Some of the other French students from my French immersion school in Montpellier and I had some momentum this weekend. There was a good atmosphere at the residence after a good week of learning French in France that had been maturely mixed with a few great nights out without overdoing it. We felt like we got the balance right this week and wanted to carry on the run. So we thought a French study session in the centre of Montpellier was a good idea to keep the ball rolling. We packed up our books, stationary and laptops and felt pumped to smash some grammar or whatever but we realised there were an awful lot of us this time. It looked like it had been a pretty universal good week at the French language school this week. There are loads of cool cafes in Montpellier but most are cosy intimate places and we wondered if we could find somewhere to house all of us apart from outside terraces. It was COLD!
Mille is a girl in my French class from Denmark and she said she thought there were a few bigger cafés near to the UNIQLO, a big unique looking store in the centre of town. Mille is a very hard worker who is taking the DELF preparation course alongside the standard French immersion lessons she is in with me. She spends most of her time studying in the cafés of Montpellier as she doesn’t feel as productive at home with all the distractions around. Perched in a café, however, far away from her bed and close to some caffeine she can blast through her to-do list.
Is There Any Space at the Inn for a French Study Session
Our group from the language school wandered around the area for a bit looking for somewhere with enough space. Mille was taking the lead and chatting to the patrons of the cafés and trying to find out if they had enough space for a group our size but most of them were saying no as it was midday on Sunday; primetime for coffee drinkers. I wanted to try and practice what I had been learning on my French immersion course. I have noticed amongst the people who have been learning French in Montpellier that there is a common bad habit to just let the most developed student do all or most of the talking. It is easier obviously as the more capable a speaker you are the easier you can communicate and get the necessary information but still no one said learning a language is easy! You have to jump in.
Then we came across ‘Novelty’; a two floored café overlooking the street and we had hit the jackpot. There was SO much space and the owner beckoned us in and ushered us upstairs. Just in time as well as swanning round the corner was a gigantic festive puppet. It had an incredibly creepy look and it was jovially wrapping its gangly arms around unwilling passers by and we did not want to be next to be enveloped.
Let’s Get This French Class Started
So we ordered our coffees, teas and hot chocolates enjoyed the warm and took a few minutes to relax after the adventure of finding somewhere big enough for our French study session. We couldn’t believe how perfect this place was; we basically had the whole second floor to ourselves. It was the most spacious café I had been in since coming to learn French in Montpellier and I have visited a lot. A lot, a lot. The wifi was a bit patchy at first but after we tried connecting downstairs and then coming back up we had no problems at all. I will go into more detail about this café in another article as they have much more to offer than just space.
As for us we cracked open our books, laptops and pencil cases vowed to only speak in French for the next couple of hours and started our French study session. It was a great feeling to be on top of the work and something our group of students will be doing more often during our time at the French immersion school. Mille was already in the full flow of her DELF work and the rest of us were trying to keep up and it felt like learning French in Montpellier had never been done better.