Bonjour/Hello/Salut/Hi

For those of you who don't already know (of which I doubt there are many!) my name is Sarah. I've just moved to Montpellier to start my Erasmus year, and thought a blog would be the easiest way to keep those who are curious up to speed with what's going on this year, and how much cheese I'm eating (that being the main objective of any year in this country).

I arrived here on Monday after flying to the nearby airport of Beziers, catching the shuttle to the train station, realising that ticket machines in train stations dislike my debit card, missing my train and replacing my ticket, and finally arriving at Montpellier St Roch, a helpful 5 minutes away from hostel number 1. Sadly, hostel number 1 was only available for a night, so the next morning it was straight up and out, round the corner to hostel number 2, and then out househunting. I saw 5 places on Tuesday and only liked one of them, but it was living with a family which I wasn't sure would be the right thing for me. So I headed back to the hostel and realised that the internet didn't work in my room, so set up camp in the breakfast room where one of the very nice staff members befriended me. Sent out nearly 15 emails to housing adverts but had received no replies by the next morning, so started making phone calls. Eventually managed to set up 2 house viewings for the day, and fell in love with the first one, which is a little 3 bedroom flat underneath a family home. However, the guy who is currently in my room isn't moving out until the 15th, so that put me back in a pickle as to where I was going to be until then.

Mercifully, mums know people who know people who know people, and my mum put me in contact with a lady called Barbara from a local church, who lives not far from the centre of town. She is now more than kindly housing and feeding me until Thursday, when I have arranged to move in to the downstairs bedroom of my landlady's house to stay until my room for the year is available.

Possibly the most difficult and stressful 3-4 days of my entire life, but definitely worth it for how happy I now am with where I am, and where I'm going to end up :)

Boring house part over, I'll post more about local life and exploration later on. It's nearly lunchtime!

A bientôt!
Sarah
xx