So another month is coming to an end in my time learning French in France. With November all but over the men of Montpellier has been raising awareness about mens health. I have been talking to the other students at our French language school and it seems like the practice of growing moustaches throughout November is wide spread throughout Europe. A group of the students in my French lessons had heard about a party at the well-known Australian bar to celebrate the modern tradition so we figured as it’s all for a good cause we would head along get involved and practice our French in one of the best bars in Montpellier.
French Students of Montpellier Assemble at the Ozzy Bar
A group of us from the same French class at the language school met in the centre of town as some of us were with host families and some of us were staying at the student residence. As usual there was quite a mix.
A tall, young Belgian guy called Niksha who was quite a character whose favourite piece of clothing was an enormous fur (fake) coat. He was here doing the intensive French course to try and broaden his career prospects in his home country and stop himself being boxed into one region. Heidi was an Icelandic girl who was on the same standard course as me but she had started with no French at all in A1 level and had been learning French in Montpellier for a few months already. Ana was a young Columbian girl who had come to learn French in-between finishing high school and starting university.
When we got into the bar it was clear that the people of Montpellier didn’t mess around when it came to moustaches. The array of different styles on show was quite a spectacle; there were styled Poirot-esque ones, restrained simple styles, handle bars and goatees. It made me quite envious and disappointed I haven’t been blessed with any upper-lip hair follicles to speak of. Help was on hand though in the form of Max one of the staff members at the Ozzy Bar. For a small donation he handed us a little stick on tash that the other follicle challenged men in the bar were all wearing. The ladies were getting involved as well of course. Heidi opted for a curly classic, Ana for a pencil thin style, Niksha for a big bush number and I went for a long confucius looking thing and felt secretly smug about my choice.
How to Celebrate Movember in France
There was a little section of the club that was cordoned off where a couple of barbers had laid out there repertoire of beard trimming, shaping and styling equipment. I had never realised the amount of effort that went into maintaining a healthy looking beard. Me and the other French students from the language school headed over to chat to the barbers whilst they were cleaning their equipment. They were French natives and although talking a little fast for my abilities were cheerful and let us practice our French with them. They told us about how they had been doing this to raise awareness for several years now and how they often met a lot of people who had come to learn French in France at these events. As I said earlier it’s a widely held culture. Moustaches are just fun one of the barbers claimed excitedly.
So we thanked them for letting us utilise our French studies with them and headed off to the bar to get a drink. They had a competition later on in the night for the guys who had actually grown a real moustache so it was great to see each unique moustache analysed for density, tidiness and originality. It certainly was a unique evening and it was good to know we had contributed a bit during our time learning French in France. We were told there were other events in Montpellier in the coming nights where the barbers were attending so we told all of friends at the Immersion school the next day. Hopefully they will go and contribute to this good cause as well and get to practice what the’ve learnt on their French language course, it’s all good experience!