So I’ve just finished my first week in Montpellier. It’s eleven pm on Saturday night and I just woke up from a two and half hour nap (my way of pre-gaming for the discothèque tonight). We spent the day traveling around the province in a tour bus—it was fun but cold! I got my first touch of the Mediterranean, visited Moliere’s crib in Pezanas, saw the biggest port on the Mediterranean, and tried the local fare (including the pastry of Pezanas which…Chanell said it perfectly, “My mouth is really confused right now,” well… it turned out to be filled with caramelized veal!) Our morning French classes at the Instuit started on Wednesday and schedules are starting to form. Friday nights I make dinner with my four closest friends here, I have my internship meeting next Tuesday, Sundays are for an espresso shot at the Café du Theatre after church... I’m looking forward to some down time tomorrow.

In France they don’t have clearance racks, but twice a year they have “Les Soldes”—a time when every store puts almost all of there merchandise on sale at once. It lasts three weeks in the winter and three in the summer. We celebrated the first day of les soldes by going to IKEA (I know, very unfrench, but it was nice to get necessities that weren’t so expensive). I’m going to look for some inexpensive shoes. I had a dream last night that my entire shoe collection was just five minutes away and have been thinking about my green beaded shoes all day. I stick out as an American not only because my clothes are colorful, but because I wear my running tennis shoes everywhere. I brought a pair of nice clogs with me, and usually I prefer clogs, but I walk miles every day so I need to wear shoes with backs on them. When I packed, I tried to pack practical clothing. I should have packed fashionable clothing. It would have been more practical here...