T-4

My plane leaves Detroit in 4 hours. My bags are packed, although I finally had to break down and expand one, and they haven't passed a test run around the house to see if I can manage them all. It's pretty darn hard to fit your life for the next 7 months into as much as you can carry, but there you are. I suppose this is a good exercise in "minimalism" for someone who has spent most of her life in the U.S. Really, I have quite a bit of stuff, and I can't feel bad-there could be worse things than moving to France. :)

I fly first from Detroit to Chicago, then from Chicago to Paris. Three other teaching assistants randomly ended up being on the same flight with me (though we didn't plan it. weird, huh?) so I'll meet up with them in Chicago. Then when we get to Paris, one of them is staying in the same hostel as I am, so we'll help each other get from the airport there. There's also another assistant staying there, who will meet us since she flies in a little later. On Friday, there's a big assistant meetup in Paris-somehow all of us are meeting for lunch. We'll see how that lunch part goes, since I think there will be quite a few of us, but it'll be nice to meet other people who will be throughout France. On Saturday, I am meeting another assistant from my region at the train station, and off we go to Normandy. She'll be with me as far as Caen, and then I'll continue on to Carentan where my teacher contact, Daniel, and possibly the other American assistant in my town, Evan, will meet me. Then I start to get settled in!

This whole experience is pretty crazy. I went into it knowing no one, and now it seems as though I have contacts all over France, plus a few good friends in the U.K. :) Obviously, I pretty much have someone with me every step of the way from St. Clair, Michigan, USA to Carentan, Normandy, France. I know this will be a huge relief, since my mom will leave me crying at the airport, and I won't be alone to think about leaving home. :(

Alright, off to eat, finish packing, and give the old suitcases a test run. I'll end with some lyrics that I think pretty much sum all of this up, courtesy of Dan's a cappella group, 58 Greene (with a little help from Enya).

Find a new world across a wide ocean
This way became my journey
This day brings together
Far and away