Roadtrip

Hello all! So, I have been living in the Mare Gaudry, my apartment complex, for officially one week.  The whole concept of time here is still unknown to me, because I really cannot decide if it is going fast or slow.  I really like my apartment.  My first night in here was interesting because the pipes are very loud which wasn't very comforting.  I also live right above a daycare, so all of the little kids laughing, crying, running around, and screaming definitely caught me off guard as well.  Now, I kind of like it because I know where the noise is coming from, so I don't feel as crazy.

After my move, culture shock definitely manifested itself in another way.  I was blinded by my frustration my first few days here.  I woke up after my first, not so sleep-filled night here to the sound of men talking and hammering in my apartment.  I woke up in a jolt and used my groggy French to see what they were doing.  They laughed at me and then told me that they were repairing the walls in one of the bedrooms.  I wasn't too happy about it, but I really couldn't do anything.  They were really nice, aside from the fact that one of them left the toilet seat up. Not cool. Oh well, they're gone now.  My showering experience was definitely another interesting endeavor as well.  I don't have a shower head that is attached to the wall, so I basically need to hold it over my head to wash myself.  It was something out of a comedy the first time I showered here. I had no shower curtain either so I basically flooded the entire room.  It was definitely funny, but I didn't think so at the time.

Moving on; this past weekend was great.  On Friday, one of the Chilean guys had a party in my building and everyone went.  Super convenient and super fun.  I really have a lot of fun with everyone here.  Sidenote: Single ladies is playing in the daycare as we speak. Anyway, I left the party pretty early, because we had planned to roadtrip it to Luxembourg at like 5 am.  I came back and was able to get a good amount of sleep.  I woke up and waited for the Brazilians for like 2 hours, but I totally expected that.  They came and got me, eventually, and we hit the road.  Twelve of us went on the trip, so we had two cars: a van and a little hatchback.  We left for Reims, which is a town in the champagne district of France...without a map.  So European and so not my style.  It took us about 3 hours to get there.  We walked around, went to a church, and explored.  It was exactly like Amiens which was really interesting as well.  After walking around, we decided to call and go on a tour of a champagne cave.  We went to the Pommery factory, which was extremely cool!

The champagne was absolutely amazing!  After that, we headed out and onward towards Luxembourg.  We got lost, and then Pedro, who was driving, went to the side of the road to look at the map that we had purchased.  Little did we know, he pulled into the mud and we got stuck.  That was a 25 minute detour which seemed horrible at the time, but it was fun compared to what would happen to us the next night.  We got out of that situation and headed back on the road.  We finally got to Luxembourg and my first reaction was: HOGWARTS.  I don't know, it just was SO Harry Potter.  We went to the hostel, which was extremely awesome and we ate dinner.  We got to our rooms, had a few drinks and walked to the bars.  We had an awesome night out, it was beautiful, clean, and people were nice.  The next day, we had to be out of the hostel by 10:30, so that basically killed us all.  Hungover, but excited to see the city, we ventured out on the town.  It was so beautiful, although many things were closed.

Public Park

We went around, ate, took pictures, and then after moving at a glacial pace for approximately 4 hours, we finally got on the road.  We stopped for gas quickly, and continued.  About five minutes later, the engine in the car was going crazy and a light came up on the dash.  A lot of things went through my mind, but my friend Liz and I looked at each other happily because we were definitely thinking the same thing: practical French use.  That giddy feeling definitely didn't last long because we were waiting in the cold for about an hour for help.  Liz and I figured out that the person that filled the car up, cough Bruno cough, filled it up with gasoline and not diesel.  Incase you were wondering, this causes a chemical reaction in the gas tank and also causes engine damage if you continue to drive.  NOT GOOD.  After help came, we were towed and we rode in the car that was attached to the truck. Let's just say going on an amusement park ride was not on the weekend's to-do list, but it was certainly an adventure.  The guy had to go on back roads, so it was dark and we were all convinced that we were in a horror movie.  We then got brought to a deserted town where we had to wait for about 2 hours for someone to drain the tank and reconfigure some sensors in the car.  After all of that mess, we got back on the road and didn't get back to Compiègne until 3:15 am.  I can honestly say I have never been so tired in my life, but it was totally something I will always remember.

Back here on the "homefront," one of my roommates moved some things into her room while I was away and she left me a note.  Looks like I probably won't have roommates for another 10 days or so.  The note was extremely nice.  I think everything is going to work out great here in the apartment! I played hooky today because I didn't wake up until 1pm, and it just so happens that I have class at 1:30pm.  Totally was NOT in the cards.  I'm okay with it.  This is the last week of the stage intensif, so I need to study up and kick things into gear for the start of the semester. This blog entry was extremely long, as I am just realizing that now.  If you made it this far, congrats, and thank you for being a true friend. HA.  Miss everyone! Lots of love!

-Amanda