I've arrived!

Bonjour to everyone from Angers! I am finally here after an eventful 24 hours of travelling. My mom, dad, Julia (youngest sister), and Peter (boyfriend) all came to the airport to see me off. As expected, I cried at hugging and kissing everyone goodbye. This trip to Angers will be the longest period of time that I have gone without seeing my parents. It gives me a whole new respect for students from foreign countries who come and study in the United States; they have so much courage to leave their homeland and family for four years.

My original itinerary was to fly from Norfolk to Washington D.C., then to Charles de Gaulle, Paris. However, as my luck would have it, the plane to Norfolk was delayed for two hours, making me miss my connecting flight to Paris. Fortunately, the gentleman working at the desk was able to get me on a flight to Frankfurt from Washington, and then I would take a flight to Paris from Germany. While it sounds more complicated, it worked out for the best because the flight to Frankfurt fell over my normal sleeping hours, and I was able to get about 6 hours of sleep on the plane.

When I arrived in Paris, I was pleased to see that both of my bags made it over safely despite my change of itinerary. I muscled my way to the train station where I found that the train leaving directly from the airport would put me in Angers after 9pm, which I thought was too late. I decided to take the bus from the airport to Montparnasse, a train station in the southern end of Paris. However, due to an accident and afternoon traffic, the bus got me to Montparnasse about 30 minutes after my train departed. Fortunately, for only 13 euros more, I was able to get the next train out and arrived in Angers at 8:22pm. I met a nice gentleman on the bus who helped me with my luggage. It’s so comforting to see that people are willing to lend a hand to a perfect stranger; that’s why I jumped on the opportunity to return to Angers.

One of the professors of English at the IPLV (where I will be working in the university) named Brigitte LeBillon picked me up from the train station. She was so kind with her warm smile and open arms, and she had thought to buy me breakfast for the next morning! When she discovered that I had not yet eaten dinner, she took me to a little supermarket where I bought Taboule and yogurt for dinner. It was the perfect end to a long day of travelling.

She dropped me off at the student residence where I am staying during my time here. I am on the 5th floor, and seeing as there is no elevator in the building, going up the stairs with my suitcases was an adventure in and of itself. I eventually made it up, and was very pleased with my room. It is small, but very space efficient. I have a desk, bed, two bookshelfs, a closet, and some cabinets. The bathroom is so small. The toilet, sink, and shower all on connected; only a shower curtain devides the sink and toilet from the shower. It’s interesting to see where cultural priorities lay in the construction of buildings. I’m not complaining though. It’s the perfect size for me, and at only 5 minutes from the university, I couldn’t have asked for a better situation.

Today was my first day at the university. I finally met Mr. Atkinson, the gentleman with whom I was corresponding before my arrival. Much to my surprise, I found him to be a very cordial man! He had lunch with me in the self-serve dining facility for faculty – which is where I will be having my lunches during the week. He then took me around to meet important people with whom I will be working. I was surprised to see how unorganized the programs seemed to be; they were working out the schedules on paper between each visit to get an idea of what my schedule would be like. I was expecting to arrive and have a set agenda ready for me. Maybe that’s typical of university classes; I guess it all depends on what the students want.

I begin my teaching tomorrow. I have two upper level classes tomorrow that are going to be graded courses. The idea of grading the students intimidates me a little bit since I will be using the French system. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, the grades are out of 20, but instead of using percentages as we do in the U.S., a 14/20 is considered to be a good grade – a very strange concept to American students. The other classes I will either be assisting a professor or leading conversations that are not graded. Overall, I will be teaching about 12 hours a week. I am also happy to say that my weekend starts on Thursday afternoon, leaving me Friday through Sunday to travel if I so desire.

I have yet to see my French host mother from my last stay in Angers. I have called her three times but have missed her each time. I did receive an email from her friend asking if I arrived safely. I responded to that and hope to get a reply soon that will result in a rendez-vous. We shall see.

I hope you all are doing well. Thank you again for your prayers! They are certainly working. :) I intend to have a picture website up soon so that you can see some of the places that I am talking about. I’ll give you an update on that asap. A bientot, mes amis!