Feeling French

The past couple of days have been quiet but great nonetheless. For whatever reason, this weekend as well as today, felt very French. There weren't any planned activities, I didn't leave Toulouse, and yet I still enjoyed myself and my time here. I think I'm finally understanding this whole French way of enjoying simple pleasures in life, and how doing nothing or going with the flow can be even more rewarding than planning every single detail of your life. It only took me just under a month to start getting the hang of it. (On Friday it will be one month since I arrived in France - How on earth did that happen?!)

Friday night, Kathleen, Sarah, and I went to this amazing burger place for dinner. What? People eat hamburgers in France. Stop judging. Anyway, after dinner we were in need of something sweet. As we headed towards our favorite crêperie, we passed two waiters standing outside their restaurant handing out free smoothie samples. Please and thank you. We continued on towards (name of crêperie will remain a secret) and stumbled upon a Spanish film festival happening on the same street. We followed the lights in to the courtyard where there was a restaurant, stage for concerts, tapas, and SANGRIA. Of course I bought some sangria and it was delicious. Not rushing to the crêperie gave us the chance to explore this great festival.

Saturday was another go with the flow kind of day. I woke up late-ish and had a relaxing morning. After a while I decided that I should be productive so I took the bus to the Jardin des Plantes and went running. It was probably the most enjoyable run of my entire life. I ran past adorable little French children playing, couples picnicking in the park, wild roosters and peacocks because for whatever reason they live in the park, and lots of other French people running. Sidenote: I am positive that I look like an idiot when I run but every single French person that I saw running had bizarre form. Arms flailing, feet coming way too far up off the ground. It was strange but entertaining. Later that day I met Kathleen to go to an afternoon movie, something I do all the time at home but here it feels more normal. That night we took in some food and just relaxed chatting and watching a movie. It was great.

Sunday morning I met Kathleen and Sarah and we went to two markets near Saint Sernin. One of them was a market for clothing/bags/shoes and other such items and the other was a food market and it was incredible. Every single type of food that was being sold was either from France or Spain, aka LOCAL, which was so amazing to see. I bought zucchini, tomatoes, squash, and peaches and went home to make myself a delicious lunch. And by delicious I mean that I overcooked my rice but it's fine. This whole learning how to feed yourself is much more difficult than I thought it would be. Anyway, I spent the rest of the day at the house, taking care of organizational stuff I had to do. It was peaceful and I loved it.

At the market

This morning I had class at le Mirail and then I came back in to the city center for lunch at Flower's, my favorite café. It felt so French to be eating lunch alone, people watching in all of its glory. The delicious dessert wasn't too shabby either. After lunch I came home to do some homework and plan some trips. After that was done I decided to go in to town to buy a book I needed (ok fine it was a French dictionary not exactly a book) and visit the Cathédrale Saint-Étienne because I see it all the time and have never gone inside. Plus I felt like using my camera. It was incredible. It's a combination of a bunch of old churches so the architecture is really interesting. Love me some flying buttresses (yes that's a real term) and gothic vaulting. I also wandered around for a bit exploring new stores, and I was perfectly content to just wander. Who am I? This whole French lifestyle is starting to rub off on me and I think I'm ok with it.

Dessert at Flower's - Banoffee cake and an espresso

Cathédrale Saint-Étienne

Cathédrale Saint-Étienne

Cathédrale Saint-Étienne

Cathédrale Saint-Étienne

Cathédrale Saint-Étienne

We're Not At Dickinson Anymore

I officially survived my first week of classes at my french university! It has been an extremely challenging week to say the least but it can only get better from here. Different doesn't even begin to describe le Mirail as compared to Dickinson.

On Monday I had my first class at 10:30am. If this was Dickinson, I would wake up probably around 9:45 and still be to class early. Now that I have a half-hour commute via bus and metro, I had to wake up at 8:30 in order to get to le Mirail with enough time to find my classroom and not be a sweaty mess. When I visited the university two weeks ago, on the schedule it said that this class was in Amphi 10. However, between that visit and Monday, Amphi 10 had been crossed off and replaced with Amphi 8. See, here in France, everything is still done on paper. The internet is really not used to it's fullest potential. So unless you go and check the class schedule you will have no way of knowing that your class has been changed. Like me. I went to Amphi 10 on Monday thinking that that's where class was. Luckily, Kat called me to tell me that it was in Amphi 8. So I got to that room and we sat and waited. And waited. And waited some more. After about 30 minutes the 20 or so students in the room got up and left since the prof didn't show up. We decided to go check Amphi 10, just on the off chance that the class was there and sure enough it was. So I was 30 minutes late to my first ever real class in France. I have never been late to a Dickinson class. But it was fine and the professor didn't care. The class was all about Orientalism, Japonisme, and Primitivism and I got super into it. The professor was really easy to follow and I understood everything. Probably because I knew most of it already but still. It was a good way to ease into learning art history in french.

