It's Time To Fly to France...
Yeah, bloody freaking early.... Four in the morning can sure roll around quickly...especially when you go to bed after midnight the night before that particular morning. And that morning arrives quickly even more especially if you go to bed at midnight, but can't seem to fall asleep because you have a big trans-Atlantic flight the next morning taking you to a place you have never been, but have been fantasizing about incessantly. Oh yeah, and you have spent the last two months planning the trip; saving up money (and by saving I mean begging your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. for their coin jars and extra cash) completing an annoying amount of paperwork to apply and be officially accepted in to a study abroad program, and then, lastly, spending all that money on things that you are confident you will need in Europe because...just because man! I was that guy this morning. I finished packing my suitcase, backpack, and associated daypack at around midnight to midnight-thirty on Thursday and was determined to fall asleep immediately. Let's just say that I failed miserably.
I had the determination to sleep immediately because I had spent the previous 48+ hours awake doing what I guess could be called pre-packing, finishing that cacophony of paperwork, and just generally completing the other associated crap that my various schools require for me to study in France and actually get credit for it. But, I was admittedly mostly packing Wednesday night. And I was packing last minute because, for whatever reason, I get a sub-conscientious fulfillment out of putting things off. I was even a Boy Scout earlier in life. Figure that one out.
Then, after having stayed up for way longer than any self-respecting human being should the Wednesday night before I left, as in no sleep at all, I decided to listen to my sister and go on a river-floating trip in San Marcos, Texas with her and my roommate on Thursday. Yeah, the last day before flying out, I decided to drink and float on a tube down a river while accomplishing nothing. It was an awesome way to spend the resulting half-day with my little sis, who I won't see when I get back because she just became a big girl and graduated before me, but it was still a half day of my last day to prepare for my studies in Aix-en-Provence and for my backpacking trip after that. Then, shockingly, that half-day blew up to approximately 7/9ths of the day when I got home to my apartment in Austin, TX and passed out on my couch thanks to the lack of sleep the night before, the sun exposure on the river, and just general lack of sustenance outside of the several (ok, several several) beers enjoyed on the river.pour modifier.
My family is better than yours. I had the determination to sleep immediately because I had spent the previous 48+ hours awake doing what I guess could be called pre-packing, finishing that cacophony of paperwork, and just generally completing the other associated crap that my various schools require for me to study in France and actually get credit for it. But, I was admittedly mostly packing Wednesday night. And I was packing last minute because, for whatever reason, I get a sub-conscientious fulfillment out of putting things off. I was even a Boy Scout earlier in life. Figure that one out.
Then, after having stayed up for way longer than any self-respecting human being should the Wednesday night before I left, as in no sleep at all, I decided to listen to my sister and go on a river-floating trip in San Marcos, Texas with her and my roommate on Thursday. Yeah, the last day before flying out, I decided to drink and float on a tube down a river while accomplishing nothing. It was an awesome way to spend the resulting half-day with my little sis, who I won't see when I get back because she just became a big girl and graduated before me, but it was still a half day of my last day to prepare for my studies in Aix-en-Provence and for my backpacking trip after that. Then, shockingly, that half-day blew up to approximately 7/9ths of the day when I got home to my apartment in Austin, TX and passed out on my couch thanks to the lack of sleep the night before, the sun exposure on the river, and just general lack of sustenance outside of the several (ok, several several) beers enjoyed on the river.pour modifier.
When I woke up I had to immediately leave my house after packing nothing the entire day to meet my mom, step-dad, and the same incorrigible, little sister at Black Star Coop Brewery and Pub for my last meal in Austin before leaving. It was a horribly delicious plan that involved a certain amount of craft beer, the best shrimp and grits I have ever had, and a plan to become a member of the Coop when I return. I didn't tell my parents about that last part though. It's kind of a secret.
But, I digress. The meat of my story lies after waking up this Friday morning.
I did manage to pack everything, although I regret not putting an international adapter in my daypack. I deeply suspect I will be a sad and depressed American in about an hour or so, when my iThings become iDead in Brussels, Belgium. Maybe I'll luck out and find a charger, but I kind of doubt it. I don't even know how to say charger in French, Dutch, or German; the three languages of Belgium. (A fact that I learned enroute to the aforementioned country courtesy of a friendly seat-mate.) So, if my iPad can hang in there for a little bit longer, I will post pretty pictures of my aircraft travels to Brussels and then on to Marseille.
In those pictures, you will see that I left Austin at around 7:30 this morning to land in Philly. My whole family saw me off because they are just awesome people. I bought some Texas-sized gifts for my host family before leaving Texas, which caused me a little bit of trouble in Philadelphia when I wanted to leave the airport to check out Philly's downtown. I really wanted to see the Liberty Bell, the Constitutional Historic National Park and eat at Good Dog Bar and Grill (from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives). I managed to do all of those things, but I had to get a bit crafty with one item in particular.
What specifically caused me issues was a medium-sized bottle of hot sauce I purchased in Austin for my host family. In case you weren't aware, you can't carry liquid things through security, which I needed to go through again in order to reenter the airport to catch my flight to Brussels. They don't let you carry liquids through security because that liquid could actually be bomb water in disguise. Normal people always have bomb water disguised as hot sauce laying around their house willy-nilly. Anyways, my hot-sauce-appearing bottled bomb water was too big to leave and reenter. Why can't they just stamp it with an approval notice or something since I bought it in the freaking airport in Austin?!
Hook 'em! For Liberty! And America! But, I digress. The meat of my story lies after waking up this Friday morning.
