Wednesday, January 7, 2009
long story short we made it to our train moments before it pulled away from the station, although im convinced that if we missed it we could have chased after it since it was going soooo slowwww... lisa and i were seated next to eachother in a row of 3 facing 3 strangers with a tiny table to separate us. the guy across from lisa kept staring at her, and the kid next to me had a black eye and more scars on his hands than i could count. needless to say, if there was an altercation, we wanted him on our side.
we arrived in clermont, and, like paris, it was freezing cold. we shuttled our luggage down the stairs under the tracks and then back up. made our way to our hotel and called it a night.
the next morning [monday] we were supposed to move into our residence and then go to school, but at 9am we received a call from Gaetan telling us we were to leave our luggage at the hotel and go to school and we would move into our residence at 4pm.
we had our tour of the city, which we covered in under an hour on foot, and then talked about classes. we had a mini class on advertising which wasnt really interesting enough to keep my mind off the fact that i didnt really have a home yet and had been living out of a suitcase for over a week at that point. we excused ourselves at 4pm and raced to the hotel to get our things and wait for gaetan.
he arrived, punctually french, and about 10 minutes late. we loaded our suitcases into his tiny car and the car of his friend and drove around the corner to our residence. we then walked through about 3 buildings such that the back door of the residence was across the street from were we had just left... they should us to our rooms and then we signed our names and wrotr "lu et approuvé" at least 12 times. apparently the french like to have you sign the original and the copy, not make a copy with your signature. oh well.
6pm, we have finished paperwork and now need food and other room essentials: sheets, pillow, towels, comforter, blankets etc. we head out into the city only knowing the name of a cheap store and generally where it is... we managed to find it and i bought a comforter and pillow which i had to lug all around town and to the grocery store to buy staples for the next 24h.
did i mention clermont is situated on an old volcano with the cathedral at the top and everything else around it... this means that to go anywhere you have to go up the hill and then to get home you must climb the hill again... with all your purchases. quite tiring to say the least.
made it home, tucked into bed, plugged into the internet and good to go by 10pm. and that was only the 1st day....
we arrived in clermont, and, like paris, it was freezing cold. we shuttled our luggage down the stairs under the tracks and then back up. made our way to our hotel and called it a night.
the next morning [monday] we were supposed to move into our residence and then go to school, but at 9am we received a call from Gaetan telling us we were to leave our luggage at the hotel and go to school and we would move into our residence at 4pm.
we had our tour of the city, which we covered in under an hour on foot, and then talked about classes. we had a mini class on advertising which wasnt really interesting enough to keep my mind off the fact that i didnt really have a home yet and had been living out of a suitcase for over a week at that point. we excused ourselves at 4pm and raced to the hotel to get our things and wait for gaetan.
he arrived, punctually french, and about 10 minutes late. we loaded our suitcases into his tiny car and the car of his friend and drove around the corner to our residence. we then walked through about 3 buildings such that the back door of the residence was across the street from were we had just left... they should us to our rooms and then we signed our names and wrotr "lu et approuvé" at least 12 times. apparently the french like to have you sign the original and the copy, not make a copy with your signature. oh well.
6pm, we have finished paperwork and now need food and other room essentials: sheets, pillow, towels, comforter, blankets etc. we head out into the city only knowing the name of a cheap store and generally where it is... we managed to find it and i bought a comforter and pillow which i had to lug all around town and to the grocery store to buy staples for the next 24h.
did i mention clermont is situated on an old volcano with the cathedral at the top and everything else around it... this means that to go anywhere you have to go up the hill and then to get home you must climb the hill again... with all your purchases. quite tiring to say the least.
made it home, tucked into bed, plugged into the internet and good to go by 10pm. and that was only the 1st day....
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1 comment:
This is way great, Liz. Update often so that I can live vicariously through you.
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