last full day / departure day / arrival day

i'm bored on the plane right now, so i guess i will recap my recent days for you guys to start off my blog.

many many months of preparation have lead up to this moment. i can't believe it actually is happening! i'm so excited about it, and also quite nervous. but that's probably just because i'm not comfortable (yet) at all with the french language...and it'll make for some very awkward situations in the near future, i'm sure. i bet i'll be fine in a few days. but for now it feels as if my insides are tossing around like crazy.

let's start off with yesterday, valentine's day. i hate the "holiday", but i'm glad that it wasn't all terrible. church that morning was interesting. they prayed for me, which was very comforting. and then i was showered with hugs and goodbyes. my grandmother, surprisingly, had no idea i was going. i would've thought my parents mentioned it! i guess not. she was on the verge of tears...but i'm glad she didn't cry, because i would've too. but she gave me the best wishes, and a little cash, and a big hug/kiss. i'm sure june 19th will be a very joyous day for her...seeing me back in one piece, God willing.

then came lunch at home. my mom made a soup i enjoy greatly...almost as if she read my mind! after lunch, joy and i left with darius (who i picked up earlier) to meet olga, christine, dan, and david at lenox mall. we had a strange time there! weirdo dancers ("demons" as we jokingly called them) danced around people very awkwardly...among other things like shopping and drinking lovely teavana teas. see photos below.

then we went downtown for Passion City Church, at The Tabernacle. i've grown somewhat attached to it in the past year, so it was sad being there for the last time in a while. but i learned some great stuff from pastor louie, and i think it was a perfect last message for me before flying away to a new land.

afterwards, i met up with a bunch of friends...and said my goodbyes and hugged them. then, a group of us went to R. Thomas'! i enjoy that place greatly. i had a great carrot/beet/celery juice too. it was so healthy that i almost died from all the nutrition. then i went home, did some arts & crafts, and eventually fell asleep.

this morning, i woke up a few hours earlier than i needed to...and did some last minute cleaning. my room is spectacularly clean!, according to my standards. haha. but my closet, dresser drawers, and desk drawers are messily filled to the brim & shut closed. mom, dad, joy, friends: please don't attempt to clean it! it'll only make things worse. i will do it when i get back, i hope. well, then i took a shower...finished my 2-week Crest whitestrips regiment...zipped up my luggages...idled around on my ipod like i usually do...and finally christine showed up to get my bags. :)

my parents and i went to The Flying Biscuit, where we again met up with christine, and also olga and grace. we had a pretty good time, i must admit! great food...loved ones...it was a nice way to start my last day as an atlantan, for a good while.

then, since my parents had to go to work that evening...we said our goodbyes, and my parents said the parental things you'd hope they'd tell you. (which are, believe it or not, great to hear. it's good to know that people are back home hoping the best for you. and it helps to keep that in mind, to stay out of trouble as much as you can control it.) i, of course, acted cool...but i really was sad in that moment. it sucks that i won't see them for a long time. even though i don't always get along with them, i do love them. it'll be tough not seeing them, or my friends, until june.

continuing on: the girls and i made some pit stops (olga's house, my house...to say goodbye to the little sister, taco mac, and finally the airport! the line at the British Airways ticketing counter was ridiculously slow, and the girls have very busy & exciting lives to live, so i let them go. it was an incredibly sad moment, but again...i played it cool. i don't know why i have issues showing emotion. but i think it makes things easier to pretend you're alright until you indeed are. anyone agree? anyways... we took one final self-photo together, and was hugged very well three times in a row. watching them walk away was surreal. i'm going to miss their love, their humor, their incredible fashion sense, and their all-around optimism toward life. i realize now that their attitude toward adjusting to life's twists and turns has rubbed off on me. and i don't know how long i'll continue to feel that way on my own, without them there to continually (and yet unknowingly) remind me of that. i really hope i will have the opportunity to talk to them, and my family and other friends, very often.

