Meg: "Bon Sandwich!"

Limoges

Those were the last words that Rachelle called at me after she and Rose helped me get onto my train.  It feels like it was an eon ago that I was chilling in Paris with those two, so I guess I want to thank them both for the great time that we had, because thoughts of it have gotten me through this last week.  (I should also add that the sandwich was very bon.)  When I booked my train from Paris to Limoges I accidentally booked a bed instead of a seat, which was interesting on a train that traveled in the middle of the day.  I thought it would be a little silly that I had a bed, but mostly I could just chill.  Nope, I fell asleep, exhausted from watching Rachelle and Rose haul my luggage to the train station.  (Ok, I helped, and I had gotten up very early that morning.)  Before I knew it the conductor was announcing that we had arrived in Limoges.  I was shocked!  I had been asleep for two hours, when it had felt like only five minutes.  I rushed with the full weight of my bags all to myself for the first time and emerged into what I was discover to be the very hot Academie of Limoges.  I had decided to stop in Limoges so that I could rest a bit and not be completely overwhelmed and tired from a day of traveling when I arrived in Tulle.  It wasn't the best plan I'd ever made, as I wasn't properly thinking about my luggage situation.  Rose wrote briefly about her theme for the blog, for me, I think it should be stairs.  My apartment in Paris was five stories up and my hotel room was three stories up, and those are nothing compared to what I have to contend with now, but I'll leave that until a little later.  Anyway, I finally get a cab to my hotel and the very nice man at the front desk let me leave all my things downstairs so I wouldn't have to haul them up and down the stairs.  I explored Limoges, and overall, enjoyed my time in the city, even though it was Sunday and nothing was open.  Before I knew it, it was time to leave for Tulle, or, more accurately, Brive, where an English teacher from my school would be picking me up.

Here is where I met mistake number 3 the of trip (remember the bed instead of a seat and the stop over in Limoges).  When I first booked my tickets and e-mailed the teacher what time I'd be arriving, I booked for the wrong day.  I quickly realized my mistake and fixed it, not realizing that the times were different.  Therefor, I told the teacher I would be getting in at 8, when I really got into 6.  After about an hour of waiting I started to panic.  I had stood/sat in the station trying to look as American as possible, and I was worried that she had forgotten about me.  Thankfully, I decided to check, and I called my mother and had her check my e-mail and we discovered the problem.  And the teacher came right on time and gave me the warmest best welcome I could have ever asked for.  I stayed with her for two nights before moving into my apartment on campus.

From my window, the other middle school across the hills.

Here's where you get to learn about stairs.  The city of Tulle is nicknamed, like Rome, the city of seven hills. They weren't kidding about the hills.  The center of town is in a valley and on the two hills across from each other with town in the middle, is perched my two middle schools.  On different hills.  I've counted the stairs up to my apartment, which happens to be 182.  I haven't climbed the other hill yet.  My sister said, and she's right, that I'm not going to need a gym membership this year.  Not only are the hill steep and embedded with stairs, but it was been ungodly hot this last week.  We've been in the upper 80's every day.  Every. single. day.  Everyone at the school keeps talking about how great the weather is and I just silently sulk while they talk about it.

STAIRS!

The last things I need to mention in this very long post is that while my apartment has all the furnishings needed: cooking utensils, comfy chairs, a table, bedding and towels provided, it does not have what I crave the most.  Internet.  I can go and check my e-mail on one of the school's computers, where Facebook is blocked.  I didn't realize how much I needed/wanted Facebook until I had to live a week without it.  However, the solution to this problem is the same as Rose's, which is to get a 3G card.  Unfortunately, to get one of those, I have to have a bank account, which I don't currently have.   I'm working on it though, and I hope to have full internet access by next weekend.  Or the weekend after that.

That's it for now, I'll probably write more before I go to bed tonight (I'm in Limoges, in a hotel, with wonderful, wonderful WIFI).  Until the next time... every time you have to climb stairs, think of me!