Feb 11, 2012

Welcome to Europe! Your life starts Here!

This is my first post from the other end of the Atlantic Ocean, from the Old Continent. It's not still my home yet, as I'm in Paris, not in Budapest, but I am at my beloved Europe! My hair hasn't wasted a minute and it's already acting European, which means it has gotten straight, flat against my skull and shiny. Yes, you could say it's the effect of the beanie I've been wearing all day long, but that's not it.

This trip has been as emotional as expected, and maybe even more. Though I managed to keep my feelings in check the whole time prior to the trip, when I was already in my dad's car, with all my belongings packed in almost six suitcases, I saw my mom from the porch with her eyes watering. There she was, seeing us go, ready to smile and wave if she noticed we were looking ah her, and hide her tears, and yet I saw her try to hold back tears that reddened her eyes. This broke my levees and soon my face was streaming with tears I couldn't stop. At the airport my dad held me real hard and real long and we told each other that we loved each other. I once again fought to control my tears and had them on a perilous check, and masking the rest with an allergy outburst.

After all the drama and all the fear, the luggage was checked-in with no major concern. The lady at the counter said we had right to two pieces of luggage, but of 32 Kg combined, so she charged us for the surplus an amount that was half of what we expected to pay for extra luggage. Then, as she assumed we were either newlywed or to be married -  and would spend the night at Paris as a romantic evening - she arranged for our luggage to be sent straight to Budapest, not to Paris as it was originally going to happen. :-)

On the plane to Bogotá, however, as I took my last glances at the ariport of Costa Rica, and saw the buses and cars out there, I couldn't stop thinking of my mom and I've got crying again. As silently as I could, but I had to turn my head like an owl and hide behind my hair to keep people from seeing my tears. It was the saddest moment ever. :-( Then I realized my boyfriend was crying too, and that got me laughing.

"Why are you crying? Ain't like it's you leaving your momma."
"Because I know what this means, and Ive feelings too."

Sweet, yeah... so damned corny! That was such an Ingalls answer to give! However I lightened up by pulling at him and laughing at him "Cry baby, cry baby!". It did was strange, and it was even stranger that he would assume I believed he has no feelings. I know he does! He has more feelings than I do!

Things got better after we embarked the plane to Paris. As usual, it was delayed and it arrived with an hour of delay. Not that it mind anything to us. The food was awesome, as usual, and even my boyfriend was won over by Air France, telling me that whenever the price was right (and that accepts a little over the price of KLM), we would always choose Air France over any other airline. I was more than pleased. To my delight, they also had Puss on Boots for movies, so I checked on that, but soon after fall asleep. We had great seats, wih plenty of legroom to stretch, so I slept fabulously. Kari somehow managed not to sleep, for which at the hotel he laid down while I checked out the Sacre Coeur. It was supposed to be -5°C (like 19°F), but either I was clad in a LOT of clothes, or it wasn't that cold.

Later on, I went back for Kari and called a good friend of mine who lives here and whom I haven't seen in ages. He was available, and we met for a drink. It was great to see him again and catch up on each other's lives. ^_^ I hope that now that we are on the same side of the world, we can see more of each other and keep up the contact.

From there we went to Louvre, which was closing, but still, and finished the tour of the day with a visit to the famous Eiffel Tower.

This time around the daily tickets worked wonderfully, so Kari and I made plenty of use of the metro system, which allowed us to visit more placed without freezing or asses off in the cooling Parisian night.

I still haven't grasped the whole of my decision. It's still unbelievable to look around and understand that all of this is part of my daily reality now. Paris isn't a faraway concept, it's a place I can visit anytime on a relatively modest budget (compared to before). Winters are my reality, Europe is my reality and I'm not here to visit and spend vacations, I'm here to stay, to live, to make a life and plough a grave for myself here. This is my land, my home, my reality. When is it really going to sink?

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