First day in Tours

So finally I have arrived in the quaint, adorable little city called Tours. The trip was long. It wasn't so much the flight itself as it was everything around it--administrative stuff, buses, meetings, etc. This is pretty much how it went:

Fly to Washington, D.C.

Go to hotel, wait for an hour

Go to meeting at hotel

Take bus back to airport

Get on plane to Paris

Go through immigration

Wait for bags for an hour

Get on a bus to Tours

Stop for "lunch" at 10 am

Arrive...approximately 24 hours after start of journey

Seeing as I find it incredibly difficult to sleep when sitting, I was only able to sleep for about 45 minutes on the D.C.-Paris flight. Then they served dinner, which woke me up. Lame.

I was still so out of it when they came around with the drink carts, that I couldn't think to say anything other than "water, please." I didn't realize until a bit later that they were also serving wine and champagne for FREE and that they actually would have given it to me, no questions asked. Welcome to AirFrance. Most everyone around me got their own personal wine bottle, so I felt a little lame. That's when I also started getting nervous and thinking--"I don't even drink wine! What am I going to do with myself in France?!" That was my first little inner-panic-moment...sure there will be more to come. Anyway, I'll try to give wine my best shot while I'm here.

When we got to Tours, we all stood in a courtyard by the Institut de Touraine (where we will be taking classes) as the host families started arriving. They then called out names of families and students and matched them up. Tara (my roommate) and I were matched up with Mme Veyssiere, after which we took a taxi to her apartment.

When we got inside, Mme V explained a few things to us, switching between French and English depending on how confused we looked. I was really focusing on trying to understand, but I guess I was so tired that some of the things she said just flew right past me. Those times, I would kind of just smile and nod, which I'm pretty sure is very obviously code for "yeah, okay, I have no idea what you're saying." Since then, I've been trying to be more straightforward and just tell her when I don't understand. Maybe that way I can learn something new.

After that, it was about 1 pm, and I decided to lay down. On my big, comfortable bed. Then I slept for 5-6 hours. It was glorious. I woke up, showered, and had my first dinner with our little "host family." It was really nice, although the conversation was somewhat fragmented, and I felt really bad for Mme V because she kept picking everything up for us, serving us, etc. even though she hurt her leg yesterday and has been limping.

Well, it's about 11 pm now, and Mme V requested we wake up at 9.30 am for le petit déjeuner. Lets hope I'm able to fall asleep even after my obnoxiously long nap. :)