I don't have any classes at le Mirail on Tuesday but on Wednesday I was back for Gothic Art and Alexandria during the Hellenistic period (Egyptian Art for you non geography/art people). Gothic Art was extremely challenging. The professor was a bit harder to understand plus I don't know all of the terms related to Gothic Art in English, so trying to hear them and write them down correctly in French was challenging. And exhausting. At the end of the class I went up to the professor to introduce myself and tell him that I'm an American student and he knew that I was even before I told him. Probably because of the blank stare I had on my face during class. He was really nice though and said that I should buy this one book of vocabulary and that he's had Dickinson students in class before so he gets what we're doing. I met Sarah and Kathleen for lunch at the "caf" at le Mirail but we decided to take the metro in to town for lunch because it was a zoo. For my Dickinson readers, think of the caf at lunch time and then multiply that insanity by like a million. The lines go in all directions, you're getting hit by backpacks, and you don't understand what the hell anyone is saying or doing. Struggles. I had my other class in the afternoon which was a little bit better. The problem is that it's from 4:00 - 6:00 and it's in basically a dungeon. It's this really old lecture hall with no windows. I'm not at Dickinson anymore. I know more about Ancient Egypt than I do Gothic Architecture so that made it a bit easier to understand the professor. I guess I'm discovering that when I go in to a class knowing some information about the subject in English it's easier for me to understand it in French.

This morning, I broke one of my most important Dickinson rules. I refuse to ever take a class at 8:30am at Dickinson, even when my commute is 8 minutes maximum. This morning I had to wake up at 6:30 to get to le Mirail in time for class. I am not a morning person. At all. In high school, Ian and I drove to school in silence. He knows. And yet there I was, getting ready for school in the dark this morning. I had zero choice in the matter. I needed another class and this was the only one that didn't overlap with a class at the Dickinson center or another class at le Mirail. I had Prehistoric Art at 8:30 and then Literature and Painting from the 16th-18th centuries at 10:30. Prehistoric art was interesting, especially because we don't talk about that in any of our art history classes at Dickinson. The professor is really nice but she talks so quickly that by the time I understood what she was saying I didn't have time to write it down otherwise I would miss the next thing. I think I need to start typing my notes. Another thing I refuse to do at Dickinson. I'm breaking all my rules! I'm such a badass! (sarcasm) Litterature and Painting was bizarre. I feel like in the two hours that we had class the professor didn't teach us anything. He went over the bibliography, which is so not a syllabus and I have no idea what the hell I'm supposed to do with it, and then showed us some images using a slide projector from 1960. The classroom itself looked like it was also from the 60s. Felt like I stepped back in time. I hung out in the library until 4:00 (missing the quiet section with Cern) and then had Medieval Mural Painting. I thought that I was going to hate the class but it actually turned out to be really interesting. The professor was also really easy to understand and sooooo French. Tall, thin, well dressed. Damn her. The problem with that class was that none of the rooms of air conditioned so I was melting (it's been in the 80s all week here) and this particular classroom was right next to the massive construction going on on campus so it was loud.

All in all, this week really wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. So far the only major issues are that EVERYONE on campus smokes. The only place I can find fresh air is the library. And I need to bring food or leave campus if I want to eat without experiencing the watering hole scene from Mean Girls. But I think that in time I'll adjust.

That was a lot of reading so here's an Instagram picture I took last weekend at a park!

Conques and Gaillac

I realize that I haven't blogged in a few days now (my apologies) so bear with me as this post might be a teeeensy bit long. I'll try to keep it as short as I can. Before I get to this weekend, I want to quickly tell you about some really cool stuff we did last week.

On Wednesday we had another randonnée urbaine with Monsieur Créma. This time is was all about the religious history of Toulouse. Specifically, how the city was a major stop along the Chemins de Saint Jacques de Compostelle, a religious pilgrimage through Europe.  One church in particular, Saint Sernin, was the attraction in Toulouse. It's an enormous church, built in the Romanesque style. I actually studied it during the first semester at Dickinson so it was wild to see it in real life. In case you're curious, though I doubt that you are, a Romanesque church is built with rounded arches rather than pointed arches which are used in the Gothic style. There are other differences of course, but that's the main one. The church was beautiful. We even got to explore the crypts underneath the church where more reliquaries are housed.

Basilique Saint Sernin

Basilique Saint Serin

Basilique Saint Sernin

Basilique Saint Sernin - Check out them arches

On Thursday, it was the welcoming day at le Mirail for all of the international students. We had a brief presentation on the school, took a group photo, and had lunch at this beautiful chateau next to the campus. It was really fun because we got to meet people from all over the world who will be studying at le Mirail this semester and/or year. I met some folks from England, Japan, and Poland, to name a few. There was a party at a bar in the city for all of us that night too. Camille felt like going out so we went together for an hour or so. It was fun but super crowded and really hard to meet people.

