So as I'm walking to the store I start thinking, "Do I really need to change my clothes in order to go buy groceries? No!" (In reality the answer is yes...) But at the time it seemed like such a silly notion. I am only going there to help a friend and feed my banana addiction, which, by the way, is spiraling out of control! In theory I should be able to wear whatever I want! After getting home I decided to change into yoga pants and test out this theory. I started walking around my little area in yoga pants and I was identified as an American in 3.5 seconds. I didn't even care. I was comfortable. And you know what? I am going to wear yoga pants and running shorts next time I have to buy groceries! So ha!
And that was my day. I did also go running and practice French but beyond that I don't recall.
SUNDAY!
I woke up Sunday morning and got ready to meet two of my new friends, Matt and Lyndsie, outside of the dorms to go to mass at one of the local 800 year old cathedrals. Because the bus system is weird on Sundays there wasn't the usual bus to take us into the city so we walked. It took about 45 minutes which really wasn't bad considering the company was great and the weather was beautiful. We arrived at the cathedral, and guys, it is mind blowingly beautiful. The exterior is incredible but once you sit inside and see the stone work and the sun shining through the stain glass...my word...it is truly a site to behold. None of us being Catholic, we sat in the back as to not be rude. I was able to follow along with most of what the priest was saying and I learned quite a few new words from listening to him! That was exciting. After mass we walked around the interior of the building to admire it all. (I have pictures on my Facebook). Then we left and started walking in a direction that none of us had been before just for the adventure of it. In this said direction we discovered a bunch of cool little stores and places that only locals go to because they are so far from the downtown area.We had been walking for about 3 hours when we decided to turn around and make our way back to the cathedral to see the gardens behind it before heading home.
Well, on the way back we stopped in a nice park to sit under a bench and rest for a moment. Only a few minutes passed before the bombardment began. First, it came in the form a a drop on Matt's pants, them moments later it came in the form of a HUGE plop on Lyndsie's shoulder. None of us had tissues or napkins so we resorted to using leaves to clean up the mess. Fortunately, I got out of it unscathed.
Once home, we parted ways to eat dinner then Lyndsie and I went running. After that I returned to my dorm to cook some food and study French. Sunday night I fell asleep via watching hilarious Charles Barkley videos for longer than I would like to admit. I am not exaggerating when I say I laughed out loud so many time that my stomach began to hurt. He is a funny man whether he tries or not!
MONDAY!
Today was the day that we were going to go to the library. Matt and Hannah ended up not wanting to go to the library so Lyndsie and I went to see if Hunter wanted to join us. Now Hunter is a super cool human being and has zero social media, so communication is limited to email and front door. On this particular day we decided to go with the front door approach. This proved to be fruitful. When we arrived at his door, we knocked and waited about 30 seconds before knocking again. There wasn't an answer so we assumed he was either out and about or sleeping. As we are leaving down the stairs we hear someone running, and sure enough it is Hunter looking like he just got out of bed! Because he did...we woke him up...opps....But it was okay because he wanted to go into town with us! We took a bus then got off and walked to our final destination: La Maire. Here Hunter and Lyndsie filled out their forms and got their official, local bus passes. Now known of us look like tourists. Also, fun fact: If you are moving to Limoges and want to get a bus pass but do not want to pay 5 euros for i.d. pictures, bring your drivers license. They will use that photo (for free) as your bus pas photo! It's very nice. Also, when you go to buy your bus pass there will be an extra 10 euro charge to pay for the physical card that you are getting. This physical card is good for 3 years before you have to update it. Filling out the form to get the pass isn't complicated either. It asks for you address, phone number, email and signature. If you do not want to give your phone number, that's fine, they'll still accept the form. There are only a few things that might be a little tricky, one of them being the CEDEX (Courrier d'Entreprise à Distribution EXceptionnelle). This is a word that shows up on a lot of French documents. It is like a district number and often compared to a P.O. Box. In Limoges, the CEDEX is 87000. Another feature on the form that might be confusing if you haven't seen it before is "Fait à" next to the date and line for your signature. Fait à essentially means "Done at". So the location of where you are when signing this document. In this instance, you would write Limoges next to the "Fait à", then the date (day, month, year) and your signature. Et voilà! You have a bus pass.
After we took care of the bus passes, we went across the street to the library. Lyndsie got her library card but she couldn't use it because every Monday the library main floor is closed off. You can only return books and documents, look at magazines and sit in the far left room to use the internet. We didn't know that until we arrived there. But it was okay! The three of us studied French there and had a great time! After a couple hours of studying, we went home and then bought the weeks groceries! Did you know that generic French supermarket ice cream is the most beautiful ice cream I have even seen? All of the ice cream was topped with beautiful fruits and syrups and whipped creams. It looks so delicious and it's only 2 euros! I passed because I am zero fun and enjoying missing out on the good things in life, but my two much more exciting companions both bought some! I'll let you guys know if they say it tastes as good as it looks.
Once we got home be I decided to do some laundry and asked Matt and Lyndsie if they wanted to throw their bird attacked clothes in the wash with my gym clothes. Something to note about the laundry here. There are 4 building with 4 floors and 36 rooms on each floor (give or take). So that's about 600 kids. Want to know how many washing machines and dryers there are for all of us? Two washing machines and one dryer. There is suppose to be another laundry room in another building but it is being used for storage at the moment and doesn't have washing equipment in it. I'm going to have to find a place in town I think... and speaking of finding places in town, I found a rock climbing gym and some yoga studios not far from my dorm!! I'm very excited.
That was pretty much that. Nothing too crazy happened this weekend but I still had a lot of fun walking around and exploring!
Things to do:
Register for classes tomorrow
Don't miss placement test on ThursdayGo to library to rent movies and booksà plus tard!
Candice
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