la ville rose

Toulouse: The pink city.

I arrived here on Sunday evening and as soon as stepped off the train, a cold breeze hit me and I quickly realized that it was going to be colder here than in Paris. So unfair. BUT! At least I get to wear my new coat (which I bought from Buffalo Exchange for $24 -- CHING!)

I'll glaze over the part where I was wandering around the outskirts of the city at night in the rain searching for my hotel. That was sorta dreadful. But the hotel is nice, and it's amazing to sleep in a big bed and have one of those things outside the window that shut out all the light. That means daytime naps. Yessssss...

the view

The interview with the school went well, I guess I'm sorta employed? Ahhhhh.... I'm not sure. It wasn't so much an interview as a "here's what you're going to be doing and you start now." We ended up talking for nearly two hours and I'm into the company and stuff. So, though I haven't exactly said yes, I think I did. The actual job sounds great, but the only problem is that it's extremely part time. And I told him that I was under the impression that there would be more hours available, and he said that I shouldn't worry and that I would find another job without a problem. Um, easier said than done maybe. But he's holding a meeting for the new teachers on Thursday for us all to get to know one another and do introductory stuff. He told me that I should ask the other teachers to introduce me to their other employers to see if they are in need of workers, which I plan to do.

So, for now, I'm doing some publicity for the company, passing out advertisements and stuff -- basically, the more people that I get to enroll, the more classes are held, the more hours I have, the more money I make. If this seems sorta weird and uncertain to you, it's because it is. But my main appeal to this job is the amount of networking that is possible -- you really meet a lot of people and get to know a lot of the locals which is really appealing to me. I would try to explain exactly what the job is, but it's rather complicated and it would be boring for you people to read.

         The park I sat in today while people watching

The city itself seems pretty cool -- it's not too big, but still big enough to have a metro system which is really nice. Granted, there are only two lines (three if you count the SNCF) but still. One thing I have mysteriously noticed here is that I have seen three American college sweatshirts on actual FRENCH people, which is not only weird because they usually do not wear such items (for whatever reasons) but also because two of them were University of Arizona sweatshirts and the other one was for Penn State (and I thought of Mandie, of course). Awesome, but a little strange.

For the most part, I have been wandering around in between passing out flyers, getting off at random metro stops to find myself completely lost and then wander around until I find another one.I found this, which I thought was silly:

 

The movie poster for The Hangover -- in France, it's called "VERY BAD TRIP" which is incredibly hilarious.

I like this city, so far. I just wish it weren't overcast and raining all the time. I'm looking forward to seeing my parents though, they're coming on Sunday.

I'll let you know how this pseudo-employment thing goes, I'm pretty uncertain about it myself. We'll see.

A tout a l'heure! xoxo