The last few days have been really busy, and I didn't get around to updating but I will fill you in now. Get comfortable, because this will be a lengthy read. Lol.
Wednesday: I slept in a little, getting up around 10ish to get ready for the day. Then I packed and around noon, went with Francoise to the train station to get my tickets for Thursday. The lady at the desk said I only had to make one reservation and it would be the stretch from Lille to Brussels. Other than that, I could just hop on and use my Eurail pass alone. Then we went to pick Pierre up from work and had lunch back at home. I packed a little more, then spent time watching TV with Pierre. Annick came to get me around 3, and the two of us went back to her place so I could upload pictures from the airplane thing and then from England onto my computer. After that, Annick got her nail polish out and I painted my finger and toe nails. She has some really nice stuff, jeez! My toes were painted a shiney brown by Dior and my fingers are a teal from YSL. I felt like a queen wearing both those at once :P Then we went into town for a bit so she could "get a few things." Turns out, she brought me to a perfume shop and had me pick out a perfume. I felt bad about her spending so much money on me, so I tried not to give away which perfume was my favorite, but alas, I was not about to win the battle, so we narrowed it down to a Chanel Chance and a Dior Cherie. I honestly liked both of them a lot, but the Chanel was an "eau de toilette" (which i think is more like a body spray) rather than a perfume, so Annick suggested we go with the Dior (which I was more than okay with!). But it didn't end with that. Annick had me pick out a nail polish as well, and I had to get a "good" one, which meant it had to be a designer name as well. This time, we went with a purple Chanel color. The lady who was helping us was really friendly. Annick gave the shpeal about who i was and how i stayed with the family for a semester and the lady threw a bunch of free sample things into the bag, including various perfumes, a secret notes jar, and a YSL mascara. I felt like such a spoiled girl! lol! I insisted it was not necessary, but she told me it was my "going away gift" from her and Francoise (as if they had to give ME a gift!). It was SOOOOOO nice of them! Ahh :)! I took Annick to a cafe for a drink afterwards, and then we had to get back so we could pick up some groceries for Francoise before Simon and Claire came over with the kids to say goodbye! They were already there when we came to Roclincourt with the food. Annick got right on making supper with Francoise and the rest of us talked and had the apparatif in the veranda. Lou-Marie was sick, so Thomas's family didn't come over, but Romaine called the house and I talked to her and Anne. Fanny also called, so I said goodbye to her and Hugo (who are engaged now! I don't know if I wrote that on here, but it happened last week :D). Marius and Lola made me a gift, which they gave me before we went to eat dinner. It was a rock from Bretagne that resembled a heart, and they put a picture of a girl and a boy on there and each signed their name next to them. Claire forgot to bring my Soffe shorts back that I borrowed to Marius, but oh well.. I will get them next time. lol. Anyway, after showing my bag of goodies from the perfume shop to the rest of the family in attendance, we ate. Pierre-Antoine stopped by during the meal to say bye, and he sat with us for awhile. We had cold lunch meat type ham and other stuff (don't even know what it all was) with baked potatoes, salad, and of course, the baguette! For dessert, I had my last pistachio-chocolate ice cream cone. I overate by a lot, but I figured since it was my last night, I had to cram in as much as possible. Pierre-Antoine left, then Simon and Claire took the kids home, and I spent a little time with Pierre in front of the TV. Then I said goodbye to him since he wouldn't be up when I left in the morning. After that, I went up to finish packing my suitcase. I had Vi and Lisa's stuff thrown in a shopping bag so I could carry it to the airport and then they could fit it in their own suitcases since mine was stuffed.
