Dusk

Today, or more so, this afternoon, a big group of us went into town to get some ice cream.  It was a little later but I was happy to see some stores and food places open.  We mobbed around the Place de la Comedie and picked up some more people we knew.  Then we headed up to O'Carolans and picked up some more stragglers.  It was one of those pleasant surprise days where nothing was really planned but everything worked out.  And including the social aspect of the night, another think that worked out was the lighting on the walk home!!

Mobbing

So I wrote this a week or 2 or 3 ago...oops....

Since meeting up with all the Vinifera students we have been traveling in one big pack, about 20 people.  When you start college that is what happens.  People find people they know and they invite the other scared freshman to join and all of a sudden you have 50 people trekking to a party down the road.  That is how I feel with this group.  Don't get me wrong, I love that we are all getting along and hanging out but trying to get lunch or dinner with 20 people is not easy.  On the other hand, hanging out with the big group gives you the opportunity to talk to everyone at some point.  I have really enjoyed that so far.  

Another great thing about this mob mentality is that if we all forget something or all do something no one can really get upset because we are just the english speaking wine people.  I can't discount the few people who are fluent in French, but we all do speak english, and we all have felt very lost at some point so it is nice to have a buddy to mess up with.

As for my weekend activities I did not always stay with the mob of foreigners.  I wondered the city alone on Saturday for a few reasons.  I wanted to get to the bank before it closed and then try to get a cell phone.  Both were a success, no interesting stories from that.  Meandering alone was fun.  I explored the east side of the city a bit and tried to find a cafe with wifi.  I was too nervous to ask someone for help so I just ended up mindlessly walking and heading home. (Hopefully, I will soon have the courage to speak to someone in French with full sentences and NO sharades!! Soon.) I think every Saturday there is a food market alone the aqueduct which I gladly stumbled upon during my walk to and fro the city center.  There was a bunch of produce, meat, bread, and some chinese food.  I didn't buy anything for two reasons; obviously because I still don't have the balls to talk in French (SOON) and second, I was leaving town the whole next week so there was no point in getting food that would spoil.  But, now I know what happens on Saturdays, so next time I can go prepared!

As for Sundays there is not much to know.  Most things are closed except some few cafes and the tourist attractions.  There are the random dudes on the side of the road selling knock off whatever they have but that isn't too exciting; you can get that in any big city in Europe.  I explored the city with some of the girls though and we ended up at one of the open cafes for the longest lunch ever.  I am not complaining.  I was very much relaxed and happy to just its down to chill out.  The salads we all ordered were MASSIVE.; definitely a full meals worth.  But a good time all together.

Girls Night Out

Most actives turn into a group even.  For some reason, Thursday did not follow that pattern; Molly, Monica and I went to town to look for a cute dinner place.  Montpellier is filled with adorable cafes and interesting/creepy alleyways so finding one is not hard, but deciding which one is going to be "the one" is hard.  We meandered the streets for about 20 minutes before deciding to sit down at a cafe which "felt right".  It had a special going on, and was in an alley with some other cute cafes, which gave it a nice feeling.  

A few minutes after we had sat and gotten out menus the owner of the restaurant came up to our table to see how we were doing.  He noticed that we were not native French speakers and switched to English pretty fast.  He loved it though, he started to talk about his years living in New York City and Canada.  I am not sure how it all began but about 10 minutes after some congo he just pulled up the 4th chair at the table (which was vacant) and sat with us.  He didn't ask if it was ok or anything like that, just sat and continued talking.  It was really entertaining.  He told us how he was 57 and that his whole life he has been moving around the world.  He lived in Montreal, NYC, Paris, Mexico, and Montpellier…from what he told us.  He also started to talk about different countries and politics and history and generations.  It was kind of a heavy conversation but it was mostly him talking and us just listening, enjoying the free things he kept having the waiter bring us.  This guy was so comfortable with sitting at our table and talking he started smoking and anytime he got up he would leave his cigarettes on the table so we knew he would return.  At one point he brought over a worker from the neighboring cafe to talk wine with us.  He literally went to the guy, brought him to our table, pulled up another chair for the guy, and gave him a wine glass to "analyze".  It was hilarious.  I could not believe it.  3.5 hours later and 3 free glasses of wine (champagne and rose) later we finally had finished dinner/dessert and our rather deep conversation.  It was something that would have never happened if we had a big group of people with us or even a boy to be honest.  It was a great experience.

