Drinks and St. Etienne
Yesterday, being Monday, was nothing really that exciting at all. But Annie, Christine, and I tried to be very French and for dinner we bought baguettes, cheese, and some yogurt and ate in the park! Very fun. It would have been complete with some wine! But as we were eating, we saw the same exact american students that we met in the club on Friday night! They were eating in the park too (apparently Americans think that eating in the park is an appropriately French thing to be doing!) So that was funny, but we didn't say hi because we thought it would be fairly creepy seeing as how we didn't really talk to them for all that long. And then there was a little Dickinson excursion to the cinema to see "Les Poupees Russe" (which to my knowledge means: "The Russian Dolls" or "The Russian Puppets"). It's the sequel to "L'Auberge Espagnol", for those of you who have seen that. And it was free too! All Dickinson outings are free, so I am definitely going to all that I can, because my tuition is paying for it! And I'm glad for this one, because my host family told me that movies are expensive in France, around $12. Yuck! And on the way to the movies, we saw that bar, Bodega Bodega, that my host dad says is the happening spot on the weekends. So it's good to know where that is!
Today is Tuesday, which means we had the most boring class in the world: History of Toulouse. It doesn't sound that bad, except it's not actually the history of Toulouse, it's the history of all of France, I guess. So we did quite a bit of talking today on the middle ages, and the Renaissance, none of which specifically applied to Toulouse. If it was Toulouse-specific, I would have been more interested. But alas, I was falling asleep. Thank goodness this class is only 2 times a week, and the other time are our little tours of the city to see historical things, which I am definitely not opposed to. And also, we are doing this play in our oral expression class, and it's the craziest play ever. None of us understand the play, not because of the language barrier, just because it's so weird! And we actually have to perform it, costumes and all, for the staff of the Dickinson Center. Thank goodness that's only 3 people! And our professor was like "ohhh, maybe you should invite your host families, that would be fun!" And we were all like "NOOOOOO, that's okay". Sooo embarrassing. And p.s. everyone, I'm an old man in this play. Just thought you should know. And after class today, a bunch of us went to a cafe near St. Etienne, see pictures below! P.S. Today I bought a sandwich at Casino (such a good place to buy lunch, because instead of buying one yogurt at a boulangerie, you can buy a whole pack for practically cheaper, and then eat them other days! Yesss for saving money!) and it was the strangest combination, unbeknownst to me until the first bite: Tuna.....and hard boiled eggs? C'mon France, what is that. Who decided that two potentially foul food items would make a good pairing? Surprisingly, it didn't taste half bad! Except for the excess of mayonnaise, and probably butter too. Craziest French habit by far: putting butter on every sandwich imaginable. Like, oh, you have a ham and cheese sandwich? Obviously putting butter on it would improve it greatly. Tuna? Yeah, that too, bring 'er over here for some good old fashioned grease. GROSS France. Je ne l'aime pas. How do you people stay so skinny?!
I'm really excited for this weekend, not only because of Bodega Bodega ;-), but also because I guess it's some special thing that they do once a month (once a season? not really sure, language barrier thing) and "all the doors of Toulouse are open." Meaning, museums are free and you can go into places you normally wouldn't be allowed on a regular basis, like the capitol building, which is actually not anything to do with government as far as I can see and it actually a theater. And there are a lot of "hotels" (aka: big fancy old houses) that I think you can go into their gardens and stuff. Not really sure about that last one, but definitely the museums and all public buildings are open, for free. Which is really great, especially because this weekend is supposed to be rainy and cold (hellooo, it was beautiful the weekend I arrived, and it really hasn't been since! Cold and rainy every day!) But if the rain does hold off on one weekend day, I think Annie and I might try to ride bikes along the canal and see a little more of the city. I have a bike already from my host family, and Annie will have to rent one, but that's okay. Everyone here rides bikes everywhere. It's crazy, I almost get run over by a bike on the canal path on my way to class every day! And since I'll mostly be riding my bike to classes at the University, I need to get some practice! Maybe I'll buy a baguette and put it in the basket and then ride around and be super French! And other news, I have been running every day this week! I'm so proud, I love being in a good routine, and usually it takes me a week or two in a new place to get into it, but I think I'm finally okay now! Yessssss. It's so awesome, everyday when I start running all the street lamps are on, and then at some point early on in my run, they all go off! It's like magic, and I love it. And everyday I see the firemen (the station is very close to my house) getting all their equipment ready, and all the stores are beginning to open, but otherwise it's really quiet, and as my run goes on, it gets continuously more busy. It's really cool to see a usually bustling city all fast asleep!
