Few quick things…
I fixed the comment system and I will be posting a long update in the next few days about my first days in Europe and my two weeks in Paris. I have recently uploaded a few new photos from my trip over on my photoblog, http://www.writtenphoto.com
52 rolls of film.
Canon 20D.
Yashica - A 120 Film
Camera.
10-22mm 2.8 lens.
28-70 2.8 lens.
70-200mm lens.
50mm 1.8 lens.
At 11:55am CST today (Tuesday the 15th of January, 2008) I will be leaving on a 50-person jet to the Newark, New Jersey airport. From there I will be taking an overnight flight, arriving into Geneva, Switzerland at around 7:50am. This will be the second time I have ever flown; the first time I have flown over the Atlantic; and the first time I have ever traveled alone. Right now my spirits are very high. Even though I am leaving a wonderful group of family and friends, I am looking forward to my three months exploring a new continent.
It is really refreshing when people are just down-right friendly. It just makes things a lot easier, especially when you are leaving everything you know behind. Today, right after saying good-bye to my mom, I was greeted by the smiling face of a security lady all but willing to pick-up my bags and dance them across the airport to my destination. Not only did she have a sense of humor over hand checking my 52 rolls of film, she also seemed interested in where I was going. The last time I flew, on my way back to Nashville from Chicago’s Midway airport, I was yelled at for not pushing my bags through.
The flight to Geneve (which is French for Geneva, and therefore, is sophisticated, and I want to sound sophisticated) was very interesting. I had never been on a plane with little TV screens on the back of the seats, but most of my time was spent writing or listening to the classic rock station. I was very disappointed with the “Hot in Japan” channel, nothing too exciting playing on there, though I did get a few good J-pop songs. Nothing too exciting happened, with the exception of a kid who found the remote for the lights a little to interesting. Right before landing I started feeling nauseated and my hands started to go numb, but I wasn’t about to throw up on an airplane. Once in the Geneve airport everything was very simple and straight forward, you walked down a ramp into the baggage pickup and then straight out of security. The guy checking my passport was straight out of a NY cop show; he looked very much like the guy from The Shield, except I imagine that the cop in The Shield doesn’t speak french.
Dominique, the music producer/editor living in Fred Clarke’s apartment, was there waiting for me with my name on a sign. He is the embodiment of what I thought a french man would be like; he swears, he hates society, and he smokes… a lot. The first thing he said to me was, “Society is shit,” he then continued ranting for a little bit about society’s problems and how drivers are terrible in Geneve, which seems to be a constant complaint no matter where you are in the world. After arriving to the apartment, and noticing a distinct cigarette smell, I organized my stuff, set up my bed on the couch and took a nap….
I made it to Geneva all in one piece (though I almost lost some lunch near the end of the flight). I have been working on a long update about the flights and my first impressions, but that will have to come later, I am going to take a short nap then go out; I’ll update before I go to bed tonight.