Finalement, en France!

This one's going to be long...

Monday: It was the hardest day so far. I finished packing in the morning and spent time with my family and Anne after. I'm not good at saying goodbyes... It's just really hard to let go.

My flight: Long, restless, and boring. It was an 8 hour flight from Detroit to Amsterdam. I really should have gotten a good night's rest the night before, but that didn't happen. The reason I say this is because I arrived in Amsterdam at noon. I left at 9:00 at night. I did manage to fall asleep for about 4 hours and that's all I've been running on today. Amsterdam's airport Schipol was impressive. It's pretty much a huge, fancy shopping mall with airplanes. It looked so nice. Oh, I also exchanged about 800 US dollars for about 515 euros. What a crappy exchange rate.

Flight #2: A much shorter flight this time. It was only an 1 hour and 20 minute flight from Amsterdam to Geneva. Once again, Geneva's airport is impressive, but not as impressive as Amsterdam's.

Geneva airport to train station: Anne Thiel and I first had to figure out how to get to the train station, with our heavy bags. We got onto a tram and successfully got there. However, Anne had to pick her ticket from the office but the line was too long and the train was leaving soon. So, we barely made the train and she had to buy a ticket on the train. Close call.

Train ride: Geneva to Grenoble. Beautiful. The Alps, rivers, lakes, all the green vegetation. All so pretty.

Once I got off the train, Anne was meeting with her international buddy, Sophie. Sophie came with her mom. I was greeted the French way, with a bise. It was cute. I was surprisingly greeted by two people from the International Bureau for INPG Phelma. Tatiana and Olivier showed up. It was really exciting. I sent the International Bureau at least 4 emails and they never replied. They helped me carry my heavy luggage. They advised me on not staying in the hostel, since it's so far away. It's a good 10-15 minute drive from the center of town. So now, I'm in a cheap hotel for the first night. Anyway, they showed me around the city. They showed me where the students hang out, the campus of INPG, where to get good food, and things to do. It was really nice of them. Apparently, they'll be helping me out tomorrow with my cell phone and bank account. That is really nice of them. I know this is all very exciting, but the reality of being here for a year is starting to creep in. Damn.

Well, I'm going to finally get some rest after 4 hours of sleep and over 13 hours of travel. Good night. I'll try to update when I have internet again. :)