June 9th
Southern and New York City for at least one more day… Tomorrow it’s off to Paris.
I’m super excited, so the fact that I have not finished laundry or packing should not be considered a reflection of said excitement.
Bad news… It’s about a million degrees Farenheit today. The sea of concrete that surrounds us has a way of making New York feel more like Colonial Williamsburg. An unfortunate consequence of this is that the extreme heat caused something in the basement of my building to spontaneously burst into flames. Although it was just a small fire, all of the power is out including the elevators. Running down the stairs from the 14th floor- with two dogs- not so much what I had in mind for my last hours in this country.
In addition to climbing back up (good thing I am training for the Empire Climb- a run up the 86 flights of the Empire State Building) I am left wondering what sort of alternative I have to taking clean clothes to Europe as I pack by candle light.
Flash forward and it is now 2:30 am. The power just came back on, which is nice, because there also hasn’t been any air conditioning for the last 12 hours. Perhaps I will get a little bit of sleep before leaving for the airport.
I guess it could have been an easier day, but then that wouldn’t have made for as good of a story. Yeesh.
June 10th
Today’s city: still NYC
I had to get up early to finish packing and try to do a quick load of clothes before two of my classmates arrive.
We took a car service from my place to the airport. We are supposed to meet the rest of the group there at 3 and in order to beat the Hamptons traffic, we are leaving here at 12:30. I have invited the girls over a bit early for brunch. Great idea… I didn’t need an extra hour anyway. Yea.
My French is not as good as I thought- this revelation comes hearing flight announcements. Could be a problem, as this is not Charles de Gaull, this is still just the international terminal at JFK. Should probably have invested in those Rosetta Stone tapes, as planned. C’est la Vie.
Omitting at least one story that would have been funny but not internet appropriate, I will tell you that by 6:30 ish, we have boarded the plane and it is time to go. It has been a long day and we are just getting started.
Date Unknown
Southern and the ocean…
I could tell you it’s the 11th but perhaps it’s still the 10th over the Atlantic. I am sandwiched between a large smelly French man and a skinny, drunk French woman. He (on the aisle) has become angry because she (by the window) is on her 6th trip to the bathroom.
I have no real complaints at this point. I am enjoying the movies playing in the back of the headrest of the seat in front of me. I feel like a kid in a mini van. Air France has been kind enough to feed us, but if someone should ask me in the future about the food, I would say, at a wedding it is ok to choose the beef option… on the plane, I’m thinking I should have gone with the pasta. Live and learn.
Stay tuned for more pearls of wisdom I picked up while away ;)
