Having never been on an international flight before, I was expecting the worst from an 11 hour flight (San Fran to Paris). The reality, however, was much better than I expected. They served us dinner and breakfast, as well as, an ice cream sandwich in between for a snack. I was in the middle seat which always kind of sucks but my neighbors never talked so that was awesome. The best part was the TV screens in front of each seat basically offered On Demand with a bunch of movies, shows, and games. All n all one of the better flights I've ever taken.
I had about two hours to kill at the Parisian airport before my train to Nantes and I decided it was the perfect time to exchange the few dollars I brought with me to euros. It was my first interaction with someone whose primary language was French in France. I walked up with a "bonjour" and proceeded to understand nothing of what she said in return. My blank look must have spoken volumes though cause she immediately switched to English and said "oh you don't speak french." Not exactly the greatest first interaction. With that morale boost, I set out to wait for my train.
I don't remember much of the train ride because by that point it was about 2 am US time and those of you who know me know I can barely stay awake until 12. But I managed to get off at the right stop where two of the IES teachers were waiting for us to put us in a taxi that would take us back to school. The whole car-pedestrian dynamic is really scary in France. I'm not sure who has the right away and I don't think they do either...our driver almost took out about five different people on the five minute drive. I was a little over tired at the time and got the urge to yell out 20 points if you get the grandma but I restrained myself.
At that point I thought we were supposed to have an on-site orientation for the first few days before we met our host families, but instead they took us to the school so the the host families could pick us up. So they could pick up our jet lagged, hungry, English speaking selves for our first dinner. Tons of great impressions were made that night which made for some interesting stories the next morning. (: The best was probably the guy who told his host mom he had brought them chocolate covered penises for a host gift (he tried putting a french accent on the word "peanut" because he couldn't remember it in french). I myself was trying to explain that I generally eat oatmeal for breakfast but tried translating it as "hot cereal".....they now think I put brown sugar on my regular cereal and put it on the table every morning.
Mis-communication of the day: If you directly translate "I am full" like at the end of the meal...."je suis pleine" what you're really saying is you're a pregnant deer
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