Monday, August 30, 2010

Les Jours Suivant...

Ok, as promised:

LE VRAI CHATEAU

No offense to Mac Cerullo, but Sunday I had the opportunity to visit an actual chateau. A friend of my host family, an artist, lives there - she invited us to join her for lunch. We drove for about an hour outside of Toulouse in the campagne, with some wonderful scenic views of les Pyrénées. We ate le fois gras, and some delicious roasted vegetables and chicken. I also learned that it isn't unusual for adults to have four or five glasses of wine with lunch. Afterwards, the friend gave us a wonderful tour of the castle, its architecture, and the pieces of art throughout. Her mother had aquired some timeless pieces of furnature, and she was able to place the history of all the decor. Check out the album I posted to facebook - there was plently more that I didn't have the opportunity to capture. After the visit, we drove to see my host mother's brother and his family at their home near Toulouse. They were extremely friendly, plus they have three adorable sons and a dog. That night, after dinner, I finally met my host father and his daughter, who I believe is nineteen, plus their two little dogs. Also, I finally received the password to the internet! Huzzah!

LUNDI

This morning began with a brisk walk to the Dickinson Center for my first day of orientation! The center is located in a very nice part of the city, in a beautiful house. There are classrooms inside, a kitchen, areas for gathering, a tiny library, as well as offices for our professors and administrative staff. It was great finally seeing some Dickinson people, minus the awkwardness of only being able to speak French to one another. We received tons of information about Toulouse, living in France, and getting along with our host families. Then there was a pizza lunch in the garden, as well as more information as well as a little tour of the area. After all the programming, a few of us decided to explore the city in search of cell phones. We passed through a wonderful public garden, saw many stores and cafes, and eventually located our destination: Orange! Orange is an electronics company and telephone service provider for Europe. Like Verizon, only less evil. We quickly located the cheapest phones, which you only need to buy sim cards to operate. This cost 29 euros. After all the searching, we decided that the best course of action would be to find a cafe and have a beer. So we did. I absolutely love France.

I managed to find my way back home from the center of the city, and ate dinner with the family. I met their son, and a friend of their daughter too. We played a card game - President - which was essentially the same as the American version. And.... now I'm back in my room for the evening. Sweetness.

Oh: another tidbit. Shoutout to my family back home. Today I saw an advirtisement for Mad Men - written en Français.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Is it dead?


So I opened the fridge this morning for some milk and…. AAAHHHH!

Yes. That’s a leg. Bon matin!

Premier Jour

~written 8/28/10, not posted due to lack of internet access~

11:20 pm Toulouse time, 5:20 pm Boston time.

ARRIVAL

As far as host families go, I believe I won the lottery. The flight from Amsterdam to Toulouse was only 1.5 hours. I had been messaging a friend at the Amsterdam airport, discussing how fantastic it would be if my host mother was standing in the arrivals area with one of the signs limo drivers use to identify their clients. Madame de Maillard was waiting for me at the baggage claim, “KIM” sign in hand. Needless to say, she is awesome. We drove home (HOME!), and she gave me a full tour of the house. (Note: all books on French culture advise that you will probably not see the kitchen, private bathrooms, or bedrooms of your host family. Apparently, this family does not adhere to the stereotypes.)

MA SALLE A CHAMBRE

My room is in the basement of the home. I have a full-size bed (SCORE), a desk, and a spacious closet. I have my own bathroom too, which is pretty exciting. The French have a different setup for their bathrooms –Mine has a sink and a shower. The toilet is in a closet across the hall. There’s a cool little door that leads to the backyard just down the hall.

