Home Sweet Home

I just got back from a mini-vacation in Montpellier. Even though Montpellier is a beautiful city, and I would totally live at the beach if I could, it’s always nice to return “home” after traveling. Right now, the cute village of Mende is my home. There are definite ups and downs to living in Mende compared to a bigger city such as Montpellier, which I will explain more at the end of this post. 

Wednesday, all the teaching assistants in the Montpellier region had a meeting in Montpellier. I left on Tuesday, and had to take 2 busses and a train to arrive…all of this took between 5-6 hours! By car, Montpellier is only about 2.5 hours away, but unfortunately the slow public transportation is a major downside of living in the most rural department of France (the Lozère). I had asked if any of the other assistants actually living in Montpellier could host me, and luckily Jennifer responded that she had plenty of room in her château. I assumed she meant that she had found a big apartment, but no – she actually has a flat in an old château!! Life in France… 

Jenny's Château

The meeting Wednesday was pretty boring, and we had already been given most of the information through emails and the online guidebook, but it was great to get to meet in person some of the assistants with whom I had talked on facebook. Thursday, Jennifer had to work, so I took off to the beach (about an hour from Montpellier using the bus & tram). It was a bit chilly when I first arrived, but it soon warmed up nicely. I had brought a book, and I stopped at a small grocery store to pick up picnic food, and headed out to bask in the sun! The beach was gorgeous, and I enjoyed myself immensely. Since Jenny didn’t have to work Friday, I convinced her to come back to the beach with me. We got picnic stuff, and this time I actually went in! The water was chilly, but not too bad, and I went for a nice swim in the Mediterranean.  It was so beautiful and peaceful, but the water is super salty! 

The seaside town of Palavas

Reading at the beach!

That night, Jenny and I went out to a French club. It was fun, but I realized that at the ripe age of 24, I am too old to enjoy clubs! My idea of a great night is relaxing at home with a glass of wine and a good book…and going to bed around 11! 

I had decided to return to Mende on Saturday, in order to have all day Sunday to have time to do some prep work for my classes this week. Luckily, I woke up pretty early on Saturday and decided to get to the train station early to get my ticket. The line was sooo long! Public transportation, although useful, is stressful! Thankfully, I did get my ticket in time, and returned home around 4:30 pm. Although I had a wonderful couple of days, I still let out a sigh of relief to return “home”. 

Mende - the path along the Lot river

Positive aspects to living in Mende:  1. The teachers here are wonderful. They are friendly, kind, helpful, and giving. I had the chance to talk to other assistants about their experiences, and I’m pretty sure I got the luckiest co-worker-wise. 2. I get to live in the dorms. This in itself has a few negative aspects (kitchen use only during the weekend - but we get cheap, tasty meals in the cantine, and no wifi – but internet available just down the hallway), but in general is great for a few reasons: I did not have the same struggle and stress the first couple weeks like other assistants who had to find their own housing, it’s really cheap, I live two minutes from my classes, and there is a housekeeper who cleans my room and empties my trash about twice a week. 3. If a stranger strikes up a conversation with me, I know they’re being friendly and not starting in on some kind of scam. 4. Around the town itself, I don’t need to use public transportation; I can easily walk anywhere. 5. It’s beautiful.

Mende - the path along the Lot river

Negative aspects to living in Mende: 1. I haven’t met many other young professionals. It seems like most of the town consists of younger students, families, and older people. 2. It takes FOREVER to get to a big city by bus/train. Forever. Seriously. That makes traveling lengthier and also more expensive. 3. Today, I washed my clothes by hand in the sink. Soooo hard! And there’s no clothes dryer. I am told there’s a Laundromat about a 25 minute walk from the school, but about half of the students just do it in the sink. 4. No day trips to the beach. :(  This one’s probably the saddest for me.
 

There are ups and downs wherever you are in the world, but all-in-all I’m pretty happy with my placement. Of course, I’ve just discussed the ups and downs of Mende vs. Montpellier, but there are also ups and downs of France vs. the US. Although I recognize how very lucky I am to be here, every day is a bit of a struggle to be so far away from friends, family, and the familiar. Helping pull me through the homesickness is the knowledge that my friend Robby and I are meeting in less than a month to spend a week in Germany, and that my cousin, her friend, and I will be spending our Christmas break traveling around Europe, along with emails and facebook posts from friends and family at home!