I, along with my three friends, arrived at the Charles de Gaulle(CDG) airport in Paris on the 15th of december at around 6 in the morning.......the institute where we were gonna do our intern had arranged for a cab to take us to Rouen, around 2-3hours by road....the cab driver knew absolutely no english, neither did we know any french beyond bonjour and bonsoir......it took a lot of gesturing for him to make us understand that the cab was parked on the ground level and we were on the first level.....he put us n our luggage in the elevator, pressed '0' and ran down the stairs, for there was no space left in the lift....I remember those initial few minutes when we had to walk out of the air conditioned airport and lodge ourselves in the cab.....damnnn it was cold....we threw the luggage and ourselves inside the cab as quick as we could and took off.....I can never forget that ride....excitement was searing through me like nothing I had experienced ever before...
We arrived at our residence, Residence du Bois, at around 9 or 10 am....there was this girl from the college who had come to receive us...her name was shehnaz....she was from morocco I think, if my memory is serving me right....she showed us our rooms, told us about having to change the bedsheets every two weeks at the laundry desk, what password to enter to open the main gate, how to operate the laundry machines, where to find drinking water, which bus to take the next day to reach college, blahblah....after she left we all took turns to call up our parents and inform them that we had reached......we only had one 300rs calling card that I had bought at the airtel desk just before boarding the airplane at Delhi Airport..... and there wasnt much talktime in it considering the rate was like almost 70-80 euro-cents/minute and 300rs doesnt count for so much when you divide it by 65.....
For lunch, we made ourselves a few maggi packets we had got from home, before heading for the bed.....we were all tired like hell after the long journey.....I remember feeling really homesick those initial few hours when I was sitting alone in my room....I was a stranger in a foreign land, and I didnt even speak the language.....the chilly cold outside was only making things worse.....I was really blueish those few hours........after, we realized we had to get something to eat for the night, and we had no idea where the nearest grocery shop was.....we had to ask around....my room was just next to the common kitchen and I heard some girls chatting away there.....feeling a little sheepish and shy, I went up to them and asked if they spoke english....there was a unisonous 'NO' from them which left me feeling foolish for a moment....then suddenly one of them said 'Yes I speak english, can I help you?'......I cant describe how happy and relieved I felt....her name was Marrie....she was studying agriculture at some university near the residence....ESITPA was the name I think.....(you must be wondering why I am stressing on specifics here...the thing is...I don't really wanna forget anything, even the specifics...so I am just blogging it down....)......we went to her room and she drew a map showing where we were and where exactly the grocery store was located.....she was my first friend there in France......I never really talked much to her after that.....I was shy...I shldnt have been....but anyway...we went out and bought ourselves some bread, eggs, milk and fruit juice....basically some stuff to keep us alive to see the morning light the next day :)....
The next day was our first day at the college, ESIGELEC, and it was no less exciting and memorable than the previous one :).......I ll write about it in my next blog.....
Au Revoir !!
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