Well, seeing as I how I go to bed ridiculously early here because I have nothing else to do (awkward arrangement of the television in my host parent's room makes it difficult to watch any TV----not that I really like French television, it's really bad, but TV passes the time!) But they have a DVD projector (very complicated) in the living room, and they said this weekend I could have some friends over and watch a movie one night if it's rainy and gross! yaaaaaay!
Au revoir!
Today is Tuesday, which means we had the most boring class in the world: History of Toulouse. It doesn't sound that bad, except it's not actually the history of Toulouse, it's the history of all of France, I guess. So we did quite a bit of talking today on the middle ages, and the Renaissance, none of which specifically applied to Toulouse. If it was Toulouse-specific, I would have been more interested. But alas, I was falling asleep. Thank goodness this class is only 2 times a week, and the other time are our little tours of the city to see historical things, which I am definitely not opposed to. And also, we are doing this play in our oral expression class, and it's the craziest play ever. None of us understand the play, not because of the language barrier, just because it's so weird! And we actually have to perform it, costumes and all, for the staff of the Dickinson Center. Thank goodness that's only 3 people! And our professor was like "ohhh, maybe you should invite your host families, that would be fun!" And we were all like "NOOOOOO, that's okay". Sooo embarrassing. And p.s. everyone, I'm an old man in this play. Just thought you should know. And after class today, a bunch of us went to a cafe near St. Etienne, see pictures below! P.S. Today I bought a sandwich at Casino (such a good place to buy lunch, because instead of buying one yogurt at a boulangerie, you can buy a whole pack for practically cheaper, and then eat them other days! Yesss for saving money!) and it was the strangest combination, unbeknownst to me until the first bite: Tuna.....and hard boiled eggs? C'mon France, what is that. Who decided that two potentially foul food items would make a good pairing? Surprisingly, it didn't taste half bad! Except for the excess of mayonnaise, and probably butter too. Craziest French habit by far: putting butter on every sandwich imaginable. Like, oh, you have a ham and cheese sandwich? Obviously putting butter on it would improve it greatly. Tuna? Yeah, that too, bring 'er over here for some good old fashioned grease. GROSS France. Je ne l'aime pas. How do you people stay so skinny?!
I'm really excited for this weekend, not only because of Bodega Bodega ;-), but also because I guess it's some special thing that they do once a month (once a season? not really sure, language barrier thing) and "all the doors of Toulouse are open." Meaning, museums are free and you can go into places you normally wouldn't be allowed on a regular basis, like the capitol building, which is actually not anything to do with government as far as I can see and it actually a theater. And there are a lot of "hotels" (aka: big fancy old houses) that I think you can go into their gardens and stuff. Not really sure about that last one, but definitely the museums and all public buildings are open, for free. Which is really great, especially because this weekend is supposed to be rainy and cold (hellooo, it was beautiful the weekend I arrived, and it really hasn't been since! Cold and rainy every day!) But if the rain does hold off on one weekend day, I think Annie and I might try to ride bikes along the canal and see a little more of the city. I have a bike already from my host family, and Annie will have to rent one, but that's okay. Everyone here rides bikes everywhere. It's crazy, I almost get run over by a bike on the canal path on my way to class every day! And since I'll mostly be riding my bike to classes at the University, I need to get some practice! Maybe I'll buy a baguette and put it in the basket and then ride around and be super French! And other news, I have been running every day this week! I'm so proud, I love being in a good routine, and usually it takes me a week or two in a new place to get into it, but I think I'm finally okay now! Yessssss. It's so awesome, everyday when I start running all the street lamps are on, and then at some point early on in my run, they all go off! It's like magic, and I love it. And everyday I see the firemen (the station is very close to my house) getting all their equipment ready, and all the stores are beginning to open, but otherwise it's really quiet, and as my run goes on, it gets continuously more busy. It's really cool to see a usually bustling city all fast asleep!
Well, seeing as I how I go to bed ridiculously early here because I have nothing else to do (awkward arrangement of the television in my host parent's room makes it difficult to watch any TV----not that I really like French television, it's really bad, but TV passes the time!) But they have a DVD projector (very complicated) in the living room, and they said this weekend I could have some friends over and watch a movie one night if it's rainy and gross! yaaaaaay!
Au revoir!
posted by Caitlin @ 10:05 PM
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