Vol et arrivée (flight and arrival)

It's quite tempting to write in French, because I know I need all the practice I can get. But I know most of the people who claim they will read this are Australian, so I'll write in English so they have no excuse but to read it.

My fingers are really hurting right now...I think my fingers were so used to the Australian keyboard that it actually hurts to adjust (it could also be the cold, but I'm not sure) One good result of that is I won't waffle as I usually do. Or at least until I get the hang of this keyboard.

It took me many many hours to get here by plane. Was travelling for nearly 1.5 days - Sydney to Bangkok, Bangkok to London, London to Paris, Paris to Marseilles. Am super jetlagged - that is why I am making this post at 5am.

From Sydney to Bangkok I sat next to a guy called Anthony who looked like a clone of Nick Trim (President of AIESEC Curtin, for those of you who don't know him). A nice guy, he owns a business in Hungary importing swimming gear from Brazil. Funnily enough he did his undergrad at UNSW, and knew AIESEC UNSW well as he had many a friend in it. A lot of his Hungarian friends are ex-interns in Hungary. Its a cliché to say it, but its definitely a small world.

From Bangkok to London, the long flight, I was lucky to get an aisle seat, and sit next to a nice English couple in their 50s. Even though I spoke to them a great deal; I never got to know their names. I guess its weird to open a conversation with your neighbour with a formal nominal introduction, and once you're deep in conversation you tend to forget. They had been traveling in Thailand for the last month and having a blast. I asked them a lot of questions about Europe; it seemed I knew more about Europe than them! It seemed to be 'backyard syndrome' - they'd never really traveled or learnt much about Europe because it was always there. Same with most Australians - how many have been to Uluru?

Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris is a nightmare. Its massive and confusing, and the shock of hearing everyone speaking in French all of a sudden did not help. I remember talking to the check-in lady, trying to speak in my bad French...she just glanced at me and said rather coldly "speak english". I felt a bit silly after that, but kept trying to speak french with other airport staff. It seemed to work. At the gate however, the airport staff member who was speaking French to everyone took one look at me and started speaking English. It's not that obvious is it? Maybe its my bad dress sense, or the fact that I looked awful being unshaven and generally revolting after 26 hours of travel. One of the observations I've made of the French so far is that everyone seems to keep themselves very tidy and fashionable. Thinking back on the incident, he probably saw that I was carrying a giant French-English Dictionary.

The view on the final flight was amazing - I was glad I had specifically requested a window seat. I had been impressed on the descent to Paris, with white in every direction, but on the flight to Marseilles I saw the Alps: through the clouds! They are extremely beautiful, and reminded me of my trip to New Zealand. I'll definitely be spending a lot of time skiing there; will post photos as soon as I have some!

At Marseilles airport, I came out of the terminal to see a sign saying 'AIESEC - It's up to you!'
Thus I met Johanna Rasplus, the person from the Department of International Relations who was assigned to pick me up from the airport and help me settle into Aix. She also happens to be the VPICX of AIESEC Marseilles. It was a very random coincidence, as there are many people who work for the international relations department, and only one AIESECer in the whole city (she works for AIESEC Marseilles, despite being in a town 30 minutes away). Her English is very good, she is very friendly and amazingly professional. Despite a continual series of problems (my luggage still being in Paris, a spelling error in my name causing administrative chaos at the accommodation place, being sent the details for the wrong accommodation place, etc.) she handled them as much as possible. She also gave me a lot of advice with advice with regards to the room and payment details, and other things like when we will meet to open a bank account etc. I think if it weren't for her help I would be stuck somewhere begging for food near the airport. One of the French MCP candidates had mentioned to me over msn that Johanna has been tagged for a national committee position next year despite the fact that she is a first-year AIESEC member. Given her level of professionalism, this does not surprise me at all.

I felt a bit glum after she left because it meant I had to fend for myself in this strange environment where I did not speak the language properly. I unsuccessfully tried to negotiate for some sheets and pillow from the site manager - it may have been possible if we were able to communicate effectively, but I won't know for some time. So, stuck without luggage, sheets or a pillow I sat down unsure of what to do next. I realised I needed to keep busy to avoid the feelings of alienation that come with culture shock, which I was clearly under the influence of.
I thought I should call my sister and tell her I had arrived. I headed for an empty phone booth, when I heard someone say - in English - that the phone didn't work. Their use of English didn't register until I heard one of them say 'he speaks english' in response to my response. It was then I realised how good it felt to hear a foreigner - they were Americans - speaking English. With the exception of Johanna, the French had come across to me so far as an impenetrable cultural monolith, and even when they spoke English to me they were still somehow 'against' me for being a foreigner. Its all ridiculous and entirely the effect of culture shock, but it can feel horribly true. For that moment, I was so happy to be in the company of Americans.

The 3 Americans are pretty cool people. There were two guys, Jeremy and Jason, and one girl, Shannon. Shannon was the exchange student - she had been here for 4 months and will be here until July. The other two were her friends, just visiting from the US for 2 weeks. Those two openly boasted to be even more mystified by France than me, which naturally incited me to describe my own troubles to date. It turned out to be a good open forum for us to air our grievances and help us get over the feeling of culture shock to some extent. I look forward to further conversations with Shannon to help me understand living in Aix, and to remind me that there will be a time when the language difficulties come to an end. Having heard my plight with the sheets and pillow, she told me that she had an extra set and lent it to me. This one gesture gave me a lot of calm - not only would I not freeze tonight, but there really are solutions to the problems I will be facing, and there will be nice people to help me when I'm in trouble.

Feeling a lot more confident, I've made my 'faire' (to-do) list for the next few days. One of the things was the creation of a blog, which I've now done :). I look forward to getting lots of comments from people, its a good way to keep in touch. If you actually want to read more in future, post in the comments what you want me to write about and I will do my best. Internet access is a bit limited, so I will post when I can.