In this article, I would like to tell you about the start of one of the best weekends I have had since studying at the Easy French Immersion School in Montpellier. That’s because my mum came to visit! She’s the first family member to come to see me in Montpellier and we had a great weekend and I thought I would share with you some of what we did so you can use some of it if you have any visitors during your French language stay here in the sunny south of France.
So, as I had my classes at the Easy French Language School earlier in the day she arrived into Montpellier Airport in the afternoon. Another great thing about studying French in Montpellier; you have an airport right outside the city that is so easy to get to. I went to meet her as her French is pretty limited (but hilarious); just a 15-minute bus from the stop Place de l’Europe which is in the Antigone and it’s only €1.60.
After a long hug and a bus back we began my mother’s tour of my home for my language stay in France. The location of the bus stop meant that we had a perfect first walk. We quickly popped down to the river to see the fountain, bridges and modern architecture and I also got to show her the watering hole for most of the students (French and international) in Montpellier; Café Oz or the Australian Bar. Then we turned back and headed towards Place de la Comedie, going through the Polygone she got to eye up all the shops she might want to visit whilst she was here and also, I bought the first croissants and coffees of the weekend, and there were a lot! We came out onto la Comedie and nipped into the tourist office to get her a map as her progression with learning how to use Google Maps seems to be slower than mine to learn French. We sat on the fountain towards l’Esplanade and ate our ‘viennoiseries’ and drank our coffee and had a toast to the start of our reunion (I just found out toast is the same in French; un toast!).
A Tour With Fresh Eyes Of the Historic Centre of Montpellier
After a little stroll around the city centre taking in the architecture we headed up towards the Arc de Triomphe. Throughout the weekend this acted as a great reference point as my mum’s hotel was in the historic centre which I wholly recommend to anyone thinking of coming for a ‘sejour’ in Montpellier. There is so much amazing stuff right there on your doorstep and the architecture is unique, historic and impressive. I checked her into a hotel on Rue de Jean-Jacques Rousseau who I had just been learning about in my DELF preparation class at the Easy French Language School. Without even realising when she booked she had a view of the whole cathedral straight out of her bedroom window which is another reason I recommend this quarter. It’s one of the best views of the city.
We went off to grab something a bit more substantial to eat and found a ‘boulangerie’ still open down the road that had some fantastic looking gourmet pizzas which we got heated up and took to the park alongside a couple of beers; it was her first visit after all.
We walked up to Parc Peyrou which I had fallen in love with whilst living in the student residence that is right near it and I was reminded how awesome the location is. We found a nice spot to enjoy our pizzas and beers in front of the warm colours of the sunset. My mum was so happy to finally be here and see where I had been living since I came to Montpellier to learn French. We still had so much to see and we toasted again to a fun couple of days ahead of me showing her my home for my French language stay in France.