A Break in the Clouds

“Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.” –Charlie Chaplin

Before I Depart:
 

I figured that before I leave for Ireland, where I will certainly not have time to be blogging, I should catch up on a few things that I don’t want to forget to mention later.

First: NEVER…EVER...EVER...use Ryan Air…it is not worth the stress and hassle! Not in the least. After they booked me for the wrong flight and charged me to change it (plus didn’t refund what they charged for the wrong AND charged me for the new one), they got my name wrong on the second ticket so that it did not match my passport. Online, it said it would cost me 110GBP to change my name—three letters!!! I absolutely refused to do that, so I asked Fred what he recommended. He said the best thing to do would be to just go out to the airport, but since that would take me over an hour to do by tram/bus, he drove me. So, in the middle of him moving apartments, searching for beds, a washer/dryer, and a refrigerator, catching up with his research and all, I had to have him take an hour and half out of his day to take me to the freaking airport to get this all straightened out. Luckily the lady there was very helpful and changed my name no problem. She said since I came to the airport, she could waive the fee and change my name, but there was no way to do that online…..thank goodness Fred offered to take me!! So, now I have every finger and toe crossed that Monday was the last of my problems with this airline and that everything goes smoothly when I leave tomorrow. I felt bad asking Fred to take me to the airport again since it’s a bit of a ways out and I don’t want to take any more time out of his already crazy, busy life! Therefore, I will be leaving the house before 10 o’clock tomorrow morning so that I can get to the tram by 10. From there it will be about an hour ride into the stop where I will catch the bus to the airport. But the bus only runs every hour and half or so, so I plan to catch the bus that will get me to the airport at around 12:45 so that I will have plenty of time to figure everything out before my flight at 3:15. 

My biggest concern is navigating the airport in Leeds because I think I might have to go out of the airport and then back through security. Since RyanAir is a subpar airline, they only offer single flights. So I had to buy a roundtrip ticket from Montpellier to Leeds and another one from Leeds to Dublin (I may have already mentioned that). Therefore, I am not certain how my switch in Leeds will work. Fortunately I have a decent amount of time, and I am not checking on any baggage so I will not have to wait at the carousel, but I’m pretty sure I will have to go thru customs and all. I guess I will find out tomorrow! I hate how much anxiety these kinds of things cause me, I was anxious to the point of nausea on Monday and Tuesday, and today has not been much better. Sometimes my anxiety is out of control! I will be happy when I’m finally in Dublin and speaking to Dabbs in person, because only then will I believe it is really possible…haha.

The other thing I didn’t want to forget was about cooking with Peter. Yesterday before I left for work, Peter proposed that he and Claire and I cook dinner together that night. I, wanting nothing more than to spend time with people and loving to cook, of course accepted. So when I got back from work, we set to work. Peter made tea and Claire turned on some music...I believe it was Bing Crosby…but I can’t say for certain. I need to ask Peter. Then we set to work…it kind of felt like a Christmas break evening (despite the palm trees blowing outside and the heat inside) which is one of my favorite feelings in the ENTIRE world. I wish I could bottle that feeling and then pour a little on me during a bad day, because it can brighten the darkest of moods. Peter taught me how to make Spaghetti Bolognese and bread pudding, plus we made a huge salad with approximately a thousand different vegetables (and grapefruit which was interesting). We worked for THREE HOURS!! Peter was in “really good form” last night, as Claire says. Apparently he has some sort of pretty serious heart condition plus a slipped disk at the moment, so he is on a lot of medication and some days he really doesn’t do well. He spends all day in bed most days and usually can’t be up for too long because he is in so much pain and his heart problem acts up. But last night, he was up the whole time telling me what to cut and how and where to put what, dancing around the kitchen, singing along at the top of his lungs with the music, and smiling and laughing the whole time. Words can’t explain how much fun last night was—definitely the highlight of week 2!!!

Today when I got home from work, Peter was watching "To Sir, With Love". I LOVE that movie. The first time I watched it, I was with my mom and dad and I distinctly remember that night for some reason. Anyway, it made me really, really miss home and my family, but I enjoyed watching it with Peter too. He had a lot of insight into the background too because he grew up in Britain and he was old enough to remember that period. So his comments and insight were very interesting. As my mom predicted, I cried at the end…but I still loved it! Great movie…and great song too :)

 

I now have less than 7 weeks left here in France, and by the time I get back from Dublin, it will be 6. Also, the students from UofL should be here when I get back from Dublin. And a week after I get back, I FINALLY get to go to Paris to see Josephine and the Starons (the family I lived with in Paris two years ago) whom I absolutely ADORE!! I am sooo excited about that! Then I go to Vienna for a week with Josephine and her friends…then I spend the weekend when I get back in Paris with Josephine’s parents…and then by the time I get back to Montpellier, I have only 3 weeks left!! Things are really starting to pick up…and I’m starting to have SOOO many things to look forward to, which is what I love. Having nothing to do doesn’t suit me very well, as you have probably found.

So with fingers and toes crossed, I will go to bed tonight in the hopes that by this time tomorrow I will be suffering the sarcasm and humor of Dabbs ;)

“Eventually all things fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moment, and know that everything happens for a reason.” -Albert Schweitzer