sweet than hot. As I've come to learn the French do not like spicy food. I'll try to make the most of it, but there's really nothing much I can do but tell my taste buds sorry and keep eating more cheese. For you Chapel Hill folk, I could really from some Bandido's or Los Pos right now, a postcard from those places might suffice.
I went to another class at UPV called Politique Economique. It was meh, not horrible but not as good as the other classes I've had. It reminded me of my Poli238 classes in that I found myself doing the crossword and sudoku from some newspaper and my Hist127 class in that I could not understand much even when I did pay attention. And it was at 815, which meant I had to leave my place at 7 when it was still mad dark outside and pretty damn cold. Needless to say, I'm not taking that class. I'll stay with my Grand Defis and other Econ class at UPV, or "la fac" which the French use for the word university. Other than that, classes were fine the first week, not much different than UNC. Syllabi, assigning books to read and projects to do.
This past weekend was pretty good. Friday night was spent hanging out with other people in the program. The highlight was the football match (in American: soccer game) I went to with Isabel, Beth and Dan. The match was Montpellier vs Lyon at the Stade de la Mosson. Kickoff was at 9pm, it was late and pretty damn cold but it was worth it. Currently Montpellier is 2nd in the French league and had a chance to go to first place if Paris lost (but they won) and Lyon, currently in fifth, has dominated the French league over the past several years. The 1-nil victory was huge, and the goal, scored in 67th minute, resonated around the stadium. You could feel a huge sigh of relief from the supporters who had been frustrated throughout the night as Montpellier had chance after chance on goal but were unlucky. It was a fun experience, especially since the home side dominated the game. We were sitting around midfield in the second tier, not terrible seats at all. The sections of die-hard supporters, seated on opposite sides of the stadium, for both teams were intense. A tall chain-linked fence, barbed wire and about 50 security personnel separated the Montpellier die-hards from the field. For Lyon, the same except they were also monitored by armed police officers. Football in Europe is legit and dangerous. We arrived at the stadium at the same time that the Lyon fans were being let into the stadium (about 20-15 minutes before kickoff) and we were told to wait for a couple of minutes as they closed the gates to general admission so that the Lyon supporters could be let into the stadium escorted by police officers. Nuts.
Sunday, I did a ton of walking. I got to the city a bit by bike on Saturday, but Sunday I ran to and from the city center in the morning and later in the afternoon I walked there trying to figure out the quickest way home on foot so I can avoid paying 10 euro if I wanna get home after a night out. My bus line stops running at 840pm every night and the bus that is a 15 minute hike form my place stops at 1230 am. Not exactly ideal.
Starting to regret my "I'll wait until I get to France to get a haircut" approach to my last days in the states. I need a haircut now. And whereas I could've gotten one for 15 bucks, tip included, from my regular barber in NY it looks like I might drop upwards of 20 euro on a haircut that may not be exactly what I wanted. Jason, you really thought this through didn't you? Just like you did when you deposited all the cash you had left in your French bank account without having received the ATM card yet. Yea, I did that. I get the card on Monday, no worries. I was just a bit cashless.
I went to another class at UPV called Politique Economique. It was meh, not horrible but not as good as the other classes I've had. It reminded me of my Poli238 classes in that I found myself doing the crossword and sudoku from some newspaper and my Hist127 class in that I could not understand much even when I did pay attention. And it was at 815, which meant I had to leave my place at 7 when it was still mad dark outside and pretty damn cold. Needless to say, I'm not taking that class. I'll stay with my Grand Defis and other Econ class at UPV, or "la fac" which the French use for the word university. Other than that, classes were fine the first week, not much different than UNC. Syllabi, assigning books to read and projects to do.
