Oh Toulouse!

We went to Toulouse this weekend. It was crazy! The adventure started with the big storm a big storm that went all over south France. It knocked out the trains and trams, so we thought we were not going to be able to go to the party that was in Toulouse and that we had already paid 20 eros each to go to. This is what happened:

When we woke up we didn't know that the trams were shut down, so we got ready and walked to the stop. When we found out that there weren't any coming we went to the Grand Theater to see if we could find a cab to take us to the train station. So we stood in the rain and wind for like, 15 minutes when we decided to go around the theater to see if the cabs were waiting somewhere else. They were not, so we asked this guy if he knew where we could find any. He had been waiting in a doorway to be out of the rain while making a phone call. He said that there were not any around here, but that he would be happy to drive us to the train station, and even wait for us if we needed a ride back (since he was pretty sure that all trains were canceled). So we took him up on it and we ended up at the train station just in time for our departure time. But the trains were all canceled. Only the ones going up north (away from the storm) were still going. Thankfully, we were able to get our money back for the train tickets and we then went out and found a taxi outside.

Once back at Julie's we tried to see if there was any other option for getting to Toulouse. Have you ever heard of the website where, if you are driving someplace farther away and you have room in your car you advertise for a rider? Well, we found a ride! Unfortunately, it was for only 2 people. As 4 of us were going (Jeremy, Julie, Dibb and I) we thought at first that we should just not take it, but Julie had been looking forward to it for so long that I pressured for her and one of the boys to take up this ride offer and me and the other boy would have a weekend here. So that is what we did. Julie and Jeremy went with the strangers and Dibb and I stayed at Julies apartment, just hanging out. Soon after they left though, Julie called me and said that a friend of her friend's boyfriend was coming to the party and that he could come through Bordeaux to get us! What a miracle right?! So we were picked up by a nice guy and his parents and taken to Agen, a small town half way to Toulouse. There we dropped off his parents and the three of us went the rest of the way to Toulouse. The party started at 9, though we were going to "pre-game" at Adrien's (the boyfriend of the friend of Julie's, who was also the friend of Benjamin, the boy who drove us) before going to the actual party. We didn't end up getting to Adrien's until about 10pm! So we were a little late. During the ride we had fun talking. He could speak English pretty well, and we tried our French out on him. He is 22 and almost done school. He speaks French, English and Spanish! Isn't that crazy? He was super nice to, so it the whole thing was enjoyable. Even he agreed that it was like magic that we were able to get a ride from him. Once at the "pre-game" we were able to change to the nice clothes for the party and started to get to know the other people there.
We then walked over to the party around 12am. This party, you should understand, is the largest student organgized party in Europe. With over 2,000 people attending, it was also the largest party I have ever heard of. There was a waiting list to get in. You had to be well dressed and orderly to get in. There was security, so it was one of the safest parties around. And it went form 9pm on Saturday to about 7 or 8am on Sunday. It was a LONG night. They sereved food and drinkes in almost every room. SO intense.

It was crazy! They were so strict about how nice you had to look that Jeremy and Dibb didn't get in at first. It took them 2 hours to get outfits together that would pass! The girls and I were find, for we had actually wanted to get dressed up :) Once in it was weird. There was an interesting combination of drunk people and sober people. There were like, 10 different rooms with different genres of music playing in each one. I stuck with the girls that I knew and just went out dancing! It was so much fun! Remember what I have said about the different ways that boys pick up girls? Here was even more different! At this party, the boys would look around, and if they liked you, they would make eye contact. Then they would come up to you and just dance next to you until it had been a while and then they would reach for your hands. As a girl, you could let it go as far as you wanted. If you didn't want them to come over at all, you didn't return the smile or even look at them. If you were fine with them dancing you just didn't let them take you hand, etc. So it was nice. It was really easy to just keep your eyes on those you knew or closed or up at the ceiling or on the floor... that sort of thing.

The whole party was like this. We stayed until about 6:30 in the morning! It was crazy! And I didn't even really feel all that tired. By 7 I was feeling it though. We had had to walk back to Adrien's (which was about a 10 minute walk in the freezing cold!) and get our stuff. Then we had to walk to Mathilde's (Julie's friend who we were going to stay with for the night) which was another at least 20 minute walk. We were all SO cold. I had a shortish skirt on and just leggings, so I was freezing, and by the time we got to Mathilde's I could not feel my legs! Anyway, we got there and realized that we had enough sleeping bags, but no cushioning of any sort. So the hard floor was all there was! It hurt my back but pretty soon after changing and getting into my sleeping bag.... I was asleep. By this time it was close to 8am. There were shutters for every window and the sun doesn't even rise until close to 8:30, so it seemed like it was still very late to us. We didn't wake up until about 3pm!

We then drove with Julie's dad (who met us in Toulouse) back to Agen where Julie's family lives. Its a really cute, out of the way, village in the French countryside. It was so beautiful and reminded me a lot of Kempton. There we had a crepe tea-time snack (around 6pm) and then drove back here to Bordeaux with Julie (a different one that is our friend, this Julie is a friend of our friend Julie). And now we are back!
A crazy adventure right? I am surprised that it all happened. The whole thing was super fun and we all had a good time.

Today we have to get our school figured out. I think I am going to take the 15 hours (a week) of D.E.F.L.E. classes (meaning all French), and then, on Fridays take an English class about Virginia Woolf. I am really excited that it is working out. I will always be surprised at how relaxed the whole French system is. As far as I know, all we have to do is show up and say we are from America and there you go! That is it. Weird, right? But I am looking forward to class tomorrow. Its going to be our REAL first day of classes.

Well, that is all for now.
I will write as soon as I have something interesting to say :)
Bye!