After spending my junior year at the Universite Paul Valery, I returned to settle in Montpellier after graduation. I had a lot of good reasons to come back here in 1994. First of all, I love this city. There are about 300,000 people in Montpellier, and 60,000 of them are university students. The city is beautiful and is steeped in history. Montpellier is both a technological center and a center for the arts, with some of the most prestigious art, dance, theater and music festivals in France. It is a city just large enough so that you always have something to do, but small enough that you don't feel lost. And for those who love to travel around Europe, we're a three-hour train ride from Spain and a four-hour ride from Italy!
The second reason I returned to Montpellier is that I was Mount Holyoke's nominee for the French Government Teaching Assistantship Program and taught English at the Lycee Henri IV in Beziers (not far from Montpellier). Based on my work there, I secured an English teaching position at the Universite de Montpellier the following year. The third reason I became a permanent resident of Montpellier is that I married a Montpellier native, Stephane Loth, in 1995.
I am the on-site director for the MHC in Montpellier, France Program, and my job is extremely varied. I am responsible for the professional relationship between MHC and Universite Paul Valery, all administrative work concerning the program in Montpellier, and for the students' general welfare here. I also coordinate the students' housing arrangements; they choose to live with either a host family or in an apartment. Each student also has a Weekend Friendship Family in Montpellier, which really helps integrate them into French daily life. Other features of the program include a three-day Paris stay before students arrive in Montpellier (I meet them in Paris), a month-long intensive French language and culture session in September offered by Universite Paul Valery, French cooking classes, and regular cultural get-togethers at my home in downtown Montpellier.
I've found the perfect career. As an MHC alumna, my work with MHC students in Montpellier, France, is all the more meaningful; I love being able help current MHC students make the most of their experience in France.
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