Reflections

It has almost been two weeks now since I woke up at 3 am and hopped on my flight back home, and while I am happy to be home I do miss the tiny streets of Toulouse and the giggly friends I made while I was there.  The month I spent in Toulouse was one of the most exciting and freeing months of my life so far.  I feel like while I was there I was always out doing something and going somewhere.  My metro card was definitely well used exploring Toulouse.   With that sense of freedom, however, comes a sense of responsibility, maturity, and individuality, and I think these are some of the most important qualities I took away from this program.  The problem is, now all I want to do is hop on the blue line and head into the city every day, but I'm finding that to be a little unrealistic.  So today I'm taking the time to reflect a little bit on all the things I loved about my time in Toulouse.

This first picture is me and my beautiful friend Lucy during the last week of the program.  One of my absolute favorite parts of my time in Toulouse is how many people I met and how many of those people became some of my closest friends.  Almost everyone on the program was really supportive and kind and by the end of the month, I felt like I was part of a huge family.  That is one of the most cliche things I've ever written but I don't really care because it's true.  We supported each other through homesickness, laughed together over lunch, and stayed up until 2 am in Port Vendres talking about everything and anything.  Lucy is honestly one of my favorite people ever and I will never forget her kindness, cute little giggle, and comforting hugs.  Like most of the people on the program, it was hard to say goodbye to her and I miss her a ton, but I have a feeling I haven't seen the last of her yet.  

When I look at this picture I instantly smell the salty sea and hear the waves crashing against the rocky coast.  Lucy took it for me while we were hiking to the beach outside of Port Vendres.  Like I said in a past blog post, I love the sea and I always have.  I am so happy that I was able to explore more than just Toulouse and going to the sea was one of my favorite parts of my month in France.

This last photo is of La Place du Capitole in Toulouse at sunset.  I only got to see La Place du Capitole once with all of its lights on, but in general, Toulouse in the evening is magical.  The city comes alive at night.  All the restaurants fill up and in some of the smaller streets, all you can hear is the low hum of chatter mixed with accordion music and the clinking of wine glasses and silverware.  In La Place du Capitole there are kids running around playing tag and dancing to the music of one of the street performers.  La Garonne becomes a party each night as people flood the banks of the sparkling river to hang out.  I wish I could have been in Toulouse after France won the world cup because even after making it into the quarterfinals the streets of Toulouse were flooded with people singing all night long and it was kinda fun.  I'm sure it was even better after the world cup.

It's kinda hard to express how much I loved being in Toulouse.  There are so many memories and little jokes that I could share but they wouldn't be as funny, and there were so many times when I looked around and thought "wow I'm really lucky" but that is hard to describe too.  I guess these pictures and rambling thoughts will have to do.

À bientôt Toulouse, I'll be back someday.