Saturday, Oct. 13th-Sunday, Oct. 21st
Yep. I got to go home for a whole week. The main purpose of the trip was to present at a conference, SECAC (the Southeastern College Arts Conference). Over the summer, I worked on a paper about Flannery O'Connor. She's mostly known for her short stories, but she also contributed cartoons to her high school and college newspapers. I examined the relationship between the two. I had a lot of fun researching and writing this paper and was excited to present it. However, that would happen in the middle of the week, Thursday, and I had a few days to relax at home and see some friends and family.
My flight over was not that bad, I just remember being excited to get home. I only had one connection as well, so that made it a lot easier. After hugs from my parents, they asked if I was hungry. I had one thing in mind: Bojangles. We stopped on the way home and I was happy to be reunited with some Bo-rounds and biscuits.
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| In all of their glory |
I mostly slept for the first day, but was pleasantly surprised by my sister, Leslie, who came to visit me. I was so happy to see her and a bunch of my other friends as well. On Wednesday, I drove to Columbia to meet up with my professor who would take us to the conference in Durham. It was nice getting to network with professors and students alike.
Since I won't be home for Halloween, we tried to cram in all the stuff we could. We made popcorn balls, decorated the house, and sort of carved a pumpkin. (I say sort of because we really just drew a face with a Sharpie and called it a day). It was really great to see everyone, but after a week, I was excited to get back to Dortmund.
Luckily my flight back over was the best one I've had. I flew United this time, and the plane was only about half full. I actually got to stretch out over three seats and sleep! The movie selection was pretty good as well, but I spent most of the flight sleeping and reading. What did make me laugh was the safety video they showed. I was flying into Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, so the video showed once in English and then again dubbed over in French. However, the second time it was shown, it was a lot shorter. All they covered was turning off cellphones and no smoking on the plane or in the bathroom. It made me giggle.
After I debarked, I had to navigate CDG airport. My parents had already warned me that it was a confusing airport. I think that's an understatement. I just followed the crowd to customs. After I got through there, I had no idea where to go. There were absolutely no monitors showing what gate I needed to get to. I chose to follow the crowd once again and finally found a screen. However, everything was abbreviated (and in French of course) and I couldn't tell what column had the gate number. Was it A2? U33? Maybe the blinking 60-66. Then of course, there were buses transporting people to terminals. By this time, I was slightly panicking. What if I got on the wrong bus?
So I found someone official looking and asked. They kindly took my boarding pass and told me the right gate: 60-66. They also pointed me in the right direction. No buses, just an elevator down two floors and a lot of walking. Once there, I had to go through security. I got a proper pat-down from a French lady. I'm just going to wear a bikini next time, since I manage to get felt up every time I go to the airport. After I got through I had to find my gate. However, there was no 60-66. I took it to mean one whole number. However, I realized later it meant my gate could be the number 60 through 66. Lightbulb! That was really helpful since this terminal was spread out. I had 30 minutes to spare, so I spent it patrolling from one end to the other looking for my flight (of course all of the screens were blank). I'm sure I looked suspicious (especially since I passed Ms. Patdown several times) but I was determined to find it. After a lot of worrying, I finally found it, (62 for those that are interested). I still had 20 minutes until boarding so I decided to sit and cool my jets (j'aime puns!).
My flight to Düsseldorf was uneventful, and I was happy to find that my luggage made it as well! Then I boarded a train to Dortmund. Luckily it wasn't very crowded, so my giant suitcase didn't cause a problem. By the time I finally made it to my dorm, I was exhausted. However, I had made it back in time for two of my Monday classes. Though I would have much rather passed out on the bed, I went to my fantasy bestsellers class. I couldn't tell you what we talked about (I have an idea it was about the genre of fantasy bestsellers). I then trudged to my american art class. I was so tired by then that I couldn't remember how to spell my name on the attendance sheet. Luckily the teacher just lectured the whole time and didn't try to get any answers out of me.
At last I returned to my dorm. I managed to stay up until 9:00 pm and then slept. I was happy to have a mini-vacation home, but I'm also happy to be back. That's it for now, Schüss!
German Word of the Day: Die Stiefel- "boots" Die Stiefel are great for squashing bugs.
Luckily my flight back over was the best one I've had. I flew United this time, and the plane was only about half full. I actually got to stretch out over three seats and sleep! The movie selection was pretty good as well, but I spent most of the flight sleeping and reading. What did make me laugh was the safety video they showed. I was flying into Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, so the video showed once in English and then again dubbed over in French. However, the second time it was shown, it was a lot shorter. All they covered was turning off cellphones and no smoking on the plane or in the bathroom. It made me giggle.
After I debarked, I had to navigate CDG airport. My parents had already warned me that it was a confusing airport. I think that's an understatement. I just followed the crowd to customs. After I got through there, I had no idea where to go. There were absolutely no monitors showing what gate I needed to get to. I chose to follow the crowd once again and finally found a screen. However, everything was abbreviated (and in French of course) and I couldn't tell what column had the gate number. Was it A2? U33? Maybe the blinking 60-66. Then of course, there were buses transporting people to terminals. By this time, I was slightly panicking. What if I got on the wrong bus?
So I found someone official looking and asked. They kindly took my boarding pass and told me the right gate: 60-66. They also pointed me in the right direction. No buses, just an elevator down two floors and a lot of walking. Once there, I had to go through security. I got a proper pat-down from a French lady. I'm just going to wear a bikini next time, since I manage to get felt up every time I go to the airport. After I got through I had to find my gate. However, there was no 60-66. I took it to mean one whole number. However, I realized later it meant my gate could be the number 60 through 66. Lightbulb! That was really helpful since this terminal was spread out. I had 30 minutes to spare, so I spent it patrolling from one end to the other looking for my flight (of course all of the screens were blank). I'm sure I looked suspicious (especially since I passed Ms. Patdown several times) but I was determined to find it. After a lot of worrying, I finally found it, (62 for those that are interested). I still had 20 minutes until boarding so I decided to sit and cool my jets (j'aime puns!).
My flight to Düsseldorf was uneventful, and I was happy to find that my luggage made it as well! Then I boarded a train to Dortmund. Luckily it wasn't very crowded, so my giant suitcase didn't cause a problem. By the time I finally made it to my dorm, I was exhausted. However, I had made it back in time for two of my Monday classes. Though I would have much rather passed out on the bed, I went to my fantasy bestsellers class. I couldn't tell you what we talked about (I have an idea it was about the genre of fantasy bestsellers). I then trudged to my american art class. I was so tired by then that I couldn't remember how to spell my name on the attendance sheet. Luckily the teacher just lectured the whole time and didn't try to get any answers out of me.
At last I returned to my dorm. I managed to stay up until 9:00 pm and then slept. I was happy to have a mini-vacation home, but I'm also happy to be back. That's it for now, Schüss!
German Word of the Day: Die Stiefel- "boots" Die Stiefel are great for squashing bugs.
