GTL Facilities

Today I accidently slept in until 1 PM (guess I can blame that on the jetlag, right?).  I used most of the afternoon to unpack and then I headed over to the GTL Administration offices to introduce myself and to pick up the towels and textbook that some awesome friends (Justin and Morgan) left me.  Thanks guys!  The administration ladies were about to leave, though, even though they said we could come in until 5:30 PM (it was only 4:30 PM).  Apparently this is typical of French people?  So, I have to go back tomorrow to pick up my key to the building and get some information about the semester.

After the trip to GTL, I met up with some people that just got to Lafayette today and we all went to Cora to get groceries and have dinner.  Cora was very similar to Walmart and I bought things I needed around the apartment mostly.  I did get a litre of Orangina Light, but I'm going to buy my food at the closer (and supposedly cheaper) Simply Market.  After dinner a bunch of us chatted in the hallway for awhile.  I'm really excited about making new friends and new memories here!

Here are some pics of my apartment and GTL:

Face of GTL main building

Residence Lafayette (my apartment building)

BRIGHT red hallway leading to my room

Kitchen area

Bathroom

Table and Stools

My door and room number (for my stalkers)

Left side of closet

Right side of closet

Shelves and dresser

Desk

Bed and Shelves

View from my window

More tomorrow, maybe...

-JChamp

GTL Arrival!

After almost 24 hours of travel by plane, train, and taxi, I finally made it here to the Lafayette apartment complex.  My lodgings for the semester are a lot nicer than I was expecting.  I'll take some pictures once I have everything unpacked and looking nice.  I was expecting to have to share a bathroom with someone, but I have my own!  Also, some nice person left a few hangers for me.  I might buy some more at the local "hypermarche", Cora (basically the French Super Walmart, but bigger and better).

The only bad parts of my trip here were that my favorite GT duffel bag broke when I disembarked at JFK and that I couldn't get my phone card to work at Brussels-Midi train station because I didn't have Belgium's country code.  I think I did a better job navigating myself through Belgium and France than I expected.  I freaked out and stressed a little on the inside today, but nothing major.  I got to all my destinations on time and sometimes even early.  I think I'll be even more relaxed next time I'm navigating through train routes and I feel a lot more confident about what to do at a foreign train station.

Once I got to Lafayette, the building manager checked me in and showed me to my new room/apartment.  I ran into a bunch of GTL-ers while waiting for the building manager to finish his phone call.  One of the girls, Kayla, invited me to dinner with everyone else.  We went to a crepe restaurant in downtown Metz and I got to meet pretty much everyone that is here so far.  Everyone seems really chill and funny and I know that everyone is going to get along really well.  We all walked around downtown Metz at night and accidently stayed out too late for the bus to take us home, so we walked all the way back.  Not what I was expecting when I put on my new shoes to wear to dinner tonight, haha.  Here are some pictures from tonight's walk:

Getting off the U-line in downtown Metz for dinner

Cathedral in downtown Metz (Construction is being done on the steeple right now)

Centre Pompidou at night

It is definitely time for bed.  I think I've had less than 5 hours of sleep in the past 36 hours.  Pics tomorrow of the apartment, hopefully!

-JChamp