I finally arrived in Montpellier after a pleasant train ride from Paris. It was only a few hours, the scenery changing from the cold damp north to the sunny rural south was quite remarkable.

Arriving in Montpellier

My head was spinning with the novelty of my new home for the next few months. It was 80 degrees, there was a jazz band marching down the main alleyways of Montpellier, the women all wore bright colored dresses, and there was this heavenly smell that followed me, wafting through the air at every corner; bread.

I could tell these things were commonplace for my host mom and sister and they seemed amused by my bright eyes. I know walking with a goofy smile on your face is a tell-tale sign you’re American, but I just couldn’t help myself.

My Life in Mauguio

Mauguio is amazing. I seriously love it here.

The food is everything you could ever dream of! We buy fresh baguettes every few days from a bakery just a few blocks away, and each morning we eat a slice tartiné, with butter and jam. At the weekly market, we buy fresh, hand-made sausages, cheeses, and tapenade. And I’m trying all sorts of unique french cuisine such as raclette, ratatouille, tartiflette, carrot and squash soup, mussels, tielle, pommes dauphines, etc.

Hospitality is a Different Game Here

My first night here, my host family took me to eat with their neighbor/friends, a Portuguese family. This is everyone offering me something to drink at the same time! Such hospitality! The two adorable kids are Rodrigo and Juliana.

Thanksgiving in France

I had a chance to cook a full Thanksgiving meal for my host family and they were so excited about it that they invited some friends to partake in the meal. I learned that some staple ingredients are actually very American or very seasonal. For instance, I wanted to make a cranberry sauce but fresh cranberries were impossible to find. I ended up thinking creatively. I could find dried cranberries and they did have cranberry juice, so I adjusted my recipe and it turned out spectacularly actually.

Host Siblings

When I first arrived, my younger sister didn’t speak much English and I felt like after years studying French, I could hardly speak it. So at first, we had quite a language barrier. I can thank her for a lot of my progress actually. With her being so young and understanding, our conversations evolved over the 3 months there. I remember our first day hanging out together and it consisted of me pointing at things and asking how to say it in French and then her asking me how to say it in English. It was truly a language exchange.