It didn't start out easy

I have described some of the recent events that happened in my time abroad, but I want to document the beginning of my stay while it is still fresh in the old noodle. As my 2 readers know, I chose to move abroad and pursue a masters of arts in international business and would be completing the classroom part of my degree in Rennes, France. I purchased a round trip ticket and was planning to leave the beginning of September and will make my return to the US in early May. I was excited for the new adventure in my life and honestly was not nervous as I had been away before when I spent 4 months in Dublin, Ireland. I think this time my family realized I was going, because when I first told people I was heading to Ireland they all thought I was just blowing smoke up their ass's because apparently I can not be organized enough to do this. Well I have done just enough to get here. I was registered for school and had reserved a residence that I would be living in for the duration of my stay in Rennes. I was set and ready to move to France.
My good friend Megan drove me to the airport in Des Moines at like a quarter to 5 in the morning. I boarded my miniature plane to Houston, Texas where I had quite the lay over. I sat there for awhile and got bored, so I purchased a $9 Sports Illustrated to do some light reading. I got a Facebook notification from my eventual roommate Ryan that said the place we were supposed to live was overbooked somehow and that I would be homeless when I got to France. Great, I am going to a country where I don't speak the language and will have no place to live. Also, I somehow picked the day where the school welcome team would not be meeting me at the train station to bring me to where I needed to go. To sum it up, I had no idea what to do. Hell, I already bought the plane ticket, so there was no turning back now. I emailed my dad, to let him know what was up, but I wasn't going to tell my mother until I safely landed thousands of miles away from her. After getting my last taste of Buffalo wings and a few brewskies I boarded my plane to head to France where things were going to be very uncertain. I don't get too worked up about things like this as things in my life have always had a way of figuring themselves out so I remained calm. I just needed to get to Rennes so I can figure out the next chapter of my life.
This was not the first time that I had been in the Paris airport. I had been to Paris before in high school, but was apart of a tour group and basically just followed the leader. This time I was completely on my own, so it could be a bit more difficult. I knew I needed to take a train to Rennes, but I had no idea where the train station would be. I should have looked that up before I came. Well, I lucked out and there was a train station at one of the terminals in the airport. Went through customs and had no problem and started reading signs to find a train station. Hey its close, this isn't going to be hard. I got in this enormous line and waited to buy my ticket. I was talking to an American lady ahead of me who was visiting friends and through chatting had just completed a global MBA so we had something to talk about. I was a little tired from the transatlantic plane ride so I didn't hit on her. I wished her good luck and went to purchase my ticket. I politely asked for a ticket to Rennes and got a dumbfounded look. She spoke English, but had no idea what I wanted. Turns out I was in the wrong damn line. This was the RER line which was the train that went from the airport into the center of Paris. Son of a bee sting, I just waited like for a freaking hour to find out this news. I was directed to a terminal across the airport where I could purchase a ticket to Rennes.
I waited in another long line, but I was for sure in the right place. I got to the ticket counter and ordered my ticket to Rennes. The man said that the train to Rennes was leaving in 5 minutes and I didn't have enough time so I would have to wait a few hours for the next one. Great, if I would have come to the right station in the first place I would be in my seat on my way to Rennes. Of course this would happen. I have my ticket and a few hours to kill so I figured I would be a good son and find one of those computers I could pay for internet to let the rents know that I landed in Paris. I don't know why they, and in they, my mom worries. Who is going to take me and make me a sex slave. I honestly don't think I am on the priority of the Eastern European sex slave market. Plus Liam Neeson is my hero now so I have learned some moves, but I can see being worried if you have a daughter going abroad. From personal experience I have seen how naive and dumb American girls can be, so I do my best to look out for them. I have a friend here from Iowa who I will not name, Rachel, who didn't let her family know she was here and was scared to leave her apartment. We received emails from multiple family members of hers looking for her and they were about to file a missing persons report. Rachel if you ever read this we are still mad at you and a nice gesture would be a beer in our honor.
