hel-bonjour :)

I have arrived safely in Paris. Currently I am sitting in my apartment taking some time alone to write out a quick blog. It's 5 pm Paris time, 8 am at home, and although I am more than ready to sleep at this point, Matt scared me that to sleep now would only sabotage my attempt to adjust to the time difference.

Definitely has been a long and emotional couple weeks of goodbyes to friends and family. I especially felt strange saying goodbye to my nieces. I know I will only be gone for seven months, but I feel like every time I see them they have changed. Everyone else in my life seems more stable and constant. My mom had the idea to take a picture of Jamie and I before I left since she is just about my height already. I'm sure she'll pass me up by the time I return. Of course, it must also be pointed out that she has already surpassed her grandma :)



Unfortunately, though really fortunately, I lack any terrible travel stories to share. My flights and public transport to my apartment went really as smooth as could be wanted. In true Freeland fashion, we arrived at the airport 3 hours before my flight, leaving me sitting in the terminal at 8 am without another passenger around for quite some time.



Sat next to a really nice man on the way to Dallas. And since this is my blog, I will give useless details :) His name was Carlos who is a pilot in the airforce. He was traveling to Madrid and kindly gave me all kinds of military tips on how to adjust to time differences. Once in Dallas, I had to take a shuttle to the international terminal, which was arriving exactly when I was. I had about 35 minutes before my connection to Paris, so I grabbed a sandwich and finally loaded.

Flight was not good-it wasn't the worst experience of my life, but it was long and uncomfortable. There weren't individual screens, I could barely make out the closest one to me, and the plane just generally didn't feel comfy haha.

However, I did end up being in the middle section with no one next to me. Definitely made the trip more comfortable than it was for others since I could curl up. Also was next to a really friends man from Finland that helped me several times with my carry on luggage. I was too short for the plane. I could even reach the handle above me to open the compartment. Side note, which I thought was funny. I was flying American Airlines, but they served us a croissant for breakfast before arrival. Although I thought it was good, with liberal amounts of Smuckers jam, I can't wait to try actually French croissants for comparison.

Once I arrived in Paris, things were a bit confusing, but I found my way through customs and to the baggage claim. Finding the RER B (the train to take me from the airport to paris) wasn't so much difficult as it was far. And my bags were heavy. My first annoyance with France is that NOTHING is handicap accessible...it's really striking coming from California-especially Berkeley where I complain that we are not handicap accessibly enough. There are little step ups everywhere, and forget the convenience of elevators.

I was lucky to meet another women studying abroad on the train who was headed towards the same metro line as myself. She had done a much better job at looking up directions and really made my life easier. We were also able to help each other shove our wayy to big of bags up stairs :) When I finally got of the metro line in my neighborhood, I knew right away I was living in a good place. The shops are lively and clean and there were just tons of people everywhere. My apartment building is literally a 5 second walk form the nearest metro entrance.

As I was trying to figure out the security code for my apartment building, one of the girls who currently lives in the house just happened to be coming back from grocery shopping and was able to help me in. The apartment is cute! Definitely small, but I will make the best of it. The women I'm living with were super welcoming. One invited me to join her for a walk around the city. We were our for a little more than two hours and I feel like I've seen so much already... However, I failed to bring my camera, so pictures of Paris will have to wait!

That is all for now. I refuse to go back and edit this because I am sleep deprived, so forgive the errors!