I did manage to pack everything, although I regret not putting an international adapter in my daypack. I deeply suspect I will be a sad and depressed American in about an hour or so, when my iThings become iDead in Brussels, Belgium. Maybe I'll luck out and find a charger, but I kind of doubt it. I don't even know how to say charger in French, Dutch, or German; the three languages of Belgium. (A fact that I learned enroute to the aforementioned country courtesy of a friendly seat-mate.) So, if my iPad can hang in there for a little bit longer, I will post pretty pictures of my aircraft travels to Brussels and then on to Marseille.
In those pictures, you will see that I left Austin at around 7:30 this morning to land in Philly. My whole family saw me off because they are just awesome people. I bought some Texas-sized gifts for my host family before leaving Texas, which caused me a little bit of trouble in Philadelphia when I wanted to leave the airport to check out Philly's downtown. I really wanted to see the Liberty Bell, the Constitutional Historic National Park and eat at Good Dog Bar and Grill (from Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives). I managed to do all of those things, but I had to get a bit crafty with one item in particular.
What specifically caused me issues was a medium-sized bottle of hot sauce I purchased in Austin for my host family. In case you weren't aware, you can't carry liquid things through security, which I needed to go through again in order to reenter the airport to catch my flight to Brussels. They don't let you carry liquids through security because that liquid could actually be bomb water in disguise. Normal people always have bomb water disguised as hot sauce laying around their house willy-nilly. Anyways, my hot-sauce-appearing bottled bomb water was too big to leave and reenter. Why can't they just stamp it with an approval notice or something since I bought it in the freaking airport in Austin?!
Anyways, my clever idea to keep the bottle of hot sauce AND still go downtown after I was told that the info desk couldn't hold on to it for me was to hide it somewhere deep in the bowels of the Philadelphia International Airport. Where did I hide it, you may ask? I stuck it in the bottom of one of those toilet paper cover dispenser things and simply hoped that the janitors would not take an interest in a single jammed dispenser. They did not and therefore my evil plan to take over the world from Aix-en-Provence has not been thwarted by Captain Super Cleaner. At least not just yet. I'll be waiting...
After I saw the Liberty Bell, I took the Airport Train back to the Philly International Airport, breezed through security, went to the USO for some free soda and water, and managed to catch my flight to Brussels with time to spare. I actually had a really excellent seat on the plane right next to the door. However, the food they served me was pretty bloody awful while their excuse for complimentary "wine" might as well have been soured grape juice. I rectified the situation with a bottle of authentic French bordeaux, which sadly cost me some money. Still, better to enjoy the million plus hours on this plane with good wine than suffer without it. That is a saying right?
After 9 hours or so on that plane, I did finally make it to France in Marseille where my brand new foster family was waiting to meet me and take me to my new home. I will be living in an apartment to the west of downtown Aix-en-Provence with Camille, my foster mom, who is a retired grandmother that takes in students who study at IAU. She doesn't speak much english, so I'm going to be forced to speak French a lot to communicate with her. And anyone who knows me knows that it is best to take away any shortcuts that I could use to cheat fluency. I'm actually going to have to come by it honestly. Kind of a bummer.
Either way, it has been a very long trip to France and I am very tired. I didn't end up getting my hot sauce through customs in Brussels because it was over 100 milliliters, which apparently is verboten in the EU. So, my craftiness in Philly was completely wasted. Additionally, don't tell the customs agents in Belgium that you are staying in the Eurozone for 83 days with only 100 euros to your name. Mention that you have an international credit card after saying how poor you are. Lesson learned.
Lastly, I did manage to deliver the chocolates I got in Austin to Camille without them being tossed by security or customs, and she LOVES them. I've had two awesome French meals now with Camille and my housemate Michael, which we concluded with my chocolates.
I'm going to walk around the town tomorrow as much as I can and I also have an orientation for most of the day with my school as well. I will post another update tomorrow night or the next night and really start to get in to a rhythm with this thing.
Here are some more pictures since you are probably tired of reading all of my rambling:
After I saw the Liberty Bell, I took the Airport Train back to the Philly International Airport, breezed through security, went to the USO for some free soda and water, and managed to catch my flight to Brussels with time to spare. I actually had a really excellent seat on the plane right next to the door. However, the food they served me was pretty bloody awful while their excuse for complimentary "wine" might as well have been soured grape juice. I rectified the situation with a bottle of authentic French bordeaux, which sadly cost me some money. Still, better to enjoy the million plus hours on this plane with good wine than suffer without it. That is a saying right?
After 9 hours or so on that plane, I did finally make it to France in Marseille where my brand new foster family was waiting to meet me and take me to my new home. I will be living in an apartment to the west of downtown Aix-en-Provence with Camille, my foster mom, who is a retired grandmother that takes in students who study at IAU. She doesn't speak much english, so I'm going to be forced to speak French a lot to communicate with her. And anyone who knows me knows that it is best to take away any shortcuts that I could use to cheat fluency. I'm actually going to have to come by it honestly. Kind of a bummer.
Either way, it has been a very long trip to France and I am very tired. I didn't end up getting my hot sauce through customs in Brussels because it was over 100 milliliters, which apparently is verboten in the EU. So, my craftiness in Philly was completely wasted. Additionally, don't tell the customs agents in Belgium that you are staying in the Eurozone for 83 days with only 100 euros to your name. Mention that you have an international credit card after saying how poor you are. Lesson learned.
Lastly, I did manage to deliver the chocolates I got in Austin to Camille without them being tossed by security or customs, and she LOVES them. I've had two awesome French meals now with Camille and my housemate Michael, which we concluded with my chocolates.
I'm going to walk around the town tomorrow as much as I can and I also have an orientation for most of the day with my school as well. I will post another update tomorrow night or the next night and really start to get in to a rhythm with this thing.
Here are some more pictures since you are probably tired of reading all of my rambling:
À demain!
-JP