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Day One: March 4, 2000
Today is the start of an amazing experience, I'm sure. Right now, I'm on an airplane, on my way to France. I've never been to this important country before, so naturally I'm excited and a bit nervous. I finished all of my last minute packing this morning, then my parents took me out to lunch to eat at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant to say farewell. After the long drive out to the airport, we stood at the Air France counter, waiting to meet the rest of the group. Mary Louise, one of my best friends, showed up first. We screamed with delight, ran around, and suddenly it hit me - I was going to Paris! Eventually the entire group arrived, we checked in, got on the plane, and waved goodbye to Houston.
Our plane flight thus far has been very interesting. The steward that has been to assigned to our side of the plane is a cute, young French guy named Arnaud. Add him to a gaggle of giggling girls (wow, an alliteration!) and you have mayhem. Nadine wanted a picture of him, then Deborah wanted a picture with him, then you have six more girls wanting pictures with him. Needless to say, we needed a lot of "Cokes," and the poor guy had to spend the flight catering to us, just so we could have ample opportunity to see him. I pity the life of a cute guy.
Besides the gorgeous steward, this had been an amazingly good flight. We have an adorable French family sitting next to us. They have two children and one on the way. The little girl loves all of us, it seems. She came up to me and Mary Louise and asked to listen to our music in broken English. Mary handed her some Ricky Martin, and I don't think that she liked it very much because she immediately handed it back. The little boy is very quiet, but well-behaved, and the parents are very fascinating. I've never sat by such pleasant people on international flights before.
Mr. Griffith (G) and Madame Patton were in another section of the plane, by Sarah Y. and Katie. Nadine and I visited them, and we had the distinct pleasure of waking G up. Nadine took a picture of him sleeping before he opened his eyes, though, so I can't wait to see how that turns out. Sarah and Katie are doing quite well, and I don't think that they miss the rest of the group *that* much. A nice German man and a French lady have been keeping them company most of the flight, and I talked a little while with them before I returned to my seat.
I think I'm going to try to get a little sleep on this flight, so I won't be *quite* so exhausted our first day in Paris. I have a tendency to never sleep on long plane flights, and I hope my luck doesn't continue. On the flight to Australia, yeesh, I slept a grand total of forty five minutes, and that was with the aid of Dramimine, too.
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