wow, i need to be more concise! i go off on emotional tangents. oh well...i hope the people who actually care to read about my journey will enjoy my ramblings. i may record a few vlogs (vlogs are video diary posts...for the technologically-challenged) every so often, to spice things up.

ok...so...getting through security took so much work! my big coat, my pockets full of crap, and my decision to wear difficult shoes didn't help. haha. anyway...i finally got to gate E14, sat down...and sure enough, the annoying family with two bratty/loud children from the ticketing line arrived soon after. i prayed that my seat was far from their's. i think God listened, because i don't hear them at the moment! :)
so, while waiting to board...i bought wi-fi on my ipod because well...staying connected is my life. AND because my phone is at home & turned off. don't call it, please! i'll post my magicjack number (it's a 770 number, don't fret) soon.
ok, so i facebooked/tweeted/"texted" and soon enough...mary showed up! i was very lucky to be at the airport at the same time as her before her flight back to new york city. i've misser her so dearly. it was nice chitchatting about gossipy nothings while eating food from Qdoba. but it didn't last long. i had to go board my flight. so i said goodbyes and planned to hopefully see her in Paris before i return to Atlanta.

boarding was quick and easy. i chose a window seat that morning when i checked in online. 35K sounded nice to me. and it is! i'm sitting here now, blogging, listening to David Gray on the in-flight entertainment system, and wishing i could go pee. i spoke too soon when i thought "thank God" for giving me three seats to myself. after takeoff, two british guys came back to my seats, and asked if one could sit on the other side of my row, and the other one row behind. i, of course, allowed it. i'm not a jerk, and it was a reasonable request. but now i feel bad, because this guy looks so pleasant in his slumber. i'm not rude enough to even politely wake him to ask him to let me out. so i guess i'll just hold it for another four hours and thirty minutes...until we land in London. and omg, i think he just farted in his sleep and tried to slyly pretend it wasn't him by moving around. but it wasn't me! haha...it smells.
anyway: good thing the entertainment is amazing! lots of music, tv shows, movies, games, etc. etc. to stay occupied with. but honestly...i would've been happier with just some in-flight wifi. then i could do all of that, and continue talking to my friends online.
otherwise...British Airways economy class is pretty luxurious! comfortable seats, decent food, a nice pillow, a very comfortable blanket, a toothbrush and toothpaste, headphones (mine are better, though), and a thing to cover your eyes while sleeping! they did well with customer service, but without wifi...i can only give them a B+.

the rest of the flight was not bad. i didn't really sleep, though. i watched The Invention of Lying (which was HILARIOUS!), The Killers: Live at Royal Albert Hall, and Love Actually. but i never got to go pee. it was torture holding it. haha.

this will be weird...since i can't post this blog right now. so it'll probably end up being chronologically confusing. i hope not though. here are some photos of the sun rising over the planet. oooh, ahhh.

i'm going to be way more brief now, because i'm exhausted!

London Heathrow airport was hell! it was so busy and crowded, and security was rude and rushed.

but then i finally got on my flight to Paris. and landed safely, thank God! i got picked up by a van, with another girl on the program, lexie. we chatted while we were driven to the CEA Office, where we had a brief orientation and then were taken to our housings.

my housing is tiny, crowded, and so messy. you can tell that a few guys live here. haha. but strangely enough, nobody was there! awkward.

then i took my first metro ride of my stay back to the CEA Office for a little "mixer." it was just a few of us, but we got to know eachother a little bit better. then i went to this awesome department store, Le BHV, with two girls...to buy plug adapters, and for them to get hairdryers and such. here are some photos of my subway station:

now i'm back at my apartment again. and STILL nobody is here. but i am exhausted from traveling...and yet, so glad to finally be here! this is the beginning of something great. this first day of being thrown into Parisian life has been such a shock, but i love it. (more to come as soon as i have more to say)

UPDATE! i just met augusto, from brazil. but he's leaving back to brazil tonight. lol, so sad. he seems very nice!

- exploding with excitement