t´ínquiete pas

The epic beginning of an epic journey...it´s spring break!

To begin with, I apologize for any gross misspellings, the Spanish keyboard differs slightly from the American, but is much closer to the American than the French. However, I have become accustomed to typing like a French person.

I took notes along the way, so I´ll paraphrase and recopy to give you the full effect, trust me, it´s better this way.

Let´s begin around 5:30 today in Charles de Gaulle Airport de Paris...
Stuck in Charles de Gaulle Airport. Waiting. A lot. Left yesterday for spring break. Went out Thursday night for Fraga´s birthday after turning in my proposal for my senior thesis. Went for crepes for dinner, I had a sausage and apple crepe for dinner which sounded wonderful in theory but was a bit of a let down in practice. Took the train to Paris yesterday afternoon, which went pretty smoothly. We arrived at Isabel´s uncle´s where we proceeded to do more laundry, yes it seems this is STILL why I go to Paris. But we also had a wonderful dinner with her family and watched Australia with her cousin. Baz Luhrman´s Australia was a horrible let down that felt like it should have ended several times before it did and was probably about an hour too long, but we were entertained nevertheless.

This morning I went with Isabel, her family, and some guests who had just arrived, to the local market. For breakfast I ordered "juste un croissant originale" however it was loud and instead I got two croissants . I was tired and hungry, I didn't protest. Then we went back to Isabel´s uncle´s and had a very tasty lunch (so much good food, I can barely handle it!). After lunch, we took three trains to Charles de Gaulle Airport, this went smoothly enough, and we arrived a comfortable two hours and change before our flight which was scheduled for 5:25. We ran into our friends who actually just left on the flight before us after having been delayed for about an hour. We're all taking Veuling, a cheap airline few have heard of, so I guess delays come with the territory. We just got an announcement that the flight Isabel and I are on will be delayed about two hours. And so we´re waiting.

Next entry:
...And 3 hours later we´re still here. But don't worry! We got 6 euros worth of bad food. Oh! And I almost forgot, we had to go through security again in order to go to the bathroom!

In terms of more important things that I actually did forget to mention, on this morning´s train from Garshes to St. Lazar we were treated to a musical extravaganza! On the first half of the ride we were joined by a singing Spanish guitarist who introduced himself, "Monsieurs et Mesdames, I hope you are having a lovely day, I am going to play for you" (trans. from French). He wasn´t the world´s greatest guitarist, but he was pretty good, so I enjoyed it . Isabel was taking notes in anticipation of getting to Spain. A few stops later, the Spanish guitarist left and was replaced by a French violinist. Like his predecessor, he introduced himself to the passengers, except he was staring at the ground and whispering when he made his introduction. Unlike his predecessor, he really was´t very good at all...let´s just say I was having flashbacks to middle school orchestra. After playing for a while, violin man then opted instead to string together a series of movements I can only interpret as a dance of some sort. He hopped a bit from foot to foot, violin and bow waving wildly in the air. Then he played several minutes of the shortest, highest-pitched notes on his E string while leaping to the movements of the train. At one point he began large sweeping motions with his head and shoulders, the cross between a bow and a modern dance. Then he began ducking, although there was nothing to duck from and lunging his head toward various passengers. Apparently I was one of these passengers at one point, but I was drifting to sleep with sunglasses on, so this is second hand info from Isabel. In her words, I was "musically assaulted," thankfully, I have no recollection.

And now back to real time:
Lest you worry, know that I am in Spain, safe and sound, but I left you, dear reader somewhere back in the Charles de Gaulle airport after waiting for 3 hours and there´s a little more to the story. The total delay was over three and a half hours, but we finally made it on to the plane only to find that yet again, we got what we paid for. The plane was perfectly clean, bright and shiny, but the leg room was, well, lacking. Isabel and I both had to use an exotic shimmy manoeuvre to get into our row and to our seats (and there were only three seats to from the window to the aisle). Our legs fit, but there wasn´t much room to spare. Luckily the flight was only an hour and a half and Isabel slept through most of it (I don't know why I didn't, but I didn't) and Vueling gave us 20 euro vouchers for our next flight for our trouble. I don´t think there´s going to be a next flight with Vueling. Because of our delays, we just made the last train into Barcelona. Unfortunately check-in was closed when we got to the hostel, but we pounded on the door and got in just fine. It´s a very nice hostel, nice people, free internet access. After all of today´s drama, I´m once again a happy camper. Barcelona tomorrow!