Plane Ticket-- Finally

Fromage du Jour: Fresh Mozzarella served with fresh basil leaves

I'm a little worried. I know that you probably feel that "Suzanne must be a little worried" vibe from most, if not all, of my entries thus far, but I think I have legitimate reasons! Someone from the Twinning Committee of Deauville, France, sent me an e-mail stating that classes begin on September 1st, but the Caen website and my acceptance letter very clearly state that while a Fall session begins September 1st, my session (Winter/Spring) begins September 11. My adviser advised that I just buy my plane ticket for the September 11 start date, and so I did. I will be leaving September 7th and arriving in Paris at 9:30 A.M. on September 8th.

Now, I'm a little nervous, because I bought the plane ticket before the Committee returned my e-mail about the date being wrong. I had to-- the prices were going up by the hundreds each day. I did get a phenomenal discount, though.

There are many websites out there that help traveling students get discounts on plane tickets, rail passes, and more. I went to www.statravel.com. First, you have to call them and ask for an international student ID card, which will run you about $28. My plane ticket was $615, which was about $300-1000 less than on any other non-student website. If you are between the ages of 12 and 26 and/or you are a full-time student, you're eligible for the International Student Identity Card (www.isic.org) and are therefore eligible for these discounts. Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway, back to Paris... I will get there in the morning and I figure it's fairly easy to get from the airport to the train station by Metro. After that, someone will meet me in Caen and take me to my dorm. The only thing I have left to do to make this happen is get my visa in Chicago, which I've heard is an adventure in and of itself.