Blogs from Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, Europe - page 8

I thought it was about time that I updated everyone on what has been happening, seeing as it’s the end of the week and I haven’t actually written anything about Montpellier yet. So, I’ve described my arrival on the Wednesday and my meeting of Camille, Charles-Alain and Melissa. Well, I woke up on Thursday morning pretty late, to be honest, it was almost Thursday afternoon but I figured that I’d obviously needed a sleep! I spent the last of the morning transferring photos onto my key so that everyone back home (that’s all you lot :P) could appreciate them! In the afternoon me and Melissa decided to brave an internet café together. I don’t know if anyone else has been in one, but from the outside they look scary… We trekked around a bit and eventually ... read more

Jousting, as it is practised in Sete originates, so the records say, from ancient marine sport played by Mediterranean fisherman, and first reported in Egypt in some 2000 BC. It was recorded as being played in SETE in the C11th and the sport was given Royal Approval in 1664 when this current tournament commenced. It's a game that sort of makes a mockery of Rugby, which is, by comparison, a new comer on the block, and cricket which at best is some 240 years old. Rugby, though, is also a favourite sport of the province and its played with similar gusto. The French forwards come from this area, so I understand. The lances are about 2" in diameter, tipped with a stainless steel three pronged claws which on impact gouges the opponent's wooden shields to get ... read more

First entry ... read more

While Iwas enroute from Nice to Barcelona, I had about three hours to kill in Montpellier, France. When I first heard about this layover I was really excited. On my flight from Newcastle to Paris I read an article in the complimentary Ryanair magazine about how awesome Montpellier is and ended up feeling pretty bummed that I wasn't going there during my break. So when I was adventitiously given the opportunity to spend an afternoon in this glorious location, I was pleased as could be. But, it wasn't really that great. First, I was really really hungry when I arrived in Montpellier and finding food was at the top of my priorities, but I turned the wrong way out of the station and ended up walking around a really desolate part of town. Eventually I back ... read more

3/27: We have been here in Montpellier just over a week and a half. We leave this coming Monday, still five days away, yet I already feel the transition of preparing to move on. This is the funny thing about this whole residency process; you take one week to fully settle in, you have a few days where you feel settled in, and then your body/mind/soul begins the process of letting go and creating space for travel and the new place you will travel to. It is both a cleansing and a draining/exhausting experience to travel, to go from one place to the next, to attach and detach from a place And yet, even though you are giving energy to this process, you feel on a certain level that you are never really here. You are ... read more