Culture Shock...and A Rough First Day

For some strange reason, I didn't believe anyone when they told me that jet lag has a far reaching influence, one more than just making you tired. I think I can say I understand now...I blame many of my to-be-explained problems on that.

First of all, my flight was FREEZING! The air temperature outside was negative 68 degrees F the majority of the flight from Atlanta to Paris. I was sitting at the emergency exit and I am positive the air was seeping in. Because it was so cold, I only slept a total of 3 hours (about 15 minutes at a time) on the 8 hour flight. However, the sleeping pill I took definately kicked in at about 9 in the morning in France. As if missing staying up for two days straight wouldn't make me tired enough already... I was warmly welcomed to the country by a very attractive, young French customs officer who greeted me by saying "You have very beautiful eyes" in his own very beautiful French accented English. I then continued to walk up and down Terminal 2E trying to figure out how to get to Terminal 1. After about an hour, I finally found the train you have to take to get to Terminal 1 and was counting my blessings to find the beautiful faces of my group!! I almost cried with joy.

I also was able to take my very first metro ride. What an adventure! Unfortunately, what with the jet lag, total lack of sleep, hunger, dehydration, standing and walking all day, and a number of other factors, I was not feeling so good. I was holding on the the pole thinking how horribley weak I felt when everything started to blur and go black. It started to feel familiar when I started to have a loud noise in my ears and couldn't hear anything. I was about to faint in a full metro in Paris.... I said to whoever was around me "I need to sit down" and then I commenced to turn around looking for a seat, but I couldn't see anything, and I could feel myself fading. According to the others, at that point I began to sort of fall onto the people around me. Thankfully my director was able to put me in a seat just in time to save me from a load of embarrassment!

After exiting the metro, I tried in vain to prove that I wasn't a pansy and that I wouldn't let a little weakness put me behind the group. Rather than taking it slowly up the stairs, I smartly thought it would be a good to run up the stairs. And of course, my weak knees and clumsiness left me with scrapes and bruises from tripping up the stairs. My right knee hurts to bend and my left leg in bruised and swollen all above the knee!

And then of course, I tried to recover by taking a shower and getting to bed early. The shower/bathrooms were very small. The only place to undress at that hotel was IN the shower. So I was in the shower bending over to take my socks off, and as I stood back up, I backed into the handle and turned the shower on full blast as I stood there fully dressed and soaked. Needless to say...it was an adventure of a day. And I was ready to go to sleep before something else unfortunate happened to me.

Today I discovered that the humidity does wonders to my hair. As if my hair wasn't big enough already, but it decided to curl more. Looks like I won't be using my flat iron much! This afternoon, I took my very first taxi ride and we moved into our places. Karin and I have the nicest family! Whoever said that French people were not friendly have not met the Devarennes! They are so welcoming and nice and I am so happy to be with them. However, they insist on helping us learn French. That is where the culture shock comes in. I don't understand a word! Thankfully, Mme. Devarenne speaks to us very slowly and will sometimes say 2 or 3 words at a time and ask us if we understand in between each phrase. I still have managed to feel overwhelmed with the language! We had a fantastic french meal of des tomates, cous cous, du pain, et des fromage this evening! I can tell already that I will be putting on weight. I've been eating at least twice as much for every meal, plus usually something in between meals as well.

I'm so happy to be here in Paris! It is definately different from Cottonwood Heights. Hopefully I'll get used to the cigarette smoke and the metros. But it is a beautiful place and I'm lucky enough to have a great roommate, family, and group of BYU students to share this experience with!