International students at le Mirail

That brings us to this weekend! On Friday I woke up at the wonderful time of 5:45 am because we had to be at the Dickinson Center by 7:15 am to leave for Conques. Conques is a medieval city that is completely preserved and thus looks like you stepped back in time. The bus ride took about three hours and most of us slept. When we got there we dropped off our stuff and started off on our hike to a lunch spot. At the end of the hike we were across the valley from the town and had a panoramic view of Conques. It was breathtaking. It looked like a painting, not like real life. Dickinson organized this trip for us because it's really difficult to get to Conques without driving, and I am so thankful that they did. We ate lunch and then hiked back down to the village, stopping every once in a while to see what Monseiur Créma was pointing out along the path. When we got back in to town, we went straight to Sainte Foy, the large church in the center of Conques. Like Saint Sernin, this church was built in the Romanesque style and was a stopping point along the pilgrimage. We explored the inside of the church and then went next store to a museum that housed the real reliquaries of the church. One in particular was called the treasure of Conques and it was a sight to see. After that we had free time until dinner so we got drinks and had crepes and explored the town some more. I don't think that there was one ugly part of the village. It was just so picturesque. At 9:30, Sarah and I went back to Sainte Foy to tour the upper level of the church and hear the priest play the organ. The lighting inside the church changed according to the music. It was mesmerizing. Being up on the second level gave us a completely different view of the architecture of the church so of course my inner art history nerd was freaking out. When we left the church, the moon was shining so brightly. It really did feel like a fairytale. (I'm so cheesy and lame)

Sainte Foy

Conques

Conques et moi

Sainte Foy

Sainte Foy

Conques

Conques

Conques

Sainte Foy at night

Sainte Foy at night

Conques

Yesterday was another day that I won't soon forget. It might be my favorite day in France thus far. We left Conques at 9:30 and drove to Gaillac, one of the major wine-producing areas of France. We arrived at Château Lastours and were given a tour of the grounds of the winery. The road leading up to the château was tree-lined and on either side were endless fields of grapes. It was really ugly. (Sarcasm) The man who runs the winery was so enthusiastic about the history of the winery and how wine is made that it made for an excellent tour. Plus the fact that I love wine made it really easy for me to get excited about everything he was saying. And the fact that when he laughed he looked like Javier Bardem. Anyway, we saw the storehouse where they make and keep the wine, the gardens behind the château, and the fields behind the storehouse. We set up tables and chairs in front of the château and brought out our food and wine. We got to taste three different wines, a white, a rosé, and a red. They were all delicious as was expected. The food that we paired with the wine was also great. Once again, a huge thank you to Dickinson for organizing this for all of us. We hung around outside on the beautiful grounds of the winery for a bit. Some people purchased wine to bring back. We left around 5:00 to head back to Toulouse but not before thanking the wonderful man who showed us around. He was so nice and said that if we wanted to come back they could pick us up at the train station. Who wants to come visit me?

An old pigeonnier

The gardens

Where wine is made!

Where wine is stored!

Rosé

Rouge

Château Lastours

Château Lastours

Château Lastours

By the way, my blog has over 1000 views so thanks to everyone who has been following my journey so far! Much more to come!

Once a Treekid, Always a Treekid

I never thought that living in the Treehouse last semester would help prepare me for life in France. I was completely wrong. Energy use, at least for my hosts, is very important. One of the first things Catherine told me when I got here was to try and take only five minute showers. Luckily after living in the Treehouse last semester I have perfected the art of turning the water on and off while taking a shower. I also discovered today after doing my laundry for the first time that my hosts don't have a dryer. Looks like I'll be air drying all of my clothes again. Good thing I'm an expert on that as well! Furthermore, it's always dark in the house. They only turn on lights when somebody is in a room and it's absolutely necessary. Score one for the environment! When we think of France in the US we think of wine and cheese and luxury. While there is plenty of wine and cheese around, thinking about your relationship to energy is just as important. I'm beyond grateful to have been a Treekid last semester because if I hadn't lived there, adjusting to life in France may have been even more of a challenge. Sending lots of love to my Treekids!

And in case you're wondering what I've been up to these past couple of days, I picked out the classes that I'll be taking at le Mirail and went to a piano concert at Les Abattoirs, the contemporary art museum in Toulouse. This semester I will be taking: Literature and Painting from the 16th century to the 18th century, 20th century Art History, Gothic Art, Hellenistic Art in Egypt, Prehistoric and Celtic Art, and Medieval Mural Painting. I'm really only taking three classes but each class is made up of two other classes so in reality I'm taking six different classes. It's definitely different from Dickinson. As far as the piano concert goes, it was incredible. The pianist was only 21. Only 21! Insanity. The concert was held in front of a huge Picasso work which I really enjoyed. The combination of music and art made for an excellent evening.

