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