“Excuse us folks, but we’ve had a computer error reading…”

So I’m off! (And I apologize in advance if some of this doesn’t make sense or it rambles or words are misspelled or I switch languages- I’m suffering from some serious jet lag after crossing 6 time zones and having about 3 hours of sleep in the past 27 hours or so.) Momma and Daddy Eckardt dropped me off at the airport around 4pm yesterday, and shockingly I didn’t pour tears like I thought I would. After passing through security, I had some time to kill, so naturally I people-watched as I ate my watermelon and Cheerios. (Side note to any and all travelers: When traveling, please be aware that people can see you and what you are wearing. While it may be comfortable to fly, it may not be acceptable or decent to wear in public. Thank you.) Then I was able to help a lady, who was either French or French-Canadian, and did not speak a lick of English, get on our flight. She said my French wasn’t too bad, especially since she was able to understand me and we had a short conversation about school and whatnot. Then once everyone is on the flight and we’re taxiing out to the runway, the pilot comes on the loudspeaker and says, “Excuse us folks, but we’ve had a computer error reading.” Um, say what?! Apparently, one of the computers that operates the wing flaps malfunctioned so we needed to get back to the gate so the mechanics could take a look at it. That was something I definitely didn’t want to hear, especially since it was a 6 hour flight and across a large open body of water for 95% of it. Great. But we were up and running within 15 minutes and taking off.

 Everything pretty much ran smoothly from there. And even though there really wasn’t any turbulence, thank god, and I popped 2 ExcedrinPM, I still couldn’t sleep for more than an hour, which was a major bummer because now I’m completely exhausted. Once we landed, de-planed, and I got my luggage with the help of a nice gentleman who saw me struggling to lift my 71-lb. suitcase, I was able to meet up quickly with Rebecca from ISA, who is an absolute sweetheart. We talked for a while with another student, Colin, while we waited for a third student to land. From there we hopped in the shuttle that took us to our homestays.

Since I’m in a homestay without an ISA roommate, I had no idea what to expect or what to do once I hopped out of the shuttle. So I’m standing on the sidewalk with all of my luggage, a paper in my hand with the door code I need to get into the building, and I can’t figure out how to get in. I punched in the correct code and pulled on the door and it wouldn’t budge. Now what the hell do I do? I don’t have a phone on me and I can’t see one in the near vicinity, so it’s not like I can call someone. Thankfully, a very nice Parisian lady took pity on the lost and confused American student after I explained my situation. She tried the door code again and pushed it open; apparently doors open in instead of out- I consider that a safety hazard. Anyway. So I make my way up to the 7^th floor (on an elevator) and rang the bell, then realized the lady I’m living with for the next 4 months, Louise, was running the vacuum so she didn’t hear me at first. Then I tried again, and she heard me this time. She is the cutest Asian lady who is fluent in both French and English so right now we communicate using Frenglish. It’s effective. Her apartment is beautiful, by the way. Very nicely decorated. So we sit and talk for a little bit, and I come to find out I’m not the only student staying here, which is awesome. There are two girls from Brazil, one of which is leaving in the next two weeks so I’ll move into that bedroom then, and there is another girl from Venezuela. All of them have been studying French for less than a year and all of them are better than me- like WAY better. Note to the American schools: PUSH LANGUAGES BECAUSE WE ARE FAR, FAR BEHIND! But since French is the only common link that we all have, I know that mine will improve over the semester, and that’s why I came here in the first place.

So yeah, since I don’t move into my bedroom for another two weeks, I unpacked what I could and left the rest folded in my suitcase because it was just easier that way, and then took a cat nap because I desperately needed a little bit of sleep. When I woke up, I figured out the wireless internet (which is a godsend) until it was time for dinner at 8:15- now that is definitely something I’ll have to get used to. Dinner was really nice with the five of us sitting around the table talking. Granted, I didn’t do much of the talking, but it was neat to see them all talking with each other and I did understand about 75% of the conversations. After dinner is bedtime for me because I am that damn tired.

Random Fun Facts:

-One of the flight attendants looked like Kristin Wiig from SNL. No joke.

-Apparently macaroni and cheese translates to macaronin-fromage. Who knew?

-On US Airways international flights, you get your own individual TV screen and there's an option that let's you track your flight across the Atlantic. Cool in its own right, but they also labeled all the famous shipwrecks that occurred in history. I know, I'm a geek.