Week two, featuring a ton of pictures

Hello!  It is currently Monday night in Toulouse.  I wanted to reflect on my past week here in the south of France and Spain.  It’s been a busy and exciting week!

How have I been here two weeks already?!

I am beyond exhausted right now.  This week has been busy and I haven't allowed myself to sleep much at all since I feel like there is always something better to do here than sleep!  I'm having a blast and I feel so fortunate that I've been able to spend two great weeks in Europe already. A post will be coming soon of this past week filled with cheese, animal science, my small improvement in French language, and Barcelona.  It's the winning combination for a fun-filled week! Right now I need to go to sleep in order to be awake for classes tomorrow.  

Bonsoir!

Week one comes to close

If you couldn't tell already, I'm loving it here in France!  I visited Toulouse's city center on Wednesday, which is something I'll be doing again since it is so close to the university.  

On Thursday, I had French class and a class on Common Agriculture Policy.  I learned about the EU and how it oversees and subsidizes agriculture production.

On Friday, I had French class in the morning.  In the afternoon, I visited Carcassonne, which is an AWESOME fortress a little south of Toulouse.  I also ordered a nutella crepe (yum!) in French!  This is really exciting, because I didn't know any French before coming here.  I'm not picking up the language as quickly as I had hoped, but I am making progress.  Looking back, I had unrealistic expectations of how fast I'd pick up French.  

Photos from a day in Toulouse!

First day of classes!

Tonight marks my full third day in France, and I can say that I'm slowly falling in love with this country.  Today was the start of our actual classes that we will be taking throughout the month we are here.  The morning lecture was with a professor that talked about globalization in relation to French culture.  As soon as she started speaking, you could tell that she was passionate and well-informed about her subject.  She used real-world examples to reinforce her statements and encouraged class participation. We talked about culture and what it means to belong to a particular culture. Culture is composed of values, beliefs, behaviors, customs, attitudes, food, traditions, and perceptions that distinguishes one group of people from another group.  Culture is passed from one generation to the next by example.  She said in class that 'culture is to people as water is to fish'.  Cultural studies are important because it is important 'to learn to swim everywhere'.  I suppose that's true, even though I've never thought about it like that.  I find it hard to imagine what life would be like living in a family and a country without values and traditions.  The professor went on to explain a few small points about French culture.  As I noticed previously, French people are much quieter on average than Americans.  For example, I was in a very busy restaurant that the Purpan students use as their cafeteria with a few friends.  We could hear each other talk in low whispers with ease.  If you went to an American restaurant, especially one on a college campus, it would be very loud.  There would be loud music playing and people loudly trying to talk over the music.  Another gesture she taught us was passing items.  In France, it is better to pass an item with both hands, no matter how small.  If you can only pass with one hand, it is preferred if you pass with the right hand.  In the USA, we don't have any gestures that compare.  Passing pens and cards are more for utility and are less concerned with mannerisms.  Another gesture was 'closeness'.  French people often kiss each other hello, even multiple times on each cheek.  This is seen as very normal here, but in American culture this would be seen as invasion of privacy.  It's just a matter of where culture draws the line of what is acceptable 'closeness'.

The next class I had was French, and it was significantly harder than I anticipated.  I knew it wasn't going to be easy, but it certainly was not like I expected.  It was less like Spanish that I thought!  I will really need to study hard these next few weeks so I can work and interact with my host family.  I definitely have a long way to go!

This post was heavy on the text, but next one will have lots of pictures of Toulouse!

Second day here!

Yesterday, Brittney and I walked towards downtown Toulouse.  We didn't get to go into any museums since it was Sunday, but we did get a better feel of where everything was.

Today was my first day of school, which was more of an orientation day.  It went well and I can tell that I'll be getting a lot of academic experience and personal growth out of this trip.  The study abroad group saw the university campus (it's a very small university of only 800 students) and the cafeteria that is nearby. We also met with the international studies department of Purpan who have planned this program.  They were very welcoming and helpful.

A few other students and I went to go buy stamps and groceries this afternoon, which was an adventure.  None of us spoke French and we didn't know where we were going, so we did end up wandering for a bit.  We found the supermarket eventually thanks to some nice people who spoke broken English.  It may have taken a while, but it was a good experience to have.  I hope to learn more French as I am here so I can interact with people better.

It's now quite late and I have an early start tomorrow, so I'm off to bed.  Here's a few pictures from my travels thus far:

A pretty fountain on the outskirts of Toulouse

Pont Neuf

A street in Toulouse

Oldest & largest Magnolia in Europe

Purpan!

Bonjour Toulouse!

*I'll add pictures once I get internet going to my phone.*

Brittney (my sorority sister and travel buddy) and I made it to Toulouse without a problem!  The process couldn't have been any easier.  Our only regret is that we didn't stay long enough in London to leave Heathrow airport. We found our host university right away in the Toulouse airport.  We are at the university now trying to get used to the time adjustment and get rid of sleep deprivation courtesy of our transatlantic flight. Brittney and I fell asleep soon after getting here, so we haven't gotten the chance to see the city properly yet.  Maybe we'll get out and do some walking tomorrow to make up for all the sitting we did on those flights!

Our second and significantly shorter flight was great.  We sat behind a British family with two toddlers and played with them throughout the flight. Brittney asked the older of the two children, the girl, if she was going to have fun in France.  The little girl told Brittney that she said France wrong, then tried to teach her the right way to say it.  Trying to explain to her that we were from far away and had funny accents proved to be quite entertaining.