It's Good to be "Home"

I am sure some of you have been keeping up with what I have been doing over spring break the past week with the OCHS blog. Well, that was written by the students. So now it is my turn to write. And since none of the students have this blog address, I don’t have to romanticize anything.

I got in Friday night to Luton, which is right out side of London. I didn’t have an option to come in on Saturday before my flight because train & bus times. After consulting with mom, it was decided I would stay in a hotel. I stayed at the Express which is a branch of Holiday Inn I believe. I would just like to say that I had the best shower EVER (finally a bathroom with water pressure!), slept in the biggest bed that was all to myself, & watched an actual television! It was glorious! Getting there was a pain, but the room completely made up for it. I took the train from Swansea to London & a friend of Freddy’s was on there as well, so we sat together & chatted (he was going to Thailand for 2 weeks for his brother’s wedding).

I woke up bright & early on Saturday to get to the airport for an early check in. I was flying EasyJet, & the earlier you check in, then the better options on seats because they board by sections A, B, C, & D which are designated by how soon you check in. Since I was there 2 hours early, I sat at a table where I met the cutest twin boys ever. They were 3-years-old & were traveling with their parents to Ireland (where the parents’ families live). They were telling me all about what they were going to do & their favorite colors. And you can’t resist little kids with British accents (if you don’t know what I mean, watch The Holiday with Jude Law & Kate Winslet in it; then you’ll understand). The flight was uneventful. I got in on time & then had to figure out where to find the group. I came in at Terminal 3. They came in at Terminal 2E. So I hopped a bus to the terminal. Luckily mom & some of the students were standing outside the bus stop to catch the bus to come to MY terminal, so we saw each other & everything was great!

We only had one issue & that was with Ryan & his attempt to put his RER ticket in the wrong slot, thus causing me to jump the turnstile & go to the information desk to get someone to help us. First attempt at using French … well, I never learned the vocab I needed for that issue & luckily the lady spoke English. We made it to the apartment okay with only a few suitcases getting stuck on the way out of the Chatelet RER terminal.

That night, we went to Palm Sunday (on Saturday) mass at Notre Dame Catherdral. This was the first time I had seen the middle doors opened! So that was really cool to see. Luckily Mom had gotten some English versions of the Mass & the French bulletin had the readings so we could follow along. And I sang the Creed in Latin – go me! After Mass we went to dinner at the Greek Restaurant that Mom & I had eaten at when we were in Paris last summer. The owner remembered us, gave us free drinks, & I got free dessert! It was glorious! I love knowing people in Paris! Afterwards we ran over to Le Grenier to see if Riadh was there. He was, so we made plans for him to meet up with us on Thursday since he was off that morning.

Sunday was an early morning (i.e. 6am) to go to the Loire Valley to see the castles. My housemate Freddy flew in to Paris to stay with us. Nothing particularly exciting happened. Monday … well, I don’t even remember what I did Monday quite frankly, so it must not have been too terribly exciting either.

Tuesday … ahh, Tuesday. That was a fun day. Again, another 6am morning as the group was to go to the Normandy Beaches. Well, that didn’t happen. Apparently the tour company didn’t get the reservation & the bus was full. They said we could go to Thursday. Thursday I was going to a Moulin Rouge show, so I wouldn’t be able to go. So Freddy & I found spots on the bus & went on the Normandy. It was a blustery day – right out of Winnie the Pooh story when they get blown around all day. And it was COLD! It was really interesting being on a tour in France, tailored to Americans, with a German that was about WWII. Very interesting. When we returned, I joined the group to go on a Seine River cruise in the evening. Of course, it was cold!

Wednesday … don’t remember much again. Thursday the group went to Normandy while Freddy & I kept the engagement with Riadh. We met him at 10am & walked to the Luxembourg Gardens which I had never been to. It was sunny, so we moved with the sun on to various benches. Freddy spoke with Riadh in French while I just sat there & tried to understand what they were saying. Riadh informed me I spoke “bad French” so I told him he spoke “bad English” which is somewhat true, though he speaks English better than I speak French. I finally met up with a Welsh friend of mine who was supposed to join me (with 2 of her friends) to the Moulin Rouge. (Their flight has been canceled a few days prior.) We had some miscommunication & they booked a MR tour as well. So we had to figure out how to cancel without losing out 500 Euros. (Freddy figured out we could change the date to the next week & then cancel at least 3 days prior to get 80% of the money back which is what we did.)

Friday was our last day in Paris and it was Good Friday at that. Jena McCarty & I went shopping for engagement gifts for her brother (& my good friend) Brent while the rest of the group went to Versailles (which was under heavy renovations). We ate at Le Grenier where Riadh works since it was a vegetarian restaurant. Freddy & I got into an argument on the way back to the apartment – he said I was pissed off at the world & taking it out on him. My theory is that we aren’t used to living under each other’s feet like we had been & eventually someone would blow. I figured it would be mom & me getting into an argument, but I should have known it would be Freddy since we are way too much alike. We all packed up Friday night so we could say goodbye to Paris on Saturday.

On Saturday we caught the metro to go to the RER station to go to the airport. I was glad to be heading back to Swansea because I wouldn’t be around 11 other people. But I really didn’t want to leave Mom & Paris because, well, it’s Mom & Paris – she pays for everything & I love Paris. J Freddy & I had no problems getting back to Swansea. And the first, shocking, words out of my mouth when we finally stepped off the bus onto Swansea property –

I missed this place!

Yes, I, Katie Bartlett, will admit to missing Swansea. I never thought those words would ever come out of my mouth, but they did. And Freddy can verify that I said them! I was finally back in a place where they spoke English (with an accent, but that’s ok), had pubs, had my own room with my own bed, and could just be. Paris didn’t feel like a vacation, though I was gone a week. I didn’t even feel like I was gone that long!

I now know that I am not crazy about traveling with people unless it’s Mom. We know how each other works. We know what irritates the other (& of course pointedly irritate one another at times). We travel well together. And it’s SO much easier to get 2 people on a metro as opposed to 13!!!

So next time I travel to Paris, it will be with Mom.

It’s good to be back in Swansea.