A little bit on French Politics...

Though I can't believe this, I am actually going to talk about politics, which I am completely not interested in. I have been learning a lot about politics in France, and I'm actually kind of intrigued. I know, it's crazy.

A few Sundays ago was the final tour of the French regional elections, and we have the results! George Freche wins! George Freche is, again, the president of the Languedoc-Roussillon region. Montpellier is actually the capital of this region, which I only recently found out. So, though Montpellier isn't as important in the big scene of France, it is important in regards to our region.

The elections in France are pretty different than those in the States. There are two tours, or rounds, of elections. In the first round, you receive a piece of paper with the candidates on it, and you chose one. You put your paper in an envelope, seal it, and then put it in a box. The vote is now cast. Once voting is finished, the votes are counted and the two candidates with the most votes move on to the next tour. The only time there is not a second tour is if a candidate gets more than fifty percent of the vote (I believe). In the second tour, you do the same thing, but pick one out of two. The votes are then counted, and there is a new person in charge. The votes are always manual; the French don't really believe in electronic voting and it's safety.

So that's about voting in France, now moving on to "faire la grève," or, to strike. Striking is very, very popular in France. I had heard this a lot before coming here, but I wasn't expecting to be affected by it. There have been quite a few "greves" lately, so I felt it necessary to touch on the subject.

In order to "faire grève" you need at least two people. Also, you have to give notice...I believe it's a couple weeks but don't quote me on that. You can also have a "greve d'urgence", but with that, you still have to give notice as soon as possible. I only recently found out about this because it happened here in Montpellier. The other Thursday night I was out with some friends and we were getting on the tram. Usually the board of tram times obviously just says how many minutes until the next tram, but there was something else scanning along the bottom of the screen. It said, emergency strike tomorrow. No trams or buses. I then noticed that the trams were stopping early, usually running until 1:30 in the morning, and instead, only till 12. Interesting. The next morning, I got up as usual and thought nothing of the strike. I went into town, walking because I'm not far, and saw no trams on the tracks. I also saw no buses the entire walk there. After having a fun day in town visiting with friends and going to my mom's hat show, I realize that many of my friends couldn't get into town because of this random strike. The tram and bus workers were striking because Thursday night someone had abused a tram conductor. I totally understand their reason for striking, but just imagine how inconvenient it is for people who have no other way of getting around.

Yesterday there was a national strike. I had no idea about this until my friend texted me and said, "can you text Kate and tell her to tell our professor I'll be late for class? The bus hasn't come yet." I read it and thought, that's weird, where are the buses? And then re-thought and texted her back and said, "of course, there must be a 'greve'", which there was. Luckily for me, when I arrived at my tram stop (where there are usually one or two other people and today around 25) the tram came a few minutes after. Before hopping on the tram, I checked the time board and of course, it gave me helpful information, "greve today". While on the tram, which is blue representing line 1, I saw the line 2 tram, which is full of flowers, on the line 1 track. Bizzare. I don't know why that was happening, but I did know that things were going to be messy. Also, at lunch at the university, there was barely any people working, and there was no silverware of cups, only plastic. Weird again. While I was in class there was a huge "manifestation" in place de la comedie. The crowd of strikers, yes crowd, walked all the way from comedie, to stade philipides, which is many tram stops away. I heard that this caused a lot a lot of problems. I'm sad I missed it because I think it would have been a good thing to see. I'm not so sad though because I know there will be more, and I know that I can't be in class for all of them.

That's some on French politics!

A Weekend of Reunions: Paris

After arriving in Paris for the first time and being stranded there, I was a little nervous to go back. Obviously, I wasn't supposed to be stranded in Paris the last time I was there; actually, I was never supposed to be in Paris at all, but things happen, and plans must change. After having a not so pleasant time, I was a bit hesitant to go back. Of course, I had to go back to Paris at some point, but I wasn't sure I was ready. But, after much convincing from my two friends Bess and Jacqui, I obliged, and was off to Paris for the weekend.

I was actually pretty excited to go to Paris afterall. My friend from home, Diana (who is studying abroad in Florence this semester), was in Paris that weekend too and I couldn't wait to see her. Another good friend of mine, Katie (from PSU, same major) is studying abroad in Paris and she and I had planned to, of course, meet up and explore Paris together. I'd be reuniting with some of my favorite people, and I really couldn't wait to see their shining faces. Hopefully.

