I had a list of Pros and Cons about writing a blog that documents my entire experience abroad. This list is as follows:
Pros:
1) A productive and healthy outlet to better understand my journey and all that happens over the next few months (both good and bad)
2) A place to put my pictures because I have already accumulated way too many
and finally,
3) Instead of having to explain my experiences over and over again, I can simply say"I have a blog please read it"!
Cons:
1) Actually having to write my feelings and experiences out
2) The blog requires a lot of upkeep
3) Trying to be funny on my blog and no one thinking that its funny (for example: My sister studied abroad in Spain and her blog had me laughing out loud...if people don't do that with mine I have failed) --> this is actually more of a fear*
and lastly,
4) Not knowing who or if anyone is going to read my blog
Now, I made this list about a week ago (Shmoney reference...if you don't get it sorry its a pop culture thing) and a week ago the cons outweighed to pros without a doubt. Having been in France for exactly a week now I have realized that the only way to remain sane and not have my head blow up is to write out what is going on around me to simply debrief.
So now that I have started this blog, I have a week that I need to catch everyone and myself up on.
This first week has easily been the most overwhelming week of my life. My departure from all my friends and family didn't hit me until the day I left. However, I am pretty convinced that this was for the better because I got all of the crying done in one day and then I was able to accept my new experience of living in France for the Semester with a clear-ish head and swollen eyes. Luckily, I am not in this journey alone. Thankfully, my roommate from Freshman year Lydia is here with me and pretty quickly we added a third person to our crew, Grace who is a Junior from Bates College. Over the course of this week we have tackled everything from language barriers to homesickness together and have become fast friends.
L-R: Me, Lydia, and Grace in Front of Les 3 Grâces fountain
Weekly Recap
Day 1 (09/07/15): To start off my arrival to Montpellier with a bang, we get off the plane to collect our bags and head up to meet our program director. Just by looking at everyone it is clear that all of us are equal parts nervous and excited to finally be here. So as we are anxiously waiting for our bags to be loaded onto the belt, what happens to me and only me? After 35-40 mins, my suitcase fails to make its self around and is "lost". So for those who know me heres a fun little game. Imagine me, tired, overwhelmed, puffy eyes and emotional finding out that my bag is lost. What did you imagine? If you guessed that I lost my shit, you guessed correctly and for those of you who thought I handled it calmly and maturely, sorry to disappoint you. I stormed my tired ass over to baggage services and demanded to know where my bag was and was told that its was "lost". For someone who has heard these words before from a Royal Air Maroc representative, I immediately freaked out in the fear that I was without clothing for the next 3.5 months. Little did I know the word "lost" was the French way of saying, "your bag is on the next plane over to Montpellier from Paris and will be delivered to your hotel in three hours". Knowing that my bag was safe and not lost forever, we left the airport and made our way to our hotel. We all sort of settled in, showered and got ready to do a little bit of exploring around the city. Lydia, Grace, two other girls from our program and myself, found a really cute place to sit have a couple drinks and just talk. It was nice to just walk around and see a little of what Montpellier looked like before we really indulged in the orientation stuff.
Day 2 (09/08/15): Running on barley any sleep, The University of Minnesota group (this includes me) got breakfast and set out to take a guided tour of the main downtown area, Place de Le Comédie. This is the center of town that most streets eventually lead to, where you can find various street performers, Les Trois Grâces, Les Opéras de Montpellier, a park, lots of little shops and a McDonalds.
L-R: Les 3 Grâces, Center of Place de La Comédie, Les Opéras de Montpellier, and Statues in the Park
Host Family: My host family (famille d'accuiel) consists of a mother, father, son, two dogs and two cats. Christine, my host mother, seems to be really chill. Upon first meeting her she was really chatty and excited to get to know me. She's a very petite woman, who's style reminds me that of my mother and that made me feel very comforted immediately. Christine works from home as a massage therapist and the house always smells of incense or of oils that she has used from seeing clients throughout the day. My host father's name is Serge and he is absolutely hilarious. He can be found either relaxing on the couch in front of the TV smoking his E-Cig, playing candy crush, and laughing. Serge is a driver of a tuk tuk and its literally the coolest thing that I have ever seen. (Tuk Tuk: a three wheeled motorized vehicle used as a taxi most often seen in Thailand) My host brother's name is Claudis. He is 18 years old and is really cool. He and I have bonded over various rap artists and songs and our love for the TV show Lost. Last but not least we have the family pets, I have no clue what the cats names are because A) they are outdoor cats and do their own thing and B) I hate cats. The two dogs are easily the cutest things ever. Both have the cutest faces and personalities. Arloo (Probably spelled that wrong) is a small dog that has a lot of energy and loves to go on walks and wait at the door for anyone to come home and pet him. Shibu is shy as all hell, is terrified of both my host father and brother, hides under the couch and has fallen madly in love with me. So far, I really think I have been properly placed with people who have a similar vibe to me and are just really chill cool people. They are also amazing cooks, so I have 0 complaints. Pictures of my family are to come soon because we have yet to take any pictures due to my busy schedule. #StayTuned
Day 3 (09/09/15): Having barely slept again, I made my way to the UMN office which is literally a 2 minuet walk from my house. We all met and took the tram over to Université Paul Valéry, where I am to be studying for the semester. After a tour of the small campus we met with the directors of the International Office of the University of Montpellier, where they told us that its extremely hard to get above a B and that a lot of people do fail. So now that we all felt really shitty and confused and again overwhelmed, one of our Program Directors told us that we would all be fine in the end and that no one would let us fail. As we left the UPV even more unsure of ourselves then we came, the UMN Group split up and went on a more historical walking tour of the entire City of Montpellier. This tour included, the Arc de Triomphe, A bunch of Cathedrals (Names I have already forgotten), a building with an amazing painting on it, an abandoned Maison Priveé, and an amazing walk through the different rues.
