First week of classes.

Hello all,

WARNING: This post has a lot of pro-Cincinnati stuff in it and may be perceived as drinking Haterade at TBS. It is not. I am just comparing UC to TBS. Please proceed with caution.

After touring Toulouse and being slowly introduced into the European system, classes have begun. Toulouse Business School has the weirdest/WORST schedules of all time. The classes are from 9:00am-5:00pm. The classes are also scheduled FOR you. You have zero say in what your schedule will be. Also, the classes change weekly and you have to check every single day. My OCD cannot handle this mayhem and foolishness. It makes me feel like my brain will actually explode.

The best way that I can describe it (in University of Cincinnati lingo) is that it is a nightclass that you have during the day. The class is scheduled once a week for 3 hours per week. Instead of three 1-hour classes or two 1.5-hour classes. On a positive note, it is nice that you only have it once per week. However, it makes the day DRAG ON. I had this Budgeting class and a Purchasing class on Wednesday. I ended up not needing the Budgeting class which I realized about 15 minutes into the lecture. I figured that I should stay in the case of an unfortunate scheduling snafu and needing to complete the course. I came to the realization when he said: This is an accounting course. I was like NO, WHO PUT THIS CRAP ON MY SCHEDULE I AM DONE WITH MONEY-RELATED COURSES. The second part of the first day I had a Purchasing class. I really liked my professor. She is this really enthusiastic British woman It was quite enjoyable to listen to her.Thursday, I had a Business to Business Negotiation class. It was awesome. My professor is extremely interactive and also British. I did enjoy my classes but I did not enjoy the time spent in class. I much prefer the scheduling at UC but I guess I'm just going to have to get over it (and myself).

Another issue with the study abroad program is that UC doesn't allow courses taken at other universities compute into your UC GPA. Meaning, a "C" is equal to an "A." This is good news for me because I can just get a C and still get my credits. I do not plan for shooting for mediocrity buuuuuut I'm not going to kill myself for an A when it sincerely doesn't matter.

I just have to take a moment to give some mad props to University of Cincinnati Lindner College of Business. HEAR ME OUT: I am extremely prideful to be a student of the Lindner College of Business(LCB). I felt that I was adequately prepared for the courses that I am taking now at Toulouse Business School (TBS). I'm not meaning that the information being taught at TBS is a repeat of material that I've already learned. I feel like I can effectively contribute in lecture from drawing on my knowledge from LCB. Also, I clearly have taken for granted the amazing lecture halls that the Lindner College of Business has. It feels almost prehistoric sometimes in the lectures at TBS. There are very old desks and chairs (looking like it belongs to a 90's high school). I was a little shocked by this because the TBS bachelor program building is very modern and gorgeous! The Lindner College of Business has an awesome facility that is conducive to the technology that has become necessary in the education field. TBS doesn't have the same classroom set-up and it is difficult for me adjust to that. For example: my new alarm clock has a USB port so I can charge my phone while I sleep. OR SO I THOUGHT. As it turns out, it doesn't work :( I found this out about 10 minutes before leaving for my classes. Phone battery meter read 8%. This is one of those really small but infuriating problems. My next thought was: Oh, well I'm CERTAIN that in my lecture hall, there will be chargers all over the place. (Because hey, at UC... They are EVERYWHERE) FALSE. I had to sit next to the wall, in a corner, BY MYSELF to charge my phone.

I miss it.

I'm done complaining about school because that was mainly for me to vent. I don't mean to offend the TBS but UC takes the cake as it comes to classroom facilities.

Anyways,

Last night a bunch of the international students went out for a night on the town. I must admit that our group has been very shy and awkward with one another up until last night. I mean, this is a huge life change... Most people are not going to adapt perfectly to a brand new environment and people right away. I've been very shy and awkward myself because I feel as if I am hated because I am an American and I know NOTHING about other cultures. But last night we all met up at one of the international students' apartment. Charlotte, she is from Belgium and definitely a cool girl. Maybe one day, I will be as cool as her. (Seriously) The group is no longer awkward. It was great to get to see everyone let loose and have a good time. Toulouse's night life isn't very different from UC. Bars close at 2:00am. You go home. I would rate UC better though only because SKYLINE IS OPEN UNTIL 4:00am. And there is a Skyline. So Cincinnati wins on late-night food options.

I miss skyline.

Last day of adventuring before classes begin.

Hello all!

