It is kind of funny that I am writing of my last vacation while I am on vacation now, but here it goes. Well I had about a week and a half at the end of October to the beginning of November. Here they celebrate All Saints Day because France is very Catholic therefor they create a fall vacation. It was a good break from the craziness of school, plus it brought more chances to have some pretty cool adventures. Many thanks for Rotarians and my own host family and many friends. The break started off with a weekend with a Rotarians and her family which was the best. I got to go to a rugby match with her son and his friends, and afterward met up with her and her husband. Rugby is like a religion here in Toulouse. It is like how many Americans follow football. Toulouse has the best team in all of Europe! They have a huge stadium and Toulouse is just overall known all over the world for its rugby obsession. It is a very rough sport!! I always knew it was rough, but it is just plain violent. Football is nothing compared to this. Players are bleeding and messed up yet they are still going after each other. It is however a fast game, and doesn't take as long as football does. It has a similar atmosphere in the stadium though. The crowd was very lively and was a cool experience. I had a nice dinner with their family, and even got to go out in the city at night. Then the next day we volunteered with my host Rotary club at this huge marathon. It is one of the most well known marathons in France, a 50 kilometer race through Toulouse. Rotary is one of the sponsors of the race therefore we had to lend a hand. It was freezing cold and raining which didn't help, but it was still fun. We passed drinks to the runners. this sounds easy, but try handing it to them while they are still running and it turns difficult. It felt good though to give back, and was actually very fun! It took the rest of the day to feel dry and warm again though, brrr! Well after this weekend, was the best day ever...my birthday!!
Well on the day of my birthday I didn't really do anything at all, just a normal day. The next day though we had a special dinner at the house with all three of my host families to help celebrate my 17th birthday. I spent the day baking cookies, apple pie, quiche, and other food to prepare. The dinner was great, and it was so cool to meet the families and get to know them a bit. I did get some wonderful presents as well. I received a Toulouse T-shirt and a special pendant of the Occitaine cross which is the symbol of the region and Toulouse. Now I feel like a Toulousiane. I also received a cute shirt from Zara, really cool store here in Europe. And of course you have to receive perfume when your in France! I got the nicest smelling perfume, and in the coolest bottle too. I felt very French for sure. It was a great night! The next two days I spent hanging out with friends, usually in the city adventuring or going to cafes. On Friday I left for a weekend in the Pyrenees Mountains with another Rotarian. She has a second house in the mountains which is almost as old as the United States!!! It was built in 1796! It was so interesting, and something I'm not used to seeing. It was nice to go to the country, out of the city for the weekend. I didn't like getting woken up by a herd of cows with their noisy bells and mooing, but it's better than an alarm I guess. The weekend was full of fun excursions.
I went to this awesome cave, where we took a tour. It was filled with gigantic stalactites and stalagmites! I had never been in an actual cave like that before! I was mesmerized with what I saw, and it was a little sad that I couldn't take pictures but I will always have the memories in my head forever! Then later that day she took me to a spa where I got the best massage and got to take a dip in the pool that overlooked the mountains. After we had a few stops like a a sheep farm for fresh cheese. On Sunday she had many of her relatives come for a large dinner which lasted like 3 or 4 hours or maybe even more. There was so much food and wine, which always makes it better haha! It was crazy, and always hard for me to follow all the conversations but I still had a good time. We were all exhausted by the time everyone left and cleaning up, so we spent the night just reading and roasting chestnuts over the fire. I had only heard of roasting chestnuts in movies and the Christmas song. It is very popular here, and very delicious! Sunday was also Halloween, but here they do not celebrate the holiday. People are starting to get more into it every year, and there were some parties in the city, but otherwise it was a normal day. I did miss the holiday, since it is one of my favorites. Being in an old scary house with a little imagination made Halloween just a little cool here. The next day in the morning we went to an abbey where there was an Andy Warhol exhibit. I of course knew some of his work, but I had never been to a pop art exhibit. It was so cool and I love it! I was so glad and appreciative to have such a nice club that wants to invite me places! Since it was raining, we packed up after that and headed back to the city. The last two days of break included just hanging out, since it was raining and chilly. I did however decide the beginning of a new month and a return after holiday called for a little bit of a change. I dyed my hair, maybe a bit out of boredom haha but more because I have become a new me since I have been here.
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