Narbonne et Avignon

Well I have a presentation tomorrow and then I'm done and home on Wednesday just 2 short days away! So this weekend was filled of trying to live up every second left in Montpellier, plus I also wanted to be super tired so I can sleep on the plane! It has really started to hit me that people I hung out with this weekend for the most part I will never see again in my life, the goodbyes are hard but I know that in a few days I'll have the joy of being reunited with best friends and of course my favorite foods that I have left behind in America for so long. Wednesday night we had our last apartment dinner of the year. Since the beginning of the program all of us who lived in apartments got together once a week and one group of roommates would cook dinner and then we went to our weekly conversation hour at a bar called the Vert Anglais (Green American) Wednesdays are always the best day of the week because we can relax and hang out with friends and also go get drinks with our teacher which is a completely foreign experience to me.

The group for apartment dinners: Oliver, Gibson, Mary, Rasheik, Myself, Andre, Casey, Aliza, Eliza

Sam, Nate and I at the Vert Anglais

Thursday the goodbyes were set into motion when we had our end of semester cocktail party with our program. The fact that our program has a free end of semester cocktail party with unlimited wine and champagne and delicious appetizer is already amazing in my book. But it was so cool to feel so adult getting all dressed up and drinking wine I will definitely miss that in America. We said goodbye to our teachers and friends who will be travelling after the program, since everyone leaves at different times this was really the last chance to say goodbye to everyone.

Katy and I with two of our teachers Cedric and Corrine

Byron, Sam, Matt and I

On Friday I woke up super early to take a train with my friend Mary to the city of Narbonne which is about an hour away from Montpellier. We wanted to go early so we could get back before dark and have a whole day there but I actually turned out perfectly because we arrived in town right as the sun was coming up and it was one of the most beautiful train rides I have ever experienced watching the French countryside with the sun about to come up is amazing. We arrived in Narbonne and found a cafe for breakfast. I got my favorite French pastry, a chocolat suisse, which is basically a croissant filled with some cream and chocolate chips and then I got a cappuccino which apparently in Narbonne comes with a big heaping of whipped cream which I was very much okay with. Then we walked around the city unfortunately a lot of the attractions didn't open till 10 so we had some time to kill before we go into a lot of places. We walked along the river and into the Cathedrale Saint-Just which is the huge cathedral in the center of the town. We walked through the Christmas market which is a lot smaller but also a lot cheaper than in Montpellier and I was able to get some gifts for my friends back home! We also visited the Basilique Saint-Serge and it was just nice to walk through the cute french streets of this smaller town. For lunch we stumbled upon this street that had Tex-Mex cuisine a rarity in France. I had some enchilladas for lunch which was really sub par to the United States but it did fill the craving I've been having for Mexican food until I finally get Chipotle this weekend. In the afternoon we got some delicious pastries and visited the Horeum which were a bunch of underground Roman ruins. Narbonne was the first Roman city in France so it has a lot of old Roman architecture and is rich in history.

Good Morning Narbonne: Coffee and Pastries!

Cathedrale Saint-Just

My companion Mary in front of the Horreum

Delicious pastry: eclair with cream strawberries and carmelized sugar on top

The unfortunate part of Narbonne was the Ferris Wheel. Mary and I got so excited when we saw it and decided we were definitely going to ride it. We inquired as to when it opened and they said 2pm. We come back at 2 and 2:30 and 3 and there were no employees the whole time we were so sad but hopefully I will get to ride a ferris wheel in the future back in america haha.

The Final Excursion- Avignon
Our program arranged many excursions for us this semester as have been documented in this blog but this was the last time that we all piled on the bus and headed off on the excursion bright and early in the morning. Saturday's trip was to Avignon but first stop was Fountaine de Vaucluse. The fountain is in a little Provencal town outside of Avignon. The Fountain was so much cooler than I expected the water was so blue and we climbed these rocks up to it, we saw water mills and every stand was selling lavender typical Provence.

Hello Beautiful Provences

Nate and I by the water

The water was so clear

After the fountain we made the trip over to Avignon. When we arrived Mary and Alaynah and I went to get lunch and of course peruse the Christmas market. After our ferris wheel experience in Narbonne Mary and I decided that we were definitely riding the Merry Go Round in Avignon so after lunch and some more gift shopping we got on the Merry-Go-Round we were probably the oldest people on there by at least 15 years but it was so worth it, and afterwards I enjoyed a nutella and coconut crepe a very satisfying lunch if you ask me. We also saw the largest nativity scene in Southern France which in my opinion defeated the point of a nativity because we couldn't even find where Jesus was. After the lunch break we met up with the program for our tour of the Palace of the Popes. Not going to lie we were all super tired at this point, and the 3 hour guided tour of this palace was extremely unnecessary and boring. But basically the popes lived in Avignon for a century in the Middle Ages instead of Rome that is all you really need to know. And finally we ended the day with a sunset walk along the Pont d'Avignon (by far the highlight of the day) the Pont d'Avignon is a bridge that only goes about halfway and stops in the middle of the river but the views were absolutely gorgeous especially at that time of day.

Palais des Papes

Where's Jesus?

Alaynah and I about to get on the Merry Go Round

Casey and I on top of the Palace of the Popes

Pont d'Avignon

Sunset :)

Here is where the blog gets exciting! Sunday night I introduced French people to beer pong and of course they loved it and thought it was the best game ever! My friend Nate left on Monday so we sent him out with a bang and it was a very fun night hanging out with people I may never see again and of course I made beer pong international!

Morgane- the French beer pong champ

Last day in Montpellier tomorrow! CRAZYYYYY