Le Pont du Gard

In order to get water to Nemausus (present day Nîmes), the Romans constructed an aqueduct 50 kilometers long…SO they built this bridge/aqueduct that’s 275 meters long and 50 meters tall making it the tallest structure in the Roman world. Although the aqueduct stopped working at the end of the Roman reign in the 5th century, Le Pont (bridge) still stands strong.

Although they gave a tour of the bridge…a few of us decided to get a head start on the cliff jumping :D The first cliff was only 10 feet or so high, but fun for a few practice jumps. (all of this was “overlooked” by our directors…don’t ask, don’t tell.) Then I saw 2 guys from U of Minnesota start swimming to the REAL cliff…we checked for rocks below (none) and then climbed to the top. The 2 guys went first and then me (with everyone yelling at me not to do it…IT WAS AWESOME!) It took about 4 seconds to get to the water and my foot stung a little afterwards but it was SO worth it! I’ll try to get a picture of that, but from my judgment it was about 35-40 feet high :D

(the circle on the right is the first cliff, and the circle on the left is the second cliff!)

Me jumping off the first cliff!

Tomorrow I start biking to school…the first of MANY! (I’ve decided to not buy a Tram pass and bike instead.) Also, the Mediterranean is about 4 miles from my house too. I’ve been once so far, and we’re going again Thursday!

NÎMES

So since Montpellier is only 1000 years old, they decided to show us some real history on Sunday by visiting Nîmes, which was Nemausus prior to 6th century A.D., and Le Pont du Gard, built in the 1st century A.D.

The most well-known structure in Nîmes would probably be Les Arènas which was built at the end of the 1st century. It seated up to 20,000 spectators, but after the Roman era, there weren’t many spectacles. During Le Moyen-Âge, Les Arènas was turned into a fortress for the town building 2 churches and a house inside. Today, they have bleachers for concerts, corridas, tennis, ect...

Another cool built in the 5th century is La Maison Carrée (“the square house”) – one of the best conserved temples of the Roman world used for political, philosophical, and religious debates.

My favorite part of Nîmes was Les Jardins de la Fontaine (ABOVE & BELOW), which was built in honor of Nemausus with a temple to goddess Diane. It contained endless levels of parks and gardens full of marble statues, staircases, waterfalls. Hopefully my pictures can try to do it justice…

***interesting tidbit BLUE JEANS originated in Nîmes!!!! It’s textile industry created denim during the Middle Ages!!!***

MONTPELLIER

It is extremely hard not to fall in love with this city. I feel pretty equipped to give you some more background with the 2 hours of culture class I have on top to the tours. Montpellier was the 2nd or 3rd largest city in France during the Middle Ages (Le Moyen-Age), which was when it was built - so only about 1,000 years ago...not too old ;). During the medieval period, the roads weren't constructed with straight lines like Roman or Greek cities...so it's really curvy around here, and the streets weren't made wide enough for cars (bikes and the tram have become the means of transportation through "downtown"). The city is actually shaped like a shield, which is pretty cool. It's the capital of the Languedoc-Roussillon of France in the Heroult department. (I think that's enough for now, but if I learn something really cool I'll let you know!)

The climate is definitely the high point and the reason why so many people move here. The city has 250,000 inhabitants and then the banlieue

(suburbs) of the city includes another 250,000. The population has been exploding since 1962, when Algeria gained its independance from France.

I didn't realize HOW beautiful it was until Tuesday when I saw the Petit Arc de Triomphe (BELOW) and a bunch of other cool buildings ... I don't really know what they're for. Le Palais du Peyrou (ABOVE).
I started my Pre-Stage on Wednesday, in which all of the Americans (mainly UNC and U of Minnesota students) review a lot of French grammar, so that we'll be prepared for our direct enrollment French classes at the Universite de Paul Valery de Montpellier (or Le Fac des Lettres, because it's the Liberal Arts university in town). It's not what one would imagine as a French universty...French students only pay 200 euro for tuition, not leaving much money for the buildings and amenities :/ So UNC students miss our campus, but we'll survive by hanging out at La Place de la Comedie (a building BELOW) and L'Esplinade in the center of the city. There is also an amazing section of the city called Antigone full (I mean FULL) of Roman statues and fountains, along with two huge fields (George, my fellow yearlong student, and I looked at each other: ULTIMATE FRISBEE anyone!?!?! - and they do play here!)

