Weekend in Toulouse

Ok, I'm just going to start this off by apologizing about my lack of blogging. I just never find the motivation to sit down and do this.

Two weekends ago I traveled to Toulouse with some girls from my program. We took the high speed train and it ended up taking about 2 1/2 hours to get there. We left on Friday around 11:30 in the morning and returned Saturday night. The trains here are pretty comfortable... the only downside is that sometimes your seats face backward, and for those of us who get motion sickness Dramamine is a must. We left on Friday the 13th and since it was our first trip without any adults, I was nervous that something would inevitably go wrong. However, I was informed in one of my classes that Friday the 13th is a day of luck in France rather than a day of bad luck and poor chance, so I knew it was going to be a good trip. (I saw on the news that the lottery sales had gone WAY up on the 13th because everyone thought that they'd win with the lucky day). When we arrived the sun was shining and we were ready to be tourists. We found our hotel quite quickly and I was pretty pleased with the quality. It was a hotel, not a hostel, so the beds were made and they provided hand soap and towels, which is always nice. The hostess at the hotel was very friendly and she also spoke English. She recommended a restaurant for dinner and also showed us on a map where the night life of Toulouse was.

After checking in, we ventured out in search of some churches/museums. We walked toward the capital and the center of the city and I noticed a few differences about Toulouse and Montpellier: 1. There are a lot of cars in Toulouse. Having to stop at stop lights and wait for traffic to drive was weird (even though I do that on campus all the time in MN) since I hardly ever encounter a car in Montpellier. 2. There was hardly any graffiti in Toulouse. I think that Montpellier is a special city in the amount of graffiti it has, but it was just strange to see blank buildings (and nice at the same time). Some things were similar though: 1. There were homeless people with dogs on the streets begging for money 2. There was a lot of dog poop on the streets 3. There were a lot of little cafés and sandwich shops, of course.

Toulouse is a larger city than Montpellier, and it felt bigger. Toulouse is the 4th largest city in France and is given the name "la ville en rose" which is "the city in pink." There is a phrase in French "la vie en rose" which means basically "life is good" or "life is beautiful." So, the city of Toulouse has kind of adopted that meaning. Toulouse is also called "la ville en rose" because many of the buildings are constructed in pink or red shades of brick. We just so happened to be there on Valentines Day, which I thought was very fitting.

We walked through to the capitol and then headed for our main tourist activity: the Basilique Saint-Sernin which is the largest basilica in Europe and also the largest Romanesque structure in the world. My friend Maddie pointed out that the entire structure was in the shape of a crucifix which was apparently really common in the olden-days. I guess it makes sense, it is the house of God. I had read that there were a series of tiers that gradually decreased in size as they got taller making them appear like a wedding cake, and I thought that was pretty silly until I saw it and then I decided that it was actually really cool. The church was beautiful from the outside, and equally as beautiful from the inside. It was HUGE on the inside, I can't imagine how many people used to fit in there. The altar area was roped off so we couldn't actually walk up to it, but it was really remarkable. We ended up paying 2E to go into the crypt and I'd say it was worth it. There were a lot of really interesting relics and some information on Saints that held places in the crypt. I toured a lot of different churches when I was in London and Scotland Junior year, but I think this might be one of my favorites. Although, the stained glass wasn't as cool as I was hoping.

Here are some photos of the outside, the organ, the alter, and some relics:

We walked around some more searching for more churches, but we didn't find anything as impressive as Saint-Sernin, so we grabbed some chocolat chaud at a café just off the capitol area. It was delicious and a perfect drink to tide us over until dinner. After that, we made our way back to the hotel to change and get ready for a night out.

We ate at a small restaurant that our hostess recommended and it was phenomenal. I order a kebob ladder with all sorts of meat, cheese, fruit, vegetables... it was really good. It also came with a glass of sangria, and you can never go wrong with that. We were at dinner for a good two hours and it was so nice to just sit and chat and tell stories with all the girls. The restaurant had a very relaxed atmosphere and I think everyone had a really great meal. After dinner we headed to an area where there were a few bars and made our way around a few. The first one we went in was quite bizarre, there were small statues of a little boy.. well... I'll put up a picture. So, we headed across the street where we found a bartender who ended up loving Americans and Obama, so he gave us some free shots. We asked him if he could make us some drinks and he said very joyously "YES I CAN!"... all in all it ended up being a really great night.