Today was another day of adventure and new things in Toulouse. The group of international students that I met yesterday all went on a walking tour of Toulouse. It was a sunny, windy and just slightly chilly day. It was gorgeous. I know those reading in Cincinnati are thinking, SHUT UP, IT IS SNOWMAGEDDON OVER HERE. On a side note, whenever I tell people I'm from the United States, the first thing they ask is, Ohhh lot of snow at home?! I reply oui but not here! I swear, that snowstorm must be pretty terrible. I should probably keep up with my home life but I can't live two lives at once!

Anyways, our overly-positive and extremely patriotic tour guide proudly led us through all the important monuments surrounding the Capitole of Toulouse. There is an incredible amount of history surrounding Toulouse. I wasn't aware that it was so complex. I also didn't realize that Toulouse dates back to the 8th century! Everything is just incredible. I took some pictures but I didn't want to seem over tourist-y... I have months to adventure and take all the pictures I want. The tour went on for about 3 hours. It feels nice to have time to be able to enjoy the city BEFORE we begin our courses. After the tour we I had lunch with Olivia on the Capitole square. Holy moley. The food was FANTASTIC.

The woman in the blue coat pointing was our tour guide. She was incredibly knowledgeable!

These were all significant but I can't remember what exactly each were... We saw a TON of buildings... I need to do a bit of research on this :)

A few lunch pictures:

The menu of Les Tenors (all in French). This took a while for Olivia and I to figure out completely...

Wine at lunch? We are in France, right?

(Yes, I did get a burger. Best burger I've ever had btw)

Olivia and the Capitole building behind her.

And of course, we couldn't leave without some caffeine :)

Classes actually begin tomorrow... So wish me luck :)

First day of school, sort of!

Hello all,

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures today, so another day of writing... Sorry!

I want to inform everyone in Cincinnati that I am capable of navigating the French public transportation system. Today I had to ride two subways/"metros"/"Linges" (sorry for this incessant clarification, I just know that it can be easily confused) and take a bus to the Bachelor Programme building. It lies outside of the city Toulouse but it really isn't too far. I had to take 3 stops on subway/"metro" Linge B to Linge A until the end of the line of Linge A (5 stops) and then take bus #83 to Entiore. The time for riding both subways/"metros" was about 15 minutes and the time for the bus was about 10-12 minutes. I missed the first bus but they arrive in 15-17 minute intervals. So today it was about 45 minutes total. I am feeling better with my French because I asked people on the bus, "Est-ce l'arrêt Entiore ?" - Is this the Entiore stop? She replied in full-blown French and I said, "L'anglais est ma langue maternelle, je parle très peu le français." She just smiled and nodded then held up two fingers and said, "Deux arrêts." - Two stops. "Merci beacoup !" - Thank you very much!

I ended up getting there (early I might add) and following the crowd of people walking towards the building. I wasn't sure if it was the right building until I was standing right in front of the sign. Thank goodness it was the correct building. There was an International Student meet & greet along with breakfast. I met all the other students and none were from America! There was a student from Canada, North Korea, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Puerto Rico, and a few others that I can't remember. All of them had pretty good English. It was amazing to me! Everyone was so nice and welcoming! Everyone (all the international students) hit it off right away. Everyone was connecting and conversing effortlessly. We all shared our stories of moving in, the troubles we faced with Toulouse and our small amount of knowledge of the French language. We were all in the same boat and it was nice to be able to talk about it with everyone.

Olivia, the Canadian girl was really pleasant because not only was she nice but English is her first language. It was nice to have a conversation where I didn't have to phrase the same sentence 5 ways. I don't blame anyone whose second language is English when they do not understand an English word, phrase or idiom, etc. I cannot imagine being even halfway competent with French. Also, I couldn't imagine learning English either... I mean seriously, it makes zero sense. But who knows what my experience level with the French language will be in 3 months time? ;)

After the meet & greet, breakfast, administrative presentation, our student ID photographs taken, and a tour, we had an ENORMOUS lunch. Let me just elaborate on this lunch: a pint of pasta salad, a 8-inch sub, hazelnut and cocoa (nutella) candy bar, miniature citrus pie, a huge chunk of bread and an orange. That is a lot of food for one sitting. I ate like two things and put the rest in my purse. It was funny to me because the French I guess take their time with lunch... We got in the cafeteria around noon and everyone was pretty much done about 40 minutes later. Then everyone sat and talked until about 1:00pm. At that point one of the welcome team leaders told us that in about 20 minutes we would go to their cars to take on our next ask of French phones and subway/"metro" passes. An hour and a half...? WHAT?!

