Arrival

Well, I am here in France and boy has it been an emotional roller-coaster getting here. First saying goodbye to my family was the worst thing I have had to do in a long time. Although I felt total peace, I still cried a lot. I am so thankful to my sister though for holding it together for me. She hardly shed any tears (only because she knew it would help me).

Next were my flights. Unfortunately, both of my flights were in Spanish. This is problematic for me since it got me in the Spanish mindset rather than French. On the positive side I didn't have to sit next to anyone on either flight so I could lay down. Not that I got much sleep on the first flight since the baby behind me was crying constantly. But I arrived in Marseilles without incident.

After I met Mme Coates at the airport she took me to her and her husband's apartment where I had lunch with the other girl from Gordon staying at the seminary, Grace. Grace was at the seminary last semester so she already knows the ropes. Lunch was a pumpkin and potato soup, which tasted fine but I couldn't get past the consistency. Thankfully there was bread, I wasn't really that hungry and Mme Coates was very gracious.

Then I was escorted to my room at the seminary which is quite small and dingy and COLD! Strangely, my floor is coed and we share a bathroom (quite the contrast to Gordon).This is where things start going downhill very quickly for me. I wanted to take a nap so Grace said I could find her in her room or in the common area or if I didn't come to her, she would get me when it was time for dinner. So, being the wimp that I am I attempted to wait for her to come to me so that I didn't have to talk to anyone. (Mind you this whole time I am EXHAUSTED...still am actually) So I Skyped with my family for a while. But when 7:30 rolled around and she still hadn't showed up I decided to be brave and go look for her. I started with her room, no luck. Then I ventured outside (which was risky since no one had told me the code to get back in) to the common area where I found a bunch of students cooking. I asked if anyone had seen Grace and thankfully there were two other Americans in the room. I was informed that Grace had left but one of the young gentlemen was kind enough to let me use his phone to try and call Grace. No answer. I asked them for the code back into the building and left.

I don't know if you have ever been in a foreign country with no contacts, no phone, no knowledge, no food or water, and no sleep. But let me just say it is an extremely terrifying situation. I felt like I was on an island of solitude. So I promptly skyped my family again crying. However, thankfully, Grace arrived during this skype session and made me dinner and gave me some basics. But not before my parents informed Gordon of their poor reception of me. Now I am fed, showered, and ready for bed. Tomorrow is a new day! Hopefully it will be 20 times better than today. In fact, I really hope this isn't a foreshadowing of my entire experience here. That's where I have to just trust God.