My family is exactly the type that I needed to live with for an entire year (thanks to Jeannine who studied here last Spring): flexible schedule, night owls, few rules, great food, and LOTS of people ALL the time (my first night, we had 13 people at dinner! - cousins, grandma and all). Christine, my host mother, runs marathons and has 4 children: Julienne (23), Mathieu (21), Caroline (19), and Charlie (17). They're all so much fun, although a little crazy at times! Unfortunately all smoke, but that's pretty unavoidable in France - even though the cigarette packs say FUMER TUE "Smoking kills". I don't know if I'll ever understand the habit. There is also a big, SWEET, 3-year-old black lab named Tibu. Their father passed away Spring of 2007, but it hasn't been mentioned - only pictures. We don't eat dinner until 10pm or later! We sit down around 9 for l'aperatif (cocktails) with chips and peanuts before the meal. Every meal includes tomatoes, lots of very very good tomatoes, and the cheese = dessert - something I'm getting used to.

The house is much much bigger than I was expecting: wrap around patio/porch thing with a swimming pool, 6 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 toilet closets, and a large kitchen/living room. My room is perfect - a really big closet! I've yet to blow up my excersice ball (Thanks Liz!), but there's plenty of room for it :)

I don't think I've experienced culture shock yet...I do stick out though (blonde and smiles aren't too French). Let me know if there's anything else you want to hear about particularly...

Things are a bit hectic right now, but they'll calm down in 2 weeks after the Pre-Stage and when the French vacation month is over. We did get to go to the beach yesterday (BEAUTIFUL!) and on Sunday we're taking an excursion to Nimes and Le Pont du Gard.

Louis XIV depicted as a Roman general (the original sculptor commited suicide because he didn't put Louis on a saddle...Really?)

La Place du Peyrou (probably my favorite place in the whole city.)

Madrid for 11 hours for 11 Euros!!!

I'm backtracking a little, because I didn't mean to skip over Madrid as much as I did...Plus the recent occurance at the Madrid airport made me want to post some of my pictures. It was very easy to get around with the Metro system, so I got to the Plaza del Sol (the center square) in a few minutes for 1 Euro. I had maps galor with hostels and restaurants and metro stops ... (TOP: Carlos III, BELOW: Madrid Bear? kissing a tree)


I walked to the Plaza Mayor (I tried to take more pictures, but it was too dark). The Plaza was was an enclosed square full of cafes around a statue of some Prince. The main building had a crown on top of it (ABOVE - kinda dark). Sparing a few details, I ended up eating Paella at one of the cafes with a guy from Cyprus who works for NATO and was just stationed in Madrid. At 2ish the city was starting to calm down with tourists...only the taxi drivers, police, and cleaners remained. A little after 2 I met some students from Ireland who were staying for a year, and I stayed on their couch for a few hours before my flight. Needless to say, my first night in Europe was full of pleasant surprises!

Sommieres - Orientation

So I survived my flights through London and Madrid, making it safely to Montpellier!!! Although I had a little scare thinking that I left my passport on the plane in Madrid, I discovered it was in my bookbag after running (fast!) back to the plane before it left again! :) I put my luggage in a locker and spent a few hours walking around Madrid to take pictures and to get out of the airport, which was amazing! The city is beautiful and SO clean!

I arrived in Montpellier at the UNC office and left for our hotel (Le Cote) in Sommeires to have an orientation about our stay in France (mainly curteousies with our host families, alcohol/drugs, cultural differences, and our classes at the university). It was great to relax and get over our jet lag in beautiful Sonnieres - and do a little shopping! The rest of the students are very nice and everyone has a ton of personality! Not much else happened in Sommieres, besides the Jazz players that shared the hotel with us...If I never hear a Frenchman play a Jazz song it will be too soon. Lucky us they practiced all the time AND put on a concert for us!!! Their favorite song to play was definitely "Power of Love" - not necissarily our favorite, but it was fun ;) I'll try to post the video clip somewhere if I can figure out all this new technology that I have to work with...
I love and miss everyone! I'll try to be better about posting things! Have patience :)

Packing

Melinda is packing, so her family is blogging for her. It's 2 a.m., 16 hours until the plane takes off. It's NOT going to be easy! Because she won't be able to take her pink truck, she's tight on space. Putting 9 months of clothes in two 50 lb. bags and a 40 lb. carry-on is really a challenge. (Since her truck is going to be staying here, we can just put the left over clothes in her truck. That's where many of them stay during the school year anyway.) Encourage her to keep updating the blog!