Mon Premier Jour en France!

Wow! Paris, you are truly awesome!

I made it here. Finally. After all this time and all of the troubles I went through, I'm here.
My first day here was pretty grand. After the unfortunate flight delay of my original flight that was supposed to have left at 2:55pm yesterday afternoon, I ended up being re-booked on another flight to Newark, NJ that left at 5:40pm. At least I got to spend a little extra time with my parents and my aunt and uncle. They were sad to see me go, but happy for the adventure I was about to set off on.
After landing in Newark, I waited until 9:25pm to hop on the plane to Paris. This whole mix up messed everything up. Jean-Mark was supposed to pick me up at the airport at my first flight's arrival time of 6:55am, but instead, once I arrived, I ended up having to take a taxi all the way to his work. I felt so bad intruding, but he was kind enough to take me back to his place on his lunch break.
Even though I slept some on the plane, I was completely exhausted, so I passed out for about 2 hours to catch up on the time difference. (I guess it hasn't kicked in yet, because it's 3 something AM and I'm still awake)!
Once I woke up, I took a shower, got ready and decided it was time to explore the city. Before I left, I met JM's dad on the way out and discovered that my french is VERY bad. Remember: all of this is on my own. JM was at work. I had no help and was trying to communicate completely in french, since JM's parents don't speak any english.
So I set out and head to la Defense. It's a HUGE mall that connects to the metro/train. Let's just put it this way. la Defense stresses me out. I went around in circles trying to find this one store called l'Orange, so I could purchase a phone. I finally found it... an hour or so later and then ended up having to wait another 45 min just to be seen in the store.
True story: When my name is called to be seen in the store, I'm praying she speaks english. "Bonjour!" "Bonjour...Anglais?" "Non, a very little." (Thinking in my head- Oh crap! This is Not going to be good!) So, I suck it up, take a deep breath and Go for it! Little did I know, she actually understood me! Hot dog! So we discuss a few more things, en francais, and then she tells me I have to have my bank account open before I can get the plan. FML. I just spent all this time for nothing!? The bank is already closed, I'd been waiting for quite a while and the errand day seemed pointless. So I go back to JM's and have dinner with him and his parents and then we venture out to the night life of Paris. This city has so much culture. It's been 4 years since I've been here, and it continues to show me something new. We walked along Les Champs Elysee and headed over to Le Arc de Triumph. We ended up at this bar where I had my first drink in Paris and toasted to my French Adventure! More walking along Les Champs Elysee and made our last stop JM's favorite bridge, where we sat and laughed and watched the Eiffel Tower as it glowed in the night. The wind was chilly and the air cold, but nothing could numb the blessings of being in this beautiful city, rich of architecture and adventure!
And now, here I am still awake, wondering what the next year of my life is going to be like. I'm not sure words could even describe how much it means to me to be over here. It's like a dream come true. A dream that will become a new chapter of my life.

Notes of the Day:
1. Limonade- isn't really Lemonade
2. Soldiers are still walking around with guns
3. La Defense- causes me to go crazy
4. MUST improve my french
5. Need to eat cheese ASAP!

Tomorrow awaits me and so does Paris!

Woot!


Kristi