I left Arlington around 9 yesterday morning with surprising ease; no last minute errands, nothing forgotten. We got to the airport and I said goodbye to my mom and got in the security line. Apparently every other person in Seattle was also trying to fly out, so the airport was ridiculously busy. I boarded my flight around 1 and was immediately aware of the amount of french being spoken around me. It wasn't until the flight attendants started making the announcements in french and i got my complimentary glass of champagne (what?!?) that I realized this was really it, I was leaving Seattle! The flight was about ten hours, and even though it was technically overnight, I only got about an hour of sleep. I managed to watch five movies though! Nothing like a good romcom (or three) for a long flight.
I had plans to meet up with another girl in the airport because her plane got in half an hour before mine, but of course when I checked my french phone I realized I'd left it on for the whole flight and only had one bar of battery left. When I tried to dial Sophia's number, an ornery sounding French woman came on and said something really fast that I couldn't understand. I finally took my phone to an information desk and had someone listen for me, and the phone woman was telling me the number was invalid. Luckily, Sophia called me and we thought we were pretty close to each other in the airport. Of course we weren't, but an hour and a half later we finally met at the RER station in the airport. We bought our train tickets with a little help and hopped aboard, heading towards the center of Paris.
We were supposed to get off the RER and get on the Metro, but everything was so confusing! It didn't help we were both hauling two suitcases weighing upwards of 50 pounds. People were incredibly helpful, helping us haul our suitcases up huge flights of stairs and trying to give us directions. We were looking for M12, but after half an hour wandering the metro tunnels, we decided to just give up and take a cab the rest of the way. By the time we managed to get out of the metro and hail a cab we were sweaty, tired, and frustrated. We were watching the scenery go by, and then suddenly we rounded a corner and saw the huge Louvre pyramid looming to our left. Seconds later we crossed the Seine, and there was the Eiffel Tower!! It was pretty unbelievable. Finally we reached our apartment and met our program director who gave us keys and the tour.
Here's a few pictures of the apartment:
View from my window:
Living room:
Kitchen:
Because why wouldn't the washing machine be under the stove?
My room and super awesome pillow:
Our apartment is right above a pizzeria and a cafe, both of which I'm sure we'll get to know pretty well.
Well so much for a short post, but I guess it was too long of a day (two days?) for a short post.