After being a good son, I headed back to the train station and my train was going to leave in about an hour and a half so I reached in my pocket to grab my ticket. Nothing. Holy shit, I left it back at the computers. Why they hell did I try to be a good son. It always bites you in the ass. I raced back to the computer and of course nothing. So I hustled back to the ticket office and waited in line again. Told my story and then had to pay another 20 euros for my ticket because I got the basic with no protection. I had an hour so I wasn't screwing around anymore. I would go outside and sit by the gate where my train would arrive. I sat and sat. It was getting close and there was no train that had the number I needed. I frantically ran around asking people and many could not help me. I asked conductors walking off the train, train station workers, and anyone who would speak English to me. I found a helpful soul and he took my ticket and took me to a monitor that displayed the departing gates and times. I was not told that the gate on the ticket doesn't matter. You must wait around the screen and it will tell you which train and gate 15 minutes before your train departs. I guess I was supposed to know that. Seems self explanatory right. Absolutely not. That was stupid. I figured out I had missed my second train so I would have to purchase another ticket. I bought that and sat right in front of that monitor for 3 hours so I made sure nothing happened again. Ryan had been there for about a day and graciously offered to pick me up at the train station so I gave him a call on a pay phone and said I would be arriving around 8:30 PM. Yep, I got into Charles De Gaulle airport before 8 AM. What a day.
I stepped off my train in Rennes and had no idea where to go. I didn't know where to meet Ryan and had no way of contacting him so I just walked around. I walked around forever and could not find him. Finally I walked by some seats and saw him. He got up with this other guy who was named Victor and we left. Where do I go? I am homeless. Do i get a park bench and use newspapers for blankets or what? I was told the only place I could go was a hostel. It was the only hostel in Rennes so my hands were tied. We got there and I got a room. It was about 9:30 and the guys asked if I wanted to go out. I was tired, but I needed a drink. We went out to a few places and headed back to the hostel for some much needed sleep. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was down. It had been basically 2 stress filled days since I had rested. I wanted to sleep until like 8 the next night.
At about 10:13 in the morning I awoke to this ridiculously loud banging on the door and not a second later this lady unlocks the door and starts yelling at me. She screamed at me for what was about a minute and I lost it. I popped up in my underwear and started yelling back, what the @#$^ are you yelling about! What do you want crazy lady. I don't speak French and don't know what the hell you are yelling about! She points to a sign that was in both languages in like 8 point Times New Roman font and said that we needed to leave the rooms from 10-2 for cleaning. I have stayed in a few hostels and have never been kicked out for any time including 4 hours. What a joke. She snatched the key out of my hand and tried to push me out the door. Almost didn't make it back in, but I pointed at my lack of pants and put some pants on while she watched and headed down to the lobby to watch some French television and hated life.
Well I ended up staying there for about 4 days, which sucked a big one. I witnessed ISU beat Iowa in football in 3 overtimes there. So yeah, it was awful. We got the best news in days, they found us a temporary residence until they could find us a permanent place. It was a room and we had internet so the first night was great. After a few nights, I was ready to get the hell out. We were trying to deal with orientation and find a place to live, it was a mess. We ended up getting some great news. They had found us a possible apartment where three of us could live. Ryan, Victor, and myself. We met two guys from Canada and they were in the same boat and were also heading over to see some places from this lady. The lady at first did not want to give her rooms to students as in the past some Filipino guys destroyed her places. They must have had some muay thai fights or something. We were showed around for hours seeing some individual studios and things. It was nice the guys from Canada were from Montreal and as much as they resisted the French language, they had grown up with it and were fairly fluent. We ended up at this place with our Canadian friends living below us. We lucked out and got a big apartment for what most people here have. We are in the best location possible as well. Walking distance to about anything besides school, but really whats important. Yep, that's what I thought.
We have a place and life is good... Wait a sec. We had our place, but had no hot water and internet. This was a struggle. Thank the lord we had Victor to call for our water. We signed up for our internet and were told that we had indeed singed up, but it wouldn't turn on for 10-15 days. We would receive 2 texts. The first that said we had signed up and then the second to ensure our internet was working. We got that 2nd text in like 3 days. REJOICE! We had been going to a fast food restaurant named Quick Burger and sneaking upstairs just to get our Facebook time. Ahh Facebook, I miss it. We sat on the floor for like 3 hours trying to figure out this internet. It was a mistake and we did get our internet in the 10 day slot. How is that possible. Things are so relaxed here and it is very frustrating for an American who is used to things happening now. We finally got it. Hot water did not take as long, but we were without hot water and gas for 5 or 6 days. We had to shower at school if we wanted hot water and could not eat anything but sandwiches or anything that was readily available out of the fridge. There were many times when we took freezing showers. They didn't last long, but I know personally I screamed the whole time. It was such a mess for the two weeks or so, but I can now laugh at it. We have a good place and have been doing well from now on.
I just finished season two of Glee and was so mad. When Rachel and Finn kissed after the first song I was so mad I threw my football across the room. They cost nationals. They ruined it and they are going to be seniors next season so they better man up and take nationals or I will flip. So it was not easy to get acclimated here, but it has worked out well. Au revoir.