Bonjour tout le monde! I am en route to my first European adventure and wanted to post quickly before I jump on my Air France flight and leave America and English-speaking culture behind (until June).
Quick summary: I am heading to Angers, France (appx: two hours southwest of Paris) where I will be staying until June 6. I will post anecdotes, photos, and random chatter along the way, updating everyone at home of my adventures. If you want to hear more/something different (yes Steph, I know—only photos with people in them) comment or email me. I hear rumor that I may have internet in my host family’s house—which would make skyping/blogging/emailing much easier! So I’ll keep you posted on that front.
I began my adventure earlier this week when I decided it was probably time to start packing. After several days of folding, washing, and shopping, it all fit into one large suitcase, a duffel bag and my backpack. And I only brought six pairs of shoes—one of my biggest accomplishments of the week. The shoes was only topped by the fact that I flew by myself this morning for the first time. I made it to NY and have since had my first “cultural experience”—I had Turkish food in the JFK airport. The general consensus from the Angevins (ND students heading to Angers) is that we really hope the food is better in France. We have all gathered and have been camping out in a corner of gate seven for the past four hours. Good news? We only have three more to go.
More details on my JFK airport experience:
1) It is really poorly labeled. We all were very confused that we had to take “airtrains” to the international terminal.
2) Once you get through security, you have two food options: Turkish or a sandwich. I highly recommend eating before you enter.
3) There are announcements are in like six different languages.
4) We are one of the few groups of Americans—it is rather obvious. The French men who were sitting by us lasted around an hour before they got up and moved. So glad we’re embracing the obnoxious American cliché, although we’ve decided trying to conceal our American-ness is just not going to work.
This post is no longer interesting so I will bid you adieu until I have internet access IN FRANCE!! Wish me luck and I miss everyone already. xoxo
