Pre-departure jitters

Bonjour tout le monde!

It's one week and two days before I depart for France and I'm getting nervous. I received my visa last week and am currently making list after list of things that need to be accomplished before I can step on the plane and say goodbye to security for the next 8 months. It's the moments like these when one looks back at the past nine months and thinks,

"What the *#@# have I been DOING for the past 9 months?!"

while also trying to remember everything their French professors had taught them over the past five years. I believe there was a lesson in there somewhere about breathing. Staying calm and NOT over-thinking yourself into a dark pit of despair...right?

Alright, dramatics over, I really am excited to go; I just have a lot to think about. As those who have ever danced with the French government know: French bureaucracy is NOT a fun game. Lucky for me I won't have to spend my first few weeks (month?) dishing out my life savings (okay, let's be honest here, my past 8 months savings) to the owners of a hostel! A friend of the family's lives in Orleans, and have been gracious enough to let me stay with them until I find housing. The woman with whom I will be staying also works for the government, which certainly helps!

Connections, check! :)

Anywho, as I mentioned at the beginning of the post, my flight leaves next Wednesday September 23rd at 12:55 pm from Madison and will arrive in Paris on Thursday morning (around 9am). At this point I'm planning to take the metro into the city and take a train to Orleans, since the one from Charles de Gaulle airport doesn't leave until night and I do not really want to be walking about Paris all day with luggage for 8 months on-hand. These plans are tentative, however, and I'm still figuring out the details.

Wish me luck and I'll catch you all up once I'm in France!

A bientôt!
Meg