An unfinished cathedral in the middle of the city.
This is an amazing painting that covers the entire side of this building. Only 2 of those windows are real can you guess which ones? 
One of the many amazing small rues of Montpellier. 
Montpellier is filled with amazing graffiti and street art. 
The Arc de Triomphe: Monpellier Version
An overview of half of the city from a small park.
These last two images are of the abandoned Maison Priveé (A Private Hotel for Rich people). The first image is when you first walk in through the door and into the courtyard and the second is looking up at the huge staircase. 
Day 4 (09/10/15): Not sleeping has really made me a grumpy person at this point. I started off my day with a seminar about Culture Shock in France and some of the ways that we can better deal with it. Although this is a really important thing to know and understand, my eyelids wanted to close more and I slept through a good portion of the presentation, but woke myself up by snoring and jumping awake. Grace and Lydia seemed to think it was pretty hilarious but I was too tired to laugh about it. Fun Fact: I am addicted to French Café! (Un Café Creme has been part of my order everyday and counting) Later on, we met with one of the people in the office and registered for classes. Half of my classes are courses that were made for American students in Montpellier and the other half are integrated courses that are offered by the University to students with enough French to take classes alongside French Students. My schedule is as follows: Grammar and Methodology, Practice Writing, Conversation 1, Clinical and Social Psychology (my two integrated courses), and maybe Cinema.
After I woke up from my nap.Day 5 (9/11/15): Technically this was a day off for those of us who had already registered for courses but seeing as I don't have a phone, Wi-Fi is key. Grace, Lydia, two girls from our program Sammy and Victoria and I had planned on going to the beach but were told via Accuweather that we would be met by rain if we did go. Of course its sunny AF and we could have gone and been fine but we stayed in the city had lunch instead and continued to explore other rues. Side Note: Being abroad on 9/11 was really an interesting experience because it is such an important day in the US and in the midst of everything going on I spent the whole day not realizing what day it actually was. That being said, I made sure to take a moment of silence for those who perished on that day 14 years ago. #GoneButNeverForgotten.
Day 6 (9/12/15): Our program organizes 5 trips for us over the course of the semester, 3 Free excursions and 2 that cost 100 euro each but considering what they include its worth it. Yesterday, was our first free excursion to Aignes-Mortes and Le Grau-de-Roi. Aignes-Mortes is about a 30-45 minuet drive from Montpellier. It is a mid-evil city in the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of Southern France. The entire city is surrounded by these huge Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings fortress walls that can be walked all around. It was a really windy day and was supposed to be extremely rainy but the day turned out to be really great. Our tour was brief and we were left to walk to walls and to explore the city a bit. The Three Musketeers (Lydia, Grace, and I) had a photo shoot and decided to walk throughout the town. Upon our walking through the town we stumbled on a salon that had Fish Pedicures for 11 euros and it seemed criminal not to try it just once. #WhenInFrance right? I'll never do it again but at least I can say I've done it. The best part about the experience was this cute little baby boy who I was waving at and blowing kisses to, crying when I started to leave and wanted to be held by me. <3 Aka I found a baby and it was the greatest and cutest thing ever! After we left our entire group was taken on a cruise on the Mediterranean. It was hella windy but we honestly had so much fun with it and not to mention the name of the boat was Le Providence!
One of the Towers of Aignes-Mortes.
The inside of the Tower. 
A failed Panorama of The top of the Tower.
A view of the canal outside the walls of Aignes-Mortes. 
The outside of the walls. 
Walking on the walls. 
The gate to the city.
My feet being attacked by Fish. 
Our Yacht <3 #LeProvidence.
Some people from the program and the Mediterranean. Day 7 (9/13/15): Due to my lack of sleep, this was the only day where I had absolutely nothing to do. Without even trying to I slept until 4pm to the sound of my host mother asking me if I was okay and if I was sick. Although I feel really bad for sleeping the day away I felt a lot better having caught up on sleep and my body finally catching up with my head. Its only been a week since I have been here and it feels like forever but it also makes me excited for what is to come!
To those who stuck through the entire blog post thank you for reading Assi's First Week in France extravaganza and I promise you the posts will never be this long again! For those of you who didn't...Well this doesn't apply to you!
<3 Bizzous
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