We arrived in Paris around 11 Friday morning and headed to our hostel. It was our first time really using the metro, so it was interesting to say the least. By the end of our trip, we were complete pros at the Paris metro system, and when I return with Mom in a few weeks she'll be shocked at my skills. Holler. Once dropping our stuff off at the hostel, we explored the area, got some lunch, and headed to Gallaries Lafyette to do some shopping (though none of us bought anything) and meet Katie. From there: exploration Paris.

First stop: Trocadero--a spot to get great views of La Tour Eiffel

La Tour Eiffel et Moi: I'm really cheesing in this one. hah

Katie and I: We felt that we needed a romatic shot, in one of the most romatic cities, in front of one of the most popular sites. Here's what we came up with.

This took about 200 tries, but we finally got it! It was funny actually, a group of teens were laughing at us, and only later did we see them doing the exact same thing...HAH

And of course I needed a solo shot.

Sacre Coeur: beautiful views of the entire city from here.

Yes, I went to Moulin Rouge, or saw it anyway. And what's surrounding this? Sex shops. AND, of course, Starbucks. Go figure.

Scandalous Moulin Rouge pose. We are hams.

So, we got off the metro at the Louvre, and before even being amazing by the Louvre, we were completely infatuated with this bubble man! It was so cool! Of all the people I've seen doing something on the street, I really thought he deserved some coins. But, of course, I didn't have any to give...

Louvre et la Pyramide: sadly we didn't not have time to actually go in the Louvre. The line was extremely long and there's only so many hours in the day. But, I'll be back...

Above Top: Jardin des Tuileries Above Bottom: Champs-Elysees

L'Arc de Triomphe: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Very important to the French people. It's guarded 24/7 by top-notch armed guards in case of a terrorist attack. Why do I know this? Well you find out a lot at 2:30 in the morning when you're about to be arrested for being in a place you didn't know you weren't allowed to be...yep that's me.

(more pics below)

We decided to climb up to the top of the arc and see some great views of Paris. Little did I know they'd be the best views I'd see...

Just beautiful.

We then went over to Montparnasse, and climbed the huge tower to get panoramic views of Paris at night. Now, it's very hard to get good shots on a camera, but the scene was breathtaking. So many lights! Here's the best picture I got...but the sight really cannot be captured on camera.

Tada!

Paris, was everything I thought it would be: fun, beautiful, and full of history. I can't wait to go back with Mom and explore even more. Only 17 more days!

Snow in Montpellier?! Oui, c'est vrai!

Let me just preface this by saying it never, I mean never snows in Montpellier. My host mom always told me how it is cold and rains in Montpellier, but it never really snows. I remember her specifically saying it hadn't snowed in years. Well, I guess there is a time for everything...snow made its way to Montpellier, and snow it did.

Here are some pictures from this glorious snow fall. I was actually heading out to dinner for my friends birthday when the snow storm decided to start. I walked into her apartment and said,

"it's not just little flurries, it's a snow storm."

Streets were covered. No one works on Sundays so the roads were not cleared until the next day.

It was a doozy walking home in this mess.

I'm definitely glad I got to witness this weirdness in weather. It's not something you see everyday; snow covered palm-trees especially

A 15 Minute Train Ride to the Mediterranean: Sete, France

For one of my classes, Civilizations du Sud, we have to do a presentation on a southern French city. When the day came to pick cities my group didn't exactly know what we wanted to do. Every city we mentioned had already been picked so we were really having a tough time--we thought all the good ones had been taken. Our professor told us to do Sete, and I really didn't know much about this place. I knew it was in the south obviously, but it wasn't on my list of top cities to visit in southern France. Regardless, I now had to go, but I never thought how beautiful Sete would be...

Since I, nor any of my group members, have class on Friday, we decided this would be a great way to start the weekend. Why not just take a trip down to the Mediterranean and be tourists? Cool. Plus the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Train tickets cost 7 euro roundtrip for 30 minutes out of our day total...awesome.

This was the first image I saw when we arrived in Sete: this canal. Literally, walked out of the train station and boom. The water was so so blue, I was a bit shocked. I mean, I've seen the Mediterranean before when I went to Nice, but I guess I just couldn't believe I was right there, and it was such a short ride. Like, when do you get to say, "Oh hey, I'm just gonna go chill at the Mediterranean today..." NEVER.