Piano and Picasso

Me and Kathleen!

Gratuit Is My New Favorite Word

This weekend all across France was the "Journées Patrimoine" where different cultural venues in every city were open and free (gratuit) to the public to celebrate European culture. Some of these institutions are open year round, like the big museums, but others are closed or cost money during the year. Even if you did have to pay to get in somewhere this weekend it was at a reduced price.

On Saturday, I woke up somewhat early to get myself ready for a day of museum-ing and church-ing. I got to our meeting place at 10am only to discover that the time had been changed to 11. No biggie. I got some coffee and went to the Musée des Augustins. It's an old church/abbey that was converted in to a museum, so the grounds include a massive church and a cloister. The weather was absolutely perfect in the morning and I really didn't want to leave. The museum also has an impressive sculpture and painting collection. My inner art history nerd was once again satisfied. I met Sarah, Kathleen, and Caroline at 11 and we started off on our journey for the day. The first place we visited was the church along the Garonne, Notre-Dame de la Daurade. It was a MASSIVE building and my eyes couldn't find a place to rest. When we walked in, the sun was shining through the stained glass windows at just the right angle to cast a beautiful light on a central figure in one of the paintings. It was incredible. A lovely old gentlemen who I think worked at the church, though that was never confirmed, guided us around the basilica and gave us a quick history lesson. I find that French people love sharing their history. When our necks were strained from looking up at the ceiling we headed off to find a café for lunch. It's harder than it may sound. We settled on a place next to the Garonne which was great. After eating some sandwiches we went to the Musée de Vieux Toulouse. The museum is housed in another "hôtel" like those we visited last week. It was really beautiful. The collection inside was interesting too, showcasing the history of Toulouse. Our next stop was an acapella concert inside the Jacobins. The acoustics inside the church were the best I have ever experienced and the concert was probably the closest I'll ever come to having a religious experience. Something about the music and the architecture clicked in my mind. We then headed to Palais Niel, stopping along the way for an orangina to fuel our museum-ing. This palace isn't open to the public regularly so it was especially cool to go inside. It's now used as military offices. Our final stop on Saturday was a presentation on traditional dancing. It was a film paired with a demonstration and it was really interesting. We found dinner after that, which is challenging because you want to eat good food but you don't want to spend a lot of money, and finally relaxed after our long day. Crepes really do fix every problem.

Musée des Augustins

Musée des Augustins

Musée des Augustins

Musée des Augustins

Pont Neuf

Notre Dame de la Daurade

Notre Dame de la Daurade

Notre Dame de la Daurade

Musée de Vieux Toulouse

Musée de Vieux Toulouse

Concert aux Jacobins

Palais Niel

Palais Niel

Today, I met Kathleen and Sarah at a "peniche" along the Canal du Midi. A peniche is essentially a houseboat. This one has been transformed into a boutique selling all things violet. The smell inside was incredible as were the snacks they had to sample, gratuit of course. After that I explored some more on my own near Pont Neuf. I went to an old hospital and a modern art museum. Those two things are related, right? The hospital was slightly creepy, as all former hospitals are, but the building was really cool. It's literally right on the river. Les Abattoirs, the museum, was great too. It's a former slaughterhouse that was turned in to a museum so the architecture is fascinating. After that I stopped at an outdoor market to buy some stuff to cook for dinner and I headed home, stopping along the way at a grocery store for more supplies. Last Sunday I was in the country with my host family so this was my first in the city and man does Toulouse shut down on Sundays. I came back to the house and tried to pick out some classes that I want to take at the Mirail which proved rather difficult. It's so hard to find classes that are interesting to me, fit in my schedule, and aren't at 8:30am. I made dinner for myself, pasta and broccoli with garlic and oil, and crossed some more stuff off my to do list. I sat with the family while they ate dinner and Catherine explained to me why Toulouse was so quiet today. It's illegal in France for certain types of businesses to be open on Sundays. Talk about a difference between France and the US. After dinner somehow we got on to the topic of musicals and I ended up singing songs from Mary Poppins with Catherine and Camille in the kitchen. It was hilarious because I'm singing in English while they're singing in French and yet somehow we all know what's going on. Ah the magic of Disney, bringing us all together.

Hôtel Dieu Saint Jacques - An old hospital

Hôtel Dieu Saint Jacques - An old hospital

Les Abattoirs

Les Abattoirs

I realize that my posts have been getting a little lengthy with all of the photos but I think they're necessary, right? Anybody? Bueller?