I'M HERE

Hello et bonjour tout le monde,

I am in France and what a journey this has been so far. Twenty-five hours of travel is BEAUCOUP, like a lot. The first flight was fine. I was excited then; full of ambition and drive and was all set to go. When I got to Toronto, the plot did a bit of a 180 and I quickly became alone and really shaky and every time that I thought about me being 4000 km away from home, my pulse quickened. The 5 hour layover didn't help. I did a lot of wander and only started to tear up from being so overwhelmed two times..

Things got a bit better on my flight to Paris from Toronto. I had a window seat and sat next to a young couple who were off on their honeymoon to the City of Love. They both slept the entire flight so needless to say, I didn't go to the bathroom once (I hate bugging people while their sleeping). I slept maybe two hours and then we finally landed just outside of Paris. I was feeling antsy about going through customs, even though I've got nothing to be antsy about, but we all sluggishly headed towards the gate and passed through immigration with no problems. The guy who checked my passport and visa winked at me; I instantly thought, "Welcome to France" haha..

The the plot thickens and I was on my own again. After gathering my luggage I walked a really long walk to to the train station, which just so happened to be on the other end of the airport.. carrying about 80 pounds of my belongings. I walked up to a kiosk to print my ticket and a worker approached me to lend a hand.. probably because I looked like I was struggling - as I was. At this point, I was tired, hungry, and very thirsty, basically lacking all of the basic necessities (lol), and then thanks the guy and headed straight for a restaurant on the other side of the station of which I had passed earlier.

Yay! Food! ....aaaaannnndddd Wifi!!! The next hour passed pretty quickly as I ate and used the internet. I decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air as I was feeling a bit lightheaded. On my way back inside, I noticed a girl who had been on my flight, sitting alone with a huuuuuge bag and she appeared to be crying. Me, being alone and knowing I still had 3 hours until my train would come, walked up to her and introduced myself. She had just missed her train and had never travelled alone before. She was delighted to see me, as she recognized me walking around the station a bit earlier and noticed my new mustard coloured scarf (thank you, Sara). We chatted for the next 2 hours and then went to check to see which track our train was coming down and at what time. We almost missed our train because we were standing on the wrong track, then decided to double check. Good thing I did.

We managed to be on the same train car and scurried our way on with ALL of our luggage and found some seats. I passed out (sleep, mother, don't worry) due to exhaustion and woke up at my stop. Then I had to transfer to another train and finally, I made it to Tours.

Mme Rouzier, the lovely lady who is all of the elementary school assistant's contact person, met me at the train station and welcomed me with a kiss on each cheek. My roommate, Katie from the UK, and another assistant met us there as well. The four of us climbed into Mme's car and we made it to my new home in the southern part of Tours.

My landlords were here upon my arrival and they've got to be the Frenchiest people I've yet to met. Pascal and Marie-Francoise, enough said. They were so kind as I used my broken French to say hello and we did all of the paper signing. I was exhausted so I quickly unpacked my things and had a bit of a nap. That evening, I Skyped my best friend from back at home and battled a huge mosquito type bug that few in (as there are not any screens on the windows), and then went to sleep.

Yesterday I woke up hungrier than ever because I hardly ate the day before but then realized I had no food.... So I stole two apples from my roomie and then headed straight for the nearest supermarket. On my way back from the store it started pouring and guess who was caught without an umbrella!? Me. 15 minutes later I reached "home" drenched, exhausted and hungry. I ate some toast with Nutella and drank so OJ and then to bed it was for a nap. I awoke to the sun shining through my window and decided I'd go check out the beautiful small lake situated about eight blocks from my apartment. It was stunningly beautiful so I sat on a bench and watched the sun go down. After I returned home, I Facetimed my parents and then went to bed.

Today I slept until 1pm and then met up with one of the Canadian assistants named Ariel at the train station down town as we needed to book a train to Orleans, France (our region's capital) for orientation on Tuesday. We then walked around Old Tours for just over and hour and then I caught the tram back home. It was nice to connect with a fellow Canadian.

Wow, that was a thorough description of my last few days.. I promise to keep the details to a bit more of a minimum next week. Haha. I just want to give you all a good setting description at the beginning.

Tomorrow I have a quick meeting with Mme Rouzier and other fellow primary school assistants and then we are off to our individual schools to observe and meet our co-teachers and student. I am pretty nervous but really excited. Then tomorrow evening, Katie (my roommate) and I are going to go back to the supermarket to get some more food and laundry detergent.. Woohoo. ;)

I miss ya'll back at home so much and I hope you enjoyed reading this entry.

I think what I will do is post every Sunday. Nice to keep things in a routine.

Lots of love,
Sam

One Week Until Takeoff

These last few months have flown by so quickly and, oh my goodness, I cannot believe that I start my journey in one week.

These last two months have been a lot of me stressing out as there has been many things that I've needed to do prior to this voyage. Although they say, there must be a little rain before a beautiful rainbow shines through.

I had to fly to Toronto to move forward with my visa application back at the beginning of September. It was a great little getaway. I stayed with a friend of whom I met at Explore in Nova Scotia last summer and she toured me around all of the nice sites of Toronto (I was especially attracted to the Harbour Front). I met a girl while I was waiting to meet with the French consulate who is doing the exact same Teacher's Assistant in the exact same city as me! We had to laugh because we realized we were going to be friends this year, even though we has only met for about a minute or so. Small world. The next night after the visa meeting I stayed with my Gimli friend, April, who is actually from Kitchener, Ontario. We spent the night at her dad's home in Milton and hiked the Niagara Escarpment! Beautiful view of the big city from up there!

This might be a good time to write about the city I've been placed in. Tours, France - population of about 140,000 people, full of beautifully lush greens and gardens, a promenade along the Loire River, and is situated an hour and 15 minutes southwest of Paris. An hour and 15 minutes southwest of PARIS; pinch me.  In the garden of the ancient Palais des Archevêques (now Musée des Beaux-Arts), there is a large cedar tree that was planted by Napoleon! This place is full of history and is known for having the purest form of French in all of France. There's so much to look forward to.

About a week ago, I was still visa-less, still homeless, still unsure of what school I will be working at and feeling a little lost. But things have come together. I will be renting a room in a 4 bedroom apartment, with a shared kitchen and living space and my visa finally came in the mail. My educational contact person in Tours has been a huge help and has offered to meet me at the train station when I arrive and take me to my new home. 

As my time here is winding down, I'm starting to realize how much I am going to miss my family and friends and just the normal everyday life in good old MB. I am pretty content with all of the different aspects of my life these days so it's difficult to just put everything to a bit of a halt. I'm desiring adventure right now though, so this obviously couldn't be more perfect. And hey, I know that the people back at home will still be there when I return. Seven months isn't even that long to begin with.. (so I am telling myself to keep me sane haha..)! 

Bon Voyage party is at Assinaboine Park is this Saturday with all of my loved ones. I know it will be a beautiful evening. 

I think that's all I've got to say this time 'round.

The next time I post will be in France. Crazy stuff. 

Love pour toujours,

Sam