A Trip to Nîmes

The past week has been increasingly busy and packed with the orientation course and the looming prospect of registering for classes.  French universities do not post course schedules anywhere until a couple days beforehand, which presents a serious challenge.  I also learned this week that unless I change my french minor into a french major at Northwestern, I will not receive credit for three of the courses I will take here! That news added some seriously unnecessary stress to this week.

Fortunately, this past Saturday, the entire group took a bus trip to the Pont de Gard (a giant Roman aqueduct) and Nîmes, France, about an hour away.  This trip was absolutely amazing!  Anyone who comes to France must visit the Pont du Gard, the Roman temple, and the Roman gardens in Nîmes.

The Pont du Gard is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (which means it's pretty awesome) built around the 1st century AD.  It was used to transport water over 50 km to the city of Nîmes, the aquaduct itself acting as a bridge over the Gardon River.  It is impressive in its size and height, built about 50 meters off the ground without mortar, the massive rocks used to build it were dry-laid.  This makes it all the more impressive that it lasted this long!  We got the chance to actually walk inside the aqueduct where the water used to flow and the interior (which I have no pictures of because it was too dark) is massive, big enough to carry a river's worth of water.

Pont du Gard from below.  It's twice as long and huge up close.

The trip got even better after this stop.  Next we went to l'Arène, Nime's version of the colosseum.  It's about half the size of the one in Rome, but it was spectacular (I'm running out of adjectives that don't start with awe and end with some).  We climbed to the top of the seating section of the massive stadium and heard about its history from a guide.  She told us that fights between people and animals used to occur there, as well as citywide meetings.  During war, it was converted into army barracks.  Today, they still have concerts and sporting events there, a couple thousand years after it was built.

The remainder of the trip was spent seeing two more Roman-era landmarks, a temple and a watchtower. Both were impressive structures, especially the temple, which stands in the middle of the major square in downtown Nîmes today.  It has carvings in the stone and was designed to resemble a Greek temple.  It's tall columns and marble floors remind me of the Parthenon, but in much better condition.  The pictures I took of the temple did not turn out well because of the bright reflective light, so feel free to google "La maison-carréé" to see a picture.  The watchtower required a long walk up a hill to the highest point in Montpellier.  It was obvious why the Romans used this area for a guard tower!  The gardens on the bottom of the hill were spectacular as well.  Statues depicting Roman gods surrounding marble pools spanned massive ground.  This was highlighted by the ruins of a Roman castle of sorts.  This was the most impressive part of the tour, if only because we were able to walk around in the ruins.  Tablets, writing, and intricate designs were still intact, as pictured below.

Roman watch tower

Ruins in the garden

Inside the ruins

Tomorrow, I have my first exam of the introductory course, as well a special course in wine and cheese tasting and my first-ever soccer game.  The next post will include my impressions of my host family as well as photos from a group trip to Carcassone, a city close by to Montpellier.

Day 5- First Impressions

I've been in Montpellier now for a few days and so far it has been excellent.  My travel experience ended up being fairly stressful but I got here in one piece after taking three planes, two trains, and a taxi.  It turns out that American credit cards don't have security chips in them, so they can't be tracked by the French government.  Which means I couldn't use mine to pick up my train ticket.  After having my first conversation in french with actual french people, I learned that tickets are only required if the conductor actually checks for them.  Luckily, he didn't and I was on my way from the airport in Marseille to Montpellier.  This stress just compounded my stress from traversing the Munich airport earlier in the day.  By the time flight from Toronto landed,  I had less than twenty minutes to clear customs and get to my next gate.  Customs and security, as well as what seemed like walking several miles to get to them, took about nineteen minutes.  As I ran to my gate, boarding pass in hand, the agent locked the door and closed the flight.  I had made it just in time!

When I finally made it to Montpellier, I took a taxi to the hotel where I would be staying for the next ten days.  I needed food and sleep, neither of which I would get right away, because I spent most the afternoon and evening getting to know my roommates Ed and Byron.  Ed is from Gulfport, Mississippi and Byron is from Duluth, Minnesota.  We finally ventured out to find dinner, but since it was a Sunday, everything run by actual french people was closed.  So, we went to a kebab place and got excellent middle eastern food, go figure.  Even worse, it came it fries and soda.  And yet, it was nourishment, desperately needed after twenty four hours of airline food, pictured below.

Something resembling food on Toronto to Munich flight

First view on Montpellier's Place de la Comedie at dusk

Since food is so expensive here, we have been cooking for ourselves in the evening and having sandwiches and such for lunch.  But it's not so bad.  Food here is of much higher quality than anything you'd find in Aldi's or even Wegman's.  They don't do processed foods and they make tortilla chips from crepes.  Things the french love- bread, cheese, and wine- are cheap and plentiful.  A sandwich of jambon et fromage edam (ham and edam cheese) on baguette is delicious.