SETTLING IN

The afternoon began with lunch, which consisted of salad, cheese, melon, bread, and a delicious tarte à l’onion courtesy of Madame de Maillard. The only other person in the house right now is Madame de Maillard’s Maman. Both of them were very interested in learning about me, as well as sharing about themselves, their families, and France. After lunch, we drank du café with chocolate, and decided to faire le sieste, only confirming my belief that I belong here. I spent that time unpacking, reading a great information packet provided by Dickinson, and sleeping for 3 more hours. Dinner meant more salad, more melon, a kiwi (which I learned has more vitamin C than an orange), and zucchini which canard – duck!

After dinner, I watched a French TV show which appeared to be across between “American Idol” and “Who wants to be a Millionaire.” Then, Madame de Maillard offered to show me around the city. We walked around part of the center of the city. She pointed out historical landmarks, as well as her favorite shops and cafés. We ended up getting some sorbet, then headed home. As this exciting day comes to a close, jet lag is beginning to catch up with me – time to sleep. But tomorrow sounds promising. I’ll be meeting the rest of the family, and going to dinner at a chateau!

À demain!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Le Voyage

So I'm currently sitting in Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, waiting for my connecting flight to Toulouse. The transatlantic flight went smoothly - my bag just made the checked luggage weight limit, the family saw me to security at Logan, I made it onto the correct plane, found my lovely window seat, and bonded with my German seat mate. I saw a beautiful sunset, and an equally beautiful sunrise, within the span of 5 hours. The movie selection featured 3 homages to my friend Mer - a Gerard Butler film, a Ewan McGregor film, and an Ellen Page film. Once in Amsterdam, I braved through security check, and made another German friend at my gate. In less than 3 hours, I'll be touching down in Toulouse, and meeting my French momma for the first time! Looks like 3 hours of sleep will have to suffice for this exciting new day.

That's all for now... More posts to follow soon!

Monday, August 16, 2010

Le Commencement de Tout

"The beginning of everything."

As suggested by my family, I will be keeping a blog to document my experiences in France this semester. Please feel free to submit your own questions! Anything related to Toulouse, French culture, or my life is completely acceptable.

To start things off, I thought I'd provide some information about where I'll be staying...

Toulouse

Toulouse is the fourth largest city in France, after Paris, Lyon, and Marseille. It features many buildings made of brick, giving it the name "la ville rose" (the pink city), as well as museums and theaters. Toulouse is a central location for aviation, computer, and space research, as well as the birthplace of the Airbus company. It is also a popular college city, with roughly 100,000 residential students. I plan to attend the Institut Catholique de Toulouse this fall.

Family

I will be living with a host family for the duration of the semester. They seem like the perfect match - a spacious home near the center of the city, two dogs, and wireless internet! In addition, they have three children around my age, though they will all be living in other countries/continents for most of my visit. I have been corresponding with them via email, and seem to be a very welcoming family! Here is a picture that they sent me:


Dickinson en France

For my first month in school, I'll be taking an intensive French language class through Dickinson as my program-mates and I adjust to our surroundings. From there, we will choose classes at one of six local universities, to begin by late September. Our program also has several trips planned, of which I fully intend to take advantage. Here's the program site, the home of our program director and our Dickinson en France classes.


Planning

One thing I'm already beginning to recognize throughout this process is that I'm becoming a "planner." This has been necessary, because of my last-minute need for a new passport and visa. But I've been researching the area and local attractions, because I would like to arrive in the city with a working knowledge of local public transportation, as well as how to navigate around the city.

Packing has me totally confused. For my freshman year of college, I was allowed to bring whatever could fill a minivan, with the lingering possibility of having additional items shipped. Neither of these things will be possible in France. Plus, how can I pack for five months... to only fill one or two suitcases? Most sources say that the French dress well... how will they react to my pajamas and sweatpants? Should I bring rain boots, a winter coat, or even a backpack? I've been making countless lists: things to bring, things that need to be purchased, errands to run. Hopefully it will all begin to come together soon...

"L'aventure : un événement qui sort de l'ordinaire, sans être forcément extraordinaire."
- Jean-Paul Sartre
Adventure: an event that is unusual, but not necessarily extraordinary.