I took off from Atlanta on Saturday 5/13 at 4:30pm EST (GMT-5:00). My parents brought me to the Atlanta Airport and hugged me goodbye till I see them when they arrive in Metz on August 1st. I flew US Airways to Charlotte where I spent 2 hours with my sister Leane in the airport before my flight to Paris. Then I boarded my plane and set off on my adventure of traveling to Metz.

After an 8-hour flight in a cramped chair with a fairly rude Spanish man in the seat next to me, we started our approach at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. As we came through the clouds my first sight out of my window was the Eiffel Tower with its top still in the clouds above. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera ready and my view was obstructed by a turn of the aircraft before I got my camera from my bag.

When we landed we parked away from the terminal and buses came to take us to the terminal. Then the English disappeared. : ) I followed the crowd of people around the circular terminal until we went up an escalator that dropped us in the middle of a line for customs. Pardon my lack of pictures, but I didn't want to look like a total idiot taking pictures of all these things and then have someone come steal my wallet because they knew I was a tourist. I watched those in front of me hand their card to the gentleman behind the Plexiglas and hold up their passport for him to look at. I did the same and was waved on with a word from him. I then was in the baggage pickup area. I located the correct conveyor belt and watched as the bags slowly came out of the opening. After watching it for about twenty minutes my bags came out and I was ready to leave. I didn't know which way to go, and I could read any of the signs. I soon figured out that "Sortie" means "Exit." Instead of having red exit signs they were green. I followed them until I came to 2 doorways side by side that said "Nothing to Declare" and "Declare." I went through the "Nothing to Declare" door and was then in the middle of taxi drivers asking in French to take me places.

When I moved away from the crowds I removed my larger backpack from it's bag and put my smaller/lighter backpack in the bag. I found the bank to exchange my money and did so. I didn't expect that I would be able to because the captain of our plane told us about the French banker's strike before we landed. Fortunately there was one window open with a line of about 20 people. I then had to make my way downtown. I found the signs that stood for "Bus to terminal for Paris by train." I got on the free shuttle and then was let off at the Charles De Gaulle TGV/RER train station. I had my coupon for my ticket, but I had to get a real ticket from the tellers. I then went and got on a train headed for Paris. When I got to my stop (which happened to be the only stop because I had boarded an express train without knowing) I made my way through a maze of walkways until I got to street level.

GTL staff told me that my train to Metz would leave from a train station "Just across the street." Well, it ended up being about a 1.5km and not "just across the street." I had about 20 minutes before my train left so I boarded the train and found my seat. I met a very nice French man who knew a little English and two Indians who went to college in Boston who knew English. We had a good time talking on the train for the 3 hours.

By this time I had been up for about 28 hours with only about an hours worth of sleep on the plane. So we pull into the Metz train station and I locate a taxi and show him the address of my hotel. He nods so I get in. He drove very fast and I was there in a matter of 5 minutes. Later I found out it normally takes about 10 minutes to drive that far. I checked in and took a nap before dinner. I ate duck for dinner with a warm 7-up. After dinner, it was still light so I walked around the Lake where my residence hall and GTL are located. I took some pictures that you can view by clicking on the thumbnail at the top of this section. I was surprised to find out that my residence hall was about 100 yards away from my small little hotel. The Holiday Inn was about 2km away, so I am glad I did not stay there or I would have had to carry my bags even further. I slept very well that night.

The next morning I ate breakfast at the same hotel restaurant and went and checked into my residence hall. I was the first one there and I was able to meet the rest of the students as they arrived. Around Noon I went with the graduate student (Grace) to Cora. Cora is like a Super Kmart, but twice as large. I know it is hard to imagine that, but believe me it is huge. Coca-Cola and bottled water were on my list.

That evening we had a reception with finger foods. Not nearly enough food for starving college students after a day of travel. I was able to talk with the 4 French students that live in my part of the hall. They all speak English pretty well. They told me they take English every year from the first grade on. I was impressed. They said it is because English is the universal language of science. Most were studying engineering of some type, including electrical engineering.