One Week in Toulouse

Hello! Having spent an entire week here in Toulouse, I thought I would tell you a bit about what has been going on so far.

Our flights were relatively uneventful. We started in Spokane, and were able to catch at least part of the Super Bowl halftime show waiting in the Seattle airport. We didn't spend long in London, Heathrow, and from there we were quickly in Toulouse. Our host families met us at the airport and from there the group broke up spastic-ly and in an unorganized manner as we were whisked away by our hosts.

My host mother in Toulouse is named Francoise. She is 60 years old (just found that out tonight) and has a daughter my age who lives in Paris with a 4 year old son. Francoise is also a voracious smoker (contrary to the information sheet which said she smoked only a very little bit and on the balcony). She is nice, though, despite not wanting me to have friends over and saying things like "at my age you just don't want to live with anyone" which make me wonder at her wanting to host students...

I have eaten very well at Francoise's house so far: simple and delicious meals including green bean salad with vinaigrette, cooked apples, and garlic, salmon with lemon juice and pink peppercorn, and zucchini and onion soup creamed with fig and walnut infused cheese. (She cringes and tisk-tisks me when I tell her I have a sandwich for lunch).

I live a 10-15 minute metro ride from the Place du Capitol were classes are held each day. I am not sure how I feel about Toulouse yet. It is also difficult to judge a new city when it is cold and water logged (that being said, I loved Strasbourg anyway).

My job here includes things like obtaining metro passes for the group, buying new SIM cards and activating emergency cell phones, keeping track of expenses, and teaching class 3 times a week. I was not sure how teaching would work, but being flexible and ready to jump right in are both part of the job.

The students seem enthusiastic and excited to be here, for the most part. Almost all have a very positive attitude, despite varying levels of host-family-weirdness. They are getting more and more comfortable with splitting off into smaller groups which will benefit them greatly in France - a country made for gatherings of no more than 6 at a time. The host families provide the opportunity to drastically improve French language skills but I think we are all looking forward to living nearer to each other, if not in the same hostel/hotel.

Jet lag hasnt been too bad - I just get tired reallllllly early and therefore can't sleep in past 6:15. And right now it is after 10:30, so that means I can allow myself to SLEEP. I will post pictures later - thanks for reading

-Natalie