It’s officially Day 2 of the Giant French Sabbatical Voyage! I guess? I think I’ve lost all track of time. Right now, I’m on a high-speed train headed to Bordeaux to start my French Immersion Course. Finally!
My flight got into Paris at 7 am this morning. I didn’t sleep on the plane so I was très fatiguée. Getting through French Customs was nothing though. Unlike U.S. Customs, where the border agents usually ask a lot of questions, here, they scanned my passport, took my photo and waved me through.
I made a reservation at a day hotel since my train didn’t leave until 4 p.m. The hotel was in the airport itself – what a great idea! You can check in for a few hours to rest and shower. I managed to find one with a vacancy – the Ibis Paris – at Terminal 3. I thought “day hotels” were only for secret, shady rendezvous. Who knew?
I was able to check in speaking only French. I missed some words, so I asked the check-in woman “Comment dit on….” (How do you say…?) and gave her an English word, but either she didn’t speak English or thought she would help me more by letting me figure it out on my own.
So, I floundered around a bit, said it a different way as my French teacher has only told me 100 times, and ended up getting a room for a few hours until my train was scheduled to leave from the Airport Station to Bordeaux. I had a nap and it was great.
Now, I’m on the train to the Bordeaux station, called the Gare de Bordeaux-Saint-Jean. It takes about 3 and 1/2 hours to get there by train. DO’s friend, G, will pick me up at the station. Well, me and my giant suitcase, carry-on, and backpack. I thought I packed lightly for 7 weeks, but why do I still feel like a turtle lugging around a small piece of furniture on wheels?
Ok, so I see that the train announcements are mostly in French. I guess that shouldn’t be surprising. The train companies seem a little less inclined to cater to English-speakers unlike the airlines, which are careful to give all the announcements in both English and French.
Oh no!
We’re about 30 minutes into the trip and an announcement just came over the loudspeaker…All in French. Only French. The only thing I actually understood was “Mesdames et messieurs” at the beginning and “Merci de votre attention” at the end.
Well, okay, then. Hopefully, it’s not really important. The last time I was on a train in France was three years ago before I studied any French. I was on the train from the De Gaulle Airport to Bordeaux.
About an hour into the journey, the train just stopped on the tracks. I had my daughter with me who also doesn’t speak French. That train was stopped for almost 2 hours. Why? Who knows?
I asked the porter in English what the problem was, used Google Translate for the French and he replied quickly in French and walked away. I looked out the windows and only saw the French countryside – no train robbers, no animals on the track, no hurricanes (does France have hurricanes or only fires? Je ne sais pas.)
To this day, I still have no idea why we were stopped on the track for 2 hours in the middle of the day. That was a bit of train trauma. So, now, that I’ve studied French for…18 months, at least I caught some words, right? It’s an improvement.
Well, I am nothing if not optimistic. I know my understanding will keep getting better if I keep working on it.
Right now, I’m just looking forward to sleeping in a bed tonight. I hope the (breakable) gift I brought for my host made it through in one piece. On verra!
À bientôt.
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