I was exhausted last night, so I started writing this and then went to bed, haha. So this morning I'll finish it up for y'all :).
Soo, the train ride was interesting. It was dim when I got on, which I didn't expect right away, and I had trouble finding my seat lol. Then I got situated and the guy that came by and checked tickets of course had to announce to everyone that i was "americannnn..." with a fowl tone. And spent a full minute looking over my pass and passport, trying to find something wrong with it. Was that really necessary? Not like I can really control what nationality I was born into. Whatever, it got worse.. a guy got on a couple stops later and sat 2 seats ahead of me and HOLY CRAP did he smell bad! I don't even know how to describe this odor, but it was torturous. I could smell him two rows back, and it was a smell you never got used to. I tried my best to ignore it, but even still, I couldn't get comfortable enough to really fall asleep. There was no one sitting next to me, so I moved to the window spot. I managed to get a couple winks of sleep, but at most, it was only an hour at a time.. I probably slept around 2 or 2 and a half hours total during the night. In the morning I noticed there were levers to recline the seat further and put up a footrest. fml. Lol. The smelly guy also decided his legs were stiff and he needed to pace up and down the car at around 5AM. This seriously magnified the already nauseating smell, and I had to work to hold back vomit every time he passed me. Of course, since he was old, he walked really slowly too. Ugh. I breathed into my sweatshirt like a little kid does when someone farts. lol. It helped a little, and then the people behind me started spraying perfume, so that masked the rest of the smell while he was at the other end of the car. Although, it got just as strong when he came back to his seat. He got off at one of the first stops we made outside of Paris though, so that was a relief. I got about an hour of the trip without any stentch. When we got to Paris-Austerlitz station, I had two hours to take the metro to Paris-nord. Thankfully, the signs for the metro were pretty clear and a lot of other passengers were headed that way, too, so I was able to follow the crowd. There was also no changing lines, so once I was on, I got to sit there til I got to the next station. It went pretty smoothly. It also helped that it was early sunday morning, so there was not much of a crowd out and about. I was at the Gare du nord with a good hour and a half to spare, so I went to a cafe (the same one I went to with AFS prior my depart to my host family way back in February of 2009!) and bought a chocolate croissant and a bottle of orange juice. The cutest thing happened while I was sitting there.. a homeless person came in with a handful of change and tried to buy a croissant, but unfortunately they did not have enough. So a boy, around my age I'd assume, with a mohawk and crazy clothes (the last person you'd expect) got up from his table and paid for the person's croissant. It was ADORABLE. Seriously, this made my day. The homeless person wasn't quite aware of what happened, so they left all their change at the counter, even after the baker told them the boy had paid for their croissant. Then, a young girl got up, gathered all the change (except for a few pennies, which i never really understood why she left some of it..) and ran after the homeless person, returning it. How sweet is that? I was so touched by this act of kindness I wanted to go and talk to the boy and the girl (who were now talking to each other) and thank them for what they did, but for some reason, i just sat there watching them instead. A little later, I left the cafe and went to find a bathroom. The only one I could find was a pay-bathroom, so I decided to wait another hour and just go on the train. I sat down in front of the giant departures board instead, and people-watched some more. lol. It's fun picking out non-European tourists, and relatively easy actually. The Americans are always wearing their cool name-brand things like Hollister or Abercrombie or Pink, non of which are remotely French, and they often have college sweatshirts.. it's funny how bad they stand out, even though most of them carry themselves like they're the coolest people on the planet. Haha. I'm not saying I'm above this touristy crowd, blending in like a French person or anything, it's just amusing to see how ridiculous we look when we travel abroad. Lol. There was this one couple that really annoyed me though. This lady seriously had her man on a leash--She had him hauling around 4 luggage bags that were real Louis Vitton (which I never understood why you would buy, because traveling with something like that is just asking to get robbed), and there was one spot open on the bench, which she took, and then the guy put her luggage down, somewhat winded, and then she made him go buy her a drink. I don't know exactly what she was expecting, but he came back with an Orangina (which is delicious!) and he offered it to her, but she refused. He decided to hand it to her anyways, and as he opened it fizzed up and got a few drips on her expensive designer white pants. She was SO pissed! She didn't yell, though, she just got really bitchy-pouty and made him wipe it off her pants and then she sat there, sulking. She refused to even try the Orangina and he had to drink it himself. She was wearing a jacket that matched her expensive white pants, and a tan colored shirt that looked equally as expensive. Her hair looked like she'd recently been to a salon, and she looked like the kind of person that would marry for money and needs to flaunt wealth to feel good about herself. Then the guy was wearing a Louis Vitton belt buckle and some nice brown pants and a buttondown shirt. People like that need to loosen the hell up. Flaunting money = not cool. After the orangina incident, she was still thirsty, so the