Day 6-7 France (12-14 Feburary 2010)

The five of started out the day by going to an excellent Vegetarian restaurant (I can’t emphasize enough how much better the food is in Europe then in the US). It was an all you can eat with so much amazing vegetarian food to choose from! So Good! Then Ani dropped Evan and me off at the bus stop and we took a short ride to Toulouse, which is a large city right near Blagnac. We then walked all around. We walked through an open air market, briefly saw the capital building, saw some beautiful statues and founts, went to a cool museum which had ancient marble statues, models of the original creating of Toulouse, and a dig of some old structures found underneath the museum. We also continued eating wonderful bread, had glorious nutella crepes from outdoor vendors, and ate at a pasta bar (Evan and I want to start up our own pasta bar). We went into many cool shops that reminded me of whole earth, walked next to the river, played in parks, explored, went into a bar, and just basked in each other company.

The next day we walked through Blagnac again and ate more bread. We then explored more of Toulouse for the rest of the and then I had to leave. It was extremely hard to leave after having such a lovely time being with van and his family and eating yummy foods. Evan, Ani, and Michael dropped me off at the airport, we rushed over, because we cut it pretty closely to the time I had to depart. Then after rushing my plane was delayed for two hours, figures. I miserably sat in the airport, just wanting my flight to be cancelled so I could spend more time with Evan. We finally took off and than the train I took to the airport wasn’t running any more because it was so late, and I figured out another way home after talking with the crabby ticket seller. After taking the train I found my bus stop, and then transferred to another bus, and then took a taxi, and then by 3 am I was in bed. I had such a wonderful time with Evan. It was simply magical meeting him in France. I have to wait three months till I see him again. It’s going to be difficult, but it will all be worth it when I’m in his arms again in May.

Day 5 France (12 January 2010)

Before I start talking about this trip- the day before I met up with my gaggle of International student friends at the university bar and we socialized and went outside and made a snowman together (I also made a snow angle and had my friends think I was crazy).

So as I was saying, after not sleeping a wink the night before I set off for my mission to the airport so I could meet up with Evan in Toulouse France. I had only been in the UK for 4 days and only used the buses once and the tube once, but I used their transport through London sight to find my way to the airport. I walked down this sketchy dark road at 3:30 in the morning so I could catch the night bus. It’s nice that the buses run 24 hours, the tube should as well, but it is closed from 1am-5am (it would have made my traveling easier). The night bus was mostly filled with tired people and drunk people. I got off the bus eventually at Kings Cross Station (yes the same station where platform 9 3/4 is located) and I took a train to the airport (my version of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles/night buses).

Oh my goodness! It was an amazing three days! When I arrived at the airport I was confused and lost, but when I found Evan and saw him walking towards me I thought my heart was going explode I was so happy. I never wanted to stop holing him once we had are first embrace, but my first continental Europe experience had to commence. We headed over to the car and he drove back to his mother’s house. She lives in the adorable village of Blagnac across from the elementary school she is a teacher and vise principle for. The house was spectacular as well, cute and space efficient, with lots of natural materials, and filled with warmth and coziness. After putting all my stuff down and looking around a bit in the house we walked about the town. There was still snow on everything (not as much snow as in London, but still a decent amount) and we threw it at each other for most of pleasant walk. We stopped at two boulangeries (or bakeries) and ate delicious croissants. Oh my goodness! The bread is soooooo gooooood! I want to live in a boulangeries! We explored and looked into the local church and I took a ton of pictures of all the beautiful architecture. It’s cool looking at buildings older than your country. Everyone was quite friendly and I felt sort of bad but I couldn’t stop humming the beginning song of Beauty and the Beast, because of all the friendly French folks we came across.

We then continued to rush home, because Evan’s mother was coming home soon for her lunch break. It was funny meeting Evan’s mother in a quite awkward way. I went in to hug her as she was leaning in to kiss me on the check, but she avoided my hug and tried again, but I also tried hugging again, which she again avoided (Evan some how missed this whole hilarious ordeal). Evan and his mother Ani continued the lunch break speaking in French which was way above my French ability to understand, so I was quite lost. Ani is quite nice and friendly, and laughs a lot- all things I enjoy. I didn’t feel quite acknowledged, but it’s probably because my French isn’t good enough to hold a conversation. Then after Ani went back to work, Evan and I ate lunch and then because I was so exhausted from not sleeping the night before we snuggled down for a nice nap.

We woke up when Evan’s sister Ariadne came home from school continued by Ani and her boyfriend Michael coming home from work. I was super excited to see Ariadne, because I really missed hanging out with her with Evan and my sister throughout the previous summer. Evan and I were then given a grocery list for food to get for dinner. The grocery store was beyond huge and we were in there for a very long time looking at all the lovely food. We then came back and had a scrmdidlyumptiose dinner with the five of us. I was lost for most of the conversation, because again I must emphasize my poor French, but I still enjoyed our dinner together. They are quite a fun and lively bunch. We had a French champaign vs. California sparkling wine off and the real champaign won hands down. We also had a plate of all sorts of wonderful French cheeses and ate delicious galette (or King’s cake) and Evan ended up finding the toy (which was a cool Astrix character).

~Cherrio