This week, my days were filled by intense orientation classes taught by french professors, where we review grammar, speaking, writing, and listening skills.  So far, we have taken two tours of the city, the highlights of which included going inside medieval Jewish baths and climbing atop Montpellier's version of the Arc de Triomph, constructed after the Catholics defeated the Protestants here.

Arc de Triomph of Montpellier- smaller than the one in Paris

Montpellier has amazing history.  Most cities in southern france are of Roman origin, but Montpellier is  newer city, dating only the medieval era, around 1200 AD.  The old city has lots of stone walls and narrow winding streets.  The building most commonly look the ones below- with hints of Greco-Roman architecture and later styles as well.

So far, I love it here.  The people in my program are all very nice and an extremely diverse group from all over the US.  Yesterday, we all went to the beach and swam in the Mediterranean.  It was warm and the beach was crowded.  And yes, there were plenty of topless french women.  Tomorrow I have my first big assignment due- a one page long story in french, which is nothing compared to what I have been doing for two years in classes at Northwestern.  Saturday, we take a bus trip to the city of Nîmes, which is full of Roman architecture, including Pont du Gard, an aquaduct.  My next post will be about this trip, which I'm really looking forward to.

Oddities noted so far about Montpellier and France in general: 

1. Personal hygiene is...well, different here. 

2.  Bands of hobos with big dogs which defecate indiscriminately seem to love Montpellier.  I do not love them.

3.  I have seen exactly two SUV's here.  They were both smaller than a Ford escape.  Aka really small.

4.  French people love to speak english.  I just wish they wouldn't assume I want to speak english.  I don't; in fact,  I want to speak french whenever possible to improve my skills.

All things I already knew, but have witnessed and confirmed.

I move in with my host family on September 1...that's my next big adjustment, but I'm excited for it.  Look for my next post on Sunday, my first free day with free since I arrived.  And I can't wait for it.

  

Departure Day

Today is the day.  I woke up and frantically finished packing, even fitting in a trip to Macy's and Kohls for last minute shopping.  I'll be studying in Montpellier, France for the next four months and I didn't even start thinking about packing until I got from a two week trip to Colorado.  With one week between trips, I spent most of my time visiting family, shopping, and then finally packing.

I was lucky enough to fly out of Syracuse this afternoon on an award ticket instead of driving or taking a bus to NYC for my flight to France.  However with nearly free tickets booked with miles, there is always a catch.  This time it involved an 18 seat prop plane and flying Air Canada.  After getting to the airport 90 minutes early and saying goodbye to my family, I "checked in", which involved an agent from a different airline calling technical support after she couldn't figure out how to do it.  Air Canada is a small operation in Syracuse.  When my flight was delayed 30 minutes, no announcements were made or reasons provided, but eventually the plane (see below) showed up.  

Even the pilot had no information as to its whereabouts!  The flight was unique- no safety demo, no flight attendant, and no overhead compartment.  But, it got me to Toronto where I now sit on a four hour layover.  The airport is massive and it took forever to get from my gate (which consisted of a door leading down a long hallway, not an actual gate), through customs and on to my next gate.  Presently, the terminal is being searched thoroughly for a suspicious item of some sort!

My flight to Munich, Germany leaves at 8:25pm EST, so I have three hours to kill and a new airport to explore.  So far, I like the free wifi and all the canadians, who gleefully fit their "nice" stereotype.  Fifteen more hours of travel to go, including two more flights and two French passenger trains.

I'm going to Montpellier to study abroad, which means I will take classes in French and live with a host family.  Hopefully, I will get to travel quite a bit around Europe and make it an extended vacation as well a college semester.  I'll update the blog at least twice per week and more if I travel- with pictures and video too as the internet allows.  I'll post about the amazing french food I eat, landmarks I visit, and people I meet.

For the first ten days I will live at the Citadines Antigone hotel in Montpellier while I attend an orientation program, then I move in with my host family September 1.  My classes do not start until Sept 12 so I will have two weeks to explore Montpellier or travel elsewhere with my fellow program members.  Throughout the program I know already I am going to London, Amsterdam and Paris.  And I'm sure I will make it all over France and to Spain, Italy, and Germany at least as well.

Remember, if you want to call or text me and you have a smartphone, download the app "Viber".  We can communicate for free.  I'll post my international number here as soon as I get it. 

The next time I post will be from Montpellier, France!  If you're wondering about the name of the blog, it means "Let's go to Montpellier".  And go I shall.