This past weekend was pretty good. Friday night was spent hanging out with other people in the program. The highlight was the football match (in American: soccer game) I went to with Isabel, Beth and Dan. The match was Montpellier vs Lyon at the Stade de la Mosson. Kickoff was at 9pm, it was late and pretty damn cold but it was worth it. Currently Montpellier is 2nd in the French league and had a chance to go to first place if Paris lost (but they won) and Lyon, currently in fifth, has dominated the French league over the past several years. The 1-nil victory was huge, and the goal, scored in 67th minute, resonated around the stadium. You could feel a huge sigh of relief from the supporters who had been frustrated throughout the night as Montpellier had chance after chance on goal but were unlucky. It was a fun experience, especially since the home side dominated the game. We were sitting around midfield in the second tier, not terrible seats at all. The sections of die-hard supporters, seated on opposite sides of the stadium, for both teams were intense. A tall chain-linked fence, barbed wire and about 50 security personnel separated the Montpellier die-hards from the field. For Lyon, the same except they were also monitored by armed police officers. Football in Europe is legit and dangerous. We arrived at the stadium at the same time that the Lyon fans were being let into the stadium (about 20-15 minutes before kickoff) and we were told to wait for a couple of minutes as they closed the gates to general admission so that the Lyon supporters could be let into the stadium escorted by police officers. Nuts.
Sunday, I did a ton of walking. I got to the city a bit by bike on Saturday, but Sunday I ran to and from the city center in the morning and later in the afternoon I walked there trying to figure out the quickest way home on foot so I can avoid paying 10 euro if I wanna get home after a night out. My bus line stops running at 840pm every night and the bus that is a 15 minute hike form my place stops at 1230 am. Not exactly ideal.
Starting to regret my "I'll wait until I get to France to get a haircut" approach to my last days in the states. I need a haircut now. And whereas I could've gotten one for 15 bucks, tip included, from my regular barber in NY it looks like I might drop upwards of 20 euro on a haircut that may not be exactly what I wanted. Jason, you really thought this through didn't you? Just like you did when you deposited all the cash you had left in your French bank account without having received the ATM card yet. Yea, I did that. I get the card on Monday, no worries. I was just a bit cashless.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
FDOC at UPV: the start of the "study" portion in study abroad
My first (planned) class at the Universite Paul Valery did not happen. I was told such a thing would happen in France, c'est la vie. Turns out the class I had showed up for was a TD (a sorta recitation) for the lecture class that I wanted to go to. We weren't particularly privy to this kind of information beforehand and only found out about our mistake after we went to the departmental office, it was a history class...I think. The lecture portion of that class meets during a time where i have one of my "UNC in France" classes so I scratched it off my list. Those two classes I take at a different place called Accent Francais and they count directly onto my gpa as if I were taking them at UNC. For the record they are FRE261 and FRE311. I take a third class at Accent Francais called French for business, and it's exactly what it sounds like.
At UPV I'm taking 2, maybe but probably not 3, classes. One is an economics class covering France and Europe and the other one is "Great Challenges: Communication, Transportation and Energy" From sitting in on the latter, this class seems super interesting as it covers how the world deals with these challenges and the infrastructure necessary to facilitate or ameliorate them. The down side is that it meets at 8:15 am for 2 hours plus a 1 hr recitation Wednesday at 10:15. I wouldn't mind the early start if I didn't have a 40 minute commute to class. The economics class has been, by far, my favorite class so far (I've been to each one once) although the 2.5 hr duration tests my attention span.
It hasn't been difficult at all to comprehend and follow along in these classes. I thought I'd have a lot of trouble in the classes at the university but so far I've been able to understand about 85-90% of the material and getting the gist of the rest.
My birthday was on Tuesday. Even though it was not the same as in the US in terms of celebrating with close friends and the fact that 20 means the same as 21 it was still a ton of fun and fun for those who joined me in celebrating it. Those in the UNC program who could make it as well as a couple of Swiss students would agree that it was great night.
This weekend I should be attending my first football (US read: soccer) match in Europe. It's a match between Montpellier (2nd place at the moment) and Lyon (one of the more powerful French teams over the last few years). Should be great.
