Today is the day my semester in France starts and I truly have no idea what to expect. Grenoble has only been a foreign sounding City to me in the past couple months and today will become my new home.
The plan for my group flight was to fly from JFK to Munich for a brief layover. Then to fly from Munich, Germany to Lyon, France. We would take a bus to Grenoble, then a taxi to the Boston University office. (I never actually took a train this day, but the title sounded better.
Fortunately for me, I live relatively close to JFK and don’t have to purchase a flight to get to JFK like some of my friends had to.
Unfortunately for my dad, this was the 3rd time in 2 weeks he had to drive me to JFK, a not so fun drive.
I said my final goodbyes to my dad and went inside to check in and go through security. To my surprise, I get upgraded to premium economy. Compared to the Air China economy I flew the week before, Lufthansa premium economywas like ultra first class. Security went by pretty smoothly, though a TSA accidentally hit me in the face. I would’ve been mad, but it was pretty funny and the TSA agents felt guilty and sped up my security process.
I arrived at the gate looking for familiar faces, and quickly found the Grenoble group .
Everyone was excited and chatty. Even though I haven’t had more than a conversation with many of these people, everyone everyone shared a common excitement. After flying alone so much frequently, it’s truly nice to fly with some people I know.
We boarded the plane and immediately I started to receive the best flying experience I’ve ever had. After I get a speech about the responsibilities of sitting in the exit row, I’m given a glass of grapefruit juice and a hot towel.
The leg room was phenomenal and the seats gigantic. I then proceeded to shock some of my classmates by showing that you can order alcohol on an international flight and all partake in the free flowing airplane wine.
I have a surprisingly decent in flight meal which you can see pictured below. No offense Air China, but you need to step up your game.
I am good at taking photos.
A few sopranos episodes later, it’s time for sleep.
Like any good flight, I didn’t sleep at all despite my earplugs and complimentary eye mask. Sleeping on airplane is just a skill I do not possess.
After breakfast, coffee and two more sopranos episodes, we landed in Munich.
Like any airport arrival, we went through customs and found our gate. Like any cliche tourist, I could now flaunt my German passport stamp.
We now had the task of killing five hours before our flight, so naturally we went out to find the Biergarten in the airport.
It may have been 8 am in Germany, but nonetheless we were determined. To quote Mats in a message he sent me about the situation, “It’s germany. And munich. Beer flows freely.”
After finding out the Biergarten was outside security, we settled for a food area. We bought our locally-brewed German beers and partook in the German ways.
No better way to confuse your jet-lagged body clock by having beer for breakfast
Here’s a pic of my beer and my two friends Nick and Jonathon.
We headed back to our gate after some store browsing, and I made a very poor attempt at sleeping on some chairs at our gate. It did not work.
After some major time killing, we boarded our flight for Lyon.
The flight to Lyon is about an hour and a half and flies by. I don’t think I even opened my eyes while we were up in the air.
Everyone’s bags come in thankfully, and we are left with figuring out how to get to Grenoble.
One service desk and 19 bus tickets later, we were on a crowded bus heading for Grenoble.
The views of the alps we incredible as we drove through the French countryside.
Here is a crappy pic I took at the time.
We finally arrive in Grenoble, and I and a few others made the executive decision to walk to the abroad office rather than paying for a taxi.
Our arms got very tired, but we got to see Grenoble for the first time and it truly was a sight. All the buildings were a mix of older European style ones and more modern shops and stores. Any direction you look around, you can see the snow-covered and misty alps. It is a truly beautiful sight.
To be continued…
Foreign Tourist with No Grasp of the Local Language 
Love this, Wills!
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