Montpellier Travel Tips - Montpellier Travel Guide

Montpellier is a city that combines the old and the new gracefully.
Full of universities and students and close to the beach, it is also home to the oldest remaining botanical garden and the first medicine school (Montpellier was built in the 13th century).

The old city centre -L'Ecusson- is exclusively pedestrian and the new city centre is attached to it with its modern interpretation of ancient greek architecture. The effect can be unsettling but when you get used to it you can only love it!

My first year in Montpellier, I arrived for the school year in september.
This was the beginnig of autumn which was already pretty cold for me. Trees without leaves lining the streets made me feel that everything was dying.

I was very homesick and fortunately, I was part of an association of tahitian students or I might have made use of my open ticket earlier than planned...

Christmas was the worst and I remember staying home for fear that I would miss my family's calls.

At least the holidays meant I didn't have to go out in that horrible cold! Plus the association was planning a big new year's eve party with ersatz tahitian food and real tahitian music so there were things to look forward to.

On the 31st, I was cutting out stars and moons as this was a costume party when my phone started ringing off the hook. It was snowing and had I seen it?!
Actually I hadn't as I was so busy, but that was the end of scissors and cardboard.

My friend and I went outside to play in the snow and I made a big ball which I kept in my freezer.

Our other tahitian friends were apparently trying to bodyboard down 0,1° slopes!
I had only seen snow once or twice before in NZ and never falling from the sky so I was very wide eyed!

That night, the streets were white and glowing yellow and blue under the lights, the sky was blacker than usual and a hush seemed to have descended onto the whole town except for occasional laughs and screams.

The party was great and I kept that ball of snow in my freezer for the whole year (which enabled me to buy healthier food as I didn't have much space left!) as I reminder of the night that I fell in love with my new home, however temporary.

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