The Beginning of Break

After a wonderful trip to Rome, I only had to get through five more days of classes (technically four, since Friday was going to literally be a picnic), and then I could finally start my one-week break. I couldn't wait for that break. The situation with my host family had deteriorated gradually over the course of that first month, and I suspected that Astrid and I both needed some space and our time apart. I know I did. I may make a post at some point in the future to talk more about the issues I had with Astrid, but for now, I'd rather focus on the good things. That being, that Friday, I was getting on a train to Paris so that I could go on vacation to Barcelona, Porto, and Amsterdam with Miranda, Katie, and a few more people from the Penn State group: Sydney, Marissa, and Sophie.

Class dragged by so slowly as I waited anxiously for it to be time to go. On the one hand, I wanted nothing more than to be out of Astrid's house and on my way to vacation. But at the same time, all the Arkansas kids were studying in Besancon for one month, instead of two. Which meant that when I got back from vacation, Kim, Adriana, and Daniel would no longer be in class with me. I knew I'd still have Brittany (thank goodness!!), but it was so sad to say good-bye to everyone. We had one last night at the bar—Madigan's, as per usual—and said our good-byes there. (The next morning, I had to explain to my host mother that I can't just take a high-speed train from Philly to Arkansas to visit them, which is why saying good-bye was so hard).

My A2.2 class. I can't remember everyone's names, but the girl in black next to me is Brittany (I'm the one that's third from the left) and the girl next to her is Adriana. My teacher, Olivier, is the guy in the blue shirt. Credit for this photo goes to Kim (the girl in the light blue dress, who was also from Arkansas).

But, I made it through that last night at the bar, and through the class picnic on Friday, and then, finally, it was time for vacation! I headed to Sophie's house first, since we were splitting the cost of a checked bag. I brought my stuff and packed it into the bag we were sharing, and then we left her house and went to the train station together. We met everyone at the platform, and then, at long last, we were on the train headed to Paris. I was so happy to be on vacation. It couldn't have come soon enough (for me, at least).

The train ride to Paris was uneventful, and then we just had to make it from Gare du Lyon to Gare du Nord to catch a train from Paris to Beauvais. We were flying with Ryanair, Europe's discount airline, and they fly out of Beauvais, which is about an hour outside of Paris, so we'd booked a hotel there for the night to make it easier to get to the airport the next morning (not to mention it was cheaper to get a hotel room in Beauvais than in Paris). The train ride from Paris to Beauvais was a cramped ride on a train car that was very reminiscent of a typical bus (with the small addition of a bathroom in the middle of the car).

We got to Beauvais, and then realized that although Katie had the address of the hotel we were going to, none of us had directions on how to get there from the train station. After trying to figure out just by looking at the maps in the station, Sydney finally went and asked at the information desk. And that's how we found out that our hotel was right across the street. It was actually the first building that you would see upon exiting the train station. So it was even easier to get there than we'd expected! I was the one that had booked the hotel, and it was a 'family' room, meant for two adults and three kids (under the age of 12). Since there were six of us, all well over 12, we decided that just three of us would go in and we'd take all the luggage with us, and then the other three could come in later. Sophie, Sydney, and I checked in and then had Marissa, Katie, and Miranda come up the other set of stairs to the room.

The six of us hung out in the room for a while and then went to find dinner. The day that we were leaving was the beginning of the weekend of the summer solstice, so there were festivals being set up all over France. We found a restaurant in one of the big open squares and ate there, listening to the music blaring from whatever band was playing as part of the festival. There was a group playing at one end of the square, and at the other end there was a stage from which a group of women took turns leading a whole bunch of people in Zumba.

Even though Beauvais wasn't even really part of our vacation, it was a good way to spend a night in France before heading out for a vacation across Europe. We got to just relax, have dinner, and hang out in the room and figure out some of the things we wanted to do over vacation. Then, the next morning, we got up ridiculously early (5:00AM, to be precise) to catch a bus to the airport to head to Barcelona!