Travel log: An American leaving America
(Don't worry, this one won't give you ulcers)

9:00 am EST--Gotta say, it's never fun to begin what you know is going to be a very, very long day.

11:00 am--Time for the farewell stroll around town. Tah, Newfane, see you in a few months. Be good while I'm away, okay?

12:00 pm--And they're headed off to Boston! It entertains me that my mother and sister seem to be stressing more about their own post-dropping-Emily-off plans than I'm worrying about mine. Hm.

2:30 pm--Hey Logan, did you miss me? Checked my two bags, the bigger of which weighed in at 50.5 pounds. Man, I know how to push the limits.

3:30 pm--Said a minimally tearful goodbye, and then went through security, for which there was no line. It felt way too easy. The lady who looked at my passport, though, mentioned that a really, really cute boy had just gone through security and that I should go and look for him. I was amused. Unfortunately, said cute boy could not be located.

4:30 pm--And, boarding...

5:15 pm--BYE AMERICA!

6:00 pm--And hello Montreal. We're even ahead of schedule. Wait, that happens? Seriously?

6:45 pm--Had to do a bit of wandering, but eventually found my gate for the next leg of the journey and... Had time to kill? Weird.

8:30 pm--Boarding the flight to Paris. You know, I'm actually cautiously optimistic about all of this. Things seem to be going well.

6:40 am France time--All of a sudden I'm terribly exhausted but can't sleep, really sad to be leaving home and pretty pissed that I get to spent 5 hours hanging out in Charles de Gaulle waiting for my train. Joy. :(

8:15 am--You know the worst thing about being sick while traveling? Well, one of the worst things? That when the altitude changes, not only did my ears hurt like bloody hell, but I could feel the pressure in my sinuses, which gave me the unpleasant sensation that my head was going to explode. Not so fun.

9:00 am--Immigration was quick and easy, and bag-finding wasn't too bad, especially considering that all I had to do was say "merde, c'est la mienne!" and someone would grab it off the belt and hand it to me.

9:30 am--Walked halfway across CDG to get to the train station. God, my hands hurt from dragging that thing around (of course, it wasn't until later that I remembered my gloves). I had been hoping to maybe exchange my 13:00 ticket for something earlier, but no such luck. Looks like I have some time to kill.

11:00 am--SO. BORED. (And cold, too)

1:00 pm--Finally on the bloody train! Last leg of the journey, nearly there...

5:00 pm--MONTPELLIER! It was so weird getting off that train and all of a sudden, after being in unfamiliar places for so many hours, to be back in my city. It didn't feel real, actually. They say that a place doesn't really become home until you return to it. Think that that might be true. I ended up walking from the train station back home (maybe 3/4ths of a mile) which was pretty damn nasty. It's uphill, too. Dear God, did 13 rue de Cannau look good!

So, I still need to do some settling in (aka, unpack and get groceries, details, details) but overall things feel good. I'm glad that I have a whole week to get back into the swing of things before classes start up again. Oh, and I met my new housemate, Haruko, who seems really sweet and we're going out to lunch tomorrow. Also, she's as fascinated by microwave cooking as I am--that's a good sign. And now, after 31 (very nearly) consecutive hours of being awake... I'm going to bed.