First Impressions

I promised everyone that I would blog about my experiences here in France, and since I've been here a good two weeks I guess it's time to start doing that... :-)

Well, I took the red eye from Detroit Metro to the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on July 6th, leaving at 9:30pm, Detroit time, and arriving at about 11am the next morning, Paris time. The flight lasted about 7-8 hours and there is a 6 hour time difference between here and home. Needless to say, I was exhausted when we arrived, even though I slept for a couple hours on the plane. I was kinda in a daze that whole day, from getting off the plane and waiting in line to get my passport stamped (no questions, no nothin), to getting on the bus for a 3-4 hour ride to Tours. The interesting things about that bus ride were: Paris grafitti, a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower, hearing "Uptown Girls" on the French radio, stopping at a rest stop to eat, and tasting chicken flavored potato chips. Then we got there and there was a throng (ok, slight exaggeration) of host parents who we got matched up with when Thao (Professor Norris's assistant) called out our names. Then it was hustle-bustle, how old are you, what do you study, here's your room, have some orange juice, dinner's at 8. Whoa.

It took me a while to adjust to living in Tours. Jet lag lasted a few days, there were a couple nights where I didn't fall asleep until around 3 or 4 local time, but it was 9 or 10pm Michigan time. I also had a bit of culture shock, it was not only getting used to living in a foreign country and speaking another language that I'm not fluent in, but also the fact that everyone I know (well pretty much, everyone I know well) and love are 4,000 miles away.

There are two other students living here who are taking classes at L'Institut de Touraine, and both are from the States and speak English. One is Chinese-American, Giselle, she is older, and has been studying in France every summer for a few years just on her own (not with another university or anything), so she is pretty fluent and very helpful when I have trouble communicating with Madame. Mary is a student at the University of South Carolina, and she's on a Study Abroad program like me. However, they are both leaving at the end of this week when June classes are over. Then there are two guys moving in to the floor above me, who I think Madame said are from Columbia (?). That is going to be an interesting experience, especially if they don't speak English.

I've gotten adjusted a lot better now, it's just taken some time to get used to things and get comfortable in such a foreign setting (and Europe is supposed to be so similar to the US). It's time for dinner now so I better get going, but I'll blog about the excursions for next time.

Au revoir!