We went to the Capitole to purchase subway/"metro" passes and French cell phones. The welcome team is AWESOME, tres kudos to them because they are dedicated to us International students. They drove us to the closest subway/"metro" station and then paid for everyone's rides to the next (if they needed a one-displacement pass). Then, we all went to the largest station (where subway/"metro" A & B intersect) "Jean Jaurès" and bought the passes. The people who work in the office of the Tisseu station speak ZERO English, so the welcome team acted as translators for us. It was inexpensive to get a subway/"metro" pass. It lasts for 31 days after purchase and was 18€. The card itself was 10€ so to reload at the end of 31 days it should be about 8€. The public transportation was extremely intimidating to me because I've never used it in my life (aside from grade school buses). However, after today, I feel completely competent. The French cell phones were 16€ for the cell phone and 10€ worth of minutes.

My welcome team leader, Maryne took me to this little exchange shop to change my USD for Euros. I was grateful that she took the time to walk me there. Also, Maryne shared with me that the particular shop had the best exchange rates. It was true. I did the math before the exchange and it was about 1€ = $1.39. This is a pretty good rate. I was very happy with that. Also, I now have euros! Yay! I had just spent my last 40€ on the subway/"metro" pass and French cell phone. So I'm no longer a bum (at the moment, that is). One of the students overheard that I hadn't exchanged my money quite yet and offered to pay the difference of what I had because getting the phone and subway/"metro" pass was extremely important . It was so awesome that although I had just met these people that they would offer that. It is definitely a good sign!!

I've learned so much in a short amount of time. Everything is new and exciting. As my study abroad advisor said, this phase will last for approximately a month. I'm okay with being this excited, engaged and happy for a month.I've done a complete 180 from where I was just three days ago. I'm so happy that today was successful. I'm settled in socially and beginning to have the accommodations of a normal European person (cell phone, euros, network/contacts etc.)

Each day gets better and better. Tonight there may be a get-together for the international students... I can't wait!! :)

Au revoir!

Hannah

A Rainy Sunday...

Hello all!

Thanks for all those who read my previous post, it was really encouraging to see the positive feedback from family and friends who read. It is so encouraging to know that people are cheering for me on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean :)

Also, for those who want to know a little about my apartment. I have an apartment on the first floor. However the first floor is not on ground level. It is more like a 3rd floor height above the street. What a HUGE RELIEF! Here are some pictures :)

This is the view from the front door. You can see my kitchenette to the left, a desk to the right, a dining table in front of the ladder, and a small "couch" up against the back wall on the right.

(Yes, I went to a French McDonald's... I was not in a good place about 48 hours ago...)

This is a view from the back wall of the front door. The front door is on the right. I haven't exactly unpacked so excuse the mess...

My apartment is lofted so the lofted portion has a ladder as an access point (not pleased) to get up to my bedroom/ chambre à coucher and bathroom/ salle de bain. This ladder is approximately 9-10 feet tall.

Whenever you get to the top of the ladder. My bed is immediately to the left and the bathroom is straight ahead.

This is a view of my bed from the bathroom.

This is a view of my apartment from the ladder down into the living room area. I really hope I don't fall. I'm pretty clumsy and I foresee a major injury in my future from falling off this ladder...

My bathroom vanity with all my toiletries... I'm almost ashamed but not really because I've embraced my high maintenance lifestyle. :)

So this is the shower. I have a huge complaint about this. It doesn't have an attachment on the wall so I can just stand there... I have to place it in the holder on the faucet while I clean myself. I am getting used to it but it is so annoying! Also, the hot water runs out in about... 7 minutes. I am taking the shortest showers I've ever taken. NO WONDER THE FRENCH DON'T SHAVE! SHOWERING IS ANNOYING! 

Today, I adventured the city a bit. I am becoming more and more comfortable with the subway/ "metro" system in Toulouse. I can find where I need to go, and get on the correct "linge". Tomorrow it will be put to the test because I need to take the subway/"metro" and a bus to school. Unfortunately, the bachelor program is outside of the Toulouse city. It doesn't seem too far because it is only about 5 subway/"metro" stops and 5 bus stops. When I checked the website that handles the public transportation information, it said a total trip time of 25 minutes. So, I can deal with that. It isn't as convenient as one could want but it isn't exactly fighting traffic on 75 Southbound on Monday morning with UC in session. I guess I will find out tomorrow.

