Hey Everyone!!!

To begin with, let's just be honest...how fly is this picture of me?  I mean really...BADASS. I'm not even sure of the name of the place that I'm at in this photo, but seriously...this is why I'm hot.   Now that that's out of the way, I've been here for three days now and I'm enjoying it quite a bit.  The pictures here are just a small taste of what's been up, but I think I'm going to set up a flickr.com page on which to post all of my pictures.  I will let you know when that's up.

This city is absolutely stellar.  One walks up and down the streets and immediately feels like a part of a movie.  The architecture in Montpellier is actually quite a bit newer than the buildings in the rest of the large cities of France, meaning that most of it dates back only to the 16th century...practically new right??? Nonetheless, the University that I'm attending dates all the way back to the 13th.  I've figured this much out, the centre ville (city center...or where shit happens more or less) is basically one incredibly large outdoor mall.  Clothing boutiques are abound, along with small cafés and other random shops.  There are also two McDonald's and two Subways. Yes Alex, that means you could work here if you wanted.

My French seems to hold up pretty well.  Certain people have asked me random things while I was ordering something from a restaurant that I didn't understand at all.  I've figured out that when this happens, the proper response is always "oui, merci".  But most of the time this isn't necessary.  I learned very quickly that the French don't understand American sarcasm.  I made a sarcastic joke to one of the program assistants here and all the Americans around me laughed, but he looked visibly puzzled.  Note to self: Completely change my sense of humor. 

I moved into my apartment today.  It is possibly the smallest inhabitable space in the world.  But I'm beginning to think that it's pretty standard for a French student that doesn't live at home.  I will show you pictures of it soon, but in the meantime, imagine a small white box.  Then put a bed and a desk in it.  That's about it.  I have a kitchenette and a bathroom as well, but the fact that I could actively cook and shower at the same is not a good sign.  There are 4 other people from my program in this building, so we've bonded a little over out interesting living situations.  Good news is that it comes with free internet which the vast majority of the students in the program don't have access to.  

Last night, I went out to my first France bar.  All I have to say about this is that they played Mambo #5 by Lou Bega, and it wasn't as a joke.  Oh and a rum and coke is 8 euro.  

There's a crap load more to write, but class starts tomorrow and I must sleep.  I leave you with the French version of a movie theatre (please compare this to AMC 30 in South Barrington or your local suburban movie theatre).

  Sweet right???  And here's a view of part of the city from up higher.

Cheers!!!

Corey