Up To Speed, Day One

My adventure began the 5th of July, this past sunday. I arrived at SEATAC at 5:30 in the morning (waaaaay to early by the way) and then I said goodbye to mom and dad and went through check in then on to the other side, the great beyond of arrivals and departures. I went and sat by the windows and renamed a bunch of songs on zune to pass the time (3 hours!). Then the time finally came when I felt I could go and wait for boarding outside the gate so I moseyed over, found the gate and also found a Tully's so I bought a sandwich to eat when I got hungry.
And so I boarded the plane.
It was an uneventful and relatively short trip. I had a layover in Chicago so the flight was about 4 hours I think. I sat on the isle which was fine, though I do like to sit by the window I have discovered a new liking for the isle-more space! Next to me sat a German boy, roughly my age and we talked a bit but not much. I read The Hobbit to pass the time and played some cards. We finally landed and I hade 3 hours to kill before my next flight. So I found my gate, sat down, and ate my sandwich and played a bit more on my computer. There were people all around speaking french so it was interesting to just listen as well.
When the time came I packed up, stood in line, and then boarded the plane. I walked all the way to the back of the plane. I was again on the isle and I was sitting in the second to last row of the plane. This plane was bigger however so I was on the right of the center three seats with a row of 2 seats on either side. I ended up sitting next to an Albanian boy, named Valdetch? and nicknamed Nino, who will be a junior next year and then next to him a very talkative and friendly Serbian older gentleman. I finished The Hobbit of that flight and also had some very fun and interesting conversations with the two previously mentioned people. That flight was too long, 8 hours I believe but the conversation made the time move by faster.
Then we landed in Paris! At Charles De Gaulle airport! I was excited and also scared, you can imagine! France! With french people and everything written in French! I got off the plane, went through customs (uneventful, they just stamped my passport and sent me on my way), then found baggage claim and claimed my bag. All through this I was trying and trying my cell, trying to get the thing to call home so I could have someone to talk to. But though T-mobile assured me that it would work I couldn't get service anywhere. I actually wasn't that worried or freaked out at this point. It was like one of those times that you read about in a book where it everything seems like a dream. I was just walking, through CDG which is huge by the way. I knew I had to get some money out of the machine and that I had to buy my train (TGV) ticket so those were my goals and I had a focus which kept me level. I asked the help guy (in french) and he told me where to go to get both of those things. I got the money and then I walked for EVER to get to the train section to buy my ticket. I asked again to be directed to where to buy the TGV tickets and I went there. The man I finally bought it from was very kind and he spoke english to me. With both my ticket and my money I started thinking about my phone again. It still didn't work and I couldn't get online because I didn't know how to set up paying for WiFi in the airport se that was when I began to get panicky. I started walking all the way back through the airport trying to find someplace that might sell phones and also to relocate a public computer I had remembered passing. I found the computer but it kicked me off before I could send an email so I kept going. Then I bought a pay card and found a public telephone and called home. Mom answered and she told me to turn my cell off then on again. I did so. What do ya know but I had service! The world was better again, well slightly for I was still in a foreign country alone.
After that I had to just figure out what to do before my train which was at 1 and it was about 10:30 at this time. So I sat and charged my phone and read and tried not to cry.
Getting on the train was a bother too. I couldn't figure out where to go for the longest time and then I gave in and asked the information lady. She told me and I went, sat, waited, then boarded the train after running down to the opposite end (I was at the back not the front of the train). I got on and... couldn't find my seat! Holy Crap will this travel story never end!!! Well my suit case is large and heavy and after walking from one end of the car to the other I just gave up and say in the closest available seat. I t was fine, the train ride was 3 hours long and I slept for about an hour and a half.
Then the ticket taker came by.
Of course he told me to move, in French, and pointed vaguely down to the other end of the car and so I dragged out my luggage and schlepped down there. My seat was not at the end of the car so I wnt through the door into the little loading space between cars (all closed in, not open to the air) left my big case in there and went into the next car which was about four rows of seats, very small. I asked if my seat was in there and they said no. So out I went and asked the other ticket taker where my seat was. He told me is didn't exist!! He said I was on the right train going to Avignon and in the right car, #8, but that seat #1 did not exist. So I went back into the muddle section and sat down on a sad little fold down chair with luggage and a odd girl with a cigarette that wasn't lit thank goodness! After a few moments sitting there wondering how I would get comfortable, a young man (Russian I think) from the small car came out and asked me if I wanted to sit in an empty chair in their car. I said sure! I ended up sitting next to a woman and her 10 year old son and across from the nice Russian backpackers. After a few stops the Russian boys got off and three loud and charismatic french sisters took their place. The whule thing was great! I talked with the sisters who spoke some english and also with the french boy and his mother. A 9mo old little girl then came back with her father and she was soooo cute and started playing cars with the boy. The whole thing turned out wonderful!!!
When the train stopped I got off, found Margaux and her mother and her brother and we went home.
Once there, three of Margaux's friends came over and we went swimming in her pool! It was a lot of fun and the were really nice and I never felt uncomfortable once. Then we had dinner which consisted of bread, salad with spicy fresh sauce, a sort of thin pizza, some rice, mushroom and eggplant stew, and then finished it off with yogurt (I had a cherry one).
So that was day one. I hope you didn't get too bored reading it all. I'll try not to make my next ones as long, but I just have soooo much to say!!