Anyway, back to the adventures. Lara met with her Italian friend, Jean. He speaks French, Italian and a little English. His English wasn't as bad as he said it was... It is funny because I asked him to help me with French and he responded with NO! I need to practice my English! We ate lunch together at the only shop open. Apparently the French do not believe in working on Sunday, so many many many places were closed. We found a few but this was a nice little bakery and couldn't resist. I ordered this little salad because I couldn't pronounce the sandwiches' names correctly. "Je prends la salade, s'il vous plaît. Merci beacoup !" - I'll take the salad please. Thank you very much! I think I exude American all over the place and most French people giggle or try some English with me. It is comforting that as long as I lead with French that they aren't mean. Just a lot of "please's" and "thank you's." As I was eating the salad there was some American cheese, Swiss cheese and this French cheese that I'm not sure what type. I tried the French cheese and BOY WAS IT PUNGENT. I kind of choked and my eyes got all watery. Lara and Jon asked what was the matter?!? I just told them that the cheese was really strong and had a very full flavor. Jon's reply was, "oh, in America your cheese is plastic!! THIS is how cheese really is!" I got a good laugh out of that. The bread is unbelievable. It is so good. Even the cheap bread is delicious. 

Here is my delicious salad! Guess which cheese is plastic?!

We went to the Capitole of Toulouse and walked around for awhile. On a side note, I will have some killer legs when I return to America. We walked for about 2-3 hours. I took some pictures, please enjoy!

This is the Capitole building. It was built in the 18th century and it is not just a place for the councillors/officials to meet but a place utilized by the people of Toulouse!

This is Lara and I in front of the Capitole building.

Here are some pictures from around the town. It was a huge shopping area but nearly all the stores were closed because it was Sunday.

Gorgeous!

People basically walk where ever they want and the cars just kind of honk at you to get out of the way.

This is a photo of the Pont Neuf bridge. It crosses the Garonne river.

This is a photo of the Pont Saint Pierre bridge. It also crosses the Garonne river.

Today was another extremely successful day in Toulouse! It was so great to meet up with Lara and her friend Jean. Jean was so nice and pleasant. He speaks three languages. (WOW) It was so funny because he would get mixed up and begin speaking to me in Italian or French. I would let him finish his sentence because I didn't want to be rude... But Lara wouldn't, she'd bust out laughing at him and say, she speaks English!

I had the first encounter of the the "faire la bise," or  "to kiss." It is like goodbye but it was just funny to me because I've never done it seriously before. No biggie, just some more culture for me.

This is a happy Hannah! Not dead and not crying!

This experience gets better each day! I don't feel defeated or upset. Yes, I am homesick but I'm definitely no longer miserable here. Well, at the moment. 

That's all for today. Tomorrow I will begin to be more busy because school starts. Hopefully, I can make it to my school on time and figure out the bus system. I'm sure everything will be just fine!

Au revoir!

Hannah

The first day in France!

Dear blog readers,

I will warn you that I haven't taken many pictures yet so this will be all writing.

I had quite a wild ride into France. Flights delayed then undelayed, missed flights, European street system, subway/"metro" and then my apartment.

First let me address the flights: I was originally scheduled to leave CVG at 5:50pm on January 2nd. Well, I got a notification that my flight had been delayed until 6:20pm due to the snow/ ice around 11:00am. I still arrived to the airport around 4:00pm or so just to make sure everything was in order. I ended up having time to have a last starbucks in the US with my mom, dad and Sam. It was so nice to be able to have that.
We realized that it was getting close to my departure time and that I should probably get through security and to the terminal.
This was a good idea because we didn't know that my flight was switched back to the regular time: 5:50pm.
By the time I got through security, it was about 5:30pm and then, of course, my terminal was at the furthest end of the airport.
So I ran across the airport to make it to my flight, which I did.
However, we didn't board until 5:50 even though the ticker said it was leaving at 5:50pm. Then we had to sit in a line of planes waiting to be deiced before take off. This took yet another 2 hours. We were finally on the way around 8:00pm-8:15pm. I was able to finish a movie before we actually took off. (The Help, it was marvelous btw.) I will comment that Delta had a pretty wide selection of movies and shows on their little TV's. It was really nice to be able to watch new movies. I mean, I had 6 hours and it was dark.

