City life!

Entering into my first weekend in town. In the middle of handling a truckload of administrative errands (will they EVER end?), I still manage to find time to do enjoyable things. To the north of campus there's the Zoo, and on the other side of the street is by far the coolest jogging park you've ever seen. It's gravel paved and consists of a variety of loops to customize your path. The way I see it, there's the easier, relaxed loops, the medium ones for the more earnest joggers, and then the "Your poor legs will die by the time we're through with you" loop. The whole park runs through a lovely wooded area, and there are hills. On the last loop that I spoke of, it seemed like the uphill would never end. And yes, my legs were toast. But the French are kind, and they set little stretching and exercise stations periodically around the track so if you do need to stop and "stretch," you can fool everybody else. Haha! But I did enjoy my jog, and I intend to tear up this town with my running shoes.

But exercise isn't all I'm doing, don't worry. I get the feeling that transportation's going to cost me some serious cash...it's 2,50 euro for one round-trip ticket (which, today, is 3.17 USD), so while I try and hunt down a bike I bought an unlimited 7-day pass for 13,80 ($17.50, people!!). I'm going to use this thing to death...and as a result, here's some video for you of downtown:

Nice, ain't it? This is the  Place de la Comédie, which is spectacular. All the action happens in and around this part of the town. Last night, I went out with some of my ISEP friends to Les Estivales de Montpellier...which, as I gather, is a weekly festival on Friday nights that they've been having all summer, and this was the very last one. The centre-ville is five times as gorgeous by night...there was live music (no video this time, sorry :( ), people selling just about anything, and tons of food vendors. But the food was very french. Of course there were crepe salespeople, but I also saw a stand selling plates of assorted cheese with meat and brea (your choice), middle eastern food, a stand with every type of dried fruit imaginable, and so on. There was even the wine tasting vendor: 4 euro for the glass and three tests of wine, or something like that. It's so nice to not have to feel bad for being a few months under 21! Here, they honestly do not care. No policing whatsoever. The drinking age is 18. I promise I'll sample responsibly, don't worry!