Your train leaves at 10:49. You wake up at 8, finish packing, eat breakfast, and say goodbye to Anne Charlotte. You leave the apartment at 9:45 to get to the train station by around 10:15. When you get to the bus stop, a bus is just leaving. You try to wave him down but he wags his finger at you to say no. So you wait ten minutes for the next bus. Next thing you know, it's somehow 10:30 and the bus is still basically where you got on. So you jump off the bus and into a taxi. The taxi driver tells you it's a ten minute drive. Then, next thing you know, it's 10:47 and you pull up in front of the train station, throw money at the driver, and start running like a crazy person screaming things like "Où est Hall 2?!" and "À quelle voie est le train pour Nice?!" and then a French man says to you in English "Too late, gone." and you have a panic attack for a minute. That's when you realize maybe you're really not that calm in stressful situations like you say in all your job interviews so maybe you should rethink that statement.
After that, though, you do some breathing exercises, accept the fact that you're buying a new train ticket, and get in line. When you get to the front, your card doesn't work and you have another mini panic attack until you realize your card never works in those machines and you always have to type in the numbers but for some reason you can't do that in France. Luckily you have an amazing friend named Sydnie who buys your ticket for you and you now owe her big time. Then you call your professor, explain what happened, and everything is fine. So you sit on a bench and stare at a wall for two hours. Then you get on the train with plenty of time to spare.
Okay, stop imagining.
When I got on the train, I was not a happy camper. Which should not happen when you are on a train through the French countryside on your way to Nice. I tried to tell myself that these things happen, but all I could think about were questions like "What if that bus driver had just stopped and waited for us? What if I had woken up 15 minutes earlier? What if I drank my grapefruit juice a little bit faster?" (Side note: One time I read a book/short story/something that was about a girl making the choice between milk and orange juice in the morning, and how that choice changed her day completely. I don't know if I believe it or not, but still: "What if I had chosen milk?")
That's when I decided that all these things needed to go away so I could enjoy the rest of my trip. So I filled my headphones with Trevor Hall, got out a piece of paper, and wrote down everything I was mad or unhappy about. By the time I was done, I was feeling a million times better, so I made a list (I've realized I make a lot of lists) of things I should remember.
- Everything happens for a reason. You may never know that reason.
- You are never alone.
- I'm going to be in Nice, France for the next week, and there's a beach there.
- Things will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.
After that I listened to the song "Carry On" by fun. and enjoyed the amazing scenery that was outside my window.
I made it to Nice. I met my new host, Colette, who is an incredible cook. I have my own beautiful room. I spent the day at church, where I met a missionary that knows people from my high school, and then walking along the beach of the Azur Coast.
Even after all that madness, this honestly could not be more perfect.
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