We got into Paris around 9:10am, Paris time, and 3:00am, Cincinnati time.  My connecting flight was at 9:35am... I got off the plane at 9:20am. Again, I ran across the airport like a crazy woman but I had to go through customs and security. By the time I was done with that, it was 9:40am. I still went to the gate but the plane was gone. So, things I have experience with: missing your connecting flights. I know it isn't major but it was my first time experiencing it. I ended up getting on the next flight to Toulouse, at 12:50pm. Luckily, only a 2-3 hour layover. I was exhausted at that point.

I got on the flight to Toulouse and that was the point of no return for me. I know that I can go home if I really want to at any point (with a hefty price tag attached) but what kind of experience would that be? I got into Toulouse and met with Emmanuel who picked me up from the airport. Then he dropped me off at the apartment. I thought that Emmanuel would be more helpful but he just kicked me out of his car and drove off. It was moderately irritating.
I got to my apartment and the woman showed me the apartment. I didn't know it was a lofted apartment...
So that was a big unwelcome surprise. As I was signing papers, checking everything out and bringing my luggage up to my apartment I ended up meeting an Italian student, her name is Lara. She helped me with my bags and that was so kind of her.

After getting my apartment signed for and the keys, it was then just me. Alone in my apartment. It was incredibly overwhelming. Lara and I ended up running into each other again and decided to head to the store to get some necessities for the night. Blankets, sheets, towels, bottles of water etc. So we went down to the nearest store. It ended up not having any of those things, it was more of a grocery store... Or so we thought. We gave up on that place and ended up roaming the streets of Toulouse for about 3 hours to see what else was open. There were "pharmacies," it was a store containing only a pharmacy. In America, a pharmacy is more of a convenient store, so that was a weird moment to have. We also went to a sporting goods store, where I found a beach towel, good enough for one night.

Last night, as any high maintenance white girl would... I had a serious mental breakdown... It was pathetic. I was jet-lagged, exhausted, hungry, confused, alone and frustrated. Not a good mix. I cried for several hours. I finally ended up talking to my best friend, a good friend who just got back from studying abroad, my boyfriend and my mother. I decided to stop being such a baby and realize that this is what I signed up for. I went to bed and got some much needed rest.

The next day, I woke up late but I needed the sleep. I ended up connecting with Lara (my new Italian friend) and she is in the same boat as me. We decided to try out the subway (which is called the "metro" here). I won't lie, I was so terrified of even trying. Lara was the same. We were asking these French people how to get to IKEA and this girl was so nice and tried at English and we were trying at French, "Ou est le plus proche IKEA?" - Where is the closest IKEA? She was like Ohh!! Pointed on a map and just followed her finger on the subway map. That was exactly what we needed. We had to take two subways and the 2nd to the end of the line... Easy enough. We got there and there was no IKEA to be found. We ended up walking around for about an hour or so and then it started raining. So not ideal at all but we ended up just walking into the mall across the metro stop and found a huge super store called, "Achete" - or "Buy." They ended up having everything that we could ever think of. Before proceeding, I had the moment of truth with my debit card: Can I actually pull out Euros...? It did! Yay!!

So we went into the store with these cute little baskets with wheels that you drag around behind you. Used the phrase "Escusez moi" and "Pardon moi" about 300000 times. It was PACKED and there were many sales on linens so thank goodness. On the way back though... It was SO CROWDED!! I'm sure some health code violations were made. Also, the French are cool with just bumping into eachother and not addressing it... For example: I was walking into the subway train and there were about 30 people trying to get into a small set of doors. People were just pushing (more like shoving) you along. The subway was packed and smelled pretty unpleasant. BUT hey, got us from point A to point B without any problems.

Now, I am so much better. I haven't cried yet and my apartment is coming together quite well. This is the most challenging thing that I've ever done.
I'm now going to list the things that I miss about America:
1.) TARGET or even Walmart, I wouldn't have cared
2.) No smartphone (I could have an international data plan but that would be outrageously expensive and cost more than it is worth)
3.) Reliable wifi
4.) BRANDING (Such as, many stores were branded exactly as IKEA, blue and yellow but they were NOT IKEA)
5.) Signs in English (I knew that would happen but it doesn't make it suck any less)

I'm going to list the things that I think are great about France:
1.) Public transportation: it is very efficient and used by nearly everyone
2.) Economical mindset: you actually have to PAY for plastic bags at the store!!
3.) The old/historic buildings: they are so beautiful!!


This was so long but it is good for me to write it out and to update everyone who cares to know that I am NOT dead and I am doing just fine! I have a lot of learning and adjusting ahead of me but I can manage :)

I miss everyone very much but I will be back in... only 110 days.

Au revoir!

Hannah