Here's what was supposed to happen today. I was supposed to get on a Ryan Air flight to Croatia to "re-new" my visa. My student visa expires on the 20th of May so I was supposed to hop to a non-Schengen region before the expiration and return afterward on a tourist visa. The tourist visa would allow me to stay for an additional 90 days in the Schengen zone (France, Italy, Spain, etc...) It just so happened that this weekend, Europe had one of the biggest storms it's seen in some time. Since Ryan Air is a discount airline, their safety rules and regulations are different. If they see trouble weather, they cancel flights. And that's exactly what happened to mine. It turns out my friend Hans' Ryan Air flight to Sweden was cancelled as well. So neither one of us was able to jet to our destinations. He decided he'd just stay in Germany. I tried to see if I could get on an earlier flight yesterday but I lost all enthusiasm when I saw all of the delays, cancellations, and warnings on the Marseille-Provence Airport website. I was extremely bummed especially since I had a CouchSurfing host already and had planned outings with locals.
I had been texting Andréa and Maman all morning, keeping them up to date on my travel status. They both knew that I was worried and frustrated so they both tried to come up with other solutions. Céline put extra money in my account so that I could buy a potential ticket to Morocco--which is not in the Schengen region. Andréa did something I didn't expect though. He offered to drive me to Croatia! The trip was about 11 hours which is nothing for me. I could've driven the whole way there and back alone. My alma mater, Ball State University, was 10 hours away from my hometown and I often made that drive on weekends just to see my friends, family, or to show my mid-western friends around. I figured a road trip would be a lot of fun! I would get to see Italy and Slovenia by car, which really intrigued me. Andréa told me that Momo was coming with us so I decided to make our group a four-some by inviting my buddy Mark. A single text later, he was in and our group was complete. I just thought it was so sweet that all of the guys were basically going on this long roadie just to make sure I'd be staying in France legally. I'm sure they saw adventure as well ;-)
When Andréa got home from work that day, I made sure to give him a huge hug for keeping my best interest at heart. The two of us spent some good, quality time together before we took off for a soccer match he organized between his co-workers. The game was at a different vicinity this time. It was much closer and much larger than the one we're used to playing at. I watched with Chris' girlfriend Alicia and brother from the sidelines for about 2 hours before I froze like a popsicle. This terrain was outdoors. I tried to stay outside as long as possible but the three of us started shivering so badly that we waited inside the car. The game was in a 30 minute overtime. Not because of a tie, but because the guys didn't want to stop playing yet. Once in the car with the heat, I still didn't stop shaking. It was definite. I started to feel a little flutter in my heart and I know that when I tremor like that, I'm getting sick...
The game finally ended around 22h30 and everyone went inside to pay their tabs. The doors to the main room were wide open and there was cold air blowing in. I was still quivering at this point so as soon as Andréa paid up, I asked if we could go. He kept on assuring me that we would leave right away but we ended up sitting down with Momo, his stepdad's nephew, and another co-worker and just talked about work issues. I just sat there patiently--mainly because I was shaking so hard I could barely talk. About 30 minutes later I'm at the point where I can't bear it anymore and I beg Andréa to go home, but this time, I admitted to being sick. We were on our way back to the apartment within minutes. We stopped for kebabs with Momo which we ate at Andréa's. Sure enough, when we got home, I had a sore throat, was sneezing, and ran a fever.
"For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction." I guess even Andréa's good deeds need a complimentary mishap :-/
I had been texting Andréa and Maman all morning, keeping them up to date on my travel status. They both knew that I was worried and frustrated so they both tried to come up with other solutions. Céline put extra money in my account so that I could buy a potential ticket to Morocco--which is not in the Schengen region. Andréa did something I didn't expect though. He offered to drive me to Croatia! The trip was about 11 hours which is nothing for me. I could've driven the whole way there and back alone. My alma mater, Ball State University, was 10 hours away from my hometown and I often made that drive on weekends just to see my friends, family, or to show my mid-western friends around. I figured a road trip would be a lot of fun! I would get to see Italy and Slovenia by car, which really intrigued me. Andréa told me that Momo was coming with us so I decided to make our group a four-some by inviting my buddy Mark. A single text later, he was in and our group was complete. I just thought it was so sweet that all of the guys were basically going on this long roadie just to make sure I'd be staying in France legally. I'm sure they saw adventure as well ;-)
When Andréa got home from work that day, I made sure to give him a huge hug for keeping my best interest at heart. The two of us spent some good, quality time together before we took off for a soccer match he organized between his co-workers. The game was at a different vicinity this time. It was much closer and much larger than the one we're used to playing at. I watched with Chris' girlfriend Alicia and brother from the sidelines for about 2 hours before I froze like a popsicle. This terrain was outdoors. I tried to stay outside as long as possible but the three of us started shivering so badly that we waited inside the car. The game was in a 30 minute overtime. Not because of a tie, but because the guys didn't want to stop playing yet. Once in the car with the heat, I still didn't stop shaking. It was definite. I started to feel a little flutter in my heart and I know that when I tremor like that, I'm getting sick...
The game finally ended around 22h30 and everyone went inside to pay their tabs. The doors to the main room were wide open and there was cold air blowing in. I was still quivering at this point so as soon as Andréa paid up, I asked if we could go. He kept on assuring me that we would leave right away but we ended up sitting down with Momo, his stepdad's nephew, and another co-worker and just talked about work issues. I just sat there patiently--mainly because I was shaking so hard I could barely talk. About 30 minutes later I'm at the point where I can't bear it anymore and I beg Andréa to go home, but this time, I admitted to being sick. We were on our way back to the apartment within minutes. We stopped for kebabs with Momo which we ate at Andréa's. Sure enough, when we got home, I had a sore throat, was sneezing, and ran a fever.
"For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction." I guess even Andréa's good deeds need a complimentary mishap :-/
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