June 7

Très bonne journée aujourd hui! My brain is starting to think of certain phrases in French which is a good sign but other than those certain phrases is what makes my French Teacher, Jean-Phillipe, go " I tell you something one day and you forget it the next!" But other than making him be tres frustrated and still struggling linguistically I am enjoying my French journey oh so much. I keep thinking life really doesn't get better than this, my host mom has breakfast for us in the morning we have to go to class in the morning get to explore lunch spots everyday volunteer, explore the city, or shop in the afternoons, have delicious dinners (tonight was pasta salad, melon, and prosciutto), don't have to do dishes, don't have to clean, get our sheets washed and ironed, and are in beautiful Montpellier I mean does it get better? My volunteer work today may have something to do with this fabulous mood as I got to work at "Zaidigozinc" an after school care and was able to be a barista, play with the kids, make a choker, and have one of the girls do a fabulous henna on my hands. As for at home I have a roommate in my studio now as 3 girls from Trinidad have moved in upstairs for two weeks before they go to internships at hotels to study French cuisine. Poor things don't know a lick of French which is an element of difficulty for my host mom but does add to the energy at the maison! Yesterday afternoon I was able to have a delicious falafel lunch and go to the Musee Fabre. The Museum is massive and has something for everyone, my favorite was a temporary exhibit on Montpellier hotels aka from the bourgeois class aka fabulous mansions. I also struck up a conversation with a very nice security guard that used to be a French teacher and gave him my email so we can correspond back and forth and help each other with French and English! My host mom asked me what do you think is harder learning French or climbing Kilimanjaro? I said without hesitation learning French...