The next day we just walked around and got lunch before our train took us home around two. We actually went into the capitol building and discovered that it's quite impressive on the inside too. When we got back to Montpellier, we got home, showered, and went right over to our friend Chelsea's apartment. She had us all over for a fondue party for Valentine's Day. It was the perfect way to spend a Valentine's Day when you're not with your boyfriend. We all brought a little something... cheese, wine, chocolate, strawberries, etc. and it was just very relaxing and delicious. It was fun to get a little dressed up too, we all looked very chique, as my host mom would say.


(side note: I just heard the TV show House theme music coming from my living room... turns out my host dad is a fan! It is so hilarious watching American series in French... all the voices being different and stuff. Anyway, now I can watch House with my dad!)

I also got some V-day cards from Jeremy and my parents, as well as a box of chocolates, sweet tarts, and Gopher Hockey cards.

All in all, it was a very successful weekend and a good Valentines Day.

School and The Alps

So I'm just starting the third week of classes, and things are starting to make a little more sense. Everything is in French, which is nice, but sometimes it's hard to understand things. In all the French classes I've ever taken in the US, when we didn't understand a vocab word we could always just ask the prof and s/he would tell us in English. However, in my class here, we have students from all over: China, Japan, Croatia, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Germany, and lots of other smaller countries that I don't remember. So, when we don't understand something, our professor can't just respond in English. Although most of the students understand a little bit of English, the classrooms are French only. Because of this though, we're learning to work around the language barriers instead of just relying on other English speakers. Another interesting thing about having so many different people in classes is that it seems like everyone has a very unique opinion on things. We talked about superstitions the other day and I was explaining to people the bad luck of walking under a ladder, opening umbrellas inside, and the #13. Most of the other students thought that the #13 thing was ridiculous, especially when I told them that there is usually not a 13th floor in buildings. One of the Chinese girls said that the #4 is unlucky for them because it's pronounced the same way as the word death. Also, Chinese people apparently wear white to funerals, and black to weddings. Hearing the differences in people's cultures was really interesting for me. It is kind of hard to understand some people's French though, because the accents from the different parts of the world are crazy.

All in all, school is going pretty well. My grammar class is kind of kicking me in the butt, but my professor reassured me today that it will get better and I can't expect myself to be perfect right away.

Both my host brothers are on vacation from school, so the apartment is a little quiet. I couldn't figure out why it felt different until I realized that it was because Léon hadn't been running around the apartment or complaining about having to do homework. Dinner was also a lot different without those two around. Usually they talk and argue, but when it was just me and my parents it got quiet sometimes. My dad really likes making fun of my French, too. They don't understand why I can understand it fine, and I can write it pretty well, but when it comes to speaking I'm not as good. I tried to explain that we didn't speak as much when we learned it in high school, but they didn't really get it. They have faith that I'll keep improving though, so that's good. Also, my host mom said she ate octopus today for lunch... too bad I missed out on that one! Ha. She said that some night she's going to make oysters, snails, shrimp, and other various seafood. I'm not sure how much I'll enjoy that dinner.

So, the French people really enjoy striking. I experienced my first national strike the other day, but I wasn't effected by it that much. The trams ran every half hour instead of every five minutes, and fortunately I caught one right when I needed it. I got to school and the front gate was closed, but there was a small door open where students were handing out fliers about the strike. It's a pretty common thing here, I guess, but I thought it was crazy that students could just not go to class. On my way home, the tram just randomly stopped and the driver said that we had to get off because of the strikes. We all got off and started walking home, which was rather annoying, but then another tram magically showed up. I'm not sure how effective the strikes are here, because they warn people ahead of time, but oh well.