To end the night I also took Monica and Molly to O'Carolans to show them my favorite pub in Montpellier.  I walked in and saw Paul and Tom, 2 workers.  They are so nice!  They said hi to me and gave me the kisses on the cheek thing French people do.  I almost felt like a regular though I have only been there a handful of times.  Nick and his other brother were there drinking, not working, so I got to see everyone that helped me my first days here.  It was perfect.  I am so lucky I had a nice group of people to help me get settled in Montpellier.  I know I have said this before, but I don't know what I would have done without them.  

My Not So Sterile Yet Sterile, But now Sterile and soon to be less Sterile Studio

These studios are nice….kind of.  When I moved it I was shocked at how dirty it was.  The kitchen area was gross with crusty food on it and water build up.  The bathroom was a place I did not want to touch.  And the floor was clearly not swept or mopped.  

It took a while, but I got all the basics cleaned.  Even with a clean studio I didn't feel like I could live in it.  I did not have a shower curtain, bedding, silverware, hangers, etc.

An Ikea trip later and some organization, but room felt a little more homie.  The walls are still bare and I have a lot of empty space, but now I can live like a very basic human being.  If anyone wants to send things to decoder my room, feel free ;)

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After

Bed Before

Bed After

Bathroom Before

Bathroom After

Back in Montpellier

Morning Run.

Finally back into my new home town.  I don't think that taking us away from Montpellier right when we arrive is the smartest idea.  Once we got back we instantly had to continue settling in by getting bank accounts sorted, filling out mounds of pepper work and buying more house stuff.  I wish that I could have got all of this done before my week vacation, but now I am doing it.  Better late than never.  

I finally have my bank credit card! YAY.

I don't have all my insurances covered yet, but there are about a million, so it takes some time and effort.  

Another vent about the French, they make things inconvenient.  I have class from 9-12 then 2-5 everyday.  I need to turn in papers to an office that is open Monday-Friday from 9-12 and 2-5.  Perfect, right? UUHHHGGG.

Back to happy times and not annoyances, I went to O'Carolans on Sunday to say hi to the people I met my first week.  I only saw 2 of the people I met but it was still nice.  It was a new set of people to see and talk to and they are so welcoming.  I really want to get my Vinifera friends to go to it one day.  Hopefully soon.  

Also sorry for the sporadic subjects and flow of things.  I just don't know how to organize all of these events and thoughts.  I've done so much and I have so many opinions that it is one big mess.  You see it on this blog, but just imagine what is going on in my head. 

The Rest of Pech Rouge

This past week was a random mix of actives.  We went from hand harvesting to going through the research winery to tasting chinese wines to eating oysters.  

They call it the immersion module, so there are trying to immerse us into the French culture.  Immersion point number one, NEVER BE ON TIME.  Oh my goodness, the French are always late.  Our group has been very punctual to all occasions and the French…well they are consistently 30 minutes or more behind schedule.  It is a terrible influence on the students (me) because I feel no need to be on time, ever.  I almost want to go to Germany my second year just so I can be punctual.

I am not sure what other immersion points are, but that is the only one that really stuck.  

Now for some technical things that I learned and might bore a lot of you, and fascinate the others.

Mechanical Harvesters: In previous blog.

