Goodbyes and Hellos - Week 1 in France

Hello from France (!!!!!)

I am headed now to my host family in Redon! I’ve been on the train for a long time so I figured I would go over what the in-country orientation was like. This post will have some serious/emotional stuff so if you don’t want to read it, that’s ok. It wont be all sad, but I want to touch on the subject.

So anyways, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, Boston. So we leave out of Boston Logan International Airport and take a 6-hour flight to London Heathrow. (I didn’t sleep at all, but did have an intense bloody nose where I had to sit on the tiny airplane toilet for a half-hour stuffing tissues up my nose). We get to LHR at 5 am and we don’t leave till nine, so we sit around and wait. Our flight from LHR to CDG was very short, probably 45 minutes. We get to CDG and we aren’t tired anymore, fueled by the excitement for the trip ahead. We met Sophie, our STS supervisor for the week. She is so lovely and sweet! We take the train to Lille, a fairly big town in the north of France. This is where we were to stay for the week proceeding meeting our families. We met Laurent at the train station, another person from STS. We (especially the guys) became very attached to him throughout the week and now we call him “l’homme” which means “the man” in French. We went to a little hostel and put our stuff down and then we took a bus tour around Lille. It was quite an uneventful tour because we all fell asleep for different amounts of time. It was so funny to wake up intermittently and see who was asleep and who was awake! We went to bed really early that night, and in spite of waking up a few times quite confused on what the time was and where I was, when I finally woke up for good I felt much better. I think we counted that we went about 32 hours without sleep. A record for me, definitely. The first full day, Tuesday, we had French and culture classes, which were very fun because we just spoke in French and played little games. That afternoon we had free time to walk around Lille and then we went to dinner. After dinner, Sophie and Laurent surprised us and told us we were going to go play laser tag! I didn’t understand the hype about this game until I played 2 rounds and now I am hooked. There is just something about bonding with someone by shouting a warning about an incoming imaginary laser beam that makes fast friends. The next day, Wednesday, was the day we were supposed to take a day trip to Paris, but because of all the horrible things that have just occurred there, we were not permitted to go into the city. Sophie, not wanting us to have a day of nothing, quickly worked out a day trip to Brussels, in Belgium. Despite being disappointed at not going to Paris, I was excited because I had never been to Belgium! And yes, it did live up to my expectations and probably surpassed them. There was however, one thing. It rained. A lot. Ok so the story goes like this: I wake up and it’s overcast but dry in Lille. I look at the forecast and it says “NO RAIN” for Brussels. So naturally, I wore my non-waterproof down coat and converse. This was my mistake. We got to Brussels and it was pouring down rain. We walked for an hour in the rain before we found our way and by then we were soaked. I am glad, however, that it was not just me who made this mistake but rather everyone in the group. Thursday, we had more French and culture classes and then we went to the “Louvre Museum Annex” in Lens, which is about a 40 min. train ride from Lille. This is basically a branch from the Louvre in Paris. It was pretty cool. We came back and cooked sweet and savory crepes in our hostel kitchen. A few of us stayed up pretty late last night chatting so getting up this morning was hard. I think our minds did not want to get on with the day ahead.

(this is the sad part so skip if you want)

Ok so this morning, we packed up and then wandered around Lille until about noon, when the first trains were leaving. We had our last breakfast together at a little café and it was really lovely. Then we had to say goodbye. I can honestly say that I cried really hard when I had to be split up from half of my friends and then again as I waved goodbye to Troy (one of the friends I made on the trip) and Laurent on the platform. You are probably thinking, what? Cecilia, you’ve known these people for less than a week! Yes, I know that. But its interesting how quickly you get attached to people when you leave your parents and you are kind of stranded by yourself in a new country where you know virtually no one. The feeling of complete helplessness that I felt while watching their faces rush by my window is not like anything I’ve ever felt before. But you sit next to a stranger and watch Shrek and try not to fool yourself into thinking that your friends are in the seat in front of you and you cope. You think about all the exciting stuff ahead and not the sadness that you are enveloped in, knowing that your new friends, the only people in the world, practically, who understand what you are going through, are headed off to completely different parts of the country. And I really am excited!! I know that sounds completely fake and posed after what I just said but I’m serious! This is all part of studying abroad and I am ready for whatever comes next. 

I have to go now because I will be getting off my train soon to see my new family!

Bises, (this is the cheek kisses and what you use to greet people and say goodbye)

Cecilia

(sorry for this obnoxiously long post but I thought it would be good to go into depth here)