My Departure and Arrival

With overstuffed bags and a fistful of Euros, I boarded my plane to Paris yesterday around 5pm. As always, finding my seat and getting situated was a hassle, and, although there were plenty of open seats, the two seats next to my window seat were both about to be occupied by two girls who looked to be around my age. I soon learned that these two girls, Sarah and Dominique, were going to study abroad in Paris in my same program, IES! It was so cool to get to meet and talk with some people who are in my program before I arrived. I had been freaking out that everyone in my program would be mutants or something, so it was nice to know that there were going to be at least two normal girls. These two go to the University of Puget Sound up in Washington, but both live near L.A. It was just random that we happened to be on the same plane, sitting together! I didn't hear much of the safety precautions or anything because we discussed our upcoming adventure for the next two and a half hours.

I was able to sleep a fair amount on the plane, thanks to a neck pillow, eye mask, and Benedryl. When I woke up we were about an hour out from Paris. I looked outside and was taken back by how level with the moon I was, and how I could see light beginning to appear over the horizon of clouds. I watched the sun come up, ate breakfast, watched the sun disappear again behind lots of clouds, and landed safely at Charles de Gaulle Airport. The three of us did the whole customs thing, got our bags and walked out of security.

The first thing I saw was a piece of paper with my name on it being held my an older, stout man. This man was Jean-Pierre Schumacher, and the women next to him were his wife, Fanou, and an American, Nicté, i.e. my host family and my roommate. I was greeted entirely in French and have spoken only a few phrases of English (to Nicté) since then. We put the bags in the Schumacher's van (they all fit!!) and started off towards Paris, passing Ikea on the way. Apparently, the ride was a lot longer than it should have been at 45 minutes, but being so fresh off the plane, I didn't really care.

We got to our street, Rue de Saussure, in the 17e ("dix-septieme") arrondissement (district), and Jean-Pierre pulled the van onto the sidewalk! Oh those Frenchies :) We unloaded and went up to the appartement on the 6e ("sixieme") étage (floor). The apartment is two stories, and it has a very small kitchen that houses a sink, microwave, fridge and freezer, washing machine, and a whole bunch of pictures of grand-children. Nicté and my rooms are upstairs, across the hall from Jean-Pierre and Fanou's offices. I immediately noticed that my desk is the Mikael from Ikea- some things are universally recognizable. Nicté and I have a shared balcony that overlooks the Rue de Saussures, although it's too rainy right now for the balcony to be of any use. My bed is litte, but comfortable. I got Jean-Pierre to help me put up my Dallas Cowboys calendar that Taylor gave me. Things are looking homier and homier!

We ate lunch with Fanou downstairs in the séjour (living room). She made le chou rouge (red cabbage) with a vinaigrette, du poisson blanc (white fish, I forgot the actual name), and des pommes de terres à l'air (baked potatoes, I think). We also ate bread she bought on the way home and four different types of cheese for dessert- emmenthal, camambert, and two other kinds of which I didn't really catch the names. Afterwards, she suggested we take a short nap. I made sure to set my alarm for an hour, but Nicté is still sleeping, so I hope her sleep cycle won't be all messed up. When Nicté does wake up, I think we're going to walk around the block and maybe try to find the metro stations and the bus stop. Hopefully we'll get all of our transportation mildly figured out today.

I think I have to be at the IES orientation tomorrow at 1:30pm. I'll let you know all about it!

Au revoir,
Ellie