June 25

Monday, June 25, 2007

It was totally gross out today. I hate rain…and when everything I want to do is outside, and when the only way to get anywhere is by bike or by foot, the rain sucks even more! As a result I sure didn’t do a lot today!!!
I got up with Sophie and we had cereal for breakfast and she left before 9am. I had a shower and went biking not long afterwards…it rained during the night, but the clouds weren’t that dark, so I figured it’d be okay – yah not so much…
The canals are totally perfect biking because there are no hills. And no hills is a good thing when I am borrowing bikes. Both Sophie and Dani are TALL people = bike is way too big for me! It was good to use it though, I’m not complaining…it is just a good thing that there was no real work involved!! Anyway…I biked a good 2 hours down the canals in the opposite direction from Toulouse. I made it to a little town that starts with an M (don’t remember what it is)…but it wasn’t exciting at all!! In my France book it says that Toulouse is really the only decent sized city in the region, and I think that is probably true…because even the little towns were, well, very little!
The canals are cool though because this canal connects the Ocean to the Mediterranean (man alive that took me a while to get the spelling…). There are 63 locks along the way too…and lots and lots of big river/canal boats. So, that is kinda funky, I think!
Well…just as I was leaving my M village it started to rain, so I turned back around towards Toulouse and Sophie’s place. I was a good 2 hours away from anything though, so I was nice and wet by the time I got back.
And because there was no food at Sophie’s either, I had to go out of the way in the pouring rain to get food! I lucked out there, though because the grocery store closes every day at 12:45 and I got there at about 12:41…If it hadn’t been open I would have been really sad and hungry! And…the grocery store is really cool…I’ll go again tomorrow (for dinner food). It is like a mini Costco version with great prices, but smaller quantities! So that made me nice and happy!!! (doesn’t take much, does it?!)
And then, after I ate my crackers and cheese for lunch, I had a wonderfully long nap (without an alarm clock). And I have just spent the last couple of hours planning what I need to do when I get home and making lists and organizing files on my computer – kind of sick…but I like organizing things and without a car, I am kind of trapped when it rains!
Hopefully it won’t rain tomorrow…I am planning to go do all the tourist-y things in Toulouse because Sophie and I didn’t really cover everything! We were too caught up in the shopping to get excited about churches!!
I’m off to meet Sophie…

Later

-Allison

June 24

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Today was a rather relaxed day – yet again!! And since it was Sunday and France ceases to function on Sundays, that added to the do nothingness of the day.
We slept in – rather I stayed in my bed – until 9am, so that Sophie could sleep. Wasn’t that nice of me?? And for breakie we had another picnic on my bed…the res room here is kind of entertaining because it is so small and so…ulgh…in comparison to what I was used to!!
The plan was to rent another bike so that we could both go biking today, but when Sophie called the bike rental place, we found out that it too was closed. Go figure. Instead, we walked in the opposite direction from Toulouse Centre down the canals for about an hour. We made it to the South Port and spent a good little while looking through the garage-sale type market that was there. Sophie bought a really old book full of old comics and adds from 1929 and I almost bought this really beautiful porcelain doll…but decided that it wasn’t really that exciting to buy a doll like that from a garage sale. And bringing it home would not have been fun, either!! So, no dolls.
We walked back to Sophie’s place and I had a little nap while Sophie attempted to get a hold of Dani – because he has a fridge and therefore food for us starting people who have nothing!! So, finally at 3pm we were able to eat…it was an excellent sandwich, I must say!!
After our afternoon lunch we went to Toulouse. I borrowed Sophie’s roller blades and she biked. The blades were definitely not as nice as mine are and ended up hurting my feet by the end, but going on wheels rather than walking was a very nice change! He he he…and this morning at the garage sales I bought a helmet – a bright red helmet that is about 5 sizes too big for me. But Sophie and Dani didn’t have one, so I thought that for 1 Euro it was a decent investment!! And it was even new, so I added all the extra sponge things to make it fit my head a bit better. Not excellent, by any stretch of the imagination, but I’m happy to have one!!! Anyway, so blading with wrist guards and a red helmet downtown, dodging people everywhere was pretty funny!!
We went to our awesome ice cream place again for dinner…I had Tiramisu and Strawberry today. Sophie had this weird combo of Mango-mint and yougart – both of which I thought were totally disgusting.
And after returning the blades to Dani’s and checking e-mails we came back to our little house and just finished watching “Love Story” on my computer. We both had a nice cry! I am going to give Sophie both of the movies that I bought while I was here before I leave because they won’t work at home. I didn’t know this when I bought them, but DVDs have international codes on them. North America is code one and this part of Europe is code 2. It is too bad, but they weren’t expensive and I’ve watched them both enough to have made it a good purchase!!
Tomorrow I think I am going to bike down the canals until I don’t know where…and visit all the little towns along the way! It is my kind of biking because canals are flat. No hills for me!! And it is great because the bike has a lock and everything, so I can get off and explore when I want too.
And Sophie has told me I am on grocery duty for dinner while I am here as well because she finishes “work” late. So that promises to be another adventure tomorrow as well!!

