Day 6 — Friday, 2/6/2026 — First Good Day

I took another sleeping pill and this time I slept for seven hours. Small victories…

Today was a good day. I went to school — and I hope no French person ever reads this — but French is a nightmare. It’s like: let’s create a whole bunch of rules and then systematically break every single one. You’re lost in a sea of contractions and drowning in letters that have no purpose other than to piss off foreigners.

But the joke’s on them — they have to listen to me butchering their language. Luckily, everyone I’ve met here so far is super friendly.

Well… almost everyone.

After school, Catharina (a classmate) and I went to eat galettes. She wanted to try them, so we went together. We arrived at this tiny hole‑in‑the‑wall place. The waitress asked if we had a reservation — of course we didn’t. It’s not like it was a five‑star restaurant.

With a frown, she signaled us to leave, like shooing away a stray dog.

So we went to another crêperie, and galettes are awesome. I ate a ham‑and‑egg galette with a coffee vienna — which basically means a tiny bit of espresso and a mountain of whipped cream. Coffee here is great, so I actually want to taste the coffee, not go into a sugar coma.

After we left the crêperie, Catharina went home and I decided to go for another walk.

I first sat on the stairs of the Opéra de la Comédie, watching a street performer singing American songs — while people sipped their coffees like background characters in my personal French movie. I sat there for a while, looking around and pretending like I belonged, but not really feeling it. The whole moment felt like an act I was performing… I purposefully sat on those stairs like in a movie scene… and CUT… next take… in what direction should I go next?

I decided to walk toward the Arches and wandered around the University district.

We see pictures of old French towns, but the reality is so much better. Every little tiny alleyway has shops and tiny eateries. There are so many plazas and churches and people walking around. I’ve been to pedestrian cities like New York and Boston, but this is completely different.

Downtown Montpellier is huge — and no cars. I hate to say this, but it feels like Disney, but real. I don’t know how else to describe it. For the past two days I’ve walked for hours and I’ve only covered a small part of it… And then it was dinner time, so I had dessert. I stopped at a gelato shop and had the best chocolate hazelnut gelato I’ve ever had.

But as dinner decisions go, I was lost. There are so many restaurants here. I’m pretty sure I could eat at a different one every day for the rest of my life without repeating a single place. By then, I was so overwhelmed by the options that I went back home and ate salad. I need to do something about that… I’m not eating salad every night.

PS: I wanted some bread with my salad, so I went downstairs and got some. Easy.