Je déteste le jet lag.

I’m not exactly sure where to start, so we’ll start with Gasparilla, in Tampa.

Gasparilla is a HUGE pirate invasion celebration that takes place every year in January.  I’m not exactly sure how I feel about the town I live in celebrating piracy, but alas, nothing else of great interest has happened in Tampa worth celebrating.  I decided that, it being my first year in Tampa, that despite the fact that I had all my packing and last minute errands before the trip to run, I would go and partake in the event with my lovely former-roommate Cristina, and her friend Claire.  Needless to say, I understand why Jon refused to go, he hates crowds like that, but quite honestly, I had a great time…

That is until Jon called me to inform me that we couldn’t check into out flights because we didn’t have return tickets.  Uh oh, could they have waited until the very last minute to tell us this?  Needless to say, it was a long, agonizingly stressful process.  But, after a long evening of packing, a morning of running around like a chicken with its head cut off, and not eating a suitable breakfast, 12:00 PM Sunday finally rolls around, and we head to the airport.  Jon has a brownie in his hand, and I actually turned it down.  A BROWNIE!  Butterflies were the least of my concerns; I had dinosaurs in my stomach- big mean T-Rex dinosaurs.  Last minute goodbyes, a few unexpected tears, calls home to mom, and a Facebook status that only read “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!” we were on our flight to Dulles International in DC, conveniently seated in Economy Plus- free of extra fees.  That leg room was quite the teaser.

In flight, I worked on some questions for a quiz I planned on taking as soon as we got to our gate in Dulles.  I finished everything, was feeling great, until we got there and tried to connect to the WI-FI… I will never take free WI-FI for granted again.  Yes kids, Dulles International Airport charges their commuters for WI-FI.  So I had to call my mom and walk her through taking the quiz for me, which was quite the experience in itself.  As if being stressed about an 8 hour flight to Munich wasn’t enough.  9 out of 10 questions (apparently you can’t keep two disagreeing thoughts in your head at the same time, maybe I’m super woman…) and a final goodbye, and we were off to Munich…

Let us go back to the Economy Plus seats we had on our first flight.  We didn’t realize these were special seats until we saw our seats for our Munich flight.  Needless to say, the last time I flew for longer than 3 hours was well over 10 years ago.  I was significantly shorter, had a lot less to carry, and could entertain myself endlessly.  Our seats had so little leg room my knees were touching the seat in front of me… for those of you who know Jon, can you imagine how he felt?  To top it off, we had snotty nosed little Chinese kids in front of us who for the first 20 minutes insisted on bouncing back on their seats.  That is until Jon politely punched the back to the seat so hard his mother finally got the picture.  I need not go into the level of discomfort I felt on this plane.  I just kept thinking “I’m going to France… I’m going to France… This will not defeat me!”

8 hours later we landed in a cold and dreary Munich.  The first thing I noticed was that thankfully, every sign had instructions in English.  Second thing, the airport is so stereotypically German- I love it.  Clean, utilitarian, sterile in color and design, it’s wonderful.  Let me also note that their restrooms are incredible, and their women’s sign is sort of adorable.  Third thing, the police carry MP5s.  I haven’t seen something larger than a hand gun carried by police (other than on a military base) since I lived in Spain.  It sort of gave me the creeps.  I felt like thats what Nazi Germany must have felt like or something.  Guns of that power is something I would expect to see in Dubai, not Munich.  Goodness.  Fourth observation: Free coffee/tea/hot chocolate.  A welcomed dose of caffeine and sugar, I might say.  Though I think you work off all that extra energy walking back to get more, since you only get 6 oz at a time.  Oh, and another downside: yet another airport without free WI-FI.

After a three hour layover, we were ready to board our final flight to Nice.  Only we were unaware that we would have to bus across the the tarmac to get to our plane and politely wait outside as we climb the roll-a-stairs to our seats.  Mind you, this is the end of January in Munich… which means it was a bone-chilling 23 degrees Fahrenheit.  Cold enough that not only the breath from your mouth was visible, but from your nose, and if I’d paid close enough attention, probably our ears too.  Not the pleasant 74 we left in Tampa, that I was dressed for.  We had a tiny plane, with significantly more legroom than the previous, and finally a window seat.  Which was perfect because this was the first flight with a real view- The Alps. Less than 2 hours later, we landed in Nice, though given that its surrounded on one side by water, I was certain that we were about to plumet right in to the Mediterranean Sea (or The Med, as I heard an Englishman call it).

