Bonjour! My first day in Paris is coming to an end now and I am EXHAUSTED.
I started off leaving home around 10 am, got some allergy medication and then my parents drove me to Sea-Tac Airport. About a half hour early, we arrived at the airport around noon and I said my goodbyes and walked into the airport. Checking in was a breeze and I had 2 hours to sit around until my flight to Iceland boarded. I had brought some food to eat on the plane but decided to eat something before I boarded, bad idea.. I order a hamburger and it did not sit well in my stomach.
My flight to Iceland was pretty easy though. I watched the movie "Wall Street" and "Eat. Pray. Love." and then fell asleep. The flight was 7 hours long but went by pretty quickly. Each row had 3 seats and, lucky for me, my row only had 2 passengers. The boy next to me was from Iceland and might I add quite cute. Getting off the plane was fast and then I went through Iceland Customs which was also very easy. I had about 30 minutes to wait for my flight to Paris so I just sat on the floor and stretched my legs out.
The flight to Paris wasn't so great. I had the seat right before 1st class so there wasn't a ton of leg room. I could not get comfortable or fall asleep, terrible 3 hour flight. Oh, and I also felt sick to my stomach, probably from the hamburger in Seattle. I never even eat hamburgers so I don't know why I decided today would be the day to.. The girl next to me on this flight was also studying abroad, somewhere about 2 hours outside of Paris. As the plane taxied into Paris, the boy behind me said he was studying abroad too and the girl next to him said she was as well and was from WSU. We all went to baggage claim together and talked more about the day and our next few months. As we waited for the bags to come another girl walked up to us and said we looked like Americans and wanted to come join us, she was studying abroad too. I got my bags, said goodbye to everyone and headed to find a pay phone.
I had to call 08 00 69 96 99 and I would be told where to go to catch my ride to my new home. Seems easy enough, I called and the man on the phone said to go 'catch the lift and go to exit 18'. So I got on the elevator and followed a bunch of people to the signs called shuttle pick up. Well, that wasn't the right place. I went back upstairs, called the number again and said I couldn't find exit 18. He said go to departures and find door 18. As I walked away this time I saw a girl that had come up to me in baggage claim, she looked lost too and lucky for me she was looking for door 18 too. We walked along the floor we were on and found door 18, stood outside the door for about 10 minutes and then realized there must be more than 1 door labeled door 18. This time we went downstairs to a different part and found another door 18, this one had cars picking people up and looked like the right place. We waited for about 10 more minutes and then our driver found us. By this time, I didn't feel tired at all; which was weird because it was 3 am for my normal time and I had been traveling all day.
We got in the van and headed for Paris, picking up 2 more people on our way. It took about half hour to drop them off and then he dropped Courtney off at her apartment. On our way to my place I chatted with the driver which was fun because I could practice a little French but he also new English pretty well. We got to my place around 2 pm and I was nervous I would get left on the sidewalk like Courtney did, which seemed very scary to me. Luckily someone was walking out of the doors and I held it open so I could get in. Then a girl asked if I was Taylor and said she was from Abroadco too and living in the apartments near me and I could follow her. Then even more lucky, my resident director came walking up. Tawna showed me the building, my new place and walked me over to the other Abroadco apartment where I talked to that girl for a little while. I was exhausted by now and went back to my place and got into bed.
I fell asleep and when I woke up my host-mom was home so I introduced myself and she invited me to a dinner party she was having later in the evening. I was hesitant and she said if I was up to it I was welcome to. I heard people arriving around 7:30 and at about 8 she knocked on my door and invited me out, so I went. There were 7 other French people in the living room. Mme Laurent poured me some greek drink and showed me a seat, she said just listen and see what you can pick up. Now these people are mostly French Scientists and I barely understood a thing they were talking about. Oh, and the drink wasn't good. We then sat down for the meal. It started with a spinach soup I think, it was pretty good, and some bread. Then we had quiche and I decided to eat it because I didn't want to seem rude, it wasn't too bad. Next we had salad and cheese and bread. Then a dessert. Because it is January, there is some traditional dessert they eat after Solstice. They hid a little toy in the dessert and someone is chosen to hand out each piece of the tart. I was chosen and I gave out dessert and after more talking and eating 2 of the men found little toys. They were awarded crowns and were the kings, they then chose queens. I was a queen :) I sat at the table for about 15 more minutes and then excused myself to go to bed. I could barely keep my eyes open.
What a day! I'm excited to go explore the city in the next few days.