We decided it would be a smart idea to find the tourism office and get a map of the city. Obviously that would help us out a lot since we did need to do a presentation on this place. We finally found the office, after following a lot of misleading signs and mapped out what we wanted to see around the city. We felt that the city was small enough that we could probably see everything we wanted to. We later found out that though the city is small, it is built entirely on a hill. Let's just say at the end of the day, my feet, and legs, were killing me.

One of the views we came across while meandering around the city. We, of course, were on one of the hills at this point.

Fisherman's Cemetery: French cemeteries are a lot different than those in the states. They all have a lot of decoration and many of the graves are for entire families. Also, they are very close to one another. We found the grave of Paul Valery, the man our "beautiful" university is named after. Notice the sarcasm on the word beautiful

For lunch, we wanted to get some specialities setoises. Sete is very well known for it's specific seafood dishes that can only be found there. We all love seafood, so we knew we had to go for it. We found a restaurant with a formule of 13 euros: formule means you pick which appetizer, entree, and desert/coffee you want from a certain menu.

What we got for 13 euros was totally worth it.

Top: Escargot de la mer--I love escargot and these were delicious. I was surprised to see that they didn't look like escargot I was used to...these looked more like mini-conch shells rather than snail shells. Interesting.

Bottom: Moules farcies a la Setoise--Mussels (huge as you can see) stuffed with meat, and then cooked in the pasta gravy. This was one of the best dishes I have had in France. So so so good.

Another canal. The colors of the buildings contrast beautifully with the color of the sky and water.

Sete is not only famous for their cuisine but also jousting. And no, I'm not talking about jousting on horses, I'm talking about jousting on boats. There are teams: one member of each team will go to the tip of the boat (on the plank of the bowsprit overhanging the boat) and try to knock off the competitor from his boat. The rest of the team are the oarsmen and control the boat in the water. This happens in the summer, and I really wish I could see it. It sounds so fun to watch. Supposedly it's a huge event. The statue in this picture gives a glimpse on this sport of canal jousting.

In Sete, there is this huge mountain, Mt. Saint Claire, you can climb to see panoramic views of the entire city. Yes, of course we wanted to do this, but oh boy was it a workout. Here's a picture of only probably a third of the stairs we had to climb. They were so tiny, and each step was a different height. Really good for the legs!

Finally reached the top of the mountain and this is what we saw. Literally got to the top and said, "oh my god" because it was just breathtaking.

This was the inside of this really small Church that was on top of the mountain. The inside had so many different paintings--the walls were covered. It totally was not was I was expecting, but it was really interesting. It was more-so modern looking art, rather than classical.

We hiked back down the mountain and finished off our wonderful day at Sete

Another picture of a canal in Sete. I love these little boats they are...basically adorable.

This point here is known as a typical Setoise quartier, or neighborhood. This section of Sete was insanely pretty. I love the bright pastel colors against the blues.

Bright colors of the houses--love it. I could totally picture my mom loving it here--right by the water in the sun.

Sete was the perfect day trip and I would totally recommend visiting. There isn't a ton to see but the scenery is so beautiful it's hard to pass up. Definitely a worthwhile trip!

One of the Most Haunted Cities in Europe--Edinburgh, Scotland

So, we arrived in Edinburgh and it's definitely unlike any other city I've been to. Not that I've been to a lot of places in Europe, but I don't think many places can actually compare to Edinburgh. Being that it is one of the most haunted cities in Europe, or even maybe the most haunted city in Europe, it's was not surprising that the city itself is very dark. Dark in the sense that, well of course when we were there, it was overcast/rainy, the architecture is dark and gothic, and it just has this feel. Obviously this feel is hard to describe but you'd know it when you felt it. Though Edinburgh was nothing like I was expecting really, I did enjoy the city and all the history it had to offer.

When we arrived we decided to catch this free tour of the city. We're poor college students, so this whole "free" thing sounded pretty good to us. We walked to starbucks, where the tour started and met our guide, Katie. We later learned that Katie loved saying "brilliant" any chance she could get. Man did it get incredibly annoying. She also laughed at her own jokes, which usually I have no problem with, because, hey, I do it all the time, but it really didn't work for her. ALSO, saying "yay" and doing this motion I cannot even describe really took me over the edge.