Night

-Allison

June 23

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Today was such a great day!! It was totally the stereotypical “girls day”! Shopping, talking, eating….all good things!!
So, we woke up at 9am to my alarm – that Sophie noticed right away is the same one as I had in France 3 years ago!! We had a picnic breakfast on my bed…juice, apples, and cinnamon bun things (always without the cinnamon) and took some awful morning pictures!! Sophie always cracks me up in the morning because she is completely dysfunctional. Yep…pretty funny!!
We started the walk along the canals to go to Toulouse around 10 and the temperature was perfect. In fact, all day it was perfect! And the canals are a perfect running spot – and there were a lot of people running along there…in fact the most people I’ve seen doing exercise during my entire trip!! I guess it helps that we are on campus, because that is a different population!
After finding the tourist office we wandered around, stopping in all the stores possible. I don’t really know if we were on any specific mission, but we both did a significant amount of damage! We are definitely not a good influence on each other for shopping! In this one store we stopped into before lunch there were the French equivalent of “Dogs” for less than 10 Euros and I, obviously, went a little nutty! I debated which colour to buy, and I ended up getting a pink pair! I am quite impressed – and very happy I didn’t by a pair in Calgary before I left!!
We found a great restaurant for lunch. It was a crêpe place – and for 10 Euros we got an amazing salad, a lunch crêpe, and a dessert crêpe. I couldn’t eat everything…and, as it was, I was insanely full at the end! But, it was really the only restaurant I’ve gone to while visiting cities, so it was a great change. And the crêpes were totally awesome too!!
After lunch the shopping continued…we walked down by the river and listened to the Spanish music that was playing on the other side. At the moment there is a Spanish music festival in Toulouse called “Rio Loco”. We visited one church along the way and there was a couple getting married at the time!! (And the church was still open to the public!! Weird? I think so!) Anyway, we stopped for a bit and watched. It was a rather small affaire, but Sophie concluded they must be really rich because it is rare to be married in a church like that!
In this one store I bought a little jacket, vest thing – very French (now it will go with my scarf that I bought in Blois – same price, in any case!!). And then I bought another pair of shoes – I know…I am not supposed to buy any more shoes…but it is really hard, you know!! There are shoes everywhere here!! They are the funkiest pair of shoes ever, by the way. Bright, shiny blue shoes with pointed toes!! I am quite excited to wear them at home! Mona would be impressed with my choice in shoes, I am sure.
Sophie bought a wooden jewellery box with little ceramic drawers (that we tried to exchange with another box that was also on sale and ended up getting in trouble)…as well as a T-shirt dealeo for herself. Then, because she hasn’t seen her parents in a while, she needed to find a Mother’s and Father’s day present for them – a metal sign that says “mom’s the boss” and a bottle of wine ended up being the presents.
We were pretty tired from all our shopping around 6:30pm, so with our hand full of bags, we walked back along the canals to go “home”. I went to our place and Sophie walked to Dani’s place to drop off all her stuff.
I went for a run along the canals…it was really hot, but it was nice. Way too many crazy fast runners that made me feel really slow, but it was good, in any case!
Ohhh…I forgot stuff!! M. S. called this morning and I had a nice little conversation with him! I made sure he remembered his contract! It was good to talk to him…and Mme S. said she’d make sure he didn’t break the contract. So, all is well in that department!
As well…for “dinner”, Sophie and I found this amazing ice cream store with a gazillion flavours of ice cream and sherbets. Because we were both still really full from our huge lunch, we shared one – Straciatella and Grapefruit. They were both amazing…and the grapefruit was so fruity – very awesome.
And…after my run…we ate an apple, looked at my pictures on the comoputer and went to bed!

