Well, I'm in France :)
Its the 26th of August and we (the 9 girls, Carol and Laura) are leaving for the airport. We wanted to take the hotel transport bus-thing, but of course there were too many of us so we had to wait. After about 10 minutes it comes. Let me put it this way, 9 girls, GIRLS, a lot of luggage? OUI. "The big things first girls! The big things first!"..In my head I was thinking everything was big. Once all packed in we get into the bus-thing. We arrive and Jess and I have a plan. Jess' parents made her bring hiking bags, duffle, huge backpack, and another school backpack. I had rolling huge suitcases. SO we decided jess can get one of my suitcases and I will get the other-split the non rolling stuff up between us and push it. Jessica got lucky of course and someone pushed the bag for her.
Once we arrived in DC we had about 4 hours to kill waiting for the plane to France. Syd, Jess and I decided we wanted food, coffee, and a converter.. We were gone for about 2 hours getting those three..oh yeah, and we converted money! When we returned to the terminal, there was a french man sitting and talking to the other girls who were going to France with us. It was nice hearing advice from an actual French person! :) 30 minutes before the plane was to board Syd, Jess and I decided we wanted to sit next to each other on the plane. So we changed out tickets...well the flight lady did so we were sitting next to each other. I was the only one who kept the same seat number they both had moved. When we got on the plane, we found out that Sydney and Jessica's seats were occupied already..meaning two people were assigned to two seats twice. Jessica and Sydney both kindly asked the flight attendant and the people who were sitting there before were put closer to the front of the plane :) The flight was pretty bad. The turbulence was great and it made me pretty sick.
When I got to France :)
We finally arrived after having to circle Paris because of weather. Once off the plane we went to baggage claim and discovered- THEY HAD FREE carts to push or luggage around!!!! That was the highlight of the airport considering i had 130 lbs of luggage..
After waiting in the customs line all they did was check our visas and sign them. We didn't even have to fill out forms! Once through the line there was a hallway and a open door to the outside where people wait. Off we went.
The first thing I saw when I walked through the door was "CASTILLO" on a sign. It was held by a boy about 19 and the first thought to my head was TAKEN. But I figured all my other friends were going with their sign people so I guess I should too.I went with him and he spoke good english. He said it was his job to get exchange students from the airport to the train station until they leave. He seemed pretty real to me! He helped me with my stuff and we got on the airport metro-thing to the train station. Once we got to the train station he realized I had 4 hours before I got on my train. If I didn't have so much stuff-haha, we could have left the train station and gone to a cafe. But since all my shit was an issue, we went to a little one inside of the train station. I love coffee, I think I always have. And I knew coming to France things would be different. Instead of my creaming, sugar-y delicious coffee that I love at home. It was BLACK with one small skinny sugar. At first, the taste was somewhat unappetizing but now, I don't mind it as much. After sitting for a good while it was time to load onto the train. The nice French boy, Jack, helped my push my stuff to the train and set it on. Unfortunately I was on my own now.
When I got on the train there were many open seats. It was a double decker so I could sit on the top, or the bottom. I decided it would be easier to sit on the bottom. I moved my things and sat as close to the door as possible because previously I was told you get two minutes to get off the train, AWESOME. When I was walking to the train i saw a sign that said Loungue or something, and Amiens. So I assumed there were only two stops. So while sitting on the train I had on my ipod. We got to the second stop and I was like..oh shit...So I looked at the old lady next to me and in my southern American accent I said "Amiens?!???!!?" And she looked at me confused and said "No 2 plus" So there were two more stops before. Before the Amiens stop my stomach was churning and I felt sick. When I get really nervous I feel this way. Once the announcement that says AMIENS goes on the loudspeaker I popped up and immediately got my luggage right next to the door. The train stops and the door opens. I nervously threw one suitcase on the ground and as I looked up to get the other, a nice person handed it to me.
I stood there for a minute..or two..looking left, right, left, right. I didn't know which way to walk. So I walked left. Thankfully I saw my new family. We got my luggage and headed to the car. As we were walking to the car, I was thinking I'm in France, I have two HUMUNGOUS suit cases...what if they have a smart car...Luckily, They didn't :)
When we got to the house I was so excited to see what it looked like. It was NOTHING that I expected!!! It was better :) (I will post a blog post of just pictures soon) The mom and dad kindly showed me around the house. Practically every room has a theme! It's not too small, it is really the perfect size. There is only one trashcan. There is a salle de bain (wash/dressing room)-includes bath shower and a vanity and TONS of things from sephora said my host sister. toilette- toilette and sink, kitchen( salle manger), living room, dining room, TV room, and the bedrooms of everyone. And the outside is a bunch of gardens!!
-more coming :)
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