Location: Toulouse, France

Date: Sept 24th-.....

Toulouse and Finding an Apartment

So I last wrote from the train, looking at beautiful Germany, while a lovely german student spoke with me in english about my route from Munich to Toulouse. On my second transfer on route to Paris, I met a frazzled woman from Calgary who was trying to meet her daughter but had gotten on the wrong train. She was going the same direction as me with 3 large suitcases, so I thought I'd stick with her. It was hilarious but nice to have the company on the late night trains. I slept in a couchette (small bunk on the over night train) and found as I moved further into France that the french are not as willing to get to know or offer assistance to foreigners. Especially with large bags and lots of stairs, I honestly thought I was going to pass out while large men passed me by without offering to help.

Ah well, once I arrived at the hostel, I began my epic search for an apartment. I have met some really nice people. I made a couple friends and we spent all weekend helping each other find apartments. Not an easy thing to do in Toulouse, as it is for the most part a city full of students who all arrive at the beginning of October in hopes of finding an apartment. And as I said before, they don't trust foreigners.

I went over to my university which is a little bit further away from the city center and I'm not lying when I say it is in the ghetto of Toulouse. It's my own fault for going on a weekend, but not a soul was there and the entire building is graffittied. I can't belive that UBC is sending us to this school, but I've been told that the professors are great and once there are students there it won't be as terrifying.

I finally got a phone today, as well as a bank account and the BIG news: an apartment. I stood outside a department store to meet Shirine, a french girl whose parents are from Argentina, who needs another roommate for the apartment which she moves into on Thursday. She will be living with an Australian girl as well, so that would be nice to have every so often. She showed me the outside which doesn't look all that great, but the photos of the interior and the area is awesome. It is, for the most part, a university area, much like the annex in Toronto. I am pretty excited to have found something and its right by a beautiful canal as well as the city center. If I like the looks of it tomorrow, I move in Thursday and can finally begin to get set up. As I walked back to the metro from the apartment today, I saw someone water skiing down the river and people laying out in the sun. Not bad. Hopefully it all works out. From there, I'm hoping to do some travelling before Mom arrives on the 10th. That's pretty much it for now, I'll add more photos and such soon once I figure it all out.

With Love,

Katy