Yep…quite an excellent girls day!! Made me really happy!! I don’t think I’ve talked that much in one day in a long time! I’ve definitely missed Sophie…

Night

-Allison

June 22

Friday, June 22, 2007

Today will be simple to write about. It went something like this:

-Woke up at 6:30 because I wanted to go for a run. But, it was raining so I went back to bed until 7:30.

-Braded Eva’s hair before 8am and said good bye. She was really, really sad! She is so cute!!

-Went for a run until 9am…it had stopped raining by that point

-Had breakfast. Made a sandwich for dinner. Finished packing. Showered.

-Mme Lenfant was at the house not long after 10:00 to pick me up and take me to Paris. I didn’t even say good bye to Elisa because she was basically not at the house for the past 2 days…and didn’t bother waking up to say bye!

-At the train station, I said good-bye to Mme Lenfant, reaffirmed the fact that I want to continue helping out with OSEF, and proceeded to sit in the train station for 4 hours! It was long…but it’s the “hurry up and wait” philosophy!

I arrived in Toulouse after 2 trains and 7 hours in them…it was long, and I am happy that I am sleeping for the ride back to Paris. That will help the time go by. Sophie was there waiting for me – she hasn’t changed at all! It was totally great! And so great to see her too!!
Dani’s friend has a car, so they also came to pick me up – a good thing, because my “carry-on” weighs a ton!! Dani is at an engineering school for airplanes here in Toulouse and Sophie is doing her summer internship for Chemistry here in Toulouse so they can actually see each other.
Sophie is renting a little (and I mean little!!) residence room at the “University Paulsabatier”, which is a huge campus next to the canals that run to Toulouse centre. It actually only costs her 75 Euros a month to rent the room (which is a good thing because tonight will be the first night she actually sleeps at her place)!!
Anyway…we are sleeping in Sophie’s little “cupboard” for the next 6 nights. It promises to be an adventure with no fridge, microwave, and showers and toilets down the hall…kind of like the Venice camping all over again! So, technically, there won’t be any problem at all!!!
It is sooo good to see Sophie again!!

Night

-Allison

No Blogs!!!

Hi

Well...just so you all know...I am in Toulouse, but I don't often have internet access...so I doubt there will be any entries in here until I return home - which will be this Friday, the 29th. And today, because I was able to use the computer, I forgot my USB key.

It is beautiful here and very hot. Sophie and I have been busy walking, biking, rollar blading, and shopping!! It's been a great couple of days and my last four look pretty fine as well!!!

See you later!!

