one night only – part deux

Greetings from the airport in Marseille, France where except me, there are only several people (I’ve never seen such a tiny terminal!). I have so little experience of traveling by planes but so relatively big experience of spending nights at the airports (Frankfurt, Casablanca and now Marseille). I’m unlucky but at least I don’t pay much for the tickets and this is probably the reason why my flights are at so weird times of the day and night.

To update you about my night in Casablanca (see the last post). After I finished that post, I interacted with the guard again. I was sitting at his office and charging my battery. Afterwards, I sat with him and he was teaching me French and some Arabic and I was teaching him some Polish. Then we were together reading some French magazine (not porn :P). It was so cool cause I was speaking French!!! :) Then he let me sleep on the soft coach of the cafeteria near his office whereas other people at the airport were sleeping on the uncomfortable, plastic seats. It’s good to have a big network of contacts :D

And today, it is my last night in France.

But let’s have some flashbacks of my stay here. After I arrived in Paris I waited a bit in the centre for one of MC members who were supposed to pick me up. In the meantime, I was admiring Paris. You should have seen me wandering around some random square and enjoying literally everything! Then sitting in a café and thinking “I’m in Paris!!!!!!!!” It’s because I love this city so much but still don’t know why. And the most weird thing – I enjoyed cold! I couldn’t believe that I actually liked the low temperature and this autumn weather that I couldn’t experience in Morocco. The air was so cool and fresh. The sky so grey and the leaves so yellow or orange. The soft wind touching my skin. I missed autumn – I couldn’t believe that.

But then, Paris decided to show his cruel face. The day I arrived the national strike started. It affected public transportation. Most of the lines of the metro were either delayed or suspended. Even my TGV from Marseille to Paris was cancelled but at that point I already knew that I wouldn’t take this train anyway since I was already in Paris. And I’m gonna get reimbursement for that.

Then the conference preparation started. It took us the rest of Tuesday and the whole Wednesday. Thursday morning, we took the bus from Paris to Bordeuax where the conference was supposed to take place. The bus was delayed and furthermore the whole trip lasted for almost 10 hours and because of that the conference started at 7PM instead of 3PM. We decided to move morning plenary to the next day and at the first day we only did the sessions that we planned to.

The conference was a challenge because of many delegates canceling their presence because of strikes. Secondly, we had logistical problems and our level of content preparation left much to be desired. However, despite all these problems we managed to deliver an amazing conference and the delegates were awesome too! It was such a cool experience!

On Sunday, I came back to Paris and on Monday morning by chance I managed to catch wi fi connection in the MC flat and as it turned out – only to get the bad news. My train from Paris to Marseille was called off which meant I didn’t have a mean to catch my plane on Tuesday. Unbelievably calm, I left the flat to have some sightseeing of Paris. I saw Arche de Trumph, Champs Elysees and Louvre (see the pics). Then I met my friend from high school – Agata and we spent nice time too hanging out in the city.

But eventually, I had to face my morning problem and went to Gare de Lyon to ask about my train. It turned out that I needed to buy another ticket for another train and spent seventy fucking seven (77) euro!!! I was so pissed off!!! I will be reimbursed for both cancelled train tickets but it’s only 57 euro in total! I’m gonna see if I can get more. France is extremely messed up country. I could rather expect it from Poland or Morocco but my worldview and my budget were challenged really painfully.

After taking the most expensive train in my life ever I arrived in Marseille where I met Cindy (LCP) and her team member Arnaud (VPTM). They were really cool and we had a drink in a cozy pub. Afterwards, I went to catch the last airport shuttle which I thought I missed and I almost got heart attack thinking of missing my plane to Fez and spending more money (not my money of course since I already have debts – rather borrowing money from others). Luckily, it was another bus and in a while I was sitting inside waiting for getting at the airport.

*** I have been just kindly kicked out from the Terminal 2 and asked to go to Terminal 1. #2 will be closed now (0.30AM) and reopened at 4AM. #1 is way bigger but still with few people looks like a ghost airport. Even some toilettes were closed (where am I supposed to sleep? :D kidding) and of course I couldn’t find a plug but this is normal everywhere I guess. Everything here is so weird and surreal. ***

Experiencing France, even though the tough challenges, was so cool. However, something that I was afraid of happened. It’s either scary or exciting – you must judge it. My plans for next year have to be really thoroughly considered and reviewed. I know that Paris would be a cool place for spending next year(s) but still one question needs to answered. As interns or as …? you know who! A lot of factors that I cannot influence has to be taken into consideration and decision will be made really soon.

More in the next episodes! :)

PS And now, back to the reality – still waiting for my plane for the next 6 hours , then flying to Fez, catching the awful, falling apart #16 bus to the station and spending 3 hours in the train to Rabat. But I still love my life :)