Thursday: At 5AM, my alarm went off and I was up getting my shit together. We left for the train station at 5.40, and Annick met us there. We talked and hugged and Annick took pictures and gave me a French flag. The train pulled away at 6.09, and an hour later I was in Lille. It was hard leaving again, but since we have something planned for next summer, it made the departure a little easier. I didn't cry, but I came close. I seriously love that family and respect and admire them so much. It is unbelievable how caring, selfless, and accomodating they are. Especially Francoise. I can't say enough good things, but if I grew up to be just like her, I would be very pleased. Anyway, I had to change train stations in Lille, but thankfully it's nothing like Paris, just a short walk down the road. The next train I caught was to Brussels-Midi. That train station is so confusing. I really dislike the small departures board. It is very difficult to tell where you need to go and what train each one is. I found what I thought was the right platform and waited for the train. I headed down to the second half, since that's where the second class seemed to be, however when I got down there, they told me that this half of the train was not going on to Amsterdam. Another girl had made the same mistake, so I follwed her through the crowd and we ran down past all the first class again to the other half, where the second class was. We barely caught the train; the whistle was blowing as we jumped in, and I was completely out of breath. After putting my suitcase and backpack down, I sat on a fold-down seat by the door. There was a ticket lady in there with me and she asked me if i needed help finding my seat. "Oh shit" I thought to myself. I didn't have a reservation. The lady in Arras had told me I didn't need one for the train from Brussels to Amsterdam. Unfortunately, that was another train leaving at the same time and not the one I jumped on. Luckily the lady was nice about it. She told me I could either pay the $60 fee & fine and stay on the train, or get off at the next station and catch another train. Since I had to meet Vi and Lisa, plus catch the airplane, I told her I would pay and stay on so I'd arrive at 10:30 as planned..but then she walked away. At the next stop, crowds gathered around me since I sat between them and the door. I gathered my stuff and stepped off the train to let everyone out. There was a ticket lady outside, so I talked to her and she told me there would be another train going to Amsterdam that I didn't need a reservation for coming through that station (which turned out to be Antwerpen Centraal) in 20 mins. Then she jumped back on the train and it started moving, so I was stuck waiting. It really stressed me out. I tried to get ahold of my host mom to let her know what happened in case Vi or Lisa couldn't get ahold of me and tried the house, but my reception was 0. The train came at 10.00 and I didn't get to Amsterdam until 11.45ish, which was an hour after I was supposed to meet Lisa and Vi. I looked all over for them, and scanned the area in front of the check-in place where we agreed to meet several times. I realized how large the airport was and how I would never be able to search it all, so I had a lady page them on the loudspeaker for me. It requested they go to the nearest information booth so I could locate them. I waited 15 mins, then the lady at the desk told me to go check in my suitcase and come back afterwards to check. I checked the suitcase and the backpack, and managed to somehow fit all of Lisa and Vi's shit in my backpack after taking my laptop out to put in my messenger bag. The lady told me she wouldn't charge me for the backpack since the flight was really full and she was worried about cabin space, so that was nice. Then I asked her if Vi had already checked in, and she had indeed already done so. Awesome, I thought. I spent alost an hour trying to locate them, and they'd already gone to the gate. Thankfully, security didn't take me long at all to go through, and as I was walking to the gate, Lisa spotted me from a store and I finally found her and Vi. They had been in the bathroom during the call on the loudspeaker, and Lisa missed it and Vi only caught "Miranda" "Mai" "Lisa" and "Information booth," but I guess she didn't think it was important enough to tell Lisa, so she ignored it (thanks, vi...). Whatever, thankfully we found each other and their shit fit in my suitcase/backpack. We went to our terminal and sat there, talking about our trips and sharing photos as we waited.
I'll finish tomorrow... I'm falling asleep as I type this. Haha. Damn jet lag.
-miranda
Okay, so anyway, we got on the plane and had a layover in Reykjiovic(?), Iceland again. I had a sandwich and a tropical fanta for lunch, then we got on board for the 7 hour trip to Minneapolis. I watched both The King's Speech and the Black Swan, but I liked the first one better. Black Swan really creeped me out, to be honest. Lol. Then I sorta slept on and off for the last hour of the trip. When we got back to the States, we went through customs and then I gave Lisa and Vi back their crap. After that, they took a train or a taxi or something to the bus station and caught a bus to Fargo, and I got on the shuttle back to St. Cloud where Katie and my grandma picked me up at 9ish. I managed to stay up til 10.30 that night, which is unbelievable considering I'd been traveling for about 23 hours! Anyway, after Shannon came home from work, I pretty much went straight up to bed.
Friday: I got up at 5AM and couldn't fall back to sleep, so I got up and watched the news three times. Lol. Then the others got up and at 11, we went out to the pool, where we spent the entire afternoon. When we came in for lunch, I went up and called my host mom, which was around 9.30 their time, to let her know that I made it back okay. Annick was there too, so I talked to her as well, and Pierre, too, of course :) Then I called my mom since my grandma insisted, and after that, I went back out to the pool. My dad called not long after, so I talked to him as well. Then I relaxed in the steamy 96 degree weather in the pool with Katie and Shannon. At 4, the sun went behind the clouds and it looked a little chilly, so we got out, and about 20 mins later, it was grey and dark out and the wind was blowing the trees at almost 90 degree angles! The rain came shortly after, and we were in a severe thunderstorm warning all night, with a tornado warning following later as well. Shannon and Katie made puppy chow while i went online, and then Ben and Kayla arrived. We sat around talking for awhile, then at 9, I went up to bed, exhausted. Lol. This morning I woke up at 6.15, and I'm not sure what I'll be doing today, but it's supposed to be nice out again--in the 80s--so maybe some more pool time? I'll let you know!
-miranda
No comments:
Post a Comment