After a long and very very tiring week…I have finally found
time to write another post! Hurrah! I have literally been thrown in the deep
end and done just about everything this week! Day 1…we went and set up a French
bank account…basically signed my life over to BNP Paribas…the lady was
yabbering away in French explain all the documents we had to sign, and being English,
we just signed them! Then it was the turn of the French phone! Until you have
to go without having a phone…you don’t realise just how useful it actually is!
Plus although I could call and text on my English phone in France I was missing
the internet! So down to SFR it was and voila…another document signed a new
French phone for Ellie J
whilst we’re on the topic of practical things I did last week…the main and
major thing was to FIND SOMEWHERE TO LIVE! Having booked an auberge de jeunesse for the week, we
knew we had a bit of time to find somewhere permanent. Ugh.
No. So basically in Toulouse you can get loads of studios and T1/T2s
(one/two bed apartments) but not so many T3+! So the struggle to find one for
us three English girls became a lot harder! FINALLY we rang some French people,
booked some viewings and headed on the Metro to Bagatelle for our first viewing…
OH MY. For those of you who have seen La
haine it felt like we were in the film! Sooo scared! But the apartment was beautiful!
Just a shame about the area…Oh well on to viewing number two… so we la-de-daa’d
down to Mermoz to a 5 bed Mansion! I.KID.YOU.NOT. There was a Jacuzzi in the
bathroom! We found it! This was going to be our new home…woohoo! We have made
friends with another Erasmus student who would take the 4th room and
we’d have a spare. But then they decided to bump the price up L so we we’re back to
square one again. Anyway to cut a loooong story short…we have found an
apartment…yay! It’s trop mignon –
very cute – small but beautiful! I can’t wait to move in. Yay for tomorrow J
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| Left: Beautiful Toulousian architecture. Right: The Capitolium, THE best place to hang out in Toulouse. |
Practical things aside… Toulouse is soooo beautiful! I love it so much! I love waking up and walking through the Place du Capitole everyday (we basically hang out there all the time!) and it’s also on my way to uni! The streets are soo cute…little cobbled roads with tall buildings with the beautiful architecture and massive wooden shutters! Aaaah Toulouse je t’aime!
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| Le Florida Cafe, traditional French cuisine - definitely recommended! The Capitolium by night - beautiful! |
We went for our first meal out last week to a fancy
restaurant called Le Florida where I
had Confit du Canard for the first
time. Everytime I see it in a cookbook, I want to make it, but then I remember
JUST how long it takes to cook! (24hours!!) So when I saw it on the menu I
jumped at the opportunity to have it! Soo whilst we were at the restaurant, we
decided to parler en francais and I
asked the waiter for some sel et pouvoir –
salt and pepper…or not…what I actually asked for was salt and power! Eh, je suis anglaise!
Then being a student we headed for the local bevvy store to
buy some alcohol (if you buy wine they open the cork for you!) and strolled
down to the river where EVERYONE drinks and socialises…because the weather is
so warm in the evenings it makes for a lovely night, with the bridged lit up
and cheap and cheerful drinks by the river!
…and finally the weekend came around. After a busy week, we
took this opportunity to relax and take a trip to the lake near Saint Ferroll. What a beautiful day it
was, 32 degrees, clear blue skies and to top it off, the journey only cost 3
euros!! Un.be.lievable! Anyway that’s my hectic life in Toulouse so far.
Bonne soirée.
