Montpellier

Alright, SO, what a week. It’s only been 12 days but it’s felt like two months. On Wednesday, we went to Montpellier for a meeting with all the other assistants in the area, and it sucked. :p I have to say, for travelling all that way & hassle, I was really disappointed. Basically, they just talked about classroom rules, and gave us suggestions for what to do, but on the 10th day, most of us have already been in the classroom and established our good, or bad, habits, and most of the suggestions they gave had nothing to do with language, and were more sociological/philosophical. The really sucky thing is, it was also meant to be a contact point so that us assistants could get together, but everyone was super cliquey! Can you believe it?! Travelling all this way, only to find people from your hometown/state/school. I just don’t understand. I wanted to talk to the people from Glasgow, London, New York, not rehash that I waited in the train station for 5 hours to all the girls from Vancouver. But anyway, it wasn’t as bad as I’m making it, at least it gave me an idea of what’s expected, who else is out there, and that I’m doing just fine. On the way back however, things definately got interesting. :) You see, trains and buses to and from Prades are few and far between, and though we had thought that the last train/bus left at 9, alas, that was in August, and so, we got stuck without a train in the town an hour away. As we were trying to figure out whether or not we could get a ride home, or stay the night with someone and travel back the next morning, things got more interesting when an outgoing stranger who was helping a gypsy girl (literally, you should have seen what she was wearing - a purple frock/dress with purple shoes/stockings, carrying a rainbow sack full of her belongings (a la Tom & Jerry running away from home) with a nasty tear in it) figure out the train schedule as we were waiting for ours, piqued my interest. When he’d helped her to her train, he sat down and I noticed him glance at us to see what we were doing (also trying to figure out our train situation) but I ignored him since I’m not in the habit of talking to strangers. Then our train came and as we were all rushing to get on the right cars, a disheveled girl pushing a stroller was also running to get on, with great difficulty, and he came back to help her, taking two of her bags. When I saw she was still having trouble, holding her baby and trying to push the stroller straight, I grabbed the stroller and tried helping her too. She said thank you but continued trying to push so I left her alone, and the guy kept glancing back as if to say something, but I grabbed Yen and got on our car and that was that. Ehrm, funnily enough, 5 min. later, the guy came and sat in the seat in front of us - weird coincidence *cough*. So me & Yen start talking, about the day, still trying to figure out our situation, I called Annie (my coordinator) to see what time I had class the next day, Yen and I talked about the cliquiness and I told her about how similar it was to what the gay guys had called ‘hostelites’, at which suddenly the guy sitting in front of us turns around and says, ‘but! Hostels are fun!’, and I laughed out loud as I’d anticipated the moment as all too predictable, but was glad he’d finally said something and could entertain us for the two hour trip. :) and entertain us he did. He was really animated and outgoing, and we talked about everything - travel, france, school, it was cool... but, it also reinforced that party guys - and oh was he one :) - just don’t understand why nice girls don’t go to bars. He called me a feminist for not wanting to be pestered and groped. Oy. Some things never change. Anyway, like I said, he was fun & nice enough, and when we got to the station, we exchanged numbers & wished each other luck. By this time, we’d sorted things out & found a place to stay with Yen’s coordinator’s professor friend. Spoiled are we, for she picked us up at the station and whisked us to her little spanish style apartment with a grand pink staircase and smooth jazz, romantic art, and plenty of wine and cheese. We had some great conversation, deliciously creamy pasta, and went to bed in the cutest room with double beds, where I had the best sleep in a year up in the loft. From no train & nowhere to stay, to quite possibly my most memorable experience in France so far - very cool, very blessed. I was so thankful. And today I learned that she’d also completed the pilgramage to santiago compostella - a two month journey on foot! Amazing.