Arrival!

Bonjour! I arrived in menton yesterday and all I have to say (and can say-literally) is wow! I have never been more overwhelmed in my life. The journey here was long and a bit crazy. At the Paris airport there were French army men walking around with machine guns-at the ready. That was my first dose of culture shock-followed by people approaching me and hitting with with rapid French. After lugging my 100 lb bags all over the airport-I finally found the place to check in for my flight to Nice. I realized one of the pockets on my checked bag was open-i'm just hoping nothing fell out! I went through security and was only yelled at once in French-which didn't phase me because I had no idea what he was saying. At this point I was sweating from head to toe and utterly exhausted. It was about 10:30 am Paris time-2:30 am Arizona time. So i looked down at my phone and it said 2:30, so I started freaking out because my flight was scheduled for 1 and I thought I had missed it, so I ran to my gate-only to figure out my phone wasn't connected to wi-fi and ergo hadn't changed times yet.

So I took a bus from the Nice airport to Menton and it was incredible! The views were so beautiful! After arriving at the bus stop-my friend Samir picked me up and showed me where my dorm was. The "guardians" of the dorm only speak french-so that's only a minor issue. I haven't checked in yet but I have my key-i'm going to ask my friend to help translate so I can get all checked in today.

My room is incredible! It's a triple but there are only 2 of us in here-my German roommate Elizabeth and I! We have a patio that looks out onto the town and the hillside. On the downside, people tend to race by with incredibly loud engines at odd times of the night.

I'm feeling major culture shock because for 1. I don't speak the language and 2. Everything is different, this may seem obvious but like seriously-everything. I nearly set my blow dryer on fire this morning-actually I did set it on fire and then quickly turned it off, so it went out. The pillows are a little strange-kind of lumpy (my roommate says i'll get used to it!)

Now for the best part: the town! It's absolutely adorable, so charming and so ancient! It's unbelievable! I got here late last night and didn't get to see it too much during the day-but i'm going to go out soon and explore and try to get all of my paperwork done!

So far it's been a crazy experience-but i'm sure it will settle in more once my body has time to relax and get used to the time difference ( i couldn't fall asleep last night- but now i'm exhausted). Figures.
Hope everyone is having an awesome day (or night!)