Building our Home

Last night, after 39 days of homelessness, we spent the first night in our new apartment.  We have a long way to go before we're fully unpacked and settled in, but it felt really good to be in a bed that's our own.  We've been hard at work over the last few days shopping for all our furniture, packing up our belongings at the hotel and bringing everything over to the new apartment. Every single...

Moving Weekend, Moving Bed Beard

Well it's finally here - Moving Weekend!  This afternoon while Michael was on a train from Paris to Montpellier, I went to the apartment, signed the lease and picked up the keys.  And I have to be honest, I'm really overwhelmed.  Before this new place becomes our home, the whole apartment needs to be cleaned, every single piece of furniture needs to be purchased and assembled, we need to learn how to work all the...

My French Indulgence

I just want to take moment to tell you all what I've been stuffing my face with here in France.  Not cheese, not baguettes, not pastries.  It's another treat that France does oh so well...yogurt. Yep, I can't stop eating it.  Our friends Nate and Jess (who also lived in France via Ubisoft) told us all about the amazing yogurts of France, and - to be honest - I sort of brushed it off.  I've never been a huge...

Hump Day: Belgian Beer

Last Sunday, The Hub and I took a lovely stroll through the city.  It was warm and sunny and there was only one thing was missing:  commerce.  On Sundays in France, almost everything shuts down - the shops, many of the restaurants and bus routes, museums, grocery stores, you name it.   As we walked around past all the closed shop we realized that we had no choice.  It was time to go to the bar. The Hub has had...

Almost Home

Today we took one step closer to making Montpellier our home - we signed a lease on an apartment!  We decided on the apartment in the Antigone and we couldn't be more excited.  The location will give us easy access to both tram lines, the city's Olympic pool and gymnasium, the city center, Parc Richter, and The Hub's office.  Parfait!  I don't have pictures to share with you yet, but it's a 3-bedroom apartment...

French Bed Beard: Fig’s Diary

Hi Everyone! Mom is putting the whole family to work this week. Yesterday she made Dad write about his new job and today she asked me to tell you all how I'm doing. I think she might be getting lazy, but I do have a few things to share with you since my last diary entry so I guess it's ok. First of all. I'm hot. Like, really hot. I grew up in San Francisco so I'm not used to all these blazing sun and...

Guest Post: A Day in the Life of The Hub

Many of you have been asking me how The Hub is liking his new job and I'm happy to tell you that he loves it! I thought you all might be interested in learning more about what he's doing here in Montpellier, so I asked him to write a guest post about A Day in the Life of The Hub.  Even though he's over 3 hours past the deadline I gave him to submit, I'll let it slide since he's the only one with a real job....

Food Porn Dictionary

Even though we won't start our French classes until later this week, The Hub and I are having fun continuing our podcasts lessons and learning from new friends.  In addition to learning the French equivalent of the phrase, "that's what she said" (which when literally translated is much dirtier than anything Michael Scott would ever say intentionally), we've pretty much figured out everything we need to know to...

We Live Here

Last night we had a Skype Date with The Hub's family to wish his mother and sister a Happy Mother's Day.  During our conversation, my mother in law said, "Sometimes I look at your pictures of Montpellier and I think - wow!  I can't believe they really live there."  Honestly, neither can we. We know how lucky we are to be experiencing life in such a beautiful country and we're doing our...

The Beginning (And Maybe End?) of the Great House Hunt

We started our house hunt this week and, if all goes according to plan, it might end this week too!  The rental market seems to be a little tough out here in Montpellier because we haven't had a ton of options, but I think we have 2 solid places that we'll be deciding between over the next 24 hours.  Initially we thought we'd like to live in a house with a yard for Figaro, not minding that it would most likely not...