| le 2 septembre | |
| I arrived in Paris today, exhausted after thirty draining hours of travel. Jean-Marie is making pâtes à la carbonara now; I can smell it. I am dying of hunger. | |
| le 3 septembre | |
My first French breakfast: peanut butter on toast? It was delicious but not exactly typical.
 Today is the first day of the next year: I am going to Toulouse! | |
| le 4 septembre | |
| I had hardly arrived at the Schmitts' yesterday when we left for the sea. I am glad that I am done traveling. We're at Sigean, staying in a teeny little châlet in the shade of palm trees. This morning, we went swimming in the pool, and we're going to the beach this afternoon. I hope I tan a little today, since Marine told me, "People would think you're French, except you're too pale!" | |
| le 5 septembre | |
What beautiful weather. Yesterday was a nice full day of pool, sea, market and mountains. Today we rest, and then return to TOULOUSE!
 Thibault at the market in Port la Nouvelle: "I wanna taste!"
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| le 6 septembre | |
Toulouse is a charming city. Since class was pretty easy today and I am a curious girl, I took a little walk around town. I love the narrow streets that empty into big, pretty squares. It was a good afternoon.
 This is not a kitchen
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| le 7 septembre | |
| Turning everything off upon leaving a room; the price of shampoo, paper and CDs (too high!); the price of fruit, bread, and bottled water (so low!); eating dinner at 9 PM; life without the internet; eating tons of dairy products: so much evidence that I am not in Kansas any more. | |
| le 8 septembre | |
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| le 9 septembre | |
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| le 11 septembre | |
| Last night there was a spectacular thunderstorm. I went out with Manu and Matthieur, two fun French boys I met last summer. We had a great time. At Matthieu's, we spent hours sitting out on his balcony listening to music and watching the lightning. | |
| le 12 septembre | |
We celebrated Sarah and Jeff's birthdays at a Lebanese restaurant and a British bar. It was a nice evening:
 Matt and Julie
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| le 14 septembre | |
| Today I passed three different strangers at three different places in the city, each of which I ran into in entirely different districts later in the afternoon. Talk about coincidence. | |
| le 19 septembre | |
Let's start with the conclusion: this weekend rocked. The whole Dickinson family took a bus tour of three of the stops along the Saint Jacques of Compostelles pilgrimage route: Conques, Cordes-sur-Ciel, and Albi. I liked Cordes best: its hilltop vantage in the centre of a valley of fields, its artistan shops and its pervading sense of calmness really touched me. I woke up early Sunday morning to watch the sun rise, but it was too cloudy to see. I'd really like to go back there, though. Here are my photos from the weekend.
  Conques: Erin and I; a pretty street
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| le 21 septembre | |
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| le 22 septembre | |
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| le 23 septembre | |
 Of all the houseboats moored along the canal, this one is my favorite. I'd like to spend a summer on a houseboat traveling the length of the canal. There must be billions of things to see.
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| le 23 septembre | |
 How could I not have noticed that I live so close to a circus school??
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| le 26 septembre | |
I came back from Montpellier this evening, where I spent the weekend with Hianta, my sisterette! Three years ago (ahh! so long ago, already!) she spent a schoolyear at my house. We 've stayed really close friends since that year, so I'm glad to be living so close to her now. This weekend, her parents had gone on a mini-vacation (to Conques!), so Hianta and I spent two relaxed days with her little sister, Hyacinte.
  We eat very well at Hianta's, thanks to the chef's abundant talents!
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I haven't talked about Kanako yet! She is a Japanese girl, come from Osaka to spend a few months (until Christmas, I think) here, in Toulouse. She lives with the Schmitts, too. A package from her grandmother arrived today. Inside, there were five super-colorful change purses. Kanako gave each of us one of them, explaining that her grandmother had sewed them herself out of the fabric from the kimono she wore during an important ceremony. I am really grateful to have gotten such a present.
Here's a funny little scene I noticed in Albi - two good tries at English that didn't quite turn out right:
