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