The past 48 hours...

..have been interesting to say the least. Let me just start at the beginning because that is honestly easiest. My flight schedule was supposed to have me flying from Little Rock to Atlanta, Atlanta to Paris, and Paris to Strasbourg. I never even made it to Atlanta before things started to go awry. There was bad enough weather in Atlanta to shut down the airport for an hour so my plane was diverted to Knoxville. By the time I made it into Atlanta my 4 hour layover turned into me sprinting across the airport to make my flight. I made it, but just barely. My nerves were getting the best of me at this point, so I took some Benadryl to sleep through the flight. I awoke in Paris, dazed and overwhelmed. I had a 3 hour layover between flights and I fought so hard to stay awake but ended up sleeping in a corner of the airport for an hour! When I finally arrived in Strasbourg, they called my name over the intercom of the flight and told me to talk to the lady outside. I knew before she even asked "Est-ce que vous parlez anglais?" that my luggage was lost.
So I left the airport carrying only my backpack and a purse. To say I was freaked out was an understatement at this point. I have no phone, no house, and no one to tell what had just happened to me. I felt so scared at that moment the only logical thing I could do was go to the Syracuse Center in Strasbourg. So I went and was graciously greeted by the director here who offered me all the help he could. We attempted to trace the bags via the Internet and the only message we received is that they did not know where they were. I won't lie to you guys, at this point I went to the bathroom and cried. I was just so scared.

Later that afternoon I was picked up by my host mother who speaks little to no English. She lives (or I suppose now we live) in a 4th floor walk-up apartment. There is a small kitchen and a bathroom the share (the shower is another story unto itself), a sitting room, her bedroom, and mine. It is small but quaint. The location is wonderful though, very close to the university and several other girls in the program. Pictures will surely follow at a later time.

So yesterday was a cluster to say the least. I ate probably less than 1,000 calories because I was so upset and stressed. Today I also took no food pictures. I think it will just take me a couple of days to get into the swing of things.

My bags God-willing (and please, I am actually asking for prayers) will arrive at the SU center while we are in class. I may just scream of joy the moment we are reunited. I just want to clarify I am by no means a shallow person nor attached to many of my things. But my new surroundings are completely foreign to me so it would be nice to just have my things around me. Oh and ya know, a change of clothes.

Anyways, today our group met up for lunch in Le Petite France which is the historical city center of Strasbourg. Funny story: I thought my host mother was being polite when she dropped me off at 11:15 despite lunch not being until 12 pm. So I wandered through the streets and took pictures and whatnot to busy myself.




Beautiful and breathe taking. Moreso than I could have ever imagined. I clearly took my time and ended up sitting in front of the restaraunt around 15 minutes early. Then I see my director approaching me. He said he had just phones my host mom asking where I was! Apparently, my watch was an hour off! OY. VEY.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the city, which is more beautiful than I had ever dreamed. I dear fellow program student let me borrow some shorts to sleep in tonight. I once again ate dinner with my host mom, where I am going to either rapidly improve upon my french or fall mute.

C'est tout pour alors. Je suis très fatigue.
Until Tomorrow,
~Jenn