One Month

It's already been more than a month since I've arrived in France -- one month and three days, to be precise.  It doesn't seem like that, really.  Sometimes I feel like I've been here for three months, sometimes it feels like just a week.  I am continuing to make the adjustment to European life, but it comes to me easier every day.  The French language is also becoming easier every day.  I don't have to hear a question twice in order to answer it anymore, and my comprehension in my French classes has been improving as well.  What continues to be the most difficult cultural hurdle for me is social -- I have not yet found the French to be overwhelming friendly, so it is up to me to reach out to them when I want to make a social connection.  This is difficult sometimes, especially in a different language.

There are some other things I wanted to mention about Toulouse in general.  The first thing is how much I love the city's bike program.  It's called VéloToulouse (translation: BikeToulouse) and this is how it works: there are 253 bike stations all around the city, each with 20 or 25 bikes.  The bikes are locked to automatic bike racks, and for 20 euros a year you can have unlimited, 24/7 access to the bikes.  You walk up to the automated kiosk, swipe your membership card, choose a bike number, and the lock pops open.  You then have 30 minutes to make it to another station somewhere in the city, where you simply pop the bike into an available slot and are on your way.  The service is really awesome, especially when you stay out too late to make the last metro (midnight) or bus (1 a.m.).  There are two stations within five minutes of my host house, and I use it all the time.

One of the VéloToulouse bike stations

One of the amazing things about Europe is that if you go to an old enough city or village, some piece of history is around you at all times.  For example, there is a lot of history behind the street signs in Toulouse.  Yes, even European street signs have a story.  Here is one:

You'll notice that there are two there -- one looking slightly different than the other.  That is because the top one is in traditional French, and the bottom one is in the language Occitan.  Occitan is one of France's more than thirty regional languages, and is, obviously, the regional language of the Toulouse area.  The city of Toulouse, in an effort to preserve the endangered language, posts its street signs and its metro stops in both French and Occitan.

Another historical aspect of the street signs is their color.  The Garonne River, which splits Toulouse, runs from north to south.  All the streets in Toulouse that run along the north-south line have yellow signs.  All the streets that run along the east-west line have white signs.  The reason?  Because the Garonne runs north-south, the streets that also run north-south are considered to be going along with the river, and thus they keep it tranquil and undisturbed; the yellow represents the natural, undisturbed color of the river.  The streets that run east-west metaphorically cut across the Garonne, disturbing its flow; thus, the white color represents the white, frothy water created when the flow of the river is disturbed.  So, the Rue des Couteliers, pictured above, runs from east to west.  Interesting, right?

Another side note: the other night I went to a real rugby match, Toulouse vs. Biarritz.  I don't know much about rugby, but it was a good time and I imagine that's how an American football game would be.  The fans were blowing horns, drinking, and yelling.  I was smart and booed when those around me booed, and cheered when those around me cheered.  Like they say, when in a rugby stadium, do as the rugby fans do.