En route to Lyon

 Hello!

 Shortly after half-term, I travelled to Lyon to have my pastoral appointment with Catherine, the year abroad tutor for French at my home university. This would be a chance to discuss how my time in Avignon was going so far and ask any questions I had.

 I was really excited at the prospect of finally going to Lyon, a city that had been on my radar for a long time but which I had never had a chance to visit. I set out on a Thursday afternoon; I would see Catherine and then have the evening and the next morning to explore.

 The journey there marked the first time I'd travelled via Avignon's TGV station, which is slightly out of town. It turned out to be big and architecturally striking, and I was glad to have seen it. Once I was settled onto my TGV (fast train), happily on the upper level and by a window, I enjoyed the gorgeous views of the south of France flying by.

 I hope you enjoy my photos of the journey from Avignon to Lyon.

 In my next post I'll let you know all about Lyon, one of the most incredible cities I've visited. Watch this space!

 Thanks for reading.

 Liz x

Origami and Harry Potter

 Hello!

 My half-term in Avignon was going well: I had been to Montpellier and photographed some autumn scenery. The final two activites I had planned were an origami workshop and a Harry Potter marathon (except I had only booked the first two films because I just couldn't have done them all!). So, let's see how things went.

 Firstly, origami. I had seen posters advertising these workshops, which took place at Cami-Li, a local bookshop, but they were at a time when I had class. Half-term would probably be my only chance to go to one, so I jumped at it.

 I arrived at the bookshop and we sat around a wooden table drinking the hot drinks that were included with the workshop. I had hot chocolate and it was amazing. There was just something very snug about the whole set-up.

 We were a small group, maybe four girls my age and two little girls. The instructor, Lucie, let us choose which of the prettily patterned papers to use, and we began learning to make cranes. I had enjoyed making paper boats and fortune tellers as a kid, and I thought this wouldn't be too hard. 

 It wasn't that complicated in the end, but it did take me a while to get my head around it. Some parts are fiddly and there's a stage where if you hold the folded shape the wrong way up while making the next fold, it ruins the whole thing and you won't know until later on. That was a bit infuriating, but we worked it out and soon the table was piled high with multicoloured cranes.

 Next, we learnt how to make tiny cranes from smaller pieces of paper. This was tricky! The final challenge was to thread our cranes onto some string, along with some beads, to make an ornament to hang up. I was really pleased with my final result.

 Overall, the workshop was a lovely experience, something warm and colourful in the middle of the cold weather, and I was sad that I probably wouldn't be able to go again because of the timetable clash. Ah, well.

 On the Friday before going back to Uni, I set off for the Pandora Cinema for their Harry Potter Marathon. The Pandora specialises in foreign-language films which aren't dubbed but instead have subtitles in French. Inside there was the kind of demographic I would have expected for a Potter Marathon - lots of millennials! I settled down as Philosopher's Stone began.

 I don't know exactly how many times I saw that film during my childhood, but it would have been a lot. This was pure nostalgia. With regards to how they subtitled it, I was interested to see that they kept the French versions of names from the French translations of the books, for example Snape being "Rogue".

 I can understand how they might have done this so that there was some continuity for French viewers who read the French books. However, for those that hadn't read the books, it must have been odd when the characters so clearly weren't saying the names that were in the subtitles.

 On the plus side, I like how the subtitles were in a magic-y font and how each set appeared onscreen at what felt like the right time, with sentences being split appropriately. It made a pleasant change from the awful English subtitles I so often see on French films, with horrible fonts and too many words onscreen at a time (to the point where it can spoil surprises).

 There was a very brief break before the second film, and I ran to get a sandwich from a nearby bakery. The Pandora is on the Rue de la République, which is a big shopping street, so there are plenty of food options. I and the other spectators milled around outside the cinema, before heading back inside for Chamber of Secrets.

 Part of the reason why I chose the first two films to watch out of the eight was that they have an old-school feel that was lost from the third film onward. This is probably due to a mix of the plots getting darker, the characters and actors getting older and the films no longer being directed by an American - Chris Columbus's idealised view of the UK and its boarding schools certainly plays a big role in the first two chapters' aesthetic.

 So, I enjoyed Chamber of Secrets' strange mixture of childhood innocence and scary monsters (though I wish the Basilisk could have somehow lived. I always have to look away from the blinding part). Sir Kenneth Branagh was brilliant as Lockhart; Alan Rickman was excellent as ever. It's just a really well-made film with great actors.

 So, that was my half-term in Avignon. Although going home would have been nice, I feel I made the very best of staying here and had a fun and refreshing week.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x

Return to Montpellier!

 Hello!

 So, with half-term in Avignon underway, I caught a train to Montpellier. As we trundled through Languedoc-Roussillon, I listened to music and wondered how the city might have changed. 

 I had last been in Montpellier a year and a half before, as a stop-off in the middle of a chaotic trip to the Camargue, and I had done a training day in Montpellier during my time as a Language Assistant in Perpignan. However, both of those trips were fleeting. The last time I properly spent time in Montpellier was in 2012, when I visited with my sixth-form. 

 Of course, before that, there was the 2011 sixth-form trip that changed my life in so many ways. If it wasn't for that trip I very likely would not be sitting here, in the south of France, writing this blog. Montpellier was the city that made me love France and French. Needless to say, I was excited to be on my way back there.

 I arrived into the gigantic Saint-Roch station and, with some difficulty, found the right exit. Out in the street I felt a thrilll of joy at the familiar sights of tramlines, bakeries and palm trees.

 I made my way up to the Place de la Comédie, the main square in the city and one of my favourite places to spend time. It has a carousel, a beautiful fountain, markets and musicians. Once there, I paused to consider my options. I decided to first visit the old town, and maybe find the apartment building I stayed in during the sixth-form trips.

 As I climbed up through the hilly mish-mash of streets that is Montpellier's historic centre, I began to realise how bizarre the weather and atmosphere were. The afternoon was overcast and grey, but it was more than that. The air felt heavy and tropical, and there was a vague sense of foreboding. Montpellier is known for storms and floods, but this didn't feel stormy. It was just strange.

Battle of the posh ice-creams!

What's this?

What might they sell here?

Clothes, apparently

Chocolate doughnut - I've missed them! They are everywhere in Montpellier and Perpignan but I never see them in Avignon

 Drifting through the narrow streets, I was struck by a prickly feeling of familiarity. I was sure I had been here before, probably on the sixth-form trip, and I wondered whether I would stumble upon the place where I had stayed. I knew the address and could find it on a map if necessary, but I liked the idea that some kind of subconscious homing device might lead me back there on my own.

 Eventually, I reemerged into one of the main streets leading back to the Place de la Comédie. And... I had found the apartment building! I don't want to show exactly where it is, although I took photos for myself. It was just so odd and wonderful being back there, nearly five years after last seeing it, and nearly six years after first staying there.

 It was a really powerful moment, emotionally. I thought about where I am now in life, and where I was then, and how much I have achieved in five years. And how, for all that, the building and street and general area had barely changed at all. It was as if I was standing in a timeless space, with people and places and ideas moving and changing in the distance but with me in a little oasis of stillness.

 Somewhat reeling from actually having found the place, I wandered back down to the Place de la Comédie, admiring flowers, fountains and half a car.

 I arrived back at the Place. These photos capture the strangeness of the sky.

 There were some guys in the middle of the Place who had music playing and called kids up from the crowd to dance. The audience would all cheer because they couldn't not cheer little kids. It struck me as a rather cheap way of entertaining people!

 I headed to the Häagen-Dazs shop - not the one from earlier, competing with Amorino, but one just off the Place, that we hung out in during the sixth-form trips. I was happy to see it was still there, and treated myself to scoops of salted caramel and cookie dough with a dollop of cream. It was as delectable as it looks.

 I wasn't really sure what to do after that; I had seen all that I had wanted to in the city centre. In the end I bought a tram ticket to Odysseum, a modern suburb with attractions such as an aquarium, LazerQuest, a planetarium and a plethora of restaurants and shops.

 I didn't really have time to go round the aquarium, but I popped into the gift shop and felt nostalgic remembering our sixth-form visits there, during which some of my classmates had insisted on naming every shark. "This one's Frank, this one's Dave..."

 The weird atmosphere was becoming more and more noticeable, and I knew I would be leaving Montpellier soon. I popped into a Columbus to get something to eat before the train journey. Columbus is a nice, reliable coffee shop chain - the Perpignan one was us language assistants' regular haunt. However, today, while my panini was enjoyable, my drink was a little odd!

 I had asked for a raspberry milkshake, and it certainly didn't look or taste anything like raspberry! It didn't really taste like anything. Hazelnut was one of the milkshake options, so maybe it was that - but then, I had hazelnut milkshake once in Perpignan and I don't think it was like that. It's a mystery...

That sky!

 As I went to get my tram back to the train station, I couldn't ignore the constant squawking noises. I thought they might be fake, designed to stop actual birds from sitting around on roofs or streetlights, but then I looked into a tree and saw... parrots!

 Maybe they escaped from the aquarium; I think I remember there being parrots like those there. Who knows! Anyway, it was just one more slightly odd happening in an odd - but not unpleasant - day out.

 Back at the station I bought a trashy French celebrity magazine - if you think British ones are bad, you haven't seen what I call the "pink magazines"! They line the walls of train station shops and are all so blatantly made by the same people. 

 They have covers the same shade of pink, the same fonts and the same few (probably fake) stories - they just rotate which is the main story and which go on the side panel. They're fairly pointless, but for the sake of amusement and of brushing up on my colloquial French, I very occasionally get one.

 So, on the train back to Avignon I read all kinds of rot about American celebrities and French reality shows, and checked out my horoscope. To their credit, they had several pages of puzzles that were actually quite enjoyable.

 That was my day in Montpellier! I was glad to see that for all that has happened in the world and in my life, my favourite city seems more or less unchanged - certainly in vibe if not in exact physical appearance. Montpellier is a special place - I've never found anywhere quite like it, though every day I love Avignon more and more.

 Thanks for reading,

 Liz x