Hi Everybody!
My name is Jasmin, since may I am an trainee here, part of the ILA team, in Montpellier. You will be able to accompany me during my stay in Montpellier. I’ll give you regular updates about my stay; how my internship at the French Language School ILA is going, what kind of people I meet; what I discover in and around Montpellier and how I learn French … So, please look regularly at the ILA blog and you can follow me during my adventure here in Montpellier!
Originally I’m from Hamburg in Germany, where I have learned French during my schooldays. Languages and, above all, to learn French, have always fascinated me. My wanderlust was then woken by a one-week student exchange program in Paris, the French culture and hospitality fascinated me. I really loved to experience of meeting different cultures through home stay, so I then booked many other exchange stays to Norway, Sweden, England and Russia, and spent one year in USA.
I love to travel to foreign countries, discovering other cultures and learning other languages. After my training in Hamburg I therefore decided to start studying International Tourism Management, which is completed half in Germany and half abroad. To explore better the French culture and develop my language skills, I spent last year at Sup de Co in La Rochelle, a historic town on the Atlantic coast of France. I loved my stay so much that I decided to remain in France for my Bachelor internship. So I am now at the French language school ILA 🙂 ; a very prestigious and highly accredited school in Montpellier in the South of France. ILA offers its French language students a great atmosphere; participants from over 70 countries join every year to learn French. ILA and Montpellier are ideal places for French language immersion and of course to have fun!
Montpellier had long been very high on my travel list and I look forward to spending the whole summer here. As a coffee lover I like the beautiful historic centre in which ILA is located, there are many small, winding streets, beautiful private mansion houses and countless cafés. Although I have been here for a few weeks already, I still discover every day again brasseries, boutiques and lovely decorated courtyards. Also there is no shortage of entertainment in Montpellier. The FISE (Festival International des Sports Extrêmes) took just place along the river “Le Lez” and there will be the Festival Arabesque, the Festival de la Danse and the FestiKite, the World Cup of kitesurfing: all within 2 weeks. Montpellier is definitely a vibrant city with historic and typical French charm, just perfect for language immersion in France.
There are 80.000 students at Montpellier University, so the city offers a great student life with countless student bars, clubs and entertainment. Prices are cheaper than in other comparable destinations and you can definitely have lots of fun here. It is easy to meet local students and ILA even offers language exchange evenings with French students studying English, German or Spanish – an ideal way to make new French friends.
The region around Montpellier around can be discovered by car, by bicycle or by public transport. Personally, I love the mountains in the north of Montpellier. During your French language immersion in Montpellier you need to visit the historic mountain village of Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert. It is easily accessible from Montpellier by bus in about half an hour and you can add from there various excursions such as visiting the cave Grotte de Clamouse, you can walk along the Camino de Santiago or take the free shuttle bus to the famous bridge Le Pont du Diable, which spans the river Herault. The gorge of the famous Cirque de Navacelles is also worth a visit.
For water and beach lovers, Montpellier offers a lot. Right behind the salt lagoons with the wild pink flamingos you reach the fishing village of Palavas-les-Flots, the main seaside resort of Montpellier. A great place full of restaurants, wine bars, shops and entertainment. Very natural beaches with sand dunes such as le Grand Travers, a 5 miles long beach stretched between the towns of Carnon and La Grande-Motte with no buildings around, just some great beach restaurants and beach bars. In my opinion the most beautiful is the long sandy beach L’Espiguette, surrounded by dunes and can be reached in about an hour by bus from Montpellier.
In addition to sea and mountains, the region has much more to discover, such as the neighboring Camargue with its famous white horses and black bulls, and the countless flamingos. Also, the Provence, with its lavender fields, and many other towns and UNESCO sites like Nîmes, Arles, Avignon, Pont du Gard, Sète. ILA offers excursions to all of these places, so a great add to your language immersion stay in Montpellier.
Over the next 5 months I will be doing my internship at the French Language Immersion School ILA; I will definitely not get bored. I look forward to an eventful summer in Montpellier, many new impressions and making many new international friends! I am also looking forward to learning French and to having a lot of fun!
I will write to you during my whole stay in Montpellier – please check the ILA blog for more articles from me and feel free to like them on ILA facebook.
Yours Jasmin