Don't count every hour in the day. Make every hour in the day count.

Well, I've been back in Toulouse for three weeks now, so it's about time to catch you up on what I'm doing here!

My calendar has suddenly exploded-- even working as little as I do, everyday I have places to be and people to see!  And when I don't have something penciled in, I always need to run run run, read read read, study study study, and explore!

Why am I running?  To work off all the bread and cheese, of course.  My college days, when I couldn't (and didn't) go two consecutive days without exercise, are sadly over.  Sometimes I miss the 5:15 workouts, grabbing the day by the horns every morning.  I can't be as diligent without my team and coach, but I try to retain a faint shadow of my former Division-I-athlete-self.

What am I reading?  After seeing the Notre Dame in Paris, I was inspired to read The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo; he's quite a story-teller.  Now I'm onto A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, in preparation for London.  I have a whole list of books set in France or Europe that I probably won't get to... A place is much more interesting if you visit it in your mind, through literature, before you visit in person.

What am I studying?  EVERYTHING. I want to study the language, French history, geography... "the more you learn, the more you realize how little you know," as the saying goes.  If only there were more than 24 hours in a day.  The good news is that when I went to the Mediatheque to read about French history- in French- I found that I can read an average book with relative ease.

What am I exploring?  Toulouse. And surroundings.  It's time for me to get out and see everything-- I've tried to do this all along, but a lot remains undone!  I don't want to come upon my last month in France and have a long list of places still to go (but it's kind of like the magic birthday candles that keep re-lighting-- as soon as one destination is checked off, another one takes its place).  My goal now is to use my three-day weekends to visit near-by cities (Barcelona, Marseille, Nice, to name the big ones) and my days off to discover Toulouse-- more museums, more salons de thé, secret niches...

More to come. And thanks for reading. As Always.