Homestay in Tours: Day One

Hello! It's Yoko.

I spent some time in France this year.

It was my first solo trip as a woman, and there was a lot I had to look up and plenty I was nervous about, so I decided to write these posts for anyone thinking about traveling or studying in Europe or France.

My first month in France was in a city called Tours!

Tours ranks around 27th in population, so it's a fairly large city by French standards.

Compared with Paris, Mont-Saint-Michel or Nice, it's not very well known in Japan.

People often confuse it with Toulouse.

(Honestly, I thought I was going to Toulouse until the very last minute, lol.)

This barrel-vaulted building is Tours station.

I wondered if it was the entrance to Disneyland. It's so cute and beautiful!

The inside reminds me a bit of the old Shibuya Station on the Toyoko Line. It's quite large.

The station concourse is lovely too. The walls are decorated with paintings of the châteaux along the Loire River.

If you love castles, I recommend staying in Tours.

About 300 châteaux stand along the Loire River, which flows through Tours, and you can reach them quickly by changing trains or by car.

Anyway, on to my first day in France.

I took the TGV south and was to meet my host, Madame Brigitte, at Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, the small station next to Tours station.

I wasn't going to buy a SIM card until the next day, so my phone was useless, and I was nervous about whether we'd find each other.

It was pitch dark outside. I looked for someone who matched the photo I'd been sent, and there she was!

Shivering in the cold, I greeted her in clumsy French.

Brigitte has short, curly red hair and is about 155 cm tall.

She smiled, asked if I was tired, and gave me a hug.

In the dark and light rain we loaded my luggage into her car, and ten minutes later we were at her house.

We arrived around 10 p.m., but she welcomed me warmly, and on my very first day I found myself at dinner with Brigitte's family and friends, five people in all.

At the table were Brigitte, her son Mathias, Mathias's girlfriend, and Brigitte's friend Marie.

Mathias, relaxed at his parents' house in sweats, is an indoorsy guy who loves computers.

This was the only time we ever ate together, before or after. (lol)

Mathias's girlfriend (I forgot her name) has long chestnut hair.

She's beautiful and always smiling, and she came by the house a few times a week.

Marie has a black bob and glasses, and big round eyes like the actor Kenichi Takitoh.

Naturally, the conversation was in French. I understood nothing, so I just took photos of the food.

There were family photos on the cabinet. And what a stylish decanter!

Ham and cabbage gratin with béchamel sauce.

A pear and chocolate tart from the bakery, a gift from Marie.

I had studied French for a few months, so I could manage a self-introduction, but I didn't know any of the little reactions like "nice!" or "I see," so I was mostly just listening.

Mathias and his girlfriend speak English, but Marie and Brigitte don't, so Google Translate was a lifesaver.

All I managed to learn was that Marie is a nurse and works at the same hospital as Brigitte, who works in pharmaceutical dispensing.

Looking back, I can't believe that's all I got out of nearly two hours of talking (lol).

French started to sound like a magic spell, and with the jet lag I was about to pass out, when

Marie told me not to worry and that I could go rest! (lol)

I jumped at the chance, said "bonne nuit" to everyone, and went up to the room they'd given me on the second floor.

It was a room that Brigitte's daughter, Lucie, used to use.

It was spacious, with an unused fireplace, a study desk and a bookshelf full of books.

Only now could I finally take off my shoes and pull my slippers out of my suitcase.

I'm so glad I brought them.

And in that big room of about ten tatami mats, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

To be continued.