Don’t get me wrong, I love France, I really do. Here, it’s acceptable to carry around a large baguette and start eating it on your way home. There’s wine EVERYWHERE. And it's good, it's really good. And don’t even get me started on the cheese…it requires a lot of willpower and self-control to not buy every type available, they’re all so delicious-looking. There are currently three different cheeses sitting in my fridge, so I'm happy, and I feel it's an appropriate adaption to French culture. Best discovery yet: the Aldi round the corner sells a huge round of brie for 2 euros...think I'm pretty much set for the year now. 

The one thing that I’m NOT getting on with is the way the French like to handle their bureaucracy and all other important administrative things – put it this way, “dès que possible” just isn’t their mantra. For someone like me who has relatively little patience…it’s frustrating, to say the least. I’m not saying that the English are super-efficient (far from it) but I’m pretty sure in England you’d never have to wait one month to receive a bank card…a personal sore point, as you can tell. Maybe it's just that the laissez-faire attitude is typical of the south?

The university also seems to be going along the same confusing and stressful lines. At Leeds, I’d say about 90% of the time I knew what class I had, at what time and in what room. Not here. I can write down a class to go to; it either doesn't exist, they haven’t said what room it's in or they’ve failed to mention that the lesson is cancelled that week. I went into uni this morning, pointless exercise really, as I had no idea where the class was actually taking place and instead just spent the time wandering round aimlessly and hoping for the best. No luck. I know that students are meant to become ‘independent thinkers’ and ‘take responsibility for their studies’ and all that jazz…but this seems to be taking it to the extreme. Good job I like a challenge!

Saying all this, if I had to choose between Montpellier and Leeds, I know exactly who would win. North of England or South of France – not really much competition! Every now and then, it hits me that I actually LIVE here (I mean, I even have loyalty cards for the supermarkets) and I can’t quite believe it. Don’t make me leave!