Avignon

Meet Marc. He's our tour guide, since he knows more about the sites than the actual tour guides. That's Avignon behind him.
My last, but not least, excursion was to the city of Avignon, built during the Roman Empire. The city is historically famous, because in the 14^th century the Pope transferred from Rome to the economically flourishing city. (small replica of the palace...I got in trouble for taking this picture. I hope you're grateful.)

Of course this then led to the Great Schism (a time when there were 2 Popes), and eventually the Papacy moved back to Rome. Luckily, the Le Palais de Papes, once the largest Gothic palace in Europe, remains in Avignon for all to tour.

And then there’s Le pont St. Bénézet where something happened with the young Sheppard Bénézet and God, but I didn’t catch what. But everyone goes to the end of the bridge and turns around because of the song “Sur le pont d’Avignon, L'on y danse, L'on y danse. Sur le pont d'Avignon, L'on y danse tout en rond" Somehow I missed that one during my childhood.

After Avignon, we toured a local vineyard while they explained how wine was made…

Into the 2^nd week of integrated French classes, I’m still not sure what classes I’m taking…as of right now I have History of French Cinema, History of Mediterranean Cinema, Spanish Literature, Spanish Text Approach, French Methodology (lots of papers), Pronunciation, and Contemporary History…I’m waiting on some Political Science courses (hopefully Great Democracies since 1945 and International Relations since 1860, fingers crossed). My brain gets a workout during my Spanish classes because the professors speak both interchangeably…my notes look ridiculous. It may seem like a lot, but it comes out to 18ish hours, AND I don’t have classes Wednesdays of Fridays!!! I’m already planning some weekend trips. -- Any suggestions/people you know I could stay with in France, Spain, UK, or Brussels (there’s a deal for 9 euro in October for a round trip through Ryan Air)?

We had a surprise party for Caroline’s 19^th birthday on Saturday night. She already knew about it (ooops, I spilled the beans…when you tell someone about a birthday party, you should MENTION that it’s a surprise! And she could tell from the way her mom was acting: “MAKE SURE YOU’RE HOME SATURDAY NIGHT!”) She still acted very, very surprised. She’s a drama queen with lots of boy "situations" (makes for good conversation). (She's the brunette. Her friend Marie also goes to my University.)

I love her, and we go ice-skating twice to three times a week. I’m getting really good! Double axels by the time I get back to the US!

Once a year, the city of Montpellier has its HUGE Foire des Assosiations with over 1000 tents of different clubs/groups in Montpellier. EVERYONE goes to sign up for their year’s activities. It was this past Sunday and I found a university choir (I have an audition next week) and a few Hip-Hop dance groups that I’m going to check out. I also went to a really tiny church Sunday morning with about 15 people. They were nice, but that afternoon I went to another church that I liked a lot better. I stayed for their choir practice, and I have an audition Sunday. We would sing at a few services and some weddings.

There was a really cool Scottish girl Kat that stayed with us to learn French last week…one week is not enough time. (That's Sarah below...we're running the 20k in Paris together with George!)

That’s all for now…Try to keep ME posted on what’s been going on with YOU!!!

CARCASSONNE

Random city on a hill...there are many of these :)

A lot has been going on the past week and a half! This morning I took my final exam of the pre-stage intensive course, so that’s over and I’m now looking towards my integrated courses. The craziest part about taking classes here is that they don’t register until 3 weeks or so into classes and some classes don’t actually start for 2 or 3 more weeks. To give you one more example of their registration, my host sister was going to go to the University of Toulouse, but THURSDAY she decided to go to my university…so she’ll start classes next week with me. So next week, when classes figuratively start, I’ll have my methodology course (lots of French writing) and pronunciation course. I’ve semi-registered for my Spanish Literature course and I’m looking to take Contemporary History, French Cinema, International Relations, and Grand Democracies…I have to go around to each departments building and look on cork boards for their course offerings, while some departments don’t even have class times or postings at all. It’s way too confusing.


(My own "tasting sink" for my culture course):

Last weekend, I went to the last “Les Estivales”, which is a huge wine and food festival of regional venders, so I’ve been to quite a few wine tastings already. It’s mainly for the many travelers of the summer. Saturday I went to the Musée Fabre to see the Jacques Courbet exhibit, who was a realist painter.


SUNDAY we went to Carcassonne (above), the largest fortress in all of Europe. The city was built in the 6th century before Christ, but the fortress wasn’t until the 13th century A.D. The city truly captures the military and religious architecture of le Moyen-Age. It is now a city classified by l’UNESCO (United National Education, Science, and Culture Organization). We also saw Le Canal du Midi, which is the canal running from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean during the reign of Louis XIV. The canal is 240 km long with 64 écluses (gates) that have to be cranked open, water fills up the area, and then the ships can go through. There are 9 “écluses de Fonseranes” that are the most spectacular because it’s just a big staircase for ships! - This is what I saw.

Ariel et moi at Carcassonne:


Tuesday, my host brother Charli left for Ecuador, so Monday night I went out to eat at a restaurant for the first time in France…we went to Buffalo Grill, which is a more Wild West version of Lonestar. I felt right at home with the country music blaring, everyone eating French fries, and pictures of Native Americans everywhere.
(Night of Charli's departure with my family and Armond's...Caroline, my sister in black turtleneck, Julienne in black button up T, Matthieu in white T-shirt, and Charlie in white button up.)

Wednesday I heard Elie Wiezel (the Auschwitz survivor and writer) speak at the Opera house. It was mainly a big “sondage” (Q & A session) about his new book, his thoughts on humanity, why he didn’t accept Israel’s offer to be their next president, and finally who he wanted to win the American elections. He was very diplomatic about the last question saying that either one would be a good choice, but everyone should pay attention to the elections because they’ll affect us all.


Church in Carcassonne:

That was a small recap of my week…we’re going to Avignon Sunday for our last group excursion. I’m also running in the Paris 20k in October with George and Sarah (two others from UNC) and 4 more are coming up for support and to see what Paris has to offer :D I’m SUPER excited about it!