Je ne parle pas francais

Bonjour! I'm alive! After a few ridiculous flight mishaps and Delta losing our luggage for three days, I'm finally getting settled into life in Montpellier. My first meal was a baguette, croissant, Nutella, and cheese.
I'm learning to recognize more French words, but I still don't know how to say anything really. My mom and sister are still here on their vacation, and they're leaving Wednesday, but the other exchange students are supposed to be here by then, so hopefully I'll have friends.

Today was my first day of "work." My professor is really nice; he tries to explain everything to me in English, but sometimes things come out hilariously. His research is really interesting though (cognitive evoked potentials in Alzheimer's), and he knows of Dean DeKosky, so he thinks I'm from a legit school. If only he knew about my medical school life...

I've gotten to explore the city a pretty good amount so far. I have a tramway card, which is crucial to get around the city since it's 90 degrees and sunny here all the time. And yes, the Ligne 2 tram is called "flower power."
Montpellier is a really old city, and it actually has the oldest, still-functional medical school in the Western world. They've really tried to hold on to the French culture as much as possible, hence, no one here really speaks English that well. So far, I've seen two accordion players, a lady dressed in black and white stripes head to toe, lots of men wearing crazy hats, and almost everyone walks around carrying a baguette. I'm determined to get pictures of all these things.

Here's a portion of downtown: the Charles de Gaulle Esplanade. You can see the blue "swallow-covered" Ligne 1 tram in the left corner. There's a carousel. Monoprix is the supermarket in the bottom right corner. Everything is so expensive here! I hate the Euro!

Here's a typical Montpellier street. Little boutiques, markets, and sandwicheries are all along them. There are also a couple of McDonald's. And Neil, there are so many doner kebab places! I haven't had one yet, but I will.

Here, I'm sitting on top of the Corum, another opera house downtown. It's a pretty sweet view of the city.

I saw the Mediterranean Sea a couple of days ago! My mom, sister, and I decided to take an adventure and ride the tram and a bus to the beach. It's pretty hilarious trying to do this when none of us speak French, know the bus route, or know where in the hell we're going. But, we just followed everyone else in bathing suits and ended up there!

Alright, gotta save some pictures for future posts. Hope everyone is doing well! Miss you guys!