I entered this past weekend as calm as could be expected. I had my packing list, my visa in hand, and a 3-night reservation at a hostel in Toulouse. Life was good, if in a nervy, jumpy kind of way. My best friend brought her new boyfriend home from New Haven, so Ken and I spent Saturday evening with them, mostly reveling in 'embarrassing and hilarious things Nicole and Kristen did as children'. I got to say goodbye to another good friend who was in town that day as well.
Sunday, Ken and I searched far and wide and eventually found a great apple orchard. We spent the better part of an hour taking pictures of each other climbing rickety-looking ladders and picking the absolute biggest, roundest, most perfect apples we could find. The cider doughnuts weren't bad either! Making apple crisp wasn't even so much a decision as an instinctual reaction to this day.
It wasn't until Ken left at 9pm tonight that I forced myself to face the uncomfortable, itchy facts of my upcoming journey. At some point during the weekend I received an email from a language assistant who'd just arrived in France. The message was short and not so sweet: my hostel has bed bugs. Bad.
As a summer camp person, I am well aware of how much damage bed bugs can do. And there is no way I am getting them my first night in France. However, I have been given absolutely zero accommodation advice by the people I work for. "Communication" is not a strength of the French. So, in between my goodbyes and reunions this weekend, I have been frantically searching the internet. I spent tonight clicking away on every possible Expedia link and Trip Advisor review for the greater Toulouse region. My mother was forsaking sleep to make detailed index-card notes on every hotel in the area while my father would walk into my room every 5 minutes for an update. It was about as close to a madhouse as I've ever seen a house of only 3 people get. It wasn't until just before midnight that I found an extreme budget hotel (think Easyjet in hotel format) kinda sorta close to where I want to be. I booked along with 3 other girls from my program.
Right now, sitting on my comfy bed under my cozy comforter, I physically feel some of my stress leaving me. I am an anxious person, and this bed bug fiasco hasn't done much to help matters. In many ways, these pre-departure days are the toughest part about leaving, so I'm positive about my travel and finding good housing. I have 36 more hours to ready myself. I will be so ready! Ah-- now to watch an episode of How I Met Your Mother and sleep for longer than I have in the past 2 worried nights combined.
Wish me luck! And skype me: kristen.milano !