Flash Detente: This literally explodes grapes. After the grapes are harvested and destemmed/crushed, they are put through a flash detente (if you want to or have one).  This process is very rare right now and still in research phases.  So this flash detente first heats up the grapes to your desired temp, normally around 80 C.  The juice continues through the machine without any affect while the berry skins are put into a vacuum and instantly burst.  The color and aroma from this flash is returned back to the juice and put into a tank to ferment.  Now the details on this are a little vague and when they were telling us about it, it was really loud so I couldn't understand it all.  Hopefully I will learn more later and then inform you better, a lot better.  I did learn later that the color in the wines which are used in this process is very deep and rich since the skins color is exploded and in the juice, BUT the color is not stable with time and can start to precipitate out of the wine to the bottom of the bottle (eeewww).  So that is one thing that they are researching and maybe in the future people won't care about fading wines? And when I say fading I mean a Syrah turning into a Pinot or Rose color.

Pressing: There are so many different ways to press juice/wine from grapes/skins.  There is the classic basket press and bladder press.  This research winery also had a centrifuge press.  Its advantages was its ability to continually press and be fed more grapes unlike a bladder press where you press one batch and then have to unload and load it again.  BUT a big disadvantage is that you can't make any press cuts.  In regular pressing you will first have the free run juice which is seen as the highest quality juice.  As you press the winemakers will make cuts based on taste.  The more pressure (in bars) you put onto the grapes, the more tannin that can be extracted from the skins, meaning the wine/juice gets a rougher mouthfeel.  Winemakers will take note of this change and potentially ferment or age these different batches separately.  In the end, I don't know if that centrifuge press is worth it unless you are a big winery that is more worried about volume than quality.

Cement tanks: (Yes, the exist) They were popular back in the day but kind of fell off the radar for a while.  There have recently been making a comeback.  Why cement you ask?  Well they are very good at regulating temperature.  In the summer the wine stored in the tanks will not get too hot and then in the winter the wine will not get too cold because the cement is so thick and a good insulator.  This means that the winery does not have to worry about cooling systems.  They do have cooling plates for fermentation to make sure the soon to be wine does not get too hot from the yeast eating up all the sugars, but that is the only temperature change they plan on doing.  Some down sides to cement is that the tanks are not movable most of the time.  Where there are put or made is where they stay.  So if your winery were to get bigger or remodel the tanks would potentially negatively affect the plans.  

Winemaking: Get grapes, put them in a bin, get wine in a few months (or days).

Psych!

Winemaking is so complex and situational that explaining it in one blog would be tedious, long, semi complicated, and potentially dry.  So hopefully throughout all of the blogs you can pick up on some things and I can touch on basics every now and then.  

Now onto my (minimal) free time at Pech Rouge.  I went on a sunrise run on the beach which was so beautiful and worth it.  I have never done a run at sunrise, or ran on a beach for an extended period of time, but I really liked it.  They only thing that was not ideal was the damn wind, but that wind never stopped the whole week we were there.

We also had some crazy French ladies do some funky interpretive dance about wine for us.  They seriously looked like they were drunk/cracked out/crazy, but they were just being dramatic, and did a really good job.  

There was a ton of wine tasting.  As you know there was the Chinese wine tasting.  We also tasted some of the wine made at Pech Rouge.  The had us try three dealcolized wines.  They dealcolized it to 10%.  All in all, I thought the wines lacked a good mouthfeel.  The rose we had had a nonexistent finish.  I have never had a wine with no finish, maybe a very short finish, but there was nothing.  NOTHING.  It kind of showed me that the alcohol in wine does add to its flavor, character, and its overall enjoyment.  We also tasted some wine from the SupAgro school in Bordeaux.  I really liked this wine.  They had one which was more traditional and oaky, but then there was another one that had a good amount of fruit in it.  I really liked both too though they were way different styles.  The last tasting that is noteworthy (because there were more) was of some Carignanes.  A nice French lady had some home made red blends that were mainly Carignane.  I am a sucker for Ridge's Buchinani Carignane so I had high hopes for this one, despite more people discounting the variety.  Luckily, I loved it.  I think I may just be a sucker for that variety but the wine was good.  Granted the lady had to be a decent winemaker to make a nice, interesting, clean wine, but damn I like Carignane.  

