Back to School

Hello to all of our fans out there, Winslow here, sorry to leave you hanging! I know you are entitled to your regular updates in exactly what is going on in our lives, and I hope you were neither too anxious nor worried. We spend 9 days in Montpellier, most of which were not very eventful. I didn’t see much of the young one; she was off to French class in the morning and out wandering the city in the afternoons. The young one decided it would be fun to go back to school for a week, take some French classes, especially since she would be travelling alone, in the hopes that she would make new friends and have some new last-minute French immersion experiences. I was left on the top bunk of our bunk bed, listening to the drone of the television that was constantly illuminated in our host’s home and the spattering of buses at the stop right outside the window. We stayed with a Martiniquaise woman who talked constantly about nothing in particular, followed the progress of the royal baby’s birth, and kept two large clocks on the living room wall both displaying the wrong time. It wasn’t awful. But I think there is a lot about that week that the young one wishes was different, especially the being alone part. She was trying so hard to feel close to a city that holds a place in her heart, only to realize that you can only feel as close to a place as you are to the personal relationships you make there. Those relationships are gone, and the immersion program didn’t give much opportunity to create new ones, leaving her feeling like an outsider, almost betrayed. She told me she just felt empty there now. The biggest problem, in my opinion, is her inability to switch her brain from bored to relaxed. I noticed her trying to combat this, trying to meditate, taking a yoga class, going to the park, and also assigning herself a photography project. Copied from a list the young one wrote down to keep in mind while shooting:

- An old memory and a new one - Something that has changed, and something that has stayed the same - A new favorite - Something I never noticed before

- Makes me feel at home Not happy with the results, she claims her “photo game is off”, while I find it to be exemplary of the faded connection between herself and Montpellier, or even not being as close to it as she thought she was.

There were some successes throughout the week, of course, one being a newfound appreciation for parts of the city that we didn’t really go to or notice the last time:

Parc de Peyrou. We hung out together in the hammock up there and enjoyed all the sounds around us: playing guitar, singing, frisbee-throwing, hooligans making realistic animal noises, groups of children at their meeting spot.

Jardin des Plantes. The young one loves taking photos of flowers, and I could tell all the blossoms brightened her mood. It’s actually the oldest jardin in France!

The Cathedral. We entered the Montpellier Cathedral Saint-Pierre for the first time. It's very unique from the outside.

The numerous absurd fountains that are just large moss-covered boulders spewing mist.

The other success came in the form of a Swiss friend from the young one’s class. Sometimes when she wasn’t home she was spending time with him, having very nice discussions. She tells me about the few things that he said that have stuck, and which bear meaning because he was also previously in Montpellier and had returned for the same reasons she had.

The first thing is to not compare experiences, but to add to them.

Second, don't have expectations.

Third, just soak up the atmosphere of a place and ignore all the things you're not doing.

These are major lessons that the young one needs to keep in mind, especially while travelling alone.

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As the weekend came and we moved to stay with the photographing one, things picked up. But unfortunately so did the wind. Two days in a row the young one tried to go to the beach even though I told her the wind would be too strong, and came home coated in sand. She carried me around in her sandy bag for the next week!

The beach village of Palavas-les-Flots where we went with the photographing one

I was grateful to be able to stay with the photographing one again, and that it boosted the young one’s mood having a friend to spend time with. I’m not so sure though about that show we watched though, called Game of Thrones. I didn’t really get why I watched more than an hour of angry people and fire. Obviously I’ve missed a lot; it must be deeper than that, right?

There's a relatively new spot just outside of the center of Montpellier called the Marché du Lez. It was totally the young one's scene and she said she would frequent this place in the summer to listen to music, have a drink, and play cards.

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Last but not least, we took a day trip to what is considered one of the most beautiful villages in France. Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert did live up to its name, our only complaint being that we didn't have enough time there to do all 3 of our key travel goals: see and learn, take photos, and relax. Relax had to take a back seat so we skipped the coffee break.

Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert is an isolated village located on a pilgrim route where Saint Guilhem founded a monastery in 804 after his heroic military quests in Spain. The Abbey (first photo) is the icon of the village built in the 11th century where, inside, you can find a few bones preserved as relics of the founding Saint displayed in a fancy gold box.

We strolled up and down the streets where shops, catered to toursist, all seemed to be dug out of the cliffside. The air smelled of honey and fresh flowers, the sun was soaked up by the stone and filtered through leaves and petals. Narrow streets funneled out into a lively square and into the unhindered nature beyond the village. We followed a path for a while up into the hills, but didn't have time to get too far, so we ultimately didn't see much up there. Anyway, I believe the photos speak for themselves.

I think one of my new favorite things to do is discover petite villages such as this, especially surrounded by nature. There is a certain freeing feeling that you experience as you are released from the grasp of city life. There isn't necessarily anything to do in these places either, and that aspect seems to liberate the young one as well, extenuates the senses, motivates her to just feel what there is to feel. Like meditation.

From here we continued our southern voyages just for a few days, before the rain started. Goodbye again Montpellier!

Will talk to you again soon, with the last leg of our French adventures.

Love,

Winslow