My boyfriend and I decided to take a summer courses in South France in 2016, and so are here now spending one month in Montpellier to learn French. We found the famous French immersion school Institut Linguistique Adenet (ILA), which so far turns out to be a really excellent choice to learn French in France.
The French immersion school ILA is located in the centre of Montpellier, which means it is really easy to get there and also that you have every opportunity of visiting Montpellier whenever you have any spare time, or a break from class. The reception at the school is really helpful and informs us about everything, no matter what questions we have. The teachers are really awesome, helpful and you can feel that they really want to help you learn French quickly. A normal day in the school is divided between ‘oral’, ‘grammar’, ‘listing/video’ and ‘group tasks’, which is great, because you are learning French in different ways – and you quickly find out what option is best for you.
Montpellier is in the South of France and we live with a local host family. Living with a host family is also an experience in itself, because you are sort of living their way, eating French food, feeling the atmosphere and not least, speaking French after school with the family.
Montpellier is a really beautiful town, where, apart from learning French, you can shop, eat, walk in the beautiful picturesque streets and much more. Montpellier is a historic and cultural city – there is not a day, which is the same. You can visit the museum, botanical gardens, the university, the Place de la Comédie, clubs, cafés, and there is generally life in the city at any time of the day, 7 days a week, and there are generally many things you can do in Montpellier.
Friday – Estivales!
Friday after you have studied French, the weekend starts. Every Friday during summer, Montpellier has the traditional “Estivales” near the Place de la Comédie. Estivales is a kind of wine and food festival and begins at 8 o’clock in the evening. It is like a market, with loads of stalls, entertainment, live music, French food, good vibes and of course you can taste the local French wines (for only 5 € and it includes the Estivales wine glass you can keep).
This is a great cheap thing to do in your spare time in Montpellier and you have the opportunity to use your French a lot! A great way to learn French and have fun!
Saturday excursion!
Through school there are lots of activities every day (apart from Sunday which is a beach day!). Last Saturday we spent time outside Montpellier. As the first trip, we visited the town of Roquefort, where the original cheese is made. It was really interesting to see, how they found the blue mould and how they transformed it to the known cheese, Roquefort.
Afterwards we saw the Viaduct Bridge of Millau, near Millau, which is the tallest road bridge in the world and is almost 2.5 km long.
At the end of the day we visited La Couvertoirade, which is a smaller village, surrounded by a really high wall. It’s pretty much an awesome little medieval town. It was a really cute little village with cute cafés, stalls with homemade things and really beautiful streets. The whole village within the walls had like its own culture and we could feel the village-atmosphere.
Sunday – a beach day!
Sunday is the perfect “go to the beach”- day, because everything is closed in the city anyway. The Plage du Grand-Travers near Carnon is a beautiful and very long beach, with white sand and not as many people as you might think. The beach has the softest sand and the sea is crystal clear. It’s actually nice that the city is quitter on Sundays, as this way you can relax and really enjoy the beautiful beach and sunset without feeling like you may be missing something going on in town!
Awesome, awesome, awesome weekend with ILA, new friends and the beach! I really am enjoying my time here and just love meeting new friends. New friends are an important part of travelling and ILA offers not only excellent French courses, great accommodation and services, but also the opportunity to meet a lot of people from all over the world.
Sandra Daisy, Denmark (ILA student)