Le 19 janvier

Wow, I can't believe I have already been here for two weeks! This past week whizzed by and I am sure this one will too, I have so much going on! I had my first real class at the Dickinson Center today. It is a class about the relations between France and China and their cultures. It is hard to tell after only one class but I think it will be a very interesting class. Our professor is great, he's very funny and easy to understand which is great because I think once my classes start at the Mirail I will be in over my head! I have decided to take three classes at the Dickinson Center and then two the Mirail. (The Mirail is one of the French universities in Toulouse.) Of course, all of my courses will be in French but they won't all be about France necessarily. The other two courses at the Dickinson Center are a grammar class and a photography course.

Tomorrow we are going over to the Mirail as a group to familiarize ourselves with the campus and figure out what courses we want to take. I have heard the campus isn't that great but the professors and courses make up for the ugly campus. The University is pretty far away from "centre ville" but it has its own metro stop so apparently it isn't too difficult to get to. Then after our tour, we are all going over to the U.S. Embassy to see the inauguration. I am so excited, I think it will be very interesting to see the inauguration here in France and see what the French think. I have had a few conversations with my host family about it and have seen posters with Obama on them throughout the city. It will be a very momentous day! The rest of this week will be taken up by more classes and another trip to the Mirail.

This weekend was a lot of fun. As I mentioned before, I went to Albi with the Dickinson group on Saturday which was a very cute town. After we arrived we had a short tour of the town and then saw La Cathédrale Sainte Cécile which is the biggest monument made out of brick in the world! It was HUGE! In class on Friday our professor told us this but it didn't really register. Anyways, we spent some time in there before adjourning for lunch. We had two hours to eat and explore. After lunch, we visited the Toulouse-Lautrec museum. Toulouse-Lautrec was born in Albi so the museum is filled with his artwork which was really neat as well.



Outside the museum there are beautiful gardens. We had an hour after we left the museum to hang out so I walked around the gardens with a couple friends and tried to imagine just how beautiful they would have been if it were spring. Before leaving, I stopped into the chocolate shop and got a little treat for the train ride back. It was a great day, and I slept very well Saturday night!


This weekend I am hoping to take another day trip to a town called Carcassone. I am also planning a trip up to Norwich, England to visit some friends. I am so fortunate to have this opportunity to travel and immerse myself in all of these different cultures, it is incredible.

Bonne nuit,
Molly