Whew! Good golly Miss Molly, the last day has been so incredibly crazy, but all things considering, it could've turned out a lot, lot worse. When I finally got to board the plane here to Paris after waiting 9 HOURS, I found my seat in the first couple aisles from the door, at the window, and seated next to a dad and his 8 year-old son. I was so instantly relieved, because the first flight oo D.C, had put me next to a rather large, graying man who flew asleep and ended up in some of my space. The son was in the middle next to me, and so he took up a significantly less amount of space. I got to talking to the dad a bit and found out that they were on their way to Milan to watch some kind of track competition. I got to tell him about my whole situation with the flights and how I was worried my luggage wouldn't be on the plane, and he was able to reassure me that he was pretty sure it was.
By this point, I should also mention that I was SO incredibly hungry. I'd eaten the second half of my chicken wrap about 7 hours before, and I was starting to kick myself for just not buying something when the dad mentioned that they might not serve us dinner because we were boarding a little late. He gave me a snack bar just in case, for which I thanked him greatly. Amazingly though, a little while later, they announced that they would indeed be serving dinner. I literally did a little pseudo-fist pump I was so happy. The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful: watched Midnight in Paris (eh, not amazing, but it kept most of my attention) and Kung Fu Panda 2, which I enjoyed a bit more. By this point I figured I should try to get a little sleep (dozing off a bit at the airport probably hadn't been the best idea..) but then I caught sight of a red line against the night sky and all chances of me going to sleep went out the window. For the next 15 minutes, I got to see the most beautiful sunrise of my life. It was like a saturated rainbow rolled out horizontally against the navy sky. Grr, and I had my Nikon on me, but I'd forgot the card! Bummer.
About 2 hours before we were due to land, we got a light breakfast of fruit and a croissant. I probably should've avoided the carbs because of jet lag, but the fruit consisted only of the two melons I hate. Plus the croissant was warm...mmm.
Thirty minutes before landing, they asked over the intercom if there was any medical personnel onboard. It turns out that one of the passengers had begun to feel pains in her chest, but luckily, there ended up being a doctor who was able to see to her. I remembered about how Mom had told me that Jen's friend's dad had to be hosptialized after his legs swelled too much during a flight. But we landed shortly thereafter and they had a medical team board the plane as soon as the doors were open. We were stalled a bit because of this, but at least I think the lady was ok.
I left the plane, passed through customs, and said goodbye to Carlos and his dad, Joe. Then came baggage claim. I think I actually started to sweat, (not too pleasant when you've been wearing the same top for almost 3 days) I was so worried that my luggage wouldn't be here. But miracle of miracles! All three of my suitcases showed up, if a tiny bit damp. A couple minutes later, I met up with Theo and PH, who promptly proceeded to make fun of my Granny-looking carry-on rolly that'd been checked at the gate. I let them laugh, I was just so happy I had all my stuff.
We just managed to fit all my stuff in PH's car and we were off. We got to Theo's house about 20 minutes later where I immediately went and showered my body. And by the time I got out, the boys had almost finished making a creamy pasta with fish. Oh yes, I could definitely get used to guys cooking for me for the next year! :) Theo's parents weren't home, but his grandmother was, so I was able to see her again, surprisingly. (She's visiting from Royan, a 5 hour drive from the western coast.)
I didn't eat much as my stomach had become unsettled shortly after getting off the plane, but it was good. And then after that, PH made caramelized apples with Cointreau for dessert, very yummy as well. The three of them talked while we ate the apples, and I tried to follow along, but I was still very tired and only caught bits and pieces. Oh well, tomorrow my mind'll be more sharp.
After that, we stopped by PH's place, where we ran into his younger brother coming home as we were about to head out again, so he came along. We left the car there and took the Metro into town, though I had to buy tickets because I'll have to wait until I get a bank account before I can get a student pass. Once in central Paris, we walked around and went into a couple phone company stores to take a look at what phones they had and what they're plans were like. We saw a couple that looked promising, though Theo also offered to sell me his iPhone for cheap as he was thinking of getting a new phone soon anyways. So we'll see.
Shortly aftwards, PH and his brother went back and Theo and I went to withdraw cash from an ATM. From there we pretty much wandered aimlessly, trying to kill time. When I saw that it was only 5pm, I wanted to cry because my goal of staying awake until a normal bed time was seeming less and less likely. In the end though, we ended up just calling the city quits. We took the Metro back and spent the next 20 or so minutes nodding off in our seats. It was pretty pathetic. We reached La Defense and made the 15 minute walk back to his house, and that helped a bit, but again, once we got there, the sleepiness came back and I couldn't fight it any longer. Theo went to an potential internship interview and I took my nap.
So here I am, in my room. I woke up almost 2 hours ago to wash my face. I'd heard his parents downstairs a little earlier before, but things were quieting down, so I figured I'd just wait til morning and I was more presentable to greet them.
Well, I'm gonna try and get a little more sleep, I've got a list of things to do tomorrow.
Later gators.
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