Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

My study abroad experience officially started on Saturday May 19th, but my adventure actually began a few days earlier.  Wednesday evening, May 16th, I loaded up my car after work and drove the two hours south to my parent's house in Burnsville.  They were to take care of my cat, Harvey, while I was a way and give me a ride to the airport for my flight the next morning.  It is very handy having a father who works there and has to be at work at approximately the same time that I need to be there to make my flight.

My first flight of the day left MSP at about 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 17th.  When I checked in there was an error concerning my checked bag, which should be free for international flights, but it was quickly resolved and my credit card refunded.  I just had to re-check it once I arrived at JFK.  One of my classmates, Cindy, was on the same flights as me, so I had someone to chat with while we waited to board.  Amazingly our flight arrived at JFK early and all my airport business was quickly taken care of.

Since Cindy and I had such a long layover, we decided to take the train to the Lower East Site Tenement Museum.  I had heard so many great things about this site and it lived up to its reputation.  A must see if you get the chance.  I really need to go back as we were only able to take one of their tour options.  After a great lunch at a little cafe up the bock, Cindy and I took the "Hard Times" tour at 2:00 p.m.  The tour featured the stories of two families, one from the 1870s and one from the 1930s, and their experience living in the community during hard economic times.  This tour is a version of the site's original tour from when they first opened.

Our guide on the front steps before entering the building.

The tour was well done, but our guide did run a little long, which made us nervous.  We needed to leave as close to 3:00 p.m. as possible to make the train back to the airport in time to get ready for our flight.  Even with the beginning of rush hour traffic, we made it back on time.  We returned to JFK with plenty of time to get through security, grab some dinner, and catch our 7:55 p.m. flight.  Once aboard the airplane, we were pleasantly surprised to find yet another of our classmates aboard.  Bryce was sitting a row behind me and recognized us as we boarded.  He did confess that he double checked our identity by consulting our "mug shot" sheet that the university set out to us.  After some delays on the runway, we were in the air by 9:00 p.m.  I was really headed to France!!!