The morning we left for Strasbourg, I was woken up by Andrew Johnson standing in the doorway of our hotel room saying "You guys are still sleeping? We're leaving in ten minutes." I sat up in bed. "You're joking." "No. We're seriously leaving in ten minutes." "What?" said Kat. "Weren't we supposed to get a wake up call?" "I dunno. Everybody else did. We were all just down at breakfast, wondering where you guys were." "You've got to be fucking kidding me," I said. I looked at Kat. "I'm not even packed!" She looked at me for a few seconds and then went into the bathroom. I shoved everything into my suitcase and got dressed as quickly as I could, cursing every few seconds. We were still late. And it turns out I left my thumb ring in the hotel room. Alright, so it cost like ten dollars, but I've worn that damn thing 24 hours a day for the past 18 months. I miss it.
At the train station Andrew Johnson was annoying the shit out of me for some reason. It's wierd - Kat and I hung out with him a lot while we were in Paris, and he never bothered me then. But the night before we left, when we were all hanging out, people started making fun of him, and I kind of realized "Oh yeah. He is really annoying," which I feel really bad about. By the way, nobody felt like sleeping our last night in Paris, so seven of us - everyone except Kat, Jai and Andrew - hung out in Whitney and Simona's room until about midnight. Then I hung out with them for another two hours. It was like a sleepover. We just sat there in our pajamas and said anything that popped into our heads. I used to think Whitney didn't like me, but now I realize she's just quiet. And Simona's really cool. We listen to the exact same kind of music. She knows all the bands that I know, and she has the same opinion of most of them that I do. When I talk to her, I feel all... cool and connected. Even when I went back to my room, I couldn't sleep for another half an hour or so. So yeah, that's probably partially what made the morning so awful. It was fun though.
Our train was late, and when it finally arrived we had to walk what seemed like about half a mile to get to our car. The train just went on forever. I was exhausted, and by the end I felt like I was struggling just to keep up with the group. But the train itself was a lot better. I'm not sure why, but I love trains. I was very comfortable, and I just listened to music and watched the countryside go by, and eventually got up and bought a kit kat bar from a guy who only spoke German. It was four hours, and I wasn't bored at all.
Maryvonne was late to pick me up. I was incredibly nervous waiting for her, because I knew it was guaranteed to be awkward - everyone who hosted said so. I also had no idea what she looked like, so I couldn't even watch for her. But after five or ten minutes, a girl showed up and looked around uncertainly and said "Aidan?" and I said "Salut," and then she kissed me on either cheek. I'd forgotten about this. It kind of took me by surprise. Maryvonne is a few inches shorter than me, but looks as though she is probably older than me. She is not exactly thin, but it looks good on her. She has convincingly died blond hair and wears a lot of eye makeup. Even when I first met her, I could tell she was one of those people who thrives on being social. It's like she gives off an aura of being popular.
And yeah, it was really awkward.
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