Unexpectedly, I am writing this wall post from Toulouse, France. A friend of mine, Miao, that I work with at Starbucks in Madison has been traveling around Europe for the past couple of weeks of winter break. On Friday night around 8pm, I was on Facebook and started chatting with him. He said he was in Toulouse and staying with some friends at their apartment. He asked if I wanted to visit him at all. Unfortunatley he was only staying until next Friday, and because I have started class, I cannot visit during the week. After scrambling around online and attempting to understand the way buses work in Spanish, I found a bus from Barcelona to Toulouse for relatively cheap. So Friday night, I packed my bags and decided I would go! But before I talk about that, I will start from Thursday where I left off...

So Thursday was tapas with our guardian angel. Anna (my GA), took our group to a place called "Tapas 16," a restaurant that was not very close to touristy parts of Barcelona, so it was smaller and cheaper. They brought us so many types of food. Some of the tapas I have had before, but there were some new ones too. We also had some excellent sangria and just stayed for a long time and chatted.

After that, we went to attempt and find a bar to go to before we went to the club. We ended up at a bar called "chupitos" which was a really fun shot bar. They had all sorts of shots, ones that you could roast a marshmallow, dip it in the shot and eat it. They set things on fire and carmalized sugar, etc etc. It was really cool, the bartenders knew a lot of different tricks.

We ended up at a club called "Otto" that was pretty far away. The entire program (all 90 CIEE business students) and our guardian angels ended up there. It was a really fun time, but I think they only took us to this club because they play a lot of hip hop and rap music and that is what Americans are known for listening to when they party. It was fun, but I think I would like to try another club that is probably electronic/techno music because that is more what Europeans like to do. I was happy to be able to go out with everyone though, it was a fun time.

Friday I slept most of the day after class, and then in the evening made those plans with Miao. I also went to my friend (and roommate for next year) Katie's new apartment because they moved in a couple of days before. Her and my other friends from Wisconsin, Lisa, are also studying in Barcelona through a different program. Me and some other friends in my program went over to their apartment and got to check it out and just hang out for awhile. It was really fun, and I am jealous of their amazing apartment!

The next morning I woke up around 6am, wrote my host mom a note saying I would be gone for the weekend and headed to the bus station. The bus ride was outrageously long, it was over 6 hours because we made frequent stops. I arrived in Toulouse around 4pm, and realized that my cell phone was not working in France. I had Miao's friend, Jerome, cell phone number, but I could not call it from my phone! So I attempted to try a payphone, but the directions were all in French! I literally do not know ANY French, save "bonjour" or "merci," and actually started to become slightly nervous that I woudl not be able to contact Miao. By amazing luck, as I was attempting to figure out the payphone, I heard "Amanda?" from behind me. Miao and Jerome had come to the bus stop and were waiting for my arrival!! I had never been so happy to see someone in my entire life! I think next time I need a better plan...

We decided to walk a little bit around the city, and Miao and I walked a bit more because Jerome had to get home to write a paper. We stopped at a cafe and I got espresso and crepes! Wow, there are crepes everywhere here, and they were delicious. It was also realy cool to see Toulouse at night.

After crepes, Miao and I took the metro back to Jerome's apartment and had pizza and drinks. Then we went to a friend of Jerome's apartment to hang out with a bunch of his friends. I was a little intimidated because I really do not know any French, but all of his friends were so nice and welcoming, and they all can speak English. We al lhung out there and listened to music and then went to an electronic club. This was my first experience with an electronic club and it was really a fun time!! I love to dance, so it was great.

I slept until very late and woke up to an amazing breakfast. Jerome and his roommate, Matieus, had made us a very French meal. Well at least some of it was French, we had porkchops, rice, some kind of sour cream sauce, and ratatouille. Rataouille (besides being an animated film) is a type of vegetable medley that has zuccini, peppers, tomatoes and is cooked with really great spices that I don't know of. It was so delicious and definitely my favorite part of the meal.

After we ate, Miao and I decided to walk around the city more so that I could sight-see before I leave tomorrow. Toulouse is very beautiful, and I got to see some old architecture and great paintings in the capitol buidling. There is a river and canal that run through that we walked along. Most stores were closed today because it was Sunday, but it was nice to walk around without huge crowds from all the sales that are going on this month in Europe.

Around 8:00, we went back to the apartment and had dinner. One of the things was duck liver, which I thought I would never try because it sounded disgusting, but I tried it anyway. I did not really like it, but I guess it is a French delicacy. It is actually illegal in the US because of how they actually make the liver, but i won't go into details because it is kind of a sad process.

Anyway, Miao and I just looked at pictures of his travels to Norway, Switzerland, London, and Paris and then he went to bed because he is very tired. It may seem crazy that I decided to come to Toulouse when it is literally my first weekend in Barcelona, but i am so happy I did because I probably would have never seen this city or met such nice people while I was here. Hopefully I would be able to visit Toulouse again!

Tomorrow my bus leaves at 9am, I'll probably return around 4 again. Not sure what my plans are for the week, but I'll update soon...as the French say, "bonne nuit!"

Love,

Amyx, Amanda, Mandy