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I swear ill update next week. Ill be in bordeaux all weekend. I wouldve updated today, but i was learning to salsa dance with like 20 french girls. And yes, the French do love my shit.
Posted 1:17 PM by Chris
Wellity wellity wellity!!! What have we here???
I dont know. Not enough time for a full update, so ill try to say a little of whats been up.
My grades were awful. Significantly worse than last semester. This a dark thing that puts me in a foul mood whenever i talk much about it.
Hawaii was a blast. Erins dad spent a LOT of money on just me, hundreds of dollars. We did typical hawaiin things. We went to a luau with an open bar, and i got silly drunk. We did a helicopter tour of the island. We did the fabled "road to Hana". We drove up through the clouds to the top of the volcano, then i climbed the warning sign and went higher. We went to a big hawaiin musical. We went to the aquarium. We went snorkling. I got a mere couple feet from a sea turtle. Idve touched it, but since theyre endangered, its a 25000 dollar fine and up to five years in prison. We ate at a lot of fancy restraunts, each meal was well over 100 dollars, often over 200. I got along great with the rest of her family. However, i did manage to get sick, and very much so. I was quite ill for my day back in eville. The Aquarium was my favorite part. Im just a sucker for sharks. The island was gorgeous. It was a hell of an experience.
My trip to France, which started on my birthday, was a disaster. One of the worst experiences of my life. First off, i was still sick, and coughing and sneezing hte whole time. I sat at the eville airport from 1230 to 530 when my flight to chicago was supposed to be at 230. Once on the plane, we sat on the runway till 745. My connecting flight to paris left at 630. The tornados in chicago were pusing everything back. While stuck in the plane, a kid got stuck int he lavatory, prompting repairmen to take the door off its hinges. Finally off the ground around 8, we had to circle chicago cuz of storms, so a 45 minute flight took an hour and a half. Once we landed, there were no open gates, so we idled for a while. Once in the airport, i had 5 minutes to make my connection, so i had to SPRINT across ohare. I was one of hte last people to board, but did see another class mate, a 30 year old woman in our class who is the mental equivalent of 5. She is really smart, but has NO social skills, and all she ever does, ever, is complain about how stuff is unfair, and asks questions about stuff that has already been addressed. On MANY medications, she is messed up, rude, seems retarded, and is terriyfing and one of hte most frustrating people ive ever met. On the plane, im seated next to two old women. This is around 930. however, the pilots lavatory is broken, so we wait an additional hour before we take off. The flight to paris is awful. I cannot sleep the entire 9 hours due to cough and runny nose, and even though i take nyquil, basicaly i was just extra tired and couldnt sleep. Upon arriving in Paris 6 hours later than i was supposed to, the friend that was to be waiting for me had long since left. Arriving in a strange airport and having to find a bus to the train station (which is an hour or two away) to take hte 5 hour train ride is daunting, and then im also worried because the professors were only meeting a couple trains into town, and hte place were staying at locks its outside gates at a certain time. The language barrier is also MUCH more difficult than you would imagine. Like no dictionary is going to help you, it just doesnt work, its awful, and lonely. After ambling around the airport, i hear my name. Its hte insanely obnoxious girl, melanie, and shes complaining about not knowing what to do. She also has FOUR pieces of luggage, and theyre all huge and she can barely carry them. They had mad it a point to tell us to pack light, mind you. So now shes following me, and im sick, tired, and it takes her about five minutes to piss me off, especially after she finds out that i was supposed to meet someone, "i tried to see if anyone wanted to meet here but nobody answered me". So we find the bus. We drive 2 hours due to traffic. At the train station, it takes her 20 minutes to get off the bus and get her bags "settled". I timed it, this is no exaggeration. Then theres a huge set of stairs. She cant get up them. "nobody said thered be stairs, idve thought theyd had warned us about that,t hey should have". She didnt know thered be stairs. In France.
So we try to find a terminal to find a train. Now ive been asking all the questions about tickets and stuff at this point, shes just following and complaining. I notice an english speaking family, i ask if they can help us get our tickets. The daughter is a sophomore in college and is minoring in French. Rock on. Then melanie says "oh thats ok, ive looked up some phrases, ic an do it, thanks though". I almost shot her. I yelled at her that we should get ot Agen first, then she can practice. We get our ticket. We get on the train. Im trying to sleep, and i cant. But i do notice a bad odor. I open my eyes. Melanie, who is a bit chunky, had taken off her shoes, and put her smelly sweaty wool socks up on my suitcase. I yelled at her "get your fucking feet off my suitcase". she did. so we pull into agen. it takes her 30 min to get off the train.
Now im thinking weve missed the professor, and her and i are going to have to get a hotel rooM. Luckily, we see a professor, who on a whim checked the last train into town. Upon meeting my fellows, everyone sympathized with me greatly, as this girl is widely known to be impossible to talkt o, let alone spend hours on end with. I got my room, and after over 36 hours of being sick, not sleeping or eating, i went to bed.
So now im in france. That story will be one i NEVER forget. I was sick all this first week, but im better now. Its been fun. Ill speak of my weekend trips and classes and the Frech and all that great stuff next time. But my Eville to France adventure needed to be told. More from France later.