Safe and Sound

Over 6,000 miles in the air and a train, bus, and taxi ride later: I made it! It was quite the adventure purchasing tickets and making all of those transportation changes, but I really had fun with it. Everyone was very nice in helping me find my way around, and I ran into more GTL students on my way in. On the train ride over, we passed nothing but pastures of cows and crops. There is a yellow crop, I think rape seed which is used for oils, which was very beautiful against all of the green. I love my room too, it's in Lafayette which is their nicest student apartments. I have my own studio room with a bathroom and kitchenette. I laughed a little though because I am pretty certain that all of the furniture in here is from Ikea. One thing that I was not expecting was this cold and wet weather. I know that the weather can be dreary around here in the northern area of France, but I still figured it is May and therefore it would be warmer. Turns out every day is cloudy with rain until next week, and I only brought two pairs of long pants. Hopefully I won't get too cold.

Yesterday after checking in to my room, I spent the day trying to stay awake (failed) and exploring Cora, their local version of a Walmart. It was neat as I had to learn a few customs. If you bring your backpack, you are required to check it at the door to prevent shoplifting. Also, you have to weigh your own produce at a weigh station and print out a sticker for it BEFORE you get to the check-out. And finally, you bag your own groceries in your own bags. I personally like the last part because it saves on plastic and I am perfectly capable of bagging my own groceries and not having someone else do it. The best part of the store: baguettes and cheese! They had so many baguettes to choose from and they were all insanely cheap. I made friends with the cheese man too. He spoke pretty good English and let us try different kinds since we had no idea what to get. I went back today and got his new "suggestion of the day", which was a slightly sharper hard cheese. And delicious :)

Today, I was forced to be up bright and early for GTL orientation. To make up for it though, croissants and pan chocolat were awaiting us for breakfast. Again, delicious. Afterwards, we explored THE GTL building. Yes, THE as in, this is not actually a campus. GTL is really just one classroom building, and all of the students live in residence halls that are fairly close. It is about a 10-15 minute walk from Lafayette to the GTL building. From there, we dropped our stuff at our rooms and headed to Simply, the other smaller grocery store, more like a Kroger. Today I decided I should actually buy some foods for breakfast and dinner since we are expected to provide for those ourselves. I stocked up on more baguettes. Basically the norm seems to be making sandwiches out of the baguettes, or simply just eating baguettes and cheese for a meal, and I don't mind a bit. Lunch time we are able to get a meal from a cafeteria at one of the residence halls, Crous.

After orientation and more shopping, and more orientation, and more shopping still, we got on a bus and headed in to downtown Metz. For two hours we just wandered around exploring the city. We found the train station and purchased a ticket for dix voyage, 10 trips on the bus to be able to go in and out of the city frequently. We also tried to figure out our Eurail passes, but it was pretty confusing. I got mine stamped in order to validate it, which you have to do before you can use it on the trains, but we weren't actually able to purchase any advanced tickets for our weekend trips. I am just worried that the Eurail seats we want will be filled before we get back to the train station, but that is just another thing for me to learn how to do. After, we found a small kabob shop and got some amazing kabob sandwiches. I walked in attempting to order in French and to my embarrassment the man at the counter responded with, "If you speak English, just order in English! I'll understand you." Wasn't expecting that. Most people in French at ticket windows and service desks know good English. And most people in general understand some English. But often times in restaurants or with bus drivers, they don't, or they don't know much. His was the best English of anyone I have run in to so far. This made ordering much easier, and to top it all off, his sandwiches were amazing! It reminded me of a gyro, but with thicker bread than pita and the meat was more savory. We ate our sandwiches to-go while walking back to the bus stop in order to get on a train that was taking GTL students on a tour of Metz. The train was absolutely silly, it looked like the ones going around in circles at the mall. Can you say tourists? But I have to say, I appreciated the ride. Downtown Metz was beautiful! After two hours of roaming around, I had still seen almost nothing compared to what I experienced on the train tour. The cathedrals are just breathtaking, and I can't wait to go to Paris in a few weeks and see Notre Dame. I also just loved all of the architecture and cobblestone and the typical vines up the walls. Sadly, and I hate this- SO mad at myself...I left my camera in my room so there are no pictures from this. "But Holly! Pics or it didn't happen." Yeah, I know. But I anticipate that I will travel in to Metz many many times over the summer, and I won't let myself forget again. To end the night, we visited a local bar that one of the students here said was the best. I enjoyed it, and it had a cool medieval theme about it on the inside.

When we left, we headed for the night bus back to GTL and completely got lost. We were on the right bus, but it didn't stop at every stop it was supposed to. We realized it only stops if you push a red "stop" button because you want to get off at the next stop. After a while, we just had no idea what stop we were at, and as a result ended up missing where we should have gotten off. On the bright side, by going further we realized that there was this awesome looking carnival going on just a little ways away from GTL. I have decided that it definitely looks worth going to. And luckily, the bus driver turned around and we eventually made it back to Lafayette.

Sorry for the delay in the post! Monday I was so tired from the flight I tried to start writing but fell asleep. And  today I got back pretty late. But, here's what has already happened to me in just two days!! I love it here, and tomorrow I start class. Hopefully I like my professors and my classes will be good.

Let's Do This.

The day of my departure has arrived! I am currently in the Hartsfield-Jackson Atl airport awaiting my flight. First I have a connecting flight headed for Cincinnati, OH. From there, I will change planes to a 757 headed for the CDG airport in Paris. This is whete it gets tricky... In the CDG airport is a train station where I will have to purchase a ticket for a TGV train (the really fast kind!) that will take me in to Lorraine. Then I am supposed to figure out some way of getting on a metro headed for the Metz Ville train station. Finally, I need to track down a taxi and hope it can get me to my dorm with the address I have been given. Phew! If I am successful, I will have a new level of respect for my navigating skills. No one else going to GTL is even on my exact flight, so I have to admit I am nervous. If I am lucky, I will be able to find some others once I get to the train.

So let's talk emotions, cause there are a lot of those right now. Nerves are high. Not as high as finals, come on! But pretty high. I have never been so far from home, and never alone like this without any family. I am headed to a foreign country I know very little about! But also, this is extremely exciting for me! I am very thankful for this opportunity and my family's support. I have no idea what I am in for! This is slightly sad too, because I know I will miss everyone so much!! But the main thing to remember is I am going to learn and grow while I am having this amazing experience, and then I will return home to everyone I love.

The plane is about to leave, so I have to end this quick! Saying a little prayer that I make it safe and sound. I may not have internet access set up for a few days, but as soon as I do I will post again! Let's do this.