Authentic Experiences for everyone!

In the first week that my parents were here, we made a trip to Beziers so that my dad could meet Françoise and Henri. It was great since I had "school" all day on Thursday. It gave them an "authentic" homestay experience: food, communication, the French schedule, everything. They had a great time and it was fun NOT to be around (though it wasn't super fun at school but you already know that) so that they wouldn't have me to translate everything.

On Friday, the weekend of my dad's birthday, we headed off to Monaco. It was a great weekend. What a difference in weather between Montpellier and sunny Nice. And, despite a strike, we made our way to beautiful Monaco.

We spent a great day seeing yet another "Marché de Noel" (a little classier, I'd say), seeing beautiful decorations around the city and in the stores that given the state of the American economy today, we just window shopped.

The best part is the gambling. While we didn't pay the 10 euros to go see the table and the big money get played, we did go into the free section where the slot machines were. My dad handed out 5 euros to each of us and my mom showed us how it was done. I must have really learned a trick or two because on my first spin, out came 92 euros! The trip to Nice was paid for or at least one of the 3 birthday dinners we had to celebrate my dad's birthday!!