bella !

[viesurlamidi]

some skies

[viesurlamidi]

settling in !

It’s been nearly 2 months now since I moved to Montpellier and therefore about the time I should have started to understand cultural differences a bit more. I have, actually, but more the type of ‘understanding’ that really means ‘I’ve been here so long that nothing that happens phases me anymore’. 

It’s not even the big things - generally, the way of life here is the pretty much the same as in the UK, even if not London. Shopping is pretty similar (including local markets that I always forget to go to, possibly because of hangovers); the food is the same (thank you deliveroo for saving me when I am hungover); and the transport system is actually better than most I’ve come across (can we just move the tram system to London, please).

I’m even starting to understand the weather! It fluctuates between exactly two states. These two states are: a) sunny, b) storm. The temperature of ‘sunny’ depends on the season. In the last month and a half, it’s moved from late summer temperatures of 25-30C, to the more autumnal 20-25C. ‘Storm’ does not change. It will remain in the same cycle, whether you want it to or not. This cycle is as follows: seven to ten days of sun; one or two days of grey, drizzle, ‘will-it-rain-or-won’t-it’; and then, thunder. The storm will last either last just overnight or for 2 days solid. We are currently in ‘storm’. As I’m writing this, we’re undergoing the early stages of the worst kind of storm; red-alert for wind and flooding. Will I be able to get to uni? Will the trams stop running? Who knows! That’s the beauty of living by the Mediterranean. (edit, two days later - I did manage to get to uni yesterday, and got drenched in the process. This morning I didn’t even bother waking up in time for class, and woke up to videos of the river overflowing and streets flooding up to car windows. Probably the right decision to stay in bed?)

An issue that’s more along the lines of ‘I try to ignore my confusion about this because it will just make me depressed’: classes. University. Study. I have approximately 10% of an idea of what I’m doing at all times. No, this is not because I don’t understand the language, surprisingly! Understanding what people are saying is one of the easiest things in classes. The 90% of my non-understanding is possibly related to me coming from a very good UK university into a pretty average French university. And that’s nothing against French universities! Just, I’m missing London a lot right now. I mainly miss being challenged, and not going to classes where half the information sounds like it’s being read to you off wikipedia, and having pre-class reading that could save you an hour of class time. Having a library that stays open past 7pm, and having more than one of them, and having charging points in those libraries. Having teachers that don’t decide to take a day off and not warn anyone because they’re joining a nationwide union day of striking.

And protests are a big way of life here. As aforementioned, but also outside of national striking; Saturday equals protest day here. The manifestations have gotten a lot better in the last month or so: a week after I arrived, I saw lines of police vans and armed soldiers and a loud crowd of protestors out in town, heard a lot of shouting and loud noises, and then suddenly couldn’t breathe as I was walking home because tear gas had wafted over to my flat. But the crowds have thinned out now, maybe because the weather’s not so good. The trams still don’t run as much on a Saturday because of it.

There’s a lot more that I could add here, but it would take me all evening. It’s a strange experience, but I’m glad I’m having it, even though I feel like I could be doing a bit more to learn the language and integrate into my flatmates’ lives a bit (which is hard when you’re always second guessing the words that come out of your mouth). Well, I’m only a 1/4 through the year, and feeling pretty happy with where life is at the moment. Let’s hope it stays that way!

[viesurlamidi]

gentle

[viesurlamidi]

introduction !

To go on a year abroad is many things. It’s studying. It's independence. It's mastering a language. Above all, it’s a time of continuous pompous self-congratulation about how amazing it is that you, yes, you, are going to a different country and isn’t it so beautiful and aren’t you going to make so many multicultural friends and have so many wonderful stories to share on instagram!

It is, to use a pretentious quote I recently heard, 'not a year in your life, but a life in a year'.

Well, who knew life could get so absolutely dull?

Granted, as with everything in life, I shouldn’t have expected that it would all be one long party as soon as I set foot on French soil. And yes, it's hard to call the pastel skies, the greenery, and the warmth of the Mediterranean, 'dull'; but it is possible when you're stuck in a flat with no wifi and a flatmate who's always out, and the only exciting things to look forward to this week are two meetings where you're stuck in a sweaty room filled with a hundred people who are all clawing at an explanation of what the hell you're supposed to be doing in a place that appears to have taken Kafka as a user's manual on how to coordinate a bunch of uni students.

Perhaps it's just the more 'relaxed' way of life that seems to permeate everything here. The same way my flatmate forgot to actually tell me the address when I wanted to come collect the keys, obliged to forgo any explanation of how said keys function - or anything else in this flat - nor has managed to yet fix the wifi. The same way the university decided that to not tell us how to actually do anything until a week before we're due to start classes. The same way I was made to wait 2 hours in a queue to get a tram pass. Yes, the English are meant to be good at waiting in line, but what gives?

Something someone said to me on a night out recently: "You're here for the whole year? You're going to be so bored, there's nothing to do!". That this quote was said to me on a night out is also telling. Often I think I am too quick a judge of character, but after experiencing this city's nightlife offerings twice, I think I can say I'm Good, Thanks. 14€ for a double vodka mixer in a bar-trying-to-be-a-club-with-a-clientele-of-mainly-office-workers-on-a-Saturday-night-blasting-Rihanna is an interesting aesthetic to go for, but one that's not really to my taste. Not that I haven't seen it before, especially in London - I just thought, or maybe painfully wished, that wouldn't be the case in a town made up of one third students. However, I am from Oxford, and thus any desperate longings of that sort should've been bashed out of me as soon as I turned 18.

I can't complain, though, not really - Montpellier is honestly beautiful. Beautiful weather with beautiful architecture and beautiful trams. And I did decide to come here on the basis that if I ended up having a completely shit time, at least I'd have a shit time in the sun. There is also the faintest undercurrent of something-going-on round here. Of what nature, I'm not quite sure, and I may have to wade for a while in the overcurrent to find it, but this city sure has the character to end up surprising me. And if not? Then it has some beautiful artwork. And some beautiful side streets with beautiful boutiques. Let me become a flâneuse protagonist in a Woody Allen film for a bit. If I'm going to be an Erasmus student - which is to be a cliché in and of itself - I'm going to do it the right way. (Including writing a blog about it!)

Peace and goodvibesonlyyyy