To sum it all up.

Wow. I guess I should give an update in case you've been worried about me the past three months. heh - ok, maybe not.

I got to the airport 13 hours early for my flight and chilled there all night. Airport security (non-existent as far as I could see) didn't seem to mind. I didn't sleep.

The flight to Frankfurt was short and sweet and right over the Alps, which was too cool. Being in Germany was a trip, even for just a second. Airport security looked like they were going to war.

I didn't know that the Air Canada desk was at the gate, so I searched the terminal for it for a while and then asked some guy at the passport checking desk. That's different than all of the other airports I've been to (Toronto, Montreal, Paris, Orlando, Pittsburg).

I sat next to a very nice architect on the Frankfurt to Montreal trip and we talked quite a bit and watched a movie (forget which one now). I got a ride from Montreal to Ottawa with my step-mother, who (by terrific luck) happened to be in Montreal on business the same day and got out of her meetings about an hour before my flight got in. Considering how much of a nightmare it was getting to the Nice airport, it was nice to see everything go smoothly after that.

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Since then I've been going to school, which is going well. I also got back into co-op, which means I'm working in January.

Well, it was nice knowing this blog. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it and I hope it helps anyone going to France to get to know the place a little. I didn't see too many of these when I was searching on the net before the trip.

If I had to choose whether or not to do it again, I'd probably still go. The only thing I'd do differently is get a car right off the bat. Who knows, with a car I might have stayed the full 16 months just for the atmosphere instead of just 3. The job would have sucked, but I could have worked somewhere else, of course.

I still remember the lady at the Ministry of Health here in Ottawa telling me this trip to France would change my life. Even after 3 months, it did. When I imagine spending 16 months there it boggles my mind.

I don't want to worry you nice people, but Waldemar's car was towed last night so I no longer have a drive to airport. I'm going to try to get there right now and stay there (it's about 4:30pm and the flight leaves at 6:50am). Tomorrow is a holiday here and I don't want to chance anything. It's a good thing I've already shifted my sleep - I won't fall asleep at the airport. That's right folks, I'm already on Eastern Standard Time. I knew my weird sleeping habits would come in handy.

See you in Canada.

Just over two days left. I'll be flying into Montreal at 11:50am on Wednesday the 15th. Actually, here's the whole schedule:

Leave Nice: 6:50am
Arrive Frankfurt: 8:30am
Duration: 1h 40m
Airline: Lufthansa

Leave Frankfurt: 10:00am
Arrive Montreal: 11:50am
Duration: 7h 50m
Airline: Air Canada

The 15th is a holiday here, so I'm going to get a ride to the airport at around mignight or so and just hang out there until my flight leaves. I have The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring to finish.

I don't know how much I'm going to be updating this journal when I get back, but at least one more round of pictures (of Germany) will be posted. Thanks for sticking with this thing for 3 months ... that's some good dedication. :) I look forward to seeing all of you.

Until then ...

9 days to go ...

Yep, a countdown is necessary. heh. Still don't know what time my flight is leaving/arriving on the 15th, but I can tell you this: instead of going Nice-Paris-Montreal-Ottawa on Air France, it's going to be Nice-Frankfurt-Montreal on Lufthansa. It was all I could get on short notice during peak season ...

Dale has gone to Canada and won't be back before my last day, the 14th - so work is going to be relaxing, if that's possible. I've been spending a lot of time here just doing side-projects and fooling around. You can take the man off the Internet but you can't take the Internet out of the man ...

Went to the Carrefour (not spelled right) yesterday in Antibes. The place was packed like it was Christmas because it's closed on Sunday. It is one of the biggest stores I've ever seen - it's like a Walmart attached to a huge supermarket. There isn't anything you can't buy there ... now imagine thousands of people walking around aimlessly like they were in there for the first time. At least people in North America know how to walk the aisles. :)

One cool thing about the shopping carts here: the back wheels swivle like the front ones so you can pull it sideways! Truly amazing. It would be a lot harder to manage a stack of a couple dozen of them though.

Whoa ... it's been a while. :)

I went to Nice to meet Anny Friday morning. We got a double room with the hostel, but it was in a different building north of the train station, about 10 minutes walk from the hostel. I guess we were lucky though, because everyone we talked to at the hostel was either in a sauna (upper floor) or a dungeon (basement), complete with mould and two pet rats. Our room was pretty good, I must say - and only about 40 bucks a night for the two of us.

Anny was a bit jet lagged (long flight, lots of problems) so we took a quick 2 hour siesta and then went in search of food. After that we went back to the hostel where there is a pseudo-patio setup where the people staying in the hostel sit and have a few drinks and get to know each other, etc. We headed down to the beach and went to a open-air beach party, which was pretty good. The friskin' guys at the door took my Swiss Army knife (that I was using as a bottle opener) for the night ...

On saturday night we did the same sit-at-the-hostel, go-to-the-beach but then we went to a bar on the main drag called FORVM (Forum). It was pretty cool inside, but relatively small. Drinks weren't too expensive, but the cover charge was 100F (~20 CAN$) - yeah ouch. I think it was worth it though - it was my first night in decent club since I got here. :) And the company was good too - at the hostel we ran into a girl from Kitchener, Anca and a guy from Michigan that hade travelled together from Bordeaux. The guy from Michigan, Scott, had just lived a month and a half in southwest Germany where he worked in Switzerland. We also met an Australian girl, Nicole, that has been a live-in nanny for two years in Switzerland and more recently London. The club was open until about 6am, I think - but we left around 4. I don't know about those guys, but my feet and knees were blown ... they still are today. A lot of good walkin' was done this weekend, fo' sho'.

The funny thing was, I brought my camera and took no pictures. *sigh* ... :)

BTW, return flight is confirmed for the 15th of August. It was a hard time finding something this short notice, but I bugged the travel agent enough so she helped me. :) I'll be going through Frankfurt, Germany on the way back instead of Paris - flying Luftansa Airlines. See y'all soon.

Talked to Dale about a departure date today. Looks like I'll aim for a flight on Wednesday the 15th of August. Now I just have to change my flight ...

As far as I know, I'll be back before the 15th of August. I'll try to nail down a date tomorrow. Also doing a huge walking tour of Nice this weekend (probably Sunday) .... I plan on taking all 150 pictures ....

... that reminds me, I need batteries ... (how do I tell them that because of the unfreezing process I have no inner monologue?)