At UPV I'm taking 2, maybe but probably not 3, classes. One is an economics class covering France and Europe and the other one is "Great Challenges: Communication, Transportation and Energy" From sitting in on the latter, this class seems super interesting as it covers how the world deals with these challenges and the infrastructure necessary to facilitate or ameliorate them. The down side is that it meets at 8:15 am for 2 hours plus a 1 hr recitation Wednesday at 10:15. I wouldn't mind the early start if I didn't have a 40 minute commute to class. The economics class has been, by far, my favorite class so far (I've been to each one once) although the 2.5 hr duration tests my attention span.
It hasn't been difficult at all to comprehend and follow along in these classes. I thought I'd have a lot of trouble in the classes at the university but so far I've been able to understand about 85-90% of the material and getting the gist of the rest.
My birthday was on Tuesday. Even though it was not the same as in the US in terms of celebrating with close friends and the fact that 20 means the same as 21 it was still a ton of fun and fun for those who joined me in celebrating it. Those in the UNC program who could make it as well as a couple of Swiss students would agree that it was great night.
This weekend I should be attending my first football (US read: soccer) match in Europe. It's a match between Montpellier (2nd place at the moment) and Lyon (one of the more powerful French teams over the last few years). Should be great.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
le week-end
Not exactly sure why, but the bars in Montpellier close at 1 am and start shuffling people out the door at 12:45. It doesn't really matter, because the night doesn't end there as most people head for the various clubs in the area be it in the city center or by the beach. I found that out Friday night when a bunch of the UNC and Swiss contingent went to bar called Australia Cafe. Basically it is pretty much frequented by the foreign student population in Montpellier. It wasn't really happening until about midnight and it was super packed by the time they had to close. It was fun, a lot of the UNC students, myself included, live with a Swiss student at our host family's house so we all rendez-vous at the same place. It is kinda difficult to travel in such a large group though.
Saturday night brought much of the same, the groups were smaller and I took a bunch of us to the same place I had gone to on Thursday night, a bar called Le Huit. It was great, it seems like we all had a blast despite the place being kind of small and expensive. The crowdedness didn't get much better at the next place, it got way worse. I'm talking about barely having room to breathe. This was a at a pirate ship themed bar, it was great and there were a lot of French people. A couple of us met up with a Swiss group at a club called "Panama" after the bars closed. What seemed like a long line to get in was made shorter when I overheard some people speaking English towards the front of the line. Sure enough they were people form the University of Minnesota. I quickly chatted up and mentioned something about their mascot being the Golden Gophers and we were as good as best friends...until we got into the club. It may seem like there are no French people here because I've only talked about meeting foreigners but that's just because they are easier to approach. On that note, once inside I ran into the Penn State girls I had met at the airport.
Sunday was our first free day. I planned to wake up at 10 to go exploring. I wound up dragging myself out of bed at noon. I explored an old aqueduct ( a chateau d'eau in French)in Montpellier and took some pictures as the surrounding park is the highest point in this flat city. I heard a couple of people speaking English so I seized the opportunity to ask them to take a couple of pictures of me, instead of awkwardly asking a French person. They were Erasmus students (a european study abroad program) one was from Sweeden, one was Irish and the girl was from Germany. We met up with my housemate and had lunch in park. They've been in Montpellier since August so they know what's up. It was a chill time and we agreed on hanging out next weekend.
Class starts tomorrow. That's what I'm here for. For all the positive stuff I've mentioned about Montpellier, the commute to class and the lack of a library is going to suck. In order to get to UPV I have to take a bus 20 minutes to a tram station, then another 20 minutes by tram and foot. The library is basically nonexistant as far as getting work done there goes. But, I'll have to make due as it is part of the experience. having class at 10:15 tomorrow doesn't mean the same thing as it does in Chapel Hill.
