It Started Seven Years Ago…Finding my feet!

Feb 3, 2012 by cafebebemama

Carrying on from yesterday’s introduction to “It Started Seven Years Ago…”, I arrived in Paris on 1 February and began my journey toward the rest of my life. The following are exerpts from my journal/diary as I made my way across Paris, across Normandy and made myself familiar with the town that would be my home for 3 months, Caen.

I miraculously find Baggage Claim and lo and behold, both of my suitcases are there! Now to find the shuttle to the train station. After doing a half circle aroud the airport, I finally find it and get my large-ass luggage on it. Sweating just a bit now. Oh, approximately 8000 Asians are standing at Arrivals awaiting someone. I fight my way through the throng and bump, bump, bump my suitcases to the shuttle bus. My arms are pretty tired at this point and I am exhausted, sweaty and generally unkempt. My kingdom for a brush!

I had to transport 2 LARGE rolling suitcases full of clothes, etc, 1 carry-on bag full of BOOKS and 1 briefcase with my EXCEPTIONALLY HEAVY ancient laptop and power cords. My total luggage weight had to be well over 100lbs. I believe that I ended up losing about 5 lbs in body weight by the time I arrived at my dormitory in Caen. I had tingling in my hands from lack of circulation and a huge blister on one hand where my ring had been rubbing the palm of my hand. I had to have been quite a picture with my haul, trundling across Paris, on the underground, on the train, on the cobblestone streets! I nearly gave up several times but I refused to let the weight of my belongings stop me! I landed at CDG airport at 10:00am and arrived in my dorm room in Caen at 3:30pm. Here are the Haiku poems I wrote in my journal after this epic journey.

• I have a blister. It is on my palm and hurts. Pack light means TWO BAGS!
• I slept until one. I could not open my eyes. France makes you tired.
• Seven euro gone. Found some internet, oh yay! Money well spent, yes!
• Speaking French is hard. Oh how I long for English. So much easier!
• Bought a pretty plant. Hope it grows along with me. Kind of lonely now.

I was shocked to find out how primitive life in the dormitories was at the University of Caen. The dorm was co-ed which meant that boys and girls occupied the same floors even! There were two extremely shady characters who lived across the hall from me. I eventually named one of them Breadstick Jesus because he was as scrawny as a breadstick and looked a bit like Jesus. We eventually discovered that he and his roommate had dropped out of University ages before but where still “squatting” in their dorm room.

The toilets on our floor (all 3 of them) had NO TOILET SEATS! There was a toilet stool in each one but no SEAT. So, if you were a girl and needed to sit for any particular reason you either had to put toilet paper around the rim or squat. Not ideal really. The showers were rather disgusting and I did my best to never let any part of my body touch any part of the shower stall. It mostly worked. This was quite a change for me…age 34, used to creature comforts, having to share toilets and showers with characters like Breadstick Jesus! I wrote a few more Haiku poems after the next few days:

• My body won’t sleep. What time is it anyway? Switch to France time NOW!
• Complet thon is YUM! It is my sandwich for France. Let’s eat something else. (I ate a tuna baguette for several days!)
• My phone is ringing! It’s is my friend Steve from Spain. Let’s speak ENGLISH, YAY!

My three days in Caen, before returning to Paris to fly to England were muddled and lonely. I didn’t know anyone, was jet lagged and feeling wretched and was struggling to do even the simplest things. However, when I did manage to accomplish something I was so proud of myself. Back in 2005, in Caen, WiFi was virtually non-existent and one needed to get one’s internet from Internet Cafes. I spent about 10 hours in one place over three days time and probably 20€ in fees. I was desperate to make contact with anyone. I bought a funny little mobile phone and got to grips with it as I’d never really had a mobile prior to that.

Mark and I had made arrangements for him to collect me at Luton Airport on Friday 4 February (2005). We hadn’t actually seen pictures of each other except for the one Julie sent to him of me and his niece (which was HORRID actually…I didn’t know it would be my “introduction” photo). I had seen a few milliseconds of Mark on video from a family ski trip. Wearing a helmet, goggles and snood doesn’t quite give you a picture of the person you’re meant to be meeting! I assumed Mark had blonde hair as his sister had blonde hair…he didn’t though, I learned.

When we last spoke before I left the US, Mark knew my flight number and arrival time, that I would be pulling a BRIGHT PINK suitcase and vaguely what I looked like. I knew that someone tall and with (I thought) blonde hair would be waiting for me. I was staying for the weekend and returning to Paris on Sunday 6 February. There were no specific plans other than to meet and spend time together. I don’t think either of us knew what to expect.

So finally we board the plane. It is so wonderful to be back in the land of English speakers! The flight lasted about 50 minutes which blows my mind a bit! To be able to fly to another COUNTRY in only 50 minutes is a bit shocking. I got off the plane and went through Passport Control, collected my pretty BRIGHT PINK suitcase, took a deep breath and…went to the toilet! A quick wee, primpt and brush of the hair and I am ready. Holy shit! I walk out of the door and start looking around…this is like a movie! And then, there’s this guy coming toward me, looking at me sort of quizically and he says, “Karin?” as I am saying “Mark?” And it was him! I was so happy. I hugged him and he hugged back. He’s TALL and has short, dark hair. And he has good teeth!

Tomorrow, the rest of the weekend…and no, it’s not what you’re thinking! Get your mind out of the gutter! I’m a good girl from Wisconsin!