Au revoir America

But not so fast, there was still one last stop before I venture off to France.  I wanted to spend some time in my home town, good ol' Tunkhannock, PA.  And what better time of year to be in that small town than carnival week!?  Now if you're from Tunkhannock you know exactly what I mean, if you're not let me explain a little bit about this yearly event. Carnival week comes around every summer in the first week in August, its the time of year where most who live out of state come back to town for a visit, and it's a reunion every year.  It's the only place you can get delicious fried food, cheap beer, and a live band every night of the week.  This was exactly what I needed before leaving the country, having (almost) all of my hometown friends to once again celebrate my homecoming but also my going away.  Coming and going often makes for lots of excuses to celebrate, and celebrate we did!  As of this point I had my plane ticket purchased and scheduled departure for August 29, 2011, all that was left was to enjoy my month long visit with my family and friends.  Well there was a few other things I had to do while being home like ask  my former, present; and possibly in the future, boss if she had some shifts I could work to make some money before I leave. As always she was happy to put me on the schedule and back to work like things never changed.  Working, visiting as many people as possible, and also my new at home studies of French using the Rosetta Stones kept me pretty busy which made that month go by pretty fast.  Before I knew it, I was once again packing up my life. Except this time it wasn't packing anything that I could fit in my car, more like anything I could fit in TWO suitcases!  Talk about not a lot of room when you consider everything I was leaving behind.  Not only did I have leave half of my wardrobe but also my car and my phone.   But I reminded myself that those are all just possessions and can be replaced, I wasn't going to let that stress me out or bring me down.  After one last gathering of my family, and friends the next day was time to go!  Off to Newark, NJ we go.  It was a struggle first off to decide who was going to ride with us to the airport (thinking who would really want to drive 2.5 hours, drop me off, then turn around and drive back) but to my surprise more people than there was space in the car were available, and actually wanting to see me off.  Well of course my Mom had to go, and the one person who knows how to handle my mother best when she gets all emotional is my god mother AKA Aunt Kimmy, my cousin and basically my sister Missy came along, and also my one of my best friends that I can always count on, Noelle.   Unfortunately everyone else could not fit but the fact they even wanted to go filled my heart and again made me so thankful to have such wonderful people in my life.  On the drive to the airport I thought about what it was going to be like in France.  "Was it true the French didn't like Americans?" "Is the driving going to be on the opposite side of the street?"  "HOW WAS I GOING TO FIND THOMAS AT THE AIRPORT WITH NO PHONE!?"  Yes, the anxiety was starting to kick in at this point.  Here I am saying goodbye to my loved ones, I can see their tears and I feel as if I want to cry but my anxiety and excitement wouldn't let me.   I gave them big hugs and told them not to worry about me.  After I crossed the security and found my gate I had sometime to relax and practice my french using my pocket dictionary and some notes I wrote down from Rosetta Stones.  I must say they are very helpful yet it wasn't teaching me the stuff I needed to know like in the next 9 hours!!  Like what am I going to say when I get there!?  Should I say "Bonjour, le chat est noir? ( Hello,the cat is black)"  How is that going to help me but for some reason out of all those lessons that was all I could remember!  So as I sat there and waited, there was a girl next to me who I noticed earlier in line.  I nonchalantly introduced myself and broke the ice.  Her name was Sophie and she was a French girl who came to America to be an au pair but was going back because she also missed her love in France.  As we sat there she taught me a lot of useful phrases to use and translated what I felt may be helpful once I arrived.  As I practiced to say them aloud, I also took some notes such as:       

• Bonjour/Au revoir- Hello/ Goodbye (well that one is an obvious but just in case you are as much of a beginner as I was I will translate) 
• Merci- Thank you 
• Sil tu plait/ Sil vous plait - Please (same word but used in two totally different situations- but that's a whole other lesson on its own!) 
• Où sont les toilettes- Where is the bathroom? (very useful) 

Now that I thought I had the basics down it was time to kick back and enjoy this flight (which included two meals and a surplus of new release films, it was pleasant travels from this point) 
Au Revior America<3