Send me a smile.

Ready, set, airbnb!  In Bordeaux, we met Pierre, who left us his studio near la Grosse Horloge.  It notably had a set of workout equipment next to the pull-out couch.

Next, we were the guinea pigs for Isabelle, a grad student in Toulouse.  Her apartment was on the top floor of a building with an inner courtyard.  She sent us in advance and left us a print-out with very specific directions for brancher and débrancher (plugging and unplugging) the various appliances (like the chauffe eau - water heater and lave linge - washing machine) in the apartment, as voltage is often an issue in old buildings.  We also experienced the cuisidebains (cuisine + salle de bains, or kitchen + bathroom)...basically meaning that the shower was in the kitchen and there wasn't a bathroom.  The toilet was well outside the apartment, past the courtyard, in a corner of the main stairwell.  We had to scale the wall a bit to get to it since the stairs were steep.  Quirky, but one of my favorite airbnb experiences yet.

Place du Peyrou 

Then I continued south and east to Montpellier, where I was welcomed on the platform by my next host, Joanne, who chauffeured me to the studio.  She was probably one of the bubbliest, friendliest people I've ever met; she gave me a tour of Montpellier, let me play with her cats, gave me many recommendations of things to do, and introduced me to Slovakian coffee and honey.

View from Place du Peyrou 

Montpellier itself is another very comfortable city.  While you won't find the same wide selection of museums as in Toulouse, centre-ville is full of winding streets with more ateliers (local artisans) than I think I've ever seen anywhere.  Similar to Bordeaux, the streets sprawl with cafés, but the atmosphere is more relaxed as the weather is sunnier and warmer in the south.  There is a beautiful garden and also a public park called the Place du Peyrou, near an ancient aqueduct, with a magnificent view of the distant mountains.

Very productive day

Montpellier also has an extensive tramway that can take you to the ocean; I attempted one beach day.  It was overcast and a little chilly, but still nice to glimpse the Mediterranean and take a nice long sandy beach walk.

Sète port

The next day, I took the train to the small port town of Sète, also on the sea.  Sète is the birthplace of George Brassans, a 20th century French musician and poet (the band in la Roche is playing a medley of his songs at the moment, in fact).  Aside from exploring the port, there's a spectacularly steep hill you can climb for an incredible 360-degree view - the sea to the south and the hills and mountains to the north.

View from Sète

Montpellier is the closest I've been to the region where I studied abroad (not far from Arles and Aix-en-Provence, for example).  Their accent is a little different than that of Nice and Cannes, but I noticed instantly that I understood much more easily and effortlessly than I do in my region, which is actually supposed to have the purest French in the country (like the Midwest in America).  When talking with Joanne, she paused and asked, "Désolée, est-ce que je parle trop vite?" ("Sorry, am I speaking too quickly?") ...and I paused before realizing, no!  Imagine, I suppose, that you learned to speak English in Texas, and then tried to move to Boston.  Same country, same language?  Maybe not.

On my last morning in Montpellier, I woke up starting to dread returning to la Roche for my last few weeks in France...but as I cleaned up the apartment, I heard the faint new-email ding on my phone: my request to renew my contract for next school year with the Académie de Nantes was accepted!  Though I am still waiting for responses from some other jobs I've applied for, I am over the moon to say that I'll be continuing my adventures in France for another year.  I won't make the same mistakes as last year: my Thanksgiving turkey search begins...now.