Writhe and Shine

From Writhe’s journal:

The train pulls into the Toulouse station and the information desk is closed. I wander the station a bit and ask a few backpackers where the youth hostel is and they don’t know. I decide to wander into town and fortunately it’s still light. I go down the main road and find a map and the location of Tourist Info. I go there and the only place that looks like it’s open has no signs and a bunch of Russian-looking soldiers standing around it smoking and chatting to each other. Needless to say, I don’t go in. I sit on a nearby park bench to figure out what I’m going to do and it starts to get dark. I wander yet again trying to find a one star hotel that a sign pointed to. I end up on a small street with a lot of porn shops. I wonder what French porn is like. I find myself back at the train station and ask at the ticket desk for the youth hostel in broken French and the man points me around the corner in the station. I go there and ask another man behind another counter and he looks it up in the phone book. Gives me the address and phone number. I try to find a change phone, but cannot. The guy shows me on a map where the pay phone is. I walk to it about a mile away. It’s a fucking apartment building. No phone. I am pissed off and it’s dark. I had passed a Budget hotel on my way to the phone. I go there and get a room because I’m not dealing with this shit any more. I fall asleep watching some Schwarzenegger movie dubbed in French. I wake up at 2:30am and set my alarm. I got to take a shower in the morning, but there is no curtain. Instead of going down to the desk and attempting to ask for one, I take a shower without one. Water is all over the floor, but I don’t care. I steal a nice white towel. I pay for my room and breakfast. I steal some extra food, some wrapped hard bread and boxed cereal, for later. I got some change for the laundromat. An old woman helps me by breaking up a 5. I had some trouble with the dryer. Figured it out after a while. Packed everything and threw away my old towel. It was getting ragged. I bought some more food for later and went to the train station. Got on the 12-something train to Carcassone. Trying to learn French numbers.