-Allison

June 21

Thursday, June 21, 2007
Wow! My ability to "relax" has reached its all-time high – or low…I don’t really know! I did absolutely nothing productive today at all!! Nothing.
I woke up at six am this morning. I was not impressed with myself at all! It didn’t really help that the three smaller cows were busy mooing right under my window either! I read some stupid-girl magazines in bed until 8am – it is against all of my rules to get out of bed before 8 O’clock!!
Yep…ate breakfast and spent a good ½ hour attempting to connect to the internet. I don’t really have any luck with that connection here! And then, I spent until noon attempting to burn CDs and when that didn’t work, transferring Elisa’s songs onto my computer with my clé USB (can not remember how to say that in English at the moment…). The only problem with those USB things is that mine is only big enough to hold 3 songs! I had 73 to be transferred!! Oh well…I didn’t really have all that much going on!
Celine and I ate sandwiches for lunch – it is weird to me how much I appreciate eating like we do at home. My body likes eating less at lunchtime too…some things are hard to change, I guess!!
I did not want to go running after my very long nap…so I went for a 2 hour walk along the small roads between the fields and the cows this afternoon. It was very pleasant! I really like how the birds appear out of nowhere in the fields when I walk by.
Uggg…packing was amusing as well! Everything STILL fits into my 2 bags, but they are way heavy! My plan is to pack everything into only those two until I get to the airport next week, and then I’ll put stuff into my duffle because I know I am overweight on both bags at the moment!
Speaking of the train…I am super excited because next Thursday I am taking the over night train from Toulouse to Paris! How cool is that? I get to sleep on the train. I am very excited about that!!
Tomorrow is Paris – Toulouse on the train to see Sophie! I am quite excited about that as well!! Yeah! She’s got school/project/work until 6pm during the week, but we’ll have all weekend as well as the evenings, so that will be pretty cool. And they have to come to Canada next year, so I should be able to see her then!!! A contract is a contract!
Later
-Allison

June 20

Wednesday, June 20, 2007
I am getting a lot better at relaxing…practice, I guess!!!! And I actually did stuff today too, so it was a good combo!Elisa and I went to Rouen this morning. Since Celine isn’t working she was able to drive us there and pick us up this afternoon, which was great because I don’t really like paying for the bus! I can not get over how much time she spends running around! It is absolutely nutty – she is perpetually driving people everywhere…I feel bad that I am adding to her driving time, but she insist that it would be the same even if I wasn’t here!
I was in such a shopping mood today too!! I could have done some serious damage, but I restrained myself and managed to only buy one pair of pants! And pants really aren’t off limits…it is just dresses and skirts that mom said I shouldn’t really buy any more (I know, I have a lot of everything…)!! But these are linen pants and are very cool – and they are black, so they won’t even get dirty like typical linen clothes!! So smart, I am J.
There was this great pair of blue ballerina shoes with square toes that I was really tempted to buy, but they were at a national store, so when I am wandering around Toulouse, I can go look for them there and make a decision about them! I quite like ballerina shoes – they don’t hurt my feet or knees at all…so that is kinda nice!! Now the only problem is that all my pants will be too long!! (More shopping – just kidding…I don’t have money to do that!)
Elisa did quite a bit of damage…two skirts, one pair of pants, a pair of shoes…she even had to borrow money from me in order to pay!!
I also went and got my ID bracelet that I’d bought 2 weeks ago. I was a little disappointed at the beginning because it isn’t like Kendra’s – and that’s what I’d had in my head! But after I did my "analysis" of it I decided I like it! (I’d better like it, it cost enough!!) No, it is very cool. I am very glad that I got one this time!! Makes me happy!!
I had a nap when I got back to the house around three and after spending a couple hours going through Elisa’s music to make a French CD for myself (hard to do when she has more English music than French!) I finally decided to go for a run…I was really not motivated! But, actually, it ended up being a really good run! I did some nice hill intervals and all the cows got to watch me semi-die! Quite nice!!
And we had a cool dinner again tonight. It was a hot stone plate in the middle of the table where we cooked little pieces of meat. Kind of like fondue, but without the chicken broth part! It was very fun. I like making food like that at the table…a lot more interesting!
And now bed!!
Night
-Allison