At 6:00pm, 50 AFS-USA students took off from JFK. Many hours and very little sleep later, we arrived at the Zurich airport. There, we looked around, talked sleepily, and tried to nap before we boarded our flight to Paris.
Once there, the first group of students (last name A-Perez) caught a bus to the Résidence Internationale de Paris where everyone staying in France with AFS had orientation. The second group (Pisaniello-Z) waited for an hour at the airport for the Icelandic and Japanese(?) students to arrive. This wouldn't have been a problem except I had not slept since Wednesday night, and it was then mid-afternoon Friday. For this reason, I can't remember exactly what country we were waiting for after the Icelandic flight arrived.
Although I would've loved to talk to all the fascinating people from all over the world, I was nearly fainting when I got to my room. After a nap, dinner, and a shower, I finally fell asleep.My roommates were very nice. Neither of them were from the western hemisphere but both spoke english well.
Saturday morning after breakfast we divided into our pre-assigned groups and went on a bus tour of Paris. French AFS volunteers gave us background information about the places we were seeing as we went by.
We got off the bus at the Eiffel Towel. In our neon tee shirts and name-tags, it was impossible to be taken for anything but tourists, so we completed the impression by gathering in a circle under the tower and doing a bizarre energizer. Unfortunately, the sun was behind us for most of the pictures, so our faces are very dark.
I've always heard that Paris is magical, so I lowered my expectations in case it couldn't meet them.
Paris blew me away.I've never seen a city so beautiful.
We returned for lunch and then broke into even smaller groups, each led by an AFS volunteer. Mine was an American who had gone to France with AFS in 2006 and returned to study. These were the most informative hours of orientation, as we shared our goals and fears and he gave us honest answers. "You'll wake up with a headache and go to sleep with a headache. But it'll get easier and be worth it in the end. Leaving will be very hard."
After dinner we had one last meeting for which we were divided by language. I sat with the Canadiens, Australians, New Zelanders and Americans as the staff and volunteers told us what to expect the next day and gave us final tips about life in France. We practiced giving the bise, which was helpful because the first time I said "mwa!" as I did it. Then I hung out with friends and said goodbye to those I wouldn't see the next day.
I went to bed tired, but excited to meet my french family.
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