Bienvenue à...Seven-hour layover

A 17-year old posts on his blog at 8 in the morning, Illinois time??? That can only mean one thing: he's not in Illinois.

Right now, it's almost 3:00 PM in Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France. I've currently split off from the other exchange students to find a seat at my gate, readying myself for the last leg of my journey. 6 hours into my layover in the French capital, reflection reveals that a lot has happened in just 24 hours. I packed up my life, tossed it in a plane, and let seat 24E take me to the country that will be my home for ten months.

As nerve-wracking as that seems, the anxiety really melted away once the really hard stuff -- that's the goodbyes AND the security check, of course... -- had been completed. I met the other exchange students from the Midwest, boarded soonthereafter, and spent the 8-hour flight chuckling at Ed Helms in Cedar Rapids, sleeping, and enjoying the best hot chocolate in a long time (no Cran-Apple juice though...).

Once we arrived in Paris, we spent some time wandering around, confused. See, at our conference in Grand Rapids, we had been told, "once you arrive at either Terminal 1 or 2, check in with the welcome committee". Looking back, I wonder why none of us thought to ask for a little more detail. For example, I don't know, maybe, WHERE THIS "WELCOME COMMITTEE" WOULD BE. Unfortunately, we exchange students didn't ask that question, so we didn't see any welcoming committee. Which doesn't really matter, because we'll all get to our destinations anyway. And yet, you can't help but worry that four or five french Rotarians are sitting alone in a room with some Welcome balloons, more than a little miffed at a bunch of exchange students.

Long story short, we made our own party. Soon we were at our gates, I tasted the sweet nectar that is Orangina, and we played a couple hands of cards. Then, after a couple bouts of exploring the Terminal's shops, we met some other exchange students, from faraway, exotic places like Brazil, Argentina, and Connecticut.


So that's where I am! Chicago? Oh yeah. Paris? Check. Time to get to Marseille.


Chris