guy, carrying her luggage, took her to find something more posh than orangina. Probably a bottle of champagne or something. Anyway, my train came about a half an hour later, so I found my spot and the excited butterflies in my stomach began to flutter around as thoughts of returning to Arras filled my mind. My host mom was waiting in the lobby of the train station when I arrived, along withe the old mayor of the village and his wife, who was showing her a picture of his newborn niece they were going to visit in Paris. We stopped to get bread on the way back, and then I had about an hour to get ready before we went to Thomas's house to celebrate his birthday. Unfortunately that wasn't enough time to really clean up, but at least I got to brush my teeth and fix my hair a little. My host mom brought Pierre, Veera, and I to Mount St. Eloi and she went back to Roclincourt to survey the triatholon that would be passing through town. Besides Thomas's family, Madame Noel, Cathrine, Annick, and Camille (Jacque's daughter) were there. We talked for awhile, and I gave Pedro back, and it kind of went by in a blurr because I was so tired. We looked at pictures from Thomas and Anne's wedding though, i do remember that. And we had the same dish for lunch as we did the first time I went to Thomas and Anne's house back in February 2009. Anne remembered how much I liked it! haha. Soon after eating lunch, Veera and I passed out on the couch. When we woke up, Francoise had come back and we talked for a bit and then went on a walk around town and fed the horse on the hill. Veera, Pierre, Francoise, and I went back to Roclincourt shortly after, and then I chilled for a bit before we had dinner. Annick and Camille joined us for dinner, and Annick and Francoise told us stories about when they were younger. They were funny kids, those two! Their dad was the town's schoolteacher, so they did a lot of crap at school, thinking they could get away with it haha. Their dad wouldn't put Annick, his daughter, at the top of the class, even though she should have been there, so annick poured ink all over the pretty blonde girl's hair that was first. Lol! And one time, Francoise swallowed a bunch of plastic ball things, and Annick burst out crying in class, thinking she was going to die! haha. Anyway, that led to Pierre pulling out his old photo album and we looked at pictures of him when he was little. Then Francoise got mine and Veera's folders with our application letters and pictures in them, and since Veera had to write hers in French, we went over it and had a really good laugh at all the mistakes she had in there. In particular, she used "man" to mean people, so she was all like "I know a lot of men and I love meeting men and I am good at talking to men and I hope to meet men in France that I can be lifelong friends with.." and on and on! hahaha. Then she used joui instead of joue, which means to fuck instead of to play, so she wrote about how she likes to fuck in the snow during winter instead of playing in the snow in winter. HAHAHA. Those were just a couple of the things that really stood out. Sadly (or fortunately maybe :P) my letter had to be written in English when I came, so there wasn't much good stuff to laugh about. My pictures are great though.. my friends have all changed and i look really young. lol. But yeah, after that, I tried calling my dad to wish him happy father's day and ended up leaving a message. oh well. i was tired, so i went up to bed right after that and skyped mick a bit before going to sleep. I slept in until noon today! woo :) it felt soo good! I'm still a little drowsy, but overall I'm feeling much better than I did yesterday. But yeah, all I've done so far is eat and watch some tv and then go on here, so I will update you tonight.
a tout a l'heure
miranda
So I never finished, because the internet wasn't working, so I couldn't even post this first half once i finished. But anyway, not too much else happened yesterday. Veera and I went to Brigitte's host family's house (which is in Arras) and then walked around town. I finally got stamps, so I can send the rest of my postcards I've written up! We also browsed a few "chinese stores" aka, stores that are run by chinese people and sell a mixture of cute clothes and wierd knock-offs. Lol. Around 7, Francoise came to get Veera and I, and then we went back and got ready to go out to eat. We went to a Potato place, and Annick and Samuel, as well as Brigitte, met up with us there. We got bread and pate, and then a bowl of onion rings, french fries, and fried cheese for the apparatif. I also had a limonade with grenodine. Then for the meal I had a 3-cheese baked potato, which was pretty good! It was so filling that I couldn't finish the whole thing (although nor could anyone else haha). For dessert I shared a chocolate mousse with Brigitte and then Annick had the waiter bring me a scoop of pistachio ice cream, even though i insisted i was too full. haha. I somehow managed to find room though. We talked for a long time and it was really great. I love going out with everyone lol. Annick got us balloons and a box of marshmallows, and the three of us girls also entered a coloring contest, although i would be seriously surprised if any of us won. lol. I made a pistachio-chocolate baked potato :P Brigitte came back to the house with us after supper and we watched some tv and then went to bed.
Today is the first day of summer, which also means it's La fete de la musique! Woooh :) There will be musicians all over the streets and I really hope it doesn't rain so we can be out late into the night. Then I think i'm spending the night at Brigitte's. If not, then i'll be at Annick's, so i'm not sure if i'll be bringing my laptop.. Sorry about this crappy updating lately, but this is the last night, i'm pretty sure. But not like anyone reads this anyway, so who really cares, right? lol.
a demain!
miranda
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