La Veille (The Day Before)
For the fortnight leading up to the day I left for France I had been unbearably excited-- to the point where I could hardly sleep, in fact. I haven't been that excited for a long time! The day and night before leaving were a little strange in that they felt completely normal. I met my friend Rebekah in town as a last goodbye and we spent the afternoon sitting in cafés drinking hot chocolates with all the trimmings and saying we couldn't believe how soon it had all come round. It felt very strange not talking about the new year at uni and it's definitely strange that I'm not there at the moment.
Despite talking about the fact I was leaving the next day, it still didn't feel real and even in the evening when I went through my packing I couldn't quite comprehend what I was about to do. I did have a momentary awakening to reality when I tested the weight of my bags however... Instead of being proactive about it at around 9pm when I first tested the weight, I told myself I'd be fine, but then at about 11.30 the notion came to me that the fact the bulging suitcase wouldn't even stay upright might indicate I should at least take out a jumper...
 |
| This was kind of the stage it had got to... |
Bon Voyage
By the time the actual day came, I didn't feel excited or scared, I simply got my stuff together with my mum and we left for the train station. My dad met us for a coffee there and we sat waiting for the platform to be announced. After saying goodbye to my parents I made my way to the platform and looked for my carriage. Thankfully a male passenger helped me lift my bags onto the train-- I'm pretty sure the suitcase was heavier than me, and my rucksack wasn't exactly a featherweight. I waited til the train started moving before I switched my mp3 on. The last time I'd switched it off it had been at the start of one of my favourite pieces of music and I thought it would make a good accompaniment to the departure. It's called 'Endless Dream' and it's a post-rock masterpiece by the Irish band 'God Is An Astronaut'. I'll put a link here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4_91yAQIW0
What I love about this is how anticipatory the music is-- especially from about 30 seconds in. There's something lyrical about a lot of their music, particularly in this track and 'Golden Sky', which is from a truly magnificent album called 'Age of the Fifth Sun'. I adore post-rock, as you might have gathered, so if you have any recommendations, feel free to post them in a comment!
I got to Lille on the Eurostar from St. Pancras and had originally planned to take a taxi from Euston to St. Pancras, but since it was a sunny day and I had a fair bit of time to kill I decided to walk. The hustle and bustle of central London always puts me in the travelling mood-- not to mention the atmosphere in St. Pancras. I had brought 'The Fry Chronicles' with me, fully intending to spend a good two hours absorbed in the world of Stephen Fry, but I was feeling impatient to go and I kept having this sudden paranoia that my train was cancelled or would be hideously late. This was partly because I couldn't see my train on the screens and I spent about half an hour wondering what on earth I would do if my train didn't come. It was then I realised I was looking at the arrivals board. Silly me.
 |
| One of my favourite places. |
Although I was worrying something might go wrong just when the journey really mattered, my journey to Lille was fairly uneventful-- except for the presence of a slightly odd character on the Eurostar (there's always one). Another man helped me get my case onto the luggage rack after I nearly caused myself an injury heaving it onto the carriage. I hadn't really given the logistics of getting the case onto the carriage much thought-- especially since I'd been helped on my first train. I just got right up to the carriage door and saw the three very narrow steps onto the carriage and thought: 'Oh shite'. A small crowd began congregating behind me while I was blocking the door with my attempts at lifting the case-- no offer of help there though. 'Rather you than me' would probably sum it up. I don't blame them.
A Little Something to Leave You With
I realise that this is beginning to become quite a long post, and also that there hasn't been a particularly embarrassing incident yet, so brace yourselves-- this is a faux-pas to end all (or at least most) other faux-pas.
As I said, I was extremely excited about coming to France, especially when I finally got a house sorted (more on that in the next post). In short, I live with two French students-- one boy and one girl-- and the house is owned by a private landlord family who live next door. Naturally, I told people how excited I was about going to France: my 'responsables' (ie. the respective teachers who are in charge of me at each of the schools I am working in this year), my landlord, my housemates, a French friend I met during my search for accommodation... I don't know how many times I wrote ''Je suis très excitée' to be in France/to meet you' to each of these people before I arrived, but it wasn't until my first night in France when I stayed with one of my responsables that she decided to tell me I needed to change the way I told people I was excited, because 'excitée' is... sexual.
Oh dear God.
No comments:
Post a Comment