Worst. Day. Ever.

Biggest Vending Machine I've Ever Seen

So today…was AWFUL. Lol let me start at the beginning. We got up early and packed our things to leave for Caen (the city where I will be living) which is a two hour train ride from Paris. The kicker was that today there was a nationwide strike and we weren’t sure how the metros would be running, so we had to leave like 3 hours early to make sure we got to the train station on time to make our train. Easy enough right? Huh. The morning starts off with the Internet not working, so I can’t get the number of the person we are supposed to meet in Caen off my e-mail. So we head out with our bags…all 7 of them, and trek across Paris to our metro stop. We have three suitcases, each with a smaller bag resting on top, and my backpack and my purse. So…we get to the stop and of course new problems arise…the metros are not really conducive to luggage. Small corridors, lots of stairs, lots of people, you get the idea. So I’m constantly running into people (or rather they are running into me, then the top bags fall off the suitcases and get all twisted…I’m sure you can picture it…I’m sure I’ve seen it in a movie…haha.) All the while I’m praying that I have a change of attitude because I’m starting to get really irritated, and I know doesn’t help the situation at all. So I finally decide I’m going to have a good attitude and all is well. So we are on the metro (we have to make two stops before we get to our train station) and luckily its not as crowded as usual so I’m relieved and I think to myself, “Hmm this might not be so bad after all.”  We get to our stop to change metros…and as we go towards our next one, there they are….the Stairs. If any of you have ever played Mario on Nintendo 64, this was like the never-ending staircase if you tried to go up it before you had enough stars. Great. As I stand at the bottom of this mountain of stairs, I realized this is not going to be fun.  We look at them for a minute, take a deep breath, and start up them. What other choice do we have? We are finally on the metro and in the home stretch to the train station when I look up at my Dad, and he looks like he’s seen a ghost. He his patting his pockets frantically, and I ask him what’s the matter. He looks at me for a second then says, “My wallet’s gone…” I thought surely not, I figured he must have put it somewhere like in one of the bags or something and just forgot he put it there. Wrong. He said (with a few choice words I will leave out) “I know who took it…it was that girl who bumped into me at the last stop.” So there you have it. We are in route from Paris to Caen, no money, no idea where we are going, no way to find out where we are going, still annoyed by the luggage etc…So we get to the train station like two hours early, (the metros we not running as slow as we’d thought they’d be) and naturally there is no where to sit. We are starving because we haven’t eaten breakfast (we had planned on eating once we got to the train station…) But alas, no money. I had money in my bank account, but there where no ATMs anywhere, and none of the places took credit cards. So we stand there for two hours, still with loads of luggage that keeps wanting to tip over, and starving. We finally get on the train and get to Caen…there were some really nice people we met on the train from Florida who helped us carry our luggage up; you guessed it….more stairs. The escalator just happened to be out of order…Of course it was! Do you ever have those days when you are just like SERIOUSLY?? Is this happening right now? At the train station in Caen we just decide we will go to a hotel because I was still never able to get a hold of the person who was going to let me into the school. I go ask the guy at the help desk how to get to the hotel and he tells me to take the tram and I could buy tickets for the tram at the kiosk outside. There was also an ATM outside…things were looking up!! So I got get cash then go to buy our tram tickets. You’re thinking it can’t be that easy right? Surely something has to go wrong here…well it did. The kiosk does not take cash, and only accepts FRENCH credit cards! Hmm that’s a predicament, you see I don’t have a French credit card. At this point, on the verge of tears, still lugging around 500 pounds of luggage and about to die because my feet hurt so bad…I decide I don’t care how much it costs, we are going to take a taxi. We take a taxi to the hotel, and they are full. Of course they are. The lady said they had some convention in town this weekend  (of course there is) so most of the hotels were booked (of course they are). Remember that none of the people are speaking English, which raises the stress level, just a touch. J Anyway she calls another hotel and they say they have one room left and we can have it if we go right now. Awesome. So we actually do make it and get checked in. Just as we get to our room we realize that it has just started raining. I mean RAINING. We were in Paris for a week, not a cloud in the sky, 70 degrees…then the day we get here its like hurricane bertha or something. We decided to brave the elements because we are so hungry and walk a couple of blocks to a café.  We get there, cold, and soaked. Oh guess what? They don’t serve food until 7…its 5…SERIOUSLY??? So we walk back to the hotel in the cold rain to wait until 7 so we can eat. Oh and did I mention today is my Dad’s birthday?

Whew. What. A. Day. When we headed out again for dinner, the rain had stopped, and we actually had a really delicious meal. (Although we were so hungry anything would have been delicious!) Anyway, we made it. I guess I can’t complain…the day ended on a high note because I found this giant vending machine…finding a giant vending machine can really turn any day around.  Love you guys!