19 Hours Later

Well, I made it! It was one heck of a journey. Three flights on two different airlines totaling about 19 hours worth of traveling (with layovers). Indianapolis to Miami was uneventful. The 9 hour flight from Miami to Madrid was a little rough only because the plane had cabin-controlled temperature, so you were at the mercy of whatever the crew set it too (i.e. Too hot for me). Then I was in for quite the surprise when I landed at the Madrid airport: 30 mins for running around to get to my next gate (luckily I had 3 hours). I landed, walked about half a mile, went down 2 escalators, through passport control (Hello; Stamp; Have a nice day), another set of escalators, a tram, up two escalators, through security, another set of escalators, and then finally another half-mile walk. Needless to say, I clocked out on the flight from Madrid to Nantes. All that said and done, I was picked up by the mother of my friend Jérôme, and I am currently at their lovely house. They are incredibly kind and are helping me with my search for housing and the various logistics I have to deal with before I start working at the school. Vivienne is a «Directrice» at a middle school, and we are going to check our schedules to see about me going to her school to shadow an English class there so I have an idea of what to expect at my school (I'll be in a high school). Jean-Yves is a representative for farmers in the region to find stand-in workers when they get injured/sick/etc, as well as an elected official for water quality for the area. He speaks some English, and he Vivienne are very interested in the various differences between our countries/cultures (we spent a good two or three hours around dinner last night discussing school system differences and the American political system). I feel very comfortable here, though I am still adjusting to things obviously, and I am tired from the flights. Jean-Yves and I are going to go out today to purchase my phone plan for while I'm in France, so hopefully I'll soon have some slightly easier communication methods (i.e. other than Wifi). So, here's to a safe journey here, and here's to the first full day in France!