If you are coming to this beautiful city of Montpellier to live and do French immersion language courses you might be wondering what you need or what you should do before you came. When I first got to Montpellier to learn French I regretted that I did not do much research to prepare myself for suddenly moving from Canada to France, which Is a pretty drastic change! Since I have already been here for nine months learning French in a French immersion language school and living I can gives some tips and advice for what you should do before you arrive in Montpellier
Things you should do to prepare for your French immersion stay in Montpellier
One of the most difficult things if you are anything like me, is deciding what I need to take with me. It depends on where you are living, whether in a host family, the ILA school residence or another affiliated student residence. It also depends on how long you will be here, but I think no matter how long, you should not over pack! Montpellier has many stores, where you can find everything you need to live, so bringing unnecessary products is a waste of space! Try and pack only what is necessary, I would say comfortable shoe options is a good tip because you will definitely be doing a lot of walking in Montpellier. Believe me when I say the shopping is also amazing here, no matter what things you are looking for whether it be clothes, kitchen ware or trinkets. There is a plethora of stores in Montpellier that offer the cutest things which will surely tempt you more than once. So, leave room to bring back a couple of things from France, maybe even for a wine bottle or two!
Depending on your level of French, buy a little pocketbook of French vocab to help you along, or somewhere you can jot down some notes throughout the day. Besides the books and papers, you will be given during your French classes, having a little note pad to write down vocabulary and familiar language phrases you hear daily out on the town is really a great way to keep up your French outside of class and raise your French level since vocabulary is one of the most important parts of learning French.
For this tip, it may pertain more to a younger age, closer to my age range, but it can relate to anyone who is not great with money. Budget your money, and know what you can and should not spend money on per week. Depending on how long you are staying in Montpellier and how much money you have to spend, amounts you can budget will vary but no matter who you are budgeting is important. I myself have had experiences like this as well as well as many people I know who also live here and go to school, spend too much money in the beginning of their stay and closer to the end have to really restrict what things they can do. The nightlife and the eating out during lunch or after school really adds up after a while. So, trust me, make sure you know where your money is going to go to!
These are just a few of the most important things I feel you need to do to prepare for you French learning stay here in Montpellier. Being prepared and not having to worry about anything while you are learning French and taking French learning courses here is the best way to go. So hopefully once you have everything you need and know everything you need to know about this beautiful city and your possible French immersion language stay in Montpellier and you will be perfectly prepared for you stay here and get the most out of it as you can!