Je suis arrivée!!!

As of this morning, at 5:30 Strasbourg time (11:30 p.m. for all of you East Coasters), I am on the Continent!!!  And I am staring at my computer screen as if comatose right now, because I'm just THAT tired.  As expected, I didn't get a wink of sleep on the plane, probably in part due to the teary goodbye I had with my parents at Logan.  To top things off, as I was making my way through security, tears rolling down my face, they decided that I was going to be the person selected for a random security baggage check/patdown.  Needless to say, I wasn't too pleased.  I also got to the airport way too early, which meant that I had a lot of time to sit around and think.  The flight itself was okay, in that it was smooth (AND neither I nor the two other girls I was traveling with lost any of our luggage, thank God!), but it's clear that Lufthansa doesn't like tall people.  The leg room was nonexistent, especially since the person in front of me fully reclined her chair.  But oh well, I made it to Frankfurt safe and sound, and that's all that matters.

Once we got our luggage (and yeah, I realized I brought way too much, compared to what the other girls brought), we took 3 different trains- yes, three!- to get to Strasbourg.  Now, normally, I love train rides, but there were times when I was running with my 2 rolling suitcases, a duffel, and a backpack to get on another train, because our previous train had been delayed.  It was not exactly a picnic getting those bags on and off-board, but hey, I guess I asked for it!  It's no one's fault but my own.  By the time we got to Strasbourg, my hands were blistered, I was drenched from hauling all of those bags, and I was tired and missed my parents.  But I hopped in a cab and was dropped off at my new home.  

I had a little bit of difficulty finding Mme. Martin's apartment, because it hadn't listed a floor in the address OIP gave me, but eventually I found it.  She is incredibly nice, and now I know why the student she lived with last year loved her so much.  Apparently, her son is away at school in Bordeaux for the year, so it will be just she and I in the apartment.  Right away, I checked to see if the Internet connection she promised was indeed as good as it sounded, and I was not let down.  It's a perfect connection, perfect for Skype... HINT HINT :)  Then, we headed into more of the center of the city on the tram, which stops right at the end of our street.  My first order of business was getting a phone and SM Card, so she took me to the provider I had been told was the best, and within a half-hour, I had my new phone.  She had some errands to run, and said I could go with her, go back home, or wander around a little bit.  Of course, I chose the latter, and explored the area around the town center (la Place de l'Homme-de-fer) for 45 minutes or so.  I found this really cute bookstore tucked away on a side street, and picked up a French copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone ("Harry Potter à l'École des Sorciers" for those of you that are interested- although that is NOT a direct translation).  Then I took the tram back- by myself, and rather successfully, I might add- and, when Mme. Martins had to go run some more errands, I moseyed on over to the grocery store across the street to pick up some essentials.  

At this point, I think I'm too tired to even process everything I saw today, so I'll include more on that in an upcoming post.  I hope everyone is doing well!  Thank you all for your phone calls, e-mails, Facebook messages, Skype conversations, and the like.  You are all so special to me, and, as always, I am thinking of you and missing you.

Sending you my love,

Kristen