Goodbye USA, HELLO FRANCE

Part 1
To start us off I've never been on a plane before.... WHAT?! (the responses of everyone I know.) Yeah, I've never been on a plane so why would I choose to sign up for a trip that includes a 10 hour plane ride and over the ocean that includes sharks which i am highly afraid of?
WELL I guess you could say for a France trip I would do just about anything....and that I did!

So my pops and I roll up to the Charlotte International Airport unload my bags, find an elevator because there was no way I was carrying my luggage that was the size of me down the stairs, and we enter the airport. Immediately I am nervous, the huge groups of people, the different areas to enter but then I see some faces I know and everything seems to be less chaotic. If it wasn't for my friends this trip probably wouldn't have been something that I would have been able to attend! Sosiak.....YOU THA BOMB GIRL!!! (She waited on me for forever to get all of my information in)

My checked luggage weighed 45.5 pounds so thank you Jesus it didn't go over!
Why did I have that much stuff???
WELLLL, I packed two outfits for everyday in case I didn't like one out fit and it almost cost me however much it costs to pay for luggage that weighs over 50lbs. I have a clothing problem, I could probably open up my own resale store with the amount of clothes I hoard....
HELLO MY NAME IS CARLY ROGERS and I'm a hoarder..... Hi Carly.

Back on track, the airport requires you to go through tons of security before you get to sit and wait on your flight number to be called. This is really smart because by looking at some of the passport photo's I've seen we all look like some type of terrorist. The process is very similar to what you see on all of the movies where they take a metal detector and run it all around you, you

step inside of what I think is a scanner but I'm not sure, but it does take pictures of you I am pretty sure. After all of that and your carry on is checked you have passed inspection and you are free to roam.

PART 2

So after buying a neck pillow and blanket (that did not keep me warm at all) we board the plane and to make things worse I am beside the window with nobody in the seat beside me, and the rest of my class is in the back of the plane. Did I cry? There were tears but it was just when I was thinking of all of the bad scenarios. Another cool thing was that on the back of the seat in front of me was a screen that provided recent movies, music, games, and a GPS that showed how far away we were from our destination point! The Flight also provided ear buds, blankets (I recommend

bringing a very fluffy one), and pillows!

Take off was very intense, I was anxious and I had no one beside me so I was nervous because I couldn't ask questions. The plane sat for a little while and finally we were able to line up behind a few other planes and wait our turn. When it was time for us to take off the plane went from 0 to 100 in no time and then we were lifting off! There was a loud sound under us and if my dad had not already told me that it was the wheels I probably would have been freaking out. The take off experience was pretty awesome because not only am I able to see us lift off through the window, but I was also able to see the ground below us and how tiny everything was for a short period of time.

PART 3

Later on during the trip a girl not much older than me moved seats and sat beside me. She was a prayer answered by God because I finally wasn't alone and I had someone to answer all of my questions about turbulence, french culture, etc.

She spoke great English but not long into the conversation I realized that she was French. Her name is Lucille, she is studying nursing at a college not far from our hotel that we were going to be staying in. She added a french keyboard and made a list in my notes of things to eat and see. When I say we talked I mean it, we talked until dinner which was really good for airplane food from what I was told. I had chicken and rice with a salad, water and then crackers, brie cheese, and a really good brownie. One enjoyable thing about dinner was that Lucille was sitting with me so I didn't have to eat dinner alone. We talked so much that the flight attendants had to come by multiple times before we finished our dinner.

The reason that I mention Lucille so much is because she impacted my trip immensely, she taught me French words that I still can't say, she told me everything that I needed to know to be street smart, but most importantly she ended up becoming my friend! It's so cool to have friends in different countries because you can learn so much from them! Anyways we exchanged numbers and then both ended up watching the same movie which I translated the things that were different in america than France multiple times during the movie.

Not too much turbulence....CHECK!