Saturday night brought much of the same, the groups were smaller and I took a bunch of us to the same place I had gone to on Thursday night, a bar called Le Huit. It was great, it seems like we all had a blast despite the place being kind of small and expensive. The crowdedness didn't get much better at the next place, it got way worse. I'm talking about barely having room to breathe. This was a at a pirate ship themed bar, it was great and there were a lot of French people. A couple of us met up with a Swiss group at a club called "Panama" after the bars closed. What seemed like a long line to get in was made shorter when I overheard some people speaking English towards the front of the line. Sure enough they were people form the University of Minnesota. I quickly chatted up and mentioned something about their mascot being the Golden Gophers and we were as good as best friends...until we got into the club. It may seem like there are no French people here because I've only talked about meeting foreigners but that's just because they are easier to approach. On that note, once inside I ran into the Penn State girls I had met at the airport.
Sunday was our first free day. I planned to wake up at 10 to go exploring. I wound up dragging myself out of bed at noon. I explored an old aqueduct ( a chateau d'eau in French)in Montpellier and took some pictures as the surrounding park is the highest point in this flat city. I heard a couple of people speaking English so I seized the opportunity to ask them to take a couple of pictures of me, instead of awkwardly asking a French person. They were Erasmus students (a european study abroad program) one was from Sweeden, one was Irish and the girl was from Germany. We met up with my housemate and had lunch in park. They've been in Montpellier since August so they know what's up. It was a chill time and we agreed on hanging out next weekend.
Class starts tomorrow. That's what I'm here for. For all the positive stuff I've mentioned about Montpellier, the commute to class and the lack of a library is going to suck. In order to get to UPV I have to take a bus 20 minutes to a tram station, then another 20 minutes by tram and foot. The library is basically nonexistant as far as getting work done there goes. But, I'll have to make due as it is part of the experience. having class at 10:15 tomorrow doesn't mean the same thing as it does in Chapel Hill.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
End of orientation
Orientation took up the better part of 5 days, even Saturday...smh. It seems like each day is getting progressively longer and longer and I make it home just in time to take a quick nap, eat and then go out. It makes for a weird situation with my host family, because I don't know if I should be hanging out with them more. Dinner does last around an hour and half, sometimes more, so that is plenty of time we have to talk. But since i live in a separate "house" from them I just basically show up for dinner and then bounce. Once I have more time I'll figure out if they wanna chill.
Class registration still sucks. Still don't know exactly what class classes I'll be taking at UPV, but they'll probably deal with economics or history. Not gonna even try to touch the sciences here.
There is so much stuff Montpellier has to offer and since I'm a huge sports fan that's what I'll head to first. Not only is there a good football team here (read: soccer) but Montpellier has excellent rugby and handball (european handball, not wall ball) teams. Two sports I've never witnessed in person so I'll definitely being going the respective stadium and arena soon. Going along the topic of sports, I may be trying to get into a handball class at UPV, it's pending a physical. At the end of January there is a tennis tournament here, which I will try to attend. Sunday is a free day, so I'll spending most of my time exploring, getting to know where the sports are played, where museums are and figuring out how to get to the beach.
A note on the food here in France. It is great! However, I might get the study abroad version of the freshman 15. They eat a lot of bread and a lot of cheese. The pastries here are magnificent and the sandwiches are delicious. Speaking of which, there is this sandwich at many places called l'Americain (see picture), which if McDonald's were to brand it it would be called a McHeartattack. It's a baguette with hamburger patties, french fries and your choice of condiments. The description sounds gross, but it is actually a great sandwich. I had it with Dan, Rachel and Emily who are in my program and we all loved it. I guess that's to be expected since we're American...all we eat are hamburgers and french fries. At least that seems to be our stereotype when it comes to our cuisine.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Getting settled and first night out on the town
10:18 pm
It's the end of my third night in Montpellier after a day full of getting to know people, customs, places and my way around the city and university. Managed to get from my house to the city center for orientation this morning using public transportation by myself...baby steps.