We are now settled into our room with our host family, awaiting our first dinner, while watching their son Nicolas play with ping pong balls and this neat cube thing.  He’s kind of adorable.

C’est une fête!

Well, we are now 2 days away.  Less than two, even.  OMG THATS SO FRICKIN CRAZY!

Tonight is our little going away get together for anyone in Tampa who wants to see us out.  Thankfully, Jon and I went to Brevard and saw everyone there one last time this past weekend.

My to-do list is getting small enough to put on a post-it note now, which is good.  Before I could certainly write a novel with it.  Unfortunately, my favorite pair of jeans finally wore through the bottom and I have to make yet another last minute mall trip for another pair of jeans.  Which I suppose isn’t so bad, because I forgot to get the battery in my watch replaced today, so it all works out.

Well, I should actually get dressed.  :)

Ciao!

J’aime bourses d’études

T-minus 5 days and counting, and all of my monies from scholarships and loans have JUST finished disbursing.  Cutting it a little close, USF?  But alas, its all there.  Which is a relief.  However, once again, I feel like my list of things to do before we leave is getting longer even quicker than it was before.  5 days is not much time, especially since I’m STILL trying to get rid of my car.  Its looking like it may just go back to Brevard at this rate, which I hope not.  Everyone at home is a little busy to keep trying to sell my car, but alas.  Not like I have a whole lot of choice in the matter.

Normally before large trips I would have already started packing, slowly but surely.  I haven’t even tried to think about packing.  Its mildly terrifying, to be frank.

Either way, just a quick post to keep you readers interested.  Jon’s entire family will be here at some point this week, include his grandma and her husband.  In other words, his mom is freaking out about the house being clean (understandably so).

As if I didn’t have enough on my mind! :P  Bonne nuit!

Je suis oublier quelque chose

Ever notice when you feel like you’re finished everything you need to get done, a new to-do list of at least 5 rather important items pops into your head no more than a moment later?  Welcome to my day.  I feel like everytime I turn around and get something done, the rest of my list multiplies at an exponential rate!  We have now hit the single-digits phase of my countdown to departure, and there simply isn’t enough time to get everything done!  My friends insist I relax, that everything will be okay, that I’ll magically get it all done, probably just in the knick of time.  But alas, my name is Caroline Heywood.  If defined by Webster, “stressed” would be his first choice to describe me.  I feel like White Rabbit today, just simply running out of time.

On another stressful note, my car is still mine… which is not good.  I’ve only had two genuine bites on the car; I’m showing one girl my car on Sunday, and another guy whenever Tampa decides to stop raining on my day.  So again, anyone in need of a car, or know someone in need of a car, pass this along please! http://tampa.craigslist.org/hil/cto/2166131033.html

On a brighter note, everytime I have a new question come to mind regarding the trip, my oh so wonderful study abroad adviser is always an email away.  I don’t know what her inbox looks like, but at the rate that Jon and I email her, I feel like half the messages have to be from us!  Needless to say though, this trip could not have happened without her!

I should be off attending to my to-do list.  Until next time, ciao!

Je pense que Skype sera utile

So, I’ll be the first to admit, I dogged Skype like crazy when it first came out.  But after actually experiencing it, I think it might come in handy when I’m gone.  If only they could master what iChat already has, and enable multi-user video calls.  But alas, I can’t complain about free three-way calling.

So that being said, anyone who wishes to Skype me while I’m abroad, you can do so here: caroline.liz89

Je déteste l’emballage

I. Hate. Packing.

I know, I’m not actually leaving until the 30th, but I feel like I have been packing for this trip for weeks.  This is partly due to the fact that while packing up my entire apartment to move it into Jon’s storage unit, I basically had to pack for Europe at the same time.  Do you know how difficult it is to imagine what clothes you’ll want to wear six months from now?  To make things even more difficult, Jon seems to think we can both fit our stuff in ONE large suitcase.  I mean, I plan on packing light, but I’m still a girl!

I also find myself worrying about silly things, like shampoo, razors and deodorant.  I mean, the French aren’t exactly known for cleanly shaven armpits, or smelling like a bed of roses.  But I keep thinking about this whole trip as if I’m going to some third-world country in South America, and that is clearly not the case for Nice.

I can say, without hesitation, that I have an extremely long to-do list that needs finishing before I can leave the country, and I’m definitely running out of time.  But more on that later.  Until next time, bonne nuit!