The first couple days

Oh my goodness. I'm here, in France, without my luggage, and without my host family! Things don't always go according to plan, do they? Here's how the story goes…

We left Detroit at 7 pm on Thursday and arrived in Paris at around 8:30 am Friday. We had a 7 hr delay before hopping on our plane to Clermont-Ferrand. We arrived an hour later and while we waited for our luggage to arrive, we could see the families and the program director, M. Faure, waiting for us on the other side of the glass. Long story short, 3 out of 7 of us received our luggage; I was not one of them. We left the carousel to go meet our families and M. Faure informed me that the father of my family lost his step-mother the day before and that I would be staying with Josh’s host-father, Bernard, for the time being. So, there you have it: no clothes and no family. Luckily my Mom and Dad convinced me to pack an entire extra set of clothing in my carry-on bag. Unfortunately, I don’t have any toiletries because of the whole no liquids thing. Supposedly the airline will deliver my luggage in the next two days. We’ll see about that.

Bernard is really nice. He’s divorced and lives on his own in a very small apartment. He has four grown sons; the youngest is 20 and is studying medicine at one of the universities in town, where he has an apartment. The next youngest is Julien, whom we met yesterday. Julien is 24 and went to film school and now edits films somewhere. The other sons are 27 and 29; one is a doctor and the other is a journalist. Of course they are all athletic and musically talented too... Bernard better watch out! Bernard is a "professor du sport"... my best guess is either a P.E. teacher or coach of some sort. He also referees rugby games. I guess he played rugby for a number of years. Anyway, he loves sports, and he loves to talk about sports. If you know me, you know that I don't love sports, so I'm trying.

When we returned home from the airport, Bernard showed us around the apartment and told me that I would sleep in his bed... He told me it was big enough for two people, and that I could borrow his pajamas. Oh, and that his son shares the room too. Oh mon Dieu. Naturally, I assume the worst and think that he is telling me that he and I, or Julien and I would be sharing his bed. Fortunately, I was wrong. He meant that the bed was two matresses pushed together, therefore making it a very large bed. I haven't figured out the part about his son yet because as far as I can tell, he doesn't live there.

Last night was very calm. We walked down to the park where there were tons of people playing basketball, volleyball, and tennis. Julien and Josh played for a while and Bernard and I watched. Bernard made us dinner... boxed mashed potatoes with cheese, a pork chop, toasted sliced white bread, cheese, and salad. A little surprising, but good nonetheless. After dinner, we pretty much went to bed; Bernard spent the night at his "friend"'s house... I get the feeling she's a little more than a friend.

I slept for 12 hrs last night! It felt great. Bernard made a very good lunch: sausage, cheese, bread, baked chicken (with a few feathers), salad, yogurt, and cookies. I was glad to see that the boxed mashed potatoes didn't make a reappearance. After lunch, Josh and I headed out to see what we could see. Wow. It's so awesome here. The downtown area is so much fun - shops and cafes everywhere. There's a giant cathedral in the center of town built in the 13th century and made of volcanic rock. It's beautiful. You can see the volcanos from pretty much everywhere, and the tallest point, le Puy de Dome, has a giant TV antenna on it. It's quite a sight. Josh and I prefer to think of it as a giant castle on the top of the Dome. We walked down the street that I'm going to be living on and it looks so cute. It looks like apartments over store fronts. I can't wait, although I must say, I'm getting a little too comfortable at Bernard's. I have to do the awkward get-to-know-the-host-family thing twice. Well, on our walk about town, Josh and I also happened to stumble upon a WiFi hotspot, Cafe Cosy. It's exactly my type of place. A trendy little coffee shop with free wireless access. That's where I'm sitting right now!

This post is probably already too long, so I should probably move on. There is so much more I could say! Another time. Hope all is well and I miss everyone tons already!!