Je suis arrive!
I met one of my first friends at INSEAD at the Terminal. Her luggage had been misplaced so she'd spent several hours at the airport already and you could see that she was quite tired. Add to that the aforementioned grimy feel of that specific terminal at CDG and you've got yourself an antsy friend - but she was still pretty chill and fun to hang out with. We chatted about travel through India, our respective trips to INSEAD, Canada, stereotypes and what we're waiting to see at INSEAD to reinforce or negate certain "myths" - also realized we have a bit in common - i.e. mainly out love for swimming :)
So we hung out waiting for another INSEAD friend - he was coming in from Islamabad - except that she and I kept looking at Istanbul when we were checking arrival time. Initially he was to arrive at 2pm, which got delayed to 3:50pm and then pulled back to 3:15pm.
At some point around 4pm, she asks me to watch the exit area while she grabs a bit of water. In the few minutes she steps away and I'm asked to hold down the fort, there's an ad for a TV show featuring this really talented juggler - mind you this is being played on a TV right above the exit door (from the baggage claim) which, in my defense, is a horrible place to put a TV.
ANYhow, the juggler was dribbling four basketballs while standing on a wheel-less skateboard on top of a cylinder. Yeah, that's right - it was pretty damn cool.
And yes, that is precisely when our mutual friend exited, did not see anyone remotely interested in his exit from the terminal - he was also looking for a girl (since she'd done the email coordination) - and had walked on out to the taxi area to try to find out shuttle driver. LUCKILY for us the shuttle driver walked into the terminal at precisely the same time - in fact they walked past each other.
After waiting for another 30 minutes, we started to look around for other signs of interested parties and eventually our friend from Islamabad made his way back to the terminal where we were all reunited!
The drive from CDG to Fontainebleau felt like any other long drive in any other city in the world! I kid you not. Sometimes I felt like I was driving through the midwest in USA, while at others I felt like it was New England area. Eventually, after missing several signs pointed directly for Fontainebleau we arrived at our respective homes.
I was lucky enough to meet one of my housemates, who, after leaving me alone in my room to unpack for a little while, suggested that we exit to get a few beers & crepes.
This was my first night in France and I sure as heck was going to spend it drinking a couple of beers and eating Crepes!!!
Krestel being the first beer we tasted - I recommend all of you reading this to give it a taste - don't chug it or go get a 12 pk to get drunk off it or any such thing. Just taste it - amazingly fresh and refreshing. What a first sip that was...
The Galettes, Salades, and Crepes were equally delicious... and our entire experience was really something to remember - even a slightly humorous episode that consisted of someone at the restaurant breaking a chair while sitting on it (wasn't me) - we watched him descend slowly from seat height to the floor and it was quite the odd but really hilarious moment. Everyone at Les Caves De Martins enjoyed that... And that was my first night in France!
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