Ok, now onto this past weekend: Ski trip to the Alps!
About 12 of us from the language and culture track went on the trip with about 20 of the integrated students. We loaded the bus and had no idea what to expect because the people in the office really never tell us anything. All we knew is we were going somewhere in the Alps for a few days and we had a hotel and food provided. Six hours later, after driving through rain that turned into big thick snow, we made it to our "hotel." Turns out by hotel they meant hostel. Oh well. I stayed in a very small room with Danielle, Jessica, and Huston. We basically had a long hallway for a room, and a moldy shower that leaked onto the floor. Oh, and they forgot to tell us that we needed to bring our own towels... needless to say, we were pretty surprised when we got to our rooms. We got over it quickly and even though it was midnight, we went for a short walk in the snow outside. There was more snow than I've ever seen in my life, and I feel like that must be a lot after the one Halloween blizzard in Minnesota. We stayed up too late talking, but ended up finally falling asleep around 3:30am since we knew we had to wake up at 8:00 the next day.

One of the most entertaining parts of the trip happened the next morning... after the alarm went off, Jess wanted to come wake me up so she came over and bounced a little on my bed. It was then that we discovered just how classy our hotel was. My mattress was only being held up by a small piece of wood, which broke immediately when Jess sat down. I felt like it was some sort of sign that I was definitely going to break a leg.

Once we got out on the slopes, those of us who are beginners stumbled around on the bunny hill trying to figure out what exactly we were doing there. I went on a field trip in elementary school to Buck Hill, but the Alps are a bit different. I didn't fall at all until we took the chairlift to the Blue/Green slope. I thought I was doing fine until I turned a corner and discovered that I really don't know how to ski. I totally wiped out, skis flew off, poles went flying, and I landed in some sort of a mess on the ground. Miraculously, it didn't hurt at all. I think it's because my host mom gave me a snow suit with extra padding. I did feel pretty awesome on the slopes in the snow suit, especially with the aviators...
Jess has a picture of me in all my glory on the ground after falling, I'll have to get it from her and add it.

After the day was over, we headed back to the hostel for a party. It was basically just weird music and drinks at the bar, but it was fun. We were all pretty tired, I went to bed around midnight to try and get rest for skiing on Sunday.

Despite the fact that I'd hardly ever skied before, Jess somehow convinced me to take the chair lift to the top of the mountain. After having almost died on that blue slope the day before, I had second thoughts, but the thought of the view from the top and Jess' persistence got me to go. It was a pretty long chair lift ride, which was beautiful in itself, and after awhile we finally reached what I thought was the top. Here's a picture from about 1/2 way up on the chair lift:


We got off the chair lift (without falling, thankfully), and then I figured out that we then needed to take a T bar ski lift to the TOP of the mountain. I was petrified that I would fall off the T bar, but eventually made it to the top after a stressful ride. Once I got off, I was completely in awe. The view was really incredible. I think I may have fallen in love with the mountains. The direction that I took this photo is the direction we skied in to start out... yes, it does look like it just drops off into nothing... yes, I did fall about 20 seconds into the run.


It took Jess and I an hour to get down the mountain. We obviously weren't skiing fast, but it was still a very good time. My legs were very sore after we got to the bottom, and I was relieved to take off my skis and walk around. I only fell four times on the way down, and none of them were major wipe outs... just minor bumps. I was pretty proud of myself, since I've hardly ever skied before, but I can honestly say that I really have no desire to ski again anytime soon... I've had my fill for a few years.

We were all pretty exhausted after the day, so the bus ride home was pretty quiet. Most of us slept or read the first stretch. We stopped for dinner, which was provided, and it was tuna sandwiches...... for those of you that don't know, I HATE tuna. Oh well though, I ate half of it, I was hungry. We got back to Montpellier around 930 and I was very happy to get back home to a bed that had a mattress that was thicker than a dictionary and that hopefully won't break upon impact. I also came home to all clean laundry. My mom did all of my laundry while I was gone, which was super sweet of her. She also folded all of my underwear into little squares and bunched all of my socks. Oh, and she also ironed everything because they hang dry everything here and she doesn't like when things are wrinkled. I'm just hoping my host brothers were gone when she was hanging up my very colorful underwear in the living room.

My camera died on the ski trip, but Jess has some really awesome pictures that I'll get from her and post on here later, just fyi.

Phew, long post again. Anyway, hope all is well back home, enjoy your snow and freezing temperatures!! Miss you all!
-Kelli