Cahors (First Rotary Weekend)

The beginning of September I had the best weekend ever, and of course that means it was with Rotary! We had our first weekend of many together. On Saturday the many of us living in Toulouse boarded a bus and headed an hour north to the city of Cahors. Once there we met up with the whole gang which meant a lot of introductions, but right away we all fit together perfectly. Whenever you are with Rotary it always feels like a family, like we have known each other forever. We traded stories and our first experiences with school and host families. It was such a good break from the first crazy week of school I had. Well in Cahors we first had a picnic lunch up above the city, and had the most amazing view of the magnificent city. This means plenty and plenty of pictures. Afterwards we headed into the city where we got a tour on one of these adorable little car trains with Amadéo, an exchange student who was in the UP last year, as our tour guide. The city was so old and like nothing I had seen before. Though we couldn't pay much attention to all the facts with the singing and talking and craziness going on. Really what do they expect when they put 20 exchange students together!! We did explore some of the city on foot, being the part with the amazing bridge which is the symbol of the city. Then we returned to the hotel/hostel where we just hung out and talked until the dinner with the Rotarians and such. We had to do short introductions in French which was adorable since most of us have very strong accents from all over the world. After dinner we went out into the city at night for a bit and just got to know each other better, always laughing and having fun. The next day we boarded the bus and headed out into the country to doing some canoeing. We all teamed up and started our adventure down the river. It was a sunny warm day perfect for being outdoors. The scenery was like a dream. It was so beautiful with cliffs and trees lining the shore. The best was the castles that were built on the cliffs overlooking the water. We stopped for lunch which was traditional food of the region like sausages, couscous, salads, and plenty of tomatoes. We took a swim in the river and laid out in the sun until finally continuing on which is where it gets interesting. We got a chance to explore a cave, but this meant leaving our canoes. We waded in freezing cold water int he pitch black dark, it was like in the adventure movies. I had never been in a cave like that before and I was in awe. When we returned we all got a surprise, many of our canoes escaped. This messed up all our teams and caused some us to be in canoes over the capacity limit. This would worry some, but for us it only brought out hysterical laughter! The worst part is that my dream team lost their navigator so I became the person to steer which was a bad choice. We ended up going in circles and being out of control!!! It was so funny though we were the last ones to get to the final destination haha!

I think we were all a little glad to get out of those boats finally! From there we went to a castle that was privately owned by a Rotarian and is now used as a really fancy resort. She invited us for drinks, and were we ever so glad. It was so beautiful in every possible way! I can't even imagine getting the chance to stay there for a night! Acres and acres of gardens, and even a helicopter landing! It was truly amazing. From there though our day was finished and we had to return to Toulouse where we said our goodbyes and returned to the reality of school and life with our host families! It was the best weekend though to get to know everyone, and create friends that will never be forgotten!