Bonjour à tous! I have arrived safely in France! The flight out of Detroit Metro departed about 20 minutes behind schedule but somehow we still arrived in Frankfurt on time! What an amazing pilot. We left around 7pm EST and tag-teamed with the sun to meet it in Germany at 8:30am CET. On our 7.5 hour flight, we were fed dinner and breakfast (both quite good). Shortly after we took off, they gave us a bag of tiny crackers shaped as the four suits in a card deck! I was quite entertained.
After arriving in Frankfurt and collecting our luggage, the K group waited for our bus to Strasbourg to show up. In that space of time, we met a few other students in our program who are from Lewis and Clark College. They are all quite nice, even when sleep deprived. The bus ride took us to the Hotel Hilton in Strasbourg where we had an exhilarating time unloading our luggage in traffic (don’t worry, it was a side street. Still fun though) and trucking it all into the lobby to meet our host families.
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| Some of the buildings on my street. |
Let me just say that my host mom is amazing! Right now, she is hosting three international students (me and Zena from K and another girl, named Susan, from China). She’s been hosting kids for 10 years (!) which explains why she was able to tell me with such confidence that it will take about 8 days for me to get settled. On the car ride to her apartment I had the uniquely ‘big city’ experience of watching her weave in and out of lanes, bicycles and pedestrians. And at one of the stoplights, she rolled down her window and jokingly challenged her friend Michel, who is hosting two K guys, to a street race (at least, that’s what I loosely translated). He lives in the apartment upstairs so they would have had the same finish line. Also, she is preparing a cherry tart for dessert! It smells really good and I know at least the parts are delicious because as I started unpacking, she came into my room and give me a cherry saying “these are good and really common in this area” and so on.
Anyway, my host mom speaks English very well. Interestingly enough, she has already started speaking more French more quickly to me than with my roommate… I guess I put on a pretty convincing ‘I totally get what you’re saying even though I’m running on 26 hours without sleep’ face. (Well, that’s a lie. I’m pretty sure that I dozed off for about 15-20 minutes on the bus because I don’t remember an entire section of the podcast I was listening to.)
Speaking of sleep, I’m going to finish unpacking/cleaning up the two suitcases that I dumped on my bed and floor so I can lie down. I’m not horribly jetlagged, but traveling can take it out of you. À plus!
6 comments:
That sounds wonderful! I kind of wish sometimes that we had homestays here in Hungary, but I am thoroughly enjoying living in a dorm, so I don't wish that too often. :P
Now that we're in the same time zone again, we'll have to chat a lot. :)
I expect a bunch of photos! <3
Delightful! I am so happy to hear that you had a good trip, are safe and well fed. The thought of the cherry tart has my mouth watering. I like that your host mom has a sense of humor and adventure too. Bon wuit ma cheri, je t'aime beaucoup.
Mirae, I'm so jealous of your attitude. You're handling everything with aplomb. Can't wait to hear about your adventures once you are properly awake.
I love reading your guys' blogs, it's like I'm doing it all over again, but with new eyes. I've missed you since I left for Germany, and it's weird we're on opposite sides of the ocean again. I'm glad that your attitude is so fresh and accepting, I just know you're going to have a blast.
Much love,
Mariel
I'm glad you arrived safely, Mirae! It sounds like you are having a great time so far! I hope that we can chat some time. I leave for Japan in 6 days. :)
Mirae, I'm so excited for you! Your pictures are absolutely beautiful, and I'm looking forward to more of your beautiful prose. :D
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