Extracurriculars...

Unlike the university life back at UIUC, university life in Montpellier didn’t really exist. In other words, students came to the university to attend classes, use the library, and eat at the relatively cheap cafetaria. There weren’t many clubs nor sports offered by the school. Therefore, one looks towards other places for things to do.

So for myself, I spent a lot of my freetime smashing birdies and learning the French art of “pain”-making. Let me explain…
By “birdies”, I meant badminton birdies, i.e. shuttlecocks. For those of you who don’t know me, I absolutely love the sport of badminton. It’s not a very popular sport in the United States, but I’ve been playing it since high school. Therefore, I was absolutely ecstatic when chance had it that Castelnau-Le-Lez (the suburb I lived in) had a badminton club. I joined it and was able to participate in practices and several regional competitions, during one of which I actually won something! Through the competitions, I was surprised to see so many people playing badminton in France. For instance, there were 300+ plus competitors from badminton clubs all over France during the Volant d’Oc competition (Languedoc province’s annual competition).

And no, I’m not a sadist or masochist. “Pain” is French for “bread.” The bread and pastries in France are absolutely to die for! At least in my humble opinion. So being the food-lover that I am, I charged into a local boulangerie (bakery) and asked, “Puis-je voir comment on fait du pain?” (May I please see how one makes bread?) Unfortunately, I guess the art of break and pastry making in France was more top-secret than I expected, coz I got denied. L But, determination, or obstinacy, was with me. So I asked again at an artisan boulangerie (bakery) in downtown Castelnau, and la chance was with me this time around! The patron and head patisserier (pastry maker), Pierre-Olivier, said I could come in whenever I wanted in the mornings to be a pseudo-apprentice. So to make the long story short, I “volunteered” there about 1-2 times a week, and over the semester, have learned a few tricks of the trade.