Arrival/Journey

28 hours of flight time seems a little excessive but all and all it went well. On my first plane ride from MCI to D.C. I sat next to a Canadian boy who I think was a total liar. Not only did this kid play a step below the minor leagues for baseball, but he was a potentially star student, even though he was failing school, he was also some big D.J. who made 7,000 dollars at some gigs, he was a carpenter who could build his own house, and was only 17. Maybe typed out that doesn't seem so ridiculous, but listening to him it did.
The layover in D.C. was fun. Some of us girls sat together and talked about our fears as exchange students and little tid-bits we had heard about the french. My last meal in America was 7 chicken nuggets from Wendy's.
The plane ride to France was scrunched. I sat in the very middle of five people and didn't want to get up and wake them so I had to sit for hoursss, and if you know me that is difficult. I talked to a boy from Maine and appearently Maine has rednecks! I had never heard that before I thought rednecks were confined to the lower portion of the United States.
Our layover at Charles de Gaulle was torture!! We all wanted to meet up with our host parents so badly it made the wait seem like an eternity. I fell asleep before take off on our way to Lyon. I woke up and could not for the life of me decipher the time of day it was outside. When we finally reached our destination and got our luggage it was only a small matter of time before we were greeted like celebrities by our host families and clubs. I instantly found my mother and my rotary representitive. It was odd for me to kiss people on the cheek. I tried shaking people's hands a few times then apologized.
The drive to my home was absolutely breathe-taking. The houses have orange spanish tile roofs and are a somewhat orange stucco color. The mountains are so beautiful it was different to see something so high. My home is gorgeous the outside is all white and we have fig trees and a small garden. Anne showed me all of her plants that she uses with cooking. The back yard is very nice and we have a pool. The inside of the house is way different from what we have back home. The family room has two pink walls and two red sofas. It is very colorful and inviting.
Last night I helped cut home grown tomatoes for dinner. I never liked tomatoes until last night. We also had onion which I never liked back home, but do now. We made pasta and put the tomatoes and onions on top of it then covered them with canned tomatoes. It's crazy how good that was. We even had fresh melon which I never liked back home. Everything is so flavorful it makes things taste better.
Oh yeah.. when we first met French Rotarians I knew they were talking about me because they kept say petite fille.. It made me laugh. I thought in France I would be a normal size, but appearently not.