There was a hike one day which was semi random but cool and had a good view.  The last event which was also very random but cool was out sea food feast of a lunch.  I know it sounds stuck up or annoying when I say I don't really like seafood so this meal was not too special for me.  Even though I don't care for this "glorious" food group, I gave everything a try: the oysters, clams, snails and shrimp.  To be honest I only liked the shrimp.  I only liked the other things when I covered it in a garlic aioli which means I liked that aioli.  

Immersion point number two (just remembered), eat MASSIVE lunches and always have wine with meals.  Don't worry, they don't eat breakfast so no wine that early.  But seriously, the lunches we were fed this week were absurdly massive.  I don't know how French people aren't rolling around their country in obesity.  After every lunch I would seriously need a nap or a half marathon jog.  One or the other, not continue working. 

That was my week at Pech Rouge.  Now back to Montpellier where I need to continue to settle in.

Pech Rouge (Day 1)

We got into this beachish city Monday night and settled into our tiny bungalows.  I am sharing a room with Analyia who is Bulgarian.  The beds have less than a foot between them in our room! It is not that bad but it is funny to talk about.

Any-who, our first day of real class was today.  We started in the research vineyard with Grenache Noir.  We had to sample 3 rows in 4 different ways and compare the results to each other.  After, we had picks those 3 rows.  I have a greater respect for the people who can hand pic a row in the time I can hand pick one vine.  That shit is hard.  You have to bob and weave around all the different shoots then find the clusters, cut them, get them in the bin, find more, but leave the "secondary crop".  Damn. 

That took the whole morning.  After lunch we got to see a machine harvester and learn how they work.  There are plastic arm type things on the inside and they hit the vine from left to right, then right as the vine stops on the right side, the machine hits it right to left.  With this change in momentum, the clusters fall of the vines.  This way of harvesting is a lot faster than hand picking and can have cheaper labor costs, BUT it is violent on the vines.  The vine sap flow can be damaged with this type of harvesting but if the vine can get a good amount of water after the harvest, it will have an easier time to recover.  If not it could be permanently damaged.  

We also learned a lot about different trellis systems around the world, and different varieties throughout France.  The guy talking to use about it was so passionate about everything he showed us that it made me even more excited about what I was doing.  I will make a whole other blog about this subject later.  There were a lot.

Lastly, we had a Chinese wine tasting.  We learned a little bit about the Chinese wine producing and market.  ()().  We also got to taste 5 Chinese wines, one white, one rose, and three reds.  They all were interesting.  I was not really a fan of any of them but I am glad that I tried them.  They might be an acquired taste too, so drinking more would increase my liking of it…I don't know.

P.S. I saw the moon reflecting over the sea tonight and it was so beautiful and peaceful.  It was hard to capture in a picture but I loved it! Almost as good as a sunset/sunrise.

Dumb Luck

Though I have been on an upward slope, I was still very much alone and lost in my figuring out Montpellier and SupAgro.  I woke up on Friday with 2 goals in mind: find the Vinifera Secretariat (Office) and get my bank account settled.  

With these two very important goals I still decided to have a slow morning and watch some Big Bang Theory while eating yogurt without a spoon.  I got out the door at 9:30, a little later than I wanted but who cares, I had all day.  When I left Les Hameaux I walked into a big group of English speaking people that I semi recognized from Facebook.  Could it be?  Did I just stumble on MY PEOPLE??? So I asked if they were Vinifera and they all responded with a well hoped for "Yes."  I could not believe it.  If I did not watch TV and be lazy I would have never found these guys.  They helped me find the office, which I would have never found alone, and they didn't get me to the bank but Ikea was almost better.  I finally could buy the ordinary things that people have in living spaces like shower curtains, silverware, pots, hangers, bedding (sheets, pillows, blanket), clips, cleaner…the list goes on.  I had two massively heavy Ikea bags full of stuff.  

