After my various incidents in Istanbul, I finally landed at Charles De Gaule's Terminal 1 on the outskirts of Paris. Now Terminal 1, the international terminal, is a giant round building and the center are escalators taking you to where you need to be. Everything is in a huge circle. If you walk around the circle it's easy to get around, but if you go through the center things can get pretty hairy.
The first thing I did was follow the signs and go through the TSA security checkpoint. For prople visiting France on holiday from America, U.S. citizens can actually enter France without a physical visa, just your passport, and stay for up to 90 days. This is because of a passport agreement among a large group of countries, including the U.S. and France. However, if you're like me and plan to stay longer, you need a specific visa. If you plan to laze around for 4+ months, you need a special travel visa. If you plan to work, you need a work visa. If you plan to go to school, you need a student visa. I have a work visa specifically for teaching part-time, and that is what I presented to the person at TSA. You show them your visa and the first page of your passport, they give you a stamp, and then you can collect your luggage.
Remember that I said that Terminal 1 is very confusing. Follow the direction signs as best as you can. Otherwise you WILL get confused. Anyway, I went to collect my luggage and then proceeded to get a taxi. Taxis in France are expensive, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you were in a hurry, like me. I knew that public transit wouldn't take me to where I needed to be on time so I opted for a taxi. Especially since my plane left late. If my plane were on time, I would have taken public transit. Anyway, as of now Parisian taxis have set fares from the airports depending on which side of the river you want to be on. For Charles de Gaulle, know that you will never pay over 55 euros. For Orly, know that you will never pay over 35 euros.
I took the taxi to Gare Montparnasse, which ended up being 55 euros, and then I proceeded to get my ticket. At la Gare Montparnasse, you buy your tickets on the second floor. I suggest you go to the left and go to the window if you are not confident you can handle a kiosk yourself. I went to a window because I also decided to buy a carte jeune, which is a discount card for young adults for trains in France and apparently it works in other countries like Italy too. Cool right?
After buying my ticket to Bordeaux (trains don't stop in my town), I only had about 15 minutes to find my platform and get on the train. But guess what? The train ended up being delayed too, but about 45 minutes. I was a bit upset when i realized I could have taken public transit to the train station, but it definitely is better safe than sorry. After the train finally arrived, it took me a while to find my car and seat. I was a bit confused because you are assigned a car and a seat, but it's not immediately obvious which car is which. Be sure to check near the doors, it'll tell you where you need to be.
The ride to Bordeaux was nice, I got to see the great French countryside. France is an advanced country but it still favors the countryside and old-world feel in general. About 3 hours later I arrived in Bordeaux, where I had to transfer to a local train that took me to a town relatively close to where I needed to be. The wait time was about half an hour. The ride itself was about 20 minutes. When I arrived, I was dismayed to find I had to lug my luggage down some stairs, under the tracks, and back up some stairs. I had been dealing with it all day and I was pretty wiped out. I had got to the second set of stairs when Florent Dubois, my contact person and the person who helped with my lodging, came and greeted me. He helped me get my luggage up the stairs, out of the station and into his car so we could drive to Biscarrosse. Thank you, Florent, you are a gem.
The ride into Biscarrosse took my by 2 of the schools I would be teaching at, and Florent was sure to point them out to me. The entire conversation was in French too. I didn't know I remembered so much French, but I guess it really is true that I'm fluent. I can hold my own in conversations and if I don't know a word, an explanation in French definitely works well. Anyway, Florent asked me if I had eaten (which I hadn't) and took me to the local Micky D's so I could get some food in my stomach before finally arriving at my humble abode from which I am writing this post. He handed me the keys and showed me how everything works, and then left me to my devices.
I unpacked at that moment and then showered after a long journey, and got ready for bed. If you want to see pictures of my apartment interior, please check out the photo gallery. I won't take pictures of the outside because I don't want creepers showing up on my door.
Cheers~~~
Instagram: @mochaventure
Remember that I said that Terminal 1 is very confusing. Follow the direction signs as best as you can. Otherwise you WILL get confused. Anyway, I went to collect my luggage and then proceeded to get a taxi. Taxis in France are expensive, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you were in a hurry, like me. I knew that public transit wouldn't take me to where I needed to be on time so I opted for a taxi. Especially since my plane left late. If my plane were on time, I would have taken public transit. Anyway, as of now Parisian taxis have set fares from the airports depending on which side of the river you want to be on. For Charles de Gaulle, know that you will never pay over 55 euros. For Orly, know that you will never pay over 35 euros.
I took the taxi to Gare Montparnasse, which ended up being 55 euros, and then I proceeded to get my ticket. At la Gare Montparnasse, you buy your tickets on the second floor. I suggest you go to the left and go to the window if you are not confident you can handle a kiosk yourself. I went to a window because I also decided to buy a carte jeune, which is a discount card for young adults for trains in France and apparently it works in other countries like Italy too. Cool right?
After buying my ticket to Bordeaux (trains don't stop in my town), I only had about 15 minutes to find my platform and get on the train. But guess what? The train ended up being delayed too, but about 45 minutes. I was a bit upset when i realized I could have taken public transit to the train station, but it definitely is better safe than sorry. After the train finally arrived, it took me a while to find my car and seat. I was a bit confused because you are assigned a car and a seat, but it's not immediately obvious which car is which. Be sure to check near the doors, it'll tell you where you need to be.
The ride to Bordeaux was nice, I got to see the great French countryside. France is an advanced country but it still favors the countryside and old-world feel in general. About 3 hours later I arrived in Bordeaux, where I had to transfer to a local train that took me to a town relatively close to where I needed to be. The wait time was about half an hour. The ride itself was about 20 minutes. When I arrived, I was dismayed to find I had to lug my luggage down some stairs, under the tracks, and back up some stairs. I had been dealing with it all day and I was pretty wiped out. I had got to the second set of stairs when Florent Dubois, my contact person and the person who helped with my lodging, came and greeted me. He helped me get my luggage up the stairs, out of the station and into his car so we could drive to Biscarrosse. Thank you, Florent, you are a gem.
The ride into Biscarrosse took my by 2 of the schools I would be teaching at, and Florent was sure to point them out to me. The entire conversation was in French too. I didn't know I remembered so much French, but I guess it really is true that I'm fluent. I can hold my own in conversations and if I don't know a word, an explanation in French definitely works well. Anyway, Florent asked me if I had eaten (which I hadn't) and took me to the local Micky D's so I could get some food in my stomach before finally arriving at my humble abode from which I am writing this post. He handed me the keys and showed me how everything works, and then left me to my devices.
I unpacked at that moment and then showered after a long journey, and got ready for bed. If you want to see pictures of my apartment interior, please check out the photo gallery. I won't take pictures of the outside because I don't want creepers showing up on my door.
Cheers~~~
Instagram: @mochaventure
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