The first day in Tours was always going to be a strange one. Leaving La Segue is always fairly painful at the end of the summer and, in truth, seeing the satnav's estimated time of arrival approaching as we bombed up the autoroute brought a sense of some apprehension. I was asking myself what I was doing, where I was going, why, what to do when I got there, who I would spend time with and know, how I would settle in and so on. It suddenly seemed pretty daunting, in truth. Luckily with mum's speedy driving and cunning navigating skills the satnav was wrong by over an hour and a half so I didn't have to face the most nervous time before arriving.
Eventually found the accommodation, which is ok. Fully kitted out with all my stuff, it's actually perfectly pleasant. It still didn't feel like my own but it will in time. Anyway, at least the accommodation I came to was actually right, unlike mum who located her hotel and went through the electric gates, pulled into the driveway and introduced herself, explaining that she had made a reservation. She was then politely told that this was not a hotel but a privately owned house and that she was looking for number 61, not number 19. Close enough.
Things improved when we drove back through the attractive centre of town for dinner in the Place Plum (apparently that's what the cool kids call it) and saw the station, Hotel de Ville, Place Jean Jaures, the Cathedral and the castle along the way, which were all very impressive. Added to the tramway and grassy areas, it makes the whole city very pleasant to look at. The atmosphere is good too - it's one of those places where people seem to be quite at ease.
Anyway, as I say, the first day was always going to be odd. When mum dropped me off back here in an empty flat in an almost empty hall with no working internet and a phone which currently contains no numbers, it felt sad, lonely, unfamiliar and stressful. It's a sudden change from Tarn-et-Garonne and isn't even a change back to something familiar in London or Durham. It's a totally new place away from anything that I know and like.
But I wouldn't say all this unless things had improved, and they have. The sun was out, Chris arrived, Becky arrived, we explored town, shopped, lunched out, sorted things out, chose my uni modules, cooked a "carbo" (overcoming the rubbishness of our facilities - one working hob.. and that's it) and generally got started on this whole year abroad thing. Tours looks great and there's going to be plenty to do. We need people to arrive as this week only a few are here settling in - the French arrive on the weekend and lectures don't start till next week - but otherwise things are certainly looking up. And I hear we're going to have another full month's worth of summer here.
A guy played basketball all on his own all afternoon on the court below my window. We've called him Will but we're hoping a couple of guys who are up to no good won't start making trouble in the neighbourhood (congratulations if you got this reference.)
There isn't much else to be said. That sums things up to this point. Last night wasn't great, today was full of promise and things are going to get better and better from now as more stuff starts to happen. This year abroad isn't so bad after all. I'm sure that the only two sad days will be the first and the last.
A plus x
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