Pocket Full of Ashtyn

so cute.

it was the most romantic

and had the best lighting.

plus, look at this adorable picture that shows off richard's beret.

perfect boyfriend.

so the next morning, i got all ready to go...had some cereal, and off we went to the airport! i was really nervous, because the last time i had flown anywhere, i was like 13, and young enough that i had an attendant watching over me and telling me what to do the whole time. but richard helped me through it all. it was sad to say goodbye, but a month isn't very long, and i was so excited for the adventure!

i found my terminal fine and was there a little early which was great so i could walk around and get used to the feel of the airport a little bit. when getting on the plane, i was so surprised at how small it was! i had never flown such a long distance before and i had also never been on such a small plane either! it was about two and a half hours, plus VERY loud. i haf to raise my voice when speaking to someone right next to me which i thought was really weird, but i guess i don't really know. i don't fly often.

the boy next to me didn't seem very interested in talking to me, so i just listened to music and read a little bit. 

the great salt lake.

my layover was in chicago (o'haire) and i did not really like that airport at all. it seemed really old, and they didn't have free wifi. and the decor was really strange. and there was GIANT (bigger than a gallon) bottles of liquor to buy EVERYWHERE. plus giant jumbo packs of cigarettes. i think these were so popular because they weren't taxed and the US has high taxes on these things. BUT i had one of the best meals i've ever eaten. it was delicious.

then i got on my next plane which was very big. much closer to the size that i am used to. it had a movie screen and i had a nice window seat again. i sat next to a very nice boy that is from barcelona. his girlfriend lives in chicago and he was visiting her. they served us dinner and breakfast on the plane which i thought was nice. my flight was operated by airfrance so it was very strange to see french instructions first and then english! i was also very blessed to be sitting by someone that spoke very good english on this nine and a half hour flight. it pays to pray for guidance when choosing your seat! 

on this flight i mostly watched movies/watched tv shows. i read a little. and slept for MAYBE two hours. probably less, though. it was very hard.

there were clouds covering underneath us 90% of the time, which was a bummer. this was taking just as the sun was rising.

more clouds...blah...

when we started to get closer to the coast, the clouds thinned and there were all sorts of ships and islands....very cool.

 the outskirts of the country... 

the river was fun + these cute little ice crystals on the window.

i thought it was very interesting that there was country...then a cluster of houses.....then country....then a another small little cluster of houses. i have talked to the family about this a little. they say that a town center is built and then the town is built around the center. to be as close as possible to the town center is better. that's why there aren't really houses on the outskirts of anything. cause that's just not cool, man.

this is paris! i had never seen a city so big in my whole entire life. just buildings forever and ever. the eiffel tower is in there somewhere, too. it felt like a movie. surely stuff like this doesn't exist in real life? 

so we landed...i almost forgot my carry-on, but i'm glad that i remembered eventually even though i was basically half way off the plane at that point. from the plane, we took a bus to the terminal and the most frustrating thing ever happened. the bus stopped once we got to some buildings. and we were sitting (mostly standing) there in an over crowded bus for HALF AN HOUR. it was awful. mostly because nobody understood my humor. oh and because i was standing in an over crowded bus for half an hour unnecessarily.

it seemed that the bus in front of us had broken down. there were a bunch of airport cars on the side of us, so people were moving ever so slowly to move them somewhere else so we could get around the broken bus. after they finished with that, the bus drove maybe thirty feet and opened its doors.

WE WERE THIRTY FEET FROM THE DOOR WE NEEDED TO GO INTO FOR HALF AN HOUR. 

we were all very upset over the fact that they wouldn't let us walk.

it was dumb.

anyways, i go through customs....i thought it would be a bigger deal, but i just handed them my passport, they stamped it, then let me in. no questions. nothing.

i then waited at the designated coffee shop with my recently reclaimed baggage. after about ten to twenty minutes of waiting i saw christos and his son iasson (14) and we were on our way! they are so nice and iasson tried talking to me and they both made me feel very welcome. iasson is much better at english than he thinks he is.

most of the drive was forest, or fields, like this.

all of the cars here are so nice. it seems that all cars are luxury cars. it is funny because honda and toyota are some of the biggest names in america, but i've only seen three total so far. i also have not seen any police/enforcement whatsoever. the speed limit is more of a guideline. especially for motorcyclists. they drive very very fast and are very unsafe.

also, i feel like i'm using really simplistic words and don't seem to have any personality because trying to speak to everyone here, i have to use really basic terms and i can't really use humor or sarcasm, otherwise nothing i say makes any sense. i'm scared it will only get worse.

so prepare for that when i come home.

after about driving for 45 minutes, we finally came to melun, the town that i will be staying in! i saw the sign "ibis hotel" and got excited. my love for hotels is bordering strange.

when iasson saw the mcdonalds ad he got very excited. "mcdonalds is the best thing!!"

we got to the home and i met christos' wife, isabelle, and their two other kids mathis and anna. isabelle speaks veryvery good english. she showed me around the house and then we bbq'd some chicken and had a really great lunch. with white asparagus. i then told them that i was tired and would see them in the morning. (at this point i had been awake for basically 26 hours.) my mind had tricked me into thinking it was much later...like 6 or 7 PM. so when they confusedly informed me that it was only 1 PM i got really sad and it completely blew my mind. they said i should go sleep anyways, and that they would wake me up at dinner time.

this is the view from my room in the attic. that is the backyard, and you can see iasson and anna. and the cutest, smallest treehouse.

when it was dinner, they woke me up and i went to the bathroom, and just went back to bed. i couldn't do it. i woke up around 1 AM here and did some facebookin and emailin and stuffs. then went back to bed around 4 AM and woke up 7:15ish and had breakfast with the family before isabelle and the kids went to school. (isabelle is a school teacher.) christos and i walked anna to school and i got to see a little of the town. i didn't get any pictures, but i will definitely have time to do that later. all in all i love my little family, i love this town, and i can't wait to go see paris!

mathis is so kind and is letting me use his room.

they did an incredible job of keeping the character of the old house while modernizing it as well. this is right outside my door. i am on the third floor (not including the basement).

these are the scary stairs i have to climb to my room. they don't have any railing.

also, this lovely cat came in my room today while i was hanging out. 

everybody, meet milnka....(i don't know the french spelling, but that's what it sounds like when they say it.)

i'm really proud of anyone who actually made it through this entire, incredibly and boringly detailed post, but congrats if you did!