Totally Frenched Out

From the blogger formerly known as Samdebretagne

Saturday, April 26, 2008

I wanna fly away

Well, here I am back in MN. The flight was long, but I do have to say that the new direct Paris-Minneapolis flight is really nice. Now that I've cut out needing to leave from Bretagne, I just need to convince my mother to move to Minneapolis. After five years of it taking 24+hrs to get home (6am train to CDG, flight from CDG to Detroit, layover, flight from Detroit-Minneapolis, layover, flight from Minneapolis-Grand Forks), it would be SO nice to just do Paris-Minneapolis, point.

And you what was so ironic about our trip home? Everywhere we went, we met nice French people. I feel like some kind of tide has turned here. Have I finally broken my streak of bad luck with the French? (Actually, I've generally had good luck my whole life, but Fab hasn't, so maybe it was just his bringing me down). But it all started at 5:45am, when my mother and I were trying to lug our 4 suitcases all the way to the gare. One of my suitcases tipped over in the street and as I was struggling to pick it back up, a man from the STAR (Rennes' equivalent to the RATP) stopped by and asked if we wanted a ride to the station. After the shock wore off my face, and I was like "Yes! Of course!" so he helped us load all of our suitcases in his car and away we went.

At the train station itself, a random guy helped us get our bags on the train, and as we were getting off at CDG, another man did the same. We made it up to the terminal and only dealt with nice airport personnel from there on out. It was really bizarre. Maybe it really is just Bretagne, and I'm about to discover a whole new side of France?? And then I sat next to a Frenchie on the plane who must have thought I was a bit nuts - I watched a bunch of chick flicks and cried almost the whole time, as they were all about women losing their partners for various reasons. The gentleman that he was, all's he did was say "ca va aller, ma fille" and hand me a pack of tissues. (Note to self: no more chick flicks until your emotions settle down a bit).

The other surprising thing is that when we got off the plane in Grand Forks, it was snowing! And it still is now, 12 hours later. My mom had a meeting on the other side of the state this morning, but she turned around after an hour because the weather was too bad. Seriously, it's April26 - how can there be a blizzard now?? And here I was worrying about having packed my spring coats away and only having my winter coat to wear. Ha!

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14 Comments:

Blogger MilkJam said...

hey! so glad you guys made it home safe and sound with no travel problems. Can't believe its snowing! we finally had a beautiful day here, went on a bike ride out to the beach, not hot but really nice!
have fun at home! :-)

April 26, 2008 at 5:09 PM  
Blogger A Tank said...

Yeah, my mom said yesterday it was 75 and now today it's 32. What is going on? In any case, I do think you got stuck in a strange corner of Bretagne, because people in Rennes have been generally really nice all the time :) So, hopefully the Parisians will be nothing compared to those stinky Morbihanians (I made that up). Glad to hear you made it back safe and keep me updated on your vacation!

April 26, 2008 at 5:15 PM  
Blogger Starman said...

We've had some really delightful weather here in Florida for the past six months or so, with temps in the mid-twenties(C). I've forgotten what it's like to drive in snow, but I certainly don't miss it.

April 26, 2008 at 5:37 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's interesting that you say bad luck follows Fab around..basically as soon as you were free of him you started meeting all the nice French people and I'm not surprised.. people who are negative (I think there's bad luck and then there's the kind of people that are just magnets for it)and have terrible luck, or make terrible choices or attract certain kinds of things affect ALL of the people around them, pulling them into their circle of negative events. So now you're outside the circle things are already starting to look up! And once this Katell stuff blows up in his face I'm sure he'll say it's bad luck too, but evidently it's not, it's his bad and ridiculous choices. By the way I think the statistic on relationships that came out of affairs lasting is something like 90 percent fail rate.
It's sunny here, so when you came back the sun and new beginnings (with nice Frenchies) will be upon you!

April 26, 2008 at 6:14 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

ca va aller, ma fille.

very very nice. the world is full of such people. believe!

xxx

April 26, 2008 at 7:48 PM  
Blogger juliwalters said...

Thanks for clearing all of that up, I must have missed a few posts here and there maybe. I don't know if I am coming or going.
I understand about not trashing the tv but I might have done. I do hope I make it to Paris this summer, I am headed back to Texas on Monday and will be back on this side of the pond in July probably.

Paris seems like a good place to mend a heart.

April 26, 2008 at 8:37 PM  
Blogger Rebecca said...

There you go: that sounds more like the France I know. It's good to have left with the friendly-French memories, rather than the other way around.

Oh, yeah, CDG-HomeCity flights make travel sooo much better! Hang in there and enjoy your two weeks at home.

April 26, 2008 at 8:39 PM  
Blogger judyb said...

things just keep getting better, don't they? Hang in there and have a good time at home :)

April 26, 2008 at 10:56 PM  
Blogger Lauren said...

Enjoy your time at home! It's wonderful to have had such a streak of kind people on your way out of the country. I'm sure it will help you find positive feelings when you return in a few weeks. Maybe it was France's way of telling you that you made the right choice to stay. The weather's beautiful in Paris right now, so you'll have even more to look forward to!

April 26, 2008 at 11:13 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

1):-) Happy to hear about nice Frenchies (Vive nous! ;-))
2) Yes, it is SNOWING here in Northern MN (grrrrrrrr) and they are forecasting some more snow next w-e in MAY. :-O

April 27, 2008 at 12:27 AM  
Blogger Leesa said...

Hi Sam!

Welcome back to the States and glad you had such great experiences on the way back home! It's always nice!! I do think your bad experiences are related to where you were living and I am just about positive things will get better when you come to Paris! I do want to say that in San Diego today, it was about 86 F and we were outside the entire day--- I got a sunburn!!!!!! I am sooooooooooo enjoying warm weather and being back in my hometown San Diego is a REAL treat!! Have a great trip and looking forward to meeting up with you in June!!!
Big hugs, Leesa

April 27, 2008 at 8:17 AM  
Blogger Patricia said...

You see - Fab was giving off bad vibes! You are much better off without him. Now, you will probably see the good side of the French people. My French in-laws (from the north) are all so sweet, and some of the posts you put about Fab's family I could never imagine my in-laws doing/saying. So maybe it is just them! Enjoy time with your family, being home and the snow (we didn't get much snow this winter so that sounds good to me!). You must be so excited to start your new life in Paris. Take care.

April 27, 2008 at 1:58 PM  
Blogger Princesse Ecossaise said...

I really love those days when you just keep coming across nice people. The kindness of strangers, I love it.

Enjoy your time at home xxxxxx

April 27, 2008 at 8:11 PM  
Blogger Barbara said...

Hi Sam,
Positive and kind people were just more than happy to help you out.
We all need it ; just enjoy !

I doesn't seem like it now but time will pass and begin it's healing.Don't cross off your years in France or the really good people that you have known here.

Enjoy yourself in MN ;)

April 28, 2008 at 1:02 PM  

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