I have been learning French in Montpellier now for 6 months and I was here over the Christmas holidays. Christmas time in Montpellier was just great, so festive, so friendly and the city looks so beautiful in all the decorations. The holidays made me really glad I chose Montpellier as the destination for my French immersion stay in France. In addition to the wonderful Christmas period the two months that follow are a shopper’s dream.
For the last few weeks while I have been learning French at the EasyFrench School in Montpellier I have been seeing signage everywhere advertising the new year sales with the percentage discount rising and the number of stock falling. I kept telling myself to go and take advantage of the sales, my wardrobe is getting a little stale, I haven’t bought myself something new in months and I have been doing well on my intensive French language course and wanted to reward myself. This however hadn’t happened until the other week in the last week of February and the only reason I actually got the momentum to go was because of a friend of mine from my intensive French course for adults was going and she all but commanded that I go with her.
Her name is Kathi and she is a German girl from Frankfurt who is in the interim period between finishing school and higher education. She would have no problem with me saying that she is a rather headstrong person and when we are planning what to do I certainly take more of a passive role. When she said I should come along with her to make the most of sales I thought it would good go along with her, I had been meaning to go and it would be somewhat futile to suggest doing something else. I like this side of Kathi’s character, as an over-polite Brit I often think that I get held back because avoiding conflict is the most common tactic whereas for her conflict is a part of daily life and she has no qualms with expressing her preferences. I admire this and we spend a lot of time laughing at how different we are, I love this aspect of doing a French language stay in France; you don’t only learn about the French culture and people but also people from other cultures and nationalities.
Shopping Montage After Our French Lessons
We headed off to the Polygone, the biggest department store in the centre of Montpellier where we had seen the biggest concentration of sale signs. We were not disappointed, it was fantastic! Given that we were so late to the game there was not an amazing amount of choice but the prices were shockingly low as the sellers made last-ditch attempts to shift their products. With a bit of searching and patience we made some great finds. Kathi had recently been accepted into a very prestigious university in Holland, they were extremely keen on why she was learning French in France and told her it showed that she was enterprising and capable. After hearing this good news she wanted to celebrate.
We spent a great afternoon perusing the bargains to be had and we walked away with a heap of stuff; shoes, clothes, accessories, books and even some resources to help us on our French immersion courses. I was so happy we hadn’t had a shopping spree until now as the prices were ridiculous and the sellers were more open to a bit of bartering as well which I feel really adds to the excitement of shopping. Rewarding ourselves as well had a reenergising affect and were excited to show off our new gear at the Easy French School in Montpellier the next day. Make the most of these sales when they are around!