airplane

France Journal: June 4, 1996

On: 27 March 2016

France Journal: June 4, 1996

I woke up and said “yes.” That is what happened. The man asked if I wanted breakfast. We saw below — far below — what looked like land. The lady who was seated beside me and who took 15 pills at each meal told me about some things and the anouncement to turn off personal electronic devices came on. Upon landing we were bused over & got our luggage. Going through customs I thought I would be checked. Luckily I wasn’t. Going on we were met by a 20 something plaid pants guy. It was Arnaud, our courier. We went to an airport café and waited two and a half hours for the other groups. During this time I got to know Amanda and Jessica, two out of the Dobbs group. Jessica was really very nice. When the other groups arrived we got on a bus. We rode an hour & a half to Chartes. There we saw the cathedral and many little shops. The cathedral was magnificent; it had many stained glass windows displaying the many stories of Jesus in vivid colors. [It] was glorious. The hotel we stayed in was the Hôtel Campanile. It was a very compact hotel/restaurant. The dinner was simple and not that great. I have now grown quite fond of Orangina — the only good soda in France (I think). Sleep sounds good — the shower is interesting. It is a sit down type — no curtain — it was very difficult to keep the water inside to use. Very interesting experience.

» 28 August 2007

They failed to tell us — or take into account — how much time we were losing during our flight. We arrived after a full day of travel to a rather booked afternoon of activity. This day seemed distant even the next day. I was not refreshed enough to fully take in what was going on.

I had actually seen Arnaud a couple times before we figured out that he was our courier. He was wearing red plaid pants, which I found strange. However, I was taken with how cute he was. He was slender and tan. His hair was very short and he had a great confidence that made him very attractive. I was rather excited to discover that we would be spending the first week with him.

The lady on the plane (with the large number of giant green and brown pills) had a movie ending to her story. She was met by her male friend (husband, boyfriend, whatever) as she exited the plane. They embraced and kissed. It had clearly not been that long since they had seen each other, but they were still very glad to be back together. I remember thinking how nice it was that she had someone.

If you find yourself in a Parisian airport for 2+ hours, have a book with you or just take a nap. There is very little to do. Amanda, Jessica, & I walked along the corridors to a newsstand and back quite a few times, while the others sat at the indoor café (meant to look like an outdoor café).

I find my sudden interest in Orangina interesting. I ended up being wrong, but I really only found one other soda that I liked, Oasis.

» 27 March 2016

Memory is an odd thing. I often find myself thinking about the lady I sat next to on the flight from New York to France. I suppose it I had been older and more self-confident, I might have gotten to know her better. But that doesn’t really sound like me. Even now, I’m not demonstratively gregarious in general. I enjoy the company of others, but I’m not outspoken and have little need of small talk. I’m reserved, preferring to let others approach me or initiate conversation. It’s not always the most successful way of being a person, but it seems an unchangeable part of who I am. On this trip to France, that wouldn’t only inhibit my knowing more about my fellow passenger, but would keep me isolated from my own group and to an extent from the other groups we joined with. It might have been nice to have learned different ways of communicating with people prior to this point in my life.

I’ve done some reading about the concept of the “Highly Sensitive Person” recently. I’m starting to think that my reticence has much more to do with being highly sensitive than it does with shyness or introversion. I don’t have direct evidence to support my self-diagnosis, but it makes more sense. I am fascinated by evolutionary psychology and the idea that we as a species have various personality types as a survival strategy for us all. It makes me feel far less alone to know that there exist so many other people whose temperaments are like my own. It’s hard to remember that because the people most likely to share their temperaments are those with far more demonstrative extroverts.

Don’t misunderstand me, I really like myself. And I genuinely enjoy the company of others. I even wish for those around me to understand me and have a desire to get to know me. But I do not have the ability to get past my own nature or to act in a way that seems unnatural to me. I just have to keep finding strategies that make the nature I have work for me. It’s funny that at 36 I have to continue working on the same issues that have kept me at arms length-from others.

Chartres Cathedral is extremely interesting. It was built at the turn of the 13th century and remains a beautiful piece of architecture with a flair that makes it seems like such an imposing building in the city of Chartres, which at the time had a fairly modest population. I had trouble appreciating much of anything on that first day. I found myself so distracted by the amazement I felt just being in Europe for the first time that I had trouble focusing on the details of the one place. The excitement was overwhelming. It might have been nice to spend that first day walking the streets of Chartres, getting to know France in a more intimate way. When I finally get a chance to go back, my experience will be much more about being present in the beautiful towns. At 16, a day to wrap my mind around things would have allowed me to engage sooner.

