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.