The Plane Ride and the First Couple of Days
Mood:  blue
Topic: First days here
Where do I begin?? Well for starters, the keyboards are different here so it might take me a while to plug this out. You don't even know how many times I have written that. THREE! Ok well now you know because the computer has died twice while I was trying to make an entry in my web journal.


I left on Friday to go to Portland to stay the night at the Comfort Inn Hotel. Before I left I said my "Goodbyes" to the Gardner Family, Gram, Richard, Marie and the kids, and last but not least, Bill. Leaving Gram's house and knowing I wouldn't be back for a year to see her was the hardest part. But by 5:30 pm on Friday it was au revoir Waldo...

Mom kept saying that she didn't want to arrive in Portland at 8 in the evening, so when we got there around 7:50 I was pretty impressed! Cliff, Maxine, and Chan'tal accompanied me to Portland for my final night in the US.

We ordered Chinese food delivery and when we had all we could eat, Mom took us to the movies to see "Without a Paddle." We caught a taxi back to the hotel room which was really exciting for Chan'tal! Her and Max crashed soon after getting in and Cliff and I stayed up talking for a while...

Three hours later everyone was up and going because we had to be ready for the shuttle bus to the airport at 4:15am. Bags loaded on and everyone settled on the shuttle and we were off... About half way to the airport Mom realized that I had forgotten my cash that I was supposed to bring with me on the plane ride so when the shuttle got to the airport, Cliff, Chan'tal and I got off while Mom and Maxine rushed back to the hotel to find it. But no worries, we got it all situated before I had to leave.

Then before I knew it, it was time to say "Goodbye."
Those are always the hardest and I knew it would be, but it was harder than I had ever expected.

Security was a breeze and once through I just stood on the other side of the wall, knowing full well that everyone was only 15 feet or so away but that there was no way I could get back to see them again, so I went and took a seat for 20 minutes or so. The plane I borded going to Washington DC was too small to pull up to the Terminal so I had to walk through the terminal and across the runway in the rain to my plane. There was Mom, Max, Chan'tal and Cliff all standing by the fence waving!!

Once on the plane we were told that it would be delayed for about 20 minutes because of the rain and lightning. Even in the downpour, Cliff didn't take his eyes off my plane until it took off, a half hour later. Then it was au revoir Maine...

I arrived at the Washington Dulles Airport in DC around 9:30 am and had to wait there until 5:20pm! There is just so much to do in one airport, just so many shops to browse through, just so many things to buy at Burger King and Starbucks... it was soooo boring! I tried to get a hold of my uncle, David who lives in DC but by the time we got in touch there was no sense braving 3:00 pm travel security in DC to see him for a few minutes then go back through security! Damn. The other exchange students going to Belgium finally started showing up around noon or so which was nice. Before I borded the plane to Brussles, Belgium I called Mom one last time and told her that I was on my way and then... it was au revoir America...

Somehow I missed customs or something because getting by bags was a breeze and then I just followed the herd to where the families were waiting to pick up their exchange students and as soon as I got into the airport area where the parents were waiting I heard "Tracy Tracy Tracy over here!!" I was thinking of maybe hugging everyone but the caught me off guard when the leaned over for a kiss on the cheek! I met Aurelie (pronounce OR-ah-lie) Dor before she had to catch her plane to the United States and the rest of the Dor family; Corenton(he is 10 today), Naomie (she is 15), Morgane (she is 19), Corinne my host mom, Stephane my host dad, and Christoph (Morgane's boyfriend). Laurie Fauquenoit was there also at the airport but her plane was leaving soon so I got some pictures and she and her family left to see her off.

Before Aurelie had to go, we went to a cafe and everyone got pastries and stuff but I was still nervous from the flight so I just got a soda. There were more pictures taken and I will post them sometime when I get the chance!

Then we went to say goodbye to Aurelie and it reminded of when I had to say my "Goodbyes" and I got all sad also!

The ride to my new house was about an hour and I slept most of the way. Ok... my house... it is brick and two stories tall (in Belgium and France they do not cound the first story so actually it is 3 stories) I have my own room that is big. All the rooms have tall ceilings and it is beautiful. I will post some picture as soon as I get them developed! Everything is different here and I am tempted to get out of the car once in a while and take pictueres of random things like cars in parking lots, things in the grocery store, gas signs and gas pumps... road signs...trees and everything. The roads are smaller and the cars go fast around these 90 degree turns and boy is it scary. The cars are more compact and you rarely see an old compact car because they are all modernized. The lines in the middle of the road are white not yellow and right now it is 3:26 in the morning here and if I look out my window I can see the sparkeling city lights of Liege a little ways away. Pretty!

Some thing funny is going on here... like I said it's 3:30 in the morning and a car just drove by and honked a few times so I looked out the window and the car was backing up and honked again. Then I heard people moving around inside and the person who had honked got out of the car and ran over to unlock the gate... Whoever it was left now but that was odd for the poor new little exchange student to have to witnes on her second night here!!!

I have so much more to write but now it is 3:47am and I am tres peut (very tired)

au revoir

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Pre-departure jitters.
Mood:  rushed
Now Playing: Rockford Files on TV
Well, Lori is gone. We took her to Boston last weekend and said our goodbyes for a year. It was a Hallmark moment and everyone cried.

Now its my turn and I am feeling soooo rushed. I still have to pack up my room, but that won't take very long, and my bags still arn't packed. Have you ever tried to pack your life for an entire year into two bags under 70 pounds? Well if you have then I understand, and if you haven't then let me tell you it is really difficult...

I'm running out of time to say goodbye to everyone who means something to me. I just can't spend enough time with Mom, Gram, Cliff, and his family.

It's back to packing for me now, so long. The next time I write, it will probably be in BELGIUM.