The South of France

Life is so funny, isn't it? It seems you make plans to break them. I had a perfectly planned out two week vacation with Anna, my friend visiting France from the USA. Well, a little something called THE STRIKES of the train conductors stopped that. Oh France, and the crazy strikes that screw up everyone's schedule. So, we were stranded, at the train station, no way back to my little town. Yet in the end, it turned out better than I had planned it. We stayed with an English teacher and had a comfortable bed instead of sleeping on an overnight train and me having a panic attack because of claustrophobia. Then, we were re-routed to Paris the next day, and I got to store my HUGE bag that Anna is going to take back with her to the USA for me (the airlines have reduced their baggage policy). We will pick it up after Nice when we go to Paris.

We finally arrived in Marseilles and stayed with an American family that has been living in France for 18 years. So, I am jealous of their children who speak two languages. The kids seem American with the accent and all that, but really they are French and have spent their whole life in Marseilles. Their American parents even discussed how weird it is when they have cultural conflicts with their children. Anyway, the father ended up going to the SAME high school as me. Go Eagles! It's such a small world. Also, on the train from Sarrebourg, there were four Americans, one of them being a Nashvillian and all of them going to college in Kentucky. Yes, in fact, "it's a small world after all." As my father said, "Disney was right."