I’ve been in Montpellier for four weeks now. Have you been wondering what I’ve been up to? Below I outline a typical day and what I have to look forward to.

On a typical day while I’ve been in Montpellier, I wake up at 6:30 to my hosts extremely pleasant alarm. I lay in bed until 7:20 when my not-so-pleasant alarm alerts me that it is fact the last possible moment I can get up. I rise and eat breakfast with my host, usually bread with butter and jam and orange juice and tea. Then I dress and spend about 10 minutes trying to get my contacts to cooperate. Usually it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Then I depart on a 40ish minute walk to school. There is a valley between where I live and where the school is, so I literally walk up hill the last 10 minutes in both directions. While walking I listen to my Pimsleur lesson for the day, about 30 minutes of listen and repeat exercises which I’ve come to rather enjoy and have definitely benefited from, especially in conjuncture with the French immersion classes.

Standards classes last from 9h - 12h15 with two classes a day Monday - Friday. There is a theme each week of the class around which the vocabulary is based and there is. of course grammar added each week. In B1 I have had to write a paper in French every week, all of which have been on interesting topics, from discussing the context of my favorite work of art to explaining the Health and Insurance system in the United States, they have been varied and challenging, and each has caused me to do considerable research on the topic itself in addition to the French.

Tuesdays-Thursdays from 13h15-16h I take the intensive course. Each week of the year has a theme and Tuesdays are all about pronunciation. Wednesdays and Thursdays we use the vocabulary of the theme in different ways.

I have dinner with my host each night from 20h-21h30. Dinner is very casual but we always have great conversations and is a good opportunity to learn new words and practice pronunciation and grammar. My hostess is a writer so she is always improving my speech which is great.

Between class and dinner is free time and there are enough activities in Montpellier to keep anyone busy. Two or three nights a week there are language exchange classes, since there are so many students in the city, but also free museums and outdoor green spaces abound. I walk home (unless its over 85 degrees as it has been all this week) and sometimes stop for a 2 euro Nutella crepe, the best crepe I’ve found (and believe me I’ve tried a lot) even before considering the price.

After dinner I do my homework, which we have had more than I’d expected, and review it with my hostess, maybe watch some French television, shower, and go to bed. It is a new vacation experience because its very similar to real life - developing a daily routine and having work to do.

But tomorrow, all that ends. Tomorrow I have standards in the morning, a test for my improvement (eek), and a ceremony of completion before getting on a bus toward Rennes, another French city, where I will meet up with my absolute favorite French people, my French family and their ever-growing brood.

Next Thursday, Independence Day, I’ll spend time in three countries, none of them the United States, before ultimately reaching Namibia. In Namibia I am meeting up with friends for a African winter road trip (and at 95 degrees today I can’t wait to be somewhere thats having a winter, even if winter there means 68 degrees)! About two weeks later I’ll be in Portugal for a week, exploring Lisbon and Porto, before returning to France.

July and August I’ll be cat sitting for a friend who lives in Paris! I wasn’t sure if the dates would line up and work out but everything fell into place perfectly and I couldn’t be happier to get to stay in France a little while longer and use the language i’ve spent so much time learning. While August is not the best time to be in Paris - it is hot and full of tourists and many of the locals are on vacation elsewhere - I’m excited to get better acquainted with the city and hopefully change my perception of it.

So that’s my update, my plans are a little more detailed than a month ago and I couldn’t wait to share the good news.

How is your summer getting started? What are you most looking forward to this summer? Anyone going to be traveling through Namibia, Portugal, or Paris - I’d love to meet up!

-Ff