Bon voyage... ou pas?

Bonjour tout le monde!

I am finally here in Apt, after what ended up being 24 hours of travel instead of the expected 21. And with internet connection now, after today (yay!). So let me tell you all a little about my trip.

You can recall from my last post that it was supposed to be an 18 hour trip. Well I forget about the 3 hour drive to Chicago, which went really well. Got to have a last lunch with my parents and then with two tearful goodbyes, I was off to France! I say two because my dad was also flying out that day and we just happened to take off from the same terminal, we got to go through security and everything together! He even took my first official picture of my travels:

At my gate!

The flight to Paris went pretty smooth (and no, I DID NOT take any Xanax and was fine). I sat next to a very nice woman who is a new empty-nester, so she decided to go to France with some high school friends to kick the blues. Pretty awesome lady! Plus the one time I woke up in the middle of the flight due to a lot of turbulence*, I looked at her for reassurance (read: I probably had my eyeballs bulging out of my skull) and she told me it would be alright and it's just a bumpy ride. What a mother at heart! We arrived in Paris early, got my official stamp in my passport, my bag was the first one I saw when arriving at baggage claim and after asking for help I found the train station and had 2 hours to kill. All was going great.

I learned one thing about the TGV station in the Charles de Gaulle airport, they don't post what platform your train will be on until 15 minutes before departure. As I had ridden the TGV before in Aix and this had not been the case there, I was confused by this but simply waited by the board of times until it was posted a half hour before departure. Also posted with my gate number, a note that the train was running 10 minutes late. This worried me, as I had only 20 minutes originally to find and catch my bus to Apt, and now that time was shaved off by 10 minutes. Either way, I stayed positive. The train ended up arriving 20 minutes late. So now, I just was hoping to arrive into Avignon TGV in time so I could run to find the (hopefully easily marked) bus. I ended up sitting by a young British woman who was very accommodating. We chatted a little bit about the assistantship and told me a little about the station we were going into, so I knew how to make a quick getaway. Rolling in at 3pm (or as they say here 15h) on the dot, which by the way was the exact time my bus was scheduled to leave, I was the first out of the train running with A. my 60 lb suitcase B. my 40 lb carry on and C. my 10 lb crossbody messenger bag. Needless to say, I tripped over my bags several times, running around like a mad woman, and I finally had arrived in Mediterranean climate wearing dark jeans, a dark sweater and scarf. I was sweating buckets.

As I was running out in front of the station, I saw my bus pull away - I tried to get the driver's attention, but he did not stop. And so begins me freaking out in a foreign country.** After asking where the bus would be if it was there (though I knew it had just left), I referred to the schedule making sure it was the same as the printed one I had with me. It was: it showed there wasn't another bus for 2 hours. Now, if I wasn't going to be greeted by my teacher and expected by the secretary at a certain time, I wouldn't have freaked out. But I was supposed to be at my school at 4:30pm (and if something came up, that it was fine - I just needed to get there by 7pm otherwise I couldn't stay there). The bus I would have to take was scheduled to get into Apt at 6:45. It was gonna be a close one.

This is all fine, but again if I had problems getting there by 4:30, I was supposed to call and let them know. Except, I didn't have a working phone on me - we had turned off my service on my cell so I wouldn't get international charges. And there was not a pay phone in sight. Again, after asking, I found out I could buy a pre-paid card to use the one pay phone at the TGV station. Easily enough, I purchased the card and used it to call the one contact I had, my coordinating teacher Mme Richardot. It was my first time speaking with her, and although I was upset, I had little trouble explaining my situation and asked if it would be alright if I arrived this late. She said she would personally meet me at the bus and take me to the school in her car. What a relief!

So then I began to wait outside for a few hours and took a few shots while sitting...

Gare routiere at Avignon TGV

It was beautiful weather to just sit and wait for a few hours!

Also, I had a nice young french man come up and ask me if I was going to Apt as well and clarified the time it was leaving as well. Actually, from Paris all the way to Apt, I had several French people come up to me asking things, either about the train, for a lighter, or about how to get to certain places... in FRENCH. AND I could understand them and respond. Maybe I don't look so American after all....

The bus arrived at the station early and left a little early, so I was happy again, besides being dreadfully tired. The drive was BEAUTIFUL, I will have to go again and explore all the little towns on the way, as it is a really cheap bus. I didn't get any pictures during the bus ride as I was so tired I was just concerned with keeping my eyes open, and the screaming teenagers at the back of the bus helped with that too.

Happy girl 'cause I was on the bus finally (Note: I had been awake for 25 hours at this point, with an hour or two of airplane sleep)

I finally arrived in Apt at 6:45pm, officially 25 hours of travel later. Catherine met me at the bus as promised and even helped my bags into her car and she drove me to the school. So nice after such a long journey! She was speaking so rapidly it was kind of hard for me to keep up, with being so exhausted too, so she would help by adding English every so often. We met up with one of the women at the gate and did inventory of the apartment. I live in a third floor walk up, hello calves! It has three bedrooms, each with a personal sink and beday***. There is a common and dining room, filled with things past assistants have left - books, dvds, lessons, maps, etc. This has been such a big help getting situated here in this town (merci)!! Also, a very small bathroom to share, how european! I will post pictures of it all in my next post so you can see!

After all of this, they showed me how to take meals at the cantine, or the school self-serve cafeteria. Catherine asked me several times if this is really what I want - I was so tired I was just appreciative of whatever I could have. They said their goodbyes and I unpacked all my belongings, even though I was ready to pass out from being tired. First night in, I slept for 12 hours. It was a good night.

I could write more about how my first two days in town went... but this post is already long enough. Will update again soon, with pictures of my town and room!

*Probably the biggest exaggeration of this blog to date.

**Becca's freak out in a foreign country: picture me, malnourished and incredibly sleep deprived, after running and falling over my bags, just standing in the center of the bus station and crying. Got that? Ok good.

***No, I don't plan on using it, though I have heard that it is good for washing delicate clothes.