So I don't remember what this is called (of course) BUT I do remember that in medieval times, this would be the spot where someone would come and announce news. They would get on the top of this structure, and shout the news from England. This was especially popular when there was a new King/Queen, etc. Also, if someone was caught stealing, their ear would be pinned to the door, and onlookers would kick him and pee on him. After a day, his ear would be unpinned and he could go on with his business, but he would always have that hole in his ear as a reminder. Or something like that...

Dark right? See what I mean?

This is a church where famous people have been knighted! Wouldn't it be so much nicer if I remembered some names? Oops... :)

One of the closes in Edinburgh. A close is basically a community--they all have different means

A dark street in Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle: it's SO huge. It's actually built on volcanic rock

So this is the back of a cafe called Elephant House: This is where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter. They call it the "birth place of Harry Potter" but of course...

Greyfriars Cemetery: one of the most haunted cemeteries. One part of this cemetery is actually closed off to public due to the paranormal activity. Also, this is the cemetery where JK Rowling found all of the names for her characters in her novels. Yes, the Harry Potter, was buried here.

Look at that medieval skyline...

Edinburgh at dusk

Palace of Holyroodhouse: sadly, we couldn't take pictures inside the palace but talk about lavish. It was really beautiful and full of history. We even got to see Mary Queen of Scott's bed chamber and rooms as well as the exact spot where David Rizzio was left to bleed to death in Mary's presence. Yikes!

Abbey at Holyroodhouse: the remains of the old abbey. The architecture was beautiful and you could imagine what it looked like in it's entirety.

View from the top of Scott's Monument

Scott's Monument: that gothic rocket-ship looking structure. Very interesting...must say

So that's Edinburgh! When we got to the airport to take our flight back to France, we encountered a tiny issue; tiny as in huge. We just happened to miss our flight. Yep. So we thought, okay, don't panic, we'll just find another flight and hop on that and get home in no time right? WRONG. We went to ask the ryanair desk when the next available flight would be to France and she said, "well we only fly to France once a week so the next flight will be in a week". At this Laur responded, "oh okay great..wait WHAT?!" I actually had to laugh at her response though...it wasn't really funny. We were basically stranded. Every other flight leaving from Edinburgh that night was booked...solid. There was no way we were getting out of Scotland that night. Of course, ryanair and easyjet can't let you of any other flights, only the ones departing that day, so we were stuck. Luckily, there were four computers for us to use, of course costing a pound for every 15 minutes. Yes, that's right. We ended up spending probably around 12 pounds trying to find flights. Finally, we found a flight out of Glasgow into Paris Beauvais. Now came the question: How are we going to get to Glasgow, and where in god's name are we going to stay the night? We ended up finding a bus to Glasgow leaving at 11:30pm. We then booked the only hostel available in Glasgow that night and hoped for the best. We went back into Edinburgh for dinner and relaxation before our next adventure, and then headed to the bus. We arrived in Glasgow around 12:30am, and had no idea how we were going to get to our hostel. The hostel directions said to take a bus, but by the time we arrived, all of the buses had stopped running. We were pretty much out of luck. After walking for quite a while in different directions, and getting different directions from different drunk Scotts, we finally found a taxi cue and waited in line for about half and hour. We finally arrived at our hostel around 2:30am. The next morning we took a bus to the airport and were there four hours early, just to be safe. We made it successfully to Paris Beauvais, only to find out that to get into real Paris, you have to take an hour bus. Great. Laur and I parted ways from Sliz and Jon (since we didn't buy train tickets yet), and hoped the bus would be fast enough so we could catch the last train at 8:20pm. As I saw the Eiffel Tower in the distance and a clock that read 8:10, I knew I was going to be stranded...again. Laur and I arrived at this random spot, found a metro, and were able to book a hostel on her blackberry. We got directions to the hostel from the nice men at the metro station, and finally made it to the hostel around 11:30pm. Another long day... We went to bed around 2:30 (we had some interesting people in our hostel room that night) and got up at 4 to make it to the train station by 5...am. I hopped on the 6:20 train, made it back to Montpellier, ran to Laur's house to pick up these train tickets to cancel, cancelled the tickets, and finally made it home...at 3:30pm. Yikes.

It felt great to be home... in France.