To be honest, I have never bought anything from Ikea before.  This trip was great! I really like all their stuff.  But now I do realize how many people own Ikea things.  I now have the same utensil holder that Will and my roommate Sarah in Australia had.  My dish ware matches all my peers in France.  I have seen my towels in countless housed throughout college.  I think I will go there again to make my room more homey, which means I will find more things that I have seen before.  Many times before.  

I cannot stress how relieved and happy I was to find my classmates.  If I did not find them my room would still be unlivable and I don't think I would have internet.  My hope for survival in France would have been significantly less.  

Picture Taken by German Monika

We all ended up going out that same night and getting to know each other.  Most conversations started with "Where are you from?", "What did you study?"  I didn't mind that because I learned a lot.  There are people from Spain, Greece, the Ukraine, Turkey, South Africa, Bulgaria, Chile, Canada, Israel, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Canada, and America.  That is not even all the people, just the ones that have arrived so far.  I am so excited to get to know everyone further!!

Getting Settled

I do not think I would be functional or in the right place at all if it was not for Nick.  He showed me around Montpellier my first day here and I did not think that it was going to be that beneficial but more for the sake of showing me the town.  

So my second day in town started late since it was a late night out.  We got out the door around 11 to get to where I am living by 11:45.  Nick and his two brothers, John and Tom, drove me out to SupAgro. I went into the office with Nick and the lady who gave me my keys did not speak much English and I did not speak much French so Nick helped us through that since he is fluent in both.  I was just thinking at that point "how the hell would I have done this without him?"  I mean, we would have figured it out eventually but this way was easier.  And with such important information I did not want to misunderstand anything.  half an hour later or even more, I was in my room with my stuff and the boys were saying goodbye.  I was very appreciative of them being patient with my lack of knowing anything about anything here.  They waited around that whole half hour and helped carry my luggage up to my room.  My luggage is very heavy so that was an extra bonus (my arms are sore from lugging it around European trains yesterday).  

Woo Hoo! Finally have a place to call mine.  Except I don't have internet access until Monday when I get my student card so I can't research anything or contact ANYONE since I also don't have a phone.  And to get a phone I need a bank account….Holy pooper scooper, I thought I was going to cry from how frustrated I was knowing I had so little done.  On top of that I forgot my charger at Nick's house with my ONE adapter but since I don't have a phone I couldn't tell him.  So at that point I had to manage my laptop and phone's batteries.  No useless Candy Crushing or Big Bang Theory.  Yea so that hour or so was very stressful.  

Things looked to be going down hill after Nick and his brothers left me.  I asked some french student where I could find a bank to get an account and she told me where a bakery and grocery store was.  She also had no idea where I could get internet without this student card I need to get.  I decided to use the information I got and went to the boulangerie.  Deciding to do this was probably the turn around point for my down hill day.  I ordered a sandwich in French, and also asked the bakery lady if she knew where a bank was (in french).  She pointed me down the street that I was already walking along so I kept going.  A few minutes later I saw an aqueduct which I remembered seeing on my tour with Nick!!!! SCORE!!  That meant if I followed the massive aqueduct I could find the town center which had to have a bank somewhere.  I ended up in an area that Nick actually took me to and told me he hung out there often blah blah blah, but now I started to think back to my city tour.  I decided I was going to attempt to go to O'Carolans, where Nick and all the people I met last night work.  Nick gave me a hint to find it also which was look for the massive cathedral tower point and go in that direction.  I spotted that point, and continued towards it.  I passed another few buildings or so Nick had pointed out to me so I knew I was going in the right direction.  Next thing I know I am at the pub, I knew the people working, and they have wifi there so it could not have worked out any better.  One of the girls who was working, Leila, suggested some banks that I should use after I was looking around the internet a bit.  It was getting close to 4 and I did not want to waste any time so I ran off to find the one she told me about, LCL.  I found one rather quickly, they had an english speaking banker girl, and I opened a student account.  I did not know I was going to get beneficial benefits but I now have renters insurance (which I needed), I get discounts at some stores, it is really cheap, and just so many other things that made my frown turn upside-down.  I ran back over to the pub and thanked Leila for her help.  It made me feel so much more prepared for everything, though there is still a lot to do.  

