Physical Education

Although I said that anyone reading this blog would be discovering Toulouse through my eyes, my eyes lately are a bit limited to the sights and experiences at Le Mirail and my apartment, with little moments of liberty at the park or the grocery store.

 I'm taking the GRE general test in exactly one month and a few days after that the English Literature subject test. Studying for the two requires hours set aside each day, a task that would be manageable by itself but becomes a bit difficult when balanced with my new courses at Le Miral (i'll put a post about my new courses soon). So, what's a girl to do when literally all her free time is taken up by studies of some sort? The answer, at least in my case, is to make relaxing something I'm required to do by some authority outside of myself.

At Le Mirail, assuming you aren't an exchange student or on a French government scholarship, students pay 12 euros as a 'sports activity fee'. If you are super competitive and want to join an actual team or you happen to be an arts major, you can sign up for some type of activity/sport/PE in place of an actual course. You'll have to compete of course if you are on the team and if you are taking that activity as a class then you'll be required to have papers or exams on the history of the sport. These individuals are limited to two activities or one sport only.

However, if you are in neither of the aforementioned categories the university allows you to take as many activities as you want 'a loisir' or 'for your own enjoyment'. I had signed up Tuesday, after waiting in line more than an hour and a half, for dance classes; contemporary, jazz, and salsa were calling my name. My lovely schedule was disrupted just that very afternoon by acquiring another class (at the strong encouragement of my Latin professor), and I was forced to drop both contemporary and jazz and trudge my way home quite unhappy.
At home, I looked over the choices that corresponded to the gaps between, before, or after my academic classes and sports that didn't seem expensive. Although the activity fee is paid for, taking 'riding' for example costs an extra 20 euros per week.
So...choices... Aerobics? No way - there's just something about the exercises and the bubbly instructors that gets on my nerves. Aquagym? Me, in a pool, wading around in laps with the elderly professors - that's a big no. Handball? Tried it once, hurt a lot. I think I'll stay away from self-inflicted pain. Martial Arts? no wooden boards for my hands and I'm definitely not into the violent shouting. Tennis? Football (soccer)? Golf? Badminton? Basketball? Swimming? Volleyball? Nope to all of those.

 Barre a terre? What's that? I Googled it. Barre a terre or Floor Barre turned out to be ballet done lying on the ground. It sounds easy but after watching a few Youtube videos I realized the opposite would be true. That awful '6 inches' exercise you did as a child where you hover your legs half a foot from the ground and hold them suspended for 30 seconds? Barre a terre would be similar but in motion, with pulses, and the exercises would be way harder on the abs and inner thighs. A definite yes in my book.
Stretching? Is there really a PE just for limbering up? Yes indeed!
Yoga? Never really done it. Seems to be a hot subject in the religious world though....let's see what all the fuss is about.
Salsa still works! Thank goodness some dance where I'm standing up and moving across the floor.

Having chosen my new PE courses and registered for them, by the internet instead of standing in the awful, seemingly never-ending line, I looked forward to the next day when I would have Stretching PE.