My trip here was fairly uneventful, but the highlights would probably be:
- Checking in my bags to be asked if I had anyone to accompany me in my travels…aka implying that I was under 13, the age you need to be to travel alone. It’s like cmon, I know I’m not wearing any makeup but 13? Seriously? (sadly this is not the first time I have been asked this)
- Sharing the row with a Christian youth rock band that was going to Poland to spread the word. Which they proceeded to spread to me. In song. For 9 hours. OK I’m exaggerating, they didn’t actually sing on the plane, and as my awesome Dutch airline had games on the mini screens such as competitive tetris, it was great to make friends with my row-mates.
- Having 20 minutes in Amsterdam to make my connection, I realized that I needed to go through security again as it was my first landing in the EU. Once I finally arrive panting at my gate I am met with a group of very casual travelers, many drinking Heineken tall boys while waiting in line to board. The Dutch clearly know how to travel
- Experiencing my first taste of Parisian romance as the couple sharing a row with me on the flight from Amsterdam to Paris made out and drank wine the whole flight. Cliché? Nahhhh.
- Having an amazing shuttle driver who made up for being two hours late (yes, two hours) by driving me around the scenic route with commentary such as “This is where Diana died!” while swerving oncoming traffic. When he dropped me off he said he would look for me when dropping off other students…yay for first friend in a new city.
We didn’t have any classes to attend today, as it was course registration. I thought it was a little excessive to give a whole day off just to register online, but it was stressful enough that I needed it. I somehow managed to mess things up long enough that a lot of my first choice classes got full, but I snuck my way into most of the ones I wanted and picked up some interesting fillers such as “a comparative look at the Jewish experience” and “violence in Chile”. To celebrate finishing the ordeal I went out to explore and have dinner with a friend from UBC – it was nice to finally get away from my dorm area and see what all the fuss is about. Paris is pretty awesome.
Anyways, tomorrow I have my first day of intensive French classes and an international welcome party so I should try to sleep to fix up this jetlag. More later...
13 and eager!
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