I'm alive!!!

Yes, I made it to the right country all in one piece!

The last 2 days have been exhausting (wait, 3 days...they all seem to be mushed together in my head). Between driving to Toronto to pick up my visa, packing like crazy, and spending something like 30 ridiculous hours in transit, I arrived very tired and cranky. However, I made it (will all my baggage!) and that's what counts!

So this was how my day went (the 15-16th, that is): 2 hour drive to Toronto; 2 hour wait at Pearson; 5 hour flight to Reykjavik; 1 hour layover in Reykjavik; 2.5 hour flight to Paris; 30 min wait for luggage; 1 hour wait in train station line @ Charles de Gaulle; 5 minutes to run to train; 10 minute train ride to Marne-la-Valée; -5 minutes to catch corresponding train (train #1 was late, ergo I missed train #2); 3 hour layover in Marne-la-Valée because of missed train; 1.3 hour train ride to Lorraine; 35 minute shuttle ride to Nancy.

Now in amongst all that, I met another Canadian assistant, Melissa, on the same flight as me (who also happened to be a BA Languages grad from Laurier!) so it was nice to have someone to travel with and share in the misery of layovers and waiting anxiously at the baggage carousel. I also met Hannah, an American assistant, at CDG airport, where we both navigated around to find the train station and get our tickets to our final destinations. I also had to frantically make a collect call home (thank you ma and pa!) to get my school supervisor's contact number so I could let her know when I would be arriving in Nancy so she could meet me. (Yes, I should have written it down, I know...) I had put the number in my french cell phone, but it turns out the SIM card expired and I couldn't get to her contact info. Why must things be so difficult?...

And what did I do for 3 hours in Marne-la-Valée? Well, it just so happens to be the home of Disneyland Paris, woo hoo. So I wandered around the very Americanized shopping/restaurant section of the park, managed to find the one and only Starbucks in the country (ok, not true, but one of very few) and plop myself down on a comfy seat to enjoy a badly made caramel machiato. Ahhh, tastes like home...

I finally arrived in Nancy at 8pm local time, and thank GOD I had my contact from the lycée, Anne-Marie, to pick me up! Since it was too late to get my apartment keys I had to stay with her overnight. We drove to her house just outside Nancy - it was very cute and typical European (why do the French always have a separate room for the toilet?) and I got to meet her lovely 19 year old daughter Cécile and her husband Jean-Pierre. I am so grateful to Anne-Marie for letting me stay with her, I was exhausted and it would have been awful if she hadn't been there to pick me up and take me home with all my baggage. Once I hit the pillow I was out like a light...

Now I do have to also mention how grateful I am for the generosity of French people...they are often labelled as snooty and cold, however, once outside the Paris tourist area they are the nicest people you'll ever meet. I can't even count the number of people that offered to help me with my luggage as I was getting on and off trains and up and down stairs, or who would just grab a bag and help me anyways. I am entirely grateful for all the help I received!

So thus concludes my journey to France...today I went with Anne-Marie to the school quite early and she introduced me to some of the English teachers and got started on my paperwork. We then went to my apartment, which is on school grounds (the principal and other school officials live there as well). The other assistans I'll be living with haven't arrived yet, but it's small and cute and has all the amenities (including a brand new hair straightener the last assistant left behind, yesssss!) Since I was the first one there I got first dibs on my room, so I picked the largest (at least I think so) with a lovely view of the garden. It also has the most shelving and storage space...My school, Lycée Jeanne D'Arc, is right in the city centre so I'm close to EVERYTHING! All the shops and restaurants and sights to see...it's soooo handy that everything is just a few steps away!

Anne-Marie took me to the prefecture and tourist office at Place Stanislas, the beautiful main square, and the rest of the day I made my way around downtown, got my new SIM card, did a bit of grocery shopping and found this internet cafe! In the next few days I'm hoping to set up a bank account, get some sort of internet connection at my apartment, and get things rolling with all the immigration crap I have to go through...plus I need to meet some people! One of the English teachers, Emilie, invited me for dinner at her house tomorrow, so I'm definitely looking forward to that!

Well that's all for now, if all of the above seems like a giant run-on sentence, blame the jet-lag.

A plus tard!