I arrived in Paris by train rather than by plane because I flew in to London Heathrow rather than Paris Charles de Gaule. This was my first time riding on a train like the Eurostar trains, but it was also the first time I had traveled so far by myself.  Coming in to the train station was overwhelming because it was busy, crowded, and completely in French. Finally entering the country was exciting and frightening, but my lack of proficiency with French was making me more and more nervous. I understood enough of the signs to make my way towards the metro and wait in the long line to buy my metro ticket to move around Paris. The train station I took from Paris to Angers (Gare Monparnasse) was different than the train station I look into Paris from London (Gare du Nord). The whole experience was over stimulating, and as it was early in the morning, I was even more overwhelmed by the information I was processing. I had been excited for studying abroad, but my arrival in Paris made the reality of the situation sink in and I became ecstatic about being in France. I loved to see that even in the train stations, there are little shops that sell French food like baguettes and croissants and even some Paris merchandise with little pictures of the Eiffel Tower. The single most frightening factor of arriving was trying to find out where I was supposed to go in a mass of people, all in a hurry and walking with confidence as to their destination.  People seemed distant from each other, and this have something to do with it being such a large city or perhaps it is  the normal in France.

This picture is of the train station, these people are waiting by this giant board that shows the platform for each scheduled train. The catch? The platform is only displayed 20 minutes before departure so people gather right under the sign so that as soon as the platform is revealed, people scurry over and begin boarding.

My time on the train to Angers went by quickly and I was greeted at the train station by the coordinator of my program as well as by my host dad. There are three of us staying at the same house, and I was the first to arrive, I had first pick of the bedrooms. I picked one upstairs, and it is shows in the following pictures:

My pretty bed 🙂

What you see upon entering the room, these cool windows with electric shades! You just push a button to close them, and you can completely block out the sun or leave some coming in.

My view out of my bedroom window

My armoir and desk, important for all the studying I will be doing!

The first day was extremely exhausting and I was excited for the other girls to arrive as to have some break from speaking French, and to not be the person of sole attention from my host parents. They have a lot of questions (which is great!), but all of the thinking in French is very tiring already! Only four more week in Angers!

Maggie