Sunset from my Window

On my way back home I ran into the gang I had hung out with the night before so I was able to share my relief and thank all of them for being so nice and helpful.  This sh*t is hard but I am managing.  

Also, to help my French I bought some french magazines to read and refresh my vocabulary.  I may only be able to talk about health and fashion, but at least it is something.

London to Paris

I decided to go the train route to get to Montpellier.  Due to my rather crippling fear of planes, I felt it was a great alternative.  I would be able to see the French country side while stressing a lot less about falling from the sky.  One tricky thing about my train choice is that I have two suitcases and a decently heavy backpack to lug around.  Another tricky thing is my transfer of train stations in Paris, from Gare du Nord to Gare to Lyon.  To prepare myself for this stressful hour I brushed up on my French in the first half of my travels and used the Bank of Jonathan Sulenski to get some Euros so I wouldn't have to fuss with an ATM.  

The morning started off early, waking up at six to try and get to the tube by half past.  Thankfully I had practice with the Tube the day before so that was less of a debacle than it could have been.  And the great thing about being a frail looking girl is that people offer to help you carry your luggage up and down stairs.  I am a proud woman so it almost offends me because I know I can carry it but I do appreciate the manners of the men who offered to help.  

I got to Kings Cross/ St. Pancras with time to spare, got checked in, and settled on the train without breaking a sweat!  The train ride was super easy too but I was having a little anxiety over getting to the stinking Gare Du Lyon.  To prepare myself for the high speed high stress transfer I got ready to deboard as soon as I saw one other person prepare themselves.  From listening to him he was French so I assumed he knew what he was doing.  I dragged my suitcases as efficiently as possible over to the taxi stand.  Now that line was something I did not prepare for so my heart was pounding a bit.  I was offered a "moto" taxi which is a motorcycle and I kind of looked at my bags then look at the dude like he was in idiot.  Anywho, I got a taxi and spoke good enough french to fool my taxi driver into thinking I spoke it well.  So when he asked me if I had any coins on my I kind of gave him the cocked head baffled look and said "Je parle un peu franca is…." So then sign language it was.  He actually thought I was German.  It might have been the hair and eyes but I like to think maybe it was my accent? Or maybe not because German accents are ugly.

During this language barriered taxi ride I knew nothing was up to me anymore.  It was up to the taxi driver to drive fast and the traffic not to suck.  To spare me some gray hairs, I decided not to look at my phone until I got to the train station.  I was so very pleased with my taxi driver (not only because he didn't rip me off) when I realized he got me to the station 20 minutes before my train took off, and better yet the train was delayed 10 minutes so even if I had taken longer, my cushion time was greater.  

Let me tell you, I never want to do that short transfer again.   Give me an hour or two so I can breathe and appreciate where I am.  I mean I literally flew threw Paris, no pictures or anything.  But I also know that it can be done so if need be….I can manage.  

So I arrived at Montpellier and had no previous knowledge of this Nick character (Muiris' friend) that was going to pick me up.  All I knew was the he was wearing a California t-shirt on.  That is it.  No number, no email, just his T-shirt.  Thankfully we ran into each other unlike my uncle and me.  He gave me a tour of Montpellier and then the bar he works at.  It is an Irish pub.  It was fun and everyone spoke english so that made it easier.  We stayed out late and in the end bonded over harry potter....so score!!!! love it! haha

London

I arrived in London Monday morning.  I was able to sleep for a while on the plane so I was not too tired.  We boarded off the plane and got onto a bus.  I did not even realize they were driving on the left side of the road.  It did not phase me at all.. This is when I had the revelation that Australia prepared me for London's backwardness.  Another Australian thing that I noticed was at the cafe I sat at waiting for Jonathan was a Flat White as one of the coffee options.  Some of you might be thinking, ACTUALLY that is Britain having an influence on Australia….I know, I know.  

