IAD-LHR-NCE

30/1-31/1
Friday night I had a late night flight to London with British airways from Dulles. I had never flown this airline and was pleasantly surprise when 1) I was able to check in online (despite being in the country longer than allowed for without a visa.. I didn’t really get that, since AF and United I know do not allow it), 2) I got to just drop my bags off after waiting in a one person line, 3) even though both bags were surely overweight, they only “noticed” one and therefore only charged me $45!, 4) I got my boarding passes for both flights and then when I got to the security line, it was non-existent! After going through that I got straight on the mobile lounge to the gate and there I was with plenty of time to spare. Things started off well with an announcement by a person with a British accent! And apparently all the British people in America are hanging out on BA flights, as it was chocked full of them. Yay for accents! All the flight crew were also British and we got to hear such lovely messages from them like “it was a pleasure indeed to have you aboard” and the word “journey” said like a million times (because apparently its not a trip, flight, ride, etc - whatever “journey” is cooler)!. After we made it to London, on a short 6 hr flight, we had to circle around in a holding pattern (I’m thinking like 5 times maybe, it was awhile) and I could see London in the distance!! After we got to the airport I was bombarded with things spelled with “u’s” and Cadbury chocolates and people talking in accents so thick I almost didn’t even recognize it as English and I knew I had to go back. This semester for sure! Heathrow is an insane airport. It is so, so big. I don’t know how anyone can complain about Dulles; Heathrow is like its own city. And inside terminal one where my nice flight left it was like a mall. Harrods and everything! However the with the horrible exchange rate I soon realized that everything was out of my price range, and became bored waiting for my gate to appear on the screen, apparently they only assign it 30-40 minutes before take off, so everyone just waits in this big general holding area. Finally we get the gate and all the other university of Marylanders show up. Then it’s a quick 2 hour flight to nice. The plane goes from London over the channel and then over Paris and over the Alps, finally down to Cannes where the last bit is right along the water. So pretty! Landing in nice was also beautiful. I got my 2 huge bags and went right out, met our realtor and a year long student to take us to our apartment and got right on a bus with my new roommate to find our apartment. The bus trip was a quick one right down the Promenade des Anglais. The weather was a balmy 55 F and the sun was shining and the water was a crystal clear blue reflecting the sun beams. I forgot how very French the architecture and town seemed to me, even despite its beachy-touristy rep. We got off the bus on the Promenade, walked one block up, and there we were on our new street, rue de France, one of the cutest streets I have ever seen! We pass Chinese and Mexican restaurants (you mean they have more than French food in France?!) and a souvenir shop and a post office until we get to our building right next to a pharmacie, with a purple door! The lobby is really cute and our names are already on the buzzer and mailbox. A guy who worked for the agency helped us with our bags and showed us to our apartment on the deuxieme etage. It also has a purple door, and although we hadn’t really seen any photos of the place before hand, turned out to be a great place! It’s open and has a cute little balcony, our room isn’t too small, and I’m surprised by the amount of space in the bathroom. One of our biggest issues thus far has been space! There is one wardrobe and a little chest with 2 large drawers and 2 small. We both brought tons of clothes and had to be creative to fit it all in. There are tons of shelves in the living room without anything really on them, and there is even a TV! Bad news is that our fridge is miniscule and the freezer is nonexistent. The French guy continued to ramble on about every detail of our apartment in French to us after we had gotten off a series of 2 international flights; I think we’ll be lucky if we remember it all. At this point it was somehow already 5 pm so we went to the Monoprix off of Rue Jean Medecin (right near our old hotel for the France trip) and got some (aka too much.. more than we could carry) groceries. The street we walk to get there, Rue de France turns into Rue Massena and it’s so cute; filled with cafes, ice cream places and shops. And Jean Medecin is also impressive, big name stores and a new futuristic tram that rums right down the middle. I’m glad that nice has so much to offer besides the beach. It’s truly a big city and is so French and I love it!