A Melting Pot of a Post: Lunel, Montpellier, Marseille

Thanks to the recent discovery of my French phone's blue tooth capabilities, I have successfully transferred all of my phone pics to my computer. Hallelujah! Henceforth, this post is a hodgepodge of anecdotes related to the recently salvaged photos. Enjoy!

 Montpellier: Below is an image of the bar (Inglorious Bar...awesome name) I went to last week with the frisbee team. Wednesday was trivia night...'twas challenging, fun, and informative. It was all in French, and the theme was sports. My team was composed of Mollie, another American teaching assistant, and two other French guys from the frisbee team.

The first trivia round was a group of pictures requiring you to name the sport pictured...harder than it sounds. We were all excited that "ultimate frisbee" made an appearance. 

The second round included a mixture of various questions involving names, dates and places. I cannot say I excelled in the least bit on this one.

The third round involved video clips...pretty high tech for a hole-in-the-wall bar. I was dynamite on the questions that involved naming American basketball teams.

The fourth and final round consisted of various songs. You had to name the song, as well as determine the corresponding sport. S8r Boi by Avril Lavigne was probably the most surprising song played, but I loved every second of it.

 Lunel : Despite the fact that I've been working in Lunel for the past 3 months, I hadn't really explored the town prior to last Friday. It's quite quaint, and I'm glad I finally explored. My friend Natalie met me for lunch in town (I have a 3 hour break in the middle of the day, so I have plenty of time), and we also walked around a little. We found an arena, which was actually constructed relatively recently. We then found the Statue of Liberty. No joke. She was much smaller and less majestic, but none-the-less, there she was in the middle of a traffic circle, in all her glory. Not exactly sure why there was a Statue of Liberty in Lunel of all places...but hey.

Arena

Really hard to see, but in the middle of the picture is the Statue of Liberty.

This next picture is the bistro Natalie and I ate at. It was so cute and welcoming, and all of the servers/staff were super friendly. Plus everything was home-made with secret recipes! Yum yum yum. I already have plans to return.

A statue of a fisherman fishing for the moon! He sees its reflection in a pool of water and goes for the gold...or should I say light?

This picture doesn't really need a caption. However, there's a story that goes along with it so.........Right after I saw this sign and took a picture of it, I stepped in dog poop. Figures. You can't let your guard down for one second. You think you're safe and then all of a sudden.......splat.

 Marseille : So I went to Marseille back in October on my way home from Spain, however the only pictures I had were on my phone. Here they are!

Saw this on a wall and thought it was really cool.

Although I had a frustrating time in Marseille, I have to admit that the view of the water/boats was beautiful and walking along the beach was quite peaceful.

I'll also mention a few things I've been up to...

I have tennis courts at my apartment complex so I've been playing lots of tennis.

I found a new running route that I love, and have been running as much as possible.

I had dinner with a bunch of German friends and we discussed my upcoming trip to Germany, as well as the differences between France, Germany and the U.S.

This weekend I went to a beach volleyball tournament in Montpellier. Not only did I get to see Olympians from the London Games play, but I also got to meet them! Super cool.

There are ridiculous sales going on in all of the stores right now. In France, stores can only have sales during two periods of time during the year. This is one of those times. I've been trying to keep my purchases to a minimum, but today I bought some reduced price calendars to use the pictures as wall decor. Henceforth, I finished decorating my room, so now it's all cheery, colorful, and homey :)

Coming up I hope to attend a rugby match and some of the ATP tennis tournament in town.

Every day I learn something new, meet someone new, and challenge myself to seek out new experiences. Talk about a hands-on education.

I think those are most of the highlights. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you're up to :)

Tata for now!

P.S. Below is my current phone background. It's from the beautiful Alcazar gardens in Sevilla, Spain...

Recharged on American Fuel, Ready for Action

Not much to report regarding my trip back to the land of wine and cheese (I'm allowing myself to embrace this stereotype due to how true it is) other than I unintentionally dropped my 50 lb. suitcase on top of a surprisingly understanding old man. This little train mishap was remedied by the most apologetic smile I could muster.

It should be noted that upon my arrival to Montpellier, I moved apartments. I had already been awake for 30 hours, so it was a wee bit tiring. I slept well that night :)

In other news, my new year's resolution of meeting someone new each day is continuing to go well. Today I significantly increased the amount of French acquaintances I have when I went to play ultimate frisbee with the team in Nîmes. Unfamiliar faces and accents didn't stop me from having a blast and making some pretty rockin' plays.