Nouveau lieu, nouvelle culture, un nouveau début, le même amour: Hidden Secrets of Montpellier

Day 5 The first day of February in Montpellier consisted of a long day of classes. We were able to go visit the site of our projects and got to see the organization we are designing for in action. Since the kids in France do not have school on Wednesdays many of them come to this organization, it is like the French version of the YMCA. We were able to go into each of the class rooms and activities going on. The little children ages 0-3 were adorable but it was sad when they were talking to us and we couldn't even understand their French lol. The children there are much like the children in America but the parenting is different, they allow their children to roam much more freely, to the point where sometimes we think there are just little kids running around the city with no parent in site.
Later in the night about half of us went out to dinner and had a few drinks because we didn't have class the next day. We found a nice place by the river and discovered a new area of Montpellier. The lifestyle in France is much different then the way Americans live. Everybody here gets a 2 hour lunch break and from noon to 2 everything is closed except places you can eat. Also most every store closes at 7 and are never open on Sundays. Our professor told us that no one comes early to work or stay late at work either and nobody works through lunch breaks, he says they use this time to enjoy life...very different.

Day 6 Our first day actually doing work in studio and not just having class. Five of us were assigned the task of making our site model which is about 4ft wide and 12 ft long and the height is about 2ft. When we were taking a break we discovered that you can get on the roof of the building, it is an amazing view where you can see all the roof tops of the buildings for a long way.

View from the roof at our studio.

Day 7 Friday was another long day of classes and field trips around Montpellier. We were fortunate enough to be able to go into some hidden treasures of Montpellier. We took a tour of Montpellier and on it we learned that it was a place during the medieval times where people would come to try and cure the black plaque with water from a well. Also during the medieval times women had to cleanse themselves every month after there period in water that seeps through the ground and through the buildings limestone walls into a pool that was usually extremely cold. This was only recently discovered when in the 1970s a man tried to make the basement into a wine cellar but the water keep coming in after it would rain. At the end of the trip we were able to climb to the top of a monument by the king's square that was built for the king so that he would visit Montpellier, the king died before he was able to see it. At the top of the monument you can see most of the city of Montpellier and the mountains behind it.

The monument we got to go on top of.

An old medieval building we got to explore.

The pool where women had to bathe. The water comes right through the walls when it rains.

The view from the top of the monument.

Another view from the top of the monument.

Our group on top of the monument.

Friday night we went out as a whole group and went to a place called the Australian Bar. Everywhere in Montpellier they play American music so when we were in the clubs we were the only ones singing the songs and doing the dances. We made friends with some French girls and were teaching them all the special dances to each song. We also met some rugby players that were from Fuji and Ireland and they invited us the one of there games here in Montpellier.

Day 8 Today we went to the Odysseum which is a huge outdoor shopping mall and also has an aquarium, a lazer tag and go cart place and sporting event places oh and an ikea. I kind of looked like Disney World. We also found an American 50s themed diner that was obsessed with Elvis but they had pretty good food. It was weird to see so much of America in one place and then walk out and to be in France, I find that happening a lot since I've been here. Everyone doesn't look that much different here so it is kind of still shocking when they start speaking French to me. But it is awesome to learn another language and I am ver optimistic for the rest of the trip. The rest of today was spent researching flights/trains to Italy and Germany.