Settling In...

At last, it is Saturday and I have some room to breathe. I could go into lavish detail about everything which has occurred, but there is simply too much which has happened. Here goes!

We arrived at the Nashville airport bright and early. I exchanged some dollars for Euros, and then returned to wait with Laura and her parents. After a heartfelt goodbye we passed through security. The drug dog wasn’t around, but Laura was taken out of the regular security line and corded off. She was patted down and they used the handheld metal detector as well. It was like she was going to be sent to prison. Apparently E.U. citizens leaving the States are subject to more scrutiny.
The first leg of our trip took us to New York. Luckily Laura’s mother had given us some money in Nashville so we had some chicken and bread at JFK. While waiting to get on the plane to Dublin we encountered this French woman on the way to Tampa, Florida. It was adorable listening to her as she talked to her baby. She continuously repeated “Manger? Non?”. That was about the only word I could understand. Her thick native accent gave me a taste of the rude awakening we were in for upon arrival in France.
The flight to Dublin was only approximately 6 hours, but because of the time change it was 13! Ireland was quite different, but at least everybody spoke English. (The pilot also gave a greeting and farewell in Irish.)
This time Laura was given special treatment because all E.U. citizens get rapidly processed in Dublin whereas Americans suffer the cattle prod. (At least I got a passport stamp out of it..) We had our first taste of Coke with real sugar here. It is amazing what real sugar can do for a soft drink...
For the flight from Dublin to France we utilized a discount airline. We carefully weighed and measured each bag specifically for this leg of the trip but they did not even care! We finally arrived in Nantes and said goodbye to English for good.
For the first time in my life I felt completely lost. I never realized how much any of my intelligence comes from my ability to communicate in ENGLISH. When it comes to French I am about as communicative as a 4 year old. The receptionist pitied me and spoke in broken English. She booked a nearby hotel for us. I had to swallow my pride and pay the 40 Euros for it because I was so tired. The worst part about the room was that it was unbelievably small. It was no bigger than half of a typical discount room in the United States.
After a vending machine breakfast we hurried to catch the 6:55 bus to the center of the city. I muddled through asking how much a ticket was and eventually we were on our way. It was fascinating how different things were (roundabouts, tiny cars, NO ENGLISH) but also very intriguing how much of it was the same. (KFC 2 KM ahead, anybody?)
We spent a lot of time walking and the rest riding on the tram system. Eventually we came across some English speaking students who had a kind Moroccan interpreting for them. We were DESPERATELY searching for an apartment and he was able to talk to a person who had placed an ad at the student center. (She's a Norwegian woman, but she happens to speak decent English.)
Because I want to get started on my studies and there is no way to make up for lost time I am going to have to summarize a few things:

We stayed at the Youth Hostel of Nantes for a few days before moving into our apartment. We had a room to ourselves instead of the usual 4 strangers with 2 bunk beds arrangement.

Our apartment is 325 Euros a month. The deposit was 650 Euros, which is HORRIBLE...but unlike in the States the deposit is actually returned at the end of your lease, lol.

We are adjusting reasonably well, even though Laura got food poisoning from some goat cheese a week ago which resulted in her going to England for a bit. (She should be back within a week.)

I or Laura will post some pictures at some point, it is just very slow on the 1-bar free Wifi connection we get only because we are on the top floor of our apartment.

I'm going to try to update regularly henceforth. There is simply too much to talk about when I let days pile up.

A demain!