The past week has been full of new challenges, one of which has been finding time to post on this blog! So, today, after a trip to the fortified city of Aigues-Mort and the port city of Grau du Roi, I decided I would do a post on last week's visit to the medieval city of Carcassonne.
This week, I have mostly spent my time figuring out the french university system and getting to know my host family. French universities are very different from the US and not in a good way. They are highly bureaucratic and lack any organized structure. For instance, each department decides for themselves when to start classes. So on thursday I went to my first class only to discover that the history dept. will not commence classes until next monday!
After the three week orientation course ended wednesday, everyone in the program chose their classes for the semester at the university. I chose to take five classes:
- Contemporary european history 1815-1989
- Medieval french literature
- Theatre and politics in 16th c. french literature
- Grammar and writing methods in french
- French civilization
Three of these classes are with only other American students and two- the history and politics classes- are with other french students in an integrated setting. I'm really looking forward to starting all my classes and getting into a routine, one that allows me to sleep and travel more. This should be possible, because I have no classes fridays or monday mornings.
Living with my host family this past week has been an educational, and immensely positive experience. The food has been mostly traditional french and southern french style food and each night we eat a multi-course dinner with plenty of cheese and wine. I've decided that I love the cheese, but I don't love the wine. It reminds of paint thinner and I'm sure that's insulting to french wine, but I can't stand drinking it. But that's ok, because my host family doesn't expect it. And my host sister doesn't like cheese at all. The running joke is that between us, we are banned from france!
Since my host parents are older, they often correct my french slang that I have learned in the states and they always correct my grammar when I speak incorrectly, which I appreciate because it helps me improve as much as possible. Living with a host family is an amazing experience and I am enjoying every aspect of it. There are oddities: no clothes dryers or microwaves in real french houses, separate rooms for bathroom and toilet, excessive darkness in the house because electricity is so expensive.
A quick overview of last saturday's trip to Carcassonne. The city and it's castle are about two hours west toward Spain from where I am in Montpellier, but it was definitely worth the two hour bus ride to get there. This is where every movie about the Middle ages has ever been filmed. The castle contains a small city with merchants, restaurants, and an amazing Cathedral. The castle was first built to defend southwestern France from attacks during Roman times in 100 BC and it remained important throughout the Middle Ages as warring kings fought over it until 1659 when the french border moved further south toward Spain, reducing its importance.
It felt like being a movie set walking around the ramparts and inside the towers. We were given a tour of the entire outside portion of the castle and spent hours walking around the small city inside. They actually let vehicles drive around inside too, but only for a few hours each morning to bring in supplies for shops and restaurants.
Most of the castle was restored in the 1800's which is why it is in such good repair today. The walls, towers, and ramparts are well remarkably restored.
The most amazing part of the trip for me however was not castle itself but the Cathedral that serves the city.
The cathedral is absolutely gorgeous and remains in very good condition, with an intricate organ and fantastic stained glass windows (not pictured). While we were in the church, a male quartet began singing a cappella hymns. If I can figure out how to upload the video I took, I will. It was beautiful and made the trip really special.
I wish I could describe Carcassonne with better detail- I encourage you to Google it and read about it. It is truly an amazing place and is a UNESCO World Heritage site, which keeps it protected and renders it a huge tourist destination. It lives up to its fame as a Medieval castle with Roman heritage.
There should be another post tomorrow about today's trip to see another castle and sail on a catamaran yacht. It was very cool, especially the yacht. I'm also going to try to do a post on the food I have been eating, most of which has been excellent and very regional cuisine. Look for another, shorter post tomorrow.
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