Jour Un.

Jour Un. 1/9/2010.

I couldn’t sleep on the plane. I tried and tried, I really did. My eyes were heavy, my body wanted sleep. I couldn’t supply. I probably managed a total hour of the trip asleep/napping; the other seven were basically spent staring blankly or having my eyes closed, wishing I could sleep.
Customs was no problem at all, neither was claiming my checked bag. I ended up having to wait more than an hour to get to meet Christine, the ISEP student from Bellarmine University in Kentucky. We went downstairs to get tickets for the train, which was an interesting experience. After we made it to Gare Bruxelles-Midi , we spent a lot of time trying to figure out ticketing and then our actual train platform. We made side trips for some coca-cola and the bathrooms (paying .50€? Ridiculous Europeans..) and made it to our TGV to Lille just in time. We were in separate cars. I asked a young man for help to tell me if I was getting into the right car and how to read the seats, and a nice elderly man helped me figure out where to put my bags. I was really confused trying to make it off the train at Gare Lille-Europe, but a nice girl probably my age or a little older offered to take my carryon so I could manage to get off. I met up with Christine again, and then we went to find Emmanuel (the man wearing “une veste beige”). Successful. He drove (quite insanely) down some French streets and asked a few questions, led us to our residence hall and showed us our rooms. Rooms? Tiny. Tiiiiny. Lots of storage space, honestly, but tiny. A girl who studied here before said the bathroom made her feel like an astronaut, and … Let’s just say it’s “One small step for Europeans, one giant leap for Colleen.”
Christine and I are going to investigate a little bit, try and find some dinner and groceries and figure out how in the world we’re meant to get to campus tomorrow for our French placement exam (10am. Wonderful.) and our orientation/introduction type things.
Some downers:
-I broke my suitcase. Twice. A wheel popped off while we were taking a ton of steps down in a train station. When I started unpacking things, I discovered another foot of the suitcase has been broken off and the other is only half on. Too rough trying to use public transportation with a 50 pound suitcase, a 30 pound carryon, and a huge backpack, I guess.
-The ONE stupid bottle I should have wrapped in a bag, I didn’t. And it exploded. Actually, I don’t even think it exploded. It was body wash and I think that the top must’ve pressed open. Everything inside my toiletries bag was soaked, as were a few clothes items (only three really, luckily). I spent all my unpacking time hand-washing everything in my little astronaut sink. My room smells like the body wash though, so.. that’s a plus?
-I don’t have an awesome view out of my window, just some fire exit stairs (I think).
-There was a little flyer for 24 hours of free internet at the front desk, but it ran out yesterday and I don’t know how I’m supposed to get internet in my room.
-My building is sooooo confusing. And the steps are tiny. And spirally. I almost died getting up here, and I’m on the 1st floor (by French standards. That’s 2nd floor, for you Americans.) Pauvre, pauvre Christine is all the way up on the 4th (Now remember, that means 5th) floor in another part of the building.
-My room is basically part of the stairwell and there’s an entretien (janitor’s closet) next to me. Cool.
-I’ve spent all my allotted time before 3:30 (it’s 3:10) unpacking and quickly typing this up. This means no nap, I guess. :[ I woke up around 8am EST Tuesday morning, and it is now 9am EST Wednesday. I’m exhausted.
Some uppers(?):
-The only time I’ll have to use that suitcase again is when I come home or when I go off to Israel, ideally, and it smells lovely.
-Not a lot of my things were ruined, just … kind of soapy.
-I have a window. And it is beauuuutiful out. Probably 70 and sunny and breezy.
-This morning, I stared out the window and watched the sun rise over England. And France. And the English Channel. Amazing.
- I watched the end of Happy Gilmore in French on the flight, which is still making me laugh. (“‘Appee! ‘Appee!”
-Having a friend here (Christine!) is really making everything a lot more comfortable. I’m glad we were able to talk about studying abroad, what to do, where to go, how to meet and now we can brave it all together, and maybe with a few more people once we meet them.
-Even though I have knots of anxiety and butterflies in my stomach, I believe that this can be a really great year for me.

A tout à l’heure.