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France Journal: June 3, 1996

By: Brian

On: 5 March 2016

With: 0 Comments

Saturday 3 June 1996

As I sit here in the warm plane, I just think how wonderful today has been. I woke up at 6:30 and got ready to go. I then watched Good Morning America. At around 8:00 we left. We stopped by Albertson’s and then to the airport. It was great. I had no idea what I was doing and Ann was no better off. I got situated and we stopped for something to eat. For eats we found a $3.00 slice of pizza and a $2.00 “deal” of fruit and 2 beverages for $3.00. It was okay though. About 10 minutes after getting our food, Stan shows up with some magazines for me. He got People and US. After a little bit, we went to the gate, located my group and after an embarrassing underwear question from Stan we were off. I got on the sardine can of a plane and was a little nervous but as soon as we got going my fears had subsided somewhat. Taking off was the most exhilarating feeling. We were off — destination: Atlanta. I could see nothing. I was on an aisle seat. We stopped and got off. We had no idea how far we had to go but we caught a subway type vehicle which took us to where we wanted to go. We got on; the plane was much larger. It was a lot more fun but I was already used to it. We had heard of some rain in New York, but what I saw was sunshine a clouds below. As we descended through the clouds the wings appeared to be slick and then water droplets started on the windows. When we got to the ground it was a messy rain, wet and soggy. I noticed as I got out that luggage is treated very poorly. Better bring souvenirs back on plane! We got off and noticed immediatly that the airport in Atlanta was much prettier and had a larger Delta wing. We just walked right to the gate and then went and ate. I had breadsticks and a drink for $3.00. We shopped at all the places and went back to the gate and waited for our flight to board. There a lady walked up to us and asked if we were Mme Wright’s group. It was Linda Dobbs! She is the new leader. She acts real nice. We get on the plane and I am sitting next to a pro! She goes right to sleep. I sleep a little and then dinner is served. It was a shrimp meal. It was wonderful. I never thought I’d like airplane food. Wow. And now I’m on my way. In the morning we will have a continental breakfast.

» 27 August 2007

Mme Wright, our French teacher had very recently suffered an aneurism. Everything had been planned and paid for. After a meeting with all of the parents, it was decided that we should go on our scheduled tour, but be under the supervision of the leader of the group we were going to be with. Even Mike Wright, Mme’s son, went on the trip with us. We started the trip with 4 groups. There was our group from Stillwater, OK, Mme Dobbs’ group from Caldwell, Idaho, a group from Wagoner, OK, and a group from Cincinatti, OH. The Wagoner and Cincinatti groups were both on a one week tour; Stillwater and Caldwell would continue on for another week after that.

I was in awe of air travel. It seemed so exotic to me, as I had never been on a plane before. At the airport in Tulsa, Stan took the only picture of me that I would get on the entire trip. That is one of the biggest regrets I have of my life.

JFK airport seemed dirty to me. While we waited there, we were approached several times by “deaf-mutes” selling trinkets. The entire place had a very grey feeling about it, as if nobody really wanted to be there. The heavy rains blocked our view, concealing my first and only glimse of the New York skyline. I could just make it out, like a Magic Eye picture, only if I relaxed my eyes and titled my head slightly. And then, only the twin towers reminded me that this was New York City and not just a mound of something in the distance. I felt cheated out of an experience, even though I was not really in New York and would not be going there; I still wanted to see it since I had gotten so close.

» 5 March 2016

As a kid, I always assumed I would end up living in New York as an adult. It was just a part of the plan. Maybe that assumption was a result of movies and TV. There certainly is a New York / L.A. bias that runs periodically through entertainment. Television in the nineties was certainly New York-centric, and that likely influenced who I imagined I would be. However, my love of the city had definitely started earlier than that. I particularly remember segments on Sesame Street featuring city workers and trucks, traffic and streets crawling with people. If I was exposed to those videos for the first time today, I would focus on the dirt or the noise. I wouldn’t care for it. But at the time it felt magical, very different from my decidedly non-urban life in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

The reality would be that as of 2016, I’ve never been to New York. My trip to France was my first and only time in an airport in the state, and it was so rainy I could just barely make out the city’s skyline. What I failed to appreciate at the time was the gritty nature of the airport, a feature that wouldn’t last. I say appreciate because it was a unique experience and I have always enjoyed unusual experiences. As long as it isn’t causing me harm, I enjoy being in new places and in new situations.

I haven’t thought much about Atlanta, or hadn’t much when I was a kid. Sure, I watched Designing Women, but that hardly shows anything of the city where it takes place. It came as a complete shock when I first saw the size of the city. It was a trial by fire as we were rushed from one plane to the next. While we weren’t in Georgia for long, it certainly reminded me of one of those cartoons where a small guy holds open a door for someone and an enormous crowd piles in as well, leaving the poor guy startled and disheveled. All of us from Stillwater rushed our way through the airport and onto the next plane.

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