Jonathan trying to get me was a debacle in itself, but that sorted its self out thankfully.  I was at the cafe with a hat on and so Jonathan was looking all around for me….it was a mess that was fixed with the help of Nancy and Will (thanks btw).  

I finally got connected with Olivia, Jacqueline and Jonathan.  Olivia gave me the longest most adorable hello hug ever.  I almost wanted to cry it was so cute.  She is the coolest cousin ever.  So outgoing and happy.  Also surprisingly into bugs and slimy things that I would never want to touch.  She has a bug collection going that is so cool but I would never have the balls to do what she does.  Brave child that one.  

Anyway, I was in London for only a short time (2 days) so I wasn't able to do any touristing around but it was enough to have quality time with my family and even meet up with my friend Paul at Oxford Circus for a lovely lunch.  I worked with Paul at St. Hallett in Australia so it was great to meet up with him.  We talked about work, our old coworkers and what we are now doing in life.  I was very pleased to get reconnected with my Aussie connections.  Three other St. Hallett coworkers live in Europe so we will see if I can meet up with the rest in my 2 years over here.  

Hanging out with the London side of the Sulenski clan was great fun.  I had good conversation with Jonathan and Jacqueline.  I drank a lot of tea and was fotunate enough to have some of their cooking.  I had the infamous salmon my sister raved about after visiting a few years ago, and I see why she liked it so much…it was yummmmmy!  

Take Off

I can't believe I am leaving.  I don't know when it will hit me.  Maybe when I am on the plane or when I am in London, or not until I am back here for Chrismas.

I ended up packing less for this "trip" than when I went to Australia.  I didn't even use the extender on either suitcase I have! That is a win. I don't know what the difference in mindset of packing was, but I like it.  I somehow think traveling to Australia made me realize what was really necesary versus not.  So now I only have about 80 lbs of things versus 100+.

I am going to miss everyone dearly.  Wish me luck with this crazy adventure.

I don't think I know what I am getting myself into...

Typical Pre-Departure

I leave for Montpellier in 2 days and I am still not packed and I still don't feel that I am actually moving to France. It won't hit me until I am in Paris running between train stations trying to speak my high school taught French.  Then I will say, "What the HELL am I doing!?!?" Not really.  But that would be funny.

So for people who want to know more about what I am off to do, let me tell you what I know:

• I am going to school in Europe for 2 years (one year France and one year elsewhere)
• I am living in a studio
• No, I don't speak French
• The classes are in English
• In the end I will hopefully have a Master's in Winemaking

Sorry, but that is all I know as of now.  I am really just playing this one by ear.  Any details on course work will be figured out during that course work.  How I will live in France will be an ongoing mystery solved.  Honestly, one can grill me on details when I come home for Christmas (yes, my mother was kind enough to fly me home for the holidays).

There are some fun facts about myself that I recently realized...

1. Once in France, I will have lived in 3 countries in one year. 
2. That is 3 languages I will have been around in one year (YES Australians speak a different language).
3. I have had 2 visa's in the past year.
4. This is a life long dream come true.
5. Deep down inside I think I chose France because of their daily baked baguettes. 

But in all seriousness, living in 3 countries (counting the USA) in one year is cool but also a pain in the ass.  You have to pack and unpack, get into a new groove, make friends, figure out how to communicate...there are lots of things.  I am excited, scared, nervous, curious, and any other emotion one can have.  I think all these emotions are why I have had a pounding head ache the last day.  As you can see, my mind is scattered and there are sooo many things to do and think about and see.  

This is going to be an adventure.