The living arrangement at my host family's place is great. I live in a separate two-room duplex with another foreign student, Gianluca, he's from Switzerland. We have our own small kitchen, common room and bathroom. It's pretty cool, gives us some independence. Last night, I hung out with Gianuca and about 10 of his fellow classmates at local bars. A minor error in ordering my drink occurred however, I attempted to order a pitcher for me a couple of other people but instead I got my own liter of beer. It was funny when the waiter brought us a couple of them but it was good beer so it wasn't a bad mistake. It was a chill night we got to meet a couple of foreign people, it seems like Montpellier is a very young city with a big foreign student population.
I naively though that although Montpellier was the 8th largest city in France, that it was a city that was sort of off the beaten path. I was wrong. Just in the first day I have noticed a few things that remind me of home:
The big beats by Dr. Dre headphones
The smaller beats headphones
McDonald's, Subway, Domino's, Pizza Hut, KFC
an Occupy movement
Still having some problems fixing the sleep schedule, but that's to be expected with the 6 hour time difference. I still have one more class to register for at UPV and it sees like that'll be a complicated process. As much as I've cursed the day that ConnectCarolina was created I wish this school had something resembling it...I'll have to make due. For now, from the 4 classes I'm enrolled in the schedule is not all that bad. Yeah, I have a Friday class but I don't have any classes before noon. The scenery of the university will take a lot of getting used to, being a UNC student has really spoiled me. The university grounds resemble the most ghetto community colleges I've seen in New York, but that's to be expected as these students do not pay exorbitant amounts of money on a college education. It is what it is, that's all part of the experience.
Still more orientations and logistical stuff to do between now and Monday when classes start. It seems pretty daunting that I'm going to be sitting in class with French students. It's another challenge, but it can't possibly be worse than Analytical Chemistry.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Arrival in Montpellier
Montpellier - 11:59 pm
I got to Montpellier around 3 pm local time and checked into my hotel, where I'll be staying until around noon tomorrow when my host family picks me up. The flight from Madrid to Monpellier was rather quick, about an hour and change.
I ran into/ met a few people on this flight. At the gate in Madrid I met Julian, a recent graduate of Indiana State University where he played D-I football (espn.com backs this up). He'll be studying French at the same university. Boarding my flight, I recognized a girl that was on my fight from JFK. We chatted for a bit and turns out she's also from New York and studies at SUNY Geneseo, she's also doing the exchange program at UPV. As I was claiming my baggage, this one girl accidentally picked up my bag and in the ensuing awkward conversation that ensued I found out she was from Penn State and was traveling with 4 other classmates and they too are doing the exchange program.
From the short taxi drive to my hotel Montpellier reminds me a lot of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I didn't get to explore at all today since the hotel is basically in the middle of nowhere relative to the city center, but I'll have enough time to explore in the coming days and weeks. I've napped 3 times since I got here, read some stuff, and now I'm watching the France equivalent of Sportscenter. They're taking about the NBA right now and its kinda funny hearing names like Dewayne Wade LeBron James in French accents.
I got to Montpellier around 3 pm local time and checked into my hotel, where I'll be staying until around noon tomorrow when my host family picks me up. The flight from Madrid to Monpellier was rather quick, about an hour and change.
I ran into/ met a few people on this flight. At the gate in Madrid I met Julian, a recent graduate of Indiana State University where he played D-I football (espn.com backs this up). He'll be studying French at the same university. Boarding my flight, I recognized a girl that was on my fight from JFK. We chatted for a bit and turns out she's also from New York and studies at SUNY Geneseo, she's also doing the exchange program at UPV. As I was claiming my baggage, this one girl accidentally picked up my bag and in the ensuing awkward conversation that ensued I found out she was from Penn State and was traveling with 4 other classmates and they too are doing the exchange program.
