Paris, je suis enchantée

So, after taking the smallest plane I have ever been on, I continued onward from D.C. to Paris on the largest plane I have ever been on. Seriously. Monstrous. I was very glad to have Scottie on the same flight; we asked a very nice French man if we could sit next to each other, so that was especially nice. Our plane left at about 5:30 p.m. and arrived in Paris at 6:45 in the morning (Parisian time). I did not sleep at all on the plane, so by the time we made it through baggage claim and across the airport to our place of rendez-vous, I was about ready for bed. Unfortunately, at that time my day had only begun. I still cannot believe that right now it is the same day. Literally the longest day of my life. First of all, the Charles de Gaulle airport smells like roses. No joke. Also, there were giant brightly painted tulips and ballerinas painted on the bathroom walls. I did not think that Paris could be an exaggeration of itself, but I suppose it has proved me wrong.

We waited in the airport for what seemed like one hundred years for the rest of our group to arrive, trying awkwardly to break the ice with one another, but entirely too sleep-deprived to have normal social skills. It occurred to Scottie and I that speaking French isn’t a game for us anymore (which really it has been; it is our secret language in the U.S.). Now it’s for real, and we have no choice but to use what we know (which is probably more than we think we know). FINALLY after waiting forever, we all hopped on a bus to go to our auberge de jeunesse (youth hostel). Paris is COLD. At least at the moment. There is snow on the ground and everyone is all bundled up. The farther we got from the airport, the more I realized that we were in Europe and that everything is incredibly old. As unbelievably tired as I was on that bus ride, by the end of it I was already totally charmed. Our very cute hostel is down a narrow cobblestone street that appears to be in the midst of a lot of things, but I have not been conscious enough to fully make note of our location within Paris in relation to other things.

After dropping off our things, we ate lunch together. By ate lunch I mean nibbled a bit and mostly picked at food that we were too tired to eat and learned a little bit about how things are kind of slow here. We have four student monitors who go to school in Rennes who are our helpers and guides for the whole semester. We met them today, and they have already proven to be incredibly helpful and lovely people. After waiting for forever, having a group meeting, and waiting some more, we were finally allowed into our rooms and had about 2 hours to do whatever until dinner. Most of us took that opportunity to take a nap. After napping, I felt a bit better, and the 20 minute walk through the cold to the restaurant where we ate dinner helped even more. And of course we have all already had our crème brulée, which Scottie was beside herself about. To our pleasant surprise, we found that we were more or less able to carry on a conversation with our student monitors at dinner, and even make them laugh (and not at our bad French!). I still cannot believe that I am here, much less here for the next several months. We signed a contract that we would not speak English anymore unless it is absolutely necessary. We will speak exclusively in French, all the time, to everyone, even each other. Tomorrow morning I have an interview with our resident directors about placement with a host family, who we will meet on Thursday night in Rennes. Now I am going to crash and not return to consciousness for many many hours. Hopefully this post makes sense; I will surely be more awake/alive tomorrow.