Baby's first flight!

So the first flight. I found everything in Dulles just fine, it was kind of large and quiet, but there were signs everywhere. It was overwhelming to look at, but not so very hard. I sat in the very center seat on the plane, which turned out to be fine...we flew up the coast to Canada, and then across the Atlantic till we reached Ireland, and down across to Paris. There wasn't a lot of turbulence or anything, it was pretty non-exciting...I watched some episodes of a few different shows, and a lot of times I just watched the plane's progress, and the updates on our altitude and stuff. I couldn't sleep at all....but it was okay. Oh, and the food wasn't that bad...definitely plane food, but all right. Although plain yogurt for breakfast? Really? Does anyone eat that? My seat buddies were great though, and so I wasn't bored or anything.

So we get off the plane in Paris (Charles de Gaulle, and THERE WAS a landing song...courtesy of Ben), and it was 6 AM local time (midnight your time). We wandered purposefully until we found a room with the largest completely quiet crowd ever. It was pretty eerie. The eeriness was broken though once I caught a whiff...Oh Europe, deodorant is not just a fad. Why do you all wear cologne when all I can smell is your armpits? Regardless. I got on a moving walkway thing, tripped, screamed, and got laughed at. Thanks Paris.

So the thing about having 3 semesters of French is that the airport sounds like this: “...passport....32....everyone....good morning...16....my daughter....no....it's true” and a lot of things I fill in by guessing. In other words, it's like background noise you can't quite ignore, but you can't understand. Also, French people are very ill-tempered it seems, and they shove you aside all the time and yell over their shoulder I have a plane in 30 minutes! (in french). They only talk to you when they're yelling at you...and when you stare blankly at the employees and ask in English if they wanted you to do such and such, they roll their eyes and go yesyesyes.

After that it was so many more gates and buildings and nonsense to walk through....I would have stopped to take some pictures, but it wasn't worth getting separated from the group. We went through another security check, except I had forgotten that an hour ago, because there was a packed crowd and too many things in my arms, I had thrown a water bottle with some other things into my carry-on's front pocket. So they ripped everything apart to look for it (and I think a french man laughed at my bra, but I couldn't quite tell). And I had to take the laptops out of the cases, and my sweater off, and my passport case off. But the shoes stayed on (they told me that after I had taken them off). Charles de Gaulle was just overall a lot more stressful and a lot less organized. There are no seats at our gate, so we're sitting a few gates down...But, it's okay. I saw the sun rise in Paris today.

I HAVEN'T SLEPT IN FOREVER. But I have another flight and lunch with my host mom before I can sleep. I miss everyone at home a lot. Lovelove, from France.