From the short taxi drive to my hotel Montpellier reminds me a lot of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I didn't get to explore at all today since the hotel is basically in the middle of nowhere relative to the city center, but I'll have enough time to explore in the coming days and weeks. I've napped 3 times since I got here, read some stuff, and now I'm watching the France equivalent of Sportscenter. They're taking about the NBA right now and its kinda funny hearing names like Dewayne Wade LeBron James in French accents.
Vale!
Madrid - 9:56 am
The 6.5 hr flight from JFK to MAD went quicker than I expected. I didn't get much sleep but I never do on airplanes anyway. Sat next to this really chill dude from Lyon. With his English and my French we had very choppy conversations in half of each language. He said he had been in Times Square for NYE and he was kind of surprised to hear I had never done that despite living in New York (well, Long Island) my whole life.
Customs in Madrid was easier than I expected (for those who have heard about my trouble coming back Brazil) although the officer was kind of a jerk. He put a stamp on my visa and gave me a stern look when I asked him if there was anything I had to do because I had a long-stay visa. All he said was "vale" and I was on my way.
I had heard "vale" was widely used here in España but I did not envision hearing it at the end of every sentence like I have so far in my limited interaction with people at the airport. I guess a loose translation of "vale" would be OK, or good.
It's 4:09 am EST, and I know I should take a nap or something during the next 3 hours of my layover. For now, I'm just hanging out at a random gate because they will not post a gate for my flight until an hour before departure. I'm excited to get to Montpellier, get settled and get some rest. Next post will be from France, vale.
The 6.5 hr flight from JFK to MAD went quicker than I expected. I didn't get much sleep but I never do on airplanes anyway. Sat next to this really chill dude from Lyon. With his English and my French we had very choppy conversations in half of each language. He said he had been in Times Square for NYE and he was kind of surprised to hear I had never done that despite living in New York (well, Long Island) my whole life.
Customs in Madrid was easier than I expected (for those who have heard about my trouble coming back Brazil) although the officer was kind of a jerk. He put a stamp on my visa and gave me a stern look when I asked him if there was anything I had to do because I had a long-stay visa. All he said was "vale" and I was on my way.
I had heard "vale" was widely used here in España but I did not envision hearing it at the end of every sentence like I have so far in my limited interaction with people at the airport. I guess a loose translation of "vale" would be OK, or good.
It's 4:09 am EST, and I know I should take a nap or something during the next 3 hours of my layover. For now, I'm just hanging out at a random gate because they will not post a gate for my flight until an hour before departure. I'm excited to get to Montpellier, get settled and get some rest. Next post will be from France, vale.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Pre-Departure
First entry.
It's New Year's Eve and the eve of my departure. Still have some packing that needs to be done but that can wait until 2012. I'm scheduled to leave tomorrow at 7:00 pm from JFK, arrive in Madrid around 2:00 am EST on January 2nd, and my connecting flight to Montpellier is scheduled to depart at around 7:00 am EST. In short, I leave the US at 7pm Jan. 1st and arrive in France at 2:35 pm Jan 2nd (France time, 6 hours ahead).
I would say I'm feeling more excited than anything at moment. A bit nervous only because I fear I might get to France and realize that I cannot speak French all that well. Besides that, I'm ready to go.
Wrapping up 2011 with friends and family. Happy New Year's everybody!
It's New Year's Eve and the eve of my departure. Still have some packing that needs to be done but that can wait until 2012. I'm scheduled to leave tomorrow at 7:00 pm from JFK, arrive in Madrid around 2:00 am EST on January 2nd, and my connecting flight to Montpellier is scheduled to depart at around 7:00 am EST. In short, I leave the US at 7pm Jan. 1st and arrive in France at 2:35 pm Jan 2nd (France time, 6 hours ahead).
I would say I'm feeling more excited than anything at moment. A bit nervous only because I fear I might get to France and realize that I cannot speak French all that well. Besides that, I'm ready to go.
Wrapping up 2011 with friends and family. Happy New Year's everybody!
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