I Parled a Bit Today

While sitting here without internet last night, I wrote this:

I finally made it to France. I promise I will write very soon about Barcelona and my last week in Spain, because there are some stories to tell. But right now, the France thing is in my mind and I’m excited about it.

We (my roommate, Teresa, and I) took a bus from Santander to Barcelona which took about 9 hours overnight (sucks, but saves a night of lodging costs). The bus left at 9:00 p.m., and I managed to stay awake until about midnight. Once it got dark (around 10:30) it was much more difficult to stay awake. I slept on and off for the rest of the night. We got into Barcelona around 6:30 a.m. Then we went into the bus/train station and had breakfast.

We got on another bus from Barcelona to Toulouse around 9:00 a.m., and got here around 4:00 p.m. We took the most expensive 1 mile taxi drive ever, and got to our dorms. After a little searching around we figured out where we were supposed to go, and got our keys. My conversation with the woman behind the counter weas half in elementary French and half in elementary English. She must have thought I was so dumb.

But we figured everything out eventually, and we unpacked and got situated. Then we went to dinner at a pizza place (because apparently no one needs to eat out at restaurants on Sunday nights. No one needs to do anything on Sunday nights apparently – the cyber café was closed as was every store we passed.

As far as internet goes, it’s still a little up in the air. The woman who checked us in did not know how we could access the wi-fi here. She said there wasn’t any. But when I turned on my computer, it found a wireless network, but I need an id and a password. Hopefully I can get that tomorrow. UPDATE: There is no wireless internet access here in our dorm rooms. So I had to go to an electronics store today and buy a cable, because there is actually internet access in the rooms - only you have to get it from the wall.

I don’t have class until next week. I plan to spend this week catching up on blogging, exploring the city and writing all my papers for the Spain session. Teresa is going to go to Germany and Amsterdam, which is where my other Spain roommate is staying right now. I guess they’ll meet up there. They were both good roommates, and I wouldn’t have wanted to room with anyone else there, but it will be really nice to have my own room here. It will be nice to have a week to chill out and unwind alone. Plus I want to test my mettle - a week alone in a foreign country will do that.

My French is pretty rusty, but I think it will come back quickly – especially being alone this week. I was able to get us around pretty well today, and I think I’ll improve quickly. It’s really fun being here. As soon as we were in France today, I just felt happier. I’m more comfortable here than Spain – probably because I’ve been to France before. I can’t wait to find a bakery to get some pain-au-chocolate. I can’t wait to find a creperie. I can’t wait to be understood by someone who speaks French. While on the bus, I kept looking out at the countryside and thinking of the movie “French Kiss.” My favorite lines:

Kate: “What’s that face? You don’t think it’s beautiful here?”
Luke: “Pshhh. I was born here.”
Kate: “You were? But this is so beautiful and charming.”
Luke: “Ah oui, it was too beautiful for me. I had to leave.”

I know it’s lame, but I’m thinking of going to bed soon. It’s only 8:30, but nothing’s open anyways. I can’t get online, and I hardly slept last night. We’ll see how it goes.

Now with internet in my room, I am writing the rest of this post.

This morning I went to an internet cafe for awhile, where I caught up on emails, and chatted with a few people. Then Teresa left for the train station, and I came back to the dorms. I found someone in the office, and she is the one who told me how I could get internet here, and what kind of cable to buy, etc. Then I went out on my adventure to find the cable.

I went for a really long walk in all the wrong directions, but it was pretty fun. I got to know the lay of the land pretty well. Now I have plans about what I want to go out and see tomorrow. I finally found the store that sells cables (a Best Buy type of store). Right outside of it was a patisserie, where I promptly bought a pain au chocolate and a bottle of water.

I took the metro (which I was able to master rather quickly) back to my stop. Right outside of the stop is a park with lots of benches. I sat down on a bench and enjoyed my pastry. I found a newspaper nearby that no one was reading, and in it were movie times. I may try to check out a movie here - if it's not too expensive. Then I started walking back to my dorm, and on the way I passed a little store.

I got some necessities and some diet coke and some frozen quiche for dinner tonight, and then came home. When I got here there was a note under my door from Teresa, who couldn't get on the train she wanted so she is leaving later tonight. So we went back out because she was hungry (so was I - pain au chocolate is wonderful, but not especially filling, and it was 1:30 pm by now and it's all I had eaten all day). We got roast beef sandwiches on baguettes, and sat in the park some more.

Now I'm "home," enjoying my internet and my room (which isn't too too hot). I will play around online a little more, and then I think I'll work on one of my papers. There is a kitchen down the hall where I can use a microwave and/or oven to make my quiche later. It's been a bon jour.