hindsight

In a vain attempt to hold onto France, I've found myself doing some little silly things:

I keep my cell phone clock in 24 hour mode.
I write my dates like this 29.09.2010 instead of this 09.29.2010.
I stare longingly at macaron recipes such as this one.
In order to be able to make above recipes, I stick a kitchen scale on my wedding registry.
I talk to myself in French sometimes while I drive.

I miss lovely Toulouse.
Sometimes I walk around the streets of the centre ville in my head. Down Jean Jaures, through Place Wilson, straight past Etam to Alsace Lorraine, down Alsace Lorraine to Rue de Metz...ah, so fun.

I've been back for over a month now, and I'm all accustomed to being American again.
And looking back I'd just like to say,
I'm very grateful for this past summer and for the time I spent in Europe. It was so eye-opening and so...stretching? character-wise. Sometimes it was really hard, you know, and not so fun. But when it was fun, man, it was fun. I cried a lot, I laughed a lot, I ate a lot, I learned a lot, I shopped a lot, I grew a lot. And it was probably my last chance to do something like that since I'm getting married this December and moving back east so my future husband can go to med school and I can go to grad school.

So, thanks BYU French department and International Study Program for this opportunity.
What a neat, neat experience.

home, home, home

It's been about a week and a half since I've returned to the US of A.
In that time I've gotten used to rampant air conditioning and customer service. I very much still miss:

little shops, especially papetries. Why don't we have little paper stores here?
saying "Bonjour!" and "Merci, au revoir!" when you enter/exit said little shops
no salespeople ever bugging you
no waiters ever bugging you at restaurants (no one ever, ever comes around to ask how your food is tasting/do you need anything? I need you to stop talking to me. Kthnxbye.)
cafes
crepes with nutella
crepes with bananas and nutella
crepes with bananas, nutella, and ice cream
crepes with ham and cheese and tomatoes
creme brulee ice cream
fruit tarts
macarons
riding the train
taking a long time to eat/making meals a meaningful experience
shopping at Zara
taking the metro
speaking French, speaking French, speaking French
listening to French people speak French
a slower paced life
really delicious ethnic food
cobblestone streets
beautiful architecture
getting into pretty much anything for less than 5 euros
paying with euros
fantasizing in cooking shops about crepes and papillotes
papillotes!
all of the fun French people we met
singing hymns in French

last post from la ville rose

1st photo: Grand Rond
2nd and 3rd: Jardin des Plantes
4th: Jardin Royal (statue of St. Exupery, author of "Le Petit Prince")

à la plage!

Just a quick note on something culture related:

French vacations are in full force right now. Half of the office is en vacances. Half of the little boulangeries, patisseries, charcuteries, and little restaurants are closed. The metro is stuffed full of tourists.

Summer vacations are taken so much more seriously here than in the US I feel. It's like the entire country goes on vacation right at the end of July/beginning of August. And they stay on vacation for a couple weeks at least.

I like it.

oiseau

Noemi and I planned out a bunch of things to do our last week here. I'm proud to say we've accomplished pretty much all of them (plus some things we never thought we'd do...)

Attend church in French/sing hymns in French for the last time.

Take the Grand Rond walking tour (which included the Grand Rond garden, Jardin Royal, and Jardin des Plantes).

Buy cigarettes for Madame S (her maid/helper lady forgot to get them for her the day before, so what do you know, I bought cigarettes...and it was charitable? oddest feeling ever).

Hand out candy to homeless people (Mme S gave us bonbon as a thank you for the above act, so I handed it out to every homeless person I saw, hahaha).

Go to couscous restaurant with Madame P for her birthday (handmade couscous...yum yum yum).

See the modern art museum Les Abbattoirs (very cool, but very disturbing).

Spend 30 euro on chocolate (and now my suitcase is 2.5 kilos heavier-not an exaggeration).

Go to the soirée familiale for the young adults for the last time.

Eat one last crêpe at Le Sherpa.

Have one last papillote at La Papilloterie.

Tonight we shall get ice cream one last time near Place Wilson.

And then tomorrow morning at 4:30 A.M. I'll be taxing my way to the airport.

greenery

I don't know how we didn't discover this until Monday of our last week, but Toulouse has some gorgeous public gardens really close to the centre ville. Behold, the waterfall of the Jardin des Plantes:

More photos to come of the Jardin Royal and the Grand Rond, when I get back to our residence!

I meant to say this a while ago

sometimes,

we laugh because

if we don't, 

we will cry.