The Homestay.

Today was a very busy day...I think this may be a common theme throughout the first week as we all begin to get settled in this new culture.  My class had to meet at 930 in the lobby of our hotel in order to go to orientation, but I was up at 330am and wide awake!  I fell asleep at 9pm the night before and woke up thinking I had slept a good 10 hours only to look at my watch realize otherwise.  So what does one do at 330 in the morning in Montpellier? Well they surf the internet only to find out that many of the websites that we get in the states do not work in France...at least not with the makeshift internet offered in the hotel.  The good news is that there was a free buffet type breakfast that started at 630am in the hotel restaurant, this made my day.  I went through and stacked my tray full with croissants, yogurt, fruit, granola, cheeses, bread, and jam only to return 2 more times and repeat the process.  The french woman running the buffet kept giving me weird looks as I kept returning for more and more food.  If she didn't know I was American before I started to eat, she had no doubt after I was done.  The orientation was short and sweet and our director seems like a very nice and outgoing woman.  We had a few more additions to the class today but not to worry, my position as sole male of the group still holds strong!  I bought a European phone so that I can keep in contact with my fellow classmates as well as the study abroad office...the cell phones here are very cheap and very simple but they serve their purpose.  The big event of the day for me was meeting my host mother, I had been a bit nervous about it from the start.  When she came to pick me up she greeted me with the cheek to cheek kiss times 3.  I had never done this before so I just followed her lead as I did not know how many times I was supposed to do it.  She is a very nice woman and it is just her and I in the house as both of her children have moved out.  She even watched the entire Inauguration with me...obviously it was in French but I understood most of it.  She is an Obama fan too and was very pleased when I gave her an Obama grocery bag that I had brought from home.  She made Ratatouille for dinner and it was surprisingly good, I had never had it before but in the movie it looks nasty so I didn't know what to expect...