October 17th

This day was a twinkie. Twinkie's, as you all know, are composed of a light sponge cake with a fluffy cream filling at its center. From what I've heard, people tend to enjoy the filling the most. Personally I hate twinkies, but as a simile it works because when you eat a twinkie you have to go through the squishy cake bits in order to access the buttery filling. My day started off really stressed and appeared to be impossible, like finding the light at the end of a tunnel, similar to the cakey bit of the twinkie. Some background info on the situation. About a week ago I ordered a package from a store in Toulouse called My American Market. It's this online market where you can order a bunch of American snacks and foods that France doesn't sell. For instance My American Market sells pumpkin pie filling, mike and ikes, and laffy taffy. I wanted the pie filling, and added a bunch of candy on to make the order the minimum twenty dollar requirement, and wanted it to arrive as soon as possible. What an idiot I was. Instead of choosing the standard shipping through the regular mail system I chose express through a packaging company called TNT. Stupid stupid stoopid! TNT is short for Team of Normandy Tools. At 11:30 am on last Friday I received a call from a random number which turned out to be a TNT delivery man. He was at St. Nicolas with my package. Great. I was at the university library about to go to lunch. I asked if he could wait fifteen minutes, he said no. I asked if he could leave the package, another no. I finally asked if he could just swing by the library, yet again no. He then told me that he would leave a slip of paper with an address on it where I could pick up my package before two o'clock. I had class at 2:00pm so no pick up on Friday. Saturday was even better. I decided that I would go pick up the package from the address that morning, but two things stopped me. The address was one and the other was an e-mail from Turds N' Twits. The e-mail informed me that my package would be delivered that day. I tried to check the status of the package, but the website only stated that it was awaiting orders. Ok? Guess I'll wait for that to happen. It never happened. I heard no word from Turkeys with No Tracking for two straight days until they attempted to call me while I was in class. Why do they keep thinking that 10:00-11:00 am is a logical time to deliver a package that requires a signature? Oh yeah this land of France where people complain about working every Friday and having shifts that last more than six hours. That brings us to today. They called me again, round noon actually. I was thrilled for not only was I home, but I had my identification and delivery slip ready. Too bad it wasn't a delivery call. Nope, it was a call telling me that my package was waiting for me at the flower shop. This wouldn't have been an issue if the flower shop didn't close at two o'clock on Wednesdays. I was a mess. There was no way I could leave my dorm without at least a shower and some food. It was 1:00 pm when I was ready to go, and I mean go. I ran out of my dorm like a maniac only to realize that it wasn't worth it. I stopped, by the docks, and just considered my situation. I was about an hour away from a flower shop, who's location is questionable, that might have my package in it with less than an hour's time to make it there before it closed at two. And there's always tomorrow. Huh. I shrugged, gave a Mary version of "yolo", and sauntered to the docks for some rest and relaxation. Kate was there, she was finished for the day, and greeted me with an, "everything ok?" I suppose that I looked pretty distant. I laughed and told her the story to which she just smiled and shook her head. I sat down, opened my computer, and began to research possible trip options for the upcoming fall break. Kate and I ultimately decided on four days in Lyon and two in Paris. I booked the hostels, she bought the tickets, and